When was the last time you had to apply for a Job (paid or unpaid), or for a place at College or University? This process usually requires completing a CV, a Curriculum Vitae, a concise summary of your life, education, career and achievements. Once you’ve put down the obvious basics, like name, date of birth and marital status, it can be very hard to decide what to put down next:
- Under education, for example, how far back do you go? How minor a qualification do you disclose? Does a potential employer need to know the results of my Primary School spelling test – or is that perhaps going little a bit too far?!
- When it comes to your career, the question of detail arises again. They probably do want to know about my present occupation, and what I did immediately before. But should I write down my Saturday jobs as a teenager, or my pocket money chores as a child? I guess not!
- And then, thirdly, there is the question of references. Do you pick people who know you well and can be trusted to write nice things, or risk someone who is well qualified to comment but may be a little too honest about your weaknesses, failures and development needs?
Christ is supreme – so worship him!
So a CV can be tough to write. But we should spare a thought for those who have to read them! Potential employers have to sift through hundreds of CVs, looking for one which stands out. Imagine, however, if you were an employer and you came across this CV. A CV painted by our passage today.
Name: Jesus Christ
Date of birth: None. I existed before all things.
Qualifications: Son of God, Image of the invisible God, firstborn over creation, The fullness of God in human form.
Past achievements: Creator and sustainer of all things, visible and invisible.
Present post: Head of the Church and Supreme Authority over heaven and earth.
References: The words of God the Father, the work of the Holy Spirit, the testimony of the apostles and the witness of the Church.
If a CV like that landed on your desk you would sit up and take notice! I hope you would want to interview this individual and find out more about him! Because this is the majestic portrait of Christ that Paul paints in the first five verses of our reading this morning. The divinity of Christ is laid bare, the cosmic scope of Christ’s work is spelled out in full, the unique splendour of God’s Son is set before us. It is an awesome depiction of Christ, a presentation of him that should arouse our worship and praise.
Christ is our Saviour – so keep the faith!
Given the remarkable portrait of Christ painted in verses 15 to 19, what follows comes as something of a shock. Because Paul proceeds to describe the shameful death by which Christ redeemed in the world. Listen again to verse 20: “through [Christ], God has reconciled to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
One would expect that the divine being described in the opening verses of our passage to spend his life in a sublime, heavenly bliss, to abide in some glorious realm, waited on by a throng of angels, far above the trials and tribulations of earthly, physical, human life.
But not so. Paul wants to remind his readers that the Cosmic Christ did not stay aloof from his creation, he did not keep fallen humanity at arm’s length. On the contrary, he showed solidarity with us by becoming a human being himself, and saved us through the excruciating pain and indignity of crucifixion.
The idea of a crucified God sounds paradoxical, but it is nonetheless historical. The humility and love of God’s Son for the world was laid bare when he was – literally – laid bare and nailed to a wooden cross. This humility and love of Christ is just as awe-inspiring as the divine power and grandeur that Paul previously described (if not more so!).
What’s more, the crucifixion of Christ should provoke every Christian’s gratitude as well as our awe. For as Paul continues to explain in verses 21 and 22, Christ’s crucifixion has secured our salvation. He writes: “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. 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”.
In short, by his crucifixion Christ death has paid off our moral debt, secured our forgiveness and restored our relationship with the Father – forever.
As Paul reminds the Colossians in verse 23, this is the ‘Gospel’ – the good news – that he has preached and they have believed. Heaven not Hell, has become their destiny. They now experience God’s grace rather than his wrath. And they have gone from being God’s enemies to his adopted children. All these things are ours too, by faith in Christ – how thankful to him we should be!
And given how much is at stake, how important it is that we remain ‘in’ Christ by faith. As Paul urges in verse 23: “Continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel.” That’s why daily prayer and Bible reading, as well as weekly church attendance are all so vital. They help us to abide in Christ, they keep our faith alive, and they remind us of the Gospel – in short, they stop us from falling away.
Christ is our model – so mature in him
Before I finish, its worth noting that Paul seeks one more thing for the Colossians, and for us. He longs to see every Christian “fully mature in Christ.” But what does he mean by this phrase?
Christian maturity is difficult to define, hard to “pin down”. But, from the Bible, it seems that growing in maturity involves increasing in our knowledge and love of God, and becoming more Christ-like in our belief and behaviour. We become spiritually mature as our understanding of the Gospel grows, and as our relationship with Christ and with other people becomes deeper, richer and less self-centred.
In other words, a mature Christian will want to know and understand their faith well – well enough to share it with others and well enough to defend it in the face of doubts and objections.
But Christian maturity is not just about growing in head-knowledge. Godly belief needs to be matched by godly behaviour. A mature Christian, therefore, will be someone who is selfless, pure and self-controlled in their thoughts and in their deeds, Christ-like in how they behaveas well as in what they believe.
But what process does God use to make us into mature, Christ-like Christians? The answer in our passage today, is that maturity results from listening to God’s Word and from the encouragement of fellow believers.
Paul stresses that he has been “proclaiming, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom”. So if we aspire to greater spiritual maturity, then listening to the teaching of Paul (and the other biblical authors) in sermons and midweek house groups provide a great opportunity to mature as Christians. Reading the Bible and Christian books on our own will also help mature our hearts and minds as well.
Of course, Bible teaching isn’t the only way God increases our spiritual maturity. In verse 28 of our passage today, Paul refers to the passionate personal warnings he has given to his fellow believers, as he encourages them to hold on to all that is true and right, and to avoid all that is false and wrong. Later on in this letter to the Colossians, Paul explicitly instructs them to encourage and exhort each other to good deeds, just as he has done to them (3:16).
So whether it is in church on Sundays, in house groups midweek, or over coffee with one another, we all have the duty and privilege of spurring each other on towards Christian maturity. Mutual fellowship and encouragement will never go out of fashion or become unnecessary for Christians. It is a lifelong need, an essential mechanism by which we grow in Christ-like maturity.
Conclusion
So as I finish this morning:
- I hope we have been reminded of the awesome splendour and grandeur of Christ.
- I hope our gratitude has been aroused as we remembered his supreme self-sacrifice on the cross.
- I hope Paul’s words have encouraged us to continue in the faith.
- And I hope we all have a greater ambition to grow in Christian maturity.