First of All, Jesus.
Notes
Transcript
if you have your Bibles, open to Colossians 1:15-20
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15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
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.
17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
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.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
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.
inadequacy // study notes // Could be a whole series // swimming in thoughts // young preacher struggles to step up to a passage like this… (not alone)
Not alone - prince of preachers said:
“The subject I have to speak about is the honour and glory of the second Person of the blessed Trinity, even our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and it is so vast a theme that the preacher, at the outset, confesses that the task is too great for him to accomplish; he staggers beneath the weight of his theme, which seems to him too great for the human mind to compass or for human lips adequately to express. All I can hope to do is to be lost in my subject that Jesus Christ may be All-in-all.” - Charles Spurgeon
So would you pray for me as I pray? Would you pray that I would help us all exalt Jesus as first in everything today and that my tiny little brain won’t explode into some disorganized mass of regurgitation of commentaries or sermons I’ve studied to prepare, but that we’d catch a glimpse of Christ’s glory? I just want to confess to you my utter inability today and ask the Holy Spirit to ignite my thoughts and my words into a blazing fire of Jesus exalting praise.
pray
There are probably a hundred ways or more you could approach this text. As I said, you could easily make an entire series out of this one passage of Scripture. But today, I feel led by the Spirit as I’ve studied and considered what the Lord would have me share, to make our journey through these glorious six verses by holding on to the verbal thread that stitches them together. We’re going to walk verse by verse through our text today and pause at various places where the Greek word for “all, all things, or everything” pops up. Like rock climbing, we’ll use these words as a foothold or a handle to climb the heights of this passage in order to see Jesus as first in ALL things.
1) First of all, Jesus is.
1) First of all, Jesus is.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
So we’re going to put our foot on the first foothold as we climb this mountain and rest on this word “all.” That Jesus is firstborn over all creation. While we’re stationed here we’re going to explore what this verse has to say. We notice it says first of all that Jesus IS...
Jesus is the image of God. Humans were created according to the image of God. Do you notice the difference?
18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
More than incarnate image, Jesus is the pattern after which every person was created and designed to reflect.
26 And God said, “Let us make humankind according to our image and according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the winged things of the heaven and the cattle and all the land and all the creeping things that creep upon the land.”
The “us” in that verse includes the pre-existent 2nd person of the trinity - the LOGOS. Hebrew writings would often speak of WISDOM being with God before the world began.
The apostle John would also tell us that that 2nd person of the trinity was there in the beginning.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
2 He was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And that is what the second half of this verse says that Jesus is preeminent over all creation.
Turn this point around by saying it like Yoda - first of ALL Jesus is.
Your translation of the Scripture says that Jesus is firstborn, not that he is preeminent. But that language “firstborn” is saturated with meaning looking back all the way to Psalm 89 when the Scripture spoke of David and prophetically to the coming messianic King...
27 And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him.
29 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.
The emphasis of being firstborn is on RULING and not on being the first to come from his mother’s womb. After all, David was not the firstborn, he was the youngest of all his brothers.
So when Colossians says Jesus is firstborn of all creation, all commentators and interpreters rightly take this to mean that he is preeminent over ALL creation. By the way, this dispels the ancient (and still contemporary) heresy of ARIANISM which says that Jesus is a created being and not coeternal with the Father and the Spirit. Jehovah’s Witnesses would be a modern day example of the Arian heresy and they’d point to this verse to support their notion that Jesus is a created being. But if you’re ever confronted with that challenge, just tell them “you should never read a Bible verse.” That is to say, don’t simply read a single verse out of context. Tell them, Jesus can’t be the first created being. Because...
1) First of all, Jesus created everything.
1) First of all, Jesus created everything.
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.
It is nonsensical to say that Jesus is the firstborn (if you mean it in the literal, temporal sense) and that he also created everything. You can’t be a created being if you created everything. And last time I checked, it’s pretty much what it means to be God if you are the creator of everything.
Climb this mountain of Christology with me, and put your other foot on this word in the beginning of verse 16: “everything.” It’s the same Greek word that was translated “all” in verse 15, and it continues this idea of Jesus’ preeminence, by stating that EVERYTHING - ALL THINGS - were created by Jesus.
And then it goes on, just in case you were wondering what everything means, to say that things in heaven and on earth, things visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominions, or rulers or authorities were all created by Jesus.
This is astounding. We could make a nearly endless list of things that we’ve seen. The sun, the moon, the stars, the grass, the sky, the water, the fish, the birds, the animals, the trees, and on and on and on we could go. EVERYTHING. Has your eye seen it? Jesus created it. You say, what about computers - humans created those. I’d say where did you get the materials for it? Where did you get the humans to fashion them? AND more specifically, where did you get the intelligence to create them? Or how about the laws that govern how they work? What is logic? What is gravity? Can you touch the wind? Can you see force? Jesus created invisible things too. Everything good that we have, whether visible or invisible is a gift - at least by extension - from our creator. But you say, ah, what about the bad stuff I’ve seen? Did Jesus create that? What about evil things?
Before I answer that, I want to remind you that when Jesus created all things, the Bible tells us that all his creation was very good.
But the Bible does not shy away from the realities of evil, or from declaring Jesus’ sovereignty over evil. In fact, this text takes evil one step further - it answers the question: what about spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places? Things like thrones, dominions, rulers or authorities?
Jesus created all things.
We learn from Scripture that once there was a host of holy angels, but some of them including Satan, sinned. Jude verse 6 tells us they “did not stay within their own position of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling.”
Their sin was an insurrection - a desire for more power than they were appointed by God.
Satan is a created angel who, with other angels, rebelled against God, rejecting him as King and set out on a course of what one theologian calls, “self-exaltation and “presumed” self-determination.” They do not want to subordinate themselves. They do not want to do what angels are called to do: serve and minister to others.
So why didn’t God just wipe out Satan right after the rebellion? Why wait until the day that Revelation promises when the devil will be thrown into the lake of fire and tormented day and night forever?
I believe this text gives a clear answer:
ALL THINGS - INCLUDING SATAN, and all evil dominions and authorities were created by Jesus and through Jesus and for Jesus.
The glory of God will reach its pinnacle in the display of Jesus Christ’s obedience, suffering, patience, humility, servanthood, suffering and death more than simply by raw power. Colossians 2 tells us
15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
Facing calvary after the Last Supper, Scripture says...
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
We would not know Jesus in the fulness of his glory if he had not defeated Satan in the way he did.
You say, “I wouldn’t have done it that way.” That’s why he’s God and you’re not.
You say, “but doesn’t that make Jesus unjust in the way that he governs the universe - to allow evil and satan and death and all those things?”
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.
You say, “It feels like this evil is all meaningless.”
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
That’s what this text is trying to say. You see,
1) First of all, Jesus gives meaning to everything.
1) First of all, Jesus gives meaning to everything.
The second half of verse 16 kind of repeats Paul’s theme from Romans 11:36...
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.
ALL THINGS have been created through him and for him.
It’s funny how so often we say that this is the “Sunday School” answer - because it seems like no matter what the question is, the answer is JESUS!
But if you’re trying to figure life out, you have to start looking at things from the right perspective. The ultimate purpose of everything is that Jesus receive glory.
This is what makes preaching so difficult sometimes. You begin to feel like a sharp needle in a world full of balloons. The most counter-cultural, politically incorrect, in your face thing you can say to someone is that this life is not about you.
But every Sunday I get the distinct privilege of saying...
THIS LIFE IS NOT ABOUT YOU. THIS LIFE IS NOT FOR YOUR GLORY. IT’S ALL ABOUT JESUS.
That’s what it meant to be created according to the image of God. Jesus is the image - you’re created according to the image - designed to reflect the image of Jesus in everything and bring glory to him in all things.
Now, it just so happens that the one who created us also loves us and designed us in such a way that when we truly recognize our purpose is to bring glory to God, we enjoy HIM and enjoy living for HIM.
If what you think it means for you to be a Christian is boring for you, and hard, and uninteresting and completely lacks joy, you may not be a Christian.
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
When you can put your hand on this handle - this idea that ALL THINGS are through Jesus and FOR Jesus, you will start to climb to new heights. Oh, I want you to see JESUS as GLORIOUS. I want you to ENJOY JESUS as the one for whom you were created. To give your life completely to him.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Christians start to look more like Jesus because they have awakened to this reality that Jesus gives meaning to everything - including their own hurt and suffering and pain.
So we’ve got our feet on two footholds, and one hand on a handle. Let’s grab hold of another handle to climb this mountain in verse 17a.
We look and see that FIRST of all....
1) First of all, Jesus precedes everything.
1) First of all, Jesus precedes everything.
17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
That word “all” at the beginning of the verse is our fourth “all” of this text. And we pause here to see that he is before all things.
The original language was emphatic - He HIMSELF is BEFORE all things.
And that word “Before” is a great English word that keeps things kind of ambiguous. It is to say that Jesus is both chronologically before everything (in time), and to imply also that Jesus is preeminent because he is preexistent.
In Revelation, Jesus said,
13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
In light of what we’ve already come to understand about Christ through this text, very practically, I want to ask you, does Jesus come before all things in your life? Is Jesus your first thought in the morning? Does he take precedence over your tv watching schedule? Over your social media habits? Over your financial decisions? Over your ethical choices? He HIMSELF is BEFORE all things. So if your life is topsy turvy or backwards or upside down, could it be you haven’t properly oriented yourself to seek first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness (which Romans 10:4 tells us is Christ)? All these other things will be added unto you - but Christ must be first - BEFORE all things.
But then we see that AS first of all, Jesus sustains everything.
1) First of all, Jesus sustains everything.
1) First of all, Jesus sustains everything.
We look now to the second half of verse 17 to move one of our feet to another foothold. The Scripture says that by him, ALL things hold together.
17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
It’s as though this mountain never ceases to astonish our thoughts. It’s mind-boggling enough to consider that Jesus created everything that exists, but now we pause here to linger for a moment at the incredible thought that Jesus is literally sustaining the universe as I am speaking to you. Every molecule of this entire universe would vanquish if Jesus did not continue to uphold it (as the writer of Hebrews said) “by the word of His power.”
To carry our rock-climbing analogy a little farther, it is often when you’ve put your foot into its next foothold that you’re able to push up and get to a higher level. And that’s in fact where we are in our climb today - ready to push off into verses 18-20 where we’ll see even more of the glory of Christ in his supremacy not just in the first creation, but in the new creation - beginning with his Church.
So when it comes to the new creation, we see that first of all, Jesus LIVES and that Jesus GOVERNS the church with an eye to ultimately governing everything.
1) First of all, Jesus lives and governs the church and ultimately everything.
1) First of all, Jesus lives and governs the church and ultimately everything.
Reach your other foot up with me to rest on the word “everything” at the end of this verse where we can pause and soak it in.
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.
So working a little bit backwards from our key word “everything,” we see that Jesus has come to have first place in everything by nature of the fact that he is a RISEN Savior. The new and everlasting creation was inaugurated by his resurrection, and that word “firstborn” carries the same sense of meaning as it did in verse 15. It is to say that Jesus is preeminent and rules the new creation as a king. It is what makes him the rightful governor of the church. In Romans, Paul says that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of Holiness by his resurrection from the dead.
Let’s be very clear with our neighbors in Southern Maryland - no ordinary human being can be the head of the church. POPE’S DIE. PRESIDENTS PERISH. PASTORS & THEOLOGIANS CROAK.
BUT JESUS IS ALIVE and on account of his God-given authority he rules and reigns in the church.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
8 putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.
So Jesus is building His kingdom - and it is a SPIRITUAL kingdom and every local church is an outpost of His governance. The church ought to exemplify what it means for KING JESUS to reign and rule over our lives here and now.
You might ask, well, how does that concept all fit in with the kingdoms of this earth and political life of this age? I’m glad you asked - I think you’d benefit greatly from signing up to come on Friday night to KCA for the Conversations on Christianity and Culture where we are going to hear Jonathan Leeman discuss if Christianity is a political threat...
At the end of the day - one day every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But for just a little teaser for Friday: the Kingdom of God doesn’t grow by the sword - it grows by the gospel being proclaimed and lived out under the rulership of our King, Jesus. So let’s try and unpack that gospel a little by reaching our hands for another handle word “all” in verse 19, where we find out that first of all, Jesus has [hashtag] #ALLTHEFULLNESS
1) First of all, Jesus has #allthefullness.
1) First of all, Jesus has #allthefullness.
19 For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him,
Colossian believers were being confronted by this hashtag in their social media feeds all the time. (C’mon, work with me in your imaginations here). The threat to the Colossian church was heresy that promoted some concept of spiritual fullness that could not be attained except by asceticism and fastidious observance to rituals as well as giving prominence to other spiritual beings in the unseen realm. In other words, they were being told that to attain “fulness” you had to worship other beings and things besides Jesus. And Paul drops re-appropriates this cultural hashtag/lingo and says nah...
The Father was pleased to have #allthefullness dwell in JESUS.
So how does this idea of fulness relate to the good news of the spread of the gospel?
When John speaks about Jesus as the Word made flesh, he says:
16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
That’s really good news. Jesus becomes a mediator of the fullness of God for us.
Think about it with me like this: Imagine you are an empty vessel - desperately needing to be filled with all the fullness of God… (remember this is what the Colossians were striving after)… to be filled, you would have to receive all of God’s glorious attributes. You’d get a full dose of love, a full dose of grace, and a full dose of mercy....but you would also receive a full dose of God’s wrath, and hatred of sin, and justice.
Listen friends - no human being in their fallen state can receive the fullness of God. HE is a CONSUMING FIRE.
HOWEVER, Paul tells us that it pleased God for all His fullness to dwell in Jesus. WHY? Because Jesus’ vessel was unstained by the fall. As a human being, Jesus could receive the full measure of God’s grace and love, but also withstand the full measure of God’s justice and wrath, and he did that at Calvary.
Brothers and sisters - because Jesus was a fit vessel to receive the fulness of God, the apostle tells us we have been the beneficiaries of receiving grace upon grace through Jesus our mediator. That is indeed what the last handle in Colossians confirms, because first of all, Jesus RECONCILES everything.
1) First of all, Jesus reconciles everything.
1) First of all, Jesus reconciles everything.
Picking it back up from the beginning of verse 19, we read...
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
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.
That word “everything” at the beginning of verse 20 is our last handle… It is where we rest to pause for a moment and bask in the fact that the shed blood of Jesus at Calvary brings peace to all hostility and reconciles literally everything. There is no wrong that will not be made right by the blood of Jesus. Rest here with me for a moment and soak it in.
We already learned that the cross completely humiliated and forever forecasts the complete and utter defeat of every unseen evil spiritual being.
All those who trust in Jesus had every sin atoned for at Calvary, and it is because of his shed blood that they have been reconciled to God the Father.
And we know that everyone who has spurned the shed blood of Messiah will be punished justly in hell forever, because as John puts it, those who have not believed in the Christ remain under the wrath of God. So any wrong that has not been paid for at Calvary will be set right in eternity because those vessels will be empty of divine fullness and dashed into pieces like clay pots with an iron scepter in the hands of King Jesus.
And what about the first creation that Christ spoke into existence and sustains by his power? Does Jesus’ shed blood reconcile it?
19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope
21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Question 26 in our New City Catechism asks “What else does Christ’s Death Redeem?” [after already establishing that it redeems sinners back to God]
The adult answer is instructive: “Christ’s death is the beginning of the redemption and renewal of every part of fallen creation, as he powerfully directs ALL THINGS for his own glory and creation’s good.”
Conclusion
We’ve climbed to the peak of one of the Christological mountains of the Bible today. I want to close with a bird’s eye view of what we see from these heights:
The vision is vast.
We see the key to resolving the disharmonies of nature and the inhumanities of mankind in Christ’s death and resurrection.
We see that the cross of Christ encapsulates God’s concern for the universe in its fullest expression.
Perhaps the most striking view is the vision of the church as the focus and means toward cosmic reconciliation.
The church is the community in which that reconciliation has started to take place, and as we continue our study in Colossians, we’ll see that it is the church’s responsibility to live out what that reconciliation looks like in front of a watching world, as well as to proclaim the mystery of its gospel foundations to everyone who will listen.
Believer, Christ made you for himself. Indeed, this passage teaches us that he made us twice for himself. SO give of yourself: body, soul, and spirit to Jesus. Spend all your time, use all your strength, and utilize every means you have for Christ and Christ alone. In doing so, you will align yourself perfectly with the purpose of your existence.
Leonardtown Baptist Church, in every thought, in every word, in every deed, remember:
First of ALL, JESUS.