Christian Wisdom 2 (Colossians 1:15-20)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:05.960 Please remain standing if you're able, and let's turn our attention to Colossians chapter 2 00:00:06.080 --> 00:00:13.470 one, Verses Fifteen through twenty. Colossians Chapter One, Verses Fifteen through twenty, 3 00:00:14.509 --> 00:00:17.269 two hundred, or, sorry, nine hundred and eighty three, if 4 00:00:17.309 --> 00:00:24.780 you're using Black Bible from the cart. This is about Jesus. He is 5 00:00:24.940 --> 00:00:32.780 the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for by 6 00:00:32.899 --> 00:00:39.369 him all things were created, in heaven and on Earth, visible and invisible, 7 00:00:39.969 --> 00:00:46.170 whether thrones or dominions, or rulers or authorities, all things were created 8 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:52.960 through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in 9 00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:59.000 him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body the 10 00:00:59.119 --> 00:01:03.629 church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead that in 11 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:10.349 everything he might be pre eminent, for in him all the fullness of God 12 00:01:10.670 --> 00:01:15.950 was pleased to dwell and through him to reckon top reconcile to himself all things, 13 00:01:17.629 --> 00:01:22.019 whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his 14 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:30.900 cross. Amen, you may be seated. What an amazing passage. This 15 00:01:30.099 --> 00:01:37.250 is the second sermon I'm giving in our series on wisdom. I'm preaching here 16 00:01:37.409 --> 00:01:42.769 from Colossians One, fifteen through twenty. A very beautiful passage, I think, 17 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:48.200 a passage that sings like a hymn of praise. He is, he 18 00:01:48.439 --> 00:01:53.200 is, he is. All kinds of parallels between the first half and the 19 00:01:53.319 --> 00:01:57.560 second half. A beautiful things, a kind of piling up of praise throughout 20 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:04.909 these verses. In fact, it has so many poetic qualities that some scholars, 21 00:02:05.030 --> 00:02:08.509 in fact most scholars, have wondered if this wasn't an early confession of 22 00:02:08.629 --> 00:02:15.139 faith or a prayer used in the church or in fact a him. Well, 23 00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:21.419 the scholarship on that is inconclusive and probably always will be. But one 24 00:02:21.500 --> 00:02:27.340 thing is for sure. It is a very beautiful passage, a hymnic passage, 25 00:02:27.379 --> 00:02:30.009 I like to say. If we can't know for sure whether or not 26 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:32.129 it was a hymn, I think we can say it was him nick. 27 00:02:32.770 --> 00:02:38.370 It is song like, it is praise like in the way that it expresses 28 00:02:39.330 --> 00:02:46.639 our king, our Lord, who is and was and will be these things 29 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:54.159 that are mentioned here Colossians one fifteen through twenty. Then I think ought to 30 00:02:54.280 --> 00:02:59.949 remind us of what Paul says at the end of this letter of Colossians, 31 00:03:00.830 --> 00:03:06.590 in Colossians three hundred and sixteen. He says let the word of Christ some 32 00:03:06.789 --> 00:03:07.710 lear to what we just read, or at least one of the things. 33 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:13.740 Let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly, teaching and inmonishing one 34 00:03:13.780 --> 00:03:19.620 another and all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness to 35 00:03:19.699 --> 00:03:23.699 your heart, in your hearts to God. Let the word of Christ dwell 36 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:29.210 in you richly. That's a phrase you can come back to over and over 37 00:03:29.449 --> 00:03:32.250 and over again as a way to think about what it means to live a 38 00:03:32.409 --> 00:03:37.810 Christian life. Let the word of Christ dwell in you, richly, teaching 39 00:03:37.889 --> 00:03:42.240 and monishing one another, in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual 40 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:47.080 songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. I want you to know of 41 00:03:47.199 --> 00:03:51.639 the many things that we might note in that verse, that phrase in Wisdom, 42 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:57.789 right, in wisdom. Many people in this world seek a worldly wisdom 43 00:03:57.830 --> 00:04:01.830 that is separate from Christ. They want to grow, they want to look 44 00:04:01.909 --> 00:04:06.990 and see their world and see it truthfully and accurately, but only to a 45 00:04:08.150 --> 00:04:14.259 certain extent. They want to think of Christ as kind of bracketed out from 46 00:04:14.340 --> 00:04:18.379 the rest of their lives. They're going to seek to live wisely and rightly 47 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:24.930 in this world and that sort of one domain, and then another domain is 48 00:04:25.889 --> 00:04:32.209 Jesus, is father in heaven religion generally. You might think of it as 49 00:04:32.290 --> 00:04:39.480 kind of putting God in the Casita, you know, in the back of 50 00:04:39.600 --> 00:04:43.519 your property. You know, you sort of subleases it or rents it out 51 00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:46.360 from time to time. You might interact with him occasionally, but he's not 52 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.189 dwelling with you. All right, let the word of Christ dwell richly and 53 00:04:53.310 --> 00:04:57.829 you. There's a closeness in that verb, isn't there? Dwelling and intimacy, 54 00:04:57.949 --> 00:05:04.149 a fullness in that, and something about that has to do with with 55 00:05:04.870 --> 00:05:09.060 wisdom. What he says as we are to teach and admonish one another in 56 00:05:09.139 --> 00:05:12.860 wisdom. Think we can also say that we are to sing in wisdom, 57 00:05:13.339 --> 00:05:18.300 with thankfulness. But it's more. It's more than that. Wisdom is letting 58 00:05:18.420 --> 00:05:26.209 the word of Christ dwell in US richly, abundantly, thoroughly completely. What 59 00:05:26.649 --> 00:05:29.610 part of what Paul is saying here and what he says throughout this letter is 60 00:05:29.689 --> 00:05:33.250 that if we want to be wise, we have to understand who Jesus is. 61 00:05:34.170 --> 00:05:42.240 These things go together. Take a look at the beginning of the book 62 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:46.879 before we get into the details of this passage in particular. What does Paul 63 00:05:46.920 --> 00:05:51.949 I'll say, how does this letter start? Well, he starts by saying 64 00:05:53.189 --> 00:05:58.589 that he talks to these Colossians and he talks about something that has already happened 65 00:05:58.629 --> 00:06:02.509 in their church. Looked down at verse seven, it says that they had 66 00:06:02.629 --> 00:06:09.740 learned it from epaphras, our beloved fellow servant, who is called a faithful 67 00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:14.180 minister of Christ. On your behalf. What is it? What is the 68 00:06:14.420 --> 00:06:19.970 it that they learned from Pastor epaphus? Well, we go back up to 69 00:06:20.209 --> 00:06:24.730 verse five and you read it here, the hope laid up for you in 70 00:06:24.850 --> 00:06:30.250 heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of truth, the 71 00:06:30.410 --> 00:06:36.360 Gospel. That's what faithful pastor epaphorts, pastor epaphus, preached to them. 72 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:41.680 He preached to them the hope of heaven. He preached to them the Word 73 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:44.920 of truth, the Gospel, and you know what happened, because he tells 74 00:06:44.920 --> 00:06:49.310 us what happened. He says it bore forth fruit in them. Indeed, 75 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:53.790 as that same word of truth, that Gospel, is bearing fruit in the 76 00:06:54.029 --> 00:06:59.829 whole world and even increasing, as he says in verse six, by God's 77 00:07:00.389 --> 00:07:05.660 grace. They heard the Gospel and understood it, and now their lives were 78 00:07:05.740 --> 00:07:12.060 different. That's what has happened. That's how Paul addresses them and opens up 79 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:15.970 this letter. Now that relates to our passage, because what Paul says is 80 00:07:15.089 --> 00:07:20.089 he wants them to not stop there or leave that, but continue it, 81 00:07:20.930 --> 00:07:24.970 as he says later in the letter. He says, as you have received 82 00:07:25.009 --> 00:07:30.240 Christ, so now also walk in him. This verse, as I just 83 00:07:30.360 --> 00:07:33.279 read to you, a one through eight, is or paraphrase there. That's 84 00:07:33.279 --> 00:07:38.800 how they received Christ, through the preaching of the word. They heard and 85 00:07:38.839 --> 00:07:43.040 they understood the Gospel, and now it is bearing forth fruit in their lives. 86 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:46.350 And Paul says, I want you to continue in that. Don't walk 87 00:07:46.389 --> 00:07:51.189 away from that path, don't walk away from those means, but rest in 88 00:07:51.389 --> 00:07:57.550 this. Let the word of Christ now dwell in you richly, he says, 89 00:07:59.740 --> 00:08:03.459 and what will happen is then described in the next verses, in nine 90 00:08:03.579 --> 00:08:09.540 through fourteen. Listen to what he says. He prays this. And so, 91 00:08:09.579 --> 00:08:13.410 from the day we heard about this great work that God had done among 92 00:08:13.449 --> 00:08:18.370 them, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may 93 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:24.610 be filled with the knowledge of his will. In all spiritual wisdom and insight. 94 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:33.840 That's how Paul understands their growing lives as Christians. He wants them not 95 00:08:35.039 --> 00:08:39.200 only to hear and understand the Gospel, but now to be filled with the 96 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:48.309 knowledge of God's bill in all spiritual wisdom and insight, or spiritual wisdom and 97 00:08:48.470 --> 00:08:54.750 understanding. You could translate that either way, and that is not just a 98 00:08:54.909 --> 00:09:00.620 brainy thing. Right. Wisdom is not a mirrorly a sort of collection of 99 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:05.980 facts or a set of rules. Wisdom is living in this world according to 100 00:09:05.179 --> 00:09:09.730 the rules, according to the order in which God has placed these things. 101 00:09:11.490 --> 00:09:16.730 And that's why Paul Naturally says next in verse ten, so as to walk 102 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:22.809 in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit 103 00:09:22.889 --> 00:09:28.600 in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. It's that amazing. 104 00:09:30.639 --> 00:09:35.519 So Paul is framing the Christian life, which means we should frame how 105 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:41.190 we think about our lives in this way. We should be asking that Paul's 106 00:09:41.269 --> 00:09:46.470 prayer for the Colossians who heard this word or received this letter, and for 107 00:09:46.590 --> 00:09:50.029 ourselves, who have heard and are receiving this letter, that we two would 108 00:09:50.029 --> 00:09:56.019 be filled with the wisdom or the knowledge of the will of God, that 109 00:09:56.179 --> 00:10:07.059 we would have a an understanding, insight, ability, skill in walking wisely 110 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:11.570 according to God, God's will, walking in a manner worthy of the Lord 111 00:10:11.570 --> 00:10:18.529 who called us, pleasing, bearing forth good fruit and even increasing then in 112 00:10:18.210 --> 00:10:22.559 the knowledge of God. You can see why, then, if, if 113 00:10:22.639 --> 00:10:26.240 that's what the Christian life is like, that he would then this is what 114 00:10:26.360 --> 00:10:31.000 he's praying for them, that he would then commend them or a call them 115 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:37.070 to this kind of obedience. Let the word of Christ dwell richly. Teach 116 00:10:37.350 --> 00:10:41.110 one another these things, admonish our one another these things in wisdom. Sing 117 00:10:41.309 --> 00:10:46.429 Psalms him, spiritual songs. He uses every word. They are possible for 118 00:10:46.950 --> 00:10:52.779 singing, except for lament. I think you could paraphrase that loosely by saying 119 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:58.019 let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Sing, sing, sing 120 00:10:58.340 --> 00:11:01.299 with thankfulness in your hearts to God in all kinds, in all ways. 121 00:11:01.379 --> 00:11:11.289 Let the word of Christ sink down deeply in you. So then he goes 122 00:11:11.289 --> 00:11:13.850 to versus a, let verse eleven, when he says, may you be 123 00:11:13.009 --> 00:11:20.519 strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for endurance and patience, 124 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:26.200 with joy, giving thanks to the father who has qualified you to share in 125 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:30.639 the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the 126 00:11:30.759 --> 00:11:35.309 domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of his beloved son, in 127 00:11:35.429 --> 00:11:39.509 whom we have the redemption, the forge or who in whom we have redemption 128 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:46.389 the forgiveness of sins. Do you hear the Gospel? This is good news. 129 00:11:46.590 --> 00:11:50.820 That's what Gospel is to be delivered, to be rescued out of the 130 00:11:50.940 --> 00:11:54.259 dominion of darkness and brought into the Kingdom of the beloved son of God. 131 00:11:56.460 --> 00:12:01.610 How could you say anything else about that except that it is Gospel, good 132 00:12:01.730 --> 00:12:07.929 news. So this is what he wants us to rest and understand. Be 133 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:16.639 Wise in be filled with right and out of that wisdom and spiritual understanding we 134 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:22.000 are then enabled and strengthened by the grace of God to go forth in the 135 00:12:22.120 --> 00:12:28.039 world, bearing forth fruit and walking wisely, continuing in wisdom to teach and 136 00:12:28.240 --> 00:12:35.990 sing and gain knowledge and encourage one another to grow, to grow up into 137 00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:43.669 maturity. Think about it this way. If you met someone who, the 138 00:12:43.830 --> 00:12:48.179 Lord had answered this prayer in their life, would you not say of them, 139 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:52.860 this is a wise person. In other words, imagine somebody who is 140 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:58.730 walking with wisdom and insight, who walks in a manner worthy of the Lord, 141 00:12:58.769 --> 00:13:03.690 who is fully pleasing to God. That's some thing. You'd someone you'd 142 00:13:03.730 --> 00:13:07.009 want to hang out with, I'd hope, spend time with, learn from 143 00:13:07.129 --> 00:13:13.919 mentor me help me. You are a wise person. So it's on the 144 00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:20.039 basis of this, then, this recognition of what God has done, the 145 00:13:20.200 --> 00:13:22.559 knowledge and wisdom he's given them, the ways in which he wants them to 146 00:13:22.679 --> 00:13:28.990 grow. That then he comes to verses fifteen through twenty and says, now 147 00:13:28.029 --> 00:13:33.750 let's talk about this Christ, who has rescued you, who has forgiven you, 148 00:13:33.909 --> 00:13:41.220 who is routinemed you. This is this is him. We've been talking 149 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:48.620 about the word of Christ. This speaks to Christ directly. This is wisdom 150 00:13:48.740 --> 00:13:54.539 you need to know. And what do we learn? He is the image 151 00:13:54.539 --> 00:14:01.690 of the invisible God, the firstborn of creation. This word firstborn does not 152 00:14:01.889 --> 00:14:07.809 tell us that Jesus was created as we are created, that he is another 153 00:14:07.929 --> 00:14:13.480 one number, another one up there, I go. Okay, another one, 154 00:14:13.639 --> 00:14:16.200 that's what I'm trying to say, another one of God's many creatures. 155 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:24.590 No, this title firstborn here refers to his Pre Eminence. The word firstborn 156 00:14:24.750 --> 00:14:28.309 is used again in verse eighteen when it says he's the heady of the body, 157 00:14:28.830 --> 00:14:31.830 he is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in everything 158 00:14:31.870 --> 00:14:39.299 he might be pre eminent. Right, it does refer to an orderedness and 159 00:14:39.500 --> 00:14:43.700 orderliness of things, but it also refers to this status that he has, 160 00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:50.620 first as the Eternally Begotten Son of God, Eternally Begotten and therefore pre eminent 161 00:14:50.659 --> 00:14:58.330 as God over all things, but also as the firstborn of men, not 162 00:14:58.450 --> 00:15:07.840 being Adam but the second Adam, his body a part of the new creation 163 00:15:07.039 --> 00:15:13.159 that is to come, that resurrected body, he leads us out of captivity 164 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.519 through union with him, into the new heavens and the new earth, the 165 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.429 firstborn from the dead, so that he is not only God over all of 166 00:15:22.509 --> 00:15:30.190 the world, but he is also our mediator, our savior in the in 167 00:15:30.309 --> 00:15:39.899 the world to come. This Jesus of ours is God, our Savior, 168 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:46.539 is not a wise sage who merely or a merely a wise sage who teaches 169 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:52.929 us things. No, he is Yahway of the Old Testament. He is 170 00:15:54.049 --> 00:15:56.929 the one who made the heavens and the Earth, the sea and the dry 171 00:15:56.970 --> 00:16:02.129 land, both as it says in the Old Testament and as it says here 172 00:16:02.330 --> 00:16:08.440 in the new verse sixteen, for by him all things were created in heaven 173 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:12.679 and on Earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions, or rulers 174 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:18.710 or authorities, all things, if Paul couldn't be any clearer, all things 175 00:16:18.830 --> 00:16:26.269 were created through him and for him. That's a description of God. That's 176 00:16:26.269 --> 00:16:32.470 a description of the one true living God who is supreme above everything and who 177 00:16:32.590 --> 00:16:38.820 distinguishes himself from the creation. He is the Creator, and he is not 178 00:16:38.980 --> 00:16:42.299 only the Creator, as we considered last week in Psalm one of four, 179 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.570 but he is also the one who is our preserver. Notice verse seventeen. 180 00:16:48.009 --> 00:16:56.409 He is before all things and in him all things hold together. Now, 181 00:16:56.490 --> 00:17:02.200 the world didn't always know about Jesus. We certainly knew of the sun, 182 00:17:02.399 --> 00:17:07.319 in some ways and some shadowy ways, of this promised anointed one, Messiah, 183 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:12.880 a Christ that was to come and to save them. But Jesus, 184 00:17:14.839 --> 00:17:19.990 the incarnate son of God, that was something that was revealed later, first 185 00:17:21.150 --> 00:17:27.789 in a kind of prophetic way in the prophets, then later in fullness, 186 00:17:27.950 --> 00:17:38.259 when there was a baby lying in a manger with angels singing above the world 187 00:17:40.299 --> 00:17:48.250 rejoicing that the Christ had come, this Jesus who had come was not nearly 188 00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:52.890 a baby, though he was the God who always was and is and will 189 00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:56.650 be. I want you, if you were here with us last week or 190 00:17:56.650 --> 00:18:02.200 if you heard the sermon on Line Psalm one of four, I want you 191 00:18:02.279 --> 00:18:07.160 to take everything that you remember about that passage, about the many ways in 192 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:11.720 which God has involved in in wisdom, creating and preserving that world, and 193 00:18:11.950 --> 00:18:18.869 remember that everything that is said there can be said of Jesus Christ, should 194 00:18:18.869 --> 00:18:26.190 be said of Jesus Christ, must be said of our savior. In that 195 00:18:26.390 --> 00:18:32.859 Psalm we were reminded of God's marvelous wisdom so that we might give him praise. 196 00:18:33.859 --> 00:18:37.539 The Psalm calls us to look around the world and to marvel at his 197 00:18:37.700 --> 00:18:45.849 amazing design, his plan his skill, the beauty and the power and the 198 00:18:45.930 --> 00:18:51.690 glory of God's wisdom, wisdom that's manifest in the things that have been made, 199 00:18:51.849 --> 00:18:56.880 the mountains and the valleys, the storks and the rock badgers, in 200 00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:03.400 the creation and in the preservation of the world. All that summed up in 201 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.839 verse twenty four of Psalm One o four. Oh Lord, how manifold are 202 00:19:07.880 --> 00:19:11.670 your works in wisdom? You have made them all. The Earth is full 203 00:19:11.829 --> 00:19:21.670 of your creatures, this is to be said of Jesus of Nazareth. Oh 204 00:19:21.750 --> 00:19:26.819 Jesus of Nazareth, how manifold are your works in wisdom? You have made 205 00:19:26.859 --> 00:19:32.940 them all. The Earth is full of your creatures. And, as Colossian 206 00:19:33.099 --> 00:19:37.180 says here, as Psalm one o four says in Psalm one four, as 207 00:19:37.220 --> 00:19:41.170 God says in Salmoneo four, it's not just the creation of the world that 208 00:19:41.289 --> 00:19:45.329 we see the wisdom of Christ, but it has also in the preservation of 209 00:19:45.450 --> 00:19:51.369 that world. He is the upholder and to each animal and creature he gives 210 00:19:51.730 --> 00:19:56.039 its its food and it's season and it's time. And in its place, 211 00:19:56.960 --> 00:20:04.279 the Psalm teaches us not to live in the world as fools who are blinded 212 00:20:04.839 --> 00:20:11.430 to the reality of the world's maker, of the world's upholder. Instead, 213 00:20:11.670 --> 00:20:15.150 the Psalm calls us to look out on all of the details of the world 214 00:20:15.190 --> 00:20:22.940 and to see God in them, not to see them as God and give 215 00:20:22.980 --> 00:20:27.940 the glory of the immortal God to creatures, but to see God in them, 216 00:20:29.059 --> 00:20:33.099 as in to see God working in them, moving in them, upholding 217 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:41.890 them by the word of his power. That's wisdom, right wisdom. If 218 00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:47.170 you think about how you have thought about wisdom, hopefully how you think about 219 00:20:47.170 --> 00:20:52.519 wisdom. Wisdom is about seeing things according to reality. Right. A fool 220 00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:57.079 is someone who doesn't see things according to reality. They think that, let's 221 00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:02.559 say, by not showing up to work on time, failing to pass drug 222 00:21:02.720 --> 00:21:08.390 tests, lying and stealing from your employer, that somehow that will result in 223 00:21:08.509 --> 00:21:15.230 more work. Right. That's simply not reality. A fool drives down the 224 00:21:15.309 --> 00:21:18.940 left side of the road and thinks that they won't get hit. Say, 225 00:21:18.140 --> 00:21:23.619 wake up, that's not reality. Well, what God is saying here is 226 00:21:23.740 --> 00:21:27.220 that we, if we are to look out on the reality of this world, 227 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:33.690 if we are going to say there is no god, you are, 228 00:21:33.730 --> 00:21:40.130 as the scriptures say, a fool, because there is God who has designed 229 00:21:40.369 --> 00:21:45.089 this world, made this world, upholds this world, and it's evident all 230 00:21:45.170 --> 00:21:49.599 over the place. We're not going to argue this point. It's perfectly before 231 00:21:49.640 --> 00:21:56.400 our faces. This is what the scriptures tell us to be wise to. 232 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:02.190 What Coloshans one fifteen through twenty is adding to this point is that very God 233 00:22:02.309 --> 00:22:06.950 who upholds all of these things is the one who died on the cross to 234 00:22:07.069 --> 00:22:15.779 save us from our sins. God, the second person of the Trinity, 235 00:22:15.859 --> 00:22:21.940 Gave Glory to the father the first person of the Trinity, having been anointed 236 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:25.940 by the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, and this one, 237 00:22:26.059 --> 00:22:30.730 God saves us in this way, he makes himself known in this way, 238 00:22:32.690 --> 00:22:37.730 he reveals himself in this way, so that Jesus Christ is rightly called 239 00:22:37.849 --> 00:22:47.359 God and worshiped and glorified as our creator, which means he is the all 240 00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:52.759 wise one, the one to whom we can look and see his wisdom manifest 241 00:22:53.519 --> 00:23:00.710 in the world. But as we go on in this passage, what we 242 00:23:00.789 --> 00:23:06.069 see is he's as if that weren't enough, the Jesus is not only the 243 00:23:06.269 --> 00:23:11.549 one who upholds and all of these things together by being the eternal son of 244 00:23:11.670 --> 00:23:17.539 God, by being the word of God manifest, or the word of God 245 00:23:17.819 --> 00:23:25.900 spoken and powerful, he's also done something new in the world that he is 246 00:23:26.019 --> 00:23:33.009 made. He is the head of the body the church. Paul now addresses 247 00:23:33.170 --> 00:23:40.170 a new reality, something else that is true about God, The Sun. 248 00:23:41.039 --> 00:23:47.559 He is also the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, which means that 249 00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:52.440 he died. This is an amazing thing, a mysterious thing, but a 250 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:56.549 thing that should be so precious to our hearts, because the scriptures tell us 251 00:23:56.589 --> 00:24:00.390 that all who are united in a death like his, will also be raised 252 00:24:00.589 --> 00:24:07.029 in a life like his. Indeed, not just like his, but in 253 00:24:07.309 --> 00:24:12.980 him, in his life, by the power of his life, for God 254 00:24:14.140 --> 00:24:18.339 who dwells in us is the God who dwelled and dwells in him. He 255 00:24:18.619 --> 00:24:23.059 is the fullness of God, or sorry, for in him all the fullness 256 00:24:23.099 --> 00:24:30.450 of God was pleased to draw it dwell and through him, the father reconciled 257 00:24:30.529 --> 00:24:34.329 to himself all things, whether in heaven on earth, making peace by the 258 00:24:34.369 --> 00:24:44.000 blood of the cross, the Sun. Did these things by going by being 259 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:47.759 obedient, as we read earlier, obedient even to the point of death, 260 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:56.309 to the death on the cross. So what we learn to summarize and pull 261 00:24:56.390 --> 00:25:02.670 all these threads together, is this. It's not enough if you want to 262 00:25:02.789 --> 00:25:07.029 live wisely and rightly in the world. It's not enough to simply say that 263 00:25:07.069 --> 00:25:12.500 there is a spiritual power, or even God, a creator, who has 264 00:25:12.619 --> 00:25:19.180 made these things. It's not enough, because that same God has revealed himself 265 00:25:19.259 --> 00:25:26.690 in the world, in Jesus Christ, and our God, has done something 266 00:25:26.730 --> 00:25:36.000 in the world, the changes things. At the end of salmone of four 267 00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:42.079 it says something like I can't remember it exactly now. All of all find 268 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:52.789 it and read it to you. At the end of salmone of four, 269 00:25:55.029 --> 00:25:59.670 the PSALMA says let sinners be consumed from the earth and let the wicked be 270 00:25:59.910 --> 00:26:07.660 no more. There is something coming in this world that the Psalmist is hoping 271 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:11.940 for, the destruction of evil, the destruction of sin, the destruction of 272 00:26:12.059 --> 00:26:18.009 the dominion of darkness. What Jesus has done is he has a begun that 273 00:26:18.250 --> 00:26:23.130 work of defeat. Indeed it he has defeated them. As we read on, 274 00:26:23.289 --> 00:26:30.650 in verses Twenty One through twenty three, we read, I'm sorry it's 275 00:26:30.650 --> 00:26:34.440 further down, but he says that all of these things he makes peace by 276 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:37.759 the blood of the cross. There we go, verse twenty makes peace by 277 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:45.039 the blood of the cross. He puts rulers and authorities to open shame through 278 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:51.910 his ascension there on the cross. This, in other words, is reality 279 00:26:52.710 --> 00:26:56.150 and if we are to live rightly in this world, we have to recognize 280 00:26:56.190 --> 00:27:02.339 this. But the scriptures tell us it's not just about recognizing them as true, 281 00:27:03.259 --> 00:27:07.579 it's putting our faith in them, believing and trusting. That's how it 282 00:27:07.700 --> 00:27:11.700 is that we come to be rescued out of a dominion of darkness and to 283 00:27:11.779 --> 00:27:18.289 be brought into the new kingdom, the Kingdom of the beloved Sun. True 284 00:27:18.369 --> 00:27:27.009 wisdom therefore has to must always begin with Jesus Christ. How else could it 285 00:27:27.130 --> 00:27:33.440 be? Where else could you start? For in him is is all wisdom. 286 00:27:33.160 --> 00:27:38.279 He has done things in this world. Indeed, the father has revealed 287 00:27:38.519 --> 00:27:44.789 his wisdom through Christ. Paul says in First Corinthians, to shame the world, 288 00:27:45.109 --> 00:27:52.029 the worldly wisdom of this world. Here we see reality, here we 289 00:27:52.230 --> 00:27:56.990 see God in his wisdom. Shall we ignore it and sort of stick him 290 00:27:56.990 --> 00:28:02.220 in the back of our lives and say, well, that doesn't apply here. 291 00:28:03.579 --> 00:28:11.980 It applies to everything. He applies to everything, because from him and 292 00:28:11.420 --> 00:28:18.849 through him and for him are all things. So what shall we do? 293 00:28:21.049 --> 00:28:23.690 What we should do is, Paul says, what the word of Christ dwell 294 00:28:23.809 --> 00:28:30.799 in US richly. We should be like ground ready to soak in the rain. 295 00:28:32.000 --> 00:28:36.000 But was God pours his word out on us, we would just receive 296 00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:41.509 it and then bring forth fruit in our lives. That's how God works, 297 00:28:41.630 --> 00:28:45.069 that how he's that's how he works according to his wisdom. And as he 298 00:28:45.230 --> 00:28:49.349 says in in in First Corinthians, the the world looks at this and says 299 00:28:49.910 --> 00:29:00.619 that's ridiculous. Baby across a man to save the war world from their sins. 300 00:29:00.740 --> 00:29:08.220 That God would become man was considered foolishness to the Greeks. Where are 301 00:29:08.299 --> 00:29:11.769 the signs? Where are the wonders? I see him hanging on a cross, 302 00:29:12.529 --> 00:29:18.130 said the Jews. But God did these things, he says, in 303 00:29:18.250 --> 00:29:22.289 order to shame the wisdom of this world, that his power might be known 304 00:29:23.210 --> 00:29:29.640 in the foolishness, in fact, he says, in the foolishness of preaching. 305 00:29:32.880 --> 00:29:37.799 That's why Paul Talks about epaphus. That's why he talks about the word 306 00:29:37.880 --> 00:29:41.109 of Christ coming to them in this very simple way. You, you heard 307 00:29:41.190 --> 00:29:45.430 the Gospel, you understood it, and then fruit was brought forth. Stay 308 00:29:45.589 --> 00:29:49.670 in that, he says to them. Keep in that. Let the word 309 00:29:49.710 --> 00:29:57.259 of Christ dwell in you richly. Come to know the Lord Jesus, Christ 310 00:29:57.539 --> 00:30:06.180 Beloved, as he is given to you freely in this Gospel. Teach it 311 00:30:06.819 --> 00:30:11.690 to one another, admonish one another with it, eat it, drink it, 312 00:30:11.170 --> 00:30:15.769 live it, sing it. This is what it means to be a 313 00:30:15.849 --> 00:30:22.799 Christian and that's what it means to be wise immature. We'll sing in a 314 00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:25.839 moment, but let's pray first.