THE PREEMINENCE OF CHRIST

Bet Amante                                                                       Eastgate Ministries

Sermon from the Heart of Colossians                                                    April 15, 2018

The Preeminence of Christ

I ‘ve been feasting on the book of Colossians for the past few weeks and may I tell you that I just can’t seem to get enough of God’s boundless provision in this small epistle of only 4 chapters.  Now….. I’m not going to even try to share the entire Book  this morning…. it ‘s so gloriously full of great truths pertaining to the  pre-eminence of Christ, His identity, His, essence, His deity, Sovereignty and the perfect  love of God…which is  very crux of His divine nature. Hallelujah!!!!!!!We have eternity to learn and meditate upon all the facets of  the magnitude Christ’s authority, supremacy, and power.    I have found that the overwhelming desire to portray our Lord as He truly is…..is  at the very heart and center of all that I am called to teach,  and proclaim. So with every opportunity  and  upon every occasion I have to teach and to preach….I pray that the words of my lips might reflect the contents of my heart……as I share the greatness and goodness of all that is Christ . 

Last week we sang the song “Come and Dine” taken from   John 21:12

This one chapter in the bible speaks to us far more than just one brief  message on God’s provision. The mysteries hidden within each verse would easily give us enough  bread and fish for many feasts, but isn’t that the way it is with the eternal Word of God? There is no end and there are no boundaries. It is all sufficient.

My focus on John 21 is three fold today

1.     The disciples who were once filled with great hope, zeal and joy in the Lord…had now become hopeless, …they had become discouraged and disheartened fishermen. ( Christ is our hope)

2.     In all their self efforts, they had struggled all night and caught nothing. They were professional fishermen….and yet their own  efforts failed!!!!  (In  Christ we overcome our failures)

3.     In the hearing and obeying of their Lord’s instructions, not only were their needs met but their hope,  purpose, and joy in the Lord was restored  .  (As the living word of truth  is  revealed  to us……we are restored

 In  Isaiah 55: We read  “Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;and you who have no money,
    come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
² Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
³ Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.

Well the Lord has prepared for us another breakfast ”  to share this morning and I am excited to have been asked to serve you today.

I realize that most Eastgate members are well acquainted with the menu, ( At Willowfork) but sometimes the Lord will reemphasize the need for certain elements in our diet that we may be lacking……..or as in my case last week dangerously exceeding ….or overdosing  last week….. Short testimony on the importance of watching our diet.   Potassium….is good and it is necessary …but a blood count of 6.5 is not good and is lethal if not controlled.  Thank the Lord for taking care of me…..I had no clue and had I not gone to the doc for another issue…I would not have known.

Anyyyy waaaaaaaaayy.  It occurred to me the other day that our God is not interested in providing  a fancy diet of epicurean delicacies or gourmet  delights. He takes pleasure in offering to His children food that will satisfy and cause us to benefit, to be strengthened and nurtured and built up in our spirit man…rather than catering to the fleshly cravings…of our old carnal nature.

Do not get me wrong here I’m not preaching a food gospel, nutritional legalism, or vegetarianism. Far from it

Col.2:16 says

“Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, (the less comely…but necessary) parts grows as God causes it to grow.

²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²² These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

In a nutshell…Paul is saying Drawing attention to ourselves and pontificating over how many chapters of the bible we read daily…or need to announce to the world exactly  how many hours we spend in prayer and intercession or instructing  angels…….how much we  deny ourselves, don’t eat meat….or…pork…or  bacon???? Maybe we just…. let it be known that  we are fasting…..ice cream or  desserts …or letting it be known that we eat certain things…or  refrain from food or drink… period (brag about fasting),  or that we suffer the loss of certain earthly comforts ……These things may appear to make us look really spiritual…. Jesus plainly said, “Don’t do that!!!! The need to do or not do all these things is coming from the carnal nature…..and wearing a hair shirt….or cutting , or not cutting our hair  ..or women  wearing pants…or skirts ..or clerical colors or long robes   (ad infi nauseum )  profits us nothing .

A strict diet……Might help us to loose weight…..but somehow we seem to  gain it all back….don’t we? (big smile)  Notice I’m using the first person plural   …. WE!!!. 

We must remember,( contrary to the opinions of many), the scripture is not writtenfor or to convert nonbelievers. And the bible is not   just  a book of rules and regulations for SELF RIGHTEOUS people to follow…..IT IS THE VERY  BREAD of LIFE, written for BELIEVERS to feed  upon AND LIVE!!!  

Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees in  John 5:39-40 ³⁹You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, ⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ( HE IS THE BREAD OF LIFE)

And in John 14:6

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. You may read and memorize the entire bible…..but if you are not yielded to the Holy Spirit of Christ….you will not understand a word of it…. And simple knowledge of the CONTENTS alone …puffs up the human mind.  We are reminded daily by “intellectuals” who have been educated beyond their capacity to understand and cannot discern spiritual truth.

The old testament and all that it states, promises, assures, guarantees, and declares to be absolute truth….  is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the LIVING WORD OF GOD INCARNATE.

……2 Timothy 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

17 That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

The theme of Colossians is the preeminence of Christ, who is the eternal word which proceeds from the mind and the mouth of God the Father, ……became flesh   (took upon Himself the form of man…  in order to reconcile fallen mankind unto Himself ……through the death of His body …….and has now become head of the body, the church…….. as supreme creator and sustainer of all things that exist and the mind of Christ as the basis of all wisdom, knowledge and salvation especially as opposed to human philosophies.

Establishing God’s Sovereignty and His word as completely infallible,  unalterable, inerrant and irrreversable, now imbedded in the flesh of His only begotten Son……..

In His letter to the saints at Colossae , the Apostle Paul begins by commending the Colossians for their faith  in Christ and continues in thanksgiving and prayer for them. As one called to the ministry of intercession  for the saints, I have benefitted greatly  by these powerful  prayers in scripture as a guideline…. knowing that as I pray according to God’s will…He hears  me and the Lord watches over His word to perform it Amen!

^{Col 1:3} We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ because we have heard of your (great works????) NO! Brilliant minds??? NO! Your Superiority  above others? NO!!!!  FAITH  in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people—

⁹ For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives,^{[e] 10} so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, ¹¹ being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, ¹² and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[f] to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Please note that all of the works of Christ are “past tense” meaning that His work is all fulfilled, finished,  complete. There is nothing more that Jesus has to accomplish……….either on earth, in heaven or under the earth. It’s a done deal!!! And we are now complete in Him. We do not have to work to fulfill God’s law. 2 Corinthians 5:21 New King James Version (NKJV)

²¹ For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Romans 10 New International Version (NIV)

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ² For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³ Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. ⁴ Christ is the culmination (conclusion, finale) of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

But now…. having established this truth in our hearts, the children of God are now free to …..do what? Go into all  the world and convince people to see and do things as we do? NO! To Say and do whatever we please…when and if we “feel” like it? NO! Force our personal opinions on others? NO! Discussssss the failings of some….. with others who are equally as spiritual…so that we can pray for the less spiritual? NO! That is still gossip, folks and God hates it. So do I.  But…..It happens…. Every…… single…..day, It’s as common in the church as it is in the world. People trying to control the lives of other people….or attempt to make themselves feel good about themselves by talking down about another sister or brother…or church???? !!!!!And it it’s no more of God than witchcraft is of God. It is man manipulating others in order to gain self satisfaction. It has nothing to do with glorifying the Lord.

Well????? It’s a fact is it not? And those of us who are mature….. should know better, but we are all maturing at different levels and the fact is some of us will choose to remain  new babes or toddlers in the faith  for their entire life.  But the scriptures teach us differently.

Hebrews 6

6 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,

² Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

We are to know and practice these basic things and not  forget them,……. AND we are also to MATURE IN CHRIST…NOT IN OURSELVES.