The sermon "Christ: All in All" by Tommy Walls emphasizes the supreme value and completeness found in Christ. Walls begins with analogies of finding hidden treasures to illustrate the excitement of discovering something valuable, paralleling this with the ultimate treasure of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3). He highlights the richness of the Scriptures, which consistently point to Christ, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit to truly understand and see Christ in the Word.
Walls recounts the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, where Jesus expounded the Scriptures to reveal how they spoke of Him, making the disciples' hearts burn within them as they understood the Scriptures (Luke 24:27). He emphasizes that without the Holy Spirit, one cannot fully grasp the truths of the Bible, but with the Spirit’s illumination, Christ becomes vividly apparent.
The core message focuses on Colossians 3:11, which states that in Christ, there is no distinction between different groups of people—Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free—because Christ is all and in all. Walls discusses the divisions present in the New Testament times and how Christ breaks down these barriers, uniting believers through His love and truth. This unity in Christ transcends all social, ethnic, and religious distinctions.
Walls underscores the transformative power of Christ, who makes believers new creations. He illustrates how Christ’s presence in one’s life changes everything, promoting love and unity among diverse groups. He passionately declares that Christ is everything—fulfilling all roles, providing complete salvation, and embodying all that is good and true. He emphasizes that in Christ, believers find full redemption, justification, sanctification, and eternal joy.
The sermon concludes with a powerful reminder of Christ’s sacrificial love and resurrection, which secures eternal life and continual intercession for believers. Walls calls for a deepened love and cherishing of Christ, urging believers to fix their eyes on Him, the author and finisher of their faith, to experience transformation and unity in Him.
The sermon "Christ: All in All" by Tommy Walls emphasizes the supreme value and completeness found in Christ. Walls begins with analogies of finding hidden treasures to illustrate the excitement of discovering something valuable, paralleling this with the ultimate treasure of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Christ (Colossians 2:3). He highlights the richness of the Scriptures, which consistently point to Christ, and the necessity of the Holy Spirit to truly understand and see Christ in the Word.
Walls recounts the story of Jesus on the road to Emmaus, where Jesus expounded the Scriptures to reveal how they spoke of Him, making the disciples' hearts burn within them as they understood the Scriptures (Luke 24:27). He emphasizes that without the Holy Spirit, one cannot fully grasp the truths of the Bible, but with the Spirit’s illumination, Christ becomes vividly apparent.
The core message focuses on Colossians 3:11, which states that in Christ, there is no distinction between different groups of people—Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian or Scythian, slave or free—because Christ is all and in all. Walls discusses the divisions present in the New Testament times and how Christ breaks down these barriers, uniting believers through His love and truth. This unity in Christ transcends all social, ethnic, and religious distinctions.
Walls underscores the transformative power of Christ, who makes believers new creations. He illustrates how Christ’s presence in one’s life changes everything, promoting love and unity among diverse groups. He passionately declares that Christ is everything—fulfilling all roles, providing complete salvation, and embodying all that is good and true. He emphasizes that in Christ, believers find full redemption, justification, sanctification, and eternal joy.
The sermon concludes with a powerful reminder of Christ’s sacrificial love and resurrection, which secures eternal life and continual intercession for believers. Walls calls for a deepened love and cherishing of Christ, urging believers to fix their eyes on Him, the author and finisher of their faith, to experience transformation and unity in Him.
Have you ever discovered something of value? Maybe you ventured into metal detecting and maybe you found something of value in that endeavor or maybe looking through items at a yard sale and discover that they are selling very cheaply something of great value. I was talking to a brother recently and he said that he had found an old cash box under his grandmother's bed and took it out and opened it and it had coins in it that belonged to her parents so it would be his great-grandparents' coins and they were coins from the 1800s. It's pretty exciting when we find something or discover something of value. In the previous chapter, Colossians 2.3, it tells us that the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. The treasures of wisdom and knowledge. What have you found lately? What have you found Christ to be in all his fullness? What is there in him? I'll tell you. All, all is there in him. When we take a look into the Scriptures, we find great and rich treasures that are preeminently pointing to and revealing to us Christ. Remember the work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus said when the Spirit of Truth comes which proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. That's John 15.26. That the Holy Spirit will testify of Christ. Jesus said when He, the Spirit, comes He will guide you into all truth. He goes on to say He will glorify Me for He will receive of Me and show it to you. John 16.13-15. You remember what Jesus did for the two on the road to Emmaus? I think I've referenced the two on the road to Emmaus before but I love the story there. When they were walking and discouraged that Christ had been crucified and buried and now it had been three days and they were walking on the road and Jesus comes to them. He doesn't reveal Himself immediately. It says, "And beginning at Moses and the prophets He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." In Luke 24.27 He expounded unto them all things in the Scriptures concerning Himself. That word expounding means He interpreted it. He unfolded the meaning of the Old Testament and how it was all talking about Him. Later as Jesus departed from them they said one to another, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He taught with us by all the way and while He opened to us the Scriptures?" Opened to us the Scriptures to open the mind of one to calls to understand. Finally it all made sense to them. They saw Christ there. They went back and told the other disciples and Jesus comes in the midst of that conversation and He affirms to them, "Did not I tell you these things while I was with you? All things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning Me." Then opened He their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. That's Luke 24.44 and 45. I think of these verses when someone tells me I read the Bible but I just can't understand it. No you can't. You can't understand it without the Holy Spirit. Without the Spirit opening our eyes and our minds to the things of the Word of God. And when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes Christ comes flowing off the pages."I see ye." There he is. There he is. There he is. The riches of Christ are now clearly seen when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to Him. Oh what a glory it is to see Christ in the Word is it not? Psalm 47 says, "Then said I, lo I come in the volume of the book it is written of Me." It's all about Christ, isn't it? It's all about Christ. What have you seen lately? What treasures have you found? It's all about Christ Jesus our Savior. Our text tells us that Christ we're going to see that are in verse 11 that Christ is all and in all. But let's read down and just kind of get the context here. I love this book. I love this particular chapter. Therefore I'm reading from the I thought I'd try this tonight. I'm reading from the LSB the Legacy Standard Bible. It may be a little different, may not be, but let's see."Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ," See it almost misread it, almost misquoted."Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, set your mind on the things above, not on the things of the earth. For you died and your life has been hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory. Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead, to sensual immorality, impurity, passions, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. On account of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience. And in them you also once walled, when you were living in them. And now you also lay them aside, wrath, anger, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with its evil practices, and have put on the new man who is being renewed to a full knowledge, according to the image of the one who created him." Isn't that good? A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian or Sothinian, slave and freeman. But Christ is all and in all. Let's pray again."Father, would you help us tonight?""As we have read Your word, would You make it alive to us? Would You make it real? Oh, it's quick. It's alive. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It purists us to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, join them, Harold. It's a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. Would You work on us? A work by Your word through Your Spirit? We might glory in Christ, we might see Him, we might cherish Him, we might love Him more. Help us here. Help me speak. In Jesus' name, Amen." The church at Colossae Paul had never visited. He was writing this book from prison and he had gotten word about the church and he wanted to encourage the church. Chapter 1 encourages the church and speaks of Christ there in the first chapter and points them to Christ. In chapter 2 he deals with some of the things that they are dealing with, kind of the culture who was trying to come in and conform them to their ways. He had the Jews that were coming in and trying to take them back to keeping the law and those things. Then he comes to this chapter and he says, "You're a new man. You're a new creation in Christ. You're a new person. Put off the old man. Don't continue in those ways. Put on Christ. Put on the new man." And in the midst of that, that plea to put off the old man and put on the new, he makes this statement in verse 11. King James says, "Where there is neither Greek nor Jew." The ESV says, "Here there is not Greek or Jew." Did you catch what I read from the legacy standard? It said, "A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew." A renewal is an italics which means it was added by the translators. Some would say that this place, if you would, where there is no distinction, where there is no difference, is in the new man, in the new person. In this renewal, there's no difference. Others would say that he changes from making it personal to talking to the whole church, who has addressed that in the church there is no difference between Greek or Jew. And I say, "It doesn't matter, because if you're a new man, you're going to be in the church, and there's going to be no difference between the Greek or the Jew." So he's drawing these distinctions, or he's saying that there are no distinctions, while he's pointing out that some have made distinctions, but in Christ, there are no distinctions. The Greeks are known for their knowledge. They supposedly had this great knowledge, but it was knowledge that was not from above. They had this great wisdom, although it was the wisdom of the world. They prided themselves in their knowledge. They separated themselves in their minds and in their proximities from those who were not Greek. The Jews did the same. They had the oracles of God, and others didn't. So they had these separations that were formed, and they were thick, and they were real in the New Testament time. He goes on and he says,"In which there is no difference or no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, even with the Colossians, there were Jewish believers coming in and telling them they needed to be circumcised, telling them they need to keep the feast, telling them they need to keep the Torah, trying to lead them back into those ways. The Greeks were trying to tell them that there are many gods, and there are many philosophies, and there are many of this and many of that. So there's all this scrambled up mess, we'll say. Now the barbarians were not Greek. They didn't speak Greek, they didn't know their culture, so they were looked down on by the Greeks. They didn't have the law, they didn't have the oracles of God, so they were looked down on by the Jews. The sentience, they were the worst of the barbarians. They were wild men. And these barbarians and wild men, they despised those who had the knowledge, those who had the religion, they all despised each other. Then there were the slaves and then there were the freemen. So we have divisions that are abounding. We're talking about ethnic differences, social differences, religious differences, financial status differences, people of every kind, and now in Christ, and Christ in them, and for them, and Christ is all to them. Christ has somehow broken down all these walls of partitions that were separating everyone. All the glueability of Christ. I don't even know if that's a word, but I made it up. The glueability of Christ. How He can bring people together who are so far apart in every aspect. And yet, He glues them together with bonds of love and joy and peace and unity and truth and purity. The power of the constraining love of Christ. Christ really is all if He's in all. He is all in all. Whether you're Greek, whether you're Jew, whether you're bond, whether you're free, whether you're circumcised, uncircumcised, ball bearings, Cynthia, and it doesn't matter. All of that doesn't matter in Christ. Are we not living in shattered, scattered times of division even in our day? Yeah, we're different from others, and some are different than others, and many dislike the Democrat, the liberal left Democrat, the crazy communist Democrat and they greatly dislike the white right. Republican right, it is all this mess. Blacks against the whites, the whites against the blacks, the rich against the poor, the poor against the rich, the Ford driver against the Chevy driver and the Chevy driver against the Ford driver. What? The tolerant against the intolerant and the intolerant against the tolerant and we're like, all of these differences. But along comes Christ. And does a change to the heart? And it doesn't make us tolerant of the intolerant, but it does make us tolerant of the intolerant. But it makes us love and value and cherish Christ. And if Christ is in me and Christ is in you, then all of these things fall off like snow from a shaken Leoma. Does it matter? You have Christ. I have Christ. Christ is all in all. When he's all in all, he becomes our all. He becomes our every faith and he makes us one. Jesus Christ is all in all. All that is true. All that is honest. All that is just. All that is pure. All that is lovely. All that is good is in Christ. In him is life and that eternal John one four in him is no fault. John 19 six in him is no sin in him. All the promises of God are yes and Amen to the glory of God. Second Corinthians one twenty in him is all the fullness of God. Colossians one twenty nine and two nine in him is life and no darkness at all. First John one five in him is no unrighteousness. John seven eighteen in him. We are chosen before the foundation of the world. Ephesians one four in him we live and move and have our being acts seventeen twenty eight in him we walk in him. We are rooted and built up and established in the faith. Colossians two six and seven and in him. Colossians two ten we are complete. We are complete in him. He is all he is all in his seats as prophet. He's all as priest. He's all as King. He's all he is all in all in him is all fullness. All salvation full redemption full justification full propitiation a man full pardon full forgiveness full sanctification full satisfaction true and full pleasures forevermore. He is the full way the full truth the full life. He is the rock the fortress our hiding place. He is all in he's all he's everything. He's everything. All in all Psalm sixteen eleven says that will show me the path of life in his presence is fullness of joy at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore who are what is at the right hand of God. We just read it in Colossians three one that Christ is seated at the right hand of God and in him are pleasure forevermore. And John one sixteen is this and of his fullness. We have all received and grace for grace for the law was given by Moses but grace and truth came by Christ. Jesus Christ is all in all. Does Jesus make a difference? No, he makes all the difference. He makes up he makes us new. He makes us what we once were not. We were dead in trespasses and sin and were made alive in him. He's everything. Oh glory glory in Christ dear child of God glory in him. Oh, there are people in my former life whom I would not like or associate with. But now I love them. Why because Christ in me and Christ in them. He makes all the difference. He is all in all. How is this how is this possible? How can ones who once despised and hated one another now embrace he's all in all. He's all in all. It's made possible by the incarnate Son of God who came to us. He came to us. He came to earth and lived among us. We beheld his glory the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace. And he lived a perfect sinless holy life not one hand of a stain fulfilling perfectly the law. He loved God. He loved his father with all of his heart soul strength. My he loved God right. He lived this perfect holy sinless life. For you on our behalf so that that righteous life lived could be accounted to us. God looks at us as righteous as holy as perfect because Christ lived the righteous perfect holy life in our place glory glory. His life is imputed us his righteousness is imputed to us. Then he would offer himself as a lamb without spot or blemish to be the once and for all sacrifice for sin. Our sin imputed to him. Our sin laid on him. He receiving our he representing us in our sins on the cross the wrath of God being poured out on him in our place. Oh what a love. Oh what a glory that Christ would die our death to satisfy the demands of God. On our behalf God was demanding our death. The wages of sin is death. And those wages are satisfied in Christ. It is finished paid in full. And he would die. For us. But he didn't stay dead. Amen. He didn't stay dead. The grave had no claim. The grave had no claim. Oh it searched him. But it could find no spot no blemish no hint of sin spit him out up from the grave. He arose the mighty. Oh he's a lot. He's a lie. And he ascended to the right hand of the father. And he sits there now. Still representing. You and I. Interceding making the intercession for us. The gospel of glory isn't it. All the wisdom of God. In the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is all. In all. Let's pray. Oh Father. Christ Jesus is your beloved son. In whom you are well pleased. Would you make him our beloved? Would you make us well pleased in him? Make him everything to us. Make him all to us. Cause us to see him more clearly. So that we can love him more dearly. In dear Christ to us. Oh Lord. Make Christ and me lovely to my neighbor. Make Christ and my brothers and sisters lovely to me. For he is all together and lovely. All the power in the cross. Power in the resurrected life. That our old man is dead. And we are raised to walk a new life. As we look to Christ. As we see Christ. All changes in the world. Change us into that image. The image of your son. Oh Lord we need help. We need help. Lord I mess up every day. And it is because I look away. Fixed my eyes on Christ. Fix our eyes on Christ. For he is the author and finisher of our faith.
