Christocentric 3 – How To Be Right

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Every one of us wants to be right. All men seek to be right. That's why religion is so addictive. But there's only one way to come into a rightness, a righteousness.

So open your Bibles to Colossians chapter 1 and follow along with us as we answer the question: How do we become right in a world that's so wrong?

There are three of the most difficult words to say. They roll off the tongue like a boulder rolling uphill, and yet they land on the ears of the one hearing them like the sweetest dessert on the tongue. When you're saying these words, you feel like your head is about to explode. But when you're hearing these words, it's like your heart is filled with joy. What three words am I talking about? I was wrong. You with me? I was wrong.

Why are these words some of the most difficult to say? Because, in all honesty, from about the earliest stages of our lives, we want to justify ourselves as always being right. I know this both experientially and by observation. About as far back as I can remember, I have felt this desire to be right. Observationally, I have been conducting hundreds of hours of research and scientific inquiry.

We study through four test subjects named Ethan, Addison, Evangeline, and Elliot. Even the littlest one, the two-and-a-half-year-old, although only his brother and sisters and my wife and I can fully understand what he's saying, is trying to emphasize his rightness when he kicks the wall in anger. From the youngest age, we want to justify ourselves as being right.

What does it feel like to be wrong? Rich, what's it feel like to be wrong? I wouldn't know. Mayor, is that true? She's shaking her head, Rich. Bruce, what's it feel like to be wrong? A sense of shame. Jacob, what's it feel like? What else? Not good at all. Being wrong feels like you're right until you realize you're wrong. It feels just like you're right until you come to the recognition, the acknowledgment that you were wrong. At that point, we begin to justify ourselves. We say things like, "I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken," and "I'm right." In some alternate universe somewhere, I know for certain that I am right about this issue.

Although we may not articulate it as such, religion is man's attempt to be right. Innately, we recognize and understand 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—that's just wrong. A world where Miley Cyrus is a role model—that's just wrong. In all seriousness, a world in which we turn on the news and see live footage of what happened in Paris just a couple of nights ago—that's wrong.

There is an understanding in the heart of every single person, in the mind of every individual, all 7.3 billion of us on the face of this planet. We all recognize that we live in a world filled with so much that is wrong. In a world that is so wrong, there is a deep compulsion within each of us to be right, to want to be right. Therefore, point number one on your outline: religion is man's attempt to be right. Religion is man's attempt to be righteous. We want to be right; we hate being wrong. Since this is the case, I am convinced that humanity desires to be holy. Holy is another word for right or righteous. We desire to be holy, which is why religion is so addictive. Religion has a draw; it is addictive.

In May of 2005, I had just finished teaching a semester at a Bible college in northwest Germany. A couple of my friends and I decided to take a few weeks and go on a trip. We drove from northwest Germany down south towards Switzerland. We spent some time visiting friends in Basel, Switzerland, and then we went from there to Italy. It is almost a sin, literally, to go to Italy and not visit Rome, to see the fabulous ruins of the Roman Empire. Walking around the ancient city and taking in all the sights is a must.

In fact, if you're interested in a trip like that, I just started some talks a couple of days ago. This next year in November, we had been tentatively planning a trip to Israel, but I got a great deal on a tour of the journeys of Paul on a cruise. It will begin in the city of Rome. There, it is awesome to see the structures of the Roman Empire, but right next to all of those structures are the structures of the Roman Catholic Church and 2,000 years of Christian history.

When we went to Rome, we visited all the normal places, but one site all three of us wanted to see was the Scala Sancta, or the Holy Stairs. It is an important site for both Roman Catholics and those of the Protestant faith in Christianity.

The Holy Stairs are important in Roman Catholicism because legend has it that in the year 326 AD, Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine, after visiting all the holy sites of Jerusalem, brought back with her the stone steps that supposedly were the steps upon which Christ was judged by Pilate and condemned to die. If you ever go to the Scala Sancta, you will find that they are encased in wood in a church in Rome. Through the wood, there are brass-framed windows where you can look at the stone steps and see what is said to be the actual dried blood of Christ.

These steps are also significant in Protestantism because it was there in the 1500s that Martin Luther, on his pilgrimage to Rome as a Roman Catholic monk, saw this and it began to transform his thinking, which compelled the Protestant Reformation. If you visit the Scala Sancta, you will see on any given day dozens and dozens of Roman Catholic faithful pilgrims from all over the world scaling the stairs on their knees. Each time they take a step upwards, they begin to pray. Some spend the entire day climbing the stairs on their knees.

Religion is addictive because we will do almost anything we can to be right. A hundred percent of the 7.3 billion people on the face of the planet are, by nature, religious. Even those who say, "I'm not religious," or "I'm irreligious," or "I'm an atheist," still exhibit a form of religiosity. Even atheists are religious; they are religiously committed to their atheism, and some atheists are the most ardent evangelists of their faith, far more so than Christians.

Every human being is, by nature, religious because deep down within us, there is a sense and a desire to be right, to be holy, to be righteous. We will do almost anything to have that righteousness, to hold that righteousness, to obtain it, and to maintain it. We all want to be right, but in a world with so much wrong, what hope do we have? What hope do we have to be right?

I believe the text that we're in this morning gives us an answer to that question. So, if you would open your Bibles to the book of Colossians in the New Testament, right near the end of your Bible, it's about 85 to 90 percent of the way through the Bible, just after...

The books of Ephesians and Philippians are right before the book of 1 Thessalonians. If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and as you're turning there, would you stand with me so we can read together?

We will be reading from Colossians chapter 1, beginning today at verse 15. The Apostle Paul writes, "He," speaking of Jesus, "is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him, Jesus, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and that by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

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 to present you holy and blameless, above reproach in His sight. If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.

I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking of the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God.

That the mystery which has been hidden from the ages and from generations has now been revealed to His saints. To them, God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

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.

Father, would you give us insight and understanding that we would be able to apply this text wisely, and that our lives would not be the same as they were when we came in just a little while ago? Although it's a short time we have together this morning, I pray that it would be a time that yields fruit and brings dividends in our lives by your work, by your Spirit, and by your precious words. So speak to us, we pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all those that agreed said, "Amen." You can be seated.

Point number two on your outline: without Christ at the center of my life, I have no hope of ever being right. That is what I intend to show here in this text. I hope that this text will bring forth the understanding that without Christ at the center of my life, I have no hope of ever being right.

Why? What is so great, what is so important about Christ Jesus? Paul gives us some answers to that question in verses 15 through 18 of Colossians chapter 1. He says of Jesus that 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 on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. All things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things consist. He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence.

So Paul answers that question for us: what is so great, what is so important about this Jesus? There are many people who ask that question, and it is a right question to ask when we look at the entirety of the Western world, which is in so many ways linked to and based upon the central focus of this individual who lived 2,000 years ago in an obscure part of the world called Israel. What is so important and what is so great about this Jesus? Paul says here that he, Jesus, is the image of the invisible. Now, that just doesn't even make sense. He is the image of the invisible God, which could be said in this way: Jesus is God incarnate.

He's God. Jesus is God. When Paul writes that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the express representation of the very nature and character of the invisible God, he is revealing to us that Jesus is not just a man. He's not just a man.

Now, it's very interesting if you back the clock up 2,000 years and look at the early church. One of the earliest heresies in the church was that Jesus is not a man; he's completely God but not a man. He is divine but not a man. Many of the early Christians wrote and spoke to emphasize the fact that he is both God and man.

The interesting thing is that if you fast forward 2,000 years later, the popular view of Jesus today is that he is not God; he is just a man. How things switch and how they move. But the Bible reveals that he is both God and man. In nature, he is fully God and fully man. So when Paul says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, he is emphasizing this reality. Jesus is not just a man.

Not only that, he is not just a good teacher. Again, that's one of the popular views put forth by people today: Jesus is not divine, but he was a good teacher. Have you ever had anybody say that? Has anyone ever said that to you before? I always follow that statement up with a question: What teachings do you believe he gave that are good? I've yet to find a person who knows any of his teachings.

They'll make the statement, "Well, Jesus was a really good moral teacher." Oh, okay. What moral teaching did he give that is really good? Tell me. Cleanliness is next to godliness? No, that's not in there. God helps those who help themselves? No, that's not in there.

He did say things like, "If you look upon a woman to lust after her, you've committed adultery in your heart." That's heavy. He said, "If you're angry with someone without cause, you've committed murder in your heart." He also said, "If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and cast it into the fire." What? If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Those are some pretty gnarly teachings that require important understanding and interpretation, or else we'll have a lot of one-handed, one-eyed people walking around. The popular view is that Jesus is a good man. You'll hear that from all kinds of people. Another popular view, in fact, this is the view of 1.3 billion Muslims, is that Jesus was a prophet. He is a good prophet. Muslims highly value Jesus; they value him as a prophet, but not the greatest prophet. According to Muslims, he is certainly not divine.

Not only do people say Jesus is a good man or a prophet, but some people, especially those who are into spiritual things and Eastern practices, will say that Jesus was a great miracle worker. That's true, but he's more than that. He is more than a miracle man. He is more than a good teacher. He is more than a prophet.

In fact, this last weekend, I had the pleasure of flying up to the Bay Area. Some of you might think, "The pleasure, really? Flying up to the Bay Area?" I was invited to speak at a Calvary Chapel north of San Francisco in Santa Rosa. I went up on Saturday and spent the day with a friend of mine who pastors a church in Livermore in the East Bay. Then, I spent the evening with a good friend of mine who grew up with me in this church and now works in Cupertino at Apple. He just moved there with his family, and we were talking about the environment.

He works in Silicon Valley, right next to Google, Apple, and Intel, and all the big companies. He mentioned that there are a whole bunch of young millennial people going to these places, and a lot of them are interested in spiritual things. You know what that group of millennials living in places like the Bay Area, New York City, Portland, or Seattle love about Jesus? They see him as a great social reformer. That's what he was—a social reformer. He fixed things. They have the view that if Jesus were alive today, he would be a part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, advocating against the 1%. That would be his mode and his way.

There are churches that teach that view of Jesus: Jesus is a social reformer, a good man, a prophet, a teacher. But he is more than that. He is God. You cannot enter into a relationship with him until you acknowledge that he is all of those things, but he is greater than just that because he is the image of the invisible God. Paul goes on.

He says he's the firstborn over all creation. So, if you want to know what God looks like, look at Jesus. He's the image of the invisible. There are loads of people who believe that there is a God, but they don't know what He, She, or It is like. They wonder and question what He, She, or It is like. He is revealed in Jesus. He's the image of the invisible God.

This last week, I was driving my kids to school, and a couple of days a week, we take care of our two-and-a-half-year-old niece, Savannah. She's sitting in the backseat, and Evangeline, our three-year-old, is sitting next to her. Evangeline says, "Dad, did you know that God died on the cross for our sins so we could go to heaven?" I replied, "Yes, I knew that, Evangeline." Savannah, in her little two-and-a-half-year-old voice, asks, "She did that?" Evangeline, with total incredulity, responds, "God is not a she. He's a God." She knows that because she understands about Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins. Even a three-year-old can grasp and articulate this simple truth: He died on the cross for our sins.

However, the end of verse 15 is difficult for people. It states that He is the firstborn over all creation. This causes some misunderstanding because they read "firstborn" and think "created." He is not created; He is the non-created God who is eternal. So, what does it mean that He is the firstborn?

This was originally written in the Greek language, and the word that is translated as "firstborn" is not always the easiest to translate. While it can mean the firstborn physically of a family or the head of the family, it primarily means supreme in rank. When we read that Jesus is the firstborn over all creation, it means He ranks over everything. He is over all things. This is what Paul was conveying to his first-century readers.

He goes on in verse 16, stating that by Him, Jesus, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, dominions, principalities, or powers. The corollary passage to this is found in the New Testament book of John, the Gospel of John.

You can turn there and keep your finger in Colossians if you'd like. Just keep turning several books to the left. You're going to pass Corinthians, Romans, and Acts, and then you're going to get to the Gospel of John, specifically John chapter 1.

The Gospel writer begins his account of the life and times of Jesus the Messiah by stating, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He, the Word, is not just a thing or an it; He is a person. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, the Word, and without Him, nothing was made that was made.

Now, what is this Word? Who is this Word? We are told in verse 14 of the same passage that "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." The Word is Jesus. He was there in the beginning with God, and He created everything; nothing was made without Him.

Jesus is before creation. He precedes everything in order of rank. Through Jesus, everything that exists came into being. Without Him or apart from Him, nothing could come into existence. This means all physical matter, all spiritual entities, and all earthly authorities—Paul even mentions thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers—indicate that every earthly or even spiritual power in the universe has been set in place by Jesus.

In verse 16, Paul states that "all things were created through Him and for Him." John adds in John 1:4 that "in Him, Jesus, the Word was life, and that life was the light of men." The universe, the earth here in the midst of this universe, and everything that we can see, as well as those things that we can't see—whether on the edge of the universe or down to the subatomic level—are all part of His creation.

Level, all of that was created by God. Every throne, dominion, or power, all these principalities, both spiritually and on earth, are set in place by and through Jesus. Furthermore, all things were created for Him. They are created for His glory, for His honor, and for His fame.

Point number three on your outline: Creation exists for the pleasure, honor, and glory of Jesus. That means that you and I exist for the pleasure, honor, and glory of Jesus. We live in a time and in a place where people are trying to figure out their purpose. A purposeless life is depressing. It leads to despair, and people who lose their purpose often find themselves in despair. We are surrounded by people who are trying to figure out their purpose in this world.

The Scriptures reveal that God made known to us, humanity, the purpose for which He created us. He has created us for His pleasure, His honor, and His glory. We are to bring great fame to Him, to exalt Him, to magnify Him, and to make Him joyful. That's good news. That's what people need to hear: that we have a purpose in this life.

People are constantly trying to find what their purpose is. Some find their purpose in their career. Others find their purpose in their spouse or in their kids, identifying as a mom or a dad. The problem with all of those things is that the kids grow up and move out. While that may not be a problem for everyone, it becomes an issue for those who find their purpose in that. Similarly, jobs can go away, or spouses can die, leaving individuals without a sense of purpose.

But here we find that my purpose and your purpose, whether you acknowledge it or not, is for the honor, glory, and pleasure of Jesus. We were created for Him. That's the Christian view of the world, as God has revealed it to us. It was in the 16th century, I believe, that the shorter Westminster Catechism was written. The first question is, "What is the chief end of man?" The chief end of man is the glory of God. That's why we're here: to bring fame and glory to His name, because He deserves it.

We will never be right; we will never be righteous or holy without first recognizing and acknowledging that we exist for the purpose of God's pleasure, honor, and glory. When you begin to discover that, you will find the greatest joy and the greatest satisfaction. The answer to the question, "What is the chief end of man?" is that the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Your joy will be found in glorifying Him.

Paul continues in Colossians chapter one, verse 17. He says of Jesus that He is before all things. This is a restatement of what we've already seen, but it emphasizes that He precedes everything. Notice this: this verse is phenomenal. Jesus is before all things, and in Him all things consist. What these simple words of verse 17 reveal is that Jesus is, number one, the first cause, and number two, the sustainer.

If you have a background in science, you know that science, physics, astronomy, and various branches of mathematics are constantly trying to figure out this reality: the first cause and the sustainer. The European Union and the United States have spent tens of billions of dollars to construct a particle collider in France and Switzerland to try to determine the first cause and the sustainer.

Here's the awesome thing: Robert Jastrow, one of the forefathers of NASA, an award-winning astronomer, physicist, and cosmologist, died in 2008. A few years before that, he wrote this in one of his books: "For the scientist who has lived by his faith and 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 there sitting for centuries."

How is that? Because Colossians 1:17 states that He is before all things. He is the first cause. Without Him, there is nothing, and in Him, all things consist. He sustains everything; He is the glue.

And since He is the first cause and the sustainer, look at verse 18. He, Jesus, is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Why? Because in all things, He may have preeminence.

What is this? In verse 17, Jesus is the first cause and the sustainer. As the first cause and sustainer, He deserves the praise, glory, and magnifying of all humanity. Therefore, He created His church. The church exists to spread the fame and glory of God for the worship of God. He deserves praise, honor, and glory.

Paul continues in Colossians 1:19, "For it pleased the Father, the Father God, that in Jesus, in Him, all the fullness should dwell." And by Him, Jesus, to reconcile or restore all things to Himself. We live in a world that is not right. We live in a world that is so wrong. Jesus came to do something about it. He came to reconcile this wrong world back to God. By Him, Jesus, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Jesus did this on the cross of Christ 2,000 years ago. In verse 21, it says, "And you who were once alienated, separated, and enemies in your own mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled, He has restored you back to Himself in the body of His flesh through death."

Why did God become a man? To do that. To come to a world that is totally out of order and filled with wrong everywhere we look, and to bring those who are wrong back to God and rightness. How do you become right? We all want to be right. Paul's given us the answer.

What hope do we have of ever being right in such a wrong world? Jesus. Jesus is the center and head of creation, Paul says. Jesus is the center and head of the church. Jesus is the seat and origin of all fullness, of all satisfaction, and by Jesus, those far from God, alienated by the enmity of sin and wicked works, are restored back to God.

He restores us to fullness. He restores us to the proper place of rightness in a wayward creation. He restores us through the death that He had there on the cross 2,000 years ago, and through the agency of the church, that message is spread to a wayward world.

Why? For what purpose? Look at the end of verse 22. The purpose is this: to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in His sight, the righteous one's sight. Why has He done this? To make you and me right. To present us holy. We, who were enemies by sin and by wicked works, are made unholy to holy, unrighteous to right, and guilty to blameless.

Point number four on your outline: the righteousness of Christ makes the unrighteous right, not religion. Everyone desires to be right. Religion is man's attempt to make himself right. But without Christ at the center of my life, no matter what religious works I do or what wicked things I don't do by religious adherence, none of those things will make you or me right. He alone is the one who makes us holy and righteous, and apart from Him, there is no holiness; there is no righteousness.

Jesus has done all that He has done—God becoming a man, living a perfect righteous life, dying a brutal death, rising from the dead, ascending to heaven. He has done all that He has done to present you and me holy and blameless and unreproachable before His sight.

In verse 23, there's always an "if." If—circle that "if" in your neighbor's Bible. Just lean over; they won't mind. It's important. If you indeed continue in the church in good works, right?

You have to check me on these things. Come on, you have to pay attention. You need to make sure I keep myself honest. Look at your Bible. If indeed you continue in the faith, steadfast, confident, trusting in Him, grounded in steadfastness, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel—the good news about what Jesus came and did for us, which you heard and which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister. If indeed you continue in the confident trust of Jesus, who died on the cross for your sins, you will be steadfast and immovable.

Why does Paul say this? Well, 2,000 years ago, the Christians who lived in the city of Colossae were being bombarded by other teachings that sought to draw them away from the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ. They were being drawn away from Christ to things like philosophy, to secret Gnostic knowledge, to asceticism and self-denial, to human tradition, to circumcision, to religious adherence to the law, to dietary restrictions, to feast days, and to the observance of Sabbaths and new moons. All of that will be discussed in chapter two.

In chapter two, Paul acknowledges that there are things trying to pull you away—Sabbaths, new moons, and dietary restrictions. He then says this: just flip over one page and look at Colossians 2:23. These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but they are of no value.

The amazing thing that has happened in the 21st century is that we have completely returned, in this postmodern Western world we live in, to a first-century Colossian worldview. We are exactly back in the first-century Roman world—a pluralistic, pragmatic, figure-it-out-on-your-own mindset. You might find rightness or righteousness in philosophy, secret knowledge, self-denial, asceticism, or dietary restrictions.

And Paul says all of these things, following after new moons and feasts, have an appearance of wisdom and self-imposed religion, but are of no value. No value as it relates to righteousness, as it relates to eternity, as it relates to Christ. They simply make you arrogant.

I probably shouldn't go there, but veganism—need I say more? I'll just stop there, or else I'm going to get emails. There is no hope of glory or rightness in these things. They are, I love that, the appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, and they are of no value. If you're doing it to get healthy, God bless you. If you're doing it because you think it makes you more right, you're wrong. Thank you, wrong.

That's everything. That's adherence to religious laws, feast days, Sabbaths, or following blood moons. I don't care what it is. If you think that makes you more right, you're wrong. It's Jesus and Jesus alone, and He alone deserves the glory, not those things.

So Paul continues in verse 24: "I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God." God sent me on a mission; that's all he's saying.

The mystery, verse 26, which has been hidden from the ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. This is beautiful. Awesome. A biblical mystery is something that is a mystery that is to be revealed. The perfect example or illustration of this is a Christmas gift. We are getting ready to exchange Christmas gifts not too far from now.

How many of you love Christmas gifts? Just be honest. We all do. Come on, thank you. You have a Christmas gift, and it's wrapped. The whole point is that at a certain point in the future, it's going to be unwrapped and revealed what it is. It's not to stay wrapped forever. If you're a good gift giver, you like to try and trick the person you're giving it to. So if it's a really lightweight thing, you put a rock in the bottom of it.

So it feels really heavy. I wonder what this is. But the whole point is that they open it and are surprised by what’s there. Here, Paul says God has a mystery that He has now revealed to His saints, His followers. In verse 27, it states that God desired and willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery. Throughout all these ages and generations, God has this Christmas gift that He wants to reveal to humanity. He wants to say, "This is it. This is the mystery revealed."

God wants to make known the riches and the glory of this mystery among all peoples, the Gentiles, not just the Jewish people. Here’s the mystery: Christ in you, the hope of glory. Not glory by dietary restrictions, not glory by Sabbath days, not glory by feast days, and not glory by any other thing. Glory by Christ. This is God's mystery, which He opened on Christmas Day, no less. Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Point number five on your outline, we finish with this: our only hope of glory is the glory of Christ in us. Paul finishes, and if you’ve ever received an email from me, if you’ve written to me and I responded, the end of every email that I send includes this in the footer. In verses 28 and 29, it says, "Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, why? That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." There is no perfection outside of Christ; we are perfect in Christ Jesus.

To this end, we also labor, striving according to His working, which works in me mightily. Why do we do what we do as a church? That’s why. Our only hope of glory is the glory of Christ in us. There is no hope apart from Him. Isaiah, 2,600 to 2,700 years ago, wrote in Isaiah 64, verse 6, "All of our righteousness is as filthy rags before God in heaven." The Apostle Paul, writing along that same theme in his letter to the Philippians, articulates what his life was prior to meeting Jesus. He was a religious Pharisee who believed himself to be blameless by the keeping of the law. He says in Philippians chapter 3, verses 8 and 9, "Yet indeed, I also count all of that..."

Religious effort is loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Why? 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. That I may gain Christ and therefore be right.

How do I become right in a wrong world? It is only through Christ. It's not through religious adherence to laws and rules. Although we may do those things as worship to God, they do not make us right. He alone makes us glorious and ultimately for His glory. Amen.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? Father God, I thank You for Your word. It is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. As we prepare to go from this place today and into workplaces, school campuses, or neighborhoods tomorrow, God, we are going to come in contact with people who think that You, Jesus, are a good teacher. They think that You are just a good man. They think that You are a social reformer. They think that You might even be a prophet or a miracle worker.

But God, 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 the sustainer of all things, and You deserve our glory. In glorifying You, God, You glorify us.

If in any way we have drifted from the simplicity of You making us right to try and find it in our own efforts, in our Bible reading, in our tithing, in our service, or any other thing, Lord, 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 say, Amen.

Let's sing to the Lord. Amen.