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Preacher: Pastor David Ball
Scripture: Colossians 1:15-23
In this passage, Paul writes the most clear and well-reasoned presentation of the supremacy of Jesus Christ that can be found anywhere in the scriptures. Yet all the knowledge of Jesus’ supremacy will not turn our hearts to make him supreme in our lives in every way. Our insecurities lie in the fact that we make ourselves supreme, yet in our hearts, we know that we do not have the power or authority to save ourselves. The only thing that will draw our hearts to the supremacy of Jesus is when we know that He used all of his supremacy for us because he loves us.
Transcript
In 1893 130 years ago the famous Colombian Exposition was held in Chicago remember that right yeah some of you you know are close oh yeah boo yeah boo you’re none of you were that close uh TW 21 million people visited the exhibits at this Exposition which is pretty amazing right uh that’s before the automobile that’s that’s a lot of people uh America and Chicago which had especially the city of Chicago which had risen up after the great fire they experienced in 1873 were showing off uh for the rest of the world all the wonderful things about uh all the innovations that we had come up with in this country and among the features of the exposition was the world parliament of religions uh and in this Parliament they had representatives of all the the world’s religions and they all met together to share their best points and perhaps even come up with a new and better religion for for everybody well DL Moody uh if you don’t know who that is was uh one of the great 19th century evangelists uh Saul this event is a great opportunity a great opportunity Moody organized a group of uh of preachers and he posted them around around the city on the streets uh and used churches and even rent rented theaters of proclaiming the the true gospel there uh but Moody’s friends wanted it to be much more uh a little bit more pushy than that he wanted them to actually attack the parliament of religions and to do away with this this great evil uh was happening in their midst in this heresy but M Moody refused and he told them I’m going to make Jesus Christ so attractive that men will turn to him and so that’s what they set out to do uh and that’s what they did they proclaimed Jesus uh and the Chicago campaign as it became known as it it’s now referred to is considered one of the greatest uh American uh Evangelistic events in our history with thousands coming to a personal relationship with Christ I loved that I loved what what what Moody said I’m G to make Jesus Christ so attractive that men will trust in him you know that’s not only true of evangelism as we’re looking at at sharing Christ with the world it’s true about us as well that until Jesus is truly ATT attractive to us our hearts will never fully turn to him we will never we might know the truth we might be able to recite all the verses we might be able to tell you everything that Jesus said and we might get all of our Doctrine correct but until we know that Jesus is truly attractive we’ll never turn our lives over to him and trust him you know Colossians chap 1 verse 15 to through 23 uh is possibly or it probably is the and I think it is the most clearly reasoned presentation of the supremacy of Jesus Christ in any passage of all of scripture but we can all know those facts we can all know and understand the supremacy of Jesus and that’s certainly important but until he in his Supremacy is so attractive to us that we want to live our lives in submission to his power and and authority and to find Freedom and Security in his work for us then we’re going to just continue to live in the fallacy of our own preeminence making ourselves the supreme authority and power of our own lives and the result of that kind of life is just insecurity and that insecurity manifests itself in our worlds all around us in our relationships with with either a self-righteous Pride or the opposite fear and timidity that’s how insecurity plays itself out and it all has to do with who we are truly following is Supreme Over Our Lives who we’re trusting our lives with and that’s the primary focus of Paul’s letter to the Colossians that we would find our security find our strength and in finding our strength find our humility in the fullness of Christ Alone by putting our trust in him alone and so last week introduced the the series and we were introduced to uh some characters that play A Part uh in Paul’s letter to uh the Colossians uh and that is to gnosticism and to the gnostics uh and I’m not an expert on gnosticism I did study it and I slept at a holiday in last night um you know we we we looked at it in seminary but I promise you I forgot more than I could possibly remember so I’ve been trying to to read up on it more this week uh but gnosticism was kind of a mixture between a judeo-christian worldview and uh and the Greek paganism the philosophy of of the age uh some folks kind of likeed what they were hearing about a little bit of each and so they wanted to kind of put them all together and that word we talked about it last week uh the word the root word for gnosticism uh gnos uh it means to know and so these gnostics were the know-it-alls that’s what that’s what it was about they thought they had the secret knowledge that they were the only ones who possessed uh and they had the only answers and they were Secret by the way you had to you had to do all the right things and say all the right passwords and and do all the right stuff in order to get this secret knowledge uh to actually find some sort of assurance of Salvation and life with God uh they had to know the secret knowledge now to understand naism as well where they liked and they pulled from the Greek philosophy was uh the Greeks viewed matter as evil everything that was created all of matter was was innately evil it was not it was not holy it was not righteous and so therefore in their mind God cannot possibly associate himself with people who are made uh of matter he’s got to separate himself if he’s a whole holy and righteous God he could not possibly come into our midst and associate with us therefore what in their estimation God created all these kind of lesser gods and this uh this Pantheon of hierarchy that worked further and further and further away from God uh in order to preserve his Holiness until finally in their estimation God created Jesus kind of at the end of this long Pantheon of of created higher hierarchy of beings um now we know that that’s a heresy right that we say it every week in the Nan Creed that that Jesus was begotten not made uh but the Nan Creed had yet to happen and so this idea had was had creeped into the church uh this idea that therefore Jesus was not fully God just the beginning of a long lad that if you do all the right things and you make the right sacrifices and you say the right pray prayers and you recognize the right people and you know all the right Secrets then you’ll eventually work yourself up the ladder to that higher plan of being and you might possibly reach God and this idea of gnosticism was having an impact and influence in the life of the church at colosi it’s what the report that Paul was getting back and so in that in with that info Paul wrote this incredibly this incredible and and clearly reasoned presentation of the supremacy and the preeminence of Jesus Christ but before we talk about it and about its impact in our lives let’s let’s dig into the passage itself to see what Paul’s saying about Jesus because while just hearing what he has to say isn’t enough for Jesus truly to be attractive to us uh we can’t even possibly see how attractive he is to us until we understand the truth of his Supremacy and Paul proclaims Jes Jesus is supreme in three ways uh in the first verses of this passage number one he is supreme in eternity number two he is supreme in creation and number three he is supreme in the church and so I invite you to to open up your your Bibles or if you’ve got your your bulletins you can open up to uh the passage uh and follow along with us uh we’re going to begin just with uh with verse 15 and the first part of 15 this is this is what Paul proclaimed about Jesus that Jesus is the image of the invisible God he is the image of the invisible God you know the scriptures are clear both the Old and the New Testament and we can go back and and cite lots of uh examples I’ll give you a couple in the New Testament that Jesus that God is invisible have you ever seen God no you haven’t seen God at least not uh God himself uh but first Timothy 1 ver1 17 says to the king of the ages and Mortal invisible the only God be honor and Glory forever amen Hebrews 11:27 says about this about Moses looking back uh at Moses’s Min Ministry he said by faith Moses left Egypt not being afraid of the anger of the king for he endured as seeing him who is invisible he saw the invisible God before him in his life and John 1:18 that we just read and I know you were thinking what on Earth we just spent an entire season of Advent uh in the prologue not the epilogue of John uh but it fit too well I couldn’t help it it it fit way too well with this passage not not to use it uh in John 118 it says no one has ever seen God the only God who is at the father’s side has made him known has made him known how has Jesus made God known to us well Paul tells us he’s the image of the invisible God that’s who he is what is that mean that he’s the image is this well the word itself the Greek word means icon or or portrait uh do anybody y’all have a family portrait made is there a family portrait hanging in your house if you lived in South Carolina you have to have a family portrait that’s painted and hanging in your living room I learned that when I lived in South Carolina uh you have to uh it’s important right that everybody can everybody can see so number one Jesus is the portrait of God think of it in that way now we don’t have a perfect picture or photograph of what Jesus looked like uh and now as anglicans we’re not against people coming up with artistic images of what they think Jesus looked like uh but the truth is we don’t know exactly and and we can certainly be led astray by by putting our own biases but at the same time I would say that if seeing an image of Jesus that’s more culturally relevant to you helps you to identify with him well God God bless it um but it means more than physical image first of all that’s not what what Paul’s talking about here portrait in Greek means to reveal the personal character of a person that’s what the image Bearer is to to uh to reveal the personal character of someone and so what Paul’s telling us is Jesus is the revelation of what God is like who God is what his characters you cannot read about Jesus and say I don’t really like that bit you know I’d rather just go to God who Jesus is is who God is he is the image of the invisible God or visible God God is made himself known to us in Jesus and as we went through if you want to go back and listen if you weren’t with us to the whole series uh through Advent on the prologue to John uh that we we went through it that he was with God in the beginning he was with God from the very beginning from eternity and as being with God from the beginning Jesus was with God in all of creation Jesus is the Divine word of God that spoke all things in heaven and on earth into being which leads us to the second way that Jesus is supreme he’s Supreme in creation Paul tells us in the second part uh half of verse 15 through through 17 he got he is the first born of all creation for by him all things were created and heaven and on Earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities all things were made through him and for him all things were made through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things hold together boy there is a lot in that there is a lot in that Jesus is supreme in Creation in four ways Paul says he’s the firstborn he’s Creator he’s the goal and he’s the sustainer he’s the firstborn not created that’s where we can get ourselves into trouble right we can end right back into gnosticism and into that heresy that Jesus was created that’s not what Paul means when he says the first born uh because in John if you look at the rest of scripture it doesn’t say that right John 1:1 tells us that Jesus is eternal he was with God before it All Began before creation itself firstborn can also mean this that it’s the first child but more importantly it’s the first it’s the result of Honor being the first the first honored one the one who ranks before that’s what firstborn means Jehovah’s Witnesses say that Jesus was created if they come to your door you don’t have to talk to them but you could at least go there with them and ask them was Jesus created uh and I don’t know what they’d say to you but uh if they say if they say yes then you can say have a nice day
but what what Paul is saying here is that Jesus Jesus is of of honor and rank that he’s the firstborn worthy of all honor and rank before all of us and all of creation Jesus also were told as creator of everything visible and invisible from nothing even the things in heaven even angels themselves are Jesus’s creation
everything everything is his creation that means fallen angels are his creation he is superior to them number three he’s also the goal he’s Creator and the end which means he is the goal all things began with him all things end with him all things sprang from his command and all things will return to him at his
command Philippians 2 99 through1 says this therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in heaven and on Earth and under the Earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father one day everything is going to give him
Glory therefore we shall we should right we should live in completely for him living life any other way would be actually completely irrational if this is really true about who Jesus is if we believe what Paul is proclaiming living your life for any other one putting anyone else first and giving them honor and rank including ourselves doesn’t make sense it’s irrational it’s actually rational to live our lives fully and completely all the time without any reservation Jesus to live for
him but our insecure Hearts want Security in ourselves we’ll get back to that in just a minute number four he’s Supreme in creation because he’s also sustainer he’s also the sustainer verse 17 said in him all things hold
together that’s a perfect tense that’s used here in the Greek it means to continue now it wasn’t just something that once upon a time it wasn’t just that oh yeah Jesus you hold all things together but I’m going through this thing now and it is spinning out of control and there’s no hope Jesus holds all things things together even now without him all things would fall apart all things would cease to exist Hebrews 1:3 says all things hold together by the word of his power the worst situation the worst time you can think of whether it was in our country in our personal lives whatever it was it’s not anything compared to what it would be if Jesus wasn’t still holding it all together and he is we don’t have anything to fear he is supreme overall he is holding all things together since he’s the Creator who holds all things together he’s the one who knows how to best fix and to order our lives and he alone he created us he sustains us we were made for him he is our end goal thirdly Jesus is supreme in the church Paul proclaims in verse
18 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 that he might be preeminent you know we have a a window in here that proclaims this so loose Christie that Christ by Christ Alone he alone has Authority in the church his body not the words of men not the Traditions that we tend to to creep up in our lives but he has authority over all of us everyone so what does all this mean it means that in everything Christ is preeminent in this world and more importantly in our lives uh he’s first place in our families he’s first placed in our marriages he’s per first place in our professions he’s first place in our ministry he’s first place in our education matters of intellect he’s first place in time he’s first place in our love he’s first place in our conversations he’s first place in our Pleasures he’s first place in
everything C Lewis said Christianity if false is of no importance and if true it’s of infinite importance the only thing that it cannot be is of moderate
importance does Christ reign supreme over your life does he reign supreme over my life is he preeminent in every area of our lives and in all the decisions that we make and in the ways that we always treat one another you know one of the ways is you know how do we treat the least important person in our lives the person that we might consider
insignificant and the answer is no he isn’t preeminent but how can we tell how can how can we know that because I know we like to think he is uh and we like to to at least give lip service to the fact that Jesus is pre-eminent uh in my life at all times uh think for a moment about how do you spend your time
or what does your your calendar look like what’s it full of or maybe what do you do with the loneliness that you’re
feeling or maybe this what are the things you do to settle yourself when you’re stressed when you’re worried when you’re fearful maybe you’re just bored what are the things you do probably when else is looking what are the ways that you distract yourself from the hardships of Life we’ve all got a phone right it’s a good distraction at least it is for
me how do you make the decisions to live how did you make the decision to live where you’re living right
now in all of those things is Christ and was Christ in those decisions preeminent was he number one was that who you were making your decision to follow and to honor and to glorify or was it more likely for your own glorification or your own pleasure or for your family’s preeminence most of the time we make ourselves preeminent don’t we we do what pleases us we do what will will best help us to endure or to be and successful as we possibly can be in this life that will help us to be uh to move up the corporate or the social ladder why why do we do it because it’s not as it’s not a matter of not knowing this isn’t a surprise this word from Paul doesn’t shock any any of us we know Jesus is preeminent that’s that’s the law it’s within us we know that he is
we know it so what is
it it’s a matter of seeing the superiority of Jesus as attractive not just a truth seeing it as truly attack attractive truly believing and trusting that in him our lives are truly secure that he really is the beginning and the end and that he is truly the goal and that his promises are sure and his works are certain our insecurity lies in making ourselves Superior because we know deep down in our heart of hearts that we’re finite and that we don’t have the power and that we don’t have the authority to save ourselves we know it we fool ourselves for a Time but then the insecurities come because deep down in our hearts we know we don’t have it we can’t do it Jesus has to be attractive to our hearts for us to completely submit to his superiority and to find in him our security alone and here’s where I think verses 19 to 23 help us to get there Jesus is attractive because he uses all of his superiority all of it that Paul is proclaiming here he used it all and he uses it all for you not for himself he uses it for you because he loves you he uses it for me because he loves you and me this is what these verses tell
us for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through 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 were once 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 have heard which has been proclaimed in all of creation under heaven and of which I Paul became a minister how does Jesus actually become more than just truth and become actually attractive and beautiful to us he shed his blood on the cross to reconcile you to him and to give you his peace his Everlasting peace he died the death that you deserve so that he can present us you and me as holy and blameless and above reproach he says if indeed Paul said you continue in the faith meaning if you continue to trust that his superiority is for
you we’ll never have the desire or the will to make Jesus truly preeminent in our lives until we rest in the truth that Jesus W uses all of his Superior superiority for us and he does it because he loves us and he’s called us to himself he is the beginning and the
end his finished work for us is our security make him number one if you can
but trust in what he’s done for you and watch your hearts find their security in him alone amen
