I trust that you will see, in this passage, the centrality of Christ. (Colossians 1:9-20)
"For this reason we have always prayed for you, ever since we heard about you. We asked God to fill you with the knowledge of His will, with all the wisdom and understanding that His Spirit gives. Then you will be able to live as the Lord wants and will always do what pleases Him. Your lives will produce all kinds of good deeds, and you will grow in your knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength which comes from His glorious power so that you may be able to endure everything with patience. And with joy give thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to have your share of what God has reserved for His people in the kingdom of light. He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of His dear Son, by whom we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven.
Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things. For through Him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through Him and for Him. Christ existed before all things, and in union with Him all things have their proper place. He is the head of His body, the church; He is the source of the body's life. He is the first-born Son, who was raised from death, in order that He alone might have the first place in all things. For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in Himself the full nature of God. Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to Himself. God made peace through His Son's death on the cross and so brought back to Himself all things, both on earth and in heaven."
Trying to get a true picture of life, is like drawing a picture, or
painting a picture. I'm sure many of you have tried to draw a picture on a
piece of paper. In fact, I'm sure some of you have even tried to give
someone directions. You take your pencil and you say, here's where we are
now,
you go over here and then you turn here and ... oops, I'm off the page.
To
try to get things to fit together properly, has its problems.
In our picture of life, the problem is to get things, in proper size. How often we get things too big, or too little. Reminds me of some of the children's drawings I've seen in the early grades. There is a house drawn on the paper, and in the foreground there is a person with a very large head. You can tell, if the person even makes it to the house, they will never make it inside. Likewise, I illustrate, a coin in the gutter, the size of a manhole cover. In other words, proportion. You see, perspective is a matter of size and relationship of various objects in the picture.
The first rule to get a proper perspective, is to establish the proper center of focus, point of vision. As you look at a picture, you'll see a road or railroad tracks, there is that point. Some call it the vanishing point. That one pinpoint, from which everything in the picture emerges, and into which everything in the picture converges. And it is only when you establish the proper center of focus, point of vision, that everything else will be in the proper size and relationship.
I remember when I was in seminary, Dr. John Mckay, President of the seminary, in one of his classes made it clear. He said, "Christianity is not a continual search after the truth, Christianity is arriving at the truth with a capital "T" and proceeding from there." (John 14:6), Jesus said, "I am the way the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me." In (Revelation 1:8) Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega." Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet , Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. Jesus said, "I am everything from A to Z." (Hebrews 12:2) says, "Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith."
(Colossians 1:17) says, "Christ holds everything together." Only with Christ at the center, everything holds together. Without Christ at the center, everything falls apart. So many people today are talking about "getting it together." The only way to get it together, is to have Jesus Christ at the center.
A couple examples of distorted perspective. When I was a student at Macalester College, I remember a fellow student asking me, "Bill, do you really believe there is a God?" I said, "Absolutely!" The student replied, "Well, I don't. I will not believe anything that I can't understand and accept with my mind." I thought, "My goodness, here is a little human being with a little 2 X 4 mind, using that mind as the center of focus, the point of vision for everything in life."
In (Luke 18:18-23) we read about the rich young ruler. The young man came to Jesus and asked, "Good master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus responded by saying: "Keep the commandments." And the young man said, "I have kept the commandments from my youth on up." Jesus said, "One thing you lack. Sell what you have, give the money to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." The young man turned and went away grieved because he had great possessions. The young man did not keep even the first commandment. Thou shall have no other god before me. His god was his money. Interesting to notice that Jesus said, "follow me." The center of focus, the point of vision.
Let me share with you a few results of a true perspective in Christ. First of all, life. (II Corinthians 5:17) says, "If any person be in Christ, he or she is a new creation. All things are passed away, behold all things become new." Material things. David Livingston, the great missionary, once said, "I will place no value on anything I have or come to possess, except in relation to the Kingdom of my Lord Jesus Christ." Christ, the center of focus, the point of vision.
Christianity is not merely believing certain things and doing certain things, or following certain rules of Christian living. Christianity is the person of Jesus Christ living in and through your life. Christ the center of focus, the point of vision.
The church is not an organization of members on the roll. The church is an organism, a living, vital body of people, in whom Jesus Christ literally lives. His life flowing in and through the individual and members of His body. The invisible church. The unseen behind the outer. Christ the center of focus, the point of vision.
The Bible. The Old Testament points to Christ. The New Testament points to Christ. Christ is the center of the Bible. The perspective of this book centers in Christ. Every word in the Bible either points forward to or backward to Christ. The purpose of the Bible is to point us to Christ. To keep our vision fixed on Christ as the center.
Education is the act of leading out of darkness into light. Out of ignorance into knowledge. Higher education all began with churches. Schools like Princeton, Yale and Harvard were founded by Christians. Sir Richard Livingston, an eminent English educator, once said, "Education is more than an assemblage of piece meal acquisitions and accomplishments. It is the formation, largely unconscience, of a philosophy, an out look on life." Christ the center of focus, the point of vision.
History. You notice if you divide the word it becomes His - Story. Where, Christ has been the center, there has been blessing. Where Christ has not been the center, there has been no blessing. Abraham Lincoln, was asked during the civil war, "President Lincoln, do you think God is on the side of the North? Lincoln replied, "I'm not concerned if God is on the side of the North. Is the North on God's side?" It comes down to my life and your life. Are we saying, "Is God with me?" That's not the question. Are we with God? God is the center.
With Christ, nothing is impossible. The degree to which Christ is the center of focus, the point of vision in your personal lives and in the life of this church, will be the degree to which God will bless, and use us to His glory. How does Christ become the center of focus? When we get out of the center and stay out of the center. (Galatians 2:20) "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Not by my faith in Him, His faith generated inside of me." Christ grows in us as we decrease and He increases. John 3:30 Where John the Baptist said concerning Christ, "He must increase, I must decrease."
Although the Bible is not primarily a history book, a knowledge of the historical framework of the Bible will help a great deal towards an understanding of God's message of salvation for mankind.
The Bible starts it record with the creation of the world. When and how it all took place we cannot be sure, but one thing is certain - God did it.
The next great event is the creation of the first man and woman - Adam and Eve. They had several children - the first two were Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel and began a generation which became so wicked that God had to destroy them with the flood.
Noah took God at His word when He warned men of the flood. Noah built the Ark (boat) in which he and his wife and his three sons and their wives were saved from destruction. Noah's three sons formed the basis for the new population in the world. It was not long, however, until generations after the flood forgot God and the nations of the earth lived after their own desires and worshipped in ways not pleasing to the one true God of the universe.
Out of this background God called a man named Abraham. God told Abraham that if he would leave his home town, Ur of the Chaldees, God would lead him to a new land (the land of Promise, Canaan, Palestine) and would make of him a great nation (the Jews) that would be a blessing to the whole world (Jesus was a Jew in the flesh who came to die for the sins of all in the world who will allow Him to become their Savior). Abraham obeyed God and God did bless him as He had promised.
Abraham had a son named Isaac. Then Isaac had twin sons named Esau and Jacob. Esau was the older of the two and was thus next in line to receive the blessings promised to his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Isaac.
But one day when Esau was very hungry, he told Jacob that he could have the birthright if only he would give him something to eat. Jacob saw the value of God's blessing and gave Esau the food. So Jacob becomes the next main figure in the history of the Old Testament. In fact, Jacob's name was changed to Israel and his twelve sons became the heads of the families called the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
The next to the youngest son in Jacob's family was named Joseph. Joseph was Jacob's favorite which made his brothers very jealous of him. One day they decided to kill him, but one of his older brothers suggested they get rid of him by selling him to some slave-traders passing by. This they did. The slave-traders took Joseph down to Egypt where he became a servant in the home of Potiphar, the captain of the army of Egypt.
The king of Egypt, called Pharaoh, had a dream which he could not understand. Joseph was called to explain the dream. He told the king that it meant there would be seven good years when the crops would grow very well and then there would be bad weather for crops. The king was so pleased that God had spoken through Joseph that he made Joseph the head of the government of Egypt second only to the king himself.
During the seven good years Joseph stored up grain all over Egypt, and when the bad years came, they had grain to live on. It was not long until Joseph's brothers had come to him from Palestine to get food. The expected him to angry with them, but he forgave them for the way they treated him.
Joseph told them that God had allowed him to suffer so that he could help them. Joseph suggested that his father, Jacob, and all his brothers move down into Egypt, which they did. They lived happily in the land of Goshen at the mouth of the Nile River.
But after Joseph died and the children of Israel increased in numbers, the kings of Egypt were not so favorable to the Jews. In fact, they made them slaves and finally made the rule that all boy babies born among the Jews were to be killed by drowning them in the river.
One little baby boy was placed in the river when he was born, but inside a little waterproof basket. The king's daughter heard him cry and when she drew him out of the water she named him Moses (which means "drawn out"). She adopted Moses as her own son and he grew up in the king's palace in Egypt.
One day while Moses was out taking care of the sheep, God spoke to him and told him that He wanted Moses to take the people of Israel out of Egypt and back to Palestine (the Promised Land). At first Moses said he did not feel he could do it. But when God said that he would do it through him, if he would only let Him, Moses said he was willing.
The king of Egypt said it was all right for them to go, so the people of Israel started to leave. But the king changed his mind and brought them back. He did this nine times. Each time he brought them back, God caused some awful thing to happen like the river turning to blood so they could not drink it, frogs covered the land, the dust became lice, swarms of flies, death of cattle, people got boils, hail, locusts, thick darkness. The tenth time God caused the oldest child in each family in Egypt to die. The angel of death passed over the homes of those who did as God told them and put the blood of the lamb on their front doors. This is called the Passover. The king said that was all they could stand and told Israelites to leave. God parted the waters of the Red Sea so that the people could cross into the wilderness. When they made camp at Mount Sinai, God gave them the Ten Commandments. Then God instructed them to build a big tent with three rooms in it which to worship Him. This was called the Tabernacle. They spent forty years on the trip from Egypt to Canaan (Palestine).
When Moses died, Joshua became the leader. He encouraged the people to let God have control of their hearts and lives. In God's power they went into the land of Palestine and captured Jericho and the other main cities which had been taken over by outsiders when Jacob and his twelve sons had left before to go down into Egypt.
After some time Saul was made king of Israel, but he forgot God and David was made king. After David died, his son Solomon was made king. Then when Solomon died, ten tribes properly left and moved North. They formed the Northern Kingdom and the two remaining tribes were called the Southern Kingdom.
The ten tribes decided to side in with Assyria, a country to the North, against Egypt in the South with the result that Assyria simply swallowed the Northern Kingdom and we hear no more about them. They are called the "Ten Lost Tribes of Israel".
This left the Southern Kingdom of two tribes which is also called Judah. The people we know of today as the Jews are the descendants of the Southern Kingdom or Judah. After some years Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon - a powerful country to the East of Palestine - captured Judah, destroyed Jerusalem, and took the people into captivity in Babylon. Daniel was an outstanding character during this time.
The Persians conquered Babylon and Cyrus became king of Babylon. He was very favorable to the Jews and not only let them go home to Palestine but helped them rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and the Temple (patterned after the Tabernacle in the wilderness).
This is where the Old Testament record ends. However, we know from world history that the Greeks conquered the Persians. Then the Romans conquered the Greeks. And it was while the Romans ruled the world that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judah in the land of Palestine (the land of promise). He is the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. The New Testament begins with the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The New Testament begins with the birth of John the Baptist who is called the forerunner of Christ.
Six months after the birth of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus Christ was born in the stable in Bethlehem. John the Baptist's mother, Elizabeth, and Jesus' mother, Mary, were cousins.
The sheperds and the wiseman from the East came to worship Him as their savior and Lord (King). The most amazing thing this world has ever known had taken place - God Himself had come down to earth to save man from sin.
Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the town of Nazareth where they lived until Jesus grew up. Once, when He was twelve years old, Jesus went to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph for the Feast of the Passover. On the way home Mary and Joseph noticed that Jesus was not in the group of travelers they were with. When they went back to find Him, they found Him in the temple discussing spiritual things. He told them that He must be about His Father's (God) business. We can see that Jesus realized that He had come to earth to do God's will.
When Jesus was around thirty years old, John the Baptist told the people that the promise made to Abraham was about to be fulfilled - that the One Who had come to save men and women from sin was at hand.
John said, "Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world" and "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." This means that people are to admit that they are running their own lives, feel sorry about this fact, let Jesus take control of their hearts and save them from their sins by His death on the cross, and let Him live in their hearts and daily lives.
John is called John the Baptist because he baptized those who were willing to let Christ change their hearts. Baptize means to sprinkle water over a person or to dip the person in water to show how Christ cleanses the heart of sin when a person surrenders his or her heart to Him.
Jesus came to John to be baptized to show that He was willing for God, the Father, to use His life however He wished. While John was baptizing Him, the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove and a voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Jesus was truly God, the Son.
After His baptism God allowed Satan to tempt Jesus. Satan tried to get Jesus to follow him instead of let God have His way. Jesus refused Satan by quoting Scripture verses to show what God says. After that Satan left Him alone for awhile.
Jesus then went about telling people that God had sent Him to save men and women from sin. (Like 9:10) He told people that they must realize that they are running their own hearts and lives instead of God and they must surrender themselves to Him if they are going to be right with God again. Jesus told them that He came to die in the place of those who will yield themselves to God in order that their sins might be forgiven and that they might have new life here on earth and for eternity. (Mark 10:45)
Jesus shows what He can do in men's and women's hearts by the miracles which He did in the physical world. He also told parables which are earthly stories with an inner spiritual meaning to show us what He can do in the hearts and lives of people who will let Him take control and work in them.
Jesus told the people that God loves them and wants to change their hearts and lives to make them truly happy forever. All a person needs to do is to tell God that he or she is willing for God to take control and have His own way in one's life.
Many did surrender themselves to Christ and became His disciples or followers. But many others who refused to give up their own way to God were bothered with Christ around. The purity of His life and the truth of His message revealed the sinfulness of their hearts and showed them they were not right with God.
Finally they persuaded one of Jesus' disciples named Judas to tell them where Jesus was so that they could kill Him. Judas was one of those people who from the outside looks like a friend of Jesus but are not really surrendered to Him in their hearts. Judas led them to Jesus and they took Him away to be crucified (nailed through the hands and feet on a wooden cross) between two criminals.
It might seem that Jesus' death on the cross was the end - that He had failed to do what God sent Him to do. But really His death on the cross was the thing He had come to do. (Mark 10:45) Through His death He overcame Satan and his power to keep man from God. For we see He was resurrected. This means that He was raised again to life on the third day after His death. He came to life again and was on the earth for forty days after His resurrection. He then ascended up into heaven in a cloud and lives today.
While His followers stood watching Him go up, an angel told them He will come back again someday. In the meantime the followers of Jesus are to let the Holy Spirit (God Himself) live in them to help others put their trust in Christ. Those who let Christ take control and live in them are Christians.
Those who had hated Jesus did not like His followers either and they tried to kill all of them they could. One of the worst persecutors of the church was a man named Saul.
One day while Saul was going along the road trying to find more Christians to kill, a great light , brighter than the sun, shone an him and as he fell to the ground, he heard the voice of Jesus speaking to Him. Lying there on the ground he realized the power of Jesus and he said, "Lord, what will you have me do?" We can see how Saul's attitude of heart towards Jesus was changed completely. His name was changed to Paul and he became the greatest missionary for Christ the world has ever known.
Paul traveled all over the world of that day telling people of Christ and helping them let Jesus come into their hearts. Paul wrote letters to these people whom he had helped in the cities of Rome, Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, Colosse, Thessalonia, and in other places. You can see by these names that many of these letters are books in the Bible because we can see that it was really not Paul, but God who was writing through Paul. We believe that these writings are God's Word to us today too.
God used some of the other followers of Christ to write His word too. Among these were Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, James and Jude. Jesus' disciple, John, was the last of the early followers of Christ. He wrote the last book in the New Testament called Revelation. In this book the risen Christ reveals through John that those who trust in Christ, even though they must suffer for Christ in this world, will be with God in heaven forever. Those who refuse to let Christ take control and live in them will be apart from God for all eternity - which is really hell.
The history of the New Testament ends after John's death in about 100 A.D. However, the church, made up of all those who trust in Christ, keeps on through history even until today. We would each do well to ask ourselves whether or not we are really willing to surrender our hearts to Christ and have Him actually living in us.
If Christ lives in your heart, you are a member of that group of people who have Christ in their hearts, called the invisible church. It is called invisible because man cannot see into a person's heart, but God knows those who are His. The church visible, or that group of people whose names are on the membership roll of some local church, are supposed to be those who in their hearts belong to Christ. If He lives in your heart, you should become a member of the visible church - the group of those who know Christ - to let the whole world know how you feel towards Christ.
As we become members of the visible church, may our lives show Jesus lives in our hearts as the lives of those in the New Testament showed it.
Salvation Home Page
Global INTOUCH home page