Jesus Is First

Good morning, Church.

The scripture this morning is from Colossians 1, 15 through 23.

My name is Karen Frasier, and I have the honor of serving on the connection team and the hospitality team.

Again, our scripture this morning is Colossians 1, 15 through 23.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.

All things were created through him and for him.

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation and under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Thanks be for the word of the Lord.

Amen.

Thank you, Karen.

Well, good morning, church.

I know it's Labor Day, but good morning.

Hey, my name's Ryan.

Uh, I have the privilege of serving as one of our pastors here, as Trevor mentioned.

And as you heard, we're gonna be in Colossians 1.

So if you don't have your Bible, or if you want a free one or another one, uh go grab one in the back, or you can use your app or you can follow along.

I am eager and excited to get into the text with you this morning.

Uh here at Harbor, we love just to grab a book of the Bible and to work through verse by verse, uh verse by verse, teaching expositionally, not kind of cherry-picking the easy ones or avoiding the hard ones, uh, but we really long to allow Jesus to be first in our lives by allowing his word to reign first and foremost.

So uh one of the ways we do that too is just by praying.

So if you would again, would you pray with me as we just come under the word today?

Good and gracious Father, we thank you for another Sunday.

It's the first day of our week, and uh it's a good reminder that uh you should be first and primary in our lives.

So we thank you.

Uh that you uh promise to refresh us through your people, through the gathering, and through your word.

But Father, we confess of uh sometimes our lack of focus, our lack of desire, um, and we just express our need.

So, Father, we ask that you would uh do a mighty and profound work in us.

We trust that what you'll put before us um will be for your glory and our good.

And Father, I pray selfishly uh to strengthen my voice and to weaken my flesh, and I pray that I would be a herald for you and for you alone, and I pray that our people would respond uh to you alone.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

A couple weeks ago, uh my four-year-old Isla got big news.

Uh she uh got her very own and brand new set of pajamas.

Uh, these weren't like just any old uh pajamas, these are like the button-down silk ones, you know.

Uh and for a four-year-old, it's a pretty big deal that she can start to button them on her own.

Uh, but the only problem is that Isla sometimes gets that first button wrong.

And you know what happens when you get the first button wrong, right?

Like you keep going down the trail, and then like you got the fourth or fifth one, and it's just like hanging on, and you got this extra piece of shirt and doesn't know what to do, and then you don't know where to go from there, right?

The problem though is not usually with the fourth or fifth button, is it?

It's the first button.

That's true of pajamas, uh, but that's also really true of life.

Like you can be sincere, you can work hard, uh, you can keep buttoning things up, but if the first button is wrong, everything downstream usually just is out of order.

We know this, and Paul knows this.

Uh the apostle Paul here is writing to a church in Colossa, and the first and number one thing he cares about, and is of first importance, is Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the first button for Paul.

And if we get Jesus wrong, everything else is wrong, guys.

So, like, we we start to misunderstand God.

We start to misunderstand uh ourselves, or we misunderstand why we're gathering as the church, and we misunderstand even what like what our lives are for.

See, Colossae, uh, they were like a young church plant, um, and much like probably like us, just a few years old.

And this, you could say that this church plant was eating from a buffet of spiritual beliefs.

And so they they had their spiritual beliefs, but they were just kind of adding Jesus as like another side dish to their practices.

So Jesus was welcome, he just wasn't sufficient.

Uh you could also just say it was kind of like uh I love to go into this uh when I was a kid, build-a bear.

It was like build-a bear theology.

Like you grab something you like about what it says over here, you grab some therapeutic language, you grab that Bible verse that that buddy wore in college, uh, and then a political conviction, and then like, there you go, you got your God.

Uh and we laugh at that, but like we hear this all the time, don't we?

Like, you hear, I like to imagine God as, and that may sound like warm and open-minded, but guys, it can be dangerously misleading.

We don't get to imagine God according to our preferences.

See, the beauty is that God has actually revealed Himself.

And Paul says, if you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus.

So Paul is Paul is like a pastor to pastor here.

Uh he is most likely probably riding from a prison cell to this church plant before things even get even more out of order.

And for this young church, getting Jesus right was everything.

And Harbor, for a young church plant like us, getting Jesus right is everything.

We can get our gathering flow right, we can get our kids' ministry right, we can get our worship team right, our language right, our groups right, but like if we do not get Jesus right, we miss everything.

And you can almost say the whole shirt is crooked.

Not only will it not fit, we're not gonna actually be genuinely fruitful.

Uh so here's the big idea that Paul is gonna give us for Colossians 1.

Because Jesus is first, we must put him first.

Because Jesus is first, we must put him first.

Now, don't make the mistake that uh Jesus is first any more than actually the sun rises on its own, right?

Like we don't make Jesus first.

Well, he already is first, and we'll unpack that as we go.

But the question is whether our lives actually acknowledge that that reality is true.

And so this text is gonna just outline for us three specific things, three C's.

You know, if you're a good Baptist preacher, you know, you're gonna love this, right?

Uh Jesus is first in all of creation, Jesus is first in the church, and Jesus is first in conversion.

Creation, church, and conversion.

Here we go.

Jesus is first in creation.

If you got your Bibles, it's gonna be in verse 15.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

What does that mean that Jesus is the image of the invisible God?

Well, like God is invisible, right?

Like we can't discover him through our own speculation or imagination.

But God has made himself known through his son Jesus.

So if you want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus.

Look at his holiness, look at his compassion, look at his authority, look at his patience with the weak, and look at his confrontation with the proud.

Look at his tears beside one of his buddies, Lazarus' tomb.

Look at his mercy toward sinners.

See, Jesus doesn't merely give us information about God, he shows us God because he is God the Son.

Paul then calls him this phrase, firstborn of all creation.

Now, we just gotta slow down.

This phrase has caused a lot of confusion and corruption in the church.

So if you haven't started paying attention, go get a cup of coffee and like let's lock in, because this really matters.

This does not mean that Jesus was the first thing that was actually created.

There have been a lot of people hurt and misled because of this false teaching.

So listen here.

Jehovah's Witness and Mormons quote a lot of Bible verses, and honestly, like, can we just be honest?

Like, some of them are a lot more moral than some of our claiming Christians.

But they do not believe Jesus is God.

They don't believe Jesus is preeminent, which we'll get to.

They do not believe that he was first.

See, the word firstborn in the Greek here, it often just refers to like rank or inheritance or authority, uh, supremacy.

Now, if you just keep reading, we're in verse 15.

I want to show you, just looking at verse 16, to interpret verse 15, aside from even the correct meaning of firstborn here.

We want to let scripture interpret scripture here.

Verse 16 says this.

For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.

Don't you see?

If Jesus created all things, then Jesus can't be one of the created things.

And guys, like just rest assured, like these aren't like new false beliefs.

Uh, they've been corrected and refuted since the beginning of the church.

Hence, it's part of the church's job to defend sound doctrine.

In AD 325, just a quick history lesson for you, Council of Nicaea met uh to confront this guy, uh Arius, on his teaching about Jesus, who the Son was.

He thought that the Son was a created being.

And the church ended up after just looking at more and more scriptures and just the church tradition of seeing that, like, no, like Jesus is begotten, not made, fully God with the Father.

See, this is a 17-year-old, 1700-year-old heresy still around today, just under different names.

Now, Harbor, I don't tell you that for like for you to like ace like dusty theological trivia later with your friends.

These teachings, they show up at your doorsteps throughout the week in groups that honor Jesus with their words, but they deny his full deity.

And I say this very pastorally, but very precisely.

It's demonic and it's deceptive.

Like we can respect their commitment without pretending their view of Jesus as harmless.

See, Paul is saying that Jesus is not the first creature, Jesus is the creator.

Don't miss the little words in scripture, too.

Like, I love all the little words, they're just easier for me to read, let's be honest.

Uh the prepositions really matter in this block.

Uh, Mrs.

Palmer, my uh high school English teacher, would be really proud of me this week.

Because like I was not a great English student, she would bow to that, but I really started to study the prepositions here.

They really matter.

And the more you realize the power of a preposition, you see this.

Uh look at verse 16.

Like these two and three-letter words, don't skip over them.

Of, in, for.

Verse 16 says, All things were created through him and for him.

Jesus is the authority over creation, he's the agent of creation, and he's the aim of all of creation.

See, everything was created through him, and everything was created for him.

The sun was made for him, the oceans were made for him, that giant oak tree in your neighbor's yard was made for him, uh, every molecule was made for him, everything, every every dog, every person, every angel, every nation, everything was created through him and for him.

I love what Abraham Kuiper, an old theologian, said.

This is what he said.

He said, There's not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is sovereign over all, does not cry, mine.

I love that.

That means like ultimately, though, your life, it ain't yours.

Let me say that again.

Like, your life ain't yours.

Like your body is not ultimately yours, your home, your money, your skill set, your vocation, your children, your calendar, your future.

They're not yours.

They all belong to King and Creator Jesus.

And so we're not just owners, we're stewards.

And steward, a steward like receives something, he's entrusted with something, and then he looks to the owner for how to actually care for that something.

That means the fundamental question of life isn't like, uh, what do I do with all that is mine?

It flips it.

It actually like gives you the question of like, it's Jesus.

Like, how do you want me to use everything that's yours?

Paul's gonna continue, and then in verse 17, this is what he says.

And he says, and he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

So Jesus didn't like merely like create the world and then like walk away from it.

He continues to sustain it.

Do you ever just realize that?

Like he maintains gravity, he he regulates the pressure of the atmosphere, he set the earth in a particular distance away from the sun.

He he sustains every single heartbeat in this room and every single breath.

See, creation doesn't run independently from him from like one second.

In him, all things hold together.

Man, that that was a particularly good word for me this mor this uh week.

Uh, because I often feel like I'm just like trying to hold all things together.

Anybody else?

No?

Okay.

Uh you ever carry groceries into the house even and like decide like making two trips would be like a moral failure?

Like going in from the car, I mean like 32 bags hanging from each arm, like the milk's tucked underneath my arm.

I always got bananas in my teeth.

And then like trying to like hold the eggs while opening the door and like be gentle and patient with my kids.

Guys, this is how many of us actually just live emotionally, isn't it?

Like you're trying to hold together your schedule, your finances, your your marriage, your parenting, your work, your ministry and experiences and expectations, and not to mention all your internal dialogue in your own life.

You're exhausted because you're living as if everything depends on you holding it together, the strength of your own grip.

But guys, this verse isn't telling you to clench tighter, it's reminding you that Christ is holding all things together.

Now, that does not mean your life is always gonna feel orderly.

Like, think about the author here.

Paul is writing this from prison.

It means that the apparent chaos is not sovereign.

Jesus is sovereign.

Again, those little words are important.

That word all is really important too.

I think it's in this passage actually, like eight times or something like that.

Jesus created all and he is sustaining all.

I think he can hold together like your whining kids, your overwhelming work demands, that overwhelming class schedule, or the devastating medical bills.

I'm not minimizing that.

I'm just saying like the disorienting conversations with that difficult family member.

Like he's holding all things together.

And if Jesus is first over all creation, he should not merely just be important in our lives.

He's gotta be first.

See, Jesus isn't the biggest piece of the pie.

He's not even the crust, like he made the pie, he owns the pie, and he holds it all together.

You harbor, you you don't fit Jesus into your world, he becomes your world.

Your world exists in and through and for Jesus.

So let me just ask you, where is Jesus important but not first?

Is it your time?

Is it your money?

This week, very frankly, this hit me uh in my own heart around giving.

Uh our family, full disclosure, like we give generously.

Uh I would not be ashamed if you knew what your pastor and uh as another member of this church gave.

Uh honestly, I think that should be normal.

Uh, your leader should be living an exemplary lifestyle.

I don't say that as like a hoorah for the Myers.

Like, uh I just say like I'm not embarrassed by that.

But as I prayed and talked with my wife, Kelsey, like I became convinced and convicted that like, although our giving is respectable and honoring, it's been safe.

It's not first and best.

And Jesus says in Matthew 6, he says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

And so my job as a preacher of the word, as your pastor, is not to avoid subjects that actually just make you uncomfortable.

My job is to just preach the word faithfully, including what Jesus says about money.

Now, I know many of you, maybe if it's your first Sunday, you're like, right, right when I said the word money, you're like, see, another pastor talking about money.

Like, some of you have been, let's just be honest, some of you have been manipulated and abused by pastors and churches when it comes to money.

And that is wicked, and I am sorry.

But the answer to financial abuse is not to ignore what Jesus says about our treasure.

And some of you just flare up when I talk about money because money's got a grip on your heart and hooks into your own heart that you don't want to admit.

Like you either idolize the security that money actually promises, and so you check your bank account often throughout the day or throughout the week.

Uh, some of you probably just idolize the significance that money promises because of the experiences or the vacations or the wardrobe or the approval that you seek.

But guys, I just need you to know, like, God doesn't need your money.

God wants your heart.

And some of you say, like, God's got my heart, but he don't got your money.

I'll just say to you, like, He don't, he doesn't have your heart if he doesn't have your money.

That's not like some like manipulation rebuke, like, I don't want to give out of manipulation.

I just want you to see that like Jesus talked about money more than anybody else.

And it slayed me this week, and I just I have to trust that the Spirit is wanting to do something in that for some of you.

Like some of some of you, like that sentence that feels overwhelming.

And you're giving over your leftovers.

So I just have to ask you, like, are you giving out of your leftovers or what's first?

Like, I mean, you would never invite somebody over to your house and be like, what's in the back of the fridge?

Or think we'll give it to them.

No, you want that person to feel significant and thought of.

But God, so why do we do the same with our money and time?

So many other things.

So let me just ask you: like, where is Jesus important but not first?

Yeah, money.

Is it your calendar?

Your career, your comfort?

What about your reputation?

Some of us are working harder on our golf swing or setting up our bow for bow season.

I mean, I'm just outing myself here.

Uh, or working on your fantasy roster or your workout routine more than you actually are like getting to know Christ.

Some of us are giving more time to our comforts than actually like giving to our convictions.

Now, don't hear me say like those things aren't ultimately sinful.

Like, the the question is whether like a good created thing is like quietly crept into first place in your heart.

See, I meant I mentioned how this hit me this week, and I imagine there's many of you that the Spirit of God actually wants to hit this week and to comfort and to actually redeem for you.

See, I just want to encourage you, like, in part, God has actually used several of you in this room to surface this in my own heart, where I am not putting Jesus first.

Like some of you in Harbor could literally write a book on like making Jesus first in your giving and getting no credit for it discreetly.

Giving and giving isn't just a leftovers to you, it's like first and foremost and a joy to you.

It should be.

And I won't name names, but like even a member of Harbor this last week, like literally took a demotion because he wanted to prioritize family discipleship in this season of his life, is what he said.

He took a financial hit.

That means he's probably like retiring later.

But he he looked at me and he's like, dude, this is what matters.

Jesus is first.

And that's gonna come at a cost to us.

But guys, who who cares?

Jesus is first in all of creation.

But I love how Paul doesn't like leaving, like, leave this like floating above in the universe.

The one over creation is intimately involved even with his people and connected to his people.

So let's let's keep going.

Dive into point two.

Jesus is first in the church.

Verse 18.

And he is head of the body, the church.

Jesus is the head.

The church is the body.

Think about that metaphor for a minute.

The head is the Distant from the body.

Shouting instructions like afar from a control tower.

The head and body are like organically connected through blood and uh tissue and muscle and nerves.

And that tells you something about Christ and his close relationship with the church.

See, Jesus isn't some distant founder that like founds you and then like tosses you the instruction manual, is like, figure it out, bro.

No, like we depend upon him as our living head for direction, for nourishment, for unity, for growth.

It tells us something too about his authority.

Like you can lose many parts of the body and continue living, though life will change dramatically, right?

But if the body loses its head, she gone.

Like it's over.

See, a church can survive a loss of a pastor, a church can survive a change in location or musical style or programs or even just leadership structure.

But if a church loses its head, whatever activity remains, it's no true, it's not it's no longer truly life.

And you just need to know, like, Trevor and I are not the heads of this church.

We are under-shepherds serving King Jesus, the chief shepherd, and we're always gonna try and do our best.

But we are not always going to get it right.

Some of you are like, amen, let me tell you how.

But like, let me tell you, like, we're gonna make mistakes.

But you can rest assured that Jesus is still in charge and guiding us according to his will.

The church doesn't belong to us.

The church doesn't belong to the most generous people or the founding members or the people that are serving the most.

The church belongs to Jesus.

So that means the church isn't necessarily about me, and the church isn't necessarily about you.

I'm gonna say that again.

That means the church isn't about you.

I wanna say that again.

No, but listen carefully.

Like, the church is not about you, but guys, it is for you.

It's Christ's gift for your worship, your maturity, your correction, your encouragement, and care.

And because the church is about Jesus, our preferences do not get to become our highest priorities.

Like, the first question when we enter a new church, or even when we've been a part of the church, is like, man, like whether the music matched my preference or it's it's the same as the church I came from, and how they set things up, youth group-wise, or was the chair comfortable?

We're in a lunchroom.

It's not gonna be comfortable, okay?

The graphics looked good, the programming fit my ideal, like, or what I'm used to.

Every church is different, y'all.

But the first question has to be this Was Jesus Christ exalted?

Was his word faithfully preached?

Like, are we obeying him as a church?

Are people actually being formed to be more like Jesus?

See, we we don't take our marching orders as a church uh from like marketing gurus or therapeutic culture uh or like church growth manuals or business forums.

We can learn some things, but like we receive our direction from the church.

Paul's gonna continue with this.

He's gonna keep going in verse 18.

Look with me.

He says, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Okay, so what does that mean?

Firstborn from the dead.

Jesus was not the first person restored to life, right?

Like uh Lazarus came out of the tomb, but Lazarus eventually uh died again.

It means that actually, like Jesus has first place over everything, first place over even death.

And his resurrection is actually the start of a new creation, a new people.

He's the first fruits, and he's the guarantee that everyone united to him will also rise.

That's why Paul goes on to say that like in him everything he might be preeminent.

Now that's another like word we don't use every single day.

Like one other Bible translation, the CSB, even translates this verse that's helpful.

It says this so that he might come to have first place among everything.

There it is.

Like that's the sermon.

Jesus is first.

He's first over creation, he's first over death, he's first over new creation and the church.

There is no sphere in which Jesus Christ is second.

Why?

Paul goes on.

Verse 19.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

Uh, this is like a classic verse of Christology, like, which just means like what we believe about Jesus.

Harvard, you you should know this verse.

Like you should memorize it.

It should be in your back pocket.

Some of you, like, you need to tattoo this verse on your arm.

Like some of you I've seen your tattoos.

Like, all of us know somebody that's got a BC tattoo before Christ.

Like, you should tattoo over that tattoo with this verse, okay?

I'm not saying you should go get a tattoo.

Your pastor didn't say that.

I'm just trying to use an example of you should memorize this.

Okay.

Jesus did not slowly attain divine status.

He's not partially divine or merely uh God-like.

All the fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him.

See, the God of the Bible is a God who eternally exists as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

So we're gonna do some do some work here.

Like put on your your your thinking uh uh caps for me, okay?

This is God who is three persons.

They are distinct, they are not three separate gods.

Jesus is the God.

Jesus is God in human flesh, though.

And because of that, that's why he's head of the church.

See, the church belongs to God, and Jesus is God.

Verse 20 goes on, it says this.

It says, and through him to reconcile himself all things, to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Okay, so verse 20 is gonna like complete this second movement and then move us on to the third movement.

Uh, Jesus is the head of the church because why?

Uh he didn't merely organize it, he actually like birthed it by dying and rising again, reconciling it through his blood.

And so the firstborn over all creation was nailed to a human cross, a Roman cross.

The one holding all things together was held up by stakes in his hands.

The one through whom all things were made shed his blood to make peace for alienated sinners.

You ever think about it?

Like, Jesus didn't tithe his blood, he poured it all out for you and I.

And guys, that's how Christ leads his church sacrificially, not through selfish domination, not through giving the leftovers, but by giving his first and best, his life.

And so the church, you and I, are meant to like display this reconciliation to the world around us.

Can we just name that?

Like, it feels like we're living in some really unprecedented times, like with polarization, like between like all the fake news and your algorithm on social media, and you see one thing, I see another, and all these different takes and hot takes.

Like, guys, we live in a culture segmented by like politics and race and preferences and suspicion and income.

But Christ is building one body under one head, and that's in part why like one of our uh distinct values at Harbor is just relational beauty.

The church should give a preview of what Christ's reconciled peace looks like between actual people, all different people with like different wardrobes, different income brackets, different stories, personalities, like strengths and weaknesses.

I just want you to know, you're welcome here.

We got an awkward, uncomfortable chair for you.

Like, but welcome does not mean unchanged.

Together, we come under one head and are transformed into his likeness.

So, guys, like when we hold grudges or gossip or divide over preferences or treat the church like a religious product, we misrepresent our head.

And when we serve faithfully and we forgive radically, we give generously and cheerfully and we love cross-generationally, we put the beauty and worth of Jesus on display.

The church belongs to Jesus.

And I love what Paul's gonna do here.

He brings these cosmic realities about his people, and he's gonna bring it down into a local body and a local place.

This is what he says in uh right here at the beginning of the verse 20 and 21.

He says, and all things that have been reconciled, and he says, and you.

Let's look at verse 21.

Jesus is first in conversion.

It's hot in here.

Anybody else?

Man.

Some of you are like, it's just you, okay.

All right.

Look at verse 21.

And you who were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds.

Safe for the whole family.

That is not even an encouraging verse, is it?

Like, none of you got that tattooed on your back.

Like, maybe I should keep me humble, right?

The Bible is like an x-ray machine.

It shows us what is happening beneath the polished surface.

Left to ourselves, we are not spiritually neutral.

We were alienated from God.

We were hostile in mind, we were running the opposite direction, and that hostility expressed itself through evil deeds.

And we often resist language like this, don't we?

Because we actually prefer to ourselves, we prefer to look at ourselves and think like we're pretty good.

We just we just needed a little bit of spiritual assistance or guidance.

But scripture says something pretty honest and different.

It says scripture says we were not wandering toward God and like struggling to find the address.

We all know and sing the lyrics of like amazing grace.

Like, I once was lost, but now I'm fine, I was blind, but now I see.

I won't sing that for you.

Uh but we'll sing that, but we don't easily admit that, do we?

Like we all come out of the womb tiny, tiny and cute, but like full-fledged sinners is and sin is rebellion.

Like, you don't have to teach a toddler uh to rebel any more than you have to teach a baby to cry.

Amen.

Like it's just part of their nature.

Like Psalm 51, 5 even says, like, uh behold, I was brought forth in sin, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

See, anything we place uh above Jesus in our life is actually sin.

See, when something else comes first, life gets out of order.

And God is a God of order.

Back in Genesis 1, like he created man and woman to walk with him, to be with him, walking in the garden, aka like living under his reign and rule and relationship.

But what happened?

Like, man actually tried to make what's primary secondary.

They elevated their own desires.

But Paul's not done here.

He he recognizes that past, but then he's gonna give us some glorious words.

Look at verse 22.

He has now reconciled.

Who moved first?

Jesus moved first.

Anyone that knows me knows uh I love to like uh sing that song.

Uh what is it uh it says, I have decided to follow Jesus.

No, turn, you know what I'm saying?

I'm not gonna keep going, okay?

Uh but I often joke when I sing that song, like it's actually getting ahead of things, or it's like missing some things theologically.

And here's what I mean: like it expresses a real and necessary response.

We do repent, we do believe, uh, we do follow.

God does not erase our agency, that's not what I'm saying.

But there should be a line in there uh about something like God never like God moved first.

God actually softened our heart.

Before we ever moved toward Jesus, he moved toward us.

See, we were unable to make peace on our own, and he made peace through the blood of his cross.

Paul's gonna finish this in verse 22.

Look at me, he says, He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him.

Jesus reconciled, Jesus acted.

Lance, God bless you.

Thanks, brother.

Appreciate you, man.

Thanks, Lance.

All right, that's water, by the way, okay.

All right, Jesus reconciled, Jesus acted, Jesus died.

Jesus will present us holy and blameless.

And salvation here is his work before it is our response.

That's why Jesus is first in conversion.

See, he doesn't merely help good people just become better.

He reconciles enemies and makes them holy.

See, biblically, conversion means like turning.

We turn from placing other things in first place in our lives.

We stop giving other people, organizations, or hobbies first priority.

And by grace, we actually like turn and we turn from sin and we turn from self-rule towards Jesus in repentance and faith.

But that turning begins when God has first acted towards us in Christ.

See, God was first and he went first.

And he not only modeled the perfect life for us, he surrendered his life in the perfect display of sacrificial love.

You want a summary of the gospel?

When you were at your worst, Jesus Christ gave his best.

When you were at your worst, Jesus Christ gave him, gave you your best, his best.

But but we also need to realize like he didn't just bail you out of hell, hell.

I sounded like a southerner there, didn't I?

He didn't just bail you out of hell.

He is transforming you into a people who are holy, who are blameless, who are above reproach.

So his grace does not just forgive your hostility toward him.

He doesn't leave you just in your hostility.

He actually wants to change you into be a peacemaker.

God softens you, he teaches you, he humbles you, he helps you, and it gives you a new desire to obey, even when that obedience is difficult.

Now, that does not mean like a Christian is never gonna struggle.

It means the settled direction of your life has changed.

Some of you are like, man, I keep stumbling.

That's okay.

We may stumble, but we no longer run from Jesus.

You run to him.

You want to follow him.

Paul's gonna then add this in verse 23.

He says, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

Now, at first pass, uh this may seem like Paul is saying our conversion is or salvation is like conditional or upon something we do or our obedience.

Paul is not saying that Jesus like gets you started, and then it's like up to you to like continue to earn your religious favor or religious effort.

I want you to notice like their continuance is a continuance of what?

It says continuance in the faith.

They continue by trusting the same Jesus who saved them in the beginning.

Perseverance does not earn your reconciliation.

Perseverance is proof of your reconciliation.

And Paul says, do not shift from the hope of the gospel that you heard.

Guys, that word gospel just, aka just means like good news that Jesus saves you through his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, and sends his spirit.

You don't graduate from the gospel, you don't move on from it, you actually just sink deeper into it.

And Paul says that is the gospel that is being proclaimed all over and throughout creation.

News about Jesus.

Now, quick side note.

Uh because Christ is first in conversion, that actually means he has to be first in our evangelism.

Here's what I mean.

I talk to a lot of people, uh, and I and when I talk to them, a lot of times I hear their story.

Like they talk about, like, hey, I grew up in church, they know Bible verses, and they call themselves believers.

But when they tell their story, sometimes things are missing.

I hear about like Christian parents and community and cleaned up behavior, like, hey, I used to spend Saturday night at the bar, and now I'm in like an awesome community group, or Sunday mornings was hungover, or I just was doing other things on the golf course and now I'm with God's people.

Dude, celebrate that.

Those are great changes.

But it is possible to substitute religious activity for reconciliation with Jesus.

It's possible to substitute religious activity for reconciliation or relationship with Jesus.

That is why when somebody tells me their story, I'm just kind of listening with the spirit.

Like, sometimes 75% of a testimony is like all about your old life, how wild you used to be, or like, uh, and Jesus gets like 10% at the end.

Like, it's like I was doing all these things and I was cursing and I was sleeping with my girlfriend, and then like, and then all of a sudden I started going to church, and now my life's great, man.

And not everybody's story is that way, but I need you to see like the gospel is not primarily about what you stopped doing.

The gospel is that you were alienated from God and he moved towards you and reconciled you through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

He gave his body, he shed his blood, he rose victoriously.

Jesus is not just a supporting character in your story.

Guys, Jesus is the hero of your story.

See, like your sin does explain why you need saving.

And Jesus, though, is the one who saved you.

Let's just put a megaphone on Jesus.

Sometimes I'll even ask then, like, you know, in that conversation, then, like, so I've heard about your church experience and the people who've helped you.

Uh, and tell me more about Jesus.

I just want to hear, like, who is Jesus to you?

How has he met you?

How has he transformed you?

How is he shaping and challenging you?

So when you tell your story, I just encourage you, like, let Jesus be the hero of your story.

And and when you do tell your story, if Jesus isn't the hero of your story, there's probably a couple things to consider.

First, like, maybe you just need to give him more credit.

Like, maybe it's just a words thing.

Second, you might actually need to re like reevaluate whether or not you're a Christian or just religious.

Like, I'm not saying that to be harsh or uh reprimanding.

I say that because like I just care about you.

I love you.

If you're a Christian, I want you to like learn more about Jesus, and I want your life to actually be putting him first in your story just as much as it already is.

Like, I just want to like name what's actually going on.

But if you're a non-Christian, I I don't want you just to be a religious non-Christian.

I want you to like truly be born again and fully converted to Christ because, guys, he's the only one that actually can save you and sustain you and change you.

No amount of religion or moralism is gonna do that.

Because Jesus is first in our conversion, he's gotta be first in our evangelism.

And he's just first in the rest of our lives, then.

See, that was the danger facing the Colossians.

They had heard the gospel, uh, they they had received Christ, but now they were being tempted to like shift their weight onto something else.

Not necessarily reject Jesus completely, just to move him out of first place.

I think if you even just took a survey in Sarpee County, there wouldn't be that many people that would just reject Jesus entirely.

The Colossians needed this reorientation, and we need this reorientation.

We don't treat the gospel just as like the front door to get in on life with God.

It's the pathway that we continually just to walk on and stumble through.

You began depending upon Jesus, and we maintain a walk by depending on Jesus.

Jesus is first in conversion because in his grace he moved first to reconcile us, to purchase us, and in his grace, he continues to sustain us.

Because Jesus is first, we must put him first in all things.

So let me just leave you with those questions again.

Where is Jesus important to you, but not first?

Where is Jesus important to you, but not first?

What is currently receiving your first and best?

But I recognize like even saying like give Jesus your first and best does not go far enough.

Jesus doesn't want the best slice or while the rest of yours just remains, uh.

He is the Lord and He owns the whole thing.

Your first hour belongs to Jesus, your last hour belongs to Jesus, your Sunday morning belongs to Jesus, and your Friday night belongs to Jesus.

Your worship, your wardrobe, your vocation, your skill set, your family, your relationships, your car.

It's all Jesus.

And here's the gospel: the one who deserved first place did not remain distant from us.

The first overall became the lowest of all.

We do not make Jesus first, we do not uh make Jesus supreme, we put Jesus first because he already is supreme.

Christian obedience is simply just bringing our lives into alignment with that reality.

Jesus is first in creation, Jesus is first in the church, Jesus is first in conversion.

In everything, Christ is preeminent.

However, because Jesus is first, let's put him first.

Amen.

Let's pray.

Good and heavenly Father, we deserve the worst.

But you gave us your best.

We thank you that despite that, you delight to give us your best.

And you don't give it to us reluctantly.

You care for us, you meet us exactly where each of us are at.

There's no one here by mistake.

And so, Holy Spirit, I pray that you would apply this word to our hearts.

Allow us not to leave here unchanged.

Allow us to be uh almost like wholly haunted by your spirit in a good way, like as the hound of Christ, the old reformers used to say, of well, would we actually be hounded in the right way?

Returning to our home, returning that we can't earn any of this love, but just receiving this love is too good to be true.

And so, Father, help us to make you first in all things.

Help us know that when we do that, we're gonna have the first of joy, the first of peace, and the first of love.

So, Jesus, we pray in your powerful name.

Amen.