Jesus, Our King
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Welcome to Gospel in Life. Does it seem like God is working very slowly in your life? Or do you feel like He may have forgotten His promises altogether? Today, Tim Keller is preaching on the incredible hope that the Christmas story brings. The birth of Jesus shows us that God never forgets His promises, and that when they come true, they are greater than we ever could have imagined. ♪

Did you enjoy that? When the church was younger, there was a lot more chaos, you know, and some of you have been around, I know, getting nostalgic for it, and we thought we would plan some for you this morning. It reminds me of old days. Would you please, however, look at a passage that talks about the whole issue of chaos and the cosmos, and it's Colossians 1, verse 9 to 17, on which our teaching is based today.

Teaching is found in the first chapter of Colossians, and let me read it to you. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities, all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. This is God's word.

Now, it's Advent, and at Advent, for centuries, the church has always taken a few weeks before Christmas to look right at who Jesus is, straight at Jesus. And we've been looking, or we are looking for these four weeks before Christmas at Colossians chapter 1, which is probably the loftiest, if not, at least no place gives us a loftier, more penetrating view of who Jesus is.

Now, Paul tells us here that Jesus is a king. Notice in verse 13 and 12, it says that a Christian is someone who's been transferred into the kingdom of his son. In verse 16, we're told that he was the creator of all thrones and authorities, which means he's the king of all kings. He's the Lord of all lords. But what's interesting about this passage is

and I'm glad it's broken into two paragraphs. One paragraph tells us about the kingship of Christ that is. The other tells us about the kingship of Christ that can be. The one is the cosmic kingship of Christ. The other is the personal kingship of Christ. He is king of the cosmos, but he needs to be, he can be, king of your personal life.

There's the kingship of the cosmos that's mentioned. And what Paul really does is he says, because Christ is king of the cosmos, therefore he should be your personal king as well. Now let's take a look at both these aspects for a moment.

First of all, let's see what he says about the fact that Christ is cosmic king. And it's a very deep subject, but we will only take a look at it briefly. And then we will turn around and see what Paul says. He says, therefore, since Christ is the cosmic king, therefore, he must be your personal king and see what that means and see how that works out.

First of all, look at what he says about Jesus being the cosmic king. We must live in his kingdom cosmically. And we're told here in verse 16 and 17, first of all, we're told he is before all things. This is profound. Eastern religions see God as really emanating from the world. God is the world, the spirit of the world, in and around the world. The biblical religion sees Jesus Christ, sees God as having existed before the world.

existing apart from the world, being transcendent over the world. And secondly, he is before all things. And secondly, for by him all things were created, verse 16, and therefore in him all things hold together. In him all things hold together. Now what's that? This means Christians have seen for centuries that the universe has both a physical and a moral structure. There's a physical and a moral order here.

Things are holding together. Why? Because of him. Now, this is tremendously profound, and the philosophical and cultural and sociological ramifications are so great. And let me just pick out two tiny examples of how this is the case. In him, all things hold together. All physical and moral order and structure are in the universe because of him. For example, number one, this is what explains why there's a physical order here.

and don't ask me how this happened, but for some reason I ended up reading what David Hume and Bertrand Russell, David Hume was a famous philosopher who was an agnostic, Bertrand Russell was a famous philosopher of the 20th century, David Hume in the 18th century, he was an atheist, and both of them did not believe in a creator God. But the thing that puzzled them, and they admitted it puzzled them, was the orderliness of the universe, the uniformity of nature, the fact that

In the universe, things hold together. Now, when I say that, and without knowing much more about what that means, it's very natural for people to say, orderliness in nature? My goodness, nature seems very random. It seems capricious.

Many people say there's disasters, there's avalanches. Our family got to finally drive through Yellowstone Park this last summer, and we looked at all the ravages of the forest fires, and nature doesn't seem at all orderly. It seems very capricious. And what Hume and Russell would say to you is, if you were saying that, they'd say, you don't understand. We're talking about something more fundamental. In fact, disasters prove it. There's an orderliness in nature. There's a uniformity of nature in that order.

If you freeze at a particular temperature, you always freeze at a particular temperature. If you burn up at a particular temperature, if there is a forest fire, we know that one day 200 degrees Fahrenheit means it's hot. The next day it's not cold, it's still hot. If you shoot somebody with a bullet one day and all other factors are equal, if it kills them one day, it'll kill them the next day.

Science is based on the idea of uniformity of nature. If I weigh a rock today, it's two pounds. I know it won't be 200 pounds tomorrow. Uniformity of nature means that the future, we know, will be like the past. That's the only reason we can get up out of bed in the morning. The reason you can fly an airplane is aerodynamics are going to be the same tomorrow as today. Hydrodynamics are going to be the same tomorrow as today. That's the uniformity of nature. And here's the reason why Hume and Russell considered it a real problem. Here's what they said. They said...

If the universe is the result of an accidental collision of molecules, why would there be order? And David Hume was interesting. David Hume said, there's no way that the orderliness of the universe proves God. He didn't believe it proved God, but he says, I'll tell you one thing. The orderliness of the universe is so inexplicable is you certainly can't disprove God. Nobody can be sure there is no God when you've got this. Now, without getting into any more detail, here's what Paul is saying. Paul is saying, David Hume is confused because...

He's got a theory of the universe that doesn't fit with the facts, but he's not going to chuck his theory, so he stays confused. In other words, he sees things hold together. But in who? In what? He doesn't see any reason for it. Russell and Hume said it's a real problem for atheism that the universe is so orderly. And what Paul is saying is, Christians have said that Christians don't have a problem with that. Things are holding together because of him. Not only that, let me give you another example. There's a moral order to the world because of him.

Modern secular people say that there is no creator God and therefore there is only the visible, not the invisible. Verse 16 says because there's a creator God, Jesus Christ created both the visible and the invisible. Modern secular people say, no, that's not true. There is no supernatural. Modern secular people say there's no supernatural. There's no eternity. There's only the visible, not the invisible. There's only the physical, not the spiritual. There's only the body. There's no soul.

Now, if you want to believe that, you have a real problem with Christmas. I gave you an example in your bulletin under the reflection. I gave you an example of somebody who decided he still wanted to have Christmas and still believed that. Believed that there is only visible, not invisible. There's only the physical, not the soul. See, if you believe that everything has a natural cause, this is what you get with Christmas.

This is Garrison Keillor. He says, why does Christmas excite me? Why is Christmas so wonderful? He says, it's conditioning. Although you may decide that instead of Christmas carols, you will hold hands with each other and breathe in unison. He says, in other words, no matter, even if you decide, I don't believe in God or I don't believe in the Christmas story. He says, well, Christmas still lives deep in the cockles of your heart.

but especially in your neocortex, because it's stored as zillions of neuron impulses, and it's also in your amog... I wish I knew what that was. Amigal... yeah. The spell checker didn't know what it was either. Uh...

The section of your brain that gives emotional meaning to memories. It's the amygdala that sends tears to your eyes when you smell the saffron cookies that your grandma used to make or sing Silent Night. Christmas, therefore, is light's food song with people you like to be with. You need no more. What Keillor's trying to say is, look, it's conditioning. Because of years of this experience, now when you get into the presence of light, song, food,

people you like, certain kinds of songs. Your neocortex sends out chemicals which make you feel good. Now, what is he saying? If there's no creator God, and if all you have is the visible, then love and joy are nothing but chemical reactions. I'll tell you, here's the reason why that's actually almost a hypocritical thing. My wife and I love Garrison Keillor. We've followed him for years. We've always enjoyed his stuff. And we therefore know enough about him to know that he rails against cruelty and prejudice.

But here's the problem. If love and joy, if there's only the visible, and love and joy is just a chemical reaction, then so is cruelty and prejudice a chemical reaction. And your feeling that love and joy is better than cruelty and prejudice is also a chemical reaction. And nothing but a chemical reaction. Not just that here's love and here's hatred and they're both chemical reactions, but you're feeling that one is better than the other is a chemical reaction, and therefore you have no cause to complain.

But we do sense that there is a moral order. We do sense that there is a dominion of darkness and a dominion of light. We say there are some things that are definitely wrong and some things that are definitely right. That can't be if there's only the visible. It can only be if there's something besides the physical, besides the natural. And so here's what Paul is saying about Mr. Keillor, just like he would say about Mr. Hume. He says, you know, Harrison Keillor,

sees the moral order, he knows that some things are right and wrong. In other words, he sees things hold together, but he doesn't know in whom. It's a little scarier to say about a man who's alive, I know, than David Hume, and I don't know enough about Garrison Keillor to be sure about this, but I guess to say people who say these things, people like this, they don't, they see the moral order, but they don't know where it came from. And Christian, there's no problem, because it's in him that everything holds together. It's in him that we have science.

We'd have no science if it wasn't for him. We'd have no ability to make moral distinctions at all if it wasn't for him. He is the cosmic king, and the order that you see is because of him. That's why Christians don't have this tension. They don't live with the same incredible tension.

They know the reason they feel good at Christmas is not because of your neocortex, but the same reason Mary felt good at Christmas. My soul doth magnify, my spirit hath rejoiced. Why? For he that is mighty hath done to me great things. Holy is his name.

Now, Paul, however, does not leave it that way. You have to remember that though there's great theology in all these books of the New Testament, great theology in Romans and 1st and 2nd Corinthians and Galatians and Ephesians and all that, they're letters. Paul never brings theology out except to use it as a pastor. And what's so intriguing is that there's even a hint in this very term we're looking at that this is more than a cosmic theological abstraction.

He says, in him all things hold together. And the word he uses here is extremely unusual. It's an unusual word to use in this particular way because the word hold together is a word that was very, very popular amongst the Stoics. You know who the Stoics were? That was a party of people that believed the most important thing was to be strong and under pressure, don't fall apart. Don't fall apart. Hold together. Keep a stiff upper lip.

And Paul uses that as a way of talking about the universe. And I think what he's doing is clearly what he's actually trying to show you in the paragraph verse 9 to 13, and that is this. Just as Jesus Christ, because he exists, because he's the Lord, in him and under his kingship, things hold together. He says in the same way, look at your life. Is your life a cosmos or a chaos?

You see, the universe is a cosmos, not a chaos, because of him. Because it's under his lordship. Because he's before all things and he's holding everything together. Because he's the king of kings and lord of lords. Look at yourself, your own life. Is your life a cosmos or is it chaotic? Is it falling apart? Here's what Paul is saying. To the degree that you have your life under the kingship of Christ, to that degree, your life will hold together.

And to the degree that you are not under His Lordship and not under His mastery and not under His obedience, to that degree your life will fall apart. As you probably know, the end of the year is an important time for ministries like ours, and it's your generosity that allows us to continue to grow and share the gospel with more people. When I've spoken to others about the potential for gospel in life to reach more people, they're encouraged that the good news of the gospel is going forward.

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Thank you for your generous support, because the gospel truly changes everything, everywhere. Now somebody says, wait a minute, I don't like this. Are you trying to tell me, look, one of my best friends is dying of cancer, and I just lost my job. My life is falling apart. Here's what makes your life fall apart, not what happens to you, but how you react to it.

Cancer has come into your life. You lost your job. Will you fall apart or won't you fall apart? It's what you do, Paul says, is completely dependent on how much under the kingship of Christ you are. How are you going to react? Are you going to fall apart? Are you going to come? In him, all things hold together. In him, you hold together. And if you're not holding together, you need to get into him. That's what he's saying.

That's the reason why he uses such an unusual word, a word that really means hold yourself together for the cosmos. Because Paul is saying, just as Jesus holds the cosmos together with his lordship, he'll hold you together with his lordship. Well, how can that be? And see, what's interesting is all of verse 9 to 13 is a prayer for the Colossians. But if you look carefully, you will see it is a handbook prayer.

It is a blueprint for how to bring yourself more into the kingship of Christ. Look, he says, this is what I'm praying for you. I am praying that God would fill you with all the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.

And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, that you may have great endurance and patience, joyfully giving thanks to the Father. What is he saying? He is saying there's a process. Being a Christian is a process of understanding what the will of the king is with greater and greater understanding. In order to get under his lordship, you have a process all of your life

You'll learn more and more what he wants. What does the Bible teach? How does it apply to this part of my life? What he wants. That is subject to degrees. It takes time to learn those things. And then he says, as you do that, as you walk more and more pleasing to the one who is showing you more and more his will, you will grow. And there will be endurance, and there will be patience, and there will be power.

What is he saying? He is saying your life comes together the more you're under the kingship of Christ. Well, somebody says, all right, how does that happen? How do I do that? And the answer is twofold. This paragraph tells us, first of all, how you enter that kingship, and then secondly, how you grow in it. How you enter under the kingship and how you grow in it. And it is critical to see how you enter the kingship before you can even possibly grow into it.

And the way you enter is right here, giving thanks to the Father, verse 12, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he's rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Now there's a word right in the middle here that actually has been laying on my heart for the last three days. In all my years of studying Colossians, I never knew what it meant.

I've never seen it before. It's blunt, it's brilliant, it's radical, and it's utterly counterintuitive. It's this word qualified. It says, he has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of the kingdom of light. Let me tell you what this word means, qualified.

If you go back into the Gospels, there's a place where John the Baptist makes a statement. Let me remind you who John the Baptist is. John the Baptist, Jesus says, was the greatest human being ever born in the history of the race up to that point in history. Do you know that? You know the place where Jesus says, what did you go out to see when you saw John the Baptist, a prophet? Yea, I say, and greater than a prophet. There has never been anyone born of a woman greater than he. That's quite a statement.

Jesus is saying up to now, there has never been anybody of greater character and nobility and compassion and wisdom in the whole history of the human race up to now than John the Baptist. It amazes me the place in the book of Mark where we're told that Herod, even though John the Baptist continually told Herod he was an adulterer, that he had married his brother's wife, that he was wrong, it says Herod was confused when he heard this, but he loved to listen.

Here's a preacher telling Herod that he's a sinner, that he's an adulterer, and yet Herod couldn't stop listening to him. There's a man of attractive character. There's a man of great wisdom. There's a man of unbelievable force of character and greatness. The greatest man who ever lived up to that time. And what does he say about Jesus? He says, one is coming, and I am not worthy to untie his shoe latchet.

Now, the reason he even said that was because in those days, it was considered so disgusting and so demeaning to have to untie somebody's shoes and wash their feet and change shoes. It was considered so menial, so demeaning, and so disgusting that the rabbis wrote that if you had a Hebrew slave, you must not insist on the Hebrew slave doing that. You must not make them untie your shoe latchet. That is too demeaning even for a slave.

And when John the Baptist said this, he was saying, the greatest man who ever lived up to that time, he says, I want you to know how I relate to the one who's about to come. I am not only just a slave, I'm not worthy to be a slave. I am less than less than a slave before him. I am not worthy to look at him. I'm not worthy to be in his presence. I'm not worthy to relate to him at all. This is Paul saying,

God has made you worthy. He's made you worthy of the kingdom of light. He has given you a worthiness that John the Baptist knew he didn't have in himself. I read in the New York Times some established churchmen who said, nobody can ever be sure.

Nobody can ever be sure whether you're going to heaven. Nobody can ever be sure that you're worthy enough. And here's Paul coming and saying, if you're a Christian, you've been made worthy. You've been qualified. See what I mean by saying it's counterintuitive? If you look, it doesn't say you obey to get qualified. It says you get qualified and then you come in under the kingdom. It's counterintuitive. God is not standing at the top of a stairway looking down at us and saying, you can do it. Come on up and you'll be qualified. God has come down the stairway.

And in some way, he's qualified us. Well, somebody says, how in the world could that be? And the answer is, in him. Look, he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption. Listen, the word redemption is often translated ransom, because that's the word. Apolutron, a ransom. Do you know what a ransom is? It's an exchange for a prisoner. It's giving ransom.

something in exchange to get someone out of prison, to get someone out of bondage, to get someone out of slavery, to get somebody out. And we're told that that redemption is in him, the son whom he loves. And what that means is we're not worthy. That's what John the Baptist said. If John the Baptist is not worthy, you're not worthy. But Jesus Christ came in exchange place. Jesus Christ took our unworthiness upon himself.

Now look, does that mean he literally became rebellious and disobedient? No. He stood in the place of the unworthy one and he got what the unworthiness is due. He got what is due unworthiness.

When Jesus took on, see, he exchanged. When Jesus took on our unworthiness, it didn't mean he became a disobedient person. It means he stood in the place of a disobedient person and he got that which was due to an unworthy person. And when you become a Christian, there's been an exchange. That's what redemption means. He now has become your worthiness.

It means not that you've become good. In fact, if you look up further, remember, see what it says in verse 10, 9, 10, 11, 12? Paul is hoping that we would be worthy. See, in ourselves, we're not worthy. In ourselves, we're trying to live a more worthy life. But in him, we're qualified. It's right here. It's all through the Bible, but right here. In him, you're qualified. Outside of him, you're still working to be more and more worthy of what he's done for you. And what did he have to do?

in order to become your worthiness? Fairly simple, and yet very profound. Verse 17 says, In him all things hold together. You know what that means? It means when you get away from the kingship of Christ, you fall apart. When you get closer to the kingship of Christ, you come together. I've been told that little fish and the little critters that are at the very bottom of the deepest parts of the sea, they live down there, five miles down, under enormous pressure.

If you try to get one of those little critters and you try to bring those creatures up out of the water or even up to the top where the water pressure is less or where the atmospheric pressure is less, you know what happens to them? They blow apart because they're not fit. You bring them away from the place where they really were designed to be and they blow apart. When you take someone away from the kingship of Christ, you blow up.

You fall apart spiritually. You fall apart socially. You fall apart physically. You see that in Adam and Eve. In Adam and Eve, Adam and Eve got life, the gift of life. And it was incredible that the owner's manual only had one rule in it. Don't eat that tree. At Christmas, you're going to get a whole lot of different contraptions, and they're all going to have owner's manuals with them. And the owner's manuals are going to have 68 things and say, if you don't do these things, your contraption will blow up.

Well, God gave Adam and Eve life, and it came with an owner's manual. There's only one rule in it. Don't eat that tree. But it really wasn't about who determines your diet. It was about who determines. The only rule of life, God says, is either you can be the thing that determines, you can determine what's right and wrong, you can determine your meaning in life, or you can let me determine it. If I can determine it, you will come together, because I and my lordship is the environment for you.

And if you decide to be your own, doing your own self-determination, you will blow up. Jesus Christ on the cross blew apart.

You can see it physically. He was broken. He was bleeding. But you can see it spiritually when he says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? The thing that amazes me every time I read Genesis 15 is there is a place where God says to Abraham, cut some pieces of animal. And back in those days, the way you made an oath was you walk between pieces of an animal and you said, if I don't obey the promise I'm making today, may I be blown to pieces.

May I be as this animal? And God came to Abraham and Abraham said, how do I know you're going to bless me and bless my seed in the future? And God says, cut the animals up. And God walked between the pieces. And what was he saying? He was saying, if I don't bless you, may I be blown to pieces. And in Jesus Christ, he did. To bless Abraham, to bless us, he had to come apart. And on the cross,

away from God. In him, all things come together. Apart from God, everything falls apart, and Jesus did. And as a result of that, he became your worthiness. You are qualified. Now, if you're qualified...

Therefore, if you take a look in the little passage that Paul says he's praying for them, he's praying that they may lead a life worthy, he's praying that they might grow in knowledge, that they might come more and more into the kingship. Do you see the word obedience in there? Do you see it? It's not there. What do you see? That you might please him in every way. Now, here's the point. If a person says, would you please bring me breakfast in bed, there's two ways you can do it. If you're indifferent to that person,

then his or her pleasure is at the expense of your pleasure. You know, you're off doing something, and you're doing your thing, and this person says, could you get me breakfast in bed? That would make me happy. Well, if you're doing something else, and that person wants something, if that person is someone you're indifferent to, or someone that you're just obligated to, then his or her happiness is at the expense of yours. That's compliance.

That's knuckling under. But what if you love that person? What if you admire that person? What if your heart is totally bound up with that person? What if there is so much admiration and desire for that person that his or her pleasure is yours? When that person is unhappy, you're unhappy. When that person is happy, you're happy. In which case, if you're doing something and the person says, it would make me happy to get me breakfast in bed, you drop it. Why? Why?

Because that person's happiness is your happiness. And you know what that means? That's the pleasure of giving pleasure. If you know that you're qualified for the kingdom of God, if you know that Jesus Christ came apart so you could come together, if you know that he completely blew apart so that you could come together, then your heart will go out to him and obedience will become pleasing him. And doing for him and sacrificing for him is no sacrifice at all, really.

If you're indifferent to somebody, then their happiness is at the expense of your happiness. And if you're in love with somebody, their happiness is your happiness. And Paul says, if you know how you enter, if you knew what he did for you, if you think of religion as simply trying real hard to be a good person, and I have to obey God, otherwise he'll reject me, then his happiness is at the expense of your happiness, and it'll be a drudgery. But if you understand that he's qualified you, he made you worthy of

You come together because he blew apart? If you know that, then here's what happens. Our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, since we have seen his beauty, are joined apart no more. That's the gospel. That's Christianity.

Your life will come together as you obey him, as you come warm under his lordship, which he built you for. But that will only happen if you see that he's qualified you. And compliance and obedience has really become pleasing him. On Christmas, the angels did not sing, here's a course of action by which you can reach the nirvana. That's not good news. Nobody sings in praise of that.

They didn't come and say, now unto you is given this day a course of behavior. Instead, it says, unto you is born this day a Savior. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. And the government will be upon its shoulders. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, King, Prince of Peace. The peace comes because he's a king. Let's pray.

Father, if our life is a cosmos, it's because of your kingship. If our life is a chaos, it's because we have to come in under it more. Would you show us how to come in under the kingship of Christ by seeing what he did, how he blew apart so we might come together, so that our pleasure and our duty, though opposite before, now become the same? That's what we want. That's Christianity. And for so many of us, we don't even know what we're talking about.

when we talk about obedience because we don't know the pleasure of giving pleasure. I pray that you would help us all to know that. I pray that the people here who think of Christianity as a course of action first might see that, first of all, it's being qualified by the one who took our unworthiness upon himself. And for those of us who are here whose lives are experiencing disorder, help us to see that we need to recharge our sense of love for what he's done for us and then

find ways to more and more please him and see our lives come together under his lordship. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Thanks for listening to today's teaching. It's our prayer that you were encouraged by it and that it helps you have a deeper understanding of God's Word. You can find more resources from Tim Keller at gospelandlife.com. Just subscribe to the Gospel and Life newsletter to receive free articles, sermons, devotionals, and other resources. Again, it's all at gospelandlife.com. This is a production of the Gospel and Life Network.

This month's sermons were recorded from 1994 to 1997. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life podcast were preached from 1989 to 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.