Thank you Mark and Diane for leading us again, good time of worship, welcome to everyone, glad you're all here this morning. This morning we are beginning a new study in the book of Colossians and this is a tremendous book, it's all about Jesus, so that's good to preach and learn and look at Jesus. It's been said that Ephesians is about the body of Christ, the church, and Colossians is about the Christ, the head of the body. This is a Christological Christ-centered epistle and it shows the sufficiency of Christ and the preeminence of Christ in all things. Chapter 1 verse 18 is really the heart of the letter, it says, and he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. 

Now I want to jump right into our text this morning, please look with me at Colossians 1 at verse 15. Paul writes, he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things and in him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. 

Well, I've given you three points and some sub points on your outline this morning. First, we're going to set the scene in our introduction. Second, we're going to look at man's wisdom. Third, the preeminence of Christ in creation, in salvation, in the church, in our lives, and in our message. 

Well, first we want to set the scene of this epistle, the historical and geographical setting, to help us understand as well as the origin and some of the challenges of this body of believers. This church was founded and located in the region of Asia Minor, most likely during or after Paul's time in Ephesus. We see that this letter is precipitated by a man who comes to Paul during his imprisonment in Rome, a man named Epaphras, and we believe that Epaphras was led to Christ during Paul's ministry in Asia Minor, specifically his time in Ephesus. 

Ephesus was about 120 miles from Colossae and there were two other churches in that area also mentioned in the scriptures, Hierapolis and Laodicea. It seems that Epaphras was instrumental in starting these churches and was the leader or pastor of the church in Colossae. Colossians 1.7 says, "...as you also learn from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf." Chapter 4 verse 12 says, "...Epaphras, who is one of you, a bond servant of Christ, greets you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God." 

And in Philemon 1.23 it says this, "...Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you." Epaphras was apparently imprisoned for his faithful witness as was Paul. We know that it was Tychicus who carried the letter from Paul to Philemon on behalf of the runaway slave Onesimus and also carried this letter to the church in Colossae. So Epaphras was well known in these churches located in this area and of these three cities, and he traveled an incredible distance to see Paul in Rome, approximately 1,300 miles. That was his concern for the church and what was going on. 

This he did because he had some serious concerns about potential doctrinal threats to the churches he cared for. Colossae was an ancient city in Phrygia, located in modern-day Turkey in the Lycus River Valley near Laodicea and Hierapolis. As we said, about 120 miles from Ephesus, resting at the foot of Mount Cadmus along the Lycus River, a tributary of the Meander River. So this was a major trade route dating back to the 5th century BC, and the city was wealthy and famous largely due to its wool trade. They were famous for their sheep and their wool industry there in Colossae. 

But due to new roads and trade routes, the city was diminished in Paul's time, was no longer the prominent city it once was, and it would be only a couple hundred years that it would exist no more. The new roads that were built, incidentally, went through Laodicea and made this a very prosperous city with much wealth, as we read in the book of Revelation. The church in Colossae was almost exclusively Gentile, Greeks and Phrygians, but it did have a population of Jewish people as well. 

You remember our old friend Antiochus Epiphanes that we just looked at extensively in the book of Daniel? He had placed a couple of thousand Jews in this area in the 3rd century BC, and so there were likely some Jewish believers in the church as well, and certainly there was a Jewish presence in this city. Greek religion was also a major influence in this place. It was in Phrygia, a region with its own local cults and deities. The city was known for its healing springs and veneration of the archangel Michael, so they were into angels. 

We see a very strange mix of issues that were threatening this body of believers, and we can understand it from the internal evidence of this letter. Greek philosophy, asceticism, and local cults, including angel worship, were an influence and potential threat, but at the same time, there was the false teaching of legalism, particularly regarding Jewish legalism, circumcision, ceremonies, law-keeping. So in what seems to be a very strange mix, we see this Greek philosophy and wisdom of men combined with Jewish legalism apparently coming together, threatening this little church. 

It was the wisdom of man, as it always is, that threatened the preeminence of Christ in the lives of these believers. There's much discussion as to exactly what the heresy was that Epaphras was so concerned about. Many label it Gnosticism, you've probably heard that term, and this may be true in its infancy, a sort of pre-Gnostic set of ideas mixed with Jewish legalism, but Gnosticism did not really formally exist until the 3rd century. 

It also seems to me that the Essenes could have played a role in influencing this church. Their doctrines and system of living fit perfectly into the description we find here. The Essenes were one of the three sects of Judaism in the time of Christ and of Paul. They sat on the Sanhedrin, but they lived a very different life than the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Essenes were ascetics. Their life was one of self-denial for the performance of virtuous acts.

They had no money, no luxuries, no relations with women. They sought contentment and salvation away from the world. We read this from the historian Josephus. I thought this was kind of interesting. He said, the Essenes held all things in common. They were indeed a brotherhood. All activity was for the common good of the community. When they joined, they relinquished all their personal property. When they worked, their salaries were handed over to a common purse. If anywhere in need, they could simply take from the common supplies, and no one had a private house, for the dwellings were open to all Essenes. 

He lived with the Essenes, Josephus did, for three years. He said they forbade marriage and adopted children for instruction to propagate their religion. He wrote this in describing their daily routine. He said, with great piety they would all arise in silence with no speaking until after the ancestral prayer facing the sun. Afterwards, they would be dismissed by supervisors to their crafts, working until the fifth hour. When they reassembled, bathed in cold water, entered the restricted room, and were seated wearing sacred garments. They each served a meal. The priests prayed, they ate, then they prayed again. The priests blessed God. They would then return to their work. They would take dinner in the same way, allowing each other to speak in turn, with no shouting or vulgar talk. 

This silence was a mystery to the outsider. So the Essenes observed strict religious orders, much like the monks of the Roman Catholic religion. They functioned as scribes and prophets, studying, preserving the scriptures, the books of their sect, the names of angels. Their work of healing involved ascribing properties to stones and roots for protection, kind of like healing stones that we have today. And they were expert in foreseeing the future. They worshipped in obedience to the law. There was daily instruction, except on the Sabbath. During instruction, they set an order, one man reading, one elder explaining, usually by symbols and allegories. 

They had strict discipline. If they were caught in a fault, they were expelled. Many starved to death because they had no way to support themselves. But it says the community took many of them back at their last gasp, believing that they had suffered for the expiation of their sins. It seems to me that this group fits very well with the heresy, and they were in that area and had influence. Some scholars believe that this was the influence Epaphras feared. Worship of angels, wisdom of men, aesthetics, legalism, ritual, all rolled up into one. 

But here's what I want for us to understand. It may be useful to understand the type of error that was threatening the churches there. But the error is always the same. In man's wisdom, in philosophy, whether Greek or Jewish, Essenes, or the religions of our time, or psychology, or whatever it may be, even in Christian context, the error is always that we need something more than Jesus. Jesus is not sufficient. Jesus is not the only way. Jesus is not God. Jesus is just a good teacher, an emanation from God, or an example to follow, or one of the ways to salvation. 

John dealt with these same types of errors in his epistles. He wrote that he who denies Christ denies the Father also. So how is it that we deny Christ? There's two ways. We either deny who he is, or we deny what he has done. We deny his sufficiency in salvation, or we deny his sufficiency for life and godliness. Peter tells us that in Christ, God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. Whether it's the Gnostics, the Essenes, the philosophy of man and religion, or pagan wisdom, or secular so-called science, Satan's method is always pointing us away from Christ, telling us that we need something more. 

Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I fear for you, I fear that as the serpent deceived Eve, so you may be deceived from the simplicity that is in Christ. This was the fear of Epaphras, that these false teachers would somehow infiltrate and influence the understanding, the faith of the believers, and lead them astray into something different, something other than Christ. And we see this in every false teaching, in every example in the New Testament. Think about the book of Galatians. It was the Judaizers. What was their message? Yes, you must believe Jesus. But you also need to keep the law, and be circumcised, and celebrate the holy days, and rituals, and so forth. 

In Colossians, we see that it is that you need some sort of secret wisdom. You need men who have had visions, who have seen angels, who know the hidden truths. And you also need rite and ritual, circumcision and law. You need all kinds of things in addition to other than Jesus Christ. It's the same lie today in the church. The secular society around us, the pharmakia, the psychology, the evolution, the global warming, follow the science, right? We've learned about that. And people live in fear. They make harmful decisions. They are deluded because they trust in the wisdom of man, and not in the God of the Bible. 

We see movements today, such as the New Apostolic Reformation, where they say that God has chosen apostles, men who have secret knowledge, who cannot be questioned, who have visions of angels and Christ, who do miracles and healings, and yet teach lies about Jesus. They say you need them to have the fullness of salvation, not Jesus alone. The church I grew up in, we needed the magisterium to tell us what the Bible said, to tell us how it is we can be saved. The error is the same, my friends, and the question is always, who is Jesus? Is he sufficient, or do we need something more? 

And that's the heart of the epistle to the Colossians. Jesus is sufficient. Jesus is God. Jesus is the creator. Jesus has obtained salvation for us, and through him alone we are complete. Jesus is preeminent in all things. And for the remainder of our time this morning, I want to look at some of the scriptures found in this letter that show us that Jesus is preeminent. He's preeminent in creation. Paul wants them to see that. He's preeminent in salvation, taking on flesh and dying in our place. He's preeminent in the church. He's preeminent in our lives, in our sanctification. He's preeminent in our message that we preach. 

So let's look again at verse 15 of chapter one. These words are tremendous and full. If you listen and think about what Paul's saying about Jesus here, he says, he is the image, the exact representation of the invisible God. He is the firstborn, the prototokos, the number one over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him.

Why would you go to the creation, to an angel, to a mediator, to a man, when you have the creator? And he's before all things and in him all things consist. Hebrews says he holds all things together by the word of his power. And he's the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him them, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. 

Well, in these few words, Paul deals a death blow to all of the heresy that was coming to this church and shows that Jesus is the creator of all things, that He is God, that He is the sustainer, that all things were created by Him and for Him. He's the head of the body of the church. He's the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Jesus is preeminent over all things. All the fullness of God dwells in Jesus bodily, he says. This is a direct hit to the false teaching that Jesus was not God, but just an emanation from God, one of the good spirits, one of the many that we need to help us fight our way through the bad spirits to get us to heaven. 

And we see that God chose to reconcile men by the death of Christ, His burial and resurrection alone. The emanation is by Jesus alone, not Jesus plus something. Colossians 121, it says, "...and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight." Reconciled in the body of His flesh. Some of these false teachers thought that Jesus had no body because they believed that the flesh, the body, the carnal things of the world are evil and the spirit is good. They said that Jesus was a phantom, He did not actually appear in a physical body, for the body is evil. 

This teaching led to licentiousness because the body was evil, it did not matter what you did in the flesh, only the spirit mattered. God did not care what you did with your body. But this is one of the distinctives of the Christian doctrine, that God cares about you, body, soul, and spirit. And the Christian ethic extends to all that we do, how we live, what we do in this world, in this body. Do all that you do, Paul said, even eating and drinking, carnal things, things of the body, the world, do all that you do, what? To the glory of God. 

Notice Paul's words again, "...He has reconciled us in the body of His flesh through death," why? "...to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight." Christ is sufficient to save us from the wrath of God for our sins, but He is also sufficient to make us holy and present us blameless and above reproach in His sight. His grace is sufficient for justification and sanctification and whatever need we may have to be holy, to be a witness, to bring glory to Him according to His will. 

Look at Colossians 127, it says, "...to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles," now see to the false teachers there, a mystery was something hidden that they only knew, and you had to come to them to understand the mystery. But Paul uses this word as something that was hidden that is now revealed, that is open. "...God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Him we preach, right? Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. 

Paul says, "...to this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." Our striving and laboring is not legalism, it's not Greek mysticism, it's not appealing to angels and striving to gain the favor of the small G gods. Paul's labor and our striving is to know and understand the salvation we have in Jesus, to know and believe who we are in Him, and live by His grace in consistency with who we are as regenerate new creations in Christ. 

This is where I think we struggle so often in the church today. We do not understand that salvation is entirely by grace, that we walk by faith, that Jesus lives in us, that we are made perfect in Him. That we've been transformed by His saving work and regeneration, that Jesus Himself has come to live in us, and our hope of glory is Christ in us. We are wholly united to Him in His death, burial, and resurrection to new life. In His person we are new creations, we have been given the divine nature, and the life we now live is His life in us as we walk by faith. 

Christ is preeminent in the church, He is the head, and He is preeminent in our lives for holiness, for sanctification, for His glory, yet so often the church continues to look to man's wisdom, to pagan philosophy, to pseudoscience, to something more than Jesus for life and godliness. And Paul strikes at this error with profound truth in chapter 2, look at chapter 2 verse 1, for I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the knowledge of the mystery of God both of the Father and of Christ. 

Look at verse 3, in whom, in Christ, are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Now this I say, lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words, for though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and steadfastness of your faith in Christ. As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and build up in Him, established in the faith as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. 

Now look at verse 8, beware, look out, lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power.

These false teachers say we need hidden wisdom and knowledge that only they have, but Paul says that it is in Christ that we find all wisdom and knowledge. As you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him. How did you receive Him? Forty-six years ago, Mark, how did you receive Jesus Christ? By faith. By the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. So how shall we walk? Through religious rite and ritual and sacraments and law-keeping and seeking the mysteries and hidden knowledge? No. We walk by grace through faith. You are complete in Him. You are lacking nothing. 

And don't get all caught up in this angel and demon business. Jesus is the head of all principality and power. Look to Him. He'll take care of any demonic or angelic forces for or against us. We don't look to angels, we look to Jesus. And we certainly do not need rite and ritual and law for the Christian life. What a message this is for the church today. 

Look at Colossians 2.11. It says, in Him, notice we keep seeing that phrase, in Him, in Christ, in Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands. This is regeneration. By putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Him from the dead. 

And you being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. He's taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed principalities and powers. He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. 

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival, or new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he's not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. 

Therefore, if you died with Christ, from the basic principles of the world, why as though living in the world do you subject yourselves to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body," look at this now, "...but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh." 

This was the Essenes, this was the Gnostics, right? This was this legalistic Jewish system, legalism, religious ritual, asceticism, none of these things have any value against the indulgence of the flesh. Jesus said we must be born again. Paul teaches us that it is our death with Christ and our regeneration and resurrection a new life that is the basis of living a holy life, abiding in Him. 

You can do all the rites and rituals you want, seek to keep the law, give to the poor, and pray to the angels, it's all useless. You must be born again, you must die, you must be buried with Christ and raised a new man with a new heart and a new spirit and the Holy Spirit of God living in you. He imparts strength to our inner man. It is Jesus Christ who lives in us as we walk by faith and abide in Him. 

The key, says Paul, is understanding who you are in Christ, believing what God says is true about you and His Word. Let me ask you, how would you describe yourself as a believer, as a Christian? How do you think of yourself? What would you say about yourself? What do you expect from your daily living? 

You see, the essence of error concerning holy living, which is a witness that brings glory to God, that demonstrates the transforming power of the Gospel, the life of Christ in and through us, the essence of the error is that you lack something, that you need something more. But Paul's teaching us that Jesus is all in all, Jesus is sufficient, Jesus is all you need, and in Him we have been given all things, we have been transformed, empowered and dwelt by the Holy Spirit, died to sin and now live by grace through faith to the glory of God. 

How do you understand who you are? Many in the church today would say that we are vile, wretched sinners and need the law to keep our desperately wicked hearts from evil. That's a bulk of the church, the so-called church. Some would say that we are just sinners saved by grace. Is that how you see yourself? Some would say that we have an old nature and a new nature and the battle is to feed the good dog and deny the bad dog. 

Paul says we are saints. Paul says while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, that our old man was dominated and controlled by indwelling sin, but now we have been made free from sin and its controlling power in our lives through our death. How do you understand who you are as a believer in Jesus Christ? What do you expect for your daily life? 

Look at Paul's words in chapter 3, Colossians 3, 1. Since then you were raised with Christ. Seek those things which are above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on the things of the earth, for you died and your life is hidden with Christ and God, and when Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 

You died. That old man and Adam was crucified, died, was buried, and was raised to newness of life with Jesus. Turn over to Romans 6 with me, we'll look at this expanded a little bit. Romans 6, 1, Paul's explaining this, he's been talking about being an Adam or being in Christ, and he says now that we are living by grace, that grace superabounds in our life. In Romans 6, 1, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were placed into Christ were placed into His death? That word baptism there is dry, it means to be placed into.

Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so also we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, look at this truth, that our old man, that man in Adam, controlled, dominated by indwelling sin, was crucified with Him, why? So that the body controlled by indwelling sin, the body of sin might be done away with or rendered powerless in order that we should no longer be slaves of sin, for he who has died has been freed from sin. 

Look at verse 10, for the death that he died, Jesus, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. My friends, that old man died, and now we are new men, new creations in Christ, lacking nothing. Colossians 3 and 9 says, do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him. 

My friends, we have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man who off the old man. We have put on the new man. In our regeneration, we are made new. We have new hearts, new spirits, new life, and the person of Jesus living in us. We don't need mysticism and pagan philosophy. We don't need legalism and right and ritual. All we need is Jesus, and we are in Him, and He is in us. 

In Galatians 6.15, it says, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything but a new creation. What matters is a new creation. Jesus is preeminent. He's preeminent in creation, in salvation, in the church, in our daily lives, and I just want to show you one more great truth at the end of this epistle. Jesus is preeminent in our message, in our ministry. 

Colossians 4.2. Paul says, continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving, meanwhile praying also for us. What do you want us to pray for you about, Paul? That God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ for which I am also in chains, that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. The ministry Paul was given, that we are given as well, is to be witnesses for Jesus Christ, to bring the message of the gospel to every creature. 

And Paul says, in my message, in my ministry, it is the mystery of Christ that I preach. The false teachers were all into mysteries, hidden wisdom, spiritual beings, visions, and the like. Paul says, my entire life and ministry is the mystery of Christ. Christ in you, the hope of glory, and the message that I preach is Christ. Not some hidden meaning, but that which has been made manifest through the gospel. 

Turn to one more passage with me, 1st Corinthians 1 at verse 18. 1st Corinthians 1.18. Paul says, for the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 

For since in the wisdom of God the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign and Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. To the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

My brothers and sisters, we preach Christ crucified. We believe that Jesus is fully sufficient not only for our salvation, but for our life and witness and fruit, for the glory of God to make us perfect and complete in every way. And we believe that Jesus is sufficient in our message to the lost, the gospel of grace. We do not need the wisdom of men. We do not need Greek philosophy to find the truth. We do not need psychology of our day to tell us the mysteries of life. We do not need the sorcery and magic of pharmakia. We do not need legalism, law, and religious rite and ritual, the religions of men. 

We need Jesus, and He is all that we need, for God chose that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and we are complete in Him, lacking nothing, and it is Jesus and Jesus alone who saved us, who regenerated us, who came to live His life in and through us. We need only to look to Him, believe Him, trust Him, and depend on Him one day at a time. 

And my friends, it is Him we preach. Jesus Christ crucified, who died for our sins, was buried and rose again the third day, and we implore men to believe Jesus, to be reconciled to God, and to find in Jesus all they need. Our brothers and sisters, this is the letter to the Colossians. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful, so thankful that Jesus is enough, and thankful most of all that we have Him, that He is our Savior, that He is our friend, that that He's our advocate, that He's our our judge. He stands in our place, taking the wrath that we deserve. The judge has become our advocate. 

Father, we thank you for salvation. We thank you for grace sufficient for life today and every day in this world. We thank you for peace that passes understanding. We thank you for the hope that we have in Him. Help us to take this message of Jesus to the world and to be a witness for you and for your glory. In Jesus' name.