NT prepositions describe our relation to Christ:

• Through Christ

• In Christ

• Under Christ

• With Christ

• For Christ

• To Christ

• Like Christ

• Reasons for this series:

Cultural Reasons

• Society becoming increasingly pluralistic

• Society is drifting from Christian moorings– Hold other religions as equally valid with Christianity

– “Many ways” to God, Paradise, Heaven, Nirvana

– Mohammed, Joseph Smith, etc. offer different ways

• We must affirm that Christianity is unique– Not just one religion among many

– Uniqueness centered in person of Jesus Christ

Theological Reasons

• Forty years ago, discussion was nature of God– John Robinson's "Honest to God"

– Led many to lose faith in personal God

– Nebulous concept of impersonal "Ground of Being"

• Today, theologians attack the person of Jesus

• We affirm that Christ is central to Christianity– Books like "The Myth of God Incarnate" & "Jesus, Son

of Man" question Jesus' deity

– Suggest that we've deified an ordinary mortal

Practical Reasons

• We claim to be Christians

• We’re engaged in a continuing search to learn how we may know & serve him better– Couple grows to know & love of one another until

• One is indispensible to the other

• Life is inconceivable without the other

– Christian grows in knowledge of Christ until

• Christ is indispensible to the Christian

• Life without Christ is inconceivable

"Through Christ" introduces the concept of mediation

God's actions on our behalf have not been remote & from a distance

They have been mediated among us – through Christ

John 1:1-5 NIV

• In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:10-14 NIV

• He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God-- 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. 14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:16-18 NIV

• From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

Colossians 1:15-20 NIV

• He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 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. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:15-20 NIV

• 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

Hebrews 1:1-4 NIV

• In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

God has taken the initiative on man's behalf – through Christ

• Revelation– God has dealt with our ignorance through Christ

• Redemption– God has dealt with our iniquity through Christ

• Hebrews develops these thoughts:

Revelation

Christ is superior to Moses, who revealed God to Israel

Hebrews 3:1-6 NIV

• Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

Hebrews 3:1-6 NIV

• 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

Redemption

Christ is superior to Aaron, whose sacrifices redeemed Israel to God

Hebrews 7:26 NIV

• Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

Christ – God's agent of revelation

God has spoken

Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV

• In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

This theme is common to OT & NT

• Speech is communication between persons

• Idols have mouths, but cannot speak

• Our God has no mouth, yet speaks

Differences between God's speaking in OT & NT

• Time– "old days" contrasts with "last days"

• Mode– "through prophets" in dreams, visions, etc.

– contrasts with "through Christ" in the flesh

• Content– part & progressive (Gk. polumeros - "in many parts")

– contrasts with complete revelation in Christ

Christ is the center & circumference of our faith

Magnificence of God's activity on our behalf is seen in magnificence of Christ

He is the radiance of God's glory

• Hebrews 1:3 NIV The Son is the radiance of God's glory ...

• Gk. apaugasma is light radiating from the sun

• God’s glory radiates in the world through Christ

He is "the exact representation of God"

• Hebrews 1:3 NIV The Son is ... the exact representation of his being...

• Gk. character is impression made by die or seal– Jesus is an exact reproduction of God in the world

• The personalities of Christ & God are distinct– But each fits perfectly with the other

– Christ is God's counterpart in the world

Hebrews 1:2-3 NIV

• ... in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 ... sustaining all things by his powerful word...

In relation to the world, Christ is:

• Heir– Fully human, while not ceasing to be fully divine

• Creator– Creating loaves and fishes to feed the hungry

• Sustainer– Forgiving sinners, touching the untouchable, healing

the sick, warning hypocrites, submitting to death, rising to life, commissioning the church

– All are revelations of God's will in the world

Christ – God’s agent of redemption

Jesus came to reveal God to us

He came also to redeem us to God

Our problem not ignorance, but iniquity

Jesus is our mediator both in revelation and redemption

• There are no priests left– Christians are all priests

– Christ is our High Priest

• Hebrews 1:3 focuses on redemption– Hebrews 1:3 NIV ... After he had provided purification

for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

– Gk. katharismos is a word from OT priesthood

– Has to do with sacrifices of cleansing

Gk. poiesamenos translated “after he provided” is interesting

• Aorist, middle participle of poieoo

• Middle voice insists that Christ, himself, in his own person, made purification for our sins– Not like OT priests who offered another

– He offered himself

• Aorist tense points to the fact that he has completed the work of purification, so that no further purification for our sins is needed– Full redemption is available through Christ

– There is no further need for priests or sacrifices

Hebrews 10:19-25 NIV

• Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:19-25 NIV

• 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV

• Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.

Romans 5:10-11 NIV

• For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

What have we said?

God has revealed himself to man

God has redeemed man to himself

In both revelation & redemption, God has taken the initiative through Christ

Both revelation & redemption are complete through Christ

• Appropriately described by – Gk. hapax – “once-and-for-all”

– Not by the Gk. polumeros – “partial and incomplete”

• Inconceivable that there could be more complete revelation & redemption than that through Christ

• No more need for OT priests, post-NT prophets like Mohammed, nor latter day saints– We have more to learn; God has no more to teach

– We have more to receive; God has no more to give

Our emphasis must be Christ – his absolute uniqueness and adequacy

• Through Christ, God's revelation is complete– Adding words of our own to enhance that revelation

diminishes the importance of Christ

• Through Christ, man's redemption is complete– Adding works of our own to accomplish redemption

diminishes the importance of Christ

• Through Christ– God has revealed himself once-and-for-all

– God has redeemed us once-and-for-all

How will you respond to Christ?

There is no other word from God

There is no other way to God

John 14:6 NIV ... I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the

Father except through me.