Seeing and Savoring the Supreme Christ

The battleground for the satisfied soul is the mind. God invades the minds of his children with the word of God so that we might see his Son’s unrivaled greatness. In this passage we see Jesus’ supremacy and sufficiency expressed in terms of who he is, who believers are in him, and how the spirit world is related to him.

 

We have endeavored in these last several weeks to roll up our sleeves and give attention to the Epistle of Paul to the Colossians. Each week we come to the Bible and ask God to inform us of his truth and reform us through his truth. This is another way of saying that we desire to have our minds renewed and our lives transformed by the Word of God. Our objective is no different this morning. 

 

Let’s pray that God would make this happen here this morning.

 

Go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 2 as we continue our study in Colossians.

 

We must remember that Paul is dealing with a group of believers who are living amid an increased threat level. Those who are promoting the false doctrine are walking about the camp and their ultimate goal, according to Paul in verse 8, is to make ‘captives’. 

 

Paul is concerned on two fronts:

 

1)      First, the heretics’ persuasive abilities.

2)      Second, the believers’ vulnerability.

 

This is why he writes, “I say this so that no one will delude you with persuasive argument. Colossians 2:4”

 

At the heart of the threat is the fact that all of the ‘competition’ so to speak, is contrary to Christ, it opposes him. You are not enhancing your spiritual portfolio by adding to Jesus, rather you liquidating it. Such novel attempts to get creative and subjective with Christ, serves to distort his person and devalue his work.

 

So there is a threat. And from a human perspective it is the affections of the believers that are under attack by this deceitful scheming and argumentation of these heretics. Specifically, the blind spot for each of us is in our contentment with Christ.

 

When folks are hoodwinked by these things and carried off they have forgotten the principle realities that communicate the unparalleled supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. 

 

Don’t miss this: the reason for people wandering from Jesus is because there is a discontentment with him; he is devalued! There is a dangerously subtle degradation of Jesus person and work that is innate in our falleness.

 

A fundamental misunderstanding and/or a forgetfulness of who Jesus is and what he has done is the basis for all of the error that we encounter in this book. 

 

The solution to this problem is a proper understanding and application of Jesus the Christ. It is to be reminded of the infinite beauty and therefore value of Christ.  This serves to bring contentment. Putting Jesus before believers brings satisfaction.

 

Please see this on the front end: the battle is in the mind (proper understanding) because it is the mind that gives birth to your affections (what you value).

 

Because of Jesus’ unrivaled sufficiency believers (you) are to be joyfully content in him.

 

3 Reasons why Jesus brings unrivaled contentment

Jesus needs nothing more

Believers need nothing more

Jesus’ enemies have nothing left

 

Let’s look together at the first reason why Jesus brings unrivaled contentment… Jesus needs nothing more

 

 

Jesus Christ is the fullness of God. We are not to search for anyone or anything more in our spiritual life.

 

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

 

As we have said, this verse is in the flow of proving why Jesus is to be favored over all religious and spiritual options. 

 

The coming verses help us to see with clarity what Paul was thinking in verse 8 when he wrote, “rather than according to Christ”. The question of why, is answered with inspired thunder.

 

Notice first what the verse is saying. It is in Jesus that all of the fullness of deity dwells.

 

What does fullness mean?

We obviously must understand this notion of fullness. It is extremely important as it is tied to the purpose and pleasure of God in exalting Jesus.

 

The word translated fullness is used in different ways in the Scriptures. It is used of filling the baskets with the excess bread after Jesus fed the 5000 in Mark 8.19. It is also used to depict the fullness of time in Galatians 4.4.

 

Furthermore, when you look at the Septuagint, the Greek Translation of the Old Testament (which would have been the familiar translation for those living in Paul’s time) we see this term used to describe the fullness of the sea (1 Ch. 16.32), the fullness of the earth (Ps. 24.1), and with regard to God’s universal ownership of the world we read in Psalm 50, "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.” (Psalm 50:12)

 

So we understand this concept of fullness when we think of a bucket overflowing with bread, the vastness of the ocean, and the immeasurable depth of the universe.

 

This word has been emphasized throughout the letter. I agree with the many Bible teachers who have concluded that Paul is turning their own words against them.  He regularly gives them a sanctified poke in the eye as he emphasizes the fullness of Christ and the emptiness of the spirituality that they were selling.

 

For example:

 

 

But here in verse 9 we see the specifics of what Paul means by fullness when referring to Christ, he writes that “in him all of the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form”.

 

This is to say that Jesus Christ is fully God. There is nothing lacking in him.

 

Now remember that the various opponents of Christ for this Colossian region were trumpeting a view of Jesus that put him as a lesser spiritual emanation. 

 

He was on par with all of the various other mediators that partnered together to bring people to God and God to people. 

 

But mark it down, none of these, including Jesus in their view, had all of the fullness of deity. They may have promised to get you there or shown you the path to go yourself, but no one could deliver this.

 

Further, the text says that this unfathomable deity dwells in bodily form. Again this is probably another sanctified poke in the eye. Many believe that Paul is specifically correcting the theory that Jesus had no human body (Docetism) or that material was bad but spirit was good. 

 

“Paul is not advocating the view, so common in his day, that true spirituality was to be found by abandoning or by strictly subduing the ‘body’ see v.23. Rather, God has chosen precisely a body in which to take residence and through that body, sacrificed on the cross (1.22; 2.15) and raised from the dead (2.13), to win the ultimate victory over the powers of darkness.” (Moo, 194-195)

 

Here, in Christ there is a glorious wedding between the material and the spiritual: God put on flesh.

 

Please notice that the verb here is present tense. The fullness of deity continues to dwell in bodily form, even at the time of this writing. Christ has forever been God, he put on flesh in his incarnation, and he was resurrected with a glorified body and one day will return as the glorious king in a body. The fullness of deity dwells in bodily form in Christ!

 

I can remember as a brand new believer God bringing this verse to my attention. I think I had been a Christian for a year or so. I was hungry for truth. God scheduled a few training sessions for me with a hearty Jehovah’s Witness. I had just taken a new job at Mutual of Omaha and this lady was relentless. Every day in the training session she was delivering Watchtower magazines and arguing the Jesus is not divine. 

 

In God’s providence J.Vernon McGee was teaching through the book of Colossians on the radio and I would listen each day on my drive in. 

 

However, in my zealous defense of the deity of Christ Colossians 2.9 became a footnote in my promotion of the doctrine of Christ’s deity. But this verse is not just a defensive verse; it is also an offensive verse.

 

It is clear that a natural approach to Colossians 2.9 brings about the understanding that Jesus is God in the flesh. There is scarcely any other way to take it. This verse defends the truth.

 

However, it is also offensive. And I am thinking particularly of believers.

 

It is offensive in that it invades your mind with the truth that God became a man. He put on flesh. He lived in a human body. He died a human death. And he rose with a resurrected body. Jesus had flesh. The God-ness of God was enshrined in skin.

If we are thinking biblically we know that this notion of God’s dwelling with his people has always been a highly discussed and anticipated event.

 

We traced this down a bit when we were in chapter 1. But for the sake of those who are new or who need to be reminded of this (like me!), let’s think together a bit about this.

 

God, when outlining specifics for the priests and the people with regard to worship, he tells them that he will, dwell with his people:

Exodus 29:45-46   ⁴⁵ "I will dwell among the sons of Israel and will be their God. ⁴⁶ "They shall know that I am the LORD their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them; I am the LORD their God.   

 

God chooses a place where his name will dwell. 

 

Deuteronomy 12:5  ⁵ "But you shall seek the LORD at the place which the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.

 

 

Deuteronomy 16:2  ² "You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the LORD chooses to establish His name.

 

And God did come and meet with his people. God met his people redemptively in Egypt, throughout the wilderness God would come in a pillar of cloud by day, or fire by night, in taking the land—God was with them. Further, the people of God would go and meet with God.

 

God was pleased to show this love and favor to his people.

 

However, the visitation of God was not permanent. We even read in Ezekiel of God judging Israel in a most tangible way as his glory leaves the temple! 

 

Under the cloud of judgment and without the means of favor, the people lack the means for fellowship with God, his presence is gone, his judgment is infleixible. And what remains is the memories of kind and powerful visitations of God as the shadows that are sourced in the reality of God in his fullness coming to dwell with his people.

 

But the promised future visitation and dwelling with his people was still echoing at the end of the book of Ezekiel:

 

 

And what do we read in the opening verses of the Gospel According to John?

 

John 1:14  ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

 

The fullness of God is embodied in the Son. As glorious as the outward manifestations of the presence of God were in the Old Testament were they were limited. They were limited by virtue of time and essence. As shadows they were to communicate and point towards the substance which is Christ. He is the fullness.

 

And when Christ comes again, judges his enemies, and rules with his people, what does the Scripture say? 

 

Revelation 21:1-6  Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, ⁴ and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." ⁵ And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." ⁶ Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

 

The purpose of God in all of redemptive history is to bring people to himself. He does this first and foremost by bringing himself to us. He did this through various temporary emanations throughout the OT, however it was the prophetic voice pointing to the future that birthed and sustained such hope and joy. Then God, in all of the fullness of deity, broke forth through the heavens, put on flesh and dwelt among us. He now indwells believers and will, at the end, come down and dwell among his people forever.

 

You must then see that a verse like Colossians 2.9 is far more than just a proof text for your sword fights with Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is a verse within a context that punctuates the utter sufficiency of Jesus Christ. 

 

He is neither secluded from us nor secluded from God; he is the exclusive means by which we have access to God and which God deals with us.

 

There is no where else to go. There is no where else you could go. Everywhere else you could possibly turn is to less. The fullness of God dwells in him! He is everything. He has no rivals. He is the fulfilled promise of God coming to his people. He is sufficient. He needs nothing more. This is the point.

 

Jesus Christ is the fullness of God. We are not to search for anyone or anything more in our spiritual life.

 

Why does Jesus bring unrivaled contentment?

 

First: Because Jesus needs nothing more

Now second, Because Believers Need Nothing More…

 

Everything you will ever need for spirituality has been purchased and provided by Jesus Christ.

 

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

 

In Colossians the concern has been upon the person and work of Christ and then as a result, upon the believers and how they can have and maintain holiness. Paul has just pulled out the irrefutable trump card of Christ’s divinity in the flesh, now he is going to turn his attention specifically upon believers.

 

Note what he says, “In Him you have been made Complete”.

 

This is our term again that is often times translated fullness. Most translations follow the NASB as it translates it as “made complete”. The ESV on the other hand aims to show the continuity of the term fullness as it translates it, “you have been filled in him,” 

 

The point of the passage is that believers are complete, full, lacking nothing in Christ. If you are in Christ then you are complete. You lack nothing.

 

There are some specifics of this verse that help to inform and perhaps reform our thinking about how this happens. Look again at verse 10:

 

and in Him you have been made complete

 

The verb is in the perfect tense indicating the continuing state as a result of a past action. Further, it is in the passive voice, indicating that it is not something that you did but rather that happened to you.

 

In other words, believers, you are complete and lacking nothing because God has made you complete in Christ! 

 

Everything you will ever need for spirituality has been purchased and provided by Jesus Christ. You lack nothing! And the way in which you received it is not by earning it through religious ritual, personal sacrifice or superior knowledge, but rather as a result of divine grace, mercy, and love.

 

The miracles during the earthly ministry of Jesus serve to be a fitting illustration of the type of completeness that we are talking about.

 

In Matthew 15 we have the example of the Cannanite women:

 

 

You might also think of the man with the withered hand in Luke 6:

 

Luke 6:10  ¹⁰ After looking around at them all, He said to him, "Stretch out your hand!" And he did so; and his hand was restored.

 

Jesus did not put an ace bandage on these people rather, he healed them! In the same way, spiritually, he does not make you halfway complete or lacking in any way. Believers are made complete in him. We lack nothing.

 

What type of reaction is required by those whom truly begin to grasp this truth?

 

Humility, thanksgiving, satisfaction, submission, joy, contentment, amazement, passion, loyalty, zeal, prayer, study, anticipation of heaven….

 

The Colossians and all believers would have no interest in listening to the vain allurements by false teachers when they realize that they are in fact already complete, already filled. When we understand that we lack nothing in Christ we will seek nothing outside of Christ.

 

This really is Paul’s burden in Colossians, particularly here in chapter 2. He is making the mind a beachhead for the truth. He is defending the person and work of Christ by invading the believers’ minds with his unrivaled supremacy and sufficiency.

 

This is why we see Paul smash all of the fine china in the shrines of personal achievement. 

 

Look at verse 16:

 

 

You are complete in Christ! Don’t cling to what you eat or drink or do not eat or drink! Don’t cling to days or feasts! You are complete in Christ!

 

Colossians 2:18-19  ¹⁸ Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement and the worship of the angels, taking his stand on visions he has seen, inflated without cause by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹ and not holding fast to the head, from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God.

 

Don’t be defrauded! You are complete in Christ!!

 

 

Do not submit to these things! You do so in vein. It is utter foolishness…You are complete in Christ!!!

 

Paul invades the mind with truth to remind believers of the infinite value of Christ, the infinite value of his work, and infinite gift given to believers. The mind is the battlefield that wins the victory of faithful satisfaction in and loyalty to Christ.

 

Everything you will ever need for spirituality has been purchased and provided by Jesus Christ.

 

Jesus brings unrivaled contentment:

 

First: Because Jesus needs nothing more

Second, Because Believers Need Nothing More…

Now third, Because Jesus’ Enemies have nothing left

 

Those who are in Christ have no need to give homage to evil powers. For the one in whom they are complete is their Lord, Master and King.

 

If we stopped this verse before reading this last clause those being recruited by the errorists might say, “But Paul, what about the various spirits and mediators?”

 

For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, ¹⁰ and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority;

 

This verse helps to answer such nagging and uninformed questions about Christ and his people’s relation to the spiritual world.

 

Look again at verse 10, notice that it says that He (Christ) is the head over all rule and authority.

 

We have seen this word before in Colossians. Look back at verse 18:

 

Colossians 1:18  ¹⁸ He is also head of the body, the church;

 

The term head refers to a position of authority. Jesus is Lord over the church. He is the church’s master, king, and ruler. He has no competition in this regard.

 

Here in our text in chapter 2 we have a different group spoken of. Paul refers to “all rule and authority.”

 

In light of the context and the way that Paul uses these two words together he is referring to spiritual powers (see 1 Cor. 15.24; Eph. 1.21; 3.10; 6.12; and then in Col. 2.15).

 

It is important to note that this is not subjunctive mood indicating the possibility that this authority of Christ may someday come to pass, but rather it is a present indicative, indicating that he now is the head. He is the ruler.

 

This is really important when we think about our relationship to the spiritual world. We are not to fear, attempt to placate or satisfy, or consume ourselves with such things. We are to remember that Christ has conquered them and that he rules over them. They are forever securely fixed under his regal boot.

 

Those who are in Christ have no need to give homage to evil powers. For the one in whom they are complete is their Lord, Master and King.

 

Jesus brings unrivaled contentment:

 

First: Because Jesus needs nothing more

Second, Because Believers Need Nothing More…

Third, Because Jesus’ Enemies have nothing left

 

God continually reminds believers of the unsearchable riches of his Son. As believers we have been blessed with the unimaginable in Jesus.

 

In the face of opposition and temptation God aims to invade our minds with the unrivaled greatness of Jesus so as to ensure faithfulness through Christ-Centered contentment.