The Born Supremacy

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The Supremacy of Christ

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In a conversation with a man of another religion, the question was asked of missionary Stanley Jones, “what has Christianity to offer that our religion has not?” The response was plain, simple, and to the point…Jesus Christ.
Our text this morning is one of the most profound in all of the New Testament, perhaps the entirety of the Bible. Simply because it describes who Jesus Christ really is. Even with a basic understanding of this passage ought to lead us to a holy encounter of worship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of course, Jesus Christ is central, the crux of the Christian faith and practice. He is the driving force of the why and what we do as the church. Anything else is secondary to His supremacy. Jesus stands at the CENTER of the universe, at the center of Scripture, and ought to be the central focus of our personal and corporate lives as Christians.
The Church in Paul’s day believed that Jesus is Lord of all, or He is not Lord at all!
One interesting thing about Hawaii is how so many of the world’s religions are practiced here. But, the exclusivity and supremacy of Christ is not a reality in these world religions. Now you might have the thought that its nice to have a “Parliament of Religions” but the reality that Paul wrote to the church in Colossae does not reflect that kind of sentiment. Jesus isn’t just one of many emanations from the great unseen God. You see a grand Parliament of religions isn’t going to agree to the truth of who Jesus is, yet, if compared, Jesus will shine forth with no competition.
It is evident in DL Moody’s ministry one of the greatest moments of ministry came for him during a world exhibition taking place in Chicago in 1893. Moody’s friends wanted him to join the “Parliament of Religions” but he refused.
He stated, “I am going to make Jesus Christ so attractive that men will turn to him.” The Chicago Campaign of 1893 was one of the greatest movements in Moody’s years of ministry…thousands came to Christ. That’s what happens when you take what Paul wrote to the Colossians and run with it.
You see, what Paul was up against during this time was a clever company of false teachers who wanted to replace the Colossians passionate devotion to Jesus the Christ with only a mild approval of Him.
Think about it…how easy it is fall into the trap thinking that Jesus isn’t the only show in town. No…they didn’t encourage anyone to deny Jesus or forget him totally. They’d even agree that Jesus was prominent, just not preeminent.
Think about it for a moment…Is Jesus prominent in your life? Or is He preeminent? There is a HUGE difference.
Colossians 1:15–20 CSB
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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. He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 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. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 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.
Seven truths why Jesus Christ is the Born Supremacy

Jesus is Supreme because of His relationship with God the Father.

Colossians 1:15, Hebrews 1:3
Colossians 1:15 CSB
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Hebrews 1:3 CSB
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
He is the “image” - Greek word is eikon - refers to something shaped to resemble something else, such as a portrait on a coin. It can also refer to an idol. For generations mankind sought to fashion an image, an idol to worship. Romans 1:23.
Romans 1:23 CSB
and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
But here this identifies Christ Jesus as the PERFECT REPRESENTATION or LIKENESS OF GOD.
Obviously God is invisible, yet John 1:18
John 1:18 CSB
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
Jesus is literally the explanation of God.
Jesus reveals the personal character of God…the revelation of what God is really like. Hebrews 1:3 is another powerful text on this truth. He is the exact expression (representation - NASB)of the essence of God.
Jesus isn’t some two-bit knock off impersonator. What you might see of Elvis in Las Vegas...
The disciples, even Thomas & Philip, with all their limitations, lived and followed Jesus for three years. Shook his hand, had dinner with, even spent some time on the lake fishing.
The beauty in this is that in Jesus, the unknowable God becomes known.
John 14:8-11
John 14:8–11 CSB
“Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.
In John 20, once Thomas sees Jesus, He falls on his knees and responds to Jesus, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus IS SUPREME.

Jesus is Supreme over all things because He is “the firstborn over all creation.”

Some of those in a “Parliament of Religions” would be excited to read this because they would use it to build up their heresy by pointing to what they teach which is to teach that Jesus was the first person created. Jehovah’s Witness and a teacher by the name of Arius, long before them, take it this way. But they ignore the context, which states Jesus is Creator of everything. John 1:1.
John 1:1 CSB
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
There is the fact that while “firstborn” can mean first child, it often simply means “first in rank or honor.” “Firstborn” in Ps 89:27 is kind of a code word for the coming Messiah.
Psalm 89:27 CSB
I will also make him my firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth.
So when Paul uses this language, he is simply pointing out that the highest honor/rank belongs to Christ Jesus. He is supreme over all creation!

Jesus is Supreme because “in Him all things were created.

1:16a - This statement by Paul also supports verse 15 and points to Christ being supreme in creation simply because He is Creator. “For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth...”
He is the unique agent of creation.
John 1:3 CSB
All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
As 1:19 states all the fullness of God dwells in Him, so in Him are all the creative powers that make Him Supreme. Think of this…from tiniest of organisms to largest of creatures. There are at least 800,000 catalogued insects, with multiple types of species…all created by Christ Jesus.
Not only is He creator, but Paul says that all things were created “for Him.” He is the end goal.
Through Him -> intermediary agent through whom God accomplished His creative acts
For Him -> Points to Christ as the goal of creation.
Everything began with Him, and ends with Him. Sound familiar? Christ Jesus is the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last…and according to Phil 2:11, everything, one day, will give Him glory.
Philippians 2:11 CSB
and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Jesus is Supreme because He is the Sustainer.

Colossians 1:17 CSB
He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
Even though He is eternally existent, He continues to hold all things together, and without the activity of the Sustainer, everything we see, know, and maybe take for granted would fall apart. He keeps it from chaos. Keep that in mind the next time you get worked up about global warming.
Heb 1:3 says that He sustains all things by His powerful word.
We owe our continued existence to Him. Acts 17:28
Acts 17:28 CSB
For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’
Any time we step out of alignment where by Jesus is not first in our life, we step out of God’s design and we try in our own power to sustain and keep it all together. But the fact is, when we step out of alignment, we are living in sin.

Jesus is Supreme because He is the head of the Church.

Colossians 1:18 CSB
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.
As Jesus is supreme and sovereign over creation, He is also the same over the Church. He is so because He is the head. Jesus began the church, and He certainly is the churches source of life.
Similar to how the brain controls our physical bodies, so Christ controls and is head over the body or the Church. We take our direction from Jesus and we are under His authority.
As the true believers are the church, we owe our allegiance to Jesus Christ as we submit to His Headship over His Bride.

Jesus is Supreme because He is the “first born from among the dead.”

Again, nothing to do with time, but Jesus is first in rank. Others were raised, see Lazarus, only to die again. But Jesus was the first to rise, and never die again. He is the first person to conquer death, to over throw the powers of darkness.
Every other resurrection is based on His. The awesome thing is this…His resurrection secures our own. 1 Cor 15:20-23
1 Corinthians 15:20–23 CSB
But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at his coming, those who belong to Christ.
The Resurrection marked His triumph and supremacy over death forever. Romans 1:4
Romans 1:4 CSB
and was appointed to be the powerful Son of God according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection of the dead.

Jesus is Supreme because “all the fullness dwells in Him.”

All the fullness of God that is…All of God’s fullness took up residence in Jesus. Fullness means completeness.
Jesus is the full embodiment of God’s attributes. Paul is telling the Colossians that God wanted His fullness to live in Christ. Christ is God’s dwelling place. Jesus perfectly displays the attributes in every sense of the word. Jesus is God in totality…everything God is, Jesus is. John 1:1
John 1:1 CSB
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:18 CSB
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.

Jesus is Supreme because through Him, we are reconciled to God.

This reconciliation is “reestablishing a relationship, causing the relationship to become friendly and peaceable when it was not so before.” (Life Application New Testament Commentary).
It is the removal of hostility, the removal of the debt which caused by sin, brought hostility between God and man.
Reconciliation was paid for through the shed blood of Jesus the Supreme upon the cross.
Colossians 1:21–23 CSB
Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him— 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.
Now all of this can only mean one thing:

Jesus Is Lord

He must be first in everything. 1:18 says so.
In the puzzling times we live in today, what are we doing, where do we turn, and to whom are we listening? Whom are you following? Do we follow what social media says to do? Do we believe what we read on social media? We know it cannot be trusted. Do we follow what text books teach us? Do we follow what the media tells us? Do we follow what the government dictates to us? I mean…where do we turn?
Church if we say, “Jesus is Lord” then what does that look like in our lives? Because Jesus as Lord, if Jesus has supremacy over your life, He will change everything about you that is not holy and set apart for God.
To walk in God’s will and follow Jesus, Christ Jesus must always be the central focus in your personal lives.
He will call upon you and how you parent.
He will direct your marriage and how husband & wives relate to one another according to Eph 5.
Relates to how you give and or steward your money, how you make decisions, how you serve others, how and who you worship, how you pray.
He must take 1st place in everything...
Your family, marriage, profession, mission and ministry, matters of intellect, time, love, conversation, pleasures, eating, play, athletics, what we watch, in art, music, worship...
Let us give Jesus, the Supreme, First Place.
As you evaluate these areas, you quickly see the battle for supremacy over your life is real. He is either LORD of your life or He is not.
The Greek word for Lord in Phil 2:11 which states that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord - is Kurios.
It can mean Lord as in “sir” (polite) Yes “sir” - but not quite the weight and worth of Jesus.
It does mean - Master (bond-servant - Paul), Owner, Lord of the Harvest, Master of the house, Lord of the Sabbath, Ruler.
In Revelation 17:14 and Rev 19:16 Jesus is Kyrios Kurion - Lord of Lords
Revelation 17:14 CSB
These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
Revelation 19:16 CSB
And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You want to know why Romans 8:37 that talks about believers and followers of Jesus being more than conquerors?
Romans 8:37 CSB
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
It isn’t because we are special super heroes or have some kind of special light hidden away and as we figure out the best version of ourselves we overcome anything…ITS BECAUSE JESUS IS LORD!
BECAUSE JESUS CHRIST IS SUPREME!
1 John 4:4 CSB
You are from God, little children, and you have conquered them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.
John 16:33 CSB
I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
1 Corinthians 15:54–55 CSB
When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?
There is no parliamentary rule and reign over your heart and life where Jesus is just one representative with many others. There is only a throne…it matters who is seated on the throne of your heart and life? Place your trust and faith in Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come, the King of kings and Lord of lords and find your rest in the Supremacy of Jesus Our Lord.
Dear Lord Jesus, I admit I am a sinner and I ask You to forgive me. I believe you died on the cross to pay for my sins and that God raised you from the dead. I confess my trust in you as Lord and Savior of my life. Please guide me and help me to do your will.” Amen
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