Christocentric 3 – How To Be Right

He 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... all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church... that in all things He may have the preeminence... and that by Him to reconcile all things to Himself... having made peace through the blood of His cross... to present you holy and blameless, above reproach in His sight... which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1:15-27)

Everyone wants to be right—but in a world filled with so much wrong, our only hope of righteousness is found in Christ alone.

The Three Hardest Words to Say

They are three of the most difficult words to say. They roll off the tongue like a boulder rolling uphill, yet they land on the ears of the one hearing them like the sweetest dessert. When you say them, your head feels like it's about to explode; when you hear them, your heart is filled with joy. What three words? I was wrong.

Why are these words so hard to say? Because from the earliest stages of our lives, we want to justify ourselves as always being right. I know this experientially—as far back as I can remember, I have felt this desire to be right. And I know it observationally, having conducted hundreds of hours of research through four test subjects named Ethan, Addison, Evangeline, and Elliot. Even the two-and-a-half-year-old emphasizes his rightness by kicking the wall in anger.

What does it feel like to be wrong? Honestly, being wrong feels just like being right—until you come to the recognition and acknowledgment that you were wrong. And then we start to justify ourselves. We say things like, "I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken." In some alternate universe, I know for certain I am right about this issue.

Religion Is Man's Attempt to Be Right

Innately we recognize that we live in a world filled with so much that is wrong—a world where donuts taste so good but are so bad for you, where Miley Cyrus is a role model. In all seriousness, a world where we turn on the news and see live footage of what just happened in Paris a couple of nights ago. All 7.3 billion of us recognize that we live in a world that is filled with so much that is wrong. And in such a world, there is a deep compulsion within each of us to be right.

This is point number one: religion is man's attempt to be right, to be righteous. We want to be right and we hate being wrong. Therefore I am convinced that humanity desires to be holy—another word for right or righteous. This is why religion is so addictive. Religion has a draw.

In May of 2005, after teaching a semester at a Bible college in northwest Germany, some friends and I drove south to Switzerland and then to Italy. It's almost a sin to go to Italy and not visit Rome. There, right next to the structures of the Roman Empire, stand the structures of the Roman Catholic Church and 2,000 years of Christian history.

The Holy Stairs

All three of us wanted to see a place called the Scala Sancta, or the Holy Stairs. Legend has it that in AD 326, Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine, brought back from Jerusalem the stone steps upon which Christ was supposedly judged by Pilate and condemned to die. Today they are encased in wood in a church in Rome, with brass-framed windows through which you can see what is claimed to be the actual dried blood of Christ.

These stairs are important to Protestants too, because in the 1500s Martin Luther saw them on his pilgrimage to Rome as a Roman Catholic monk, and it began to transform his thinking and compel the Reformation. Yet on any given day you'll see dozens of Roman Catholic pilgrims from all over the world scaling the stairs on their knees, praying with each step—some spending the entire day.

Religion is addictive because we will do almost anything to be right. A hundred percent of the 7.3 billion people on this planet are by nature religious. Even atheists are religiously committed to their atheism, and some are the most ardent evangelists of their faith—far more so than Christians. Deep within us there is a desire to be holy, and we will do almost anything to obtain and maintain that righteousness. But in a world with so much wrong, what hope do we have?

Without Christ I Have No Hope of Being Right

This brings us to point number two: without Christ at the center of my life I have no hope of ever being right. Why? What is so great and important about Christ Jesus?

Paul answers in verses 15-18. He says Jesus "is the image of the invisible God." That doesn't even fully make sense—the image of the invisible God—but it can be said this way: Jesus is God incarnate. When Paul writes that Jesus is the express representation of the very nature and character of the invisible God, he is revealing that Jesus is not just a man.

Interestingly, one of the earliest heresies in the church was that Jesus is completely God but not a man—divine but not human. Fast-forward 2,000 years, and the popular view today is the opposite: that Jesus is not God, just a man. But the Bible reveals He is both—fully God and fully man.

More Than a Good Teacher

Jesus is not just a good teacher. Whenever someone says that, I ask, "What teachings of His do you believe are good?" I've yet to find a person who actually knows His teachings. "Cleanliness is next to godliness"? Not in there. "God helps those who help themselves"? Not in there. He did say that if you look upon a woman to lust you've committed adultery in your heart; that if you're angry without cause you've committed murder in your heart; that if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. Those are some pretty gnarly teachings that require careful interpretation—otherwise we'll have a lot of one-handed, one-eyed people walking around.

Others say Jesus was a prophet—the view of 1.3 billion Muslims, who value Him highly but not as the greatest prophet and certainly not as divine. Some who are into Eastern practices say He was a great miracle worker. That's true, but He's more than that.

Last weekend I flew to the Bay Area to speak at a Calvary Chapel near Santa Rosa. I spent an evening with a friend who grew up in this church and now works at Apple in Cupertino. He told me about the millennials in Silicon Valley—and in places like New York, Portland, and Seattle—who love Jesus as a great social reformer. They imagine that if Jesus were alive today He would be part of the Occupy Wall Street movement. There are churches that teach this. But He is more than all of that. He is God. And you cannot enter into a relationship with Him until you acknowledge that He is greater than all those things, because He is the image of the invisible God.

The Firstborn Over All Creation

People wonder what God is like. He is revealed in Jesus. Driving my kids to school last week, my three-year-old Evangeline told her two-and-a-half-year-old cousin Savannah, "Did you know that God died on the cross for our sins so we could go to heaven?" Savannah asked, "She did that?" And Evangeline replied with total incredulity, "God is not a she. He's a God." Even a three-year-old can understand and articulate it: He died on the cross for our sins.

But the end of verse 15—"the firstborn over all creation"—causes confusion, because people read "firstborn" and think "created." Jesus is not created; He is the uncreated, eternal God. The Greek word translated "firstborn" primarily means supreme in rank. Jesus ranks over everything.

Paul continues: "For by Him all things were created." The corollary is John 1: "In the beginning was the Word... All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." And verse 14: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." The Word is Jesus. He precedes everything in rank. Through Him everything that exists came into being—all physical matter, all spiritual entities, all earthly authorities, even thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers.

Creation Exists for the Glory of Jesus

All things were created not only through Him but for Him—for His glory, honor, and fame. This is point number three: creation exists for the pleasure, honor, and glory of Jesus. That means you and I exist for His pleasure, honor, and glory.

We live in a time when people are desperately trying to figure out their purpose, and a purposeless life leads to despair. Some find purpose in their career, some in their spouse, some in their kids. The problem is that careers end, spouses die, and children grow up and move out—and then they have no purpose. But Scripture reveals that our purpose, whether we acknowledge it or not, is the honor, glory, and pleasure of Jesus. That's good news.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, "What is the chief end of man?" The answer: "To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever." We will never be right or holy without first acknowledging that we exist for God's pleasure, honor, and glory. And when you discover that, you find the greatest joy, because your joy is found in glorifying Him.

The First Cause and the Sustainer

Verse 17: "He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." These simple words reveal that Jesus is the first cause and the sustainer. Science—physics, astronomy, cosmology—is constantly trying to figure out the first cause and the sustainer. The European Union and the United States have spent tens of billions of dollars building a particle collider in France and Switzerland to chase this very thing.

Robert Jastrow, one of the founding fathers of NASA and an award-winning astronomer and cosmologist, wrote: "For the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak. As he pulls himself over the final rock to the summit, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries." How? Because of Colossians 1:17—He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. He is the glue.

Because Jesus is the first cause and sustainer, He deserves the praise of all humanity. So in verse 18 He is the head of the body, the church. The church exists to spread the fame and glory of God.

Reconciled Through the Cross

Verse 19: "For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself." We live in a world that is so wrong, so Jesus came to do something about it—to make peace through the blood of His cross. Verse 21: "And you, who were once alienated and enemies in your minds by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death."

Why did God become a man? To come to a world filled with wrong and bring those who are wrong back to God and rightness. Jesus is the center and head of creation, the center and head of the church, the seat and origin of all fullness and satisfaction. By Him those alienated by sin are restored to God—and through the church that message is spread to a wayward world.

For what purpose? Verse 22: "To present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight." This is point number four: the righteousness of Christ makes the unrighteous right, not religion. Without Christ at the center, no religious works you do and no wicked things you avoid will ever make you right. He alone makes us holy.

"If Indeed You Continue"

Verse 23 contains an "if": "If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel." Why does Paul say this? Because the Colossians were being bombarded by teachings seeking to draw them from the simplicity of the gospel—to philosophy, to secret Gnostic knowledge, to asceticism and self-denial, to human tradition, to circumcision, to dietary restrictions, to feast days, Sabbaths, and new moons. All of that comes in chapter two.

Look at Colossians 2:23: "These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value." The amazing thing is that in the 21st century we have completely returned to a first-century Colossian worldview—pluralistic, pragmatic, figure-it-out-on-your-own. Maybe you'll find righteousness in philosophy, secret knowledge, self-denial, or dietary restrictions.

But Paul says all these things have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion yet are of no value as it relates to righteousness, eternity, and Christ. They simply make you arrogant. (I probably shouldn't go there—veganism. Need I say more?) If you're doing it to get healthy, God bless you. If you're doing it because you think it makes you more right—wrong. And that's everything: religious laws, feast days, Sabbaths, blood moons. If you think it makes you more right, you're wrong. It's Jesus alone, and He alone deserves the glory.

The Mystery Revealed

In verses 24-26 Paul describes his mission to fulfill the word of God—"the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints." A biblical mystery is something meant to be revealed. The perfect illustration is a Christmas gift. It's wrapped, but the whole point is that one day it will be unwrapped and revealed. A good gift-giver tries to trick you—putting a rock in a lightweight box—but the goal is the surprise of opening it.

God has a Christmas gift He wants to reveal to humanity. Verse 27: He willed to make known "the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles"—not just the Jewish people—"which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Not glory by dietary restrictions, Sabbath days, or feast days. Glory by Christ. This is God's mystery, opened on Christmas Day no less: Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Our Only Hope of Glory

Point number five: our only hope of glory is the glory of Christ in us. Paul finishes in verses 28-29—the lines in the footer of every email I send: "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily." There is no perfection outside of Christ.

Isaiah wrote 2,700 years ago that all our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. Paul, in Philippians 3, describes his life as a religious Pharisee who believed himself blameless by keeping the law, and then says: "Yet indeed I also count all of that religious effort as loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord... that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith."

How do I become right in a wrong world? Only through Christ—not through religious adherence to laws and rules. We may do those things as worship to God, but they do not make us right. He alone makes us glorious, and ultimately for His glory.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I thank You for Your word. It is living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. As we go from this place into workplaces, school campuses, and neighborhoods tomorrow, we will meet people who think that You, Jesus, are merely a good teacher, a good man, a social reformer, a prophet, or a miracle worker. Would You give us the boldness to declare that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, the image of the invisible God, the first cause and sustainer of all things, and that You deserve our glory. And in glorifying You, God, You glorify us. If in any way we have drifted from the simplicity of You making us right—trying to find it in our own efforts, our Bible reading, our tithing, our service, or any other thing—would You bring us back to the simplicity that it is You, Jesus, and You alone. For we ask this in Your mighty and precious name, and all those that agree said, amen.