Christ is God – Colossians 1:15

Posted on September 18, 2026 by dkoop

Today we look at a crucial part of Scripture; describing the most important personality in the universe; Christ who is God.  The deity of Christ is the very heartbeat of Christianity, the very essence of all that we believe and the very foundation of our faith.  The deity of Christ is the battleground over which we stand against the cults and the –isms and anyone who wishes to make  Christ, less than He is.

It’s been said that the Bible the “Jesus Book.”  If we understand the Bible, we understand that it is the book about Christ.   In the Old Testament, there is the preparation for Jesus coming.  In the gospels, there is the presentation of Christ; He is come.  In the Acts, there is the proclamation.  The message of salvation in Christ is announced.  In the epistles, we study the personification.  That is, “For to me to live is Christ,” or how Christ, who has died and risen from the grave, returns to live in His people.  In Revelation, there is the predomination or the Christ on the throne, the reign of the King, the Lamb on the throne.

In every sense, the Bible is Christ’s story.  It is the book that tells us all about Him.  In Acts chapter 8, that is indicated to us in verse 35 when Philip, talking to the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza, the Holy Spirit says, “Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same Scripture (Isaiah), and preached unto him Jesus.”

You can begin at any point in the Scripture and teach Jesus.  In Luke, a familiar passage, chapter 24:27, Christ, after His resurrection, meeting the disciples on the road to Emmaus, “And beginning at Moses,” or the Pentateuch, “and all the prophets,” or the prophetic books, “He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures,” or, the Hagiographa, the holy writings, “the things concerning Himself.”

The Bible is the book about Christ.  It is the book about the revelation of God and the coming of Christ into the world.  It is about God becoming a man.  In every aspect of the Bible, facets of this are made clear.  But of all the statements in the Bible, in the Word of God about God becoming man, none is more significant than the one in Colossians 1:15, for here we have the identification of the Son as God very, very clearly.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Now that is a tremendous statement, a vital statement to the understanding of the Christian faith and the removal of any confusion over who our Lord Jesus Christ really is.

Why does Paul pen this?  Paul understands that there is a certain false system of doctrine being propagated at Colossae, and he understands that because Epaphras has visited him.  Epaphras, undoubtedly one of the pastors of the Colossian church and its founder, has come to visit the apostle Paul.

The apostle Paul hears from Epaphras that there are some terrible things going on in terms of propagation of heresy in Colossae.  One such heresy relates to the deity of Jesus Christ.  The heretics are saying that Christ is not God; that He is not sufficient for salvation; that in addition to Christ, there must be the worship of other spirits, perhaps other angels, if you will.  There must be special visions.  There must be certain knowledge that is sort of super knowledge beyond that which is attainable in Christ.  In fact, the heretics had said that Jesus Christ is only one in a long line of emanating spirits descending from God, and Jesus was one of those good emanations.  He is not God.  He is not even an adequate Savior.  Knowledge beyond Him is the only way to salvation.

The attack of this particular heresy, which apparently later developed into what we know as Gnosticism, the attack was at the deity of Christ and His total sufficiency as Savior.  The heresy was pretty well based upon a philosophical dualism that says that matter is evil and spirit is good, and since God is Spirit, He is good.  But since all of creation is matter, it is evil.  So a good God can’t create an evil creation.

So what happened was God started sending out emanations, or spirits started coming out of God like ripples in a pond.  They kept coming and coming and coming, and the first ones were good and good.  Then they got neutral, and then they got bad.  A zillion emanations down the line, you got some bad emanations, one of whom was bad enough to create the world.  Now, Jesus was just one of these process of emanations, a good one to be sure, but nonetheless, one of them.  He is equal to an angel, and that is why they worshipped these emanations or spirits or angels.

Paul’s point here is to tell the Colossians Jesus is not an emanation from God.  He is not something down the ladder from the character of God.  He is God in human flesh.  Paul has pretty well dispensed with the opening thoughts.  He has greeted them, initially.  He has thanked God for them in verses 3 and following.  He has prayed for them that they would be filled with all of the knowledge of His will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, and they would walk worthy.

He thanks God for the salvation that they enjoy in verses 12 to 14; the redemption, the forgiveness.  Then he moves right in from there to make his point that this one, who has redeemed us, who has forgiven us, who has delivered us from the power of darkness; this one who is the dear Son, who possesses the kingdom, this one is the image of the invisible God.  That’s vital to his message.

As we look at  verses 15 to 19, we want to see Jesus Christ in relation to five things.  We’ll see Him in relation to God, in relation to the universe, in relation to the unseen world, in relation to the church, and in relation to anything else that might be left.

The false teachers had tried to show that Jesus was simply an emanation, that He was just some ripple from the character of God; one of an infinite series of lesser beings that finally reached to evil and were able to create the world.  But Paul says, “Christ is God.”  In fact, in verse 16, he says, “He created everything.”  He’s the one that did it.  The heretics went so far even as to teach that God could never enter a body, because if God entered a body, then good God would be in evil matter.  A good emanation could never have a body, because a good emanation couldn’t take on a bad matter body.  So they taught that Jesus didn’t have a body, that He was a good emanation who was a phantom.

So Paul wants to make it clear that Jesus is God, that He is God in flesh, and that He is the Creator of the universe. He says in 15 that, “He is the image of the invisible God.  He is the image of the invisible God.”  To begin with, God is invisible.  In 1 Timothy, it tells us that God is invisible.  It tells us in the Old Testament that God is invisible, that God cannot be seen.  God is not visible to the human eye.  God is a Spirit and “A Spirit,” said Jesus, “hath not,” what? “flesh and bones.”  God is invisible, but God became visible.  God became a man, and Christ was God made visible.  He is the image of the invisible God.

In Genesis 1:27, we have the use of the term “image.”  It says, “God made man in His own image and likeness.” 1 Corinthians 11:7 says, “Man is the image of God,” again, repeating the same truth, but we need to remember man is not a perfect image of God.

We are certainly not made in the moral image of God:  He’s perfect; we’re not. Adam was created innocent, but  failed the first test.  We are not created in God’s image morally.  Also, we are not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient, or immutable.

Who is the only really, true, graphic, perfect, flawless, absolutely accurate image of the invisible God?  Were it not for Him being in the image of God, none of us would ever be able to approximate it.

Hebrews 1:3, “He is the express image of His person,” the exact image, the perfect image.  The substance is the same.  Jesus is the exact reproduction of God; nothing missing, altered, nothing changed.  In John 1:18 it says, “No man has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”  “And when we saw the Son,” John says, “we beheld His glory, and it was the glory of the only begotten of the Father.”

It was just obvious that He was manifesting God.  In Philippians 2:6, “Who being in the form of God,” Christ having all of the character and form of God, became a man, “made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant,”

Christ is the identical thought and expression of God.  That’s why Jesus said in John 14:9, “He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father.”

In Matthew 17, Jesus even let them have a little glimpse of the fact that He was God.  This should end for all time any speculation or argument about it, where we find the Lord Jesus Christ revealing Himself.  Matthew 17, a transfiguration.  Verse 2, “He was transfigured before them: His face did shine like the sun, and His raiment was as white as the light.  And a voice out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased said God, “hear Him.”

The Son, then, is the only perfect representation of God. Men are not.  They are a marred image.

Going back to Colossians 1 and looking at that word “image”, it means a precise copy, a replica.  Christ is the perfect, unblemished replica of God.  He’s not just a sketch; He’s all filled in.  Colossians 2:9, “In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”  Colossians 1:19, “It pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness (Pleroma) dwell.”  Jesus is the full, final, only revelation of God with nothing missing.

To think that God became a man, God invaded the world in human form is a staggering thought.

Christ is God revealed in the world.  If you want to know what God’s like, look at Christ.  He’ll tell you what God is like.  If God were man, we would expect Him to be sinless.  Jesus was.  If God were a man, we would expect Him to speak the greatest words ever spoken.  He did.  If God were a man, we would expect Him to exert a profound influence on human personality like no other being that ever lived, and He did.  If God were a man, we would expect that He would do miracles with ease, and He did.  If God were a man, we would expect Him to love, and He did, because He was God, and God cannot be known other than through Jesus Christ.

Secondly, in verse 15, “The firstborn of all creation.”  That particular phrase has caused people a lot of trouble, because they don’t understand what He’s saying.  The first begotten, or the “firstborn of all creation.”  This is a reference to position, not time.   He is not the first created being in terms of time.

There are two good reasons for that.  Number on reason, He never was created.  He said, “Before Abraham was,” what? “I am,” in John 8:58.  Revelation calls Him “the One who was, and is, and is to come.”

What does “firstborn” mean? Prtotokos the Greek term refers to position. It refers to rank; it refers to right of authority, to primacy; not to chronology.  The firstborn is the one who has the rights of inheritance.  In the Jewish context, everybody knew that. Even in the Gentile context, everybody understands that.  They had no question in Colossae about what he was referring to; that Christ was the honored One, the privileged One, the prestigious One, the Father’s heir.

Back to Hebrews 1 again.  He says, “In these last days, God has spoken unto us by His Son.”  AND, “His Son whom He has appointed heir.”  The heir was appointed by the Father.  Normally it was the firstborn, but if the firstborn was disqualified for some reason, the father wanted to give it to another he had the right to do that. But he had to be appointed by the father.

In Revelation chapter 5, God is on the throne and the scroll is in His hand, the title deed to the earth, sealed with seven seals, as was customary with Roman law.  For sealing a will, it had to be sealed seven times so you couldn’t unroll it without it making an obvious distraction.  “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and loose its seals?’”  Who is the possessor of the earth?  Who is the heir to take over the world?  Who has the right to control the earth, to take it back, to inherit it?  “And no man in heaven and earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the scroll or even to look at.”  John says, “I cried a lot because nobody was found worthy.” 

Where’s the firstborn?  Where is the prtotokos?  Where is the primary one?  Where is the heir?  “‘Weep not,’ one of the elders said to me, ‘The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll, and loose its seven seals.’ And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood the Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.  And He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne.”

Here is Christ, taking the title deed to the earth as the prtotokos to take over and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.  From chapter 6 to chapter 19 is the takeover of the earth until He finally reigns in chapter 20.  Verse 13 echoes the sentiments of heaven.  “Every creature that is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them heard I saying, ‘Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sits on the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever.’”  You see, all the universe echoes in, chiming in, that this One is worthy.

The sad fact is, that the one thing Satan wants to do is make sure nobody understands that, make sure nobody really believes Jesus is God, make sure nobody really believes that He is not a creature, but that He is the primary one of all personalities.  So in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “In whom the god of this age,” who’s that?  Satan, “has blinded the minds of them who believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”

Satan doesn’t want people to know He’s the image of God.  Satan doesn’t want people to know He’s the only one who has a right to rule in the world.  Satan doesn’t want them to know, so their minds are blinded by unbelief.  That’s a good verse to show somebody when they tell you, “Christ isn’t God.”  You can explain to them why they believe that.

In John 10:33, the Jews answered.  Jesus made a lot of claims, but the Jews got the message.  People say, “Jesus never claimed to be God.”  Rediculous!  Jesus never claimed to be God?  The Jews answered in John 10:33, “For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because you, being a man, make yourself God.”  They got the message.    They knew exactly what He was claiming.  He had claimed divine authority over angels.  He had claimed divine authority over men.  He claimed, in fact, divine authority over everything when He said, “All authority is given unto Me in heaven and earth,” Matthew 28:18.  He claimed divine authority over the law, over the Sabbath, over the tradition of the elders, every bit of it.  He claimed power to forgive sin, power to raise Himself from the dead, and He proved it!

Jesus is God. Do you know it? Do you believe it?

www.Upwards.Church

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Source:  Adapted from Grace to You, Christ Above All, by John MacArthur
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Christ our Hope – Colossians 1:1-8

Posted on September 11, 2026 by dkoop

We can have “confident hope” of what God has for us now and  in heaven because we know that our salvation and future destination are sure. We are free to live for Christ and love others.  If we find ourselves doubting or wavering in our faith or love, remember Christ, what He as done, how much He loves us, how He has changed us and our final destination—heaven.

Colossians has a distinctive message, one that is extremely relevant to people living today. It is primarily a letter of hope: the hope that comes by means of the gospel.  At the time it was written, there was a serious threat to the faith of the Colossians. A garbled mixture of religious error, arising from both a Jewish and Greek background, was threatening the church.

When different religious ideas compete with one another, it leads to unrest in society. That condition is reflected in the letter to the Colossians and you will recognize it is what we face today. We are assaulted on every side by humanists, cultists and various philosophies, all of them claiming to be the truth. The letter to the Colossians is very important in the New Testament record.

In the opening verses the apostle emphasizes the word hope, in marked contrast to the hopelessness of the world of his day.

The Colossians too were once hopeless but they had found hope. And with it they found two other enormously valuable commodities, called faith and love. Look at the opening words of the letter:

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae.” (Colossians 1:1)

These days it is necessary to point out that when the Scriptures talk about “brothers” and “brethren,” it always includes sisters as well—“sistern.” Lol. If we understand the biblical truth about mankind we would not get into the awkward situations we find ourselves in today, where we wonder whether we ought to call a woman a “chairperson” or “chairwoman,” or what. ‘ The Bible says. “In the beginning,” it says, ” God created man, male and female he created them, and he referred to them as “man”  or “mankind.” Women have as much right to the word “man” as males do. They can properly call themselves the “sons of God” just as men do, and they can properly include themselves in the term “brethren” as much as men do. Both are “men” in that generic sense. If we understood that there would be no need, to republish the New Testament, eliminating all so-called chauvinist terms.

Paul continues,

“To the holy and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints—the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and which you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come to you…” (Colossians 1:2-6a)

Did you pick out the three words that are crucial there: faith, hope, and love? We could say these are favorite words of the apostle. He uses this triad in several of his letters. In 1 Thessalonians he writes about “your work of faith,” “your labor of love,” and “your patience of hope.” Many have already remembered that wonderful triad at the end of 1 Corinthians 13, “And now abide faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love.”

Yes, love is what is needed in our world. But according to this Colossian statement love comes from faith. And where does faith come from? The NIV puts it this way: “the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and which you have already heard about in the word of truth.” It is extremely important to recognize that these wonderfully warm words, faith, love and hope, are related. Notice that two of them are four-letter words (love, hope), so not all four-letter words are bad. These words mark what we could call qualities of authentic Christians. If you are really a Christian, if you are one of the “holy and faithful brothers,” the mark will be: you have faith and love which spring from hope, and that hope is found in the gospel.

Paul calls the Colossians “holy brothers.” Christians are holy because they belong to God. By faith the Colossians had believed what God said, therefore God claimed them for his own; they belonged to him.

Paul also calls them “faithful brethren.” Here is the first hint of the struggles going on in the church at Colossae. There were strange doctrinal ideas floating about in an effort to upset these people and turn them away from their faith. But Paul is encouraging them to remain “faithful brethren”—consistent, dependable, genuine believers, because of a constant supply of love and hope from the Spirit (verse 8).

Hope produces faith, and faith in turn grows into love. Hope is the root, faith is the plant, and love is the fruit. Hope is foundational. This gives rise to the question, what produces hope? We all desperately need hope. Without hope men lose the desire to live. We have all had hopeless moments when we felt like saying, “What is the use of going on?” What, then, produces hope? Here is Paul’s answer, “hope stored up for you in heaven and which you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel that has come unto you.”

Hope is awakened by the gospel. That is the good news. The gospel addresses itself to losers. Not to the successful, but to the failures, the weak, the empty, the lost among us—and it gives them hope. When nothing else can give them hope, the gospel will. But how does hearing the story of Jesus: his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection and his coming by the Spirit, give hope that awakens faith and stimulates love for others? The answer is in this one phrase, “the hope stored up for you in heaven.”

To most, that immediately suggests life after death. After this life we will go to be with the Lord and all the glory of eternity will then be ours. That is a wonderful hope, but that is not what this phrase means. If we take it that way, it gives credence to Marx’s accusation that “Religion…is the opium of the people.” If all the gospel offers to Christians is that they will go to heaven when they die, this may well tend to make them content with their lot on earth and do nothing to correct or improve their conditions. That is the accusation of the Communists. They say we are putting people to sleep, turning them away from changes they should make if only they got stirred up about the problems and injustices of society. That charge is not without some merit if this is all the gospel offers.

But though it is a wonderful truth that there is hope of life after death, this translation obscures what is really being said. The singular word “heaven” is what misleads us. What the Greek text actually says is, “hope is available to you in the heavens”—plural. This term “the heavens” (or, as it appears in the letter to the Ephesians, “the heavenlies”), is a reference not to heaven after death, but to the invisible spiritual kingdom that surrounds us on all sides right now. Thus, what this is saying here is that the gospel reveals there is hope for us immediately coming from that invisible spiritual kingdom which surrounds us right at this very moment.

What is that hope? It is patent all through the New Testament. Jesus himself said, “Let not your hearts be troubled for I am with you.” That is the hope that is awakened by the gospel. It is the good news that right now, whatever you are facing, in your moment of weakness peril, or hopelessness, Jesus is available to you. His strength can be imparted to you, his wisdom granted to you to steady you, strengthen you and make you to stand. That is the hope of the gospel. That is what awakens faith.

Faith means to act upon that hope. Faith means you believe that Jesus is there. At once you feel your spirit steadied and strengthened and you are able to go on and take whatever is coming. We have all known what it means to have some dear friend come along in a time of trouble to stand by and steady and encourage us. If that friend is the Lord of Glory himself, what tremendous hope there is in that fact. That is what this means here: the hope that is in the gospel. Hebrews 11 says of Moses that “he endured because he saw him who was invisible.” That is what Paul writes to the Colossians about: an invisible reality that is available right now in Jesus. He is there, ready to help and encourage.

Paul also calls this gospel “the word of truth.” That is what marks its realism.

The great thing about the gospel is that it is true. It really works. It does deliver people. When you lack hope, feel defeated, cast down, or betrayed, Jesus stands there, available to you. That is the word of the gospel. He offers to go with you to face the drug pusher. He offers his love and his acceptance when loneliness or horniness tempt you to wrongful sexual activity. He offers to steady you in times of pressure and stress. And he offers forgiveness and restoration if there is any failure. That is what the apostle now affirms, saying to the Colossians in verse 6:

“All over the world this gospel is producing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.” (Colossians 1:6)

Wherever Paul went, he preached the Good News—to Gentile audiences, to hostile Jewish leaders, and even to his Roman guards. Whenever people believed in the message that Paul spoke, they were changed.  It still happens today.  People hear, believe and are changed by Jesus.

God’s Word is not just for our information, it is for our transformation! Becoming a Christian means beginning a whole new relationship with God, not just turning over a new leaf or determining to do right. New believers have a changed purpose, direction, attitude, and behavior. They are no longer seeking to serve themselves, but they are bearing fruit for God. How is the Good News reaching others through our lives?

“You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.” (Colossians 1:7-8)

Epaphras had founded the church at Colosse while Paul was living in Ephesus (Acts 19:10). Epaphras may have been converted in Ephesus, and then he returned to Colosse, his hometown. For some reason, he visited Rome and, while there, told Paul about the problem of the Colossian heresy. This prompted Paul to write this letter. Epaphras is also mentioned in Philemon 1:23 (the Colossian church met in Philemon’s house).

Epaphras was the man who started it all. We do not know much about him,  he had probably been part of the group that Paul himself taught when he was resident in Ephesus for three years.

As Acts records, Paul rented a hall (the school of Tyrannus), and for five hours a day, six days a week for three solid years he taught the Scriptures.  Many who were present went out through all the provinces spreading the truth, and among them was Epaphras. He  probably started a home Bible class. He had friends also in Laodicea and started another class there and another one over in Hierapolis.

Epaphras simply told the people who came the truth about Jesus: the meaning of his death, the glory of his resurrection, his accessibility to them by means of the Spirit who came on the day of Pentecost. That began to excite them and awaken them in their hopeless condition. They found hope again, and faith and love came along with it. A healed community of beautiful people came into being and caught the attention of many in those pagan cities. That is God’s favorite way of evangelism.

As we hear the Scriptures expounded by pastors or teachers, we may wish that we knew  the Bible like one of these pastors, then we could be of use to God. But don’t you see that you already are the important people, the true evangelists? You are out there, rubbing shoulders with people who have no hope, hearing their sad stories, meeting them in the streets and in the stores, having coffee with them. You are the ones who can spread the word of hope. That is how the gospel spread throughout the Roman province of Asia, and hundreds of churches came into being. The gospel has power to change, power to awaken, power to give hope, and out of hope springs faith and love. What a remarkable thing it is!

We too can see these very things happening here. What excitement will come into our lives when we reach out with the good news, the only source of hope in the world!

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Read Along Daily Bible Reading: You Version

Sources: Life Application Bible Notes (Tyndale, 2007), 2028.

https://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/colossians

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You’re Invited! – Christ Alone – Colossians

Posted on September 4, 2026 by dkoop

You’re invited to our new message series in the New Testament book of Colossians, “Christ Alone!”

Description:  

Would you like to know more about Jesus? Or how to live a Christ centered life? Paul’s letter to the Colossians reveals that Christ is God, Creator, Savior and Sustainer. Knowing Christ will enable us to live the life that He has created us for.

The book of Colossians reveals the simple but profound truth that Christ Alone is sufficient for Christian living.

 Dates             Titles              Scripture                              Events

 Sep. 6 –   Christ Alone (Col 1: 1-14)                                Baptism
Sep. 13 – Christ the Creator (Col 1:15-21)
Sep. 20 – Christ is our Hope (Col 1: 25- 2:7)

Sep 27 – Christ is our Freedom (Col 2: 8-21)                 Communion

Oct. 4 – Christ Centered Living (Col 3: 1-17)

Oct. 11 – Christlike Relationships (Col 3:14 – 4:1)

Background

Writing from prison in Rome, Paul combatted false teachings, which had infiltrated the Colossian church. The problem was “syncretism,” combining ideas from other philosophies and religions (such as paganism, strains of Judaism, and Greek thought) with Christian truth. The resulting heresy later became known as “Gnosticism,” emphasizing special knowledge (gnosis in Greek) and denying Christ as God and Savior. To combat this devious error, Paul stressed Christ’s deity—his connection with the Father—and his sacrificial death on the cross for sin. Only by being connected with Christ through faith can anyone have eternal life, and only through a continuing connection with him can anyone have power for living. Christ is God incarnate and the only way to forgiveness and peace with God the Father. Paul also emphasized believers’ connections with each other as Christ’s body on earth.

Colossians is a book for an embattled church in the first century, but it is also has timeless truths for us today! We will gain a fresh appreciation for Christ as the fullness of God and the only source for living the Christian life. Know that He is your leader, head, and power source.

Vital Statistics

Purpose:  To combat errors in the church and to show that believers have everything they need in Christ

Author: Paul

Original Audience: The church at Colosse, a city in Asia Minor

Date Written: Approximately A.D. 60, during Paul’s imprisonment in Rome

Setting: Paul had never visited Colossae. Evidently the church had been founded by Epaphras and other converts from Paul’s missionary travels. The church, however, had been infiltrated by religious relativism, with some believers attempting to combine elements of paganism and secular philosophy with Christian doctrine. Paul confronts these false teachings and affirms the sufficiency of Christ.

Key Verses: “For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority” (2:9, 10).

Key People: Paul, Timothy, Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, Mark, Epaphras

Key Places: Colossae, Laodicea (4:15, 16)

Special Features: Christ is presented as having absolute supremacy and sole sufficiency. Colossians has similarities to Ephesians, probably because it was written at about the same time, but it has a different emphasis.

The Blueprint

  1. What Christ has done (1:1-2:23)
  2. What Christians should do (3:1-4:18)

In this letter Paul clearly teaches that Christ has paid for sin, that Christ has reconciled us to God, and that Christ gives us the pattern and the power to grow spiritually. Because in Christ lives all the fullness of God, when we learn what he is like, we see what we need to become. Since Christ is Lord over all creation, we should crown him Lord over our lives. Since Christ is the head of the body, his church, we should nurture our vital connection to him.

MEGATHEMES
THEME EXPLANATION IMPORTANCE
Christ Is God Jesus Christ is God in the flesh, Lord of all creation, and Lord of the new creation. He is the visible image of the invisible God. He is eternal, preexistent, omnipotent, equal with the Father. He is supreme and complete. Because Christ is supreme, our lives must be Christ-centered. To recognize him as God means to regard our relationship with him as most vital and to make his interests our top priority.
Christ Is Head of the Church Because Christ is God, he is the head of the church, his true believers. Christ is the founder, the leader, and the highest authority on earth. He requires first place in all our thoughts and activities. To acknowledge Christ as our head, we must welcome his leadership in all we do or think. No person, group, or church can regard any loyalty as more critical than that of loyalty to Christ.
Union with Christ Because our sin has been forgiven and we have been reconciled to God, we have a union with Christ that can never be broken. In our faith connection with him, we identify with his death, burial, and resurrection. We should live in constant contact and communication with God. When we do, we all will be unified with Christ and with one another.
Heresy False teachers were promoting a heresy that stressed self-made rules (legalism). They also sought spiritual growth by discipline of the body (asceticism) and visions (mysticism). This search created pride in their self-centered efforts. We must not cling to our own ideas and try to blend them into Christianity. Nor should we let our hunger for a more fulfilling Christian experience cause us to trust in a teacher, a group, or a system of thought more than in Christ himself. Christ is our hope and our true source of wisdom.

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

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Source: Life Application Study Bible, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1988), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 2025-2024.

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Chasing Meaning – Ecclesiastes 11-12

Posted on September 1, 2026 by dkoop

Are you wondering, “what is the meaning of life?”  “Why am I here?”   The end of  Ecclesiastes will help us.

Solomon has taught us that we will not find meaning in life through education, pleasure, work, money or possessions.  If we rearrange our priorities and find meaning in our relationship with God and His purposes, then life has meaning.

 In America we have been so blessed, we have so much materially.  Yet we are not happier.  Polls and statistics reveal that as a nation we are not happy.  We have a high rate of depression, drug abuse and suicide.  We HAVE materially but not spiritually.

How to Gain Meaning in Life

  1. Enjoy Life but Know that I am Responsible for my Actions

 …Enjoy every minute of it. Do everything you want to do; take it all in. But remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do.  Ecclesiastes 11:9

 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. Ecclesiastes 12:14

 I need to hear this, maybe you do too. GOD WANTS US TO ENJOY LIFE. God wants us to enjoy life in a moral and healthy way. God created a good world, and He doesn’t want us to spoil our joy, so He’s given us some “rules for the journey.” He provides wisdom, purpose, and direction beyond our limited experience.
But, enjoyment of life doesn’t have to mean lawlessness. We often think of God as  a killjoy.  When we’re consumed to seek material things, or lust or power we think of these things as our supreme need and God as something we need in case of a bind, like a spare tire or jumper cables!

God wants only what is best for us. We have concern for those we love. We’re passionate about their well-being. This is how God loves us. He wants us to do right because He cares about our lives.. Author Peter Kreeft says, “the theme song of those who live for self is ‘I did it my way.’ People think that is Heaven, when in fact it’s the song people sing in Hell.” True joy comes from saying to God, “Your will be done.”

When we live with boundaries, we live with joy.

People (young, and old alike) live as though they’re never going to have to account for their actions.  We answer to God. He wants us to enjoy life. We can’t enjoy life if we’re harming ourselves. Much of what people think is a “good time” is actually self-abuse.  Drunkenness, drug abuse, illicit sex, etc.  Solomon is calling us to a life of personal responsibility for our own good.

Why do we say, “youth is wasted on the young”? Because, however wild the younger generation may be, those who have some years on them know how they could act if they could only turn back the clock. Verse 9 says, “Do everything you want” the NIV says “Follow the ways of your heart.” In other words, do what your heart desires. Here’s the point, this is what we need to shoot for, if we desire God, our hearts will desire holiness.

2. Do the Right Things Now

Any procrastinators?  That’s me, here’s our verse:

4 If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Ecclesiastes 11:4

A wonderful piece of wisdom!  If we wait for everything to be perfect before we make a move, we will never do anything.

Most are  guilty of saying—one of these days, or somewhere down the road. Solomon says, today is the first day of the rest of your life.  God allows you to be involved in the process of life.   So do the right things now. Don’t goof off then blame God that it is not going well.

1 Don’t let the excitement of youth cause you to forget your Creator. Honor him in your youth before you grow old and no longer enjoy living. Ecclesiastes 12:1

We don’t have all the time in the world. It may seem that way when we’re young, but life is brief.

Youth is the prime time to find God. Cultivating faith takes time. People can come to faith later in their life, but usually with considerable regret over a life wasted on things that didn’t matter.

We need to make the most of life before it’s too late. Solomon’s depiction of our mortality isn’t a threat, simply a reminder. Before the flame of life burns out we need to grasp the meaning of life, to know God, His will, and live with a sense of urgency. Some people who’ve reached their senior years admit they’ve missed the point of life, but (with regret) they’re unwilling to turn to God because it’s “too hard to change.” But it’s not too late. “forgetting your Creator” means we drop our self-sufficiency and commit our lives to Him. We surrender our plans and priorities to God.

  • Solomon uses the word “BEFORE” 10 times in 5 verses. I need to do the right things “before” its too late.

ILLUSTRATION  – Priorities & a jar[1]

A time management trainer: Put a Large pickle jar on the table and place rocks inside. And asked “Is the jar full?”

Some will say yes.
Then he took a bucket of gravel, dumped it in and shook the jar so the gravel sank in.

Then Asked: “Is the jar full?” “Probably not,”most should say.
“Good!” Then he took some sand and poured it in. “Now-full?” “No!”
Pour a pitcher of water into the jar. Now it was truly filled.

He asked: “What’s the point?”
Someone answered, “You may think your schedule’s full, but you can always fit something else into it!”
“NO!”. “It’s this: put in the big rocks (THESE ARE YOUR PRIORITIES) first GOD, spouse, family, or you’ll never fit every them in at all.”
Taken from Stephen Covey, First Things First, pp. 89 & 90

 How Can I Do the Right Things NOW?

a. Evaluate What is Really Important

6 …Don’t wait until the water jar is smashed at the spring and the pulley is broken at the well. 7 For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12:6-7

Don’t wait for the crisis. The problem is for so many people they don’t think about what’s most important until a crisis hits.  It usually takes a crisis to get us to start thinking about the rest of our life.  A bankruptcy.  A divorce.  A major illness.  The death of a loved one.  Then you start thinking:  “Life is brief. Life is short.  I better start trying to make the most of it.”   Let’s do it now:

**List the three most important things in your life.  ________,  ______, ________ .

Did you put your children?  Did you put your spouse?   How does your time allotment match up with what is important to you?  Do they get equal time?   Dr. James Dobson has said and has written that he has known many men and no man says at the end of his life.  Boy I wish I had spent more time at the office!  No its I wish I had spent more time with my children and wife.   Don’t wait for death or crises to do what you know is right.   How many of you put God or your spiritual development?  How does your time, your money back that up?

 b. Be Ready for Distractions to Life’s Real Priorities

12 But, my child, be warned: There is no end of opinions ready to be expressed. Studying them can go on forever and become very exhausting! Ecclesiastes 12:12

There are many things that compete for our attention.   They distract us!  Temptations, detours, the good becomes the enemy of the best!  We fill our plates with activities and clog our schedule.  Often we think that the solution is more time.  “If I just had a few more hours in each day, then I’d get it all done.”  God says, “No, you don’t need more time in your day.”  I heard Rick Warren say this and it makes so much sense:  I have just enough time to do God’s will.

God put you on this earth to do a certain number of things.  God would not give you more things to do than He gives you the time to do it.  God would not expect more of you and then not give you the time and energy to do it.  If we’re not getting the important things done in our life, it means one of two things.

  1. We’re doing some things in our life that we shouldn’t be doing.  We’re doing some things that God never intended us to do.
  2. We’re doing the right things, we’re just doing them the wrong way.  We’re not being efficient, effective.  We’re not managing your time wisely.  We need to sharpen some skills.   Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 10:10 “if the ax is dull… more strength is needed but SKILL will bring success. (NIV)  We need to work smarter not harder.

c. Schedule and Live My Priorities

4 Remember him before the door to life’s opportunities is closed… Ecclesiastes 12:4

If we have a doctor’s appointment we put in on our schedule.  If we have someone coming over to fix the ac or plumbing, we schedule it.  Why?  Because nothing happens until we schedule it.  Nothing. We may say spending time with God is important.  We may say spending time with your kids is important.  We may say quality time with our spouse is important.  We may say exercise or anything else is important, but if we don’t schedule it, it’s not really important.  Scheduling is where the rubber hits the road.  Nothing happens until we put it on our calendar.

 3. Honor God and Live For Him

13 That’s the whole story. Here now is my final conclusion: Fear God and obey his commands, for this is everyone’s duty. 14 God will judge us for everything we do, including every secret thing, whether good or bad. Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

This principle that Solomon and the rest of the bible teaches is this: whatever you put God first in, that area gets better.  God says, “If you put Me first in your finances, I will make the rest of your money — the other ninety percent — go further than it would if you had kept the whole hundred percent to yourself selfishly.”

It’s the same thing with our time.  God says “If you put Me first with your time, I will make the rest of your time stretch and go further than you thought possible.”  We think, “I don’t have time to talk to God.  I don’t have time for a Connect Group.  I don’t have time to or to get His word in my life.”   Then we wonder why we’re stressed and not close to God?  On the other hand, if we say, “God, because You are my God and because the most important thing is knowing You, then I’m going to put You first in my time” and watch what He does with everything else.  “33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and He will give you everything you need.  Matthew 6:33

Life is short and you’re not guaranteed a tomorrow, much less next week.  We’re not guaranteed that the people in our life are going to be with you tomorrow or even next week.  Whatever is important in life, whatever is the right thing to do, whatever you’re intending to do because you know that it’s the good thing to do, we should do it now.    Don’t wait until your parents have died.  Don’t wait until your kids have grown up.  Don’t wait until your spouse’s heart has grown cold.  Do it now.

Solutions to Life’s Biggest Complaints

  • If I say, “Life has no meaning!” Solomon says I am living for the wrong things.  When I honor God and follow His words I will find meaning and purpose.  What am I living for?
  • If I say, “Life is not Fair!” Solomon says, Life may not be fair but God is still in control. Just wait, God will bring justice to all.  Are you ready to stand before God?

Every day we’re exchanging our life for something.  JESUS says “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”  Our time is our life.  Every time we invest our time for something, we’re exchanging our life. Some people are exchanging their life for television.  Some people are exchanging their life for a little ball.  Some people are exchanging their life for fame that isn’t going to last until five years from now.  On and on.  Every time you have an activity you ought to ask yourself, “Is this worth giving my life to it?” because that’s exactly what you’re doing when you give some of your time.  Is it worth giving my life for?  If we want to find time for the most important things in life, we need to give the best we have to the highest we know and you need to do it now.

The tragedy is some people go all through life and miss the most important thing.  What is the most important thing in life? Love God, Love People, Share Jesus.

www.Upwards.Church

Message Audio/Video and Outline: https://upwards.church/leander-campus/watch-now-message-videos

Watch Messages: YouTube-Upwards Church

Facebook: Upwards Church

Read Along Daily Bible Reading: You Version

 

[1] Taken from Stephen Covey, First Things First, pp. 89 & 90

 

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