God’s Only Son, Our Lord

by Dave Wilkinson

Colossians 1:15-17

November 4, 2001

On September 11 our nation was suddenly shocked into religious faith. Our President could quote scripture from the oval office and no one howled. Churches across the country were packed.

On Sunday, September 16^th we had the largest attendance at worship we’ve ever had except for Easter—476. Not many of those were first time visitors. It was just time for the whole family to come together.

You’ve heard it said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Well we, as a nation were in a foxhole. We still are. Even the most convinced atheists hopes that there is something more.

But even in a fox hole, belief in a God isn’t enough. If you run the risk of standing before God at any moment, you’d better know what to expect. Some questions about God become very important when we face eternity.

On October 17^th, 1944, a man named Tom Torrance was a chaplain/stretcher-bearer following the British troops in a night attack on the small town of San Martino, in Italy. He later became a teacher of theology in Edinburgh. Torrance writes:

"When daylight filtered through, I came across a young soldier, Private Philips, scarcely twenty years old, lying mortally wounded on the ground, who clearly had not long to live. As I knelt down and bent over him, he said, ‘Padre, is God really like Jesus?’ I assured him that he was the only God that there is, the God who had come to us in Jesus, has shown his face to us, and poured out his love to us as our Savior. As I prayed and commended him to the Lord Jesus, he passed away."

This young soldier badly needed to know what to expect from God. He’d obviously been thinking about this key question in the terrible hours since being wounded, It was an answer Torrance could give. For as he goes on to comment: "There is no hidden God…no God behind the back of the Lord Jesus, but only the one Lord God who became incarnate in Him."

In the words of Dorothy Sayers: "What does the Church think of Christ? The Church’s answer is categorical and uncompromising, and it is this: That Jesus Bar-Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, was in fact and in truth, and in the most exact and literal sense of the words, the God "by whom all things were made." His body and brain were those of a common man; His personality was the personality of God , so far as that personality could be expressed in human terms. He was not a kind of demon or fairy pretending to be human. He was in every respect a genuine living man. He was not merely a man so good as to be "like God"—He was God."

We have spoken already of the first words of the Apostles Creed: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth." Now we come to the next phrase "and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, Our Lord."

With this article of the creed, our belief enters the realm of history and of time. When we are think of God the Father Almighty, we move in the timeless spheres of eternity. But when we think of Jesus, we think of historic events found in the actions words of the creed: "conceived, born, suffered, crucified, dead, buried, rose again." These verbs are the basis and foundation of the Christian faith. ‘I believe in Jesus Christ.’ The creed says, ‘God’s only Son, our Lord.’

One look at the creed shows that it hangs on three central affirmations. First, we say, "I believe in God, the Father Almighty." Then we affirm, "I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord." Finally, we say, "I believe in the Holy Spirit." When we stand to affirm the creed, we are immediately thrown into the central mystery of the Christian faith: "God in three persons, blessed Trinity!"

Let’s begin by acknowledging that the idea of the Trinity is a mystery. A preacher told his congregation that the problem with the Trinity is that if you don’t believe it you risk losing your soul, but if you try to explain it you risk losing your mind. In the creed, we are attempting to comprehend the incomprehensible, to describe the indescribable.

The "essential" aspect of Jesus’ relationship to God the Father has caused considerable confusion and division throughout the history of the church. The essential nature of Jesus Christ was the single most divisive issue for the church’s first four hundred years. The longest article of what we now know as the Nicene Creed is devoted largely to Jesus’ essential nature. It reads in part:

"Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God; begotten of His Father before all worlds: God of God; Light of Light; Very God of Very God; Begotten, not Made; being of one substances with the Father."

You may find this language a bit redundant. We say, "Just say it!" But in the fourth century each of these phrases was a battleground, as much an issue for the church as the nature and authority of Scripture is today.

The issue was nothing less than the deity of Christ. In simpler terms, the question being debated was: "Is Jesus Christ really God?"

The unanimous answer of historic Christian orthodoxy to that questions has always been a resounding "Yes!" Whatever God is, Jesus is that. He is God of God; Light of Light; Very God of Very God; Begotten, not Made; being of one substance — homoousia — with the Father."

But Jesus is not only the Unique Son. He is also our Lord. Think about what this means. "Jesus loves me, this I know." He is my savior. But He is also my Lord. And I also know that Jesus commands me. I know that Jesus did not say discuss me. He said follow Christianity does not mean being interested in Jesus Christ; it means taking an oath.

In a few minutes we will share in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The very word sacrament comes from the Latin word sacramentum which means a soldier’s oath of loyalty. A Christian is a person who has sworn loyalty and who keeps loyalty to Christ the King.

To call Jesus Lord is to affirm that He is our absolute owner, and to confess that we must give Him our obedience. He is our absolute master, and we must give Him absolute submission. He is our king, and to confess that we must give Him absolute loyalty.

Think about what this means on a practical level.

How many hats do you wear?

I mean, how many different places do you have responsibility? -- home, office, school, church, neighborhood, community?

Imagine you have a piece of paper and a pencil. Draw squares on the paper and place one hat which you have worn in the last week in each square. One square for each hat you have worn.

What does it mean to say the creed, "Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord."?

It means that God in Christ wants to help you in each square with a hat in it. Look at your squares. How would Jesus have done the things you had to do? How would He have worn the hat? What would have been His attitude? In just a bit, we will be placing pledge cards on the table for the 2002 operating budget and building fund. What would Jesus write in the card? What would be His attitude in giving it?

Letting Christ have His way in each compartment is having Christ as Lord. Listen to what Jesus would say to you about each square. Then be obedient, serve Him in each compartment where you wear a different hat.

The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament. It is an oath to serve the One who has served us so faithfully and well. Let us remember that as we share in the Lord’s Supper and then after we have shared, as we bring forward our pledge cards and place them on His table.