Creekside Church Sermon of November 22, 1998 "Jesus Rules" Colossians 1:11-20	Rev. David Bibbee
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The last Sunday of the church year is Christ the King Sunday, a time to vote for our favorite hero and proclaim that Jesus, and no other, is our strong, secure anchor. He is Lord, not just of our lives, not just of the church, and not just of the world. The Bible makes the cosmic claim that Jesus is Lord of all, and reigns over every power that has been or will be.

This is the thrust of our lesson from Paul's little letter to the Colossians. It has a hopeful, enthusiastic ring to it. "May you be strengthened with all power according to his glorious might. We are delivered from the dominion of darkness and transferred to the beloved Son's kingdom." Paul then gives an expansive, all-encompassing description of Jesus Christ. "He is the image of the invisible God." This word "image" also appears in the opening of Genesis where it says that man and woman were created in the "image" of God. They were created to be a reflection of God, but they blew it, choosing to reflect themselves instead. But in Jesus we see the perfect image of what God intended. He is not just a reflection, or representation of God, he is the manifestation. "In Jesus, God's fullness was pleased to dwell."

Furthermore, Paul said Jesus was the "first born of all creation". "First born" doesn't necessarily mean in a sequence of time. "First born" was a title of honor and was also the title for the Messiah. "First born" is a way of saying the highest honor in creation is his. For him all things were created. In him all things hold together, and all powers seen or unseen, all dominions, and principalities are subject to him.

We can grasp the weight of these words by looking at the challenges the Colossians faced. Colossae was an insignificant sort of town located a stone's throw from Ephesus. In this little town, a little church struggled to gain a foothold. For the Colossians, the principalities were not to be taken lightly. Their world was ruled by spiritual forces. Everything that happened to them and around them was the doing of the gods. Artemis, Apollo, Athena and Aphrodite were always up to something, and although the Colossians were new Christians, old beliefs died hard.

Added to this was the threat of false teachers called the Gnostics. These intellectuals thought the Christian message was far too simplistic. They taught that the material world was evil and only the spiritual was good. Since everything material was evil, Jesus could not be the flesh and blood incarnation of God. He was great man, but someone greater might come along...a Luke Skywalker perhaps.

I contend that we are no different. We all, despite our belief, sometimes wonder who is at the helm of this world. It's one thing to crown Jesus Lord of all when surrounded by stained glass and nice people, temporarily shielded from what we've been told is the "real world". It's something else to remain hopeful because we believe, despite the appearances, that Jesus is Lord.

There are large forces at work in this world. For the Colossians it was Artemis and Apollo. Ours is something else. My pension plan took a hit during the last quarter. My stash of financial security for old age lost ground because of a stock market correction. What I would like to know is, who corrected it? Why wasn't I asked if I wanted it corrected? It was a force beyond my control. What about the political process? It is supposed to work for us, and keep the gears of government going. But who's in charge of the process? Do you sleep soundly while the impeachment hearings are going on and the people of Minnesota have put a professional wrestler in the governor's mansion?

Who is in charge? You may remember the sharecropper in "The Grapes of Wrath". His farm had been foreclosed and he wanted to know who did it. The local banker said he didn't do it. He was merely following orders from the home office. The home office said that the decision wasn't theirs. They were accountable to a board of directors. The board of directors wasn't responsible either, because they were subject to the will of thousands of stockholders. Do you get the picture? No one was guilty because everyone was guilty.

There is a virus in the system. We cannot see it. We can only see where it's been and feel resignation because there is nothing we can do.

For us, like the Colossians, strong, unseen, troubling forces are at work. I read about a college professor who every year introduced a creative writing course by reading the students a short story called "The Lottery". It is about a small farming community. The people were hard working and friendly. Everything seemed normal until the read discovers that this little town holds an annual lottery in which the loser is stoned to death. In the past the students understood this shocking story as a commentary on the dangers of mindless conformity. When he reads the story to students today, many respond, "Neat!" or "Cool!" No one goes out on a limb and takes a stand against killing.

We could cite many such dark examples but doing so will add to our perception problem. If our attention is focused upon all the images of the so-called "real world", these images will invade our minds and make us wonder if we have enlisted in a hopeless cause. There was a poster that appeared on some church bulletin boards. It showed a little church that was hemmed by an X-rated theater, a munitions factory and miles of expressway jammed with cars filling the air with smog. Two members were on the front steps and one said to the other, "Do you get the feeling that we're losing ground?"

The honest answer is, "Yes." We wrestle with pervasive, persuasive powers that would have us make peace with the present arrangements, hunker down in our timid churches and allow the principalities to determine how things are. But when we feel anxious and hopeless, we should return to Colossians. Our civilization isn't crumbling. It's already crumbled. We still have evil to contend with, but the verdict is already in. Darkness and death have lost. He who is the image of God, the first born of creation, the first born from the dead...rules.

Paul's letter written to a little church under siege, has our address on it. We are subjects of the king whose rule is eternal. Therefore, we do not give in, we give thanks. We do not simply believe it, we live it. And living it calls for more than a "Keep the Ten Commandments" sticker on your car. Christians deal with this world by living in another. We live in a way that draws sharp distinctions with the world as it is.

Listen to this description of how Christians live in the world as described by a second century Roman Christian:

Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of humanity by country or language or customs. They do not separate themselves into cities of their own; they use no special language or follow an eccentric pattern of life. Although they live in Greek and barbarian cities, and follow the usual customs of those cities, they never cease to witness to the reality of another city in which they live. They share in everything as citizens, yet endure everything as aliens.

They marry, like everyone else, and they beget children, but they do not expose their unwanted infants to the elements. They share their board with each other but not their marriage beds.

They busy themselves on earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. They obey the laws of the land but in their own lives go far beyond the law's requirements. They love all people, and by all people are persecuted. They are put to death, and yet they are brought to life. They are poor, and yet they make many rich. They are reviled, and yet they bless. They are treated by the Jews as foreigners and are hunted down by the Greeks; and all the time those who hate them find it impossible to justify their hatred. To put it simply; what the soul is to the body, that Christians are in the world.

In Birmingham, England a large department store called Lewis's wanted to expand, but couldn't because a little Quaker chapel was in the way. Lewis's sent a letter to the Friends which read:

Dear Sirs, we wish to extend our premises. We see that your building is right in the way. We wish therefore to buy your building and demolish it so we might expand our store. We will pay you any price you care to name. If you will name your price we will settle the matter as quickly as possible. Yours sincerely.

They got a letter back by reply which said, "Dear Sirs: We in the Friends meetinghouse note the desire of Lewis's to extend. We observe that our building is right in your way. We would point out, however, that we have been on our site somewhat longer than you have been on yours, and we are determined to stay where we are. We are so determined to stay that we will happily buy Lewis's. If therefore you would like to name a suitable price we will settle the matter as quickly as possible. Signed, Cadbury.

If you like chocolate, you know the name Cadbury. The Cadburys were Quakers. They had businesses all over the country and enough wealth to buy out Lewis's several times over. In II Corinthians 3:3, Paul writes, "You are a letter from Christ...written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God."

With the letter of our lives, we confidently and courageously declare that we will not be taken over. For we live in the service of the King who told us, "I have overcome the world."

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