“Jesus: First & Foremost in Everything”
(Colossians 1:15-18
)
Series: The All-Satisfying Christ (Colossians)
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
Henderson’s First Baptist Church, Henderson
I invite you to take your Bibles and join me in the passage that was read for us earlier in Colossians, chapter 1. Remember you can also locate the passage and outline on your smart phones and tablets by way of the YouVersion Bible app. We’ll be reading and studying those verses in chapter 1 from verse 15 through verse 18.
We are preaching out way through Colossians in a series entitled “The All-Satisfying Christ,” and today we are reading and studying about the preeminence or supremacy of Jesus Christ and why that matters.
Now we’re looking at a passage this morning that is so rich and multi-layered, probably the place in the New Testament with the most highly concentrated teaching on the deity of Christ and His lordship.
Have you ever had Baklava? Know what that is? One of the benefits early on of meeting Michele, my wife, was the benefit of getting to know her family through her stepmother, who is Greek. And this family would get together to cook, bake, and enjoy great Greek foods.
Baklava is a Greek pastry that is so rich and sweet in flavor. And one of the reasons it’s so good is that it is made of numerous layers of phyllo dough. It is layer after layer of almost paper-thin phyllo, separated with melted butter and finely chopped nuts. It is baked and then a syrup with includes honey and other spices like is poured over the Baklava and allowed to soak in. It is finally garnished with cloves.
Here’s a picture of Baklava. See the multi-layers of phyllo? Okay, why did I show you that? Because it’s good! But also because I thought of Baklava as I read this section in Colossians 1, because again, this passage—which really goes from verse 15 through verse 23—is arguably the most concise and tightly compacted teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ—layer after layer of rich teaching of Christ’s glories, highly concentrated teachings, about the deity of Christ; His Person and His work; who He is and what He has done.
So let’s jump right in here this morning and consider the first main point Paul is making here in the text. There are two main headings. The first is that:
Jesus is Lord of Creation (15-17)
This is an unmistakable primary teaching of Paul’s here in verses 15 through 17.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
The word “image” there is the Greek word ei˙kw»n, from which we get our computer term, “icon.” It means “copy” or “likeness.”
You click on a computer icon and it takes you to the file you want to see. The icon is a representation of the fulness of the file you desire to see. And in a way, Jesus is like that computer icon. To “click on” Jesus is to “click on” God Himself. He is the One who makes God visible.
John 1:18 says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (or made Him known).”
So Jesus says that to look on Him is to see God Himself. As He said in John 14:9, “He who has seen me has seen the Father.”
As someone said, “Jesus is the human face of God.”
The term “firstborn” in this context does not refer to physical birth as we might think at first, because the term can take that meaning it other contexts. But this meaning is actually an obvious impossibility given what Paul goes on to say about Jesus’ being the very one through whom all things were created. If you are the one creating all things, then you yourself are not among the “all things” created.
This is the error of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. They believe wrongly that Jesus was created by God. But again, if you are the one creating all things, you yourself cannot be among the all things created.
No, the therm “firstborn” here takes on a different meaning. “Firstborn” in this context refers to rank—the highest rank—or preeminence, the preeminence of one’s position; the rights and privileges that belong to a person, like the son of a king for example. The king’s son who will succeed the king may well be the firstborn son, first born chronologically—but he may not. A ruling monarch passes on certain rights and privileges to whichever son he chooses. So firstborn in this context refers to the rights and privileges one has as the preeminent one, the one who is first and foremost of highest rank and position.
And note again in verse 15 the tiny word, “over.” Jesus is the firstborn not “of” all creation, but “over” all creation. He is Lord over all creation. Verse 16:
16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Many people don’t realize that everything was created through the eternal Son of God. John opens his gospel this way, John 1, verses 1 and following:
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 nothing was made that was made.
Everything in all of creation was made through the Son of God. Everything! Isn’t all creation beautiful?!
I enjoyed a picturesque run yesterday morning along the outskirts of the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois—just beautiful! As I was running and looking at all the color of the changing leaves—brilliant oranges, reds, and yellows—I said aloud, “Beautiful, Jesus!” What handiwork!
So “by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth.”
Here’s an important reminder to us theologically of the eternal nature of the Son of God. Remember that, “There never was a time that the Son was not.” He has always been.
Now there was a time when “Jesus” was not, but there has never been a time the Son of God was not. He has always existed and what happened 2,000 years ago was that the eternal Son of God took on humanity, took on flesh in Jesus Christ, God “incarnated” Himself—what we’re getting ready to celebrate in the coming weeks—Christmas is a celebration of the incarnation—the takin on of flesh; and so we’ll sing, “Clothed in flesh the godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity!”
God the Son has always existed. He is the second Person of the Holy Trinity. God is One in three Persons. One in essence, three in personhood—each person different in role or function, yet no separation of essence. This picture helped me years ago and I want to share it with you.
Pic 2: Trinity diagram.
God is one in essence and three in persons or personhood. “Essence” describes “what” someone is, while “person” describes “who” someone is. When it comes to God there is one “what” and three “who’s.”
Jesus IS God. Some of you students may find yourselves in secular university somewhere and the professor will tell you that the deity of Christ is something the early church really didn’t believe and that it came about much later.
When I was a parole officer years ago sensing a call to ministry, there was a new parole officer in our district who had just left the ministry. Kind of ironic: he was a former Southern Baptist minister who left the ministry and became a parole officer; I was a parole officer soon to become a Southern Baptist minister. I was theologically conservative and he had become theologically liberal. It’s interesting how God will place people in your life to challenge you and grow you.
But this guy was like that professor. He argued that the early church didn’t really believe in the eternity of the Son of God. And I’d turn to the Gospel of John and he’d be like, “Well, the Gospel of John was written so late,” suggesting the early church made up all that stuff about Jesus’ deity.
Well, remember when Colossians was written? AD 60, that’s just 30 years after Christ rose from the dead. Many people who witnessed the resurrection were still living. And, by the way, we know Colossians was written in AD 60 give or take a year, why? Anybody know? Remember in our introductory message we talked about how Colosse was destroyed? How was the city destroyed? By earthquake somewhere around AD 60-62. Paul isn’t writing a letter to a church that isn’t there. Think about it! So he’s writing before the earthquake, which means he is writing just 30 years after Christ rose from the dead and Paul writes, “He is the image of the invisible God…and by Him all things were created.”
Jesus is the agent of creation. He created all things including all the various categories of angels. That’s the meaning of the phrase in verse 16, “thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.” Jesus created everything in heaven, including the heavenly angels.
The false teachers in Colosse were teaching the worship of angels. You’ll note that heresy is mentioned specifically by Paul in the next chapter, Chapter 2, verse 18, “Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels,” and so on.
Some teachers apparently even suggested that Jesus was among the angels. So Paul is like, “Look, Jesus is not on an equal level with the heavenly angels, He CREATED the heavenly angels. He is preeminent, first & foremost in everything; vastly superior OVER His creation, including the angels.”
Jesus is both the agent of all creation and the goal of all creation. Paul says at the end of verse 16, “All things were created through Him and for Him.”
Warren Wiersbe says, “When it comes to creation, Jesus Christ is the primary cause (He planned it), the instrumental cause (he produced it), and the final cause (He did it for His own pleasure).”
All things were created through and for Jesus Christ; for His pleasure and for His glory.
17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
He is “before” all things, again a reminder to us of the eternality of the Son of God. He has always been. There never was a time when the Son of God was not. He is before all things and “in Him all things consist.”
Consist literally means, “to hold together.” Jesus holds all things together. We sing it when we sing, “He’s got the whole world in His hands.”
Bet you want to sing that right now, don’t you?! Let’s sing it.
Despite the fear mongering of political liberals, you can’t destroy the planet, okay? He’s got it. In Him all things consist.
He keeps everything going; He holds everything together; maintains the order of all things
As one scholar (H.C.G. Moule) put it: “He keeps the cosmos from becoming a chaos (Colossians Studies, 1898, p. 78).”
So Jesus is Lord of creation. The other main heading this morning is that:
Jesus is Lord of the Church (18)
Verse 18:
18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
So Jesus is “the head of the body, the church.” He is the leader of the church, not the pastor, not the deacons, not this committee or that committee. He is the head of the body.
FF Bruce says, “Christ is the head, exercising control and direction; believers are His body, individually His limbs and organs, under His control, obeying His direction, performing His work. And the life which animates the whole is Christ’s risen life, which He shares with His people.”
This is HIS church. He is the leader. As senior pastor, I am not the shepherd of this flock so much as I am an under shepherd, under the direction of the Chief Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 18 also says that Jesus is, “The firstborn from the dead.”
Firstborn here indicates chronology. Jesus is the first chronologically, the first in time, the first of many more to come. Jesus was raised from the dead. And those who believe in Him, receive Him as Lord, those who are saved will also rise from the dead.
And Paul is here writing primarily about spiritual resurrection. If you turn from your sin and turn to Christ, you will rise from the dead. This truth is guaranteed by Christ’s resurrection. Apart from Christ we are dead in trespasses and sin. The Holy Spirit works upon us through the power of the Gospel and we are granted the ability to say, “Yes” to Jesus, and when we say, “Yes” to Jesus we rise from the dead.
Like Jesus who was raised from the grave never to die again, so by faith we rise never to die again. Christ’s physical resurrection is the source of our spiritual resurrection.
So Jesus is both sovereign over the church and Jesus is the very source of the church. He gives life. As He says in John 14:19, “Because I live, you will live also.”
Building on verse 18, “In all things He may the the preeminence” we need to ask the question: Is Jesus Christ first and foremost in the all things of my life?
Is He first and foremost in everything, the “all things” of my life? Does He have first place in every area of your life?
1) First in my Marriage or Singleness
Pic, “The Marriage Triangle.”
“The closer a husband and wife get to Jesus the closer they get to each other!”
2) First in my Job
23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for mere human men,
24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
He is first in your job. Work for Him and watch the way it changes your job. Put Him first.
3) First in my Possessions
Do your purchases go through Christ first? Do you run it by Him?
Do you hold on to your possessions lightly, willing to let them go if He directs you?
4) First in my Decisions
who i’m hanging with
what i’m watching
what i’m listening to
what i’m putting in my mouth,
what i’m smoking, what I’m drinking
He is first in life. Colossians 3:4, “Christ “who is our life.”
Listen:
Genesis 1:26 teaches that mankind was created in the image of God. In some way man mirrors God, represents God in some way. We are image bearers of God. And yet the image of God that is in us is marred by sin. So we are image bearers of God, but the image needs to be fixed.
And we are told today in Colossians 1:15 that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Jesus Christ is the perfect image who fixes our defaced image. And so, later we read in Colossians 3:10 that when Christians have repented from sin and turned to Christ for forgiveness that Christians are the ones who “have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.”
So we come to faith in Christ and God begins this work of conforming us to Christlikeness. Through Christ, God repairs our image. And over time we begin to look more and more like Jesus.
Christ is our life, our very life.
• Stand for prayer.
“God, by your grace and for your glory I surrender to Jesus Christ as first and foremost in everything. With the help of your Holy Spirit I endeavor to put Jesus Christ first in all things.
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