Fairlea Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church

A Sermon on Colossians 3:13-23

As we continue the study of the Apostles' Creed, we come to the statement, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord."

This sermon explores the meaning of "the Christ" and how Jesus is God's only Son. It ends with the question, "Is Jesus your Lord?"

If you want to know more about Fairlea Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church ministry, please visit our website.

Duration:: 22m
Broadcast on:: 10 Dec 2024
Audio Format:: other

of the invisible God, the first board over all creation, 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. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together, and he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 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. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior, 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. If you continue in your faith, established and firm, not move 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 pray. Holy and transcendent God, we thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in the created world. In the world we see your power and majesty and justice. We are humbly grateful that you have also chose to reveal yourself in the Bible, showing us the path to salvation and freedom from sin. By our Holy Spirit, show us how you would have us live in light of Jesus' roles as Messiah, Son, and Lord. In his precious name, Amen. So if you notice within the creed, today we are going to begin the largest section within the creed. As the creed focuses on the members of the Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, we come now to the life and to the work of Jesus. And you'll notice that the creed focuses most of its words on the life and work of Jesus. One author has said that the apostles creed is a confession of what Jesus has done to secure salvation with a short introduction and conclusion. Now understand that this imbalance in words used to describe the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ does not give more glory or honor or worth to him as the second member of the Trinity. Every member of the Trinity is of equal substance, equal power, equal glory, equal in all of their attributes. But the weight of words given to the life and work of Jesus is rooted in this truth. You and I would have zero access to God the Father or God the Holy Spirit if it were not for the work, the life of God the Son. Our sin has placed a permanent division between us and God. A chasm that cannot be bridged by any human effort. And so Jesus through his life, his death, his resurrection, his continued intercession in heaven has bridged that gap. He bridged it so that you and I can be reconciled to the God that we at one time were in rebellion against. Without the work of Jesus to accomplish salvation, we cannot receive the gift of redemption from either the Father or the Spirit. The Father's justice could not be satisfied without Jesus taking upon himself the judgment due to our sin. And the regeneration life of the Holy Spirit could not have been given had Jesus not been raised from the dead. And so this line of the creed that we will look at today, I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, gives us an overview of Jesus' saving work, focusing our attention on three categories of Jesus' existence. His title Messiah, his eternal sonship, and his rightful office as Lord over all of creation. Because Jesus is the anointed Son who saves, you and I should submit to him as Lord. So first Jesus is the Messiah. Now this section of the creed opens with the statement I believe in Jesus Christ. It would be more accurate to say I believe in Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the name Christ is the title. Jesus is the name of the only Son, our Lord, and in this name Jesus roots him in history and gives us an insight into what he was sent to do. When we say that his name is Jesus, we are talking of a specific person in a specific place, in a specific time. The four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are redemptive biographies of the life of Jesus. Luke goes so far as to claim that what he is presenting in his book is the record of eyewitness accounts of the life of Jesus. The Apostle Paul takes from the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels, as taught to him by Jesus in the Apostles, and he writes of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. Non-Christian Jewish and Roman historians refer to Jesus' life and death, men like Tacitus, Pliny the Younger, Thales, and Josephus, right of the followers of Jesus, some of them describing claims circulating about Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. So the name Jesus reminds us that we are talking that we believe in a historical person, but it also gives us insight into the purpose for which he came. In Matthew chapter 1, beginning in verse 20, we read this, "But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.'" Jesus in the original language means God saves, and that is why Jesus came to this earth to provide salvation and freedom from sin, and to provide for them the opportunity for a relationship with the sovereign creator of the universe. And so Jesus is his name, Christ is his title, Christ is the Greek version of the Hebrew word Messiah, and in its most basic meaning, Messiah means anointed one. In the history of Israel, three offices were set apart by anointing. Prophets were anointed by the Spirit to proclaim the call from God to repentance and faithfulness. Jesus' primary message is repent for the kingdom of God is at hand. Priests were anointed with the oil prescribed in the law, and priests were to act as mediators between God and man, a mediation that was secured through sacrifice. Jesus is the perfect eternal high priest who has provided the sacrifice necessary for a true reconciliation and mediation between God and man. Kings were anointed to be set apart to rule God's people, and the anointing was a sign of God's blessing and authority upon their reign. Jesus is enthroned at the right hand of God, conquering the hearts of rebels and sinners and subduing his enemies and the enemies of his people. In Jewish thought, the Messiah, there was a capital M Messiah that was prophesied to come in the future. In this Messiah had three major expectancies. First, there was the expectancy of the Son of David, the King who had come to re-establish David's throne in all its glory that David had given. Places like Psalm 78, Psalm 89, Amos 9, 11, among others, point to the promised coming of a son of David who would re-establish David's throne. We see in Jesus' genealogies that his descent is traced through David, pointing out to those who would listen, pointing out to those who would hear that Jesus is the promised King. Secondly, the Messianic expectation centered around the Son of Man, the title Son of Man which comes from Daniel's apocalyptic vision, that in times vision that we have in chapter 7 beginning in verse 13, Daniel 7, 13, "In my vision at night I looked and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He was given authority, glory and sovereign power. All peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." Daniel saw somebody who looked like a human and yet this human was given the glory, the majesty, the very attributes of God. And so this title Son of Man became a Messianic expectation, the expectation that at the end of time a human being who could handle the majesty, the glory of God would come to restore Israel. In the New Testament the phrase Son of Man is used 84 times, 81 out of those 84 times Jesus uses it to describe himself. And in doing that he was claiming to be God. The religious leaders knew that he was claiming to be God because only a human who is also truly God could bear the weight of God's glory, of God's majesty, without falling apart, without disintegrating. And the third expectation that they had that many of them often missed was the expectation of a suffering servant. The servant of the Lord, the servant of Yahweh shows up in the book of Isaiah beginning in chapter 42 but finds its most extensive description in Isaiah 52 and 53. We read from that for our assurance of pardon earlier where this servant is bruised and beaten and bloodied for our sins, for our rebellions, for our transgressions. He is wounded and disfigured to take the sins of God's people upon himself to provide forgiveness and restoration. And throughout the New Testament we see the New Testament authors applying the descriptions of the suffering servant to Jesus. And so when the creed calls the second person of the Trinity, Jesus the Christ, it is saying this is God's anointed prophet, priest, and king who will bring salvation to those who place their hope and faith in Jesus. And so the creed calls us to profess belief in Jesus the Messiah. It also calls us to profess belief in Jesus the Son. It says in the creed that I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son. Now that word only is rooted in that old King James word begotten. John 3 16 says that God gave his Son for the salvation of those who believe. And depending upon the translation that you use, it may say as the King James does that God sent his only begotten Son or the NIV says one and only son or other translation says that he sent his unique Son to provide the salvation of the world. In our culture we read the word begotten and we think a biological act. R.C. Sproul points out that in Hebrew thought the word translated begotten describes more the specialness of the relationship between two parties than it does the biological relationship between two parties. So translations that say one and only or unique begin to get closer to the meaning of what we say when we say that Jesus is his only Son. This is a declaration once again brothers and sisters that Jesus is both truly human and truly divine because the specialness of the the relationship between God and Jesus is the specialness of a shared substance and being. You and I become sons and daughters of God through the adoption of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is called the Son of God because he is fully and truly God himself. Equal and substance power and glory but different in personality and work. It's an important distinction. The controversy in the church that led to the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. had nothing to do with the books of the Bible. It had to do with the nature of who Jesus was in his divinity. Arius taught and proclaimed that Jesus was just another created being contrary to scripture which says that Jesus was God and was with God from before the foundation of the world. Scripture affirms that Jesus is both God's Son and God himself. And so when the creed affirms that Jesus is the only Son of God it is calling us to affirm the Trinitarian relationship that exists. He is equal in substance with God but distinct in personality and work. Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Son and Jesus is our Lord. The Heidelberg Catechism asked the question, "Wherefore, callest thou him our Lord?" And the answer is this, "Because he has redeemed us both body and soul from all our sins, not with gold or silver, but with his precious blood, and has delivered us from all the power of the devil. And because of this, he has made us his own property. Jesus has paid an infinitely great price for your salvation. To save you from the sins and judgment due to your sins, he took those judgments upon himself. And because of this, if you cry out to him, his Savior, you also cry out to him as Lord. We have been purchased with a great price. In the world of the first few centuries of church history, the declaration Jesus as Lord was probably the earliest creed that began to circulate throughout the church. But it was also an act of treason. In the Roman Empire, citizens were required to confess Caesar is Lord. Caesar was assumed to be not only king over the Empire, but also ruler of the whole cosmos. At religious festivals, at workplaces, at temples, the declaration Caesar is Lord, was expected and commanded of every Roman citizen. And this was a problem for the Christians. The book of Revelation describes Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Greek word translated Lord in the New Testament is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament to translate the name of God, Adonai. So for Caesar to demand to be called Lord was seen by the early church as a direct attack against the second person of the Trinity. While we may not be called to say Caesar is Lord, you and I are expected to live as if culture is Lord. When cultural morals bump up against biblical norms and biblical commands, Christians must make a choice. Will you live with Jesus as your Lord? Or will you bow to the bands of the culture around you? Jesus is Lord. Jesus is the saving Messiah. He is the Son of God and he is Lord. A lot of people within the church, outside the church are somewhat okay with the church proclaiming those first two things. I mean, the culture tells us, you know what, if that's what you want to believe, just believe it and keep quiet. But most of us chafe under the weight of the fact that Jesus is our Lord. You and I will profess that Jesus is Lord, but your life, your choices oftentimes will call your bluff. What gets you worked up? What inspires you? What causes you fear and anxiety? If you are overly fearful of losing a significant relationship in your life, that relationship may be your Lord rather than Jesus. If you are depressed because people don't like you, acceptance may be your Lord rather than Jesus. Do you hoard financial resources instead of using them for the growth of the kingdom of God? Security may be your Lord rather than Jesus. What causes negative emotions in your life? What causes that fear, that anxiety, that depression, those things may be pointing you to examine your life for the places where you refuse to acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus. The price paid for your salvation was infinitely high and Jesus was willing to pay that price. Regardless of what culture calls us to do or what our feelings call us to do, Jesus is Lord. Are you willing to submit to His rule over your life? Let's pray. To the great God and Father above, we thank you that we have Jesus, the Messiah, the only Son, our Lord. Remind us that we are your children, your servants, and that you call us to serve you and remind us that by the power of that saving Messiah, we are capable of submitting to Him as Lord joyfully and willingly. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. As we go this week, please take this blessing upon you. May the Lord strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with His holy ones. He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. We hope you have enjoyed this sermon from fairly associate reform Presbyterian Church. To find out more about our Church and its ministries, please find us on Facebook or visit us at www.arpchurchfairly.org. That's www.arpchourseah.org. Have a blessed day.

As we continue the study of the Apostles' Creed, we come to the statement, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His Only Son, Our Lord."

This sermon explores the meaning of "the Christ" and how Jesus is God's only Son. It ends with the question, "Is Jesus your Lord?"

If you want to know more about Fairlea Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church ministry, please visit our website.