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JESUS FIRST?
COLOSSIANS 1:15-23
 
Pastor Stephen Muncherian
February 21, 1999

Our Scripture passage this morning is Colossians 1:15-23. I invite you to turn there with me. And as we’re reading these verses I would like you to be thinking about two things. First, what does this passage say about who Jesus Christ is. And, second, ask ourselves what place does Jesus Christ have in my life?

He - Jesus - is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created through Him and for Him.  He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be pre-eminent.  For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.  And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before Him, provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the Gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Many sincere and well-meaning pastors will read this passage - and others like it - and tell people to put Jesus first. They tell us that Jesus must be first and foremost - before parents and peers - before college and career.

I have come to believe that one should not put Jesus first. He should not be before everything else.

Now, before you accuse me of heresy - consider with me the verses we just read. In this passage Paul is saying that Jesus is supreme. To demonstrate Jesus’ supremacy Paul makes three points that we want to look at this morning.

1. JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD (verse 15a)

Lord Byron once said, “If God is not like Jesus Christ, then God ought to be like Jesus Christ.” To see Jesus is to see God.

In our all inclusive society Christianity is very offensive. The Bible claims that Jesus is both God and Man. If we went to Buddha and asked him, “Are you the Son of Brahma?” He would say, “My son, you are still in the vale of illusion.” If we went to Socrates and asked, “Are you Zeus?” He would laugh at us. If we went to Mohammed and asked, “Are you Allah?” He would first have torn His clothes and then cut our heads off.

Jesus is the visible expression - the very image - of the invisible God. When the Bible says that God is invisible it means that God doesn’t have a body. He has a mind, emotions and a will - but not a body. John 4:24 says that God is a spirit. Luke 24:39 says that spirits do not have flesh and blood - but Jesus does.

Jesus is the very image of the invisible God.

2. JESUS IS THE LORD OF CREATION (verses 15b - 17)

Verse 15 says that Jesus is “the first-born of all creation.” - He is the head of God’s household - Jesus is first in rank - above all of creation.

And then verse 16 - for in Him - or by Him - all things were created.....all things were created through Him and for Him. This is a powerful verse and its hard to imagine what’s being said here.

Jesus is the source of creation. Imagine that. The material universe: stars, galaxies, planets, solar systems - trees, grass, mountains and seas. And not just the visible - but the invisible: Jesus created electricity - radiation - magnetism - the atoms and the basic stuff that holds everything together. And not just forces and things - Jesus created concepts and attitudes: grace, mercy, truth, love and essence of life itself. All that exists - has come into being because Jesus was motivated to create it. And, verse 16 says, that all things were created by Jesus - He is the architect and the builder of everything that is.

And, Jesus is the goal of creation - verse 16 says that creation is “for Him.” All of this operates for Him. A few decades ago Albert Einstein announced a new view of space. He said that space is not a linear concept - extending outward in a straight line - but space is curved in on itself - joining again with itself.

Creation originated within Jesus - and converges again towards Him. He is the reason why all things have been made. Eventually all of the cosmos and all the events of history will find their place in the great purpose of the Father to honor and glorify Jesus.

And then In verse 17 Paul writes that, “He is before all things.” Jesus existed before creation. And then Paul writes that it is Jesus who holds all things together - He is the preserver - the sustainer - of creation.

Years ago I took a tour of the linear accelerator down at Stanford University. You’ve probably seen that long building that runs under 280 down by Palo Alto. If I understand what they do there - under that long building is a long tube that the scientist send particles of matter through - accelerating them to pretty close to the speed of light - and then they shoot these particles into different types of materials to see what happens. Basically they’re trying to smash atoms and sub-atomic matter apart.

To do that takes a tremendous amount of power - enough power to run the entire city of San Francisco. Something holds the atom together with enormous - incredible power. That power - according to the Bible - is vested in Jesus. He has the power to sustain creation.

Jesus is the Lord of creation.

3. JESUS IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH (verses 18-23)

This is a familiar illustration - Jesus the Head - we are the body. Paul moves beyond this to the reasons why Jesus should be the Head of the Church.

First, Paul writes in verse 18, that Jesus is the Head of the Church because: “....He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything He might be pre-eminent.”

In Matthew 13 there’s parable that’s often misunderstood. Jesus said that, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.” (Matthew 13:45,46)

Often this parable is interpreted to mean that Jesus is the pearl of great price and that we should sell everything to buy Him. But that doesn’t fit with what the rest of the Bible teaches. How do we buy God? We can’t buy Him - or our salvation in any sense. What do we have to offer God?

Its Jesus who’s the merchant looking for a fine pearl. And He finds one - the church. For us, “He went and sold all that He had and bought it” - us!

This really makes a lot of sense when we think about how a pearl is made. A pearl starts out as and irritated oyster. A grain of sand gets under an oyster’s shell. And its really irritating. So, the oyster tries to get rid it. The oyster begins to cover the grain of sand with nacre that hardens into a beautiful pearl.

That’s how the church was born - from the wounding of Jesus. We are the irritation - our sinful lives put Him to death on the cross - and His blood covers our sin and He heals us - making us into a beautiful pearl of great value.

Dying on our behalf - Jesus is the first to be born from the dead - never to die again. And as the first-born of God’s household - He is sovereign in rank over all of us. Jesus is the beginning of the church - and so He’s the head.

Second, in verse 20 Paul says that Jesus is the Head of the church because - He - God - has reconciled all things to Himself - making peace by the blood of the cross. “To reconcile” means to to heal the hostility that exists between us.

In Ephesians 2, Paul speaks of the healing of hostility between Jew and Gentile. He says Jesus has come and broken down the barrier - the wall that divides Jew and Gentile - reconciling Jew and Gentile into one body - the church.

In 1 Corinthians 7 - Paul says that husbands and wives are to be reconciled to each other. Parents and children need reconciliation at times. Friends often need it. Families need it. The healing of hostilities.

In Colossians 1:20 Paul is saying that the day is coming when the hostility of evil against righteousness will be brought to an end. Evil men and angels won’t be able to continue in their hostility against God. And, for those who have trusted in Jesus as their Savior that reconciliation is now.

We have a cross in our sanctuary - not to make us think that the cross is a beautiful piece of art - but to remind us. The cross was a dirty - bloody - painful means of death. But out of that death has flowed life and reconciliation to the whole universe.

Jesus is supreme, because He is God - because He is the Lord of creation - and because He is the Head of the Church.

I began by saying, “Don’t put Jesus first.” I mean that. Don’t put Him first and leave Him out of the rest. Verse 18 says that Jesus should be first in everything. The whole point of this passage - the purpose for Jesus being supreme is so that He can be first in everything.

Let me put it like this. Some people make a list and put Jesus at the top - leaving Him out of everything that comes underneath. Some people put Jesus first in the week - they come to church during the first part of the first day of the week - and then leave Him out of the rest of the week. Some put Him first each day - they have devotions - and then leave Him out of the day. Some say He comes first in their homes but leave Him out of their daily living. Some put Jesus first in their finances - they give 10% of their income - and leave Him out of the other 90%. If that’s what we mean by putting Jesus first - then don’t put Him first.

Life is like a pie - and Jesus is to have pre-eminence - first place - in every piece.

Practically - the bottom line is this. God is in the business of changing lives. Putting Jesus first in every part of our lives opens us up to God to change our entire life.

Men and women need to know that Someone is in charge of life - that there is a source that we can turn to for help and for deliverance. The world needs to know the supremacy - the pre-eminence of Jesus - to know that God has bridged the gap between Him and us. To know hope. To know that He holds it all together and that we can trust Him.

He - Jesus - is the center of life. With whatever you have come with this morning - wherever you may be in life. Trust Him. Give Him first-place in all of your life.