Sermon Tone Analysis

"Rooted in God the Son"

Colossians 1:15-23

February 6, 2022

Ryan Fregoso

We are back in our study in Colossians.

Go ahead and find Colossians 1:15-23.

I was thinking this week, that in life, there are certain events, or series of events that leave a lasting impact on us.

There are also certain people who have left a lasting impact or mark in our lives.

In 2009, my wife Natalie, and I made the move to Tucson, not knowing what the future would hold.

Since then, Natalie was baptized, we found our Church home here at Thornydale Family Church, had two beautiful daughters, purchased our first home, and I became an ordained pastor.

Talk about a life changing decision for our family.

But none of that really compares to when Christ called me in 1998.

Now, this is an amazing event that even the angels rejoice in, according to Luke 15:10.

Even more than that, nothing compares to the impact that one Person had on all of mankind.

That Person of course, is Jesus.

Today, we're going to be reading about this Person.

In an online overview of this passage that I came across this week, we can summarize our passage this way:

"Paul's goal in this passage is to give the Colossian church an accurate picture of who Jesus is and what he accomplished on the cross and to encourage them to remain faithful to Jesus in spite of the pressures they are facing."

Did you hear that?

This passage gives us an accurate picture of who Jesus is.

Paul does this by writing a poem, some have compared it to the Christ Hymn of Philippians 2. This poem reminds the Colossian church (and us today!) the impact that the sacrifice of Christ had on their lives and on our lives.

I came across some really interesting commentaries and notes about this passage this week, one of which identified it as the Colossians Christ Hymn.

Here is a bit of a summary of what I read this week:

This Christ Hymn is possibly one of the most important passages we find in the book of Colossians.

It is filled with the proper identification of Christ in relation to God, in creation, and in His Church.

The hymn itself is only six verses (15-20), but in it we see what it means to believe in the One who is 100% God and 100% man.

We see that in this belief, we have assurance in our salvation.

Finally, we see that this pass summarizes the entire Bible, from creation to reconciliation, the two ends of our history.

I'm going to do something a little out of order today, I want to give you the main idea now, so that when we read the passage, we can put into context everything that we will be covering today, which is a lot:

To be rooted in God the Son (Jesus),

I must put Him as the head of all things.

So, with this in mind, join me as we read from Colossians 1, starting in verse 15:

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.

21 AND YOU, WHO ONCE WERE ALIENATED AND HOSTILE IN MIND, DOING EVIL DEEDS,

22 HE HAS NOW RECONCILED BIN HIS BODY OF FLESH BY HIS DEATH, IN ORDER TO PRESENT YOU HOLY AND BLAMELESS AND ABOVE REPROACH BEFORE HIM,

23 IF INDEED YOU CONTINUE IN THE FAITH, STABLE AND STEADFAST, NOT SHIFTING FROM THE HOPE OF THE GOSPEL THAT YOU HEARD, WHICH HAS BEEN PROCLAIMED IN ALL CREATION UNDER HEAVEN, AND OF WHICH I, PAUL, BECAME A MINISTER.

I think it is necessary to define some terms and phrases from this passage, then we'll dig a little deeper into the main idea.

First, and quickly is the term the very beginning of verse 15, namely ...

1.

He

a.

The "He" here refers back to verse 13, where Paul declares that God delivered us (Christians) from darkness to the Kingdom of His Son (Jesus).

The next two are closely related.

First, we see ...

2. Firstborn

a.

We see this in two ways, first He is firstborn ...

i.

Of all creation (15)

1.

What this does not mean is that Jesus was created first, or literally born.

2. If we look at this entire section, we will see in verse 16 that Christ is called Creator, so there is no possible way that He can be creator and created.

We'll explore this a bit more later.

3.

If we look at the big picture of the entire Bible, we can compare what we read here to Psalm 89:27:

AND I WILL MAKE HIM [speaking of David] THE FIRSTBORN, THE HIGHEST OF THE KINGS OF THE EARTH.

This is significant, as we know that Saul was the King prior to David.

a. Something else to consider here is that the Psalmist, in this example of firstborn, is not speaking about David's birthright, which was important in this culture, but rather his rank and status as the preeminent king of Israel.

There were many that followed him, but none were designated as a man after God's own heart.

4. So, the idea of firstborn, as seen both here and verse 18 speaks of Christ's rank, His status, His position.

It means that He is "of first importance", of "first priority."

5. Speaking of verse 18, Paul also states that Christ is the firstborn ...

ii.