“What Christ Has Done”
Colossians 2:11-15
May 1, 2016
Author and publisher Leonard Woolf (husband of Virginia Woolf) lamented near the end of his life, “I see clearly that I have achieved practically nothing. In the world today and the history of the human anthill during the past five to seven years would have been exactly the same if I had played Ping-Pong instead of sitting on committees and writing books and memoranda. I have therefore to make a rather ignominious confession that I have in a long life ground through between 150,000 and 200,000 hours of perfectly useless work.” Yikes. And there are undoubtedly many who might feel exactly the same about their work.
There are many things in life that while significant, are ultimately unimportant. And that’s the way the world considers Christ. He died and then left behind twelve men who had were largely untested and uneducated (formally). From a worldly perspective, He was a good speaker who came to a tragic end.
Yet from a spiritual perspective, He was infinitely (I do not use this word figuratively) successful. What has Christ done? Scripture is full of His words and works. Yet God in Colossians and through the pen of Paul has given a rather concise accounting not only of His person (“in Him all the fulness of Deity dwells in bodily form”), but also of His works. What Christ has done is to fully transform and fully complete us spiritually. That which was ugly was made beautiful; that which was sin has been redeemed.
This passage is profoundly about Christ — notice how often is uses the terms “in Him” and “in whom” — vv. 3, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15). In Christ, the believer has been filled, circumcised spiritually, buried in death, raised in resurrection, made alive, and triumphed over the angelic forces of wickedness.
The work of man is an attempt to change himself from the outside in. But the work of Christ on the cross has transformed men from the inside out.
This passage identifies some of the ways that Christ has made us complete (v. 10). Here is the theme of the passage:
Despite our sin, we have everything we need in Christ.
And in these verses, Paul will identify three gifts that we receive through Christ:
- He Has Changed Our Hearts (vv. 11-12)
- He Has Given Us Life (vv. 13-14)
- He Has Dethroned Our Enemies (v. 15)
Download the rest of this sermon from Colossians 2:11-15.
The audio will be posted on the GBC website later today.
Words of Grace 