The Preeminent Christ

I invite you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Colossians. We continue tonight with our study through that book. We're going to consider verses 15 through 20 of chapter 1 of Colossians. Colossians chapter 1 verses 15 through 20. Hear now God's Word. 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. Let me begin by asking you a question. What does it mean to be preeminent? what's it mean to be preeminent in verse 18 paul says he christ is the head of the body the church the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in everything he might be preeminent one english dictionary says preeminence means surpassing all else distinguished above and beyond anything else. The Greek word used here is the word protouon, protouon, and it's used only once in all of the New Testament. Here in the text before us is the only occurrence of the word. And the word means to have preeminence, to be chief, to be first. It comes from the word protos, meaning first. Children, you know what it means to desire to be first, don't you? We all like to be first. We like to be first in line. We like to be first in a race. We like to be first to try something. We like to be first to get something. We want to be first, don't we? That desire to be first comes so naturally to us, doesn't it? Now, it's not just children that have this desire to be first. Adults have that desire as well. remember it was the disciples who argued over who was the greatest in the kingdom or who was first in the kingdom and then jesus spoke of people who wanted to be first when he spoke about people wanting to sit at places of honor when dining at a table they wanted to be first at the table we do this during christmas time as well don't we we want the special seat at the family gathering. We want to open our gift up first. We want the day to be about us. We want to be preeminent in our lives, don't we? Why do we do this? Why do we wrestle with wanting to be first? Well, I think it's because it gives us a sense of importance, doesn't it? We think when we're first, we are important. It makes us feel like things are about us. But the truth is things are not about us, are they? They especially shouldn't be about us if we are Christians. When we take the name Christian in so doing, we ought to make sure that everything is made about christ because the fact of the matter is everything is about christ this text presents us with the preeminence of christ it's all about christ what's all about christ everything everything in all of existence everything in all of the universe you see paul has told these christians why he is writing this letter to them and then shortly after that he tells them that he is praying for them and why why does he tell them that he's writing to them and that he's praying for them so that they would continue to abide in christ they would continue to remain in christ they would continue to keep faith in christ and you see as i've said a number of times when we've studied through this book that affects everything everything we think everything we say everything we do and so to encourage these christians to abide in christ paul expounds upon really the glory of christ the preeminence of christ paul speaks of everything here in this text before us you probably noticed that paul used the words all and every a number of times but in addition to using those words he uses two categories to capture the point that he's trying to make that everything is about christ he presents us with the category of creation and the category of new creation the category of creation and the category of new creation and those two categories will serve as our points this evening paul begins by saying in verse 15 he is the image of the invisible God. This reference should lead us to think about the creation of man back in Genesis chapter 1 verse 27. Man was created in the image of God. Our catechism says in question and answer six, did God create man so wicked and perverse? And the answer is no, God created man good and in his own image. That is in true righteousness and holiness that he might rightly truly might truly know god his creator love him with all his heart and live with god and eternal happiness for his praise and glory we are created in the image of god it's the unique privilege of man to image god to show forth his his righteousness to show forth his holiness his goodness his faithfulness But here's the thing, as much as we can image God, we are not the image of God. That reference is reserved only for Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Notice what Paul says here. He is the image of the invisible God. This passage isn't saying that Jesus was created in the image of God, as we and all humanity is. This passage isn't saying that Jesus shows forth that image as no other human being ever did or could do even though he did that. This passage is saying he is that image. Jesus is the very image of the invisible God. He's that very image in which we are created in. He is that image. And notice the specific use of the word is here. is is used here in what commentators and grammarians call the timeless sense the timeless sense of the word is jesus is the image of god it's not the case that he was the image of god it's not the case that he will be the image of god it's not the case that he began to be the image of god he is the image of the invisible god because he has always been that image that's who he is that's what he is the image of the invisible god so what is paul saying here paul is simply saying that jesus is god himself jesus is divine he's god almighty jesus is the visible revelation of the god who is invisible isn't that what we sing about during christmas oh come oh come Emmanuel God with us joy to the world the Lord is come Christ by highest heaven adored Christ the everlasting Lord well in flesh the Godhead see hail the incarnate deity but it's not just Christmas songs that speak this way scripture itself refers to Christ in this way Hebrews 1 3 says he is the radiance of the glory of god the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power john 1 1 in the beginning was the word and the word was god and the word was in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god he was in the beginning with god all things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made and then john goes on to say in that same chapter in verse 18 no one has ever seen god the only god who is at the father's side has made him known jesus makes known the father jesus makes visible the invisible god children your children's catechism asks you a number of questions along these lines. What is God? The answer is spirit, and he doesn't have a body like men. Where is God? Everywhere. Can you see God? The answer is no, I cannot see God, but he always sees me. We cannot see God. No one has ever seen God. Now, if no one has ever seen God, what about all those appearances in the old testament those those old testament theophanies those visible revelations which is what that term theophany means what about when god appeared to people like abraham at the oaks of more or who did jacob wrestle with or who did joshua the son of nun see when he was confronted with the commander of the armies of the lord and joshua bowed and worshipped? Who did Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson, see when they were confessed in Judges 13 that they will surely die for they have seen God? Who did the prophet Isaiah see in Isaiah 6? If John tells us here that no one has seen God, who did these people see? They saw the pre-incarnate, second person of the Trinity, the Son, whom Paul tells us here is the image of the invisible god so what does all of this mean what's what's paul's point here the one we know as jesus the christ the messiah the one who as paul said in the previous verse in whom we have redemption the forgiveness of our sins that one is god almighty he's god eternal god everlasting he is the image the revelation of the invisible god the visible revelation of god but that's not all that paul says here is it he follows up this first reference of jesus being the image of the invisible god by saying he is the firstborn of all creation now this reference has been a stumbling block for many false teachers and christian cults most recently the Jehovah's Witnesses make this passage into something that it's not. Firstborn here does not refer to Christ being the first thing ever created. As if Jesus was simply an angel or even the archangel and therefore was the very first thing that God created and so therefore had special status before God and was given sonship and powers. Hebrews 1 makes it abundantly clear that Jesus is no angel. Hebrews 1.5 says, To which of the angels did God say, You are my son, today I have begotten you. Or again, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, Let all God's angels worship him. The writer of Hebrews then goes on, Of the angels, he says, He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire. but of the sun he says your throne oh god is forever and ever the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom so what's the conclusion from hebrews 1 christ is as much superior to the angels as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs so no jesus is no angel no he is no archangel he is not a created being he is divine god eternal to be sure he is not the father to be sure he is not the spirit but nevertheless he is divine just as the first and third person of the trinity are jesus is the son the second person of the holy trinity and like the other persons of the trinity he eternally exists as a distinct person but equal in nature with the other persons of the godhead that's the trinity right that's what we believe the doctrine of the trinity we believe in one god who exists in eternally three distinct but equal persons father son and holy spirit now if jesus is not an angel but divine what about all this firstborn language that paul uses here in this text what is paul saying when he refers here to jesus as the firstborn well firstborn is old testament language and paul would expect his listeners in the first century to understand that language if you're given to writing in your bibles i would write above or somewhere in the margin next to the phrase first born the verses exodus 4 22 and psalm 89 27 if you want to write you can write but i'm going to also ask you to turn there in your bibles first to exodus 22 exodus 4 22 that is as you're turning there i'll give you a little bit of context god is telling moses there to say to pharaoh god says to pharaoh or at verse 22 then you shall say to pharaoh thus says the lord israel is my firstborn son if we should understand this phrase firstborn here in the way that the jehovah's witnesses and others think that it should be understood and that would mean that israel was literally the first son that god created how could that be that wouldn't make any sense would it especially since we know that god created other people prior to the nation of israel so again what does firstborn mean well turn with me back to psalm 89 now we're going to begin reading at verse 20 but we want to focus on verse 27 psalm 89 verse 20 i found david my servant with my holy oil i have anointed him god's talking about david here so that my hand shall be established with him my arm also shall strengthen him the enemy shall not outwit him. The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him and in my name shall be his horn and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and at his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, you are my father, my God and the rock of my salvation and i will make him the firstborn the highest of the kings of the earth what does firstborn mean it means first in rank not order in rank firstborn means as psalm 89 says here the highest the greatest in rank it literally literally means the preeminent one in david's case it means that in the eyes of God, David was the highest of the kings of the earth. He was esteemed by God the most of all the kings. It doesn't mean that David was the first king created. That doesn't make any sense. And when this phrase is used of Israel, it means that Israel as a people are most esteemed by God. They are the preeminent people in the eyes of the Lord. And so when Paul applies this phrase to Jesus, he is saying that Jesus is the preeminent one over all creation. No, Paul is not saying that Christ was created. That's not what's being said here. Besides, in the first half of verse 15, he has already said that Jesus is God. He's God, divine. Again, the second person of the Trinity. And as such, he is the highest, the greatest, the preeminent one over all of creation not because he was created first but because in fact everything was created by him that's what paul goes on to say in this text 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 listen to how how exhaustive that description of paul's is here paul uses the phrase all four times here by him all things were created all things were created through him and for him he is before all things in him all things hold together and paul gives us three aspects of existence here to exhaustively capture and make his point for us to say that christ is over all of creation he first speaks of location he speaks of those things in heaven and on earth where is anything that exists either in heaven or on earth there's nothing outside of those two categories the second aspect that paul speaks of is that of that of natures things visible and things invisible what has ever existed is either contained within those two natures the third aspect is that of power and rule whether thrones or dominion or rulers or authorities anything that we can imagine christ is preeminent over there's no power there's no throne no dominion no rulers whether spiritual or physical, not the most powerful man in the world, not the richest person in the world, not a local or national leader. No one, nothing is higher, greater, more preeminent than Christ. Or as Paul goes on to say, all things have been created by him, through him. And here's the kicker, for him. Sounds a bit doxological, doesn't it? Doesn't it sound a little bit like the romans doxology right all things for from him and through him and to him all things to him be the glory forever amen that's why we sing hymns which say things like christ shall have dominion over land and sea earth's remotest region shall his empire be christ is the king the king of kings the king of all glory well let me ask you if christ is preeminent over all things and he is is he preeminent over your life if christ is preeminent over all things is he first in every aspect of your life is he supreme over every facet as he's first before every thought desire of your heart we know the great motto every square inch we love to say that in regards to christ ruling over every square inch in the world but does every square inch describe our hearts as well i hope it does because in fact christ is the preeminent one he's the preeminent christ and he is supreme over all things whether we acknowledge him to be or not he will rule and reign and specifically in the hearts of his people whether we're willing to acknowledge that or not because again he is lord he is king see paul brings all of this up to these Christians at Colossae, not simply to inform their heads with information about who Christ is. He tells them this so that they would be filled with Christ. He says that in verse 9 of chapter 1. And then in verse 28, he goes on to say that they would be mature in Christ. And then in verse 2 of chapter 2, he says, so that their hearts would be encouraged be knit together in love to reach all the fullness of assurance of understanding and the knowledge of god in christ see the deity of christ is so practical for us as christians it reminds us as romans 8 does that if god has not spared his very own son for us his people, why would he not also give us all things? The all things that Romans 8 speaks of is all things for faith and practice, all things for sanctification. See, brothers and sisters, we have Christ, the whole Christ, as Lord, God, our King. And that wasn't because of anything that we have done to deserve christ but he fully accomplished on his own unilaterally without us even asking for anything or desiring anything from him he saves us redeems us purchase us purchases us with the price of his blood this god this preeminent one over all creation he gave himself for us christ wasn't obligated to come into the world for us he wasn't obligated to redeem us to save us to sacrifice for us everything was already his by him through him for him mark jones in his book knowing christ makes this great point he says jesus did not come into the world for us we came into the world for him that's paul's point here really jesus is the preeminent one not us jones goes on to say jesus is a reason for god's creating and redeeming activity the decision for the son to become flesh was not simply god's response to his foresight of the fall thinking that jesus should enter the world as the redeemer because of man's sin ends up subjecting Christ to us when in fact we must be subject to Him in all things. See how our hearts work. Without being reminded, we would even make the very gospel exclusively about us. We want to be first. We want to be preeminent when in fact everything is about Him. It's about Him and His glory. He is the preeminent one. That's why Paul will go on to say, Christ is a preeminent one, not only in creation, but in new creation. Verse 18, and he is the head of the body, the church, 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. Christ is not only preeminent in creation, but he's preeminent in new creation. That's what Paul means when he says here, Christ is the head of the body, the church. It might seem at first that Paul is moving from a wider and greater focus of creation to that of a more narrow focus of the church. But don't misunderstand Paul here. He's not moving from greater to lesser when he moves from creation to new creation. Paul is moving from old to new. From old to new. Yes, for us today as men and women, it's easy to look over creation and see the vastness that it is and then to think of the church as something God has done that is small, maybe weak and insignificant. That's to minimize the work of Christ. In Christ's eyes, He has done marvelous things by introducing to His people, His church, life, newness of life, new creation. Jesus has begun to recreate anew. Remember 2 Corinthians 5, 17, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. And what is that new creation characterized but by life? Life. Newness of life, fullness of life, fullness of Christ. John 1, 4 says, In him was life, and the life was the light of men. Remember, in Christ we've been transferred. Transferred from death to life. If you're a Christian here this evening, you've been given a new life principle. The Spirit of Christ has come into you and has made his dwelling among you. And why? Why has he done that? Because you are worthy? No. Because you've done everything right? No. Because you've been born into the right family? No. Because Christ is the head of his body, the church. And what Christ has is life. And he grants and gives that graciously to those who are united to him by faith. Like a branch that's united to a vine. where it receives its sustenance from that vine. Separate that branch from the vine, and what happens? Death. But if it remains, life, growth. You see, that's in part why Paul is saying here that Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. We know what this firstborn reference means. First not in order, first in rank over those who were dead but are now alive. Remember, we're talking about new creation. Jesus told the Sadducees once in Luke 20, God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. For to him, all are living. That includes you, that includes me. In Christ, being united to him like vines and branches, we are alive in Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ, you have new life. You have new life abundantly. Christ is not the Savior of the dead. He's the Savior of the living. We were once dead, dead in our sins and trespasses, but now He has made us alive so that we would live for Him. There's this tricky question that is often asked of a candidate for ministry. You all know that a candidate for ministry goes through a pretty rigorous exam. And one of the tricky questions that is often asked of a candidate is, are you totally depraved? And the man who answers quickly may say, yes, I'm totally depraved. He wants to sound Calvinistic. But the correct answer is no. No. Because as a Christian, you have been transferred from death to life. The old is gone. The new has come. That's us. That's you. That's me. Now, for some of us here tonight, hearing something like this might be difficult for us see because however much we at times want to deny sin in our lives we know that it's always so close at hand and our sin can be so discouraging can't it you hear a minister like myself preaching to you that you are alive in christ you have newness in Christ. You are a new creation. And I say so to encourage you. And yet in your life experience, you feel the weight of the guilt of your sin. Well, if that's you, I encourage you. Hold on to Christ. Hold on to Him. Continue to abide and remain in Christ. Don't get tired of fighting against your sin. Keep fighting. You are indeed alive. The fact that you fight against your sin is proof of that point. See, what you're wrestling with is what every Christian wrestles with. Christians at Colossae were wrestling with this as well. And that's why when the false teachers came into the church and promised them special growth and special spirituality through philosophy and commandments of men, Paul says to them, hold on walk in christ in the manner that you have received him by faith abiding in him remaining in him listen to what paul says in verse 19 for in him all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell if all the fullness of god was pleased to dwell in christ which it certainly was if if we are united to him then that fullness of god dwells in us that's the spirit spirit who gives to us new life the spirit that makes us new creations in christ so yes continue fight on don't give up hold on to christ there's no magic formula for sanctification there's no extra biblical command and practices that will lead you to special newness of life. There's no psychology that will answer all of your questions of sanctification. You already have Him whom you need. It's Christ. Now grow in Him. Grow to appreciate Him and what He has done for you. Grow to hate your sin more and more in light of what Christ has done for you. Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling because it is him who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Paul ends with saying here in verse 19, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Christ is the preeminent one over all creation, old creation and new creation. He's already reconciled us to himself granting to us peace abide in that peace remain in that peace the same power that enabled christ to subject all things to himself that same power is working in each of his children that power is available to us and we don't do need to do anything to tap into it we need to trust him we need to abide in him you need no more than christ the preeminent one over all of creation so what does preeminence mean it means the greatest the supreme one that's who we have as christians that is our lord that is our god that is our savior let's pray