First Place in Everything

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Me

SHOW ZAKK NAME GRAPHIC HERE. WAIT TO USE MAIN SERIES GRAPHIC WHEN REQUESTED BELOW.

So — a lot of us have that one room in the house: the guest room.

Technically — somebody could stay there. There’s a bed. And a pillow. And there’s even a little lamp on the nightstand — and a candle you grabbed at Home Goods because the label said “Warm Linen” — and you thought, “Yeah, that feels welcoming.”

And for about three weeks after you set it up — it’s perfect, right?

And then… life happens.

First it’s a couple boxes. Then it’s the Christmas decorations. Then it’s the treadmill that you fully intended to use (I’m telling on myself here) — and there’s a dresser drawer full of old tax returns nobody’s brave enough to throw out.

And so the guest room is still available in theory — but if somebody actually called and asked to stay this weekend — you’d be up till midnight moving boxes.

That room is always ready — as long as nobody shows up, right?

Here’s my confession — and I think I’m not alone in this: I’ve treated Jesus exactly like that guest room. I’ve been genuinely glad He’s in the house. But if you actually walked the hallways of my life — you might notice the room I gave Him is a little… full.

Full of my plans.

My backup plans.

My need to be in control.

My, “I’ll pray about it — right after I’ve already decided.”

My version of faith that basically says, “Jesus — you’re welcome here… as long as You don’t need to rearrange anything.”

So let me ask it in an honest way: Jesus has a place in my life.

“DOES JESUS HAVE” GRAPHIC

But does He have first place?

First on Sunday? Well, sure.

First in the parts that feel manageable? Probably.

But first in the decisions I’ve already made — and the rooms I’ve kept off-limits? That’s a different question.

Here’s the thing about a guest room.

It doesn’t feel like a problem… until the Guest actually shows up.

We

Most of us — if we’re honest — know what that feels like. Most of us would agree that Jesus has a place in our lives. And we’d mean it. We sang it this morning. We’d put a sign in the front yard if you asked us to.

… and then Monday happens. And Monday has opinions. Monday says the boss gets first call on your peace. The calendar gets first call on your time. Your phone gets first call on your attention — because most of us reach for that before we reach for anything else.

We’ve got a dozen things in the room all applying for the same job. Comfort. Career. Control. The approval of people whose names we won’t even remember in ten years. And every one of them makes the same promise:

Put me first — and I’ll hold your whole life together.

And we’re all tired, right? This hamster wheel is exhausting. We’re worn out from handing the keys of our lives to things that were never really strong enough to hold them.

SHOW “THE REAL THING” MAIN TITLE GRAPHIC HERE

This morning we’re continuing in our series in the Book of Colossians called “The Real Thing”. And the Apostle Paul wrote this letter to a church and a people who were getting pulled in a hundred different directions — surrounded by people offering them a hundred different things to build a life on.

Sound familiar?

And Paul writes this letter to them to say: “There’s the real thing — and then there’s everything else.”

And the real thing has a name. It’s Jesus.

“IF JESUS ISN’T FIRST” GRAPHIC

And today Paul is going to help us discover that if Jesus isn’t first in everything — then He really isn’t first in anything.

Because first place isn’t something you sort of have. You can’t be sort of first, right? The second anything else gets a vote — or starts earning your attention — Jesus isn’t first anymore. He’s just… one more thing in a crowded room.

Last week we talked about how the Gospel doesn’t just save us — it grows us. In us — and through us.

But here’s the thing:

Nothing can grow in a room packed to the ceiling with our own stuff.

And that’s why this year — our focus as a church has been about intentional discipleship — the lifelong process of becoming more like Jesus —

letting Him into every room of our lives and giving Him permission to rearrange the furniture.

See — discipleship was never about just giving Jesus a room — it’s about handing Him the keys to the whole house.

God

So here’s the question we should all be sitting on right now: Why?

Why would I hand Jesus the keys to the whole house — instead of just giving Him a nice room and calling that generous?

Paul saw that question coming. And his answer is staggering.

Exposition

So take a look with me — Colossians Chapter 1 — Verse 15:

v. 15

Colossians 1:15 CSB

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

See — what you’ve got to know about the church in Colossae — that Paul was writing to — they’d been getting a sales pitch. Some teachers had shown up offering an “upgrade”: Jesus plus a little something extra. Jesus plus some secret knowledge. Jesus plus a few extra rules.

In other words — He was welcome at the table — He just wasn’t quite enough on His own.

It’s kind of like when you’re at the check-out counter at the store — and the person goes, “Would you like to add the extended warranty?” That’s what these guys were doing with Jesus. They were like, “He’s great, but have you looked at the Premium Package?”

And so Paul drops a bomb on all of that when he says Christ is the image of the invisible God. And that word image doesn’t mean a copy of something — it means the exact representation.

Paul’s saying, “You’ve ever wondered what God is actually like? Stop guessing and look at Jesus.” That’s God — in a face you can see.

Then he calls Christ “the firstborn over all creation”. That doesn’t mean Jesus was the first thing God created — He has always existed with God the Father. But it does mean He’s over and above all things.

v. 16

Look at how Paul describes it in Verse 16:

Colossians 1:16 CSB

16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.

Everything was created by Him. See — Paul’s word “first-born” here — wasn’t about birth order — it was about rank. In ancient times — the first-born was the heir. They were the ones with the authority and the inheritance. Paul is saying Jesus owns the place.

v. 17

And then comes the line that I just can’t get over. Verse 17:

Colossians 1:17 CSB

17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.

Sit in that for a second. Right now — the reason the universe isn’t flying apart — is Jesus. The reason there’s order instead of chaos — He’s the one holding it.

He’s not just a guest in the house. He’s the beams in the walls. He’s the foundation under the floor. He’s the thing keeping the whole place standing — and the thing holding us together.

And remember everything we said we put first? The comfort — and the career — and the control. The approval. Every one of them made the exact same promise: “Just put me first and I’ll hold your life together.” And every one of them eventually buckles under the weight — because none of them was ever built to carry it.

There is One thing that holds it all together — and it’s not our calendar.

Jesus is meant to have the first place in everything.

v. 18

Look at Verse 18:

Colossians 1:18 CSB

18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.

When Paul says Jesus is the head of the church — he’s not talking about a building. He means the people. Us. And then he tells us the whole point of all of it: so Jesus can have first place in everything.

Everything.

Not first among equals. Not first just on Sundays. Not first in the parts of our lives that are already going fine. But first in everything. Because if Jesus isn’t first in everything — He really isn’t first in anything.

Paul is naming the goal God’s been driving at this whole time: that in every room of every life — Jesus would be first.

v. 19

And just so we don’t shrink who we’re talking about — look at Verse 19:

Colossians 1:19 CSB

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

Not part of God. Not a good representative of God. All of God — fully — living in Christ.

v. 20

And here’s where all that glory turns into good news. Verse 20:

Colossians 1:20 CSB

20 and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

The One who made everything — the One holding the entire universe together — made peace through His blood. The Owner of it all, bled.

v. 21

Hold on to that — because Paul’s about to make it personal.

Colossians 1:21 CSB

21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions.

Did you catch the turn? Paul goes from the size of the universe — straight to us.

He says “Once you were alienated.” That word means more than distant. It means estranged. Strangers. Even enemies. We weren’t just messy tenants who let the guest room get cluttered — we’d changed the locks and shut the Owner out of His own house.

v. 22

And here’s what He did about it. Verse 22:

Colossians 1:22 CSB

22 But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him—

The One who could’ve evicted us like He had every right to… didn’t. He walked into the house He built — and He died to bring us home — not to leave us in our mess — but to present us holy. Faultless. Blameless. That’s not who we were… that’s who His death makes us.

v. 23

And then Paul adds one more line — and don’t rush past it. Look at Verse 23:

Colossians 1:23 CSB

23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.

Note the words Paul uses in this Verse. Grounded. Steadfast. Not shifted.

See — giving Jesus first place isn’t a one-time ceremony. It’s not like when you go to closing after selling a house and you just hand over the keys and never think about it again.

It’s staying surrendered. It’s a house that keeps the Owner in charge — day after day. That’s the difference between admiring Jesus and actually following Him. And it’s the very thing we’ve been calling discipleship all year long.

A counterfeit Jesus is content with a room. But the real Jesus is after the whole house — not because He’s needy — but because He made it — He holds it together — and then He bled to buy it back.

God isn’t competing for space in your life. He created the space. He sustains the space. And He purchased the space with His own blood.

He was never going to settle for a room. He’s the One holding up the house.

You

So here’s how we make this practical.

We begin by not allowing anything else to compete with Christ in our lives. Remember — He can’t be sort of first.

We’ve got the rooms we’d gladly open. The Sunday morning room. The parts of life that are going really well? We’re good with letting Jesus in there.

But there’s another room. And you already know the one in your own life that I’m talking about. Some of you — maybe your stomach dropped a little when I said it. There’s a room you keep the Guest out of.

For some of us maybe it’s the bank account. Jesus can have our Sundays — just not our spending.

For some — it’s a relationship. The person we refuse to forgive — or the one we know we shouldn’t be with.

For some of us — it’s the calendar. Jesus can have an hour… just not the schedule.

Maybe it’s that private habit nobody knows about — the thing we do when the door’s locked or when nobody’s home. The drinking you’re hiding — or the things you’re looking at on your phone that you shouldn’t.

And for some of us — it’s just the plan. The future we’ve already drawn up — the decisions we’ve already made in our hearts — that we fully intend to pray about — right after it’s too late to change it.

That room. That one with the stuff piled up to the ceiling. The one you’d be up till midnight cleaning out if He ever actually asked to come in.

See — there’s a lie that keeps that door shut. We tell ourselves that if we hand Jesus ownership of that room — life gets smaller. More restricted. Less “ours”. Like surrender is just loss.

But think back to what Paul told us about who built the house.

In any house — there are walls you can move and walls you can’t, right? Some walls are decorative — knock one out — open up the room — no harm done.

But every house has a load-bearing wall. And that wall isn’t there to cramp our style — it’s the thing holding the roof over our heads. If you try to pull that thing out to get more space — you don’t get a bigger house. You get a pile of rubble!

If you’ve ever watched HGTV for even five minutes — you know the scene. Somebody wants to knock out a wall for a big open-concept kitchen — they’ve got the sledgehammer — they’re so excited — and then the contractor walks over — and he puts a hand on the wall — and gets real quiet — and goes, “Yeah. That one’s load-bearing.”

And Jesus isn’t a decorative wall in our house either. He’s the load-bearing wall. He’s the One holding the whole thing up. So when He asks for that room — He’s not trying to make your life smaller. He’s keeping the roof from caving in on you.

Handing Him the room you’ve been guarding isn’t how your life shrinks… it’s the only way it actually stands.

Because if He isn’t first place in everything — He isn’t really first place in anything.

And maybe you’re sitting here thinking — I’m not even sure He cares about that part of my life. That’s just my money — or my schedule — or my business.

Friend — He made the details. He’s holding the details together as you sit there. There’s not one place in your life that He considers none of His business.

So this week — if I can encourage you church — make one concrete move to hand Him the key. Not the whole house at once. Just one room. And you’re not doing this to earn the house back — He already bought it. You’re just called to live like it’s His.

If it’s your money — before you spend a dollar this week — give first. Put Him first in the budget instead of last and leftover.

If it’s a relationship — you make the call. You start the hard conversation. You forgive the person you swore you never would.

If it’s your calendar — open it — and put time with Him on it first.

And if it’s that plan you’ve already made — you stop — and before you commit one more inch — you actually bring it to Him and ask — and mean it — “Is this Yours, Lord?”

And here’s why this matters for who we’re becoming as a church. This — right here — is discipleship. It’s not a one-time handoff where you surrender once and coast forever. It’s the daily walk through the house — room-by-room — handing Him one more key. It’s exactly what I mean when I say I want us to be a church full of intentional disciples. Not people who gave Jesus a room one time… but people who kept opening doors.

Because the Guest you’ve been keeping out of that room is the Owner. And He’s standing in the hallway right now.

We

Now — imagine what The Turning Pointe looks like if we all commit to this. Imagine a room full of people who go home this week and open the door they’ve been guarding for years. Imagine marriages where Jesus has first place. Imagine the bank accounts where He’s first. Think about people at work who are different — full of the joy of Christ.

That’s a house full of people who handed the Owner the keys. And that is what we’ve been after all year when we talk about discipleship. Not more information. Not busier Christians. But disciples — ordinary people who keep walking the house with Jesus — opening one more door — until there’s not a single room in the place where He isn’t first.

Last week we said the Gospel doesn’t just save us — it grows — in us — and through us. And this is how it grows. One surrendered room at a time. One life — that spills into a marriage — and a workplace — and eventually this entire community. That is the real thing. And it’s available to every person in this room.

Call to Repentance

Some of you in here love Jesus. He’s genuinely in the house. But you know there’s a room. And today is the day. You don’t have to clean it up first. You don’t have to have it all figured out. You just have to walk down the hall and hand Him the key. See — the door isn’t locked from His side. It’s locked from yours.

And for others maybe — if you’re honest — Jesus doesn’t have a room at all. Maybe this is your first time in a place like this — and this sounds like a lot. But here’s the thing, friend. The God who made you — the One holding your life together this very second — looked at a house where you changed the locks and shut Him out — and instead of walking away — He came in. He walked to a Cross. He died to pay for every door you shut. And He rose from the grave so the door could finally open from the inside.

Jesus never meant to just be a room in our life. He’s the one holding the whole thing up. So don’t don’t just give Him a place. Give Him first place. Because if Jesus isn’t first in everything — He really isn’t first in anything. The Owner is standing in the hallway. He has been the whole time.

Prayer

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