COLOSSIANS - Christ Is Supreme // One Church Podcast, 6th May 2025

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Welcome to the One Church podcast.

This morning I have the joy of speaking from one of the most

powerful scriptures about Jesus that there is, in my opinion.

Last week began our series on Colossians and spoke about two

kingdoms, the Kingdom of darkness and the Kingdom of

Jesus. And Jesus made it possible for

us to join His Kingdom. Even though we are all sinners,

Jesus gave his life for us, and He opened the door for all who

believe in him to be a part of the Kingdom of light, His

Kingdom. However, we have to choose.

Are we going to remain in the Kingdom of darkness, or are we

going to accept the invitation that Jesus has given us to join

the perfect Kingdom of God? And this week I have the

privilege of continuing that series on Colossians.

But first, some years ago, there was a man named Larry Walters,

this is a true story, who had a dream, a strange 1.

He wanted to fly. Now, Larry wasn't a pilot.

He didn't have a plane or even a glider.

But what he did have was a backyard.

He had a garden chair and he had a lot of time, so he went down

to the local Army surplus store, this is in America, and brought

45 heavy duty weather balloons. He filled them with helium and

he tied them to his garden chair.

Then he grabbed a sandwich, a six pack of soft drinks and a BB

gun to shoot the balloons when he was ready to come down.

You can tell this isn't going to end well, can't you?

Larry strapped himself into the garden chair and was ready to

go. His plan was simple.

Float up to a nice scenic altitude, maybe a couple of 100

feet, enjoy the view for a while, and then gently come down

the reality. Not so gentle.

When his friends Cut the Rope, Larry launched into the air

16,000 feet. He shot up like a human bottle

rocket. Airline pilots started radioing

sightings of a man in a garden chair floating through the sky.

Eventually, he got the courage after he'd overcome the shock of

being launched into the air this high, he had the courage to

shoot a few balloons. And he drifted back to earth,

right into a set of power lines. He was rescued, a little shaken

from the ride of his life, but fine.

And the police asked Larry, what were you thinking?

And Larry just said, well, you can't just sit there.

Now here's the thing. We laugh at Larry and his crazy

garden chair fly. I bet there's a few daredevils

in the room that want to give this a try.

Now that I've told you this story, I wouldn't mind flying up

to 16,000 feet. As long as I knew that I was

going to come back down again, I'm fine.

But we read this story or we hear this story about Larry and

we have a good laugh. But in a way, his story is a

picture of our hearts we all want to rise above.

We want meaning, we want to feel important.

We want to be in control. And so we try to lift ourselves

through success. Titles, relationships,

influence, whatever balloons we can find in our lives to

strapped to our garden chairs. But today the message is that we

don't need to rise to supremacy because Christ already reigns

supreme. So this morning, if you want a

title for this message, it's simple.

It is. Christ is supreme.

There's no chair, there's no ladder, there's no amount of

balloons that can elevate us above Jesus.

He's above us. But more than that, in his

supremacy, he holds us together. He's supreme over creation.

He's supreme over the church in our lives and supreme in

reconciliation. And that is what we are going to

unpack this morning. So if you have a Bible with you,

let's turn to Colossians 1 and we're going to look at verses 15

to 20. And this is what it says.

The Sun is the image of the invisible God, the first born

over all creation, for in Him all things were created, things

in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether Thrones

or powers or rulers or authorities, all things have

been created through Him and for Him.

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 and the first born from among the dead,

so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him 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. This is such a powerful passage,

and Paul here is trying to get us to lift our eyes to Jesus and

be in awe of who He is, what He has accomplished, and how

significant his love is for us. Many scholars would even go as

far as describing this piece of writing, this part of Paul's

letter, as a hymn. It's not just a piece of writing

that teaches us about Jesus. It's not just theology, but it's

worship. It's praising him.

It's glorifying the name of Jesus and the person of Jesus

and who he is. Paul is so in awe of who Jesus

is and what Jesus has done for him that he couldn't help but

devote his life to sharing it with others and writing it in

the many letters that we read in the New Testament.

Jesus is amazing, and Paul wanted to make sure that people

knew it. And more than that, he wanted to

make sure that people knew that Christ was supreme in all

things. So this morning I want to unpack

this passage and draw some things out of it that I believe

God would say to us this morning.

So strap yourselves in, Not into a garden chair.

Here we go. So the first verse, the sun is

the image of the invisible God, the first born over all

creation. Have you ever sat and asked

yourself the question, who is God?

What is God like? What is his character?

Do I know him? Have you ever really thought

about it? We worship him and we sing songs

to him, but do we really know who He is and what his character

is like? Well, the good news is you don't

have to look too far, because if you want to know what a

character of God is like, all you have to do is look at Jesus.

He is the image of the invisible God.

That means that to know God, we just have to look to the sun.

We just have to look at Jesus, and the fact is that Jesus is

pretty awesome. Jesus forgave sins.

He healed the sick, He ultimately gave his life in

order to become the Saviour for all who would accept him.

His character is one of love, it's one of grace, it's one of

mercy, it's also one of truth. One of the Father who knows what

is best for his children and one of the King who cares for his

people. And as we read the gospels and

we see Jesus in action, we get a picture of the heart of God.

So let me encourage you, if you haven't thought about it in a

while, why not sit down and take some time to read through the

life of Jesus and to really focus in on what was Jesus like?

How did he treat people? What did he come to accomplish?

What was his heart? What is the character in the

person of Jesus? And as we do that, and for those

of us who who have done that before, it's good to sit down

and remind ourselves to focus in again on this incredible person

that we worship, this incredible king.

Now, in this passage, there's the word first born.

And I don't want you to get confused by that word because it

doesn't mean that Jesus was created.

It doesn't mean that Jesus was born.

But Paul uses the word first born as a a word of worship and

a word of respect because in tradition, the first born would

be the one that receives the inheritance.

And if you're part of a royal family, the first born son would

be the one in line to inherit the throne and become king.

So what Paul is saying here is that Jesus is supreme.

He is the one that is in line for the train and in line to

receive the inheritance. And there is no one who is above

him. He is the first born.

We are heirs with Christ. We are with Christ, we are

royalty with him. Paul talks about that in other

letters, but there is no one who is above Jesus.

Jesus is first in line. So don't get confused by that

word. It doesn't mean that he was

created, doesn't mean that he was born.

It just means that he is first, that he is supreme.

So Christ is supreme. Point #1 Christ is supreme in

creation. We read Colossians one as 16 to

17. For in Him all things were

created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible,

for the Thrones or rulers or authorities.

All things have been created through Him and for Him.

He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

As I was writing this message, I was sitting in my nice, newly

finished Conservatory. We had a Conservatory before,

but it was one of those where in the summer all our candles

melted down the wall. It took Laura forever to get the

wax off the wall from the candles melting, and in the

winter there's so much condensation and you may as well

sit in the fridge. So we had a bit of a better roof

put in so that we could use the Conservatory all year round, and

we're very grateful for it. But I was sitting in the

Conservatory and I was looking out the window and I just was in

awe as I was writing this message of all the things that

God's created, it's out of my window.

You can't really see much of the Conservatory.

You've got a nice grassy bit of garden freshly mowed by Laura

yesterday. You've got a nice tree that I

really desperately want to cut down.

You've got another one that gets infested by Wasps.

And then you have nice boring fence panels that go around.

And then you can, just for a glimpse of the tree, get a view

of the nice sky. And it was a bit of a sunset as

I was writing this as well, which was, which was nice, but I

was looking at it all and I was in awe.

God created that tree that I don't want there.

God created the grass that I have to cut.

God created the fence panels that I don't treat, that I

definitely should treat. That was just in awe of

everything that we have, how it came from him.

All things are possible because of Him.

The computer that I wrote this on is possible because of Jesus.

The fact that I have a brain to be able to write is possible

because of Jesus walking out and seeing the beautiful sky and the

sunset created by Jesus, seeing pictures of space and the stars

and planets orbiting and all the complexities of the universe

created by Jesus, and not by accident.

He created it all on purpose, with a purpose, with detail,

with care. And we have love.

He created my wife, my kids, the miracle of heartbeats.

And I just sat there and I just thought to myself, how amazing

is Jesus? How amazing is our King?

And He's the reason why we're here this morning, because we

worship and we glorify Him because of who He is.

And all things hold together because of him.

And I've got to tell you, that brings me so much comfort.

If all things are held together by me, things aren't being held

together much at all. I had to get Rob to come and

help me fit the last blind because I'm incapable of DIY.

My fence is broken and my gait, I've got to get that fixed.

But yeah, that's another day. My DIY skills are coming on.

They get in there, they get in there.

But things don't hold together long.

But we can take comfort that Jesus holds all things together.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that when it comes to my

life and the holding together of my life, it doesn't depend on me

at all, doesn't depend on me at all.

The only responsibility I have is to put Jesus at the centre of

it. And if I put Jesus at the centre

of my life, then he is the one that holds it together.

He acts like the strongest super glue that's known to man and he

holds my life together. And then I was thinking about

this and what it means, and I had the realisation that if he's

holding my life together, that means he has to be present.

It means that Jesus has to be present in my life.

It means that Jesus isn't a distant God.

It means that he's not far away. But he's right here.

He's got a hand on my life and he's holding it.

And that's true for you and that's true for me.

He's desperate for a personal relationship with us.

And as we accept him, he comes in and he holds us together.

So my encouragement to you this morning is if you feel like

there's things in your life that are falling apart, ask

yourselves the question again, is Jesus at the centre of it?

Is Jesus at the centre of your life?

Are you allowing him to take control and to come and hold

things together? Or are you desperately clinging

on and trying to hold it together yourself?

It's not always easy to keep him at the centre of all things, but

when we do, nothing can destroy us and nothing can tear us away

from Jesus. But if we remove him from the

centre of our lives, everything unravels.

Things fall apart and we get lost physically, we get lost

spiritually, we get lost morally.

Keeping Jesus at the centre of our lives is the single most

important task that we will ever have.

He's not just our Saviour, He's our Lord, and without Him we

don't work. He deserves our respect, He

deserves our adoration, and He deserves our obedience.

So I think for all of us today is asking ourselves the

question, where is Jesus for us? Where is He when it comes to our

lives? Point #2 Christ is supreme in

the body, Colossians 118 and He is the head of the body, the

church. He is the beginning and the

first born from among the dead, so that in everything He might

have the supremacy. Imagine your body without a

head. How would you know where to go?

How would you see? How would you not fall over and

trip and hurt yourself and maybe even kill yourself?

You'd lose your sense of direction, you'd lose control of

your body, and you'd lose your identity.

Well, in the same way, Jesus is the head of the church.

He gives the church direction. He gives the church a purpose,

and he gives the church its identity.

Without Jesus, there is no church.

Laura and I have the privilege of leading this site alongside

our leadership team. But ultimately Jesus is in

charge. He leads us, it's his church.

We're just the people that he's chosen to outwork his plan and

His will and that's all of us together.

So keep praying for us and pray for David and Susan and all the

other leaders in the church. Pray that we would keep Jesus at

the centre and that he'll lead us and that he will build his

church. Because as he builds his church

and as he leads us, and as he is the head of the church, that

means then we can be expecting to see breakthroughs, to see

miracles and to see God do incredible things.

And that's not just in the church, that's also in our

lives. And we've just spoken about how

Jesus holds all things together. Well, that includes the church.

Without Him, the church falls apart.

I was in the church once that had an issue with their worship

team. There were some great musicians,

but they lost sight of Jesus and let their egos take over.

And the problem was being in the room with a load of people that

have ego is that everyone in the room is the best.

And so people would suggest things but nobody would agree

with each other. And people were falling out and

people were getting hurt because everybody thought they knew

better than the other person. Everybody wanted to be a star.

They didn't want to let other people lead songs and let other

people do things because they wanted to be seen and be that

person themselves. And this caused a massive issue.

There was no unity and dare I say it, in worship.

There was no Jesus because everybody was too focused on

what they were doing and where they wanted to be and what

people were seeing when they were looking at them.

So the pastor needing to deal with this situation made a a

bold and a radical decision. And this is what he did.

He scrapped the entire worship team, got rid of everyone not

out of the church, just stopped people from being able to lead

worship and be a part of the team.

He addressed the issue and started again.

And so for the first couple of Sundays, they sang a cappella or

they played tracks through the system, and they started again.

And then as the weeks went on, eventually he brought in a

guitarist who was showing the right heart and they started to

sing with a guitar. And then eventually they added a

keyboard and they added a couple of singers as people began to

get the culture and get the the point that actually we worship

Jesus. It's not about us.

It's not about what people see. What people need to see when we

worship is the King. And he started again and he

gradually be able to build it. So why do I tell you the story?

Well, we can sometimes have the same issue that the people in

that worship team had. We can think that we've got all

the answers we can get in the way of what Jesus is trying to

do. We can try and go at it on our

own, and we can sometimes think that we know best.

But Jesus is the head of the body and in everything he has

the supremacy. He's the ultimate senior leader

of the church. No one is above him and he knows

best. And I'm not bringing

condemnation into the room, but occasionally I have to stop and

I have to look at my life and I have to look at my attitude and

I have to go, Am I focused on him or am I worried about myself

and what people see in me? And we all have moments in our

lives where we need to take a step back and go, OK, where is

Jesus? Is Jesus at the head or have I

left him back there? Christ is supreme, So Jesus is

the head of the church, but he's also the head of our lives.

Point #3 Christ is supreme in reconciliation.

Colossians 119 to 20 For God was pleased to have all his fullness

dwell in him and through him, to reconcile himself to all things,

whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making

peace through his blood shed on the cross.

People chose to walk away from God, and the world began to fall

apart. Not just once, multiple times.

That's why we have the story of Noah's ark.

That's why we hear about the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.

People left Jesus behind, God behind, and they went in their

own way and thought they knew best.

And even though humanity turned their backs on God, the love of

God caused him to send his Son, and his Son came and his Son

died so that there could be reconciliation between US and

him. Jesus didn't just come to live

among us and to teach us and to heal the sick and be nice to the

poor. No, He went all the way.

He took the weight of the sin of the world onto his shoulders,

and He shed his blood so that there could be peace between US

and God. The only way that we are in this

building this morning is because of that sacrifice that Jesus

made on the cross. And the only way that there

could be reconciliation with Jesus was for him to shed His

blood. And He did so willingly because

He loves us and because He wants to be a part of His Kingdom.

Romans 58 But God demonstrates His own love for us in this

While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The reality is that we didn't get any better, but His love for

us was so powerful and so supreme that He created a way

for us to come into His Kingdom, to come into relationship with

Him despite our flaws and despite our mess UPS.

Not because it's what we've deserved, but because He was so

full of love and he wanted to save us and He's desperate to

have a personal relationship with us and for us to join him

in His Kingdom. On the cross He made peace and

He did it with his blood. It wasn't a nice handshake.

He didn't sign a peace treaty. He went through agony and took

on death in order for us to be saved.

He gave everything so that we could come home to the Father.

For those of you that were there a couple of weeks ago when we

had our Easter production, we see the story of the prodigal

son portrayed where the son went away from the father and in

desperation returned home expecting to be a servant.

But instead the father ran to him and embraced him as his son

once again. And this is the heart of God for

us. We are all sinners, but the arms

of the Father are open wine, and he runs to embrace us as his

children. So if you believe in Jesus this

morning, let us be a reminder of his love for you.

If you haven't yet made a decision to follow Jesus, this

is what Jesus did for you. And if you believed but you've

drifted away, it's time to come home.

The Father's arms are open. As I was preparing, I came

across this, and this summarises everything that I've spoken

about this morning and more. Who is this Jesus?

He's not just a teacher, not just a prophet, not just a man

with kind words and healing hands.

He is the image of the invisible God, the first born over all

creation, the architect of galaxies, the author of time.

Before there was light, He was. Christ is supreme.

Not one among many, not a piece of the puzzle, but the whole

picture. By him all things were made.

Every mountain, every molecule, every heartbeat, Thrones and

dominions, stars and atoms. What you see, what you don't.

He holds it all. He doesn't just create, He

sustains. He doesn't just begin.

He holds together every orbit, every order, every ounce of your

being. In him Christ is supreme, above

every power, every throne, every name.

And he's not distant. He is the head of the body, the

leader of the church, the resurrected King who walked out

of the grade so that we could walk into life.

And what did he do? He saw our rebellion.

He heard the silence of separation.

He felt the weight of our sin. And he came anyway.

He didn't come to condemn. He came to reconcile, to bring

us home, to make peace, not with words, but with his blood on a

cross, woods and nails, thorns and shame.

He rode forgiveness with his wings.

He shouted. It is finished.

In agony and in triumph. He made peace, and not just for

some, but for all, for you. So don't just give him a place

in your life, Give him the throne.

Don't just sing about him, surrender to him.

Don't just admire him, adore him because Christ is supreme above

all before all, holding all, reconciling all and worthy of it

all. This is Jesus.

This is Jesus. The Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.