Sermon - The Firstborn Proverbs 8:1, 22-31, Colossians 1:15-20

Transcription

1 Sermon - The Firstborn Proverbs 8:1, 22-31, Colossians 1:15-20 Molly is Rob and Katie s firstborn conceived in love and nurtured throughout her time in the womb with fascination, joy and much conversational bonding. Tinker Taylor was much loved even before she made her much anticipated and longed for appearance. The day of her arrival came with much pain and distress a day Katie will never forget but despite the fact is probably was one of the hardest days of Katie s life it also brought forth such wonder, such joy. Being a firstborn, everything that Molly does in her daily development is a revelation to Rob and Katie. Now don t hear me wrong each child is unique and special - but the firstborn is truly a novelty, each day brings a new discovery it is utterly amazing! So we celebrate with Rob and Katie this unique, wonderful and life-changing event and we know that you will continue to enjoy and discover this new person that God has gifted to you! I know Katie loves to look at Molly s perfect, tiny feet and wonder where they may take her in the future. Continue to trust in God and he will make her paths straight wherever they may lead. Rob, well he has his hopes too (reveal photo) he longs to share his life, his passions, his skills, his time with his little girl. Firstborn s - frontrunners, pioneers, unique, trailblazing - the first to share life with a new parent. The passage that Ray read today refers to Jesus as the firstborn over all creation, and Becky s poetic celebration describes the birth of Wisdom and creation and the delight that God and Wisdom find in each other and the fruits of their labour. 1

2 Wonderful rich passages that give insight into the relationship of Father and Son, that reveal who Jesus is and his relationship to creation and humanity. Most often our sermons are about how we can grow in faith and service, how we live as the body of Christ and work with God to see his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven: really practical, how to stuff. However, in order to keep us from becoming merely functionaries, activists - we need to also pause and look deeper into the one who makes all this possible. To learn more about who God is, his character, his works which will remind us again how wonderful he is, how powerful, how worthy of continuing worship and service. So that is what we are going to do today to explore these wonderful rich passages passages that aren t immediately accessible but stick with me and we ll come out at the end wiser and hopefully even more in awe of the God we worship and serve. Firstly, we need to go back to basics, and remind ourselves of the fundamental understanding of God that Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Paul, Peter - our forefathers and mothers - knew about God that we so often forget in our informal, almost casual, God is my Dad mindset. And that is, God is not known directly. This may come as a surprise to some of us but God is always known, accessed through an intermediary, a mediator, an agent. He is so holy, so mighty, so other that he cannot be approached directly otherwise we will die. There is a story in 1 Chronicles that always used to shock me. One day the Ark of the Covenant which enshrined the Tablets of the Law (the supreme verbal statement of God s holiness) and represented the very presence of God was 2

3 being moved, and it wobbled, so a man reaches out his hand to steady it and it says and the LORD s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. Rather harsh. But God was not being treated with due honour there are very specific ways in which the Ark of the Covenant may be transported and these do not include an ox cart. No one can approach God, worship him, on their own whim, only via an intermediary, only according to God s laid out pattern, his will and only by means of sacrifice and shed blood. He cannot be touched. So to begin with the Torah, the books of Law, were the intermediary. They set out how God may be approached and how his people were to live, how they could be fully human, living in harmony with God and community. Other intermediaries were the Temple, Israel each established by God, each seeking to reveal God and show how to live a proper life. And into this context is written the beautiful imagery from Proverbs 8 which describes the dance of creation with Wisdom as God s accessible agent, the intermediary, the knowable attribute of God playing a vital role. Wisdom, the firstborn, the one who is constantly at God s side, with God before everything else was created. Wisdom is often thought of as the Holy Spirit, the accessible, present, nearness of God - a way of describing YHWH s wise creation and purpose. Don t worry about the wording that says the LORD brought me forth as the first of his works - this is poetic language and the writer knew that the Lord our God is One, and only God could bring this world into being - but God is so other, his name is never spoken, so his creative actions could only spoken of, understood, in terms of one of his unique characteristics in this instance Wisdom. 3

4 Mind-blowingly, the man Jesus also identifies himself as Wisdom. the yoke bearer and the apostle Paul in our passage from Colossians clearly understands Jesus as Wisdom pre-existent, the firstborn over all creation. God is mystery, holy, other and can only be known through agents that he has established, according to his will, and only by means of sacrifice and shed blood. It has to be this way because he is holy, and other but the thing is God loves the world so much that he had to find a way in which we can more freely approach him, come into his presence, worship him, live in right relationship with him. And so Wisdom, the Word, the Firstborn, the accessible attribute of God became flesh and made his home with us. Jesus was born to become the chief agent The Mediator for all time. Paul in his letter to the Colossians reflects on all he knows about Jesus and pens this most rich and revealing passage on who Jesus is. Firstly, he is the image of the invisible God. God cannot be known directly, he is Spirit, invisible - but Jesus is his image the one who reflects and reveals God. If you cast your minds back to Genesis, Eden man and woman are created in the image of God and yet so often we do not reflect or reveal him well. Jesus Is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is the firstborn over all creation Paul links the poetry and understanding of Wisdom and says this is who Jesus is. A massive claim, that this man who people had walked and eaten with was with God at the very beginning when the world came to be. How can that be how can that be? And then Paul takes it even further. For in Jesus all things were 4

5 created: all things in heaven and earth all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things and in him all things hold together. Paul states that Jesus, this human man, is the agent of creation, its means, its purpose, its sustainer claims that can only ever be made of the holy, unknowable God. We are so used to trotting this truth out in songs and from memory that I wonder how often we stop to reflect on what this means. Jesus the man, the healer, the teacher, the lover of the outcasts is also the one in whom all creation finds its purpose and union. Paul then roots this knowledge in the church. Not only is he supreme over creation he is the source, the head of the church and he brings the church into being because he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that in everything he might have supremacy. There is no one higher than Jesus he is equal with the unknowable God. We ll look a bit more about the birth of the church is born but before then we ll nip to the end of the passage as this needs to be explored first. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Jesus! God cannot be known - but because Jesus lived the way he did, served the way he did, loved the way he did, he is a true presentation of God s character on human scale, his essence in human form. He both reveals God and is fully human as God originally intended. Once the law was the embodiment of divine Wisdom but it is in Jesus who God was pleased to have his fullness dwell. Jesus, who is the true revelation of the unknown God better than Adam, the law, Israel, the temple. 5

6 But this was not enough. Jesus revealed God he is his image. He lived as God had always intended the firstborn over creation but God could still not be approached - because God can only be approached according to his will and by means of sacrifice and shed blood. So Jesus freely sacrificed his life and poured out his blood and through his death God reconciled all things, in earth and heaven, for all time making peace, shalom. It is because Jesus is the chief agent, the mediator, the sacrifice, that he was raised from the dead he is the firstborn from the dead. God s fullness, his Wisdom, his Son, the Word, the agent of creation and the accessible, nearness attribute of the unknowable, holy God, Jesus could not remain dead death and creation/life are like water and oil death cannot hold it. It is because of Jesus shedding of blood and resurrection that the church is born through Jesus we can approach the Holy, Almighty One. Because of who Jesus is, how he lived, how he died - Jesus is now the way, the only intermediary to approach YHWH. So what do we do with all this complex stuff, this difficult to understand doctrine? Firstly, that though God is holy, mystery, unknowable without an intermediary he loves humanity, creation so much that he has provided ways through human history to make himself known ultimately and now for all time in and through his Son, Jesus God the Almighty, Holy, Creator loves and cares for each one of us and has gone out of his way to make himself known through Jesus, to reconcile all things to him, to bring peace, shalom. Revel in this truth, know this truth, worship and adore him because of this truth. 6

7 The author of all creation has done everything possible to bring reconciliation and peace between God, creation and humanity all we have to do is accept it and live in the light of it. Pause to pray Secondly, as the supreme mediator Jesus fully reveals God he is his image. If we want to know what God is like, what he feels about something, how he would react read the gospels learn from Jesus, how he approached spoke to and reacted to people, how he responded to, cared for and had power over creation Jesus also reveals how it is to be fully human to live as God always intended in Eden, through the books of the Law, as the people of God. If we want to know how we should live - read the gospels learn from Jesus, how he approached spoke to and reacted to people, how he responded to, cared for and had power over creation. Also, if we are ever tempted to think of ourselves as second rate, a failure, beyond the pale again, overlooked let us think again. The Holy One has gone to great lengths to make himself known and in Jesus reminded us of our original purpose and calling to reveal God and live in communion with him and one another. Don t look down or within - look at the effort Jesus made to seek out and encourage those who thought they were at the bottom of the pile he knows and shows what we are capable of. This week let us consciously ask Jesus by his Spirit to help us fulfil our original calling to reveal God and live as we should. What a transforming difference this will make in our marriages, friendships, homes, offices, schools and communities if we do!! Finally, we will go back to Proverbs and hear Wisdom say Then I was constantly at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in the human race. 7

8 What a beautiful image of the God and Wisdom constantly together, filled with joy, so made up with always being together, celebrating the beauty and diversity of creation and delighting in humanity. Joy, celebration, delight, closeness in the Godhead. Joy, celebration delight, closeness and delight between God, his creation, his people. God is holy, almighty, other, not known directly - but he is also the source of all that is good, the source of love, joy and delight. And now that Jesus has made it possible through his sacrifice, we can know God intimately and join in the celebration dance, with him, through him, with creation, with each other. Katie and Rob don t need to be told to delight in Molly, to love her, to care for her, to celebrate her it s a reflex, instinctual reaction in the one they have conceived in love. They do this because they are made in the image of God who delights in his children. In delighting in Molly, they reveal God. In delighting in, loving, caring for, celebrating Molly, Rob and Katie learn how it is to live as God intended together, in love, in community. Revealing God and living as his intends is not a drudgery, a chore, an onerous task it is the very best way to live a joy, a celebration, a delight a reflection of the God who has gone to the greatest of lengths to make it possible for us to live at peace with him and in all things in heaven and on earth. Let us not live with heavy hearts or feet this week but remember, that through Jesus the supreme mediator, we are invited to join in the dance, to celebrate God s goodness and delight in him, his love, his creation and one another. 8 Ruth Neve, February 2015