Orienteering

INTRODUCTION (Jesus Over Everything Series Slide) Morning everybody. My name is David Sorn, and I’m the Lead Pastor here. When I was in 6th grade, our whole grade spent a weekend at Long Lake Conversation Camp in Northern MN (many of you in MN probably did something like this) And you learn about the outdoors, wildlife, and more. And one of the activities we did there was orienteering. (Show compass image) Orienteering is where you get a map and a compass And they start by giving you a compass bearing to your 1st checkpoint. And if you make it to the 1st checkpoint, you get another bearing to find the next checkpoint and so on and so forth. And the last checkpoint will direct you to the finish line. And the first one to the finish line, wins (that’s orienteering)! I literally remember hearing the directions, and thinking, “There’s no way that I don’t win this. I’m smart. Super detailed. I love maps! I’m checking out my competition…no problem” Well, the problem is if you don’t get your compass bearing exactly right… Even if you’re by like 2 degrees, by the time you walk a ¼ of a mile to the next checkpoint, you might be 100 yards away from the checkpoint, and you might not be able to find it at all! Anyone want to guess which place I got? The correct answer is: Last! Pride comes before the fall. Let me tell you in a second here why I began thinking about orienteering again this week. But as I do that, let’s open up our Bibles together. Page 805 Colossians 1:15 20 We’re studying the Letter of Colossians together as a church. Colossians was written by a leader of the early Christian Church named Paul. And one of the reasons that Paul was writing to the Christians at Colossae is because many of the new Christians there had started to believe false ideas (heresies) about Jesus And so Paul wants to give them some correct theology (spiritual truth) on the truth of who Jesus really is. And his reason for doing so has much in common with orienteering. In orienteering, if you align your compass incorrectly, when you walk out what you THINK that truth is, you’ll eventually find that it doesn’t actually lead you where you want to go. The same principle is true for the Christian. If we don’t, in our doctrine (that’s our set of Christian beliefs) get our truths about Jesus right, it has many negative implications for our lives. So each of us has to get Jesus right: WHO IS JESUS! And our passage today will really help with that! It’s one of the most theologically rich passages about Jesus in the entire Bible So we’re going to go through this in small pieces today, so we can mine the diamonds here. #1: IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD AND CREATOR Page 805 Colossians 1:15 16a (Colossians 1:15 16a) – NIV 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; Let me start with 2 truths from what we just read: Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything Okay, what does that mean in verse 15 when it says that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God?” Author Becky Pippert (who has a classic and excellent book on evangelism called “Out of the Saltshaker!) once said that before she was a Christian… …. she used to think it was impossible for little humans like us to know anything about what God was like. But then she said one day she was stretched out on her lawn and noticed a bunch of busy ants. Two crawled onto her hands and she thought, wouldn’t it be funny if one said to the other, “Do you believe in Becky?” And she said, “And what if one said, “Don’t be ridiculous, Becky is a myth! A fairy tale!” And then she thought, “How could I ever convince an ant that I am real or communicate with them?” And then she surprised her agnostic self when she realized that the only way she could ever do that was to enter into their world and become an ant herself, and telling them about “Becky” And see, that’s what Jesus did. By becoming human, He showed us an “image of an invisible God” But Paul says more. He says Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. Now, that doesn’t mean that at one time Jesus didn’t exist. He has always existed. Jesus’ disciple John describes it this way. (John 1:1 3) – NIV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (Orienteering Title Slide) Jesus helped create everything ever made, so by logic, he was never created. He’s always existed. So why does it say in our passage that Jesus was the firstborn OF creation? It doesn’t say that! It says He was the firstborn OVER all creation. Well, what does that mean?? That’s a phrase that made perfect sense in the ancient near east 2,000 years ago, but it a little harder for us. What Paul is saying is that Jesus is OVER (above) all creation like a firstborn son is over the rest of the family. In those days, the firstborn son was the one who inherited all of the father’s wealth and rank and power. The firstborn son was equal to the father. And so what are we learning from this first verse and a half? Jesus is equal to the father, that He always existed, and through Him all things were made. Now, maybe you’re thinking, “Okay, but what’s the point? Why does this matter?” It goes back to what I said about orienteering with a compass in the woods: So here were our truths, our right direction: Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Let me ask you: If Jesus hasn’t always existed, if Jesus isn’t fully equal to God, do His words carry as much weight? No way. (Orienteering Title Slide) But see, it is critical that we set our compass of truth correctly on this particular checkpoint because throughout history, many groups have tried to minimize Jesus’ status as the Eternal Son of God. And Paul wrote this very part of Colossians because that was happening at Colossae. We’ll see in chapter 2 that some were saying that Jesus was important, but important like an angel, not important like the “Eternal Son of God” important And other groups throughout history have done basically the same thing Muslims, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses all believe in Jesus. They believe Jesus was VERY important, but at the end of the day, they set their compass to say, “Jesus is NOT the eternal Son of God” And because they don’t believe that, they end up treating Jesus like “just a teacher,” and His words don’t carry as much weight. Muslims and Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe Jesus was God And Mormons believe that God the Father created Jesus, and that you also someday can be god like Jesus…and, well, that’s a different message. But if we’re going to follow Jesus well, we need to first set our compass of truth correctly. #2: ALL THINGS FOR HIM AND HE HOLDS ALL THINGS TOGETHER Okay, let’s keep reading more truths about Jesus: Page 805 Colossians 1:16b 17 (Colossians 1:16b 17) – NIV all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. So here’s our second set of truths (if you’re taking notes) Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Truths 3 & 4 about Jesus: All things are for Jesus, and He holds all things together. This is a big statement. It’s saying that you were created by Jesus and for Jesus. What’s the purpose of your life? Is it to get rich? Find just the right job? Marry the perfect person? Have the best family? Were you created for yourself? No, you were created to bring glory to Jesus Now, don’t get me wrong, there’s deep joy in doing that, but you were created FOR Jesus. But I think a large portion of American Christians are actually in theological error here without knowing it Here is our error: Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Truths 3 & 4 about Jesus: All things are for Jesus, and He holds all things together. If we ERR here: We make Jesus out to be our assistant …that is, that He exists to help US! In fact, I hear this very modern theological error everywhere nowadays. You can hear it plenty of Christian podcasts, popular books, and even popular Christian music today. It sounds like, “You’ve got my victory around the corner! You’re fighting battles for my success! I lost my job, but you’ve already got a better one lined up!” See, if your core belief is that Jesus exists FOR you… …that is, that He’s there to help you do well at that meeting, improve your marriage, turn your finances around… That is a misunderstanding of Jesus. Yes, pray about those things, absolutely. But Jesus doesn’t exist for you, you exist for Jesus. And I must warn you, a wrong orientation here (where Jesus exists for you), leads to a scary cliff. I’m watching right now (and maybe you are too) so many formerly “churched people” are walking away from their faith because Jesus didn’t heal that person, he didn’t make their marriage get better, he didn’t take away their hardship. And so they walked away. But they’re walking away, not from the real Jesus, but from the Jesus they thought was supposed to be their assistant! Timothy Keller said that a Sunday School teacher once changed his life by talking about this. The teacher said, "The distance between the earth and the sun is 92 million mile, and let’s assumed that was reduced to the thickness of this sheet of paper. “If that were the case, then the distance between the earth and the next nearest star would be a stack of papers 70 feet high. And the diameter of our galaxy would be a stack of papers 310 miles high." Then Keller's teacher added, "The Milky Way galaxy is just a speck of dust in the universe, yet Jesus holds the universe together by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3) And then she looked at the class, and the teacher said to her students: Now, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant? We exist for Him, not He exists for us. Getting the compass of truth right …. (getting WHO JESUS IS) right …MATTERS. It absolutely affects how you will walk out your life. #3: JESUS IS THE HEAD & SUPREME Okay, let’s keep reading and look at 3rd set of truths Page 805 Colossians 1:18 19 (Colossians 1:18 19) – NIV 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, Here are two more truths we can set our compass on. Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Truths 3 & 4 about Jesus: All things are for Jesus, and He holds all things together. If we ERR here: We make Jesus out to be our assistant Truths 5 & 6 about Jesus: Jesus is the head of the church and in everything He is supreme. Jesus is not only the head of THIS Church, He is the leader of the, Capital C Church worldwide. And that He is supreme (it says) over everything. That’s a huge theme in these first two chapters: When we understand who Jesus really is, we’ll put Jesus over everything in our lives. But watch what the error is here if we orient the truth incorrectly: Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Truths 3 & 4 about Jesus: All things are for Jesus, and He holds all things together. If we ERR here: We make Jesus out to be our assistant Truths 5 & 6 about Jesus: Jesus is the head of the church and in everything He is supreme. If we ERR here: We decide how to live And for so many people, they see that the compass is pointing them to this truth (that Jesus is Supreme) But that path looks hard, maybe unappealing, because it’s a where you give up a lot…where you don’t get to decide. And so a lot of people put down the compass and start making their own way. But think about this: In orienteering, how dangerous would it be if you’re out in the middle of nowhere, and you get weary of trying to get the truth right, so you just throw down your compass and try and make your own way? Not a good idea, right? That’s just as true in real life Jesus says in Matthew 7 that the path “where you get to make your own way” is appealing and broad… If you don’t follow the line of truth, you have 359 other degrees that you can go! It’s a broad path! But I’ll tell you it’s a path leads to pain, to loneliness, a feeling of being lost, and ultimately, Jesus says, “It’s a path that leads to destruction.” But His Path of Truth, leads to life. It may be narrow, it may be hard, but it’s the path (and the ONLY path) that leads to life, and life everlasting. (Orienteering Title Slide) And you know, I think sometimes people are afraid to surrender their lives to the truth of this powerful Jesus we see described here because they don’t understand His heart for them. And so we need to take the remainder of our time to explain that. Because as Christians, we hold in tension the supremacy of Jesus AND the incredible love of Jesus. And before I show you his love in this passage. But first, I want to show you how His love works in people. BAPTISM (SWITCH TO BAPTISM SUNDAY SLIDE) In fact, I want to call our Baptismal Team on stage right now As we are going to celebrate a baptism this morning. Baptisms are reminders Jesus Christ has paid our debt, our sin. And by our faith in Him, we were forgiven, washed clean. Baptism is a symbol of what happens when a person believes in Jesus (that their sins were washed clean) Baptism doesn’t save you. But it is such an important symbol of his love. Every person you see baptized at Renovation Church is baptized by a sponsor (people who’s had a spiritual impact on them) And so, we’re going to begin! 1st: Greg 2nd: Riley 3rd: Renae then Jeanne WORD COUNT GOAL: 2775 #4: JESUS RECONCILES AND MAKES ALL THINGS RIGHT Amen. Let me show you what these people getting baptized all morning are talking about in our passage today: Page 805 Colossians 1:20 (Colossians 1:20) – NIV 20 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. This is the 4th set of truths from our passage: Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Truths 3 & 4 about Jesus: All things are for Jesus, and He holds all things together. If we ERR here: We make Jesus out to be our assistant Truths 5 & 6 about Jesus: Jesus is the head of the church and in everything He is supreme. If we ERR here: We decide how to live Truths 7 & 8 about Jesus: Jesus reconciles us and makes all things right God’s Word is telling us this morning that everything was created by Jesus, but our world was broken by sin. But the way to be reconciled… That is the way to be made right…brought back to God is through Jesus’ blood (his death) on the cross. That’s what people have been saying all morning. That is what changed their life. This is how they found “peace with God” as the passage says. They believed that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, existing from all eternity, creator of the universe, came to our lowly planet, and died on the cross. And not just that, but that when He was dying, he was dying in our place. Because you and I deserve God’s holy justice for our sins. But Jesus took it for us. He died in our place. And if we would believe in that (and ONLY if we would believe in that!), we could be reconciled to God, made right with Him again. But if you don’t believe that, and you choose the broad path, let me tell you what will happen: You’ll say: Jesus isn’t God…he was just a teacher. Maybe at best someone who could assist me in a crisis But I, I, determine how to live my life. If that’s your worldview you live by (and that actually describes most Americans)… If that’s your worldview, then the biggest question of your life actually is quite serious if you think about it: How will you be reconciled to God? When you die, because you will someday, and you meet God face to face for judgment? How will you be reconciled to Him? How will you get right with God? And for most people walking that wandering path, all they can say is, “Well, I’m trying to be a good person.” This is the final error: Truths 1 & 2 about Jesus: He is the image of the invisible God and created everything If we ERR here: We treat Jesus as simply a teacher Truths 3 & 4 about Jesus: All things are for Jesus, and He holds all things together. If we ERR here: We make Jesus out to be our assistant Truths 5 & 6 about Jesus: Jesus is the head of the church and in everything He is supreme. If we ERR here: We decide how to live Truths 7 & 8 about Jesus: Jesus reconciles us and makes all things right If we ERR here: We are left to try and make things right ourselves (Orienteering Title Slide) And so all the time, I hear people say, “Okay, I’ll try and get right with God. I’m going to try and be a better person, and cut down a little bit on the drinking, maybe get to church more, be nicer to your spouse… At the end of the day, that’s still you, with your own good works, trying to save yourself. That’s you, looking at the compass, but choosing to go your own way… That’s you trying to be your own savior! But God is saying, “I already sent you a Savior!” “And you can’t get right with me by trying to save yourself!” “It’s only through Jesus!” And my friend, if you can humble yourself, and go back to the beginning…back to the start line. And follow the path of truth… And see that Jesus is the Son of God. And your life is meant for Him. And that because of your sin, HE is the only one that can make you right with God. Do you know where each of those checkpoints of truth will eventually lead you? They will lead you to the cross. And at the cross, you’ll see this astounding picture of Jesus, the powerful, eternal Son of God… …hanging on a cross for you. Because He loved you so much…and He didn’t want you to be lost, and alone, and to suffer in hell for your sins. And so He came, to the wilderness of this world, to rescue you…to die for you. To reconcile you to Himself. And if you, like people are testifying to all morning, if you say, “I believe you came to die…for me.” “And so Jesus, I give you my life” “I’ll let you be my leader, and my Savior.” He will wash your sins clean, come into your life and change you, and grant you eternal life with Him. And I want to give some of you a chance to make that decision even right now this morning: So let’s just have everyone bow their head and close their eyes, just for a minute. If you need to make this decision for the first time today…to confess your sins to Jesus for the first time and let Him forgive you…to make Him the leader of your life…to accept His gift of Eternal life… In just a minute, I’m going to ask you to respond by RAISING YOUR HAND. No one’s going to be looking at you, that’s why we had everyone close their eyes. But sometimes in life, we just need that moment…to take a first step. To say, “God I believe. Take my life” And if you need to do that today, and I bet you already know it on your heart and you can feel it inside right now… If you need to tell God for the first time today that you do believe, and you want to follow Him and be forgiven. Then I invite you to raise your hand up to God right now. The Bible tells us that in this moment we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths. Repeat after me Dear God I confess to you, that I have sinned against you. But God I believe, that you sent your Son Jesus, to take my place And God I thank you, for forgiving my sins. And now I commit, to following you, with my life. (NEXT STEPS) Okay, you can point down your hands and everyone can open their eyes. For those of you that raised your hands, you just made the most important decision of your life, and I believe that requires some more information… So here’s what we’re going to do to get you that… in just a second, I’m going to close the service in prayer, and then right after the service, I want the TWO/THREE of you to meet me up here in front. And I, and our follow up team, for just a couple of minutes, are going to get you some extremely important resources & next steps to get you started If you’re part of this church, and your friend or family member raised their hand, PLEASE come out there with them. Let me just close by thanking God. Copyright: David Sorn Renovation Church in Blaine, MN You may use this material all you like! We only ask that you do not charge a fee and that you quote the source and not say it is your own.