Christ Alone

Turn in your Bibles to Colossians 1 verses 15-20

This past year I took an Anabaptist History and Theology class with Jon Showalter

And one of the really good points that Jon made was that studying history can be really tricky

The reason is that

What makes a person often controversial is that we want to know what kind of person this person was

We often know what they did. History can attest to that

But we don’t often know what kind of person they were.

History can be very subjective about this. Depends on who is writing this history.

Do they feel favorably toward this person? They are going to focus on the good stuff—you get a good picture

Do they feel unfavorably toward this person? They are going to focus on the bad stuff—you get a negative picture

But it would probably be safe to say that no one single person has caused more speculation and controversy and even wars, than did Jesus Christ of Nazareth in Galilee

Books have been written about Him

Histories and novels

Movies have been made about Him

Documentaries, sermons, doctoral thesis,

I have in my possession at least two books which are specifically about who Jesus was

Regarding Jesus

The Jesus I Never Knew—Phillip Yancey

The reason that these books were written is for this fact

That there is a lot of confusion about Jesus

You have countless different cults and religions, all of them with different viewpoints on Jesus

But you know, we shouldn’t be surprised

Because even those close to Jesus at times speculated about who He was

When Jesus calmed the storm in Matthew 8, the disciples asked each other in astonishment, “Who is this man that even the wind the waves obey Him?”

And you know, as we have already talked about a number of times,

In the very earliest days of the church, just as the church was being born and trying to gain footing

Right up alongside, there grew heresies and false teachings which served to confuse the new Believers about who Jesus

And the Colossian church was no exception to this

They had in their midst false teachers.

And these false teachers were promoting a mixture of Jewish religious practice and Greek philosophy

And this heresy sort of morphed and changed and by the 2nd century, it became known as what we call Gnosticism

They didn’t call it that at the time

But that’s what we know it as now

“Gnosticism” comes from the word “gnosis” which means “Knowledge”

The gnostics claimed to know more than anyone else. They had a ‘secret knowledge’ that only they were privy to

they had a spiritual inside track

And we could talk a long time about what Gnosticism taught, and some of the ideas that grew out of Gnosticism

but here is a nutshell

God is good

Material world is evil

God couldn’t have created matter

So He didn’t create it

Emanations, “sub-gods” went out

And one sub-god went out so far that he didn’t even know God and that is the one that created the world

Furthermore, they stated that Jesus was one of those emanations

And that He didn’t have a physical body. He was a phantom, they said

Because, after all, Jesus was good. But He couldn’t have had a physical body because matter is evil

So, these false teachers denied the deity of Jesus Christ, AND the humanity of Jesus Christ

These are ideas that were already starting to float around very early in the infancy of the Church

And this is why Paul wrote this book of Colossians. It was to answer some of these false teachings and the doubt that came with it

We have already looked at Paul’s heart for these Believers.

He calls them saints and faithful brothers—assuring them that they are loved by God and chosen by God

And he thanks God for their faith and love and endurance and for the fruit that the Gospel is bearing among them

And he prays that God will continue to show them His will and so that they will be able to live a life that is worthy of the LORD

But now, in our verses today, the

And then, as it were, he turns to the false teachers and says basically this:

Look here, false teachers! Jesus is supreme!

The little title of this section in my Bible reads this way:

The Preeminence of Christ

“Preeminence” is another word for “supremacy”

Domination, dominion

In other words, Paul is saying, “CHRIST ALONE”—the subtitle of our series.

He’s not ‘Christ also’. He’s not just another sub-god or just one of the many prophets that have come on the scene.

He’s not an angel, or a random spirit

He is CHRIST ALONE. He is Supreme

This word “supremacy” is going to show up in verse 18. It means simply “to be in first place”

There is no one or nothing else ahead of Christ. He is in first place above all

He is supreme over:

Creation

Authorities and powers

The church. EVERYTHING

Paul just lays it on the line here, both as firm and stern rebuttal to the teachings of the false prophets

But also as an offering of praise and worship to Jesus

Today as we read this passage and as we study it, I would just invite us to open our hearts and worship Jesus because, as we see here, He without a doubt deserves all the praise we can give Him and much much more!

PLEASE STAND

Colossians 1:15–20 ESV

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 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. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

How is Jesus supreme? We are going to see at least 7 ways here this morning

He is the image of the invisible God

The writer of Hebrews says it like this

Hebrews 1:3 “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”

He’s not just some ‘sub-god’ or lesser being that has been sent out. He is the exact likeness of God

the Apostle John in his gospel acknowledges the fact that all good Jews knew—you can’t look at God and live

The holiness, the splendor, the power of God would overwhelm you and you would die

Isaiah the prophet, when he had his vision of God, fell down and said, “I’m dead. I’ve seen God. There is no way that I can live”

John 1:18 (NIV) No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known

I am convinced that our Creator God created us as humans to yearn for Him..to have that insatiable curiosity about Him, that longing for Him.

Who is God? What is He like? If I could sit and talk with God, what would He say? Does God love me? Does He care about what is going on in my life? What does He love? What does He value?

Paul says here, and the Gospel writers would agree, he says, “Look at Jesus! You want to know about God? Look at Jesus! He is the exact image of God”

When you get to know Jesus, you get to know God! When you see Jesus, you see God

Jesus Himself in John 14, talking with His disciples

Phillip says, “Lord, just show us the Father and that will be enough for us”.

You can almost hear the desperation in his voice—a desperation that I resonate with

We just want to know God. We want to know that He cares enough to reveal Himself to us

And Jesus says, “Phillip! I’ve been with you all this time and you still don’t understand? When you see me, you have seen the Father! You have seen God!”

Jesus is supreme because He is the exact representation of God

No other prophet can say this

No other angel or spirit can say this

No one can fulfill the longing of our hearts for God like Jesus can

He is the firstborn over all creation

What does this mean? Firstborn? Jesus was born?

Actually this verse, and John 3:16 (Jesus is God’s only begotten Son) have caused quite a bit of confusion over the years and have resulted in more heresy

The Mormons, for example, take this to mean that Jesus was actually born, as you and I were born

They say that there was heavenly father and heavenly mother and that they got together and produced a spirit baby named Jesus

And they say that God chose Mary to give birth to Jesus as a human, and at that point he received a physical body

And Jesus progressed through maturity and went through His death and resurrection and was eventually exalted and at that point he received his “godhood”.

Well, folks, that isn’t biblical at all. It’s got bits and pieces that are correct, but bits and pieces aren’t enough

What does it mean that Jesus is the firstborn over all Creation?

Well, when a first-century person, Jewish people anyway, heard these terms, only begotten, or first born, the emphasis was not on the fact that this person was born

Rather, the emphasis was on what order this person was born

And when a son was the first born, that mean that this son was the heir to his father’s estate. He was the one who got the birthright

He was the one who had the authority to carry on His Father’s name and reputation

So, when the Bible talks about Jesus being the firstborn, the point was not that He was born. Because He wasn’t

Rather, the point is that He is the HEIR to the entire universe

the firstborn of ALL creation

Being first born speaks to His importance, His power, His privilege, that He is the one who “inherits” all that His Father has

Who else can say this? What other prophet or religious figure is worthy of such an inheritance?

How do we know that He is the image of the invisible God? How do we know that He is, in fact, the heir of all creation?

verse 16 for or because He created all things.

All things were created by Him

All things were created for Him

All things hold together in Him

All things include

Things in heaven

Things on the earth

Visible things

Invisible things

Thrones (thronoi)

Powers (kyriotetes)

Rulers (archai)

Authorities (exousiai)

All of these things were created by Jesus

You know, this is one of the main things that ties together the OT and the NT

in the beginning of the OT, we read that God created the world, the universe, all things, God created

How? He spoke them into existence

that is how the OT begins

How does the NT begin?

Well according to John, it begins in much the same way

Only in John 1, who is it that created the world?

It is The Word as John calls Jesus

How did God create the world? he spoke

How are we introduced to Jesus? He is The WORD

And John says, The WORD, that is Jesus, was there at the beginning. And not only that, but he goes on to say that ALL things were created through Him and nothing was created without Him

You know, we can get quite bent out of shape about how long did it take for God to create the world. 7 days? 7 eons?

And it’s good to form our beliefs on this. But I would venture to say that the length of time might not be the main point

The main point might be that God spoke it all into existence by the power of His Word

Because that then connects us to Jesus who is introduced as THE WORD, the Living Word

And the overarching, main message of the Bible that you hold in your hands is JESUS CHRIST

But we are so quick to get lost in arguments that take our focus OFF of Jesus.

And that’s not a new problem. That was happening in Colossae too!

And Jesus, the WORD was there at Creation. In fact, Paul says, all things were created BY Him or THROUGH Him

They were spoken into existence from nothing

They didn’t evolve into being over millions of years as “scientists” would have us believe

Evolution is treated as fact, even though it is far from being proven as fact

and even though some of their own people are saying, “yeah, we are still pretty far from proving it as fact”, still they cling on to this belief

They would probably fit the description of people in Romans 1 where it says they suppressed the truth of God and traded it for a lie

Not only that, but they were created FOR Him.

for His pleasure

For His glory

that includes YOU. That includes me

You were created for His pleasure

Do you believe that? It wasn’t something random

You were created and He had something

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

Before

As in time—He came before anything else was

The Mormons teach that Jesus one day came into being

They say He is eternal, but that means they believe that He always will be

We believe that the Bible teaches that Jesus not only will always be, but that He always was.

Being God, He has no beginning or end

the other day our family was watching The Chosen, and Jesus has that confrontation with religious leaders

And they challenge Him saying, “Are you greater than our father Abraham?

And Jesus says, “Before Abraham was, I AM”

As in location—He is in front of, in charge, the head of (see next point)

In Him, ALL things hold together

It is amazing sometimes to think of the delicate forces that are held in balance in creation

I love watching nature shows, even though most of them talk about evolution and such nonsense

But watching them you just get the impression by how delicate creation really is

s very resilient, true, but also very delicate

the story of the grey wolf in Yellowstone Park is a fascinating one

They were seen as a threat and were virtually exterminated from the park in the early 1900’s.

But when they did that, the entire ecosystem of the park was upset

They took one piece out, and the entire ecosystem fell apart

You think about your heart

Just one fist-sized muscle keeping your entire body going

You can lose a limb or a lung or a kidney or a gall bladder, and you can keep going

But this little ticker in here has to keep ticking every second of every minute, of every hour of every day of every year, or else your life ends

You think about even molecules and atoms

One of the things that we learn in school is that all matter is made up of rapidly moving particles of opposite charges—protons, electrons and neutrons

Clarence Darrow—renowned physicist and evolutionist says this:

You grasp what this implies. It implies that all the mass of nuclei have no right to be alive at all. Indeed, they should have never been created, and if created, should have blown up instantly, yet here they all are. Some inflexible inhibition is holding them all together. The nature of the inhibition is also a secret, one thus far reserved by nature for herself.

What is that force? (inhibition) It’s Jesus

And we could keep going and going. Nature is incredibly delicately balanced

And it’s JESUS who holds all of that together. All He would have to do is lift His hand and the entire universe would devolve into chaos

Do you see how Paul is very intentionally refuting the arguments of the false teachers?

Jesus isn’t just a less evil sub-god

He is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe

He is, in fact, one with God, and is worthy of all our worship and praise

Jesus is Supreme!

He is the Head of His body, the church (verse 18)

The Greek word here literally means “head”, as the thing on top of our necks that houses our brain, our eyes, our ears, our mouth, our nose

Life source

just as our body is fed through our head

So, the church receives it’s life through it’s head, that is Jesus Christ

He is the life force if you want to put it that way.

His Holy Spirit is active, moving, breathing, growing, leading

There are a lot of religions that have a main figure or prophet that they point to and study and quote, but those prophets or religious figures are all dead

But Jesus isn’t! He’s alive and, just like He holds all of creation together, He gives life to His church

Authority

Just like the head on a body commands all the functions of the body

So, Jesus as Head of His Church, commands all the functions in His church

We struggle sometimes with how church should be done

What kind of things do we include in morning services

What traditions should we hang on to, are traditions good at all?

And we all like the stuff that we like in church

And you know, we might never quite agree on everything

But let us never lose sight of the fact that Jesus is the Head of His church

And without Him, we are nothing, we have nothing

Satan will use whatever he can to pull our eyes and focus off Jesus

But Jesus is our head, our authority

He is the Beginning and the Firstborn from among the dead

The firstborn of the dead. There’s that word “firstborn” again

It means that He was the first to rise from the dead

yes, Jesus had raised Lazarus and the widow’s son from the dead

But Jesus was the first to truly conquer death and come out of the tomb

And He is the firstborn because now we, too, as His people, share in His resurrection

He came before us as the firstborn, but we, coming after Him, now share in His life

It wasn’t us who did it. He did it first and we simply share in what He has already done!

And we read this picture in multiple places.

in chapter 2, verse 13, Paul reminds the Colossians that they were once dead in your sins

But now you have been made alive in Him

Why? Because Jesus is alive and He conquered death, and now we share in His resurrection!

What other prophet, what other religious guru can you say this about? Jesus is Supreme!

All of God’s fullness dwells in Him

Again, when you look at Jesus, you see God

Everything that God is dwells in Jesus

And this is no accident

God’s fullness was pleased to dwell in Jesus

He didn’t steal this somehow. He didn’t usurp any power

This was God’s perfect will to indwell Jesus with His fullness

You can’t say this about anybody else. Jesus is supreme!

He is the Reconciler (vs. 20)

and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things whether on earth or in heaven making peace by the blood of His cross

Folks, this is the Gospel right here

If someone was to ask you to sum up the Bible in one word, what would you say?

I would say “reconciliation”

In the book of Genesis, we see what sin did to mankind

The most tragic thing was that Adam and Eve were separated from the presence of God

Sin brought a division between them and God, and they were cast out of His presence, out of the Garden

there was a reconciliation that needed to happen

And the story of the Bible is God’s plan to restore that relationship

And that plan was fulfilled by the death and resurrection of Jesus, who took the punishment that should have been ours, shed His blood, died on the cross, but who conquered death and is raised

A right relationship between you and God, between me and God.

That is what our hearts ultimately need and long for.

Jesus has made that possible.

Some folks would look at this verse and they would see

Through Jesus, God has reconciled ALL THINGS in heaven and earth to Himself

And they would say, “Oh, that means everyone is saved! God has saved everyone through Jesus!”

But I don’t believe that is what Paul or any of the Biblical writers would say

Because look at what it says at the end of this verse: “making peace by the blood of His cross”

We are reconciled to Him through faith in what Jesus has done on the cross

It is through the cross that peace was made

Who else can say this? Who else has made it possible for you and me to once again come into the presence of God?

Only Jesus. Why is Jesus supreme? Because only He has done what no one else could do

Folks, Jesus is supreme

The challenge for you and me this morning is the same as it was for the Colossian Believers

Are you going to set Jesus before you as LORD and as worthy of your praise and adoration and as worthy of your whole life?

Have you allowed the messages that this world bombards us with,

Messages telling us that faith is weak and that human reasoning and understanding are to be held up

Messages that there are more important things than a relationship with Jesus

Have you allowed those things to start eroding your faith and pulling your eyes off of Jesus?

This is my encouragement for us today

Jesus is Supreme over any other god and is worthy of our worship and of our lives