Preaching during Advent
The Advent season is a wonderful time to preach and teach about our inclusion with Christ in the love and life of God.
Following are some notes I have put together for a Pre-Advent sermon this Sunday on what is sometimes called "Christ the King" Sunday. Your thoughts, addition, deletions, etc. are welcome.
We come today, as every Sunday, to celebrate Christ—the one who has come, is coming and will come. We celebrate his comings in the Advent season which begins next Sunday and extends through Christmas.
Who is this Christ who comes? Could he be far bigger and grander than we often allow ourselves to realize? Let us open our minds and hearts today and get a clearer view.
Here’s what Paul says concerning Jesus Christ (Col 1:15-23):
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Let’s recap what we have read here. Jesus Christ is…
1. God
He is “the image [icone] of the invisible God” (15a). Jesus is the “icon” of God—the perfect representation. When you see Jesus you see God. He is the Eternal Son of the Heavenly Father; the second person of the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit. God, three-in-one; one-in-three. When you say Jesus Christ, you say God.
2. Creator & Sustainer
Jesus Christ is also “the firstborn over all creation” (15b). To be “firstborn” is to be preeminent (v. 17 says he is “before all things”) a position he holds because he is Creator of the entire cosmos: “For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him”(v. 16, NRSV).
And he also sustains all that he creates. As Paul says in Acts 17.28, it is “in him” [in God] that “we live and move and have our beings.” This God is none other than Jesus Christ: our Creator & Sustainer. And note that we are sustained “in him”— indeed, “in him all things hold together” (17b).
This is a thought that blows our minds—in some very real way, all that exists has its existence both because of God and in God—in Christ, God’s Creative Word, to be precise. Indeed he really does have “the whole world in his hands”—and in his mind—not as a distant and disinterested caretaker, but as its continuing source of being. All that exists, exists in him.
When you say Jesus Christ you say Creator & Sustainer of the entire universe, including all humanity. Including you.
3. Reconciler
Jesus Christ is also the Reconciler of the cosmos. God, through Christ, reconciled “to himself all things…by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (20).
This same God, who in himself creates and sustains the cosmos, has also, within himself, reconciled all things to God. In his own person he has taken what was separated from God by sin and brought it back. Healed the breach. Brought perfect peace. In God’s mind there is now no separation.
This amazing and glorious truth points us to another truth about Jesus Christ: his incarnation. The Eternal Son of God, the Creator & Sustainer of all things has accomplished the reconciliation of all things with the Father by coming into the cosmos in a body. Jesus Christ added our humanity to his divinity. Immanuel: God with us. God one of us. To reconcile us to God. Note v. 22: “He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body.”
During the Advent season our attention is once again focused on this astonishing truth—God became sinful flesh so that he might come to us for the purpose of reconciling all the cosmos back to God. In the person of Jesus is the reconciliation of all.
Jesus did not “fax in” from afar this word of reconciliation. He was, in himself, the word of our reconciliation. Up close and personal.
Paul makes this truth clear to us in 2Cor 5:14ff
14 …we are convinced that one [Christ] died for all, and therefore all died.
Whatever happened to Jesus Christ in his humanity happened to all of humanity. Why? Because he holds all humanity within himself as its Creator and Sustainer. Jesus took up within himself through his incarnation our full humanity (sinful nature and all). God become sinful flesh.
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
When Jesus died, all humanity died with him. When Jesus rose from the grave, we all rose with him. And when he ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand in glory, Jesus took all humanity with him. Jesus is our home. Jesus is our glorified humanity.
And so when we say Jesus Christ, we are saying God. When we say Jesus Christ we are saying Creator & Sustainer. And when we say Jesus Christ we are saying Reconciler of all humanity back to God. And this should change forever how we look at all people
[Back to 2Cor. 5]:
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.
The gospel—the good news—is just that because all humanity has been reconciled to God in and through Jesus Christ; because Jesus paid the sin debt once and for all. God is not angry at anyone! He is not keeping a record of anyone’s sins. God is not a cosmic Santa Claus “keeping a list and checking it twice—gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.”
In Jesus, the gap between God and humanity was closed nearly 2,000 years ago. As Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished.” And now we have a calling [continuing in 2Cor 5]: “19b He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus took on our humanity, including our fallen nature—he became sin for us. And as our sin-bearer—our representative and substitute—he died our death, rose for us and with us, and now has taken our humanity with him to heaven, our true and final home.
Our job? Tell someone who they are in Christ—and invite them to embrace their true identity: "You are the Father’s dearly loved child." Welcome them home!
4. Intercessor
Who else is Jesus Christ? [Back to Col 1]:
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Here is amazing truth—even though humanity exists fully and only in Jesus Christ, who is Creator & Sustainer and Reconciler of all, God gives us freedom as individuals—whether believer or non-believer, to choose to participate actively or choose not to participate at all in the life that is ours in Jesus.
So what do we do? First, as we have seen, we invite others to participate in the family that is theirs. We welcome them home and acquaint them with the life that is theirs in Jesus.
But we also need to remind ourselves—as one preacher said, we need to "preach the gospel to ourselves every day."
What is the gospel? It is the good news of who Jesus Christ is and therefore who we are.
As we are filled with this good news, we are open to the presence of Jesus in our lives—or more accurately we are open to the life we have in and with Jesus. And we choose to actively participate. We choose Jesus because he chose us!
Now those choosing not participate in his life are in a precarious position [Col. 1:21]:
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
Though in God’s mind there is no separation (every human being is already reconciled, in Christ, to him--every one is his dearly loved child), in some human minds there continues to be alienation — some continue to choose to walk in the darkness of their own alienation even while being bathed in the light of their true life in Jesus. Let us help them find that light! Let us help them embrace their true identify as the Father's child. Welcome them home!
And a note to those of us who believe - let us never retrun to walking in darkness and alienation. Be encouraged and emboldened in knowing this: your Intercessor, Jesus, will always pull you back to his light. Through the indwelling Spirit he always helps you continue to actively share what is yours in him—helps you continue to be established and firm in the truth that is in him—not being moved away from the hope held out in his gospel (verse 23).
Be confident. Listen to Jesus. Respond. Participate actively.
Conclusion
This Advent be powerfully reminded of who Jesus is: God in the flesh, Creator & Sustainer, and Intercessor. The one who has come and reconciled us all; the one who now bids us participate with him actively in that reconciled life.
Following are some notes I have put together for a Pre-Advent sermon this Sunday on what is sometimes called "Christ the King" Sunday. Your thoughts, addition, deletions, etc. are welcome.
Who is Christ?
(Col. 1:15-23; 2Cor. 5:14-23)
We come today, as every Sunday, to celebrate Christ—the one who has come, is coming and will come. We celebrate his comings in the Advent season which begins next Sunday and extends through Christmas.
Who is this Christ who comes? Could he be far bigger and grander than we often allow ourselves to realize? Let us open our minds and hearts today and get a clearer view.
Here’s what Paul says concerning Jesus Christ (Col 1:15-23):
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 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. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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. 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Let’s recap what we have read here. Jesus Christ is…
1. God
He is “the image [icone] of the invisible God” (15a). Jesus is the “icon” of God—the perfect representation. When you see Jesus you see God. He is the Eternal Son of the Heavenly Father; the second person of the Trinity: Father, Son and Spirit. God, three-in-one; one-in-three. When you say Jesus Christ, you say God.
2. Creator & Sustainer
Jesus Christ is also “the firstborn over all creation” (15b). To be “firstborn” is to be preeminent (v. 17 says he is “before all things”) a position he holds because he is Creator of the entire cosmos: “For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him”(v. 16, NRSV).
And he also sustains all that he creates. As Paul says in Acts 17.28, it is “in him” [in God] that “we live and move and have our beings.” This God is none other than Jesus Christ: our Creator & Sustainer. And note that we are sustained “in him”— indeed, “in him all things hold together” (17b).
This is a thought that blows our minds—in some very real way, all that exists has its existence both because of God and in God—in Christ, God’s Creative Word, to be precise. Indeed he really does have “the whole world in his hands”—and in his mind—not as a distant and disinterested caretaker, but as its continuing source of being. All that exists, exists in him.
When you say Jesus Christ you say Creator & Sustainer of the entire universe, including all humanity. Including you.
3. Reconciler
Jesus Christ is also the Reconciler of the cosmos. God, through Christ, reconciled “to himself all things…by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (20).
This same God, who in himself creates and sustains the cosmos, has also, within himself, reconciled all things to God. In his own person he has taken what was separated from God by sin and brought it back. Healed the breach. Brought perfect peace. In God’s mind there is now no separation.
This amazing and glorious truth points us to another truth about Jesus Christ: his incarnation. The Eternal Son of God, the Creator & Sustainer of all things has accomplished the reconciliation of all things with the Father by coming into the cosmos in a body. Jesus Christ added our humanity to his divinity. Immanuel: God with us. God one of us. To reconcile us to God. Note v. 22: “He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body.”
During the Advent season our attention is once again focused on this astonishing truth—God became sinful flesh so that he might come to us for the purpose of reconciling all the cosmos back to God. In the person of Jesus is the reconciliation of all.
Jesus did not “fax in” from afar this word of reconciliation. He was, in himself, the word of our reconciliation. Up close and personal.
Paul makes this truth clear to us in 2Cor 5:14ff
14 …we are convinced that one [Christ] died for all, and therefore all died.
Whatever happened to Jesus Christ in his humanity happened to all of humanity. Why? Because he holds all humanity within himself as its Creator and Sustainer. Jesus took up within himself through his incarnation our full humanity (sinful nature and all). God become sinful flesh.
15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
When Jesus died, all humanity died with him. When Jesus rose from the grave, we all rose with him. And when he ascended to heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand in glory, Jesus took all humanity with him. Jesus is our home. Jesus is our glorified humanity.
And so when we say Jesus Christ, we are saying God. When we say Jesus Christ we are saying Creator & Sustainer. And when we say Jesus Christ we are saying Reconciler of all humanity back to God. And this should change forever how we look at all people
[Back to 2Cor. 5]:
16 So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them.
The gospel—the good news—is just that because all humanity has been reconciled to God in and through Jesus Christ; because Jesus paid the sin debt once and for all. God is not angry at anyone! He is not keeping a record of anyone’s sins. God is not a cosmic Santa Claus “keeping a list and checking it twice—gonna find out who’s naughty and nice.”
In Jesus, the gap between God and humanity was closed nearly 2,000 years ago. As Jesus said on the cross, “it is finished.” And now we have a calling [continuing in 2Cor 5]: “19b He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus took on our humanity, including our fallen nature—he became sin for us. And as our sin-bearer—our representative and substitute—he died our death, rose for us and with us, and now has taken our humanity with him to heaven, our true and final home.
Our job? Tell someone who they are in Christ—and invite them to embrace their true identity: "You are the Father’s dearly loved child." Welcome them home!
4. Intercessor
Who else is Jesus Christ? [Back to Col 1]:
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-- 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Here is amazing truth—even though humanity exists fully and only in Jesus Christ, who is Creator & Sustainer and Reconciler of all, God gives us freedom as individuals—whether believer or non-believer, to choose to participate actively or choose not to participate at all in the life that is ours in Jesus.
So what do we do? First, as we have seen, we invite others to participate in the family that is theirs. We welcome them home and acquaint them with the life that is theirs in Jesus.
But we also need to remind ourselves—as one preacher said, we need to "preach the gospel to ourselves every day."
What is the gospel? It is the good news of who Jesus Christ is and therefore who we are.
As we are filled with this good news, we are open to the presence of Jesus in our lives—or more accurately we are open to the life we have in and with Jesus. And we choose to actively participate. We choose Jesus because he chose us!
Now those choosing not participate in his life are in a precarious position [Col. 1:21]:
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation.
Though in God’s mind there is no separation (every human being is already reconciled, in Christ, to him--every one is his dearly loved child), in some human minds there continues to be alienation — some continue to choose to walk in the darkness of their own alienation even while being bathed in the light of their true life in Jesus. Let us help them find that light! Let us help them embrace their true identify as the Father's child. Welcome them home!
And a note to those of us who believe - let us never retrun to walking in darkness and alienation. Be encouraged and emboldened in knowing this: your Intercessor, Jesus, will always pull you back to his light. Through the indwelling Spirit he always helps you continue to actively share what is yours in him—helps you continue to be established and firm in the truth that is in him—not being moved away from the hope held out in his gospel (verse 23).
Be confident. Listen to Jesus. Respond. Participate actively.
Conclusion
This Advent be powerfully reminded of who Jesus is: God in the flesh, Creator & Sustainer, and Intercessor. The one who has come and reconciled us all; the one who now bids us participate with him actively in that reconciled life.
Joy to the world! The Lord has come!