More Than Enough

Message Transcription

SUMMARY

In this sermon, Karl Ihfe explores the concept of God's fullness coming to earth through Jesus during Advent. He begins by referencing John 1:14, "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us," to illustrate how God moved into our neighborhood. Karl emphasizes that Jesus didn't come just as a partial representation of God, but with His complete fullness.

Using Colossians 1:15-20, he explains that Jesus is "the image of the invisible God" and that "God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him." This means that when we look at Jesus, we see exactly who God is and what He's like. Karl also highlights that through Jesus, God is reconciling all things to Himself, both in heaven and on earth. He concludes by encouraging the congregation to live in light of this reality and to participate in God's ongoing work of recreation in the world.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Well, if you have your Bible with you this morning, invite you to open the analog or the digital version and turn over to Colossians chapter one. We'll spend some of our time there together this morning. But we're in the week number two of our Advent series. We're thinking together about this passage. It's based on the passage that John gives us in his Gospel.

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. Last week we spoke about moving. This idea of moving. Advent is really a moving story. Not just simply relocating for a better house or a better job, but God in Christ left heaven and came to earth.

The Apostle John used this term, the word, to describe who Jesus was as he opens up his gospel. He says this word in the beginning was with God and was God, and that everything that came into being came into being through this Word. In fact, he says this word, it's life, and that life is the light of all people. And then that word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood. Advent is the time of year that we celebrate.

God has moved into the neighborhood. That in and through Jesus, something incredible has happened. He left behind the glory in the majesty of heaven, and he comes to earth to experience life here. And he took on all the challenges that come with making that kind of move. New people, new places, new opportunities.

And he did it again, leaving a place where he had all power and control to come to one where he has none. He gave all that up for us. Why would he do this? Well, John tells us a little later, the two chapters over. For God so loved the world, as Bill reminded us here at the table together, that God's incredible love for us causes him to want to create a way for us to be with him.

And so this Advent, we want to take some time to think about what does it mean that God, through Christ, is with us? The Immanuel. He is present with us not only as God, but as neighbor. And so last week we talked about the power of presence. And it's not just some theoretical or abstract idea that God's presence was with us.

He came to show us how to be human. And it's important. But that's not the only thing, the only blessing. This week I want us to think some about the power of God's fullness, that Jesus didn't just come as another son or as a son. He came in the fullness of who God is.

This is an important idea for us to think some about this morning, because often I don't think we really understand it. If you look up the word fullness in the dictionary. It gives you these definitions. It says the state of being filled to capacity. The state of having eaten enough or more than enough and feeling full.

Or the state of being complete or whole. See, not only is God present to us through Christ and in Christ, but his fullness is present. It's not just partial, it's not just half full. Now, this idea of Jesus being fully God and fully human has confounded scholars for 2,000 years. They've wrestled with, how do we make sense of this?

In fact, some came to the point that they just can't rectify the two. And so they don't believe it. They reject it. It turns out that same rejection was happening in Jesus Day. They wouldn't accept it.

And yet it's part of the Advent story. I mean, remember how John begins his gospel, his telling of Jesus coming to earth? It says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him, all things were made.

Without him, nothing was made that has been made. The Word doesn't. It wasn't just with God, the Word was God. Or maybe remember Gabriel's words to Mary as he announces that Jesus will be born unto her. Greetings, you who are highly favored.

The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. He will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and we be called Son of the Most High.

The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever. His kingdom will never end. Or perhaps you remember the angel's words to Joseph as he's considering whether or not he wants to even be part of this story. And he's wrestling with, do I just divorce Mary and walk away? Joseph, son of David, don't be afraid.

Don't be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. You see, Jesus wasn't just a son. He was the Son. When he came to Earth, it wasn't just to experience what life is like as a human, though that is what he experienced.

He came to show us how to be human, how to live in the way that he created us to live. And so one of the great blessings that we celebrate here in this Advent season is not just that God is with us, but it's the fullness of God who is with us. And it's an incredible mystery that people, not only scholars, but the church, has been wrestling with for a couple of thousand years. What does it mean to be a part of God's fullness, to have his fullness dwelling with us? I ll invite you to Turn over to Colossians 1 those verses that Maryianne read for us so beautifully just a few minutes ago.

As Paul is writing to a young church who's trying to sort through all of this. What does this look like? They're living in a time and in a culture that doesn't believe what they believe. In fact, there were at least these two challenges that young church was facing in their day. Number one was that Rome is the hope of the world.

Now, if you think back and remember what Rome was like, Rome ruled the world for almost 1,500 years. Just to put that into perspective, two more years and we'll celebrate our 250th birthday, right? Rome was from England to India, 15, 500 years. They were the ones who controlled everything. And so in this young church's age and day, Rome was the hope of the world.

If we could only just have everyone become Roman, if they could all just think like us, if they could only just believe what we believe, if they could only live how we live, then everything would be better. It would be great again, right? This terminology sound at all familiar? You see, that's it's not the only time that people believe that. But not only did that young church face that challenge that Rome is the hope of the world, they also faced a second challenge, and that's called syncretism.

Or maybe the easiest way to think of it is Jesus plus living in a metropolitan city likeloossi was in its day. There were all kinds of competing visions of realities, philosophies, ideas about religion. And so the temptation was to say, well, I believe in Jesus, but man, I can't deny the life that my druid neighbor is living. Maybe I to look at what kind of he or she is doing. Or I can't deny the way that my boss is at work.

Maybe they have something there to their God. So it was kind of, well, I'll take Jesus plus just to kind of hedge my bets, to make sure I've got all my bases covered. And it's to that young church again that Paul is writing and speaking into the reality of who exactly Jesus is, who exactly it is that we celebrate every Advent season. God's presence with us. But not just his presence, his fullness.

Because the sun is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him and for Him. And He, Jesus is before all things.

And in Him, Jesus, all things hold together. And he's the head of the body, the church. He's the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. So that in everything he might have supremacy. For God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or are things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross.

If you remember John's words, it's obvious that Paul understood and heard John's words as well. They were catching that same vision. All things that are everything that exists, it exists because of Jesus. In and through and by and for and to him that Jesus was not only there at the beginning, he's the One who and through it was all created. There's a lot that we could say here in this passage, but just a couple of things I want to point out to us as we're thinking about the blessing of God's presence and his fullness with us this Advent season.

First, the sun is the image of the invisible God. This means Jesus is the picture of God. If you want to know who God is, look at Jesus. If you want to know what God thinks, look at Jesus. If you want to understand what makes him upset, how he feels about humanity and the world around me, look at Jesus.

I have my own son. His name's Gabriel. Many of you have met him. Now some of you have told me that we look kind of alike. So here are a few pictures.

I'll let you be the judge. These are a few pictures of Gabe growing up and me with him. Different situations. Gabe kind of looks like me. I kind of look like him.

We can of share some genes. Maybe this next set pictures. See, this is another one when Gabe was much younger. I think this next picture actually is the real one. That kind of seals the deal.

That why some people have said, yeah, you can't get out of this one, right? You notice the roundness of our faces. I missed it so much. I've kind of gone back to the roundness of that face.

Paul says Jesus is the exact image of God. He doesn't just look like him. He doesn't just have a few similar mannerisms. He doesn't just kind of sound like him when he talks or look like him when he walks. He says Jesus is the image of God.

He's the mirror image. In fact, he says he makes this invisible God visible, this guy who's present with us and we sense it and we understand it and we experience it in some ways, but we can't always put our finger on it. Right? Many philosophers and different religions for years have admitted there's something out there, there's something bigger, there's something larger in this life. I don't know exactly what it is.

Paul says what it is is Jesus showing to us what God is really like, but he really thinks about you. In fact, NT Wright explains it this way. He says with Jesus, we find ourselves looking at the true God himself. And the good news is the more we look at Jesus, the more we see who God is, that he is this incredibly humble and self sacrificial God. A God who like Bill said, reminded us earlier he was not willing to just let the earth and his creation drift off into destruction.

Instead, he gave up heaven to come to earth to be with us. Jesus came with that same fullness. I came across a story this week and certainly it doesn't quite capture all of this, but it gives us a little picture of what this might look like. And one of my favorite storytellers, a guy named Steve Hartman. This was the story.

Check it out. Bonding over Bondo and brake pads. Ever since Jared was a little compact. And through the years, the one thing they've talked about Most is the 67 Chevy Camaro Earl used to own. Anytime that we saw a Camaro, he would definitely bring it up.

It'd be a reoccurring theme in a reoccurring sc. I once had a Camaro. Yes, I beautul just like that. The joke was or the way that he just summed it all up is that I had to sell this car for your diaper money. Always.

Actually, Earl was only half joking. You got to build a nursery, find a crib and a cradle, and it was time to, you know, settle down and raise the family, you know, so it was goodbye hot rod, hello, lukewarm minivan. Since then, his car dreams have been mostly confined to helping others with their vehicles. A Nissan Roue. He works at O'Reilly Auto Parts in Mesquite, Texas, where he has continued to share that story of the Camaro that got away.

Thanks so much. Of course, Jared knew his dad never really regretted selling that car. But he still felt like he owed his dad more than he could ever repay. So he went to work. A car exactly like the one his dad had just didn't exist.

So Jared spent three years scouring the Internet for parts and putting it together piece by piece. Until last month when he handed over the keys for his dad's 65th birthday. That is your car. Thanks for the diaper money, D. And he was just overcome.

And he wrapped his arms around me. Was the best. It was the best. He loves me a lot. As much as I love him.

We all give up something to start a family. But if you're lucky andatient sometimes you can have your Camaro and keep it too. Steve Hartman on the road in Mesquite, Texas, makes a decision. He makes a choice to give up something that was valuable, that mattered to him for the sake of his son. And the son responds in kind.

The son recognizes the gift and the power of that sacrifice and says, I'm going to live that way too. And then reorients his life around helping to fulfill that same kind of life. The son does what the Father has done, right? It's not a perfect one to one here, but it gives us an idea of how in Christ he came in the fullness of God. That when we want to know what God is like, we look at Christ, his way of life, his humility, his sacrifice, his willingness to give sacrificially.

And that's the way of God. That's the God that we serve. The one who said, I will send my only son to earth not just as a gift for you, but for the entire world. This beautiful picture of the Son doing what the Father has done. Jesus, Paul says, is the exact image of God.

That when we celebrate the Advent Christmas story, what we celebrate is not just that God is with us and he is, but it's his fullness is with us. His life is with us. When we give our lives to become a part of that great story, that, that same fullness, that same life, that same spirit, it lives in us. It empowers us. In fact, next week we're going to look a little deeper about, okay, so if this is true, God's presence with us and his fullness is with us, then what's our job?

What's our part of the mission? Next week we'll talk some about that. But the first thing I hope we will take with us this morning is that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. The second thing is this, that in that image, Jesus reconciles all things. Sometimes we live in such a way.

And I certainly have been guilty of this. But just to wish that Jesus would just come back, he would just torch everything. It's gotten so bad, so out of hand, so evil, so unjust. If we just tort it all and come back. Kind of that old beam me up, Scotty prayer.

Just, Lord, get me out of here.

But Jesus, if we're listening to Paul, we're listening to John, and we're listening to the ancient story, the history, the echo of the church. Jesus is the one that by whom and through whom and for whom and to whom all things were created, including the earth.

It was his idea, this place and you in it, that was his. And he loves it. And it's beautiful, it's incredible, it's sweet in the way that he made it. I mean, when we're out in the beauty of nature and I got to do a lot of this in my sabbatical time to do some hiking in the mountains, to just stop and overlook the scenery and just be overcome at this beautiful world that we have.

And God's given it forh Jesus idea. Anyime that we encounter the beauty of the world, we stop and remember. Oh yeah, this was God's idea. It was through Jesus that this all happened. But you and I both know there's enough evil in the world to cause us to wonder, to question, because we know there's more than beauty in the world, that there is a shadow side, right?

That evil, it's a real force in the world. And it's created all kinds of ugliness and hatred and anger, ultimately culminating in death. We're surrounded by it. But that wasn't the original intent. That wasn't God's plan from the very beginning.

And now God has acted in and through Jesus to bring healing and reconciliation back to the world that is so broken and so desperate. And he's accomplishing this healing in and through the One who created the whole world. For God was pleased to have his fullness, all his fullness dwell in Jesus and through him to reconcile to Himself everything, all things, things on heaven and earth. See, Jesus is the One through whom the world was created. And he's also the One through whom it's being recreated.

And that's one of those things. We celebrate, the blessings we've received. He's the firstborn from among all creation, and he's the firstborn from among the dead. Jesus moved into the neighborhood not simply to just be present with us and not simply because he created it, but because he's recreating it and again. And he's calling us.

Would we be a part of that recreation project? Would we be ones to help heaven come to earth? May we live in such a way that we embody this reality that this story is true, that once Jesus did leave heaven and come to earth, and in doing so he changed everything, including us. And so we live now in light of that beautiful gift. It turns out Jesus is not just present with us, but he is more than enough for us.

He can bring the healing that we've longed for and look for and hope for. He's the One who can show us direction on how we should go.

He is the One that can show us how we are to live and how we are to follow to live because he's the One who created us to do it in the first place. My prayer this Advent season as we continue to journey through it together, is that we'll be changed by this reality of not only God, but God and neighbor. That Jesus chose to be with us and not only with us, but to bring the fullness of who God is to us. And in doing so, he's changed everything. God, what a gift it is that we get to celebrate every Sunday together and especially in this season as we remember Jesus sacrificing so much.

He gave up all glory and power and majesty in heaven to become a vulnerable, humble child born into poverty, born into a young woman from an o name family in a one horse town and one horse village in a one horse country. He gave it all just so that we might have a picture of what heaven on earth might actually look like. We are re so thankful that you chose to be with us and that has been your plan from the very beginning and it will be your plan through to the very end. We got there days and weeks and seasons of our life where we just don't feel that connection and we wonder if Jesus presence really is enough. Some of us are facing some health challenges or financial challenges or relational challenges that just cause us to wonder.

I gott pray that once again this holiday season we will experience you coming to us not only to be with us, that we're never alone, no matter where we are, but that your fullness is with us at work, recreating the world around us and the world inside of us. God, would you soften our hearts? Would you open our eyes and our ears to hear what it is that you want us to be about in this reconciliation work this week, as Paul told the church in Corinth, this ministry of reconciliation, Yah Would you help us to see this week that relationship where you want us to be your hands and your feet, to bring a word of peace, peace that we know has come through your blood shed on the cross that you want us to bring a word of hope or maybe a word of forgiveness? God, would you give us the courage, Lord, some of us are facing these health challenges, Lord, would you remind us that you're present not only in and with us, but you have more than enough than what we needeah? Would you remind us that you have the power to heal and that you will heal, whether this side of glory or the other, that death is not the end, that sickness and illness, it's not the end of the story that Jesus is recreating and one day will come again in its fullness.

All things will be made new. So God, would you give us hope to carry on? God, some of us are looking for direction in our life, purpose and meaning. Father, would you remind us that you're not only with us, but you've given us your spirit, all that we need to move forward, to take our next step? God, would you give us the courage to follow, Lord, whatever it is that we need?

This season of Advent, may you remind us that you are with us and you are fully with us. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.