The Preeminence of Christ

All right, let us pray Well, we thank you that

once again together in your name as a body Within

the the sea of those who are gathered today across

the world across our nation across our city Across

our region And we'll be thanking you for all

those places you like hearing me gather around

your word. We ask that you prepare all of our

hearts, including mine, to hear what your spirit

has to say to us this moment. I pray in the Lord

that you would touch this vessel of clay that

I will be able to deliver this word as you would

have it delivered. to your people. Lord, give

us all understanding at the heart level. Lord,

does anyone among us who does not know you, may

this be the day that they hear your spirit calling

them to you, that they may embrace this gracious

reward and begin this journey that will last

for eternity. These things we pray in Jesus'

name. All right. We did hear our text read a

couple minutes ago, but I'm going to reread it.

It is indeed found in Colossians 1, verses 15

Colossians 1:15–19

through 19. Colossians 1, verses 15 through 19.

Colossians 1:15–19

It is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn

of all creation. For by him all things are created,

in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

whether thrones, dominions, rulers, authorities,

all things are 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 first born

from the dead. that in everything he might be

preeminent. For in him all foods of God was pleased

to dwell. This is the word of our God. One of

the questions that crossed my mind, and I put

in my notes, is Jesus Christ one among the founders

of various religions? Or is it more than that?

Even the only way to know it? Does religion have

a voice in the matters of the origins and workings

of the universe? Is the whole spiritual thing

an aspect of each individual's private life that

they must decide for themselves? Or Is each individual

situated within the world made by God, the God

of the Christian faith? Yes, I was talking to

a pipeline worker who was digging around our

street about, what do you think about God? And

that's one of the things he said. I'm trying

to figure it out. I'm doing research. Is that

really how this works? So as we look today at

the Colossian heresy that was going on in the

church Colossae at that Colossae at that time

and as we see Paul Addressing what we can discern

of that heresy in the book We'll begin to see

you know there's a lot of things that are still

the same and This word that Paul preached to

wrote to the church of Colossae applies to us

as well today. Now, we want to see four major

truths while communicating about Christ here.

Christ is God, Christ is creator, Christ is sustainer,

and Christ is the head of the church, the new

humanity. Now, I know for some people in here

that might be review, but it's always good to

review those foundational truths of scripture,

but we might not lose our grip on them and see

how they once again apply to our lives. Now,

a lot has been going on in Colossi, and it's

been driven by this heresy, or maybe even heresies,

so we can again only discern What it is what

it was from material in book there is no extra

biblical material Just dig around and find out

what this thing is what we do seem to understand

is that there were young converts under cultural

pressure to conform to the beliefs and practices

of their pagan and Jewish neighbors Paganism

defined by one writer as the idea that the highest

goal of human existence is a healthy, harmonious,

and joyous life. In modern parlance, your best

life now. They were being pushed toward mixing

Christ with other spiritualities and other religions,

that's called syncretism, based on the spirit

of their age that would pollute the purity and

limit the extent of their infaith. The person

in work of Christ was only part of spirituality

from that perspective. There was so much more,

however. In other words, they're thinking that

there's so much more than just Christ. In other

words, Christ is either not enough or he's just

not all that there is. There's more. As you sort

through the various statements made in the letter,

you can discern some of the ideas floating around,

such as maintaining legalistic observances of

certain forms of Judaism, or Greek spiritual

speculation, or the place of angels as agents

of creation, givers of God's wall and other misconceptions,

or any focus on heavenly intermediaries. Ways

to get to God. Or knowledge of the spiritual

elite and their visionary experiences. And the

wish of elemental beings. It's a whole big thing

on that we don't need to get into. Or spiritual

growth through rigorous physical asceticism.

And the left. Just a lot, as you can see, a lot

of stuff going on that Paul had to deal with.

Paul realizes that one reason why they're bouncing

all these things around is they don't really

understand who Jesus is and the awesomeness of

his word and his person. So Paul puts on display

the preeminence of Christ over all this mess,

showing that he is the very creator of and lord

over all these spiritual beings and realities

and entities that they are seeking through various

practices. Despite the time difference between

ancient Colossi and the modern West, you can

tell that there's a certain familiarity, even

though there's not a one -on -one correspondence.

You can bet you have these people seeking things

that are similar, even in our own day. Let me

just make a theological side note. Verses 15

through 20 have a poetic meter about them that

suggests that this may have been an early hymn

-like creed of the church, an early summary,

which Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy

Spirit, included in his letter. It might also

have been a Jewish creed that Paul repurposed

for the body of Christ. But in either way, it

captures a summary of the person of Christ and

subsequent verses, that is verses 20 through

22, capture the work of Christ. So this brings

us to point one. Christ, which means by the way,

Messiah or the anointed one, Christ is not Jesus'

last name. is God, verses 15a, 17, and 19. Now

Christ is God here in three ways. He is the image

of the Father, two, He preexisted before creation

like the Father, and three, is fully divine,

the fullness of God like the Father. So first

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

verses 15a. Westminister confession chapter 2

.1 tells us there is but one only living and

true God who is infinite in being and perfection

a most pure spirit invisible without body and

then goes on displaying a host of other attributes

like most holy most wise almighty Most loving,

most merciful. Boy, I can see somebody doing

a rap with that. Not somebody in here can put

that together. Christ is the exact imprint, Hebrews

1 -3 tells us, of this only living and true God

in bodily form. You can hear your testimony over

and over saying, I am God, and your reason to

live. I am God, and your reason to live. He is

more than just a snapshot. Christ fully reveals

God who is this pure spirit, who is invisible

to the naked eye. I can still hear my grand daughter

around to say, but I can't sing. Yeah, that's

the way he is. That's why Jesus came, so we can

see, right? Picture in your mind the image of

a signature on a stamp or an official Roman seal

impressed on wax. And you get the idea of Paul

is trying to get across how much Jesus is the

imprint of the father. Today, it would be something

like a Notre Republic's embossed seal stamped

on paper. Now it's recorded in the gospel of

John verses chapter verse chapter 14 verses 8

through 10 Philip said to him Lord Show us a

father and it is enough for us Jesus said damn

Have I been with you so long and you still don't

know me Philip Whoever has seen me has seen the

father How can you say show us the Father? Do

you not believe that I am in the Father and the

Father is in me? See Jesus shows us the Father's

nature, character, love, will and more for he

is God come in the flesh. Secondly, like the

Father he is before all things. Verse 17a he

pre -existed with the Father before creation

Hence he shares in the eternality of the Father's

nature He has been around from the everlasting

everlasting out of nowhere in John 8 15 57 59

that you said to him You are not quite 50 years

old and you have seen Abraham Really? And Jesus

said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, before

Abraham was, I am. It freaked everybody out.

They start picking up rocks. They were going

to kill his brother. But he slipped out. And

now the temple that your mother picked this time

was not yet. Because see, they understood. The

significance of now is saying, yeah, I saw him

back then. But saying, I am? Really? Yes. Again,

underlining he indeed is God. And thirdly, God

was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in

him. One of the temptations of the early church

was to see Jesus not as having or possessing

the full measure of divine life, divine revelation,

or have complete divinity. Christ was not some

spiritual middleman between God and humanity,

simply controlling access to Him. There's that

intermediary business. God the Father was pleased

to have His full divinity contained in the incarnate

Christ, including all of His attributes and activities.

God's Spirit, Word, Wisdom, Glory, all perfectly

contained and disclosed in Christ. Although his

glory was restrained, because if he had turned

his glory loose, we'd have all been toast. Or

actually, if we were alone, we wouldn't be here

because the world had been toast. The early church

father Athanasius, against the original Jehovah's

Witnesses, the Arians, created a creed to underscore

the fullness of God shared in all three persons

of the Trinity. Which I found out you folks were

sighted. We see it in fully. It's quite a feat

Let me just quote part of it The divinity of

the Father Son and Holy Spirit is one their glory

even their majesty holy China What probably the

father has the son has and the spirit has the

father is uncreated The son is uncreated the

Holy Spirit is uncreated The Father is immeasurable.

The Son is immeasurable. The Holy Spirit is immeasurable.

The Father is eternal. The Son is eternal. The

Holy Spirit is eternal. I'm told. You get the

idea. Jesus is fully divine as well as fully

human. Brings us to point two. Christ is creator.

Verses 15b and 16. Now it turns out that Christ

was as much involved in the creation as the Father.

And that would make sense, since the creation

was a Trinitarian enterprise. The Trinity, of

course, being one God, three persons. Paul wants

to highlight that whatever spiritual entity that

the culture is all excited about, Jesus is preeminent

and the creator of them. Now he does that Four

sub -points, I know this outline is really getting

in there, but you know, it's there. This is a

very rich text. Very rich. So Christ is preeminent

over creation. Christ is the womb of creation.

Christ is the agent of creation. And he is the

purpose of creation. Now when it says the firstborn

of all creation, this is firstborn metaphorically.

He ranks as beloved firstborn son with the priority

of rank over all creation He is not the eldest

or oldest creation of all the created order Contra

did you hold witnesses of today and the Aryans

of the fourth century AD? Nor is he one among

equals is one commentator put it He is both prior

to and supreme over that creation, since he is

its Lord. How can you be the eldest, the oldest

of all the creation, when by him all things are

created? The logic just doesn't work. Second

is the point. By him all things were created.

Now, by him, more literally is translated, in

him. In, and this points to him as the womb of

creation. As we were elected in Christ before

the foundation of the world, so creation was

in Christ first before it became manifested as

it is today. Thirdly, through him. This makes

him the agent of creation. He's the one for whom

the creative process was carried out He was one

two states through him the universe was made

John 1 3 through him all things were made without

him nothing was made that has been made Now I

know about you, but I was growing up. I just

never imagined Jesus being tied into creation

That's when I got older, and I realized, oh wow,

really? It wasn't just the daddy father creating

the world. And then Jesus went in it later and

saved it. He was there from the beginning. What

I have found really interesting lately is that

the creation is also for him. He has the purpose

for creation. He is the ultimate reason, purpose,

and goal for why creation was created in the

first place. He is the heir of all things and

will rule supreme one day over all of it. He

is the Alpha and the Omega of creation through

the praise of his glory. And all things will

be at one point beneath his feet. Hard for us

to grasp since we don't see that right yet. And

Scripture talks about that. It's coming. Whether

we can see it or not, it's coming. Now, this

all means that there are specific purposes God

has to embody in the creation itself. For instance,

purpose is built into the objective biological

creation of the male and female body. We don't

have the right to declare or attempt to erase

or deface our sex and thus set it aside the embedded

creational purposes just because we feel a certain

way subjectively there's purpose built in to

the creation of the subject and we live in a

culture ever since the baby boom when we're trying

to find ourselves a wider ear and all of that

some of that's already been built in And some

of that, and if we pay attention to that, we

can begin to understand something about why we're

here. It's there. How do we get there? Now what

all was created? Passage tells us the seen and

the unseen, the earth and the heaven, but in

other words, all of reality. The seen world,

including the stars, planets, earth, all that

is within it, including the rats and rogues.

which, in my view, are part of the fall. The

thorns in the thistle. The unseen world, the

naming of these various classes of spiritual

beings without identifying hierarchy or whether

they're good or bad, is to bring home the point,

again, contrary to the colossal heresy, that

these supposed intermediaries, thrones, dominions,

rulers, Authorities, angels or demons, excuse

me, were actually created in, through and for

Christ. Again, he's not one among all of this.

This brings me now to point three. So, one, Christ

is God. Two, Christ is creator. Three, Christ

is sustainer. He holds in him all things pulled

together. Conceptually, people at that time thought

that there was, in fact, some overarching power

that kept the world together. You know, it's

only in our day that we decided to just sort

of go there and just sort of hang together. But

Paul identifies this power as the risen frost.

Christ does so through the word of his power,

even one thing. The perfect sense of the verb

here in Colossians, translated, holds together

intelligence that Christ actively and continually,

moment by moment, keeps the universe from flying

apart. I'm seeing a kid about four years old.

Trying to show mommy and daddy how that happened.

They got a Lego set. And then they flam! The

whole thing falls apart, right? Christ keeps

the Lego creation from falling apart. The universe

itself from falling apart. Like that Lego set.

Now Jesus did not create the world therefore.

And stole some high -tech lithium battery. and

then let it run on its own. That's the updated

translation of the definition of deism. They

used to say you wind up the clock, but who winds

up the clock? Rather, he's actively present in

the process of the universe holding again. Lesbianist

Confession Chapter 5 .1 states, God, the great

creator of all things, doth uphold the wrath.

dispose and govern all creatures actions and

things the greatest even to the least by his

most wise and holy providence yeah think about

that because our world says exactly that there

is no providence and that the laws governing

the universe is what keeps it going Do that or

some other kinds of sources? Now, you know people

say well the Bible's not a science book. No,

the Bible does not tell us all the inner workings

of our car work, so to speak. Praise this. But

it gives us, and I'm getting ahead of myself,

but I'm really ahead. It gives us the big, big

picture of how all this got here. It does. Praise

the Lord. That brings me to Point four. Christ

is the head of his body and Lord of his church.

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

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

that in everything he might have remnants. So

once again, there's a number of things he's covering

here. So not only is he the beginning of the

first creation, he's also the beginning of the

new creation. the new humanity, the next reality.

We are not merely new creatures, we are actually

the new creation, which full manifestation will

be brought into being when we ourselves have

reached the full glory that has been promised

for us. Jesus is said here, the firstborn from

the dead. He's not just the first person to rise

from the dead with a glorified body. He is the

down payment on our own resurrection Because

he rose We will rise again Yes, we've been rising

to those of us that a little closer to the end

and some of y 'all That sounds really good He

is the first fruits of all those who sleep That

is those who are dead in Christ first Corinthians

15 to him He is the preeminent one the first

in rank over all this new creation as he is the

firstborn of the firstborn of the first creation

that is he stands in the place of supremacy over

the new humanity and the new world to come as

he stands over the old So this also underscores

the fact that he's the head. He is both the preeminent

authority and the fundamental source of the body

of Christ. One writer put it like this, the body

of Christ is vitalized by his abiding presence

and energized by his power and directed by his

word and spirit. John 15, 5 says, without him,

we. can do nothing. Christ is God. Christ is

creator. Christ is sustainer. Christ is the head

of the church. So what does this mean for us

today? Well first we indeed see that Christ That

Christ is the God -man, and not simply a man,

that founded a religion. He is God coming to

the flesh to save the world. But this helps us

see Christ beyond just his work of redemption,

being the creator, sustainer, and head of the

church as well. So in discussing Christ as creator,

Paul crosses over into what we would consider

today the science of cosmology, the study of

the origin, structure, and ultimate fate of the

universe. I'm catching up with my notes here.

Many would say that this is the domain of science

and not religion and the superstitions, as some

people would refer to us and what we believe.

On the contrary, The origins, structure, and

ultimate transformations of the universe can

only be understood in its most fundamental level

through revelation given from above and not from

conclusions made from below. Again, you're talking

about big critique here. Science can indeed give

us insight into the workings of the universe

and its structure, but it cannot conclude from

its observations It's origin. Sorry about that.

You can't. One thing that is true, as scientists

continue to dig, they see indications that what

Revelation says about the creations being created

is probably true. That is happening. In fact,

there's the wood in the back alley. Is there

even questions about the whole Big Bang Theory

being tossed around now? That never tossed around

before, in terms of first cause being, again,

something impersonal. The universe is not impersonal.

The universe is personal. Somebody out there,

Dr. Francis Siffman, would say that final reality,

there is nothing in back of God. He is final

reality. When fallen scientists attempt to conclude

exactly what the origins are from the bottom

up, they wind up suppressing the truth of God

woven into the creation, Romans 1, 18 -20, contesting

his ownership of it, denying his continual providential

care over it, rejecting his purpose built into

it. for violating his moral requirements that

govern it and even deny his very existence altogether.

After all, some would say, we cannot see this

creator that you guys declare has done all these

things. I submit to you that Paul complicates

that logic. Because he declares that the Incarnate

Christ who walked among us in history whom John

states they saw heard and touched with their

hands It by virtue of being the second member

of the Trinity himself also created So now How

scientists who have that would say that God doesn't

exist because he's not seen it. Whatever it is,

is not only suppressing the truth in their hearts,

they must dismiss the testimonies of them who

have seen, heard, and touched the living Christ.

Who would you, or what would you rather believe?

The concrete illusions of the modern world? where

the concrete reality of religion trumps. I just

ran across that phrase recently. Concrete illusion.

Something that's concrete, and yet it is illusion.

It comes from somebody that has a thingy in the

bulletin in the past. Pierce Taylor's hips. Concrete

reality. How can something be concrete? and yet

an illusion. The answer to this is, the world

is passing away and the lusts tear up. Yes, the

world is concrete, but this coming day, well

this is going to be gone. Because the 1st Corinthians,

2nd Corinthians 4, 18 says, for what is seen

is temporal, and what is unseen is eternal. So,

You can either stand on concrete illusions or

concrete realities and Jesus makes the invisible

reality concrete because he came in the flesh

on this earth in time and space and living among

us. That's how significant the incarnation really

is. That's an eight -man movie. Here's your dick.

All right, I got ahead of myself. It was reported,

oh, so, let me say this. Because he is who he

is. Faith in him is not an option among others.

He's not a choice left to our personal preference

or our personal research Every knee will bow

every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord

on the last day no matter who you are or how

smart you are We are part of the creation of

God not God a part of the psychosocial creation

of the human of the minds of human count He's

living. We're in history. It's not human hours.

So if you have not made your peace with God as

we used to say, don't wait until the end of time.

Settle matters with God now by faith in the risen

Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Now

is the day of sound peace. embraced it. As reported

back in April 2008, Reverend Jeremiah Wright

was asked, if Islam was a way of salvation, given

Jesus' statement, no one comes to the Father

but through me. His answer? Jesus also said,

of his sheep have I who were not of this fold.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is as close to scripture

-twisting as satan did on the mountain of temptation

to jesus no jesus is the way the truth and the

life and there is no other and from the standpoint

of the black community islam is not the religion

of people of color jesus came for everybody that

is white folk amen I have heard people describe

Christianity as if it's a gentleman's religion.

It actually happened to me in seminary. And when

that person described Christianity the way he

did, which I got to tell you later, what I just

told Judy, I said, you know, thank God for the

Pentecostals, because my grandmother, my grandmother,

would have never got saved. But she did, because

Christ came to everybody. Now I'm tempted you

know, I'm not thinking I'm gonna do it I'm gonna

go there so Somebody one time asked me indirectly

How do you know? That the gospel was for everybody

The answer is when Jesus when John in the revelation

in the book of Revelation as he's writing his

revelation Yeah was told by the angels look He

saw from every tongue and every nation. How myriad

of people, a number that could not be numbered,

praising God and giving glory to the lamb. And

he gave me like a ton of bricks. You know what?

Everybody is going to still be who they are racially

over there. Because John looked at his saws.

Hispanic, Asian, black, white, the whole nine

yards. He came for everyone. So this one is not

I don't remember Right for us the church because

Jesus Christ is also the head of the church He

qualifies to be the center of our individual

and collective lives Repeat that because he is

the head of the church. He qualifies to be the

center of our individual and collective lives

Not our dreams or visions, for our lives. Not

our talent, not our ambition, not our preferences

or wants, not our thoughts, not our intuitions,

not our comforts, not our authentic selves. He

and he alone, his will and his word to us, that

is the center. Period. It is possible to gain

our whole world and lose our own soul. It's possible.

We know Christ is the center, not ourselves.

The good news is, because of this, with Him at

the center, our lives will count for eternity.

Even our sufferings prepare for us an internal

weight of glory in the world to come that will

have no end. Now what does that sound like to

a friend of mine who was born, and I'm coming

to a close, here she comes, who was born with

pain in his eyes as an infant. He was in pain

from the beginning. People talk about why did

this baby fry so much? because he had pain going

on in his eyes. And to this day, 70 years later,

this guy is still struggling with psychic impairment.

Well, if he found out this, he found out that

his life matters. That all of the suffering that

he went through through all the various stages

of life has purpose. And he didn't find that

out like 50 years later. But he did. And now

he knows his life counts. In all of his suffering,

in all the hindrances that went with it, has

purpose. It eternal. And so will yours. Because

Christ is the pre -Innovant One in it. That's

what makes him count. Father in Jesus' name,

may we ask what this description of Christ is.

It's so short, it's so dense, you can read through

it. But now, it is chock full of such significance

that it can change our lives ever. There may

be people in this room who are suffering like

my friend and wonder why I've had to suffer like

this so long. May they know that this Because

you're doing it as unto and with the truth of

the Lord, there is a weight of glory being devout

for them. Through this, from the world to come,

may those who may be tempted to pursue their

own vision of life, to stop and get on their

knees in all their ways acknowledge you. And

if you regret your past, and you're like, maybe

they might not be racial things, but that's okay,

because they're lying. It has a significant significance.

There may be young people in this room that are

called to suffer inhibition feeding in a corner

somewhere in the world that nobody will ever

see but a few people in a village somewhere.

But it's okay. If their lives don't have the

significance they could have, because it's not

about their contains. It's about your preeminence.

Your preeminence is submitted to. Oh my God.

Oh my God. What amazing things can happen for

me to eat her. It can make me see this and embrace

it. and revel in the glory of our Lord Jesus

Christ. In the name of Jesus. And if there's

anyone here or online who has not yet been racist,

may they be encouraged to say yes to Jesus instead

of yes to all this other stuff. And allow you

to shave them Roman and Roman. Now, any country

in Jesus. Amen.