Romans 5:1-8:39 (David Cook)

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The following are the notes I (Daniel) took during the sermon when we heard it live at Word Alive in Wales (Easter 2015):

Word Alive 2015 – Romans 8 The way to maturity – David Cook  

From ch1-5 question: Well, does it matter then how I live? Paul anticipates this in chapter 6. Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!

Problem of legalism or licence!

5:18-19 many will be made righteous. Are you Adam’s person or are you Christ’s person.

Illustrated in chapter 6. Baptism. Don’t you realise you were baptised into Christ. Died to Adam (old way) raised to new life.
Slave market – don’t you realise you are dead to the old master impurity
7:1ff marriage – can remarry only after death of spouse. Death has intervened – you have died to law, now free to marry Christ and new life.

6:11 in the same way make this calculation about yourselves: dead to sin, alive to Christ. (First command in Romans).

Legalism – dead to law. But licence is not an option! Dead to sin, alive to Christ.

Rom 8. Very hard to be a Christian in Nero’s Rome.

Will my past come back to condemn me
Am I a servant (can be fired) or a son (never taken away)?
What about my suffering?  Is this consistent with being Christ’s man, and can these things wreck God’s plans?

We need to keep hearing about justification again and again. Paul reminds us again and again: for the justified there is NO CONDEMNATION, Wooo!
Justification Past (what Christ has done), present (what Holy Spirit is doing)and future (what God will do)

V1-4 The past
No condemnation for those in Christ Jesus – because the rule of the Spirit which we have received has set us free from death. The law could not save us because we cannot do them. So v3 God sends his son as a pure man to be a sin offering – to meet the demands of the law in those how now live
The death of the innocent for the undeserving.
People will do anything (pilgrimage, even eat dirt) except trust in Jesus.
We cannot bear the guilt of our sin. Our past is gone. Guilt has been dealt with.

V5 the present
Q: am I well enough resourced in this conflict between the sin nature and the spirit.
The FIGHT. War of our natures. V9 you are NOT controlled by the sin nature. If you belong to Christ you have the Spirit.
I looked for the dove, and it flew away. I looked to the cross, and the dove flew into my heart (Spurgeon)
V10 body is dead because of sin, but alive to Christ cf 2 Cor 4:16 We do not lose heart.
The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the assurance of our resurrection.
Born. Born again / regenerated. Die. Soul will be with Christ in paradise.” You do not have a soul. You are a soul – you have a body” CS Lewis. We will come with Christ in the clouds. Resurrection body will clothe my soul.
My body is depreciating because of the wages of sin. But we will be raised to life again.
Only talks 2 times about leading of spirit. Led by the Spirit to v13 put to death misdeeds of the body. You do not have an obligation to the sinful nature. We do not need to obey the sinful nature!
When was the last time you gave in to your sinful nature and said “oh that was good, I’m so glad I did that!”
Trust the Holy Spirit to lead you in the path of moral transformation
V15 You did not receive a spirit of fear, but a sprit which cries Abba father. “I dared to call him Father”.
V22 all creation is groaning
v23 we also groan as we wait for new creation
V26 Spirit helps us in our weakness but He intercedes for us.
Sometimes life is so hard I simply don’t know what to pray. Spirit intercedes for us. The paraclete, said Jesus – He is who is alongside.

The future
V28-29 Things are not out of control. In all things God is at work. It does not say that all things work out for the best (as a universal principle) – it says God is at WORK. Even when we are being slaughtered, in hardship.
2 qualifiers.
1.Only those loved by God. (human perspective)
Those called by God (divine perspective)
2. what is the good? To be conformed to the likeness of Christ. Christ is in family of God by right. We are there by grace. God’s agenda is to make us like our elder brother, Christ.
Cf Gal 4 (They’re being tempted to go back to law) v19 In labour pains (life of pastor!) until Christ formed in you.


V28
threefold office
prophet – word of God
priest – prays to God 
king – rules
We have a kingly ministry. We reign over every event of life. Nothing ultimately harmful for me because it will make me like Christ. How comforting for you, how annoying for your enemies!
Illustration: Donald bought a new car. Loved it (finally saved up) Son Andrew crashed it. “Are you all right, son” Changed his life.

Paul concludes with three questions v31-21
is there an enemy who can prevail? No
is there an effective accuser on judgement day? No because the judge is on your side
is there anything that can frustrate the purposes of God? No! We are more than conquerors because nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Are you Christ’s? Or Adams? Remember who you belong to?

JI Packer 5things (pg 257):
I am a child of God
Heaven is my home
Every day is one day nearer heaven
My saviour is my brother
All Christians are therefore my brothers and sisters

Exodus 1:1-14 Aliens and strangers

Exodus 1:1-14

How does God work in the world today?
Does he wind up the world like a clock and then let it run down?
Does he send down a bunch of operating instructions (the Bible, for example) and then wait and see what happens?
Does he play with us like dolls, like a child, and we are mere puppets in his play?

What we learn in Exodus is that none of those are correct. The reality is that God is sovereign (in control) and active in His world. And we are not puppets but real people with real choices and real responsibility, and somehow our choices and God’s sovereignty go hand in hand. God is active, for his glory – and we can be part of his glorious salvation plan!

Exodus takes place in history. These are historical events with real people and in real places. The Bible is not embarrassed by this, this dependence on provable (or disprovable) events. God reveals himself to us through time and history, through events that human being experience. This is not a book of dry philosophy, thoughts we must thing about God. Greek philosophy and Oriental mysticism always seek to remove man from nature, from creation. Matter is dirty. From Buddhism to Zoroastrianism to Hinduism to Star Wars (“luminous beings are we, not this crude matter” says Yoda) we are spiritual beings, and we must seek to throw off the shackles of the material.

The other extreme is of course our Western materialism which assumes that there is only a material world, that the spiritual does not exist.

The Bible is an embarrassment to both. Materialism is revealed to be only part of the picture – but spiritualism has a faulty view of the material. Remember that the end of the story is not that we become a bunch of floaty angelic spirit beings, sitting in white light playing harps – but a new heavens and a new earth, with new imperishable bodies (that is, bodies that cannot be destroyed).

So in Exodus we see great material events with great spiritual significance. It is what is called theological history. Theos is the Greek word for God, so theological history is history in relation to God or history through God’s eyes.
This year we’ve spent a long time reading theological history in the book of Acts. In Acts we’ve been reading the events of the growth of the Christian church, and at each point we are shown how it is God who is behind these events, how it is He who is growing his church, sending out missionaries, converting people. He is the Prime Mover of church history.

And we find the same revealed here in Exodus. It is God who orchestrates these events in order to reveal to us who he is: his character, his power, his glory, his Name. A refrain throughout the Old Testament is this “that you/they may know that I am the Lord (YHWH)”. He is the Prime Mover in all of history for one purpose: that we may know him. John Piper, based on Jonathan Edwards work, sums up the Bible, and indeed all of history, to be about one thing: the glory of God.

Ex 14:4 I have planned this in order to display my glory through Pharaoh and his whole army. After this the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD!

We are not the hero of the Bible stories. It is Christ. He is the hero of the Bible. Remember Jesus’ words to the Pharisees: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.” (John 5:39-40 (ESV))

And remember what we learned from Colossians: Col 1:26–27 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret (or mystery): Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.

Exodus is about Christ, and reveals to us the glory of God.

With that in mind, let us turn to the introduction to the book.

1. The people of Israel are blessed 1:1-7

These are the names of the sons of Israel (that is, Jacob) who moved to Egypt with their father, each with his family: 2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, 3 Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, 4 Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. 5 In all, Jacob had seventy descendants in Egypt, including Joseph, who was already there. 6 In time, Joseph and all of his brothers died, ending that entire generation. 7 But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

Here we have listed the twelve tribes of Israel, named after the twelve sons of Jacob (called Israel). And look how numerous they have become. V7 In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

The opening verse of Exodus remind us that God keeps his promises. What promise, you may ask? Turn back to Gen 12:1–3 The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. 2 I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. 3 I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”

It’s an echo of the covenant (promise) God made to Adam Gen 1:28 Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it.”

The Lord is keeping his promise, Abraham’s descendants filling the land, becoming as numerous as the starts in the night sky, or sand on the seashore (Gen 22:17, God’s promise to Isaac, Abraham’s son). V9 is the first time Israel is called a “people”. The Lord is keeping his promise.

But not all of the promise is fulfilled, is it? They’re not in the Promised Land, are they? They are in Egypt! And so Exodus opens with a problem – how to get the people of God to move from their comfortable houses and good lands in Egypt, and get them to the Promised Land.

The start of God’s fulfilment of his promise to Abraham is surprising: the plan to bless Israel started with a declaration of slavery! (v11)

How powerful God is. How majestic. How surprising. How different. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts not our thoughts. He is a master at using our evil for good.

How often does something terrible happen to us – which later we see is of such a deep blessing to us. When I was at Sagavoll (here in Gvarv), one of my classmates killed himself – hanged himself in the cellar of our dormitory. And I discovered his body. That experience was like a wrecking ball whistling through my carefully constructed life. At one moment I was laid bare – and I realised that, at the end of the day, there is nothing but me and God. I stand before him, alone. Nothing else. It shook me up, and was the beginning of God’s saving work in my life (he saved me 9 months later in Drammen. Bing, the lights came on!). But that experience, terrible as it was in seeing my friends corpse, is not something I would ever give up. God used that to save me. God used that to show me where I stood with him. He knocked away all my other support structures to show me that He is enough.

The Israelites found themselves enslaved. And so what do they do? They cry out to the Lord. They realise they are helpless, that they need him. And they experience the most amazing rescue that history has ever seen – other than the cross of Christ.

God keeps his promise. His people will be blessed in slavery and in rescue. They will know that he is the Lord, and his name is glorious.

But before we carry on, let’s take a quick step back through the chapters of Genesis we skipped over, and get ourselves up to speed. Context is key to understanding the Bible, so what have we missed?

2. Genesis 22-50

Earlier on this year we covered the life of Abraham. If you’ve missed that series, download it and listen to it. What we saw was how God chose this man Abraham to be the start of his salvation plan for the world. We’ve already read the promise God made to Abraham in Gen 12:1-3, and the rest of the Bible follows the fulfilment of that promise: land, people, and blessing. The land of Canaan (Israel), the people of Israel, and the blessing of knowing God, and sharing that knowledge with the nations (Israel was a kingdom of priests, a light to the nations – at least, they should have been!). All this finds its fulfilment ultimately in Christ. We know Israel mess things up – sinning at every turn and generally behaving like…well, a lot like us if we’re perfectly honest! The Old Testament ends with the Abrahamic Covnenant still unfulfilled, and carries the tension “how can a holy God forgive unholy people”.
All that is solved in Christ. His death covers our sins and we receive his righteousness. And he fulfils the Abrahamic Covenant: we are his people, the church from every nation and tribe and people-group; we are blessed, his Holy Spirit is with us and in us; and our land is the New Creation, promised and guaranteed.

But that’s the end of the story. We’re still at the start. We saw how Abraham lived in a “bubble” of blessing – the Lord had promised to bless him and so he was blessed, even though, as we saw, he certainly did not deserve it, as he sinned against the Lord, a faithless, cowardly, adulterous man. Yet God forgave him and loved him. Gives us hope doesn’t it! If Christ can cover the sins of Abraham, he can cover our sins.

When we left Genesis, in chapter 23, Sarah had died and been laid to rest. Abraham bought a burial plot because of his faith in the Lord. It is the first piece of land he owns in the land promised to him by the Lord. He buys it, instead of accepting it as a gift, because he trusts that the Lord will keep his promises. For Abraham, it is a deposit guaranteeing (looking forward with certainty) his inheritance (the land). In the same way the Holy Spirit is our deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. We know that we will be with Christ upon the new Earth because the Spirit is with us now. (Eph 1:13-14)

In Chapter 24 which we hopped over, the story starts to focus in on Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, provided by the hand of God, and we see that God is blessing Isaac, just as he had promised. As we read in 25:11 After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac, who settled near Beer-lahai-roi in the Negev.
Because the story has now moved on from Abraham to Isaac. Chapter 25 spends a few verses on the final years of Abraham – and that’s basically it. Abraham’s part in this tale is over, his job is done – but God’s plan – oh, that is just beginning! Wait and see what God will do! After Abraham’s death, God blessed his son Isaac.

Isaac marries Rebekah, the bride given by God. A bride who is once again barren – oh no, what will happen to God’s promise? Ge 25:21–22 Isaac pleaded with the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. And God remembers his promise: The LORD answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins.

Those twins were Easu and Jacob. Jacob was a conniving sneak, as was Rebekah! And yet God chose him, despite the fact that he was the younger twin, despite the fact that he was a cheat and a thief and a liar, and Jacob receives the promises of God and birthright of the firstborn. God forgives and blesses sinners! Are we getting the message yet?
Jacob has two significant experiences: In Gen 28, in a dream he sees ladder between heaven and earth, and the Lord confirms the Abrahamic Covenant with him. The Covenant is the bridge, the way from earth to heaven, the Covenant which is fulfilled in Christ Jesus our Lord, whose outstretched arms ont eh Cross bridged heaven and earth as he gave his life so that sinners like us could be made righteous to be with the Righteous One, God Almighty.

Jacob’s second experience was when he received the name Israel. In a rather strange tale, Jacob wrestles with God (in Gen 32), and is renamed “Israel” which means “God fights” or “fights with God”, and is blessed, receiveing assurance that the Lord is with him and the Covenant is reaffirmed.

Israel then has twelve sons (unsurprisingly his wife Rachel was barren – oh no! But God again steps in to honour his promise). One of these sons was Joseph, and that brings me to my final point in setting the scene for Exodus.

3. Joseph, saviour of the world

8 Eventually, a new king came to power in Egypt who knew nothing about Joseph or what he had done.

What had he done? Well, we already know that Joseph was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, from which come the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph was Jacobs favourite son because he was Rachel’s son, and Rachel was his true love – his other wife Leah, and their two servants he slept with…out of duty, I suppose? The books of Israel’s history hardly ever stop to condemn what the characters are doing – like polygamy and adultery is bad. No, it just tells the story, unfolds the consequences of those actions. Jacob’s multiple sexual partners ended up with a bunch of brothers who hated Joseph, because he was the favourite. It didn’t help that Joseph had a dream that they would all bow down to him, including their father and mothers. This made them furious and so they plotted to kill him.

Out in the fields Joseph came to them, and they attacked him, tore off his coat of many colours – the special coat given to him by his father Jacob, and threw him into a pit while they decided how to kill him. At that time a group of traders just happened to pass by, and the brothers thought “why kill him, when we can make a bit of money”, and sold him into slavery. The traders took him to Egypt. Little did they know that there evil actions, their prostitution of brotherly love – even that God would use, and turn into salvation for the whole world, including them!

Joseph learned humility as a slave, and worked hard for his new master, Potiphar. But Potiphar’s wife wanted to have sex with him, and when he refused, running away (good job Joseph), she falsely accused him of sexually assaulting her, and so he was thrown in jail, wrongly accused. But God had not forgotten him. At the right time he was brought before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, because of a dream he had. None of the wise men of Egypt could understand it, but God gave Joseph understanding: there would be a famine in the land, and this is how they were to prepare for it. Pharaoh was so amazed that he raised Joseph up to the highest position in the land, and gave Joseph charge over the preparations for the famine.

The severe famine came to the lands, lasting for seven years, but because of Joseph, Egypt was blessed and suffered no ill effects of the famine. People from the lands around came to Egypt for food, including, would you believe it, Joseph’s brothers! They came to ask him for food, but they did not recognise him, until he told them who he was. Joseph forgave them, understanding that what they had intended for evil, God had worked for good. There was great joy as the family was reunited by the love of God.

So that is what v8 is talking about: Joseph, the saviour of Egypt, and indeed, the world. But there is more to Joseph’s story.

Joseph was rejected by his own people, betrayed by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, unjustly punished by the Gentiles for crimes he did not commit, but he was not forgotten by God, but exalted to the highest place in all the land where he saved the whole world. Sound familiar?

Philippians 2:6–11 Though [Christ Jesus] was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, 8 he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross. 9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honour and gave him the name above all other names, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God gives us these patterns, these foreshadowings, so that when Jesus appears we will recognise him as the Christ. Here he is, the man of sorrows, rejected, unjustly condemned, but now raised up, the saviour of the world!

God reveals his glory to us through real events and people in history. Abraham, Joseph, now Moses and the people of Israel – and supremely in Jesus of Nazareth, his son, our Lord and Christ (Messiah).
So have no fear, the Lord is in control. He is ruler of history, and all things are moving towards one goal: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Eph 1:10

Colossians 1:15-24 Christ is supreme

Colossians 1:15-24

Colossians. What a book! Christ is supreme. What a joy to be focussed on him, our Creator, our head, our saviour, our joy, our life.

So far in chapter 1 we’ve been reminded that the gospel is a GIFT from God, and our lives are lived in gratitude. 6 This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about GOD’s wonderful grace.

Our lives change as we hear and understand the truth. V9 and 10 make the same point: We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honour and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit.

So, you want live a life pleasing to God, producing good fruit? You need to KNOW and UNDERSTAND the truth. If this is new to you, grab the MP3 of the sermon online!

Last week we saw how Paul launches into his hymn of praise about our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God… 18… He is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ,

We were reminded of the truths that Christ is our all in all, because he is God; and Christ is our all in all, because he is human.

Jesus is the visible image of God, and indeed the fullness of God.
And therefore we need nothing else. In Christ we become who we are born to be. He is the image of God, like we are meant to be – and in Him we too can reflect the glory of God.

Christ is our all in all, because he is God; and Christ is our all in all, because he is human. Again, if you missed last week – well, you missed out! Download the talk, listen to it, and spend time as we did in adoration and admiration of our Saviour!

Now on to this week. More fuel for our adoration! We’ll spend some time thinking about how Christ is our Creator (v15-16), Christ is our destiny (we are made to glorify Christ) (v16-17), Christ is our head, and we are his body (v18-19), Christ has made peace (v20-22), and, finally, our response is to not be moved from Christ (v23).

1. Christ is our Creator (V15-16)

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, 16 for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth.

Christ is God, and part of being God is being the Creator.

Christ is not part of creation. God did not create him first, then everything else. v15 says “he existed before anything as created” and v17 says again, for those who are a bit slow: He existed before anything else. If he is pre-existent then he must be God for only God existed before anything else was created.

Everything is created through him, including angels, demons and all other things in the heavens and upon the earth. Many false teachers claim Jesus is just an angel – another spiritual being. Even the Pharisees in their desperation accused Jesus of being the devil. But what does the Bible say? 16 He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.

Christ is as superior to the spirit world of angels and demons as a painter is to his painting. That is why 2:18–19 says Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body.

Why worship angels instead of the one who made the angels? That’s like trying to talking to this book instead of my Dad. The book is far inferior to knowing the author! Why would you worship what is made (the book) rather than the Maker (my Dad)?

What does this mean for us? Only Christ is worthy of our worship. All other things are idols – mere things made by God. Even great things, powerful things, even angels – these are made by Christ, and he is therefore superior to them. Do not be tempted to worship them, to follow them. Fallen angels, demons, the Devil: they may promise easy power, or a form of religion where you are in control, or a more tame “God” to worship, or a pick-your-own morality. Don’t fall for the lie. Next to Christ they are nothing, a clanging gong, an empty ringing bell, without rhyme or reason. He is the symphony of our soul, the rumbling glorious song of praise throughout the universe.

He is our Creator.

He is our Creator, and he made us for his good pleasure.

2. Christ is our destiny (I am here to glorify Christ)

Ever ask the question “why am I here?” “What is my purpose in life?” “Why was I born?”

My sister did. She asked my Dad: “Daddy, why am I me?”
“Ummm. Well, you see, um, when a man loves a woman, um. Er.... ”
“Daddy, if I wasn’t me, would I be somebody else?”
“Errr. Well, um. You see”
Now he always ends this story by saying “go and ask your mother” – but I think that’s for laughs rather than what he said!
But it’s a good question, isn’t it? “Why am I me?”

And the answer is at the end of v16. See it there? Everything was created through him and...for him.

You were made for Christ. You were made for his good pleasure. You were made to be part of his body, the church over which he is head. You were made to be blameless and holy, without fault, standing in his own presence without a single fault. 2:7 Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. In fact, in chapter 3 Paul goes so far as to say that Christ is our life. Look at 3:2-4  Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

We were made for him. We are his body. Our lives are built on him. Indeed he is our real life. We live for Christ, and him alone.

And he is the one who holds all things together. Look at v17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.
Every breath we take is a gift from him. We are totally dependent on him. We remind ourselves of that every time we pray. That’s why prayer is so important – it is a declaration of dependence on Him who holds all things together. We are his.

How often do we forget that? We pursue our own goals, our own desires, our own pleasures, without ever stopping to think: is this what Christ wants? We need to live intentionally – that is, live thinking about how we are living. We do not just let life happen to us, but we challenge ourselves, bringing our lives under the lordship of Christ. How am I serving Christ in my work? How am I serving Christ with my wife? With my kids? How am I serving Christ in my free time, in my holidays, with my friends, in my church?

A little example from my work: why did I think that a job as a Chartered Accountant was more or less secure than, say, starting a church? Why am I tempted to trust in my own abilities rather than the grace of God? As if he does not know what I need, and is unable to provide it. He provides each breath, and I worry and fret about my salary? Foolish boy!

Why am I me? I am me to give glory to Christ.

We were made for him. And one of the ways we show this, is through church. How we care for each other, relate to each other, and reach the lost, reveals what we truly think about Christ. For

3. Christ is our head, and we are his body (v18-19)

Look at v18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. He is the head of the church. He is supreme over all who rise from the dead – that’s us by the way! Those who rise from the dead. We have been called to life by Christ.

The word translated supreme is the word “firstborn”. This both means first (as in supreme) but also has the idea of the firstborn son in mind: the one who will inherit the family fortune. Christ is not only supreme in the church, but also the inheritor, the owner, of all those raised to life. We belong to him.

He is our Head, our Leader, our Master.

Church is, therefore, not primarily about us, about meeting our needs (even our spiritual needs). Church is about Christ. We are here to honour him, to praise him, to obey him – together.

He is our head, and we are his body. We are joined to each other. There are not many heads, but one head, and every Christian is joined together in one worldwide, universal body. And we here are a reflection of that. We are joined together, united, one body, under one head: Christ. And we are incomplete without each other. Just like a hand cannot be by itself – it must be joined to the rest of the body – so we cannot survive without our Christian brothers and sisters. The church is our lifeline, our connection to each other and to our head.

Further, because we are his body, we are the way Christ works in the world. He works through the church.

It’s not surprising then that the next verse then says: For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him reconcile everything to himself. That is our job as his body: to reveal the fullness of God that is found in Christ, and to proclaim to the world the reconciliation achieved by Christ. As it says in 3:16 Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. 17 And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.

Let this rich message about Christ fill our lives, so whatever we do, we do it as representatives of Christ. That is our job, that is who we are.

Because he, Christ, is our head. We are twice his: we are his because he created us, and we are his because he has called us to new life. Creation and salvation. We are his.

How foolish we are when we talk about “my life” “my job” “my family” “my house” “my car” – all that am is Christ’s. All that I have he has given me. How does that change the way that I live?
I need to see all things, all relationships, as coming from his hands.

We will live forever. This life will be gone in a moment. He is our head. He is our Creator. He is our destiny (we are made for him). Let us live like it.

4. Christ has made peace (v20-22)

Now by this stage some of us might be getting frustrated. It’s been very much about “theology” and about attitudes and ways of thinking. Where’s the “ten steps to a better life” or “How to get God to do what you want” sorry, I mean “5 Power-packed principles to unleash God’s blessing”.
But seriously, these verses are frustrating, though, aren’t they? They are Christ-focussed almost to the exclusion of everything else. They are not about us, but about him. The glory goes to him, not to us. Him, him him. First in everything. First in creation. First in the church.

And we think: but what about me?

Ugh. What an ego we have. What delusions of grandeur that we should share the stage with He who called light into being in the darkness, He who placed the stars in the sky, He who says to the waves “no further” – He who rules all things, sustains all things. And we want to push ourselves forward in front of Him and say “me, meeee, meeeeeeee!”.

20 through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions.

Evil thoughts and actions. Selfishness. Self-obsession. Wanting our own glory. My life. My decisions. All that. Because theology IS important. It uncovers our motivations, uncovers our heart. Why do we do the things we do? It’s quite possible to go to church, be a nice person, even lead people to Christ – without knowing Christ. All done to our praise and glory.

Oh, how I hate that part of me! The self-obsessed ego, purring over his own performance, influence, power. It infects everything, from my relationship with my wife and children, to my view of God. Festering, rotten, self-obsession. Praise God, then, for v22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault

Oh, what relief! He knows my ego. He knows my hatred of him. He knows that I am far from him with my evil thoughts and actions. He knows I want to take his place, take the glory that it is. He knows I keep forgetting that my life belongs to him. And yet he does not simply wipe me out with a word. Instead, He has reconciled me to himself. This is his action, not mine. He has declared me holy, blameless, without a single fault. And if you are his, He has declared you holy, blameless, without a single fault.

Christ has made peace. Praise him!

5. Do not move from Christ (v23)

This then is what we must do. This is our performance, our response: 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.

Grasp hold of Christ like a drowning man on to the lifeguard and DON’T LET GO! Only a fool dives off the rescue boat to get some trinket – but that’s what we are like when we are tempted to abandon Christ for ANYTHING ELSE, however shiny and attractive it may seem.

Christ is our Creator (v15-16), Christ is our destiny (we are made for him, to glorify him) (v16-17), Christ is our head, and we are his body (v18-19) – and if after that we are filled with shame because our lives do not ring out “I belong to Christ!” in every moment – praise him, for Christ has made peace (v20-22), and our response is to grasp hold of that peace, our Saviour’s outstretched hand, and hang on for dear live. Brothers, sisters, do not be moved from Christ (v23).