--THE ONLY WAY
-TO GODTHE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST ~ ---
-William Randolph Hearst, the famed newspaper owner who died in 1951, invested a fortune in collecting great works of art. One day he read about some valuable pieces and decided he wanted to purchase them, so he sent his agent off to track them down. It was several months before the agent returned and reported to Hearst. He had found the works Hearst wanted, but it would not be possible to purchase them--they were already sitting in Hearst's own warehouse
! He had purchased them years before.
Many Christians are like William Randolph Hearst. They're desperately searching for and longing to possess what already belongs to them. Something has persuaded them that Jesus Christ isn't quite enough to meet all their spiritual needs, so they're looking for something more: more of the Holy Spirit, more power, some kind of special experience, the higher life, the deeper life, signs, wonders, a second blessing, a third blessing. In short, they're looking for more of God.
The Christians in the Book of Colossians are in that category. Someone has influenced them to look for something more of God than they already have in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul urges them not to fall for it. It's not that Paul does not want the Colossians to have more of God. Paul knows that Christ is the treasure house where God has hidden all His wisdom and knowledge. He knows that Christ is supreme.
In Colossians 1:15-20,
Paul writes: "The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorites; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross."
If Christians don't realize this truth, then nobody who is not a Christian will know it either.
It is only when we are persuaded that everything of God is to be found in Christ that we can be confident in telling others that Jesus is the only way to God. And it is the only way we'll continue to grow as Christians.So the first thing we must recognize about the supremacy of Christ is that only He can reveal God to us.There are
two statements in Colossians 1:15-20 that put Christ above everyone and everything else: "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" (verse 15).
And "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him" (verse 19). It is hard to get across how great a view this is of Jesus. It means we cannot think too highly of Him.
There is nothing of God to be known which is not in Jesus; He is fully God. If you met Jesus, you would meet God. If you know Jesus, you know God. All God's fullness dwells in Him. He is utterly supreme.
Today, some are trying to look behind Jesus to find God. They're looking for something more ancient, more fundamental, older than Christianity. The
New Agers say something like this: "We have a faith that is older than the creed of Christ because it is rooted in the Earth and the universe." Christianity is portrayed as the new kid on the block. But they just have not squared with who Jesus really is. Mind you, few of us really have. Colossians 1:16 says: "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible...He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." If that's who Christ is, how can you get behind Him
? He's not the new kid on the block: He is the Great
I AM who designed the block.
The real Jesus doesn't just take His place in history; He is its beginning and its end. "All things were created by him and for him." How can you get beyond this Jesus
? He's waiting there at the end of history to inherit it all.
The second thing we need to realize about the supremacy of Christ is that
only He can reconcile us to God. That is, only Christ can make peace between God and us. The Bible teaches that there's a gulf separating God and us. There's an intellectual gulf so that we cannot know God unless He makes Himself known to us. And there's a moral gulf, in that we don't even
want to know God because He threatens the evil behavior that we participate in. Jesus is the bridge of both these gulfs. He bridges the intellectual gulf by revealing God to us, and He bridges the moral gulf by reconciling us to God.
Colossians 1:19 says, "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross." People who were at enmity with God are now reconciled through the cross, and one day all things will be put back in their divinely created and determined order. The universe will once again be under its rightful head. How will this happen
? Through His blood, which has been shed on the cross.
It only took a moment for man to reject God, and then everything fell apart. We fell out with God, we fell out with each other, and we fell out with the world we live in. It's impossible for us to put things back together. God had to do it and it took the blood of Christ, shed on the cross. Only Christ can do it because only Christ bridges the gulf for us. In His death He has taken the punishment we deserve from God.
Without justice, there can be no real peace. And justice is served when our sin is punished in Christ and peace is made between God an us. I expect there will be some suprprises in Heaven. We may be surprised about who is there.
But there will be no surprises about how they got there. Beause each one will say the same; through the blood Jesus shed on the cross, reconciled by Christ's physical body.Many give the advice on religion, 'do not put all your eggs in one basket. It would be far too risky to stake everything on a single faith or creed or religion.
What if you're wrong?'
There's one big problem with that way of thinking. God has put all His eggs in one basket. He has put all His fullness in Christ.
Only Chist can reveal God to us. We have much more of God to learn, but He has no more to give than He has already given us in Christ. So, if you want more of God--and this is a good thing to want--then go to Christ.
Furthermore,
if you do not yet know God personally, then go to the cross of Christ, for only Christ can reconcile us to God. He is utterly supreme in revealing God to us and He is uttlerly supreme in reconciling us to God.SOWING THE SEEDS--
The ONLY Way TO GODBy: Rico Tice and Bill ConardThis article was taken from the 'Decision' magazine/ Jan 2011-BGEA.
