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Remember Who(se) You Are (Part Three) “Focused on Christ” Colossians 1:15-23 |
January 22, 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum |
This past August, Reuters news service ran a story about a South Korean man—identified only by his last name, Lee—who dropped dead after playing an online battle simulation game called, “Starcraft,” for almost 50 hours straight. Records show that Lee, who had recently been fired from his job for spending too much time playing computer games, logged onto the Internet at a local Internet café in the southern city of Taegu on Wednesday, August 3 and was still playing the game 2 days later.
When Lee’s mother had not heard from him by Friday, she asked some of his friends to find him and bring him home. When his friends found him, Lee told them that he would leave as soon as his game was finished. Unfortunately, he never finished the game. He collapsed a few minutes after his friends left and was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead of heart failure stemming from exhaustion.
I never met Mr. Lee but this much is clear—he was a very focused individual.
A few months ago Christianity Today ran an article on this idea of focus. In the article they talked about a local sports radio station that threw the following question out as a topic of discussion amongst their listeners—If somebody offered you $2 million, could you give up all forms of sports for 2 years? No games on TV, or radio, or in person. No Monday Night Football. No reading the sports page. No ESPN. No sports of any kind for 2 years for $2 million. Could you do it?
The topic generated a lot of conversation, but one caller’s passion set him apart from the herd when he said, “Not even for $25 million.” He said, “(Sports is) where I turn when I pick up the paper in the morning. It’s where I go when I’m on the Internet. It’s what I watch on television. It’s what I listen to on the radio in the car. Everywhere I go, it surrounds everything I do.”
Now, you may think he’s nuts…and destined to be single for a long, long time…but you gotta give him this—that’s one focused individual.
The book, “William Carey’s Life Text,” by F.W. Boreham is a biography of the great missionary pioneer to India. In it, Mr. Boreham tells the story of a young man who came to visit Carey as he lay on his deathbed. The young visitor was Alexander Duff and he greatly admired the famous missionary. After a long visit, Carey asked Duff to pray with him. Following the prayer, as Duff turned to leave, he heard Carey’s feeble voice calling him back. When he turned around Carey had a final word for him. He said, “Mr. Duff, you have been speaking about ‘Dr. Carey,’ ‘Dr. Carey.’ When I am gone, say nothing about Dr. Carey. Speak about Dr. Carey’s Savior.”
Now, folks, that’s focus too. But, what’s noteworthy here is the object of Carey’s focus. Clearly, the focus of William Carey’s life was Christ. And it’s this idea of living our lives with a laser-like focus on Christ that is at the heart of the text that we’re going to dive into this morning on this third week in our journey through the book of Colossians.
And the big lesson that I’m hoping we all take away from our study of God’s word this morning is simply this—LIFE WORKS BEST WHEN WE STAY FOCUSED ON CHRIST. It’s always true. There are no exceptions.
Let me see if I can restate that point coming from the opposite direction—life never gets better when we shift our focus away from Christ and onto something else. That never helps. And there are no exceptions. None.
“Well, I understand that but I’m at a critically important point right now with my education…or my career…or my kids…and I really need to focus all of my attention on my education…or my career…or my kids…for the time being.” Well, that’s your choice. But know this about your choice—you never improve your life by shifting your focus away from Christ and onto something else. Never. No exceptions.
THE SUPREMACY AND CENTRALITY OF CHRIST
And our text, this morning, will help us understand why that is. Let’s read Colossians 1:15-17. Speaking of Christ, Paul writes:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”
Now this is, admittedly, a very challenging passage to understand completely. But if we stay focused on the main ideas and the key words I think the big picture will become clear. Paul is writing to us, here, about what theologians call the “supremacy” and “centrality” of Christ. And the big picture that we need to see in these verses basically comes down to this—there is nothing in all of creation that is more important to creation than Christ.
He is supreme over creation. He is central to creation. And if you took His presence, His power and His influence out of creation the wheels would fly off.
There is nothing in all of creation that is more important to creation than Christ.
Folks, no wonder life works best when we stay focused on Christ.
WHY IS CHRIST SO IMPORTANT
But all of this leads us to ask a critically important, foundational question, namely—what is it about Christ that makes Him so important? The text we’ve just read offers us a 3-part answer to that question.
The first part of our answer is found in the beginning of verse 15, where it says that, “He is the image of the invisible God…” Let’s focus on the word, “image,” for a moment. The Greek word translated there as, “image,” means to “manifest” or “make known.” So, Paul is saying that Christ makes the invisible God known. He’s making the same point about Christ here that is also made in Hebrews 1:3 which describes Christ as “the exact representation” of God.
The point here is that when Jesus came into the world in human flesh he didn’t simply reflect the character of God, in the way that you and I reflect God’s character as we are shaped and molded over time by the Holy Spirit. Rather, when Jesus came into the world he brought the actual presence, substance and character of God with him. But even more significant than that is the fact that he brought God’s presence to us in a form that we could understand with our finite human minds. He was one of us.
--Because He was both God and one of us, He made the “invisible God,” visible.
--And because He was able to become one of us, without losing any of His Godly character, everything we need to know about God can be seen in Christ.
What is it about Jesus that makes Him so important?
To begin with, out of all of the billions of people who have walked on this earth, Jesus is the only one about whom it can be said that everything we need to know about God can be seen in him. And that means, folks, that if the desire of your heart is to get to know God, your search begins and ends in Christ.
No wonder life works best when we stay focused on Christ.
The second part of our answer to this question about the importance of Christ is found at the end of verse 15 and on through the first part of verse 17, which tells us that Christ is, “the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things…”
Now, again, while there are lots of details to explore here, let’s make sure that we’re very clear about the big picture that’s being painted for us here. And the big picture is this—not only is there a huge difference between Christ and us—namely, that He is God and we are not; but there is also a huge difference between Christ and everything else that exists in all of creation—and the difference is this—He created all of it. Everything in the universe can trace its point of origin to Christ. And that point is made repeatedly in these verses.
Verse 15 says that he is, “…the firstborn over all creation.” The Greek word translated there as “firstborn” conveys the idea of preeminence or supremacy. And that idea is further developed in the phrase that follows, “over all creation.” So the idea here is that all of creation is subordinate to Christ. He stands supreme over it all.
Christ’s preeminent position over all of creation is further emphasized in 3 similar statements in verses 16-17: “For by him all things were created…;” “…all things were created by him…;” and “…He is before all things…”
So, Paul is asserting something about Christ here that the vast majority of people…including many Christians… don’t really understand and that is that Christ was actively involved in the Creation process. Christ was an active participant in Creation. Biblical teaching about Creation is that God the Father designed and chose to bring creation into existence and God the Son implemented the Father’s plans and actually brought them into being.
Thus, all things were created by Christ. Now,
--Why is that important for you to understand?
--How does that little tidbit of theological trivia help you in your day-to-day life?
Well, folks, think about this: if all things were created by Christ that means that you were created by Christ. And, folks, you don’t have to be a genius to realize that no one is better qualified to know how something works best than the one who made it. Who could possibly be in a better position to know what is best for you than the one who made you?
No wonder life works best when we stay focused on Christ.
So, what is about Christ that makes Him so important?
--To begin with, everything that we need to know about God can be found in Christ.
--What’s more, since Christ created you, no one is better qualified to teach you and show you how you can function at your absolute best.
And that brings us to the final part of our answer to that question which is found in these words at the end of verse 17, “…in him all things hold together.”
Folks, roll that around in your mind for a few moments. In Christ all things hold together. Folks, there’s an incredibly important word for us here.
This statement further develops the significance of Christ’s role in creation and what it’s telling us is that Christ didn’t simply bring creation into being and then walk away from it to see what would happen, but rather since the moment creation was first brought into being, Christ has remained actively involved sustaining the work that he set in motion. Folks, the implication here is both clear and stunning and that is that absent the sustaining activity of Christ creation, as we know it, would cease to exist. The wheels would come off. It would come apart at the seams. It is the daily sustaining activity of Christ that maintains balance and order throughout the universe. In him all things hold together.
And guess what? Those words, “all things,” include me and you. In Christ I am held together. In Christ you are held together. In ways we often don’t even realize, Christ is actively at work in our lives holding us together, graciously protecting us from even greater chaos and calamity than that which is simply a part of the human experience.
We’ve talked about this many times before. Being a Christian does not guarantee a life of ease and comfort. But it does guarantee this—when we live by the power of Christ in us he will hold us together even in the midst of the storm.
Folks, the truth is that people will disappoint us, finances will disappear, sickness will come and our own foolishness and sinfulness will wound us deeply—but none of those experiences can destroy us if our focus is firmly fixed on Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ, remember that our hope and our confidence are not in people, finances, or our own strength and wisdom. Our hope and our confidence are in Christ and Christ holds all things together. No wonder life works best when we stay focused on Christ.
That you chose to be here, this morning, when you had countless other options available to you is convincing evidence indicating that Christ is clearly somewhere on the radar screen of your life. But here’s the question I have for you—where is He on that radar screen? Is he simply one of a hundred different objects spread across that screen…each one of which is trying to get your attention? Or is He right there in the center of the screen helping you to keep everything else in order? Would you be willing to ask God, right now, what you need to do to get Christ back in the center of your life where He deserves to be? Are you willing to do whatever it is that He tells you to do?
© Copyright 2006 Pastor Tom Marcum