This podcast covers Lesson 3 of Healthy Living Bible Study by Melanie Newton.

Crush the “Jesus Is Not Lord over All” Infection

In Colossae, one infection was worse than all the others, with the most damaging effects because it was not just error. It was anti-truth!

The “Jesus Is Not Lord over All” infection

Focus on the Meaning: In the New Testament, Jesus is called the Lord Jesus Christ. You see that in Colossians chapter 1 verse 3. Christ is His title. It comes from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew term “Messiah” meaning “anointed one.” According to Psalm 110 verse 1, the Messiah would sit at the right hand of God and be called Lord. Jesus not only claimed this for Himself but also demonstrated that He was the Son of God who sits at God’s right hand. Jesus is the Christ. He is also the Lord. Lord means master.

The false teachers didn’t deny that Christ came, but they dethroned Him.

 

Truth fights and prevents this dangerous infection

In Colossians chapter 1, Paul writes the strongest statement of the supremacy and deity of Jesus as the Christ and the Lord found anywhere in the New Testament!  

The prescribed treatment for this infection is the truth about Christ in three areas—1) His relationship to God, 2) His relationship to Creation, and 3) His relationship to the Church.

Jesus’ Relationship to God

• Jesus is the representation and exact likeness of God. (v. 15)
• All God’s fullness (His totality) dwells permanently in Jesus. (v. 19)

Jesus’ Relationship to Creation

• Jesus is the firstborn (priority and superiority) over all creation. (v. 15)

Focus on the Meaning: The word “firstborn” refers to the one who has priority to and superiority over everything that the father owns.

 

• Jesus created everything in the entire universe as planned by God the Father. (v. 16) When God created the heavens and the earth, Jesus was there with God the Father.

“All things were created by Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.” (John 1:1-13, 14)

 

• Jesus is the controlling and unifying force in all of nature. (v. 17)

Focus on the Meaning: The phrase “holds together” means “to cohere” like glue holds things together. Hebrews 1:3 says that “Jesus sustains all things by His powerful word.”

 

• Jesus is Lord of Planet Earth. He is the one who will sustain it, not us. Thinking we have to save the planet or even that we can do that is dethroning Christ as Lord over everything.

Jesus’ Relationship to the Church

• Jesus created the Church by combining Jews and Gentiles into one body of believers and appointed Himself Head of the Church. (v. 18, Ephesians 2:15)
• Jesus received a new body as the first one resurrected from the dead. (v. 18)
• Jesus reconciled things (on earth and in heaven) to God through His physical death on the Cross. (vv. 20-22)
• So that in everything He might have supremacy. (v. 18)

Conclusion: We can firmly believe that Jesus is the Christ who is God and, therefore, Lord over everything. God wanted Jesus to be the Lord over everything. Lord over creation, including all angels and demons. Lord over the Church. In everything, He is to be the Lord, not a Lord. Jesus Christ is the Lord over all. We must choose to submit to Him as Lord. He deserves it!

When are we most susceptible to this “Jesus Is Not Lord over All” infection?

• We are most susceptible when we seek to be satisfied by our own view of God.
• If we want the benefits of His plan, we must enter His plan His way. If we want our heart need for a relationship with God to be satisfied, we must go through Jesus.

A spiritual infection takes you captive to something other than Christ. The “Jesus Is Not Lord over All” infection is not only bad, it is destructive to your faith. Knowing the truth of God that you have in Jesus Christ gives you an immune system that crushes this deadly spiritual infection. Get rid of it in your thinking. Let Jesus satisfy your heart needs with His truth and His love so you can get well and stay well.

Let Jesus satisfy your heart needs with His truth and His love so you can get well and stay well.

Joyful Walk Bible Studies by Melanie Newton are available through Amazon and Barnes and Noble.