Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

This morning, we’re in a letter written by Paul to the church in Colossae.

Colossae was a city located about 12 miles north of Laodicea, at one time it was a significant city because of its location.

It was a major trade city, but by the time of this letter, its significance had waned.

In fact, the two closes cities, Laodicea and Hieropolis essentially eclipsed the growth of Colossae and caused Colossae’s growth to halt.

As for the church in Colossae—we are a little uncertain as to how the church started—most scholars believe that Paul’s fellow-prisoner, Epaphras started the church after learning about Jesus Christ from Paul in .

We think that because Epaphras is a native Colossian, so it makes sense that after learning about Jesus from Paul in Acts, he would return home and teach others about Jesus Christ.

Regardless of how the church started, we do know that Paul had nothing to do with it.

This letter is occasional, which means that Paul wrote this letter with a purpose—which is to confront the issues of false teaching within the church in Colossae.

We see that in

So Paul, is writing this with the intent of confronting false teaching and he’s doing this in a couple of different ways, but the primary way that he confronts all false teaching is the same way that we ought to confront false teaching today.

He points them to Jesus Christ and the Gospel.

Keep that in mind as we read .

Let’s Pray.

As we study this passage this morning, I

The Preeminence of Jesus Christ:

We find ourselves at the beginning of a letter written by Paul to confront an issue of false teaching within the church at Collosae.

We aren’t entirely sure what the issue is, but we know from Colossians and from almost every other letter that Paul wrote, that he is quick to counter false teaching.

Which is important to note, because I think that in our modern churches, we are a little too lenient with how long we allow false teaching to reign within our churches and it causes significant damage to those within the body.

Paul is quick to confront false teaching and in this instance, he confronts the false teaching in three steps: (1) he reminds them of who Jesus is, (2) he reminds them of the position or what authority Jesus has, and (3) he brings them back to the cross to remind them of who they are and what Jesus does for all of us if we believe.

Who is Jesus?

Who is Jesus?

In confronting false teaching, Paul’s first statement is this: “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God” and “He [Jesus] is the firstborn of all creation.”

What Authority does Jesus hold?

Paul states that Jesus is the image of the invisible God—what does Paul mean when he makes this statement?

I want you to think of every time we’re told about a visible manifestation of The Father—in other words, when the Bible speaks of people seeing the Father, what do they see?

Paul states that Jesus is the image of the invisible God—what does Paul mean when he makes this statement?

And you can take a look throughout all of Scripture, and you’ll find something interesting: whatever it is that the Father looks like, we can’t see Him or if we can see Him, our minds can’t comprehend what we see.

For instance, when the Israelites were wandering around and they had the tabernacle, what symbolized the presence of God?

The presence of God was symbolized by the pillar of fire during the night and smoke during the day.

When Moses is on Mt.

Sinai, meeting with God in , Moses requests to see the glory of God and God responds with, “I will make all my goodness pass before you” because “man shall not see me and live”

Something about God is so great and so almighty that we, as human beings cannot bear to be in His presence—quite possibly, it is His holiness and our current sinful state of being that prevents us from being with Him physically.

And yet, when Philip says to Jesus in “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

What does God, the Father look like?

He looks like Jesus the Son and Paul is making the same point when he says, “Jesus is the image of the invisible God.” Paul continues this thought by stating that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

And I have to stop here just briefly to explain an issue—if you ever talk to a Jehovah’s Witness and the conversation happens to be about the Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You’re going to be surprised to hear, that Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity and they’re going to use this verse to prove their point.

Their argument is going to be that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and they will explain that if Jesus is the firstborn, that must mean that Jesus was created by the Father and Jesus happens to be the first creation, not God.

The issue is that they’re taking the verse out of context—this verse is not talking about Jesus being biologically the firstborn of creation—this is talking about Jesus being firstborn in authority.

In other words, when it comes to families, out of all the children, who has the most authority?

The firstborn, mind you this illustration breaks down a little, when you consider the fact that the Trinity is one.

So, while Jesus is the firstborn, He’s also the Father.

Jesus looks like God, and Jesus has all the authority—”for” or “because all things were created [by Him],” Vs. 16, 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.”

So, who is Jesus?

He is the image of God, He is the one with all authority, He is the creator God, He is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords and in Vs. 17, He is the sustainer of all things.

Which quite simply, means this—despite what our culture says and despite how we feel, the world is not ours, the universe does not revolve around me, and I am not the one with all authority or power, He is.

Jesus as the creator-God owns the world; the universe is created by and for Him; and He has all authority and all power.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.

That is the one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic . . .

or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us.

He did not intend to.

Remember this as we read

Verse 18-20 answer a vital question; and the question is this:

What Authority does Jesus hold?

Who are we?

And we could give the typical (what I would consider, the Sunday School answer): that JESUS HAS ALL AUTHORITY, but Paul doesn’t simply say that, he expounds on this idea:

Jesus is the head of the body, the church.

And I think to those that have grown up in a church, this might seem to be such a no-brainer to us, that we sometimes forget that new Christians might not understand just how important this is:

If you’ve spent any time in church leadership, you know that it is easy to make decisions without first considering what Jesus would do in the same situation.

Let’s be honest, in any situation, it is far easier to act and react without considering Jesus than we would like to admit.

But we all know that Jesus is to be Lord over all our lives and this applies even more to His church.

C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity makes this statement:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God.

That is the one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.

He would either be a lunatic . . .

or else he would be the Devil of Hell.

You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse.

You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher.

He has not left that open to us.

He did not intend to.

iv.

In other words, Lewis is stating that if we truly believe that Jesus is the true Son of God—if Jesus is truly God, then the only the that we can do is fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

There is no other option

In other words, Lewis is stating that if we truly believe that Jesus is the true Son of God—if Jesus is truly God, then the only the that we can do is fall at his feet and call him Lord and God.

There is no other option

And if in our personal lives, we are to fall at the feet of Jesus and worship Him and allow Him to reign in us, how much more should we allow Him to do so in the church that exists to worship Him?

continues with:

Jesus is the beginning,

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead

This might sound a bit confusing, but in reality, what this passage is saying is that Jesus as the head of the church, is the first to be resurrected into the new creation.

In everything, he is to be preeminent

Jesus is the first to be resurrected into the glorious new creation with his glorified body and the purpose behind all of this, is so that he might be preeminent.

And the word preeminent, might be unfamiliar or confusing to us, because we don’t necessarily utilize this word today; so let’s take a moment to break down the word

Merriam-Webster’s states that the term preeminent adjective: having paramount rank, dignity, or importance

The Greek term utilized here comes from the root word πρωτος, which means simply “first”