Coconut
Member
- Joined
- Feb 17, 2005
- Messages
- 4,663
Christ Above All Persons
Jesus stands taller than all other personalities of history. It is a self-evident truth that there is none like Him, "no, not one." He stands alone among the long train of history's great. The libraries of the world are filled with volumes attesting to His greatness. "Jesus," said Emerson, "whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of the world." Robert Spear said of Him, "It is not enough to say that the central things of Christianity is Christ. Christ is not only the center. He is also the beginning and the end. He is all in all." Moody's word was equally emphatic: "He is all in all or he is nothing at all."
Hadrian was one of the greatest Roman emperors. He built palaces, temples, and monuments all over the Roman world. Jesus put not one stone upon another, yet He left a far more indelible mark. Alexander the Great conquered the whole of the eastern Mediterranean world. On and on his armies swept from victory to victory. He died as Jesus did at age thirty-three. Yet Alexander's kingdom did not last as long as it took to win it. Christ's kingdom endures still!
He is above all persons because of His deity. There have been great prophets and great priests and great kings. Sometimes you find two of those offices combined, as with the priest-kings in the days of the Maccabees, but only Christ is prophet, priest, and king. All other prophets said, "That is the way." Jesus said, "I am the way." All other priests came often with the blood of animals. Jesus came once for all with His own blood and entered the Most Holy Place. All other kings hoped to see their sons sit upon the throne when they were gone. His is an eternal kingdom and He reigns forever and ever.
Once the Hapsburgs ruled half of Europe. Their domain included Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Today, one Hapsburg monarch still stands as king Prince Franz Joseph II, who rules tiny Liechtenstein, only sixty-one square miles, the fourth smallest country in the world. The reign of Christ grows larger with each succeeding generation, and so it will continue until time is no more.
Christ is above all persons in His wisdom. Wisdom and power are key words in this chapter. God's wisdom and insight are shared with us through Christ. That wisdom must determine our course. Christ shines forth as the greatest of all teachers and so stands above our opinions, our parties, our platforms and our partitions.
I do not have a brother in the flesh, but I have a sister. We do not always agree. She does not accept some of my opinions, great as they are! But we still are brother and sister. The tie of blood is stronger than the tie of opinion.
I have many spiritual brothers. We do not always agree, but the ties of blood are stronger than the ties of opinion. We must all do homage to the one infallible teacher, Christ. When we use the hymn "Blest Be the Tie That Binds," we ought to capitalize the "T" in "Tie." Christ is the Tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. It is not emotions, nor ideas, nor opinions. It is Christ who draws us together, as verse 10 emphasizes. If we cry "heresy" at the drop of an opinion, even a tentative one, we make ourselves a laughingstock to the world and we bring pain to Christ. Have you ever tried to fathom the intricate divisions of Islam or Buddhism? They are so subtle no outsider can understand them. If we likewise appear incomprehensible to the world, they will not give us a hearing.
In 1869, Isaac Errett, who founded Standard Publishing, wrote:
It is fatal to assume that we have certainly learned all that the Bible teaches. This has been the silly and baneful conceit of all that have gone before us. Shall we repeat the folly and superinduce a necessity for another people to be raised up to sound a new battle cry for reformation?
Christ, then, stands above the claims and the counterclaims of a divided Christendom. He stands as well above the confusion of a troubled world.
In Philippians 2:9 and in our text we see this emphasis upon Christ as the one whose name is above every name. Thus Christ stands above all persons. He is above angelic persons. In Hebrews it is written, "being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." He is above demonic persons. There is much emphasis these days upon the subjects of the devil and demon possession. Such studies must not distract us from Christ. We dare not become more interested in the Antichrist than we are in the Christ, more enthralled by the second coming than we are by the first, more informed about His return than we are about His redemption, more expert in eschatology than we are in Christology.
You can draw a much bigger crowd if you announce a study of Revelation than you can if you announce a study in the life of Christ, but the latter will be far more productive.
He is above all spiritual persons. From time to time, there recurs an emphasis on the Holy Spirit; but Christ is the heart of the gospel. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the Cobssians that in all things Christ is to have the preeminence. It is a shame that in some quarters the dove has replaced the cross. The change in symbols is terribly significant. The Holy Spirit did not die for you! Only Jesus saves! The Holy Spirit convicts, but Jesus saves! The church proclaims, but Jesus saves! Man witnesses, but Jesus saves!
Look at the scene in Heaven described in Revelation 5:
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the 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 sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever (Revelation 5:11-13).
He is above all human persons. He is above all princes, popes, and potentates, above all bishops and superintendents, above all preachers and teachers, above all editors and elders. He is above all persons. That must mean that He is above me! There's the rub! I can put Him above prophets. I can put Him above priests. I can put Him above kings. I can put Him above government. I can put Him above wealth. I can put Him above the church. But can I put Him above me? That's the challenge of the hour.
That's the challenge of this text. And that's the challenge of William Cowper's beloved hymn:
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be;
Dear Lord, I tear it from my heart
And worship only Thee.
Christ Above All Website
http://www.dabar.org/Homiletics/Above/TOC.htm
Jesus stands taller than all other personalities of history. It is a self-evident truth that there is none like Him, "no, not one." He stands alone among the long train of history's great. The libraries of the world are filled with volumes attesting to His greatness. "Jesus," said Emerson, "whose name is not so much written as ploughed into the history of the world." Robert Spear said of Him, "It is not enough to say that the central things of Christianity is Christ. Christ is not only the center. He is also the beginning and the end. He is all in all." Moody's word was equally emphatic: "He is all in all or he is nothing at all."
Hadrian was one of the greatest Roman emperors. He built palaces, temples, and monuments all over the Roman world. Jesus put not one stone upon another, yet He left a far more indelible mark. Alexander the Great conquered the whole of the eastern Mediterranean world. On and on his armies swept from victory to victory. He died as Jesus did at age thirty-three. Yet Alexander's kingdom did not last as long as it took to win it. Christ's kingdom endures still!
He is above all persons because of His deity. There have been great prophets and great priests and great kings. Sometimes you find two of those offices combined, as with the priest-kings in the days of the Maccabees, but only Christ is prophet, priest, and king. All other prophets said, "That is the way." Jesus said, "I am the way." All other priests came often with the blood of animals. Jesus came once for all with His own blood and entered the Most Holy Place. All other kings hoped to see their sons sit upon the throne when they were gone. His is an eternal kingdom and He reigns forever and ever.
Once the Hapsburgs ruled half of Europe. Their domain included Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. Today, one Hapsburg monarch still stands as king Prince Franz Joseph II, who rules tiny Liechtenstein, only sixty-one square miles, the fourth smallest country in the world. The reign of Christ grows larger with each succeeding generation, and so it will continue until time is no more.
Christ is above all persons in His wisdom. Wisdom and power are key words in this chapter. God's wisdom and insight are shared with us through Christ. That wisdom must determine our course. Christ shines forth as the greatest of all teachers and so stands above our opinions, our parties, our platforms and our partitions.
I do not have a brother in the flesh, but I have a sister. We do not always agree. She does not accept some of my opinions, great as they are! But we still are brother and sister. The tie of blood is stronger than the tie of opinion.
I have many spiritual brothers. We do not always agree, but the ties of blood are stronger than the ties of opinion. We must all do homage to the one infallible teacher, Christ. When we use the hymn "Blest Be the Tie That Binds," we ought to capitalize the "T" in "Tie." Christ is the Tie that binds our hearts in Christian love. It is not emotions, nor ideas, nor opinions. It is Christ who draws us together, as verse 10 emphasizes. If we cry "heresy" at the drop of an opinion, even a tentative one, we make ourselves a laughingstock to the world and we bring pain to Christ. Have you ever tried to fathom the intricate divisions of Islam or Buddhism? They are so subtle no outsider can understand them. If we likewise appear incomprehensible to the world, they will not give us a hearing.
In 1869, Isaac Errett, who founded Standard Publishing, wrote:
It is fatal to assume that we have certainly learned all that the Bible teaches. This has been the silly and baneful conceit of all that have gone before us. Shall we repeat the folly and superinduce a necessity for another people to be raised up to sound a new battle cry for reformation?
Christ, then, stands above the claims and the counterclaims of a divided Christendom. He stands as well above the confusion of a troubled world.
In Philippians 2:9 and in our text we see this emphasis upon Christ as the one whose name is above every name. Thus Christ stands above all persons. He is above angelic persons. In Hebrews it is written, "being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." He is above demonic persons. There is much emphasis these days upon the subjects of the devil and demon possession. Such studies must not distract us from Christ. We dare not become more interested in the Antichrist than we are in the Christ, more enthralled by the second coming than we are by the first, more informed about His return than we are about His redemption, more expert in eschatology than we are in Christology.
You can draw a much bigger crowd if you announce a study of Revelation than you can if you announce a study in the life of Christ, but the latter will be far more productive.
He is above all spiritual persons. From time to time, there recurs an emphasis on the Holy Spirit; but Christ is the heart of the gospel. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write to the Cobssians that in all things Christ is to have the preeminence. It is a shame that in some quarters the dove has replaced the cross. The change in symbols is terribly significant. The Holy Spirit did not die for you! Only Jesus saves! The Holy Spirit convicts, but Jesus saves! The church proclaims, but Jesus saves! Man witnesses, but Jesus saves!
Look at the scene in Heaven described in Revelation 5:
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts, and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the 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 sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever (Revelation 5:11-13).
He is above all human persons. He is above all princes, popes, and potentates, above all bishops and superintendents, above all preachers and teachers, above all editors and elders. He is above all persons. That must mean that He is above me! There's the rub! I can put Him above prophets. I can put Him above priests. I can put Him above kings. I can put Him above government. I can put Him above wealth. I can put Him above the church. But can I put Him above me? That's the challenge of the hour.
That's the challenge of this text. And that's the challenge of William Cowper's beloved hymn:
The dearest idol I have known,
Whate'er that idol be;
Dear Lord, I tear it from my heart
And worship only Thee.
Christ Above All Website
http://www.dabar.org/Homiletics/Above/TOC.htm
