Part 4 – Because of Christ’s Successful Mission, God Has…

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Highly exalted Him.  We read in Philippians that because of Jesus’ obedience “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,” (Philippians 2:9, NKJV) In his letter to the Ephesians Paul explains it this way: “He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” (Ephesians 1:20–21, NKJV)

Jesus Christs has been placed in a position of great glory at God’s right hand and this is far above all other authorities that exist in the universe. The author of the book of Hebrews explains it this way:

“You have made him a little lower than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor, And set him over the works of Your hands. You have put all things in subjection under his feet.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:7–9, NKJV)

Jesus Christ is the God-man. But never forget that He is a man with a human glorified body. He is the first person to receive his glorified body and He has His place in heaven as our forerunner. He is the guarantee that all of those that belong to Him through faith will also have their place in heaven with Him. He is our anchor behind the veil.

“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 6:19–20, NKJV)

In the Old Testament the temple has a veil separating the two parts. The part behind the veil where God was could not be entered by anyone except the High Priest and then only once a year. That veil ripped in two from top to bottom on the day Christ was crucified. The earthly temple was a model of what is in heaven. This passage in Hebrews tells us that the way is now open. Jesus Christ is already there as our forerunner and our anchor behind the veil. All who belong to Him will have their place with Him in a glorified body some day.

Christ is central and supreme because He is the One who obtained eternal redemption for us through His sacrifice on the cross and is now seated as sovereign in heaven and every knee will bow before Him (Philippians 2:10).

 

Part 3 – Speaking About Christ, God Has…

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Made Him heir of all things. “[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;” (Hebrews 1:2, NKJV)

God has made Jesus Christ the inheritor of all things. Take a moment and consider what is included in the “all things.” All nature?  Yes. Every planet? Yes. Every galaxy? Yes. Every person? Yes.

In Ephesians 1:18 Paul prays that as believers our eyes would be opened to “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” (Ephesians 1:18, NKJV) This is not Christ as our inheritance. This is Christians as His inheritance. Christians are part of the all things that Jesus has inherited from God the Father. And as long as we are stretching our faith, let’s consider the fact that God has announced that His people are joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17).

Given Him Authority. “as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.” (John 17:2, NKJV)

“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18, NKJV)

Made Him head of the Church “And He is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18, NKJV)

Jesus Christ has been given all authority over everything in the universe, and in a special sense He is head of the Church because the Church is His body. He is present in the Church everywhere the true church is found and He is its head. No pastor, bishop or pope can claim that position.

Made Him the judge. “For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,” (John 5:22, NKJV)

“and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.” (John 5:27, NKJV)

It’s interesting to note that the Father judges no one. The authority to judge every one of us has been given to the Son. Every one of us will stand before Him one day and be judged. We will be judged by a peer if you will, another human. The Man Christ Jesus. Paul told the Athenians, “but [God] now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”” (Acts 17:30–31, NKJV)

When will this judgment take place? The book of Hebrews tells us: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27, AV)

Has sent Him on a mission. The Word, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity was sent on a mission arranged in eternity past. This mission basically was to come to this earth as a human being, live among us, be tempted in every way like we are without sinning, be illegally convicted and executed as punishment for our sins and then to be resurrected to return to His position in glory from where He had come. This time He returns as a conquering King who has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,” (2 Timothy 1:10, NKJV)

He testified that He had come to give life abundantly (John 10:10) and to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

Summarizing then what we have covered under this heading, we have learned that God has made Christ the heir of all things, given Him authority over everything which includes His responsibility to judge and God has sent Him on a mission to rescue people from their sins and the penalty that comes from sin.

We can see therefore how central and supreme Jesus Christ is to everything God has done and is doing in the world.

Part 2 – The Word Became Flesh and Lived Among Us

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The argument I am trying to make in this series of articles is that Jesus Christ, the God-man, is the core of all knowledge, all science, our very being, and He is the Supreme ruler of all things. As we read in the gospel of John chapter one verse 14, John writes that the Word became flesh and lived among us. The Word is the second person of the Trinity. Earlier in the first chapter of John he wrote that in the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God. So now we see that the Word becomes flesh; this thing called the Word becomes human, taking on a body. We know this person as Jesus Christ. There are several passages of scripture that I would like us to look at and I’m going to quote them verbatim so that you can see what the scripture is claiming.

“He [speaking of Christ] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” (Colossians 1:15, NKJV)

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell,” (Colossians 1:19, NKJV)

“in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3, NKJV)

“For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily;” (Colossians 2:9, NKJV)

“[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:2–3, NKJV)

According to Colossians and Hebrews Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. The writer to the Hebrews says He is the express image of God. In other words, He is the exact impression of God. Just like we might make a stamp and impress an image onto a block of clay, Jesus Christ is the impress stamp , the image of God the Father. These verses further tell us that all of the fullness of the godhead dwelt in Jesus Christ bodily. That means that when Jesus was walking around on this earth getting his feet dusty, He was the embodiment of the entirety of the godhead. In addition to that, Paul wrote to the Colossians that all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are to be found in Jesus Christ himself. The word all leaves nothing out. Every bit of wisdom that exists in the universe has its origin in Jesus Christ. All the knowledge of science , chemistry , astronomy, psychology, sociology and so forth are rooted in Christ. Any wisdom that there is in the universe has its source in Jesus Christ. This is why His being is central and supreme.

There can be nothing said of someone more profound and acknowledging of the supremacy of that one and the centrality of that one than to say that he is the creator of all things, the entirety of God almighty is contained in him, and that in him dwells all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Part 1 – In the Beginning

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The purpose of this series of articles is to demonstrate the centrality and supremacy of Christ as given to us in the Scriptures. The first part of this series I’m calling “In the Beginning.” The first verse in the Bible tells us,“In the beginning God …” Obviously this means that in the beginning God was there before anything else existed. In John 1:1 the Bible tells us “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” Before anything else existed, God was there, as was the Word. And the Bible says that the Word was God. We also know from Genesis 1:2 that the Holy Spirit was also present at creation hovering over the waters. These verses lay the foundation for the Christian worldview and philosophy. We are going to discover that “The Word” is none other than the Son of God and the man Jesus Christ and He is the center of everything.

[There is audio along with a PowerPoint video of this study at  https://youtu.be/JPnmeApPQ3c ]

What we can see from this is that the Trinity, Father Son and Holy Spirit were all present at creation. In John 17:24 Jesus testifies that God the Father loved Him before the foundation of the world. Earlier in that same chapter Jesus looks forward to the day when He will share again in the glory He had with the Father before the world began. What we know from this is that within the Trinity there was love, communication, and glory before anything else had been created. Should we be surprised then that we as human beings who have been created in the image of God have personalities that include love and communication as part of our nature?

These truths lay the foundation for what comes next. In Genesis 1:1 we learn that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In John 1:1-3 we learn that the Word that was in the beginning with God and who was God created all things and there’s nothing that’s been created that He did not create. Therefore, as we look around, everything we see around us has been created by the Word, the son of God.

“He (speaking of Jesus Christ) 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.” (Colossians 1:15–17, NKJV)

“[God] has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,” (Hebrews 1:2–3, NKJV)

What do we learn from these passages? Jesus Christ the Son of God created all things including thrones, dominions, principalities and powers. We further learn that He made everything for Himself. Just as we sometimes create artwork or a piece of furniture for our own use and enjoyment, Jesus Christ did the same with all of creation. In addition we learn that He holds everything together. Why is it important to consider the centrality and supremacy of Christ? Because He is the foundation of all of creation and He supports and holds it together for His own pleasure and glory.

Let’s think about these ideas in a different way. In the beginning all that existed was a 3-person God who existed in a spiritual form, that is, He did not have a body. And yet there was communication and love among the members of this Trinity. At some point before time began this triune God decided to create the universe. All of the atoms and molecules that make up our universe , our world , and our bodies, were created out of nothing through the Word of this God. And what John tells us in John chapter one is that this Word that created all things is God himself. If that’s not amazing to you, I don’t know what it would take to amaze you.

I think what we need to do as Christians is to try to put aside the conception of these things as being religion or religious teaching. The Bible is saying, and we as Christians believe, that these statements are actually true. This truth is at the core of all science and all history and, in fact, all knowledge. There actually is a God who exists in three persons and who created all things by his word. I would go so far as to say that if you do not believe this to be true, then it is likely that you are actually not a Christian because these statements in the Bible are the foundation and the core of all the rest that follows.

Paradoxes by Valley of Vision

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O Changeless God,

Under the conviction of thy Spirit I learn that the more I do, the worse I am,
the more I know, the less I know,
the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,
the more I love, the more there is to love.

O wretched man that I am!

O Lord,
I have a wild heart, and cannot stand before thee;

I am like a bird before a man. How little I love thy truth and ways!

I neglect prayer, by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly, by knowing thou hast saved my soul.

Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ’s blood cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell, for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches, Christians, but lives unholily.

My mind is a bucket without a bottom, with no spiritual understanding,
no desire for the Lord’s Day, ever learning but never reaching the truth,
always at the gospel-well but never holding water.

My conscience is without conviction or contrition, with nothing to repent of.

My will is without power of decision or resolution. My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.

My memory has no retention, so I forget easily the lessons learned, and thy truths seep away.

Give me a broken heart that yet carries home the water of grace.

From Valley of Vision, published by Banner of Truth. Page 72

Am I A Soldier of the Cross?

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1. Am I a soldier of the cross,
a follower of the Lamb,
and shall I fear to own his cause,
or blush to speak his name?

2. Must I be carried to the skies
on flowery beds of ease,
while others fought to win the prize,
and sailed through bloody seas?

3. Are there no foes for me to face?
Must I not stem the flood?
Is this vile world a friend to grace,
to help me on to God?

4. Sure I must fight, if I would reign;
increase my courage, Lord.
I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,
supported by thy word.

The Hope of God’s Calling

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Hope of His Calling

Paul writes in Ephesians: “the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints,” (Ephesians 1:18, NKJV)

Why is there hope in his calling? This is what I want us to think about today.

Let’s start with Romans 8:28-30:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” (Romans 8:28–30, NKJV)

First in this passage we learn that God works all things together for good for those who are the called according to His purpose. There is hope in His calling because we are assured that God is at work on our behalf, ensuring that all things are working together for good.

The second thing we notice is there is a sequence here. God foreknew and then predestined His own to be conformed to the image of Christ. It is these foreknown and predestined people that God called. So there is hope in God’s calling because we therefore know that God knew us from eternity past and predestined that we would become like Christ.

The verse goes on to say that those He called He justified and glorified (past tense). So we further learn that there is hope in our calling because those whom God calls have been justified, that is, declared righteous. And not only that, as far as God is concerned, they are already glorified. There is a lot of hope in that!

Romans 11:29 tells us that the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable. So that is another truth that strengthens our hope, isn’t it? It encourages our hope to know that God’s calling in our lives will never be revoked. He will not take it back. The deal has been sealed.

Paul’s prayer, quoted at the beginning,  is that the eyes or our hearts would be enlightened – that we would be able to “see” this truth so that our calling by God would bring us hope. I don’t think there’s a better thing to meditate on as we begin a new year!

 

 

 

 

Charles and Larry Discuss “The Great Extinction”

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The Great extinction

L: I just read that the 6th great extinction might be underway as we speak!

C: What do you mean?

L: Well, they said that for example the African elephant population has been cut basically in half since the early part of the 1900’s.

C: Should we be worried?

L: They said a lot of it is caused by humans. I think we should work really hard to stop it.

C: What should we do?

L: I think we need to cut back on carbon emissions, stop clearing so many forests, cut back on the number of kids we have, and so on.

C: And you think that would stop this extinction from taking place?

L: I think it would help.

C: Let me ask you a question. What caused the first five extinctions to take place?

L: I don’t know. It just happens. That’s the way evolution works. The earth changes, species come and go.

C: So why should we worry about this one?

L: Because if our species disappears, we’re doomed!

C: Yea… and what would happen then?

L: I guess new species would develop and…

C: Life would go on. What’s to worry about?

L: But part of this is our fault and we have the responsibility to take steps to slow it down, so that future generations will be able to live the kind of life we live.

C: Future generations of humans or just future generations of something?

L: Future generations of humans.

C: You don’t believe in God, right? You believe in evolution through totally natural causes.

L: That’s right. There is no God planning or guiding or directing what is happening. It just happens because of the laws of science.

C: So evolution of the planet and of life just goes on without any supervision or oversight. There is no ‘ought’ to any of it. Atoms bounce around in certain ways and come together according to nature and over enough billions of years we have the earth as we know it today. Right?

L: That’s right.

C: So my first observation is that the way the earth is today, then, is not necessarily the ideal. It just happens to be the way it is today. Over the course of evolution, let’s say when the dinosaurs were here, they went wherever they wanted and ate what they wanted and there was no God and no people to say, “You shouldn’t go there or do that.”

L: Right

C: Eventually evolution got to human beings. Humans decide to build houses and so they cut down trees. All of a sudden that is a bad thing. Beavers are never accused of destroying trees. It’s just what happens.

L: But we have intelligence.

C: So we chop down trees. We clear land so we can grow crops and we have extended our life span. We’ve invented products to make our work easier. It’s what we do.

L: But we need to do those things carefully and with thought and care for the environment.

C: Who says so?

L: We sort of agree to do that.

C: Not everyone.

L: I know but some people waste things and pollute the environment and it hurts other people.

C: Who says that is bad. Some animals do things that hurt other animals or other species and we never accuse them of ruining the environment.

L: That’s because they can’t think.

C: Thinking about things is an ability we have, but as soon as you suggest that there is an ought, I get nervous because that makes me think that you think that there are rules out there somewhere that we are all obligated to obey.

L: Well there are.

C: Who says so?

L: We just know it. We know that we shouldn’t harm the environment so that other people suffer now or at a later time.

C: Apparently not everyone knows that because if they did, they wouldn’t be doing things that you don’t like.

L: They might not know it, that’s why we need to educate them.

C: But who says your way of thinking is right, just because you believe it or say it.

C: Here’s the thing: If evolution is true, humans are currently the product. The earth is the way it is now, but that is not the ideal. It just is the way it is. So if humans bring a species of plants from China to the U.S., that shouldn’t cause everyone to freak out. It’s just what happens in the course of evolution. Evolution created us and evolution gets to deal with the results of our behavior.

C: There are no “oughts.” Any oughts are preferences of one group seeking to subjugate another group. Right now it seems like those of your point of view are trying to create oughts that people like me are required to agree to and follow just because you have more numbers or power. But that doesn’t make your preferences right.

C: Humans inherently have the notion that what I have just described can’t be right. We believe that people really ought to live in a certain way even if we’re not always sure what that way is. I maintain that the moral sense we have and the conscience we have is evidence that we are not really alone in the universe. We haven’t really just evolved from organic soup by chemical laws. There really is a creator God out there who has the list of oughts and has the right to tell us what to do. We need to find the list.

C: The reality of a creator God is a better foundation for environmental care than evolution. If there is a God who made all this, then we have the responsibility of handling his creation with care and treating all of it with respect.

A Song for This Sunday Morning

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1. His be the Victor’s Name
Who fought the fight alone;
Triumphant saints no honor claim;
Their conquest was His own.

2. By weakness and defeat
He won the glorious crown;
Trod all His foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.

What though the vile accuser roar
Of sins that I have done;
I know them well, and thousands more;
My God, He knoweth none

3. He hell in hell laid low;
Made sin, He sin o’erthrew;
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so,
And death, by dying, slew.

4. Bless, bless the Conqueror slain,
Slain by divine decree!
Who lived, who died, who lives again,
For thee, my soul, for thee.

My sin is cast into the sea
Of God’s forgotten memory
No more to haunt accusingly
For Christ has lived and died for me

Words: Samuel Gandy, 1838 (verses & chorus), alt.; Zac Hicks, 2013 (bridge)
Music: Zac Hicks, 2013
©2013 Unbudding Fig Music (ASCAP)

The Crucial Importance of the Church

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The Crucial Importance of the Church

The Church, the body of Christ, is the fullness of God.

“….the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him [God] who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22–23, NKJV)

God the Holy Spirit baptizes (places) us into the body.

“For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthians 12:13, NKJV)

He places us in the body as it pleases Him.

“But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.” (1 Corinthians 12:18, NKJV)

We then are one spirit with Christ. He is the head. We are the body and share His spirit.

“But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Corinthians 6:17, NKJV)

We also have the mind of Christ.

“For “who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16, NKJV)

We also are members of His flesh and bones. Our hands, toes and eyes are His flesh and bones.

“For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” (Ephesians 5:30, NKJV)

We are therefore members of one another since we are part of the same body and share the same spirit.

“so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.” (Romans 12:5, NKJV)

The Holy Spirit gives a manifestation (external evidence, gift, spiritual ability) to each Christian to be used for the profit of the other parts of the body for the overall health and growth of the body.

“But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:” (1 Corinthians 12:7, NKJV)

“But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.” (1 Corinthians 12:11, NKJV)

 

A body is healthy only when all its parts are there and functioning according to their design. When a part of our body is not functioning or is functioning weakly, our body is not healthy and not growing as it should. The same is true of the body of Christ. Every part has a function. Every part is connected to every other part and must be aware of the impact it would have on the other parts of the body if it does not function as it should. There are no individual parts of the body just floating out in space. All parts are interconnected and have the same life and spirit flowing through them.

“from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:16, NKJV)

“But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor… But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”
(1 Corinthians 12:20–27, NKJV)

Spiritual Gifts Listed in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12

Word of wisdom                                                                          Mercy

Word of knowledge                                                                     Leading

Faith                                                                                                Giving

Healings*                                                                                       Exhortation

Miracles*                                                                                       Teaching

Prophecy1                                                                                       Serving

Discerning spirits                                                                          Administration

Tongues*                                                                                       Helps

Interpretation of tongues*

Many of these characteristics, such as faith and giving, should be present generally among God’s people. But some are especially gifted by the Spirit in these areas.

There may be additional gifts not listed here, but many of these gifts cover a lot of areas. Gifts such as serving, faith, or helps have a broad range of applications.

God gives some men gifts to be used to equip others to do the ministry.

“But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men…. And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;” (Ephesians 4:7–13, NKJV)

“And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers….”
(1 Corinthians 12:28, NKJV)

The main point to remember is that you as a Christian have been given one or more of these gifts. God has given the gift to be used in and with the local body of Christ. There should be a consciousness and awareness of the rest of the body and how your gifts are serving for the edification of others so that the body is made stronger and healthier “to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph 4:13). This is to be intentional. It does not just happen. Paul warned the Corinthian Christians about this when instructing them about communion. It wasn’t general secret sins that Paul warned them about resulting in “some are weak and sickly among you and many sleep,” it was not discerning the Lord’s body. The body of Christ, the fullness of God,  with its many members was right there among them and they didn’t see it. They were just interested in themselves and making sure their personal needs were met.

“For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.” (1 Corinthians 11:29, NKJV)

Questions each Christian must ask himself:

  1. What is the gift or gifts the Holy Spirit has given me?
  2. How am I using my gift in the church to serve the Body?
  3. Am I a healthy member of the body functioning and interconnected with others?
  4. How is my gift strengthening the body, building up others in the body and helping the body to grow and mature?

*We believe these were special gifts given to the church to authenticate the apostles’ message and are no longer widely active today. This does not mean that God cannot or does not use these gifts in some special circumstances today.

1By prophecy we mean the Spirit enabled proclamation of the truth of Scripture, not the foretelling the future.