Romans 8:18–23 ESV
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Longing for the new Creation!
Let this passage today encourage you that craziness, sickness, and sin we see around us will not endure > It will soon pass away!
First we saw Jesus is CREATOR of a perfect creation that fell
Now we see He is REDEEMER of His fallen Creation
We have so much to look forward to!
Revelation 21:1 ESV
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Revelation 22:1–5 ESV
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
1.0 HE IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CREATION (1:18)
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Head of the body—Meaning He is the SOURCE as well as LEADER
Authority, direction, leadership, empowerment for growth
The closer you are to the head, the closer you are to one another!
Various styles of church leadership: Bishop leads, Congregation Leads, Elders lead
Biblical style is the one in which Jesus is head of the church
If Jesus is HEAD—“I pity the fool that tries to tell the church what to do!”
*Chickens with their heads cut off experience all kinds of activity until it runs out of energy. Churches that lose connection with the head experience the same thing.
Lots of activity, but no life!
*Some years ago, someone on staff at the church I worked at took all the staff pictures and placed our heads on the bodies of various pictures. Our worship leader was a ballerina; our associate pastor was a shirtless body builder, I was a disco style piano player, etc...
The photos were pretty hilarious, because the head didn't fit the body.
If we look at Christ as the head of the church, would the world laugh at the misfit or would they see consistency?
“The Church of God apart from the Person of Christ is a useless structure. However ornate it may be in its organization, however perfect in all its arrangements, however rich and increased with goods, if the Church is not revealing the Person, lifting Him to the height where all men can see Him, then the Church becomes an impertinence and a sham, a blasphemy and a fraud, and the sooner the world is rid of it, the better.”—G. Campbell Morgan (Giant Steps. Christianity Today. Vol. 40, no. 6.)
Church = ἐκκλησία ekklēsía n. refers to a body of free citizens called together by a herald. It is an assembly of believers called to gather in the name of Christ.
Not a building > PEOPLE
Not an institution, but a LIVING ORGANISM
There is the universal church, the “called out ones,” baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
There is also the local church, a group of believers that gathers in person locally under Christ’s lead.
Beginning—Just as Genesis begins with, “In the beginning God” > New Creation will begin the same way: "In the beginning Jesus!”
Jesus discipled the first church
He sent His Spirit to empower it and help it grow
You become part of Christ’s body the moment you place your faith in Christ & Spirit indwells you
Firstborn from the dead—He is the one who conquered sin on Cross & death through Resurrection > Firstborn of the RESURRECTED SAINTS
Many people have been raised from the dead, but only to die again. Jesus was the first one to be raised who didn’t die again.
He became Head of the Church by being the first to be RESURRECTED w/ an eternal RESURRECTION BODY
1 Corinthians 15:20–26 ESV
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
HE IS the new creation to come!
Romans 6:3–4 ESV
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
DYING TO OLD LIFE > NO LONGER LIVING IN SIN
Firstborn = πρωτότοκος prōtótokos adj. “to be in the first position, with the implication of high rank and prominence—‘to be the first, to have superior status.’”—Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 737.
Not first chronologically, but rather in PREEMINENCE, PRIORITY, AUTHORITY
*We have an equivalent in our day—The First Lady: doesn’t mean that she was the first lady ever born, but that she has priority, position, and authority.
Preeminent—literally means “have the first place” in everything
He is the firstborn of CREATION & NEW CREATION
There is no part of eternity past or eternity future that He is not Preeminent!
He must have first place in everything in creation
He must have first place in everything in the church & ministry
He must have first place in everything in our life, relationships, jobs, finances, recreation
That is really the purpose of this section, to show that Christ is supreme. Do you allow Him that place in your life? Does anything else supersede His place in your life?
*Discovering the sun is the center of the solar system > Have to change understanding of the universe from a geocentric model of the universe
We revolve around the sun—gives light & life to earth
Discovering Christ is center should also change our whole view on life
Christianity is not a compartmentalizing your life, but allowing Jesus to completely fill it.
2.0 OUR CREATOR BECOMES PART OF HIS CREATION (1:19)
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Fullness—Technical term in Gnostic theology, denoting the totality of the supernatural powers that controlled men’s lives.
[To the Gnostic] “fullness meant all the angelic powers that emanate from God, fill the space between heaven and earth, and act as intermediaries between God and humans.”—Life Application Bible Commentary
There is a reason Paul uses this word in his letter 8 X’s
Paul’s use of the word “fullness” here was an intentional slap at the Gnostics, who used the same word, pleroma, to denote the totality of all the thousands of divine emanations or lesser gods. But Paul said, “No way! Jesus is not one of the lesser gods of the fullness. He is the Fullness!”—R. Kent Hughes, Colossians and Philemon: The Supremacy of Christ, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 36.
Fullness = πλήρωμα plḗrōma n. The full measure, completeness, totality.
God is fully present in person of Jesus
Colossians 2:9 ESV
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
There is no part of Jesus that is not God
Jesus is completely, totally, and perfectly displayed the attributes and works of God
Pleased to dwell—Delighted in tabernacling among us > Identifying with us
No part of God Jesus is not
No part of man Jesus is not
Not just a cold theological truth, but an enjoyable, delightful experience of God
*Having fun making tents w/ the kids! > Delightful to enter their world
Salvation is God’s JOYOUS work!
He tabernacled among us!
J.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Longing for the new Creation!
Let this passage today encourage you that craziness, sickness, and sin we see around us will not endure > It will soon pass away!
First we saw Jesus is CREATOR of a perfect creation that fell
Now we see He is REDEEMER of His fallen Creation
We have so much to look forward to!
Revelation 21:1 ESV
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
Revelation 22:1–5 ESV
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
1.0 HE IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW CREATION (1:18)
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Head of the body—Meaning He is the SOURCE as well as LEADER
Authority, direction, leadership, empowerment for growth
The closer you are to the head, the closer you are to one another!
Various styles of church leadership: Bishop leads, Congregation Leads, Elders lead
Biblical style is the one in which Jesus is head of the church
If Jesus is HEAD—“I pity the fool that tries to tell the church what to do!”
*Chickens with their heads cut off experience all kinds of activity until it runs out of energy. Churches that lose connection with the head experience the same thing.
Lots of activity, but no life!
*Some years ago, someone on staff at the church I worked at took all the staff pictures and placed our heads on the bodies of various pictures. Our worship leader was a ballerina; our associate pastor was a shirtless body builder, I was a disco style piano player, etc...
The photos were pretty hilarious, because the head didn't fit the body.
If we look at Christ as the head of the church, would the world laugh at the misfit or would they see consistency?
“The Church of God apart from the Person of Christ is a useless structure. However ornate it may be in its organization, however perfect in all its arrangements, however rich and increased with goods, if the Church is not revealing the Person, lifting Him to the height where all men can see Him, then the Church becomes an impertinence and a sham, a blasphemy and a fraud, and the sooner the world is rid of it, the better.”—G. Campbell Morgan (Giant Steps. Christianity Today. Vol. 40, no. 6.)
Church = ἐκκλησία ekklēsía n. refers to a body of free citizens called together by a herald. It is an assembly of believers called to gather in the name of Christ.
Not a building > PEOPLE
Not an institution, but a LIVING ORGANISM
There is the universal church, the “called out ones,” baptized into the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit.
There is also the local church, a group of believers that gathers in person locally under Christ’s lead.
Beginning—Just as Genesis begins with, “In the beginning God” > New Creation will begin the same way: "In the beginning Jesus!”
Jesus discipled the first church
He sent His Spirit to empower it and help it grow
You become part of Christ’s body the moment you place your faith in Christ & Spirit indwells you
Firstborn from the dead—He is the one who conquered sin on Cross & death through Resurrection > Firstborn of the RESURRECTED SAINTS
Many people have been raised from the dead, but only to die again. Jesus was the first one to be raised who didn’t die again.
He became Head of the Church by being the first to be RESURRECTED w/ an eternal RESURRECTION BODY
1 Corinthians 15:20–26 ESV
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
HE IS the new creation to come!
Romans 6:3–4 ESV
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
DYING TO OLD LIFE > NO LONGER LIVING IN SIN
Firstborn = πρωτότοκος prōtótokos adj. “to be in the first position, with the implication of high rank and prominence—‘to be the first, to have superior status.’”—Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 737.
Not first chronologically, but rather in PREEMINENCE, PRIORITY, AUTHORITY
*We have an equivalent in our day—The First Lady: doesn’t mean that she was the first lady ever born, but that she has priority, position, and authority.
Preeminent—literally means “have the first place” in everything
He is the firstborn of CREATION & NEW CREATION
There is no part of eternity past or eternity future that He is not Preeminent!
He must have first place in everything in creation
He must have first place in everything in the church & ministry
He must have first place in everything in our life, relationships, jobs, finances, recreation
That is really the purpose of this section, to show that Christ is supreme. Do you allow Him that place in your life? Does anything else supersede His place in your life?
*Discovering the sun is the center of the solar system > Have to change understanding of the universe from a geocentric model of the universe
We revolve around the sun—gives light & life to earth
Discovering Christ is center should also change our whole view on life
Christianity is not a compartmentalizing your life, but allowing Jesus to completely fill it.
2.0 OUR CREATOR BECOMES PART OF HIS CREATION (1:19)
19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
Fullness—Technical term in Gnostic theology, denoting the totality of the supernatural powers that controlled men’s lives.
[To the Gnostic] “fullness meant all the angelic powers that emanate from God, fill the space between heaven and earth, and act as intermediaries between God and humans.”—Life Application Bible Commentary
There is a reason Paul uses this word in his letter 8 X’s
Paul’s use of the word “fullness” here was an intentional slap at the Gnostics, who used the same word, pleroma, to denote the totality of all the thousands of divine emanations or lesser gods. But Paul said, “No way! Jesus is not one of the lesser gods of the fullness. He is the Fullness!”—R. Kent Hughes, Colossians and Philemon: The Supremacy of Christ, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 36.
Fullness = πλήρωμα plḗrōma n. The full measure, completeness, totality.
God is fully present in person of Jesus
Colossians 2:9 ESV
For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
There is no part of Jesus that is not God
Jesus is completely, totally, and perfectly displayed the attributes and works of God
Pleased to dwell—Delighted in tabernacling among us > Identifying with us
No part of God Jesus is not
No part of man Jesus is not
Not just a cold theological truth, but an enjoyable, delightful experience of God
*Having fun making tents w/ the kids! > Delightful to enter their world
Salvation is God’s JOYOUS work!
He tabernacled among us!
Colossians 1:18-20 "Firstborn of the New Creation"
INTRODUCTION Anybody getting tired of this world ? Things are not right in this world > It is fallen! Get so upset at what we see on the NEWS What is supposed to be JUSTICE is actually INJUSTICE It’s like we are living in the inverse world of darkness where superheroes are the bad guys...
sermons.logos.com
J.
