Putting First Things First
Series: Jesus, Post-Resurrection, part 2
Wildwind Community Church
David Flowers
April 29, 2006
2705 A Part Of Main Structure
Rev. W. Kingstone Greenland visited a vacant house with a friend who desired to purchase it. The friend was particularly struck by the beauty of one of the rooms which he wished to turn into his study; but he objected to a cupboard in the corner.
“I will have to remove it”, he said to the architect. “No, you won’t,” was the reply. “But I can do what I like if I buy the house,” said the man. “You cannot do what you like with that cupboard,” answered the architect. “Why not?” he asked, “Is it protected by a clause in the deed?” “No,” said the architect, “it is not on the deed: it is on the plan. You cannot take away the cupboard without taking down the house; it is part of the main structure.”
So if we take away the Deity of Christ, we destroy the whole structure of Christianity. That doctrine is built in. It is central. It is a part of the structure.
In Colossians 1, the Apostle Paul sets out to declare the deity of Christ – to show his preeminence over all things. Remember now that preeminence really just means superiority – that Jesus is superior to all human beings, all the created gods men and women have worshipped, all religious and philosophical systems, and all powers in the universe. He is absolutely without parallel. If we remove him, we have removed the main part of the structure, and the structure cannot stand. Without the divinity – the preeminence – of Christ, there simply is no Christianity. Many branches of theology exist today that attempt to take the supernatural out of Christianity, including all miracles and the resurrection. Many deny that Jesus was the Son of God, though he may have been a great teacher. Most claim to want to help us gain a better understanding of Jesus so that we can honor him properly. None come right out and say they intend to destroy Christianity, but Paul knew the truth. Separate Jesus from his divinity and Christianity collapses.
Now you have to understand the boldness of this claim, and that Paul is not saying something about Jesus that Jesus never said about himself. On the issue of the boldness of the claim, Buddha never claimed to be god. Mohammed was the founder of Islam and he never claimed to be anything more than a prophet. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, claimed to be only a man who had received a revelation from God. Moses and Abraham, the two principle patriarchs of Judaism, never claimed to be anything more than human beings. So this claim to preeminence on the part of Jesus is very bold – unlike any claim made by any other teacher or religious leader. Here’s what Jesus had to say about himself:
John 14:9-10 (NIV)
9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
If you still doubt, I would just encourage you to read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John (preferably all of them!) and take note of what Jesus said about himself. He believed he was God, and he frequently equated himself with God. Paul isn’t adding this to the mix – it’s not a new claim for Christ – it’s one Jesus himself made.
So as we said last week, Paul wrote Colossians to address a heresy, or false teaching, creeping up in the church at Colosse – the teaching was that Jesus was not God. Paul argues passionately to the contrary in Colossians. We’re going to look at chapter one today and in chapter one we see that Paul declares the preeminence of Christ – he says that Jesus is most certainly, most definitely God. He declares that Christ’s preeminence is evident when we look at five areas: the gospel message; the Cross; the creation; the church; and Paul’s ministry.
Paul begins his argument in verses 4-12, where he shows how the absolute superiority of Christ is shown in the message of the gospel itself. In verse 5, Paul lists the evidence that these people had received salvation – faith, hope, and love. Paul says they had received the “word of truth” from Epaphras. He uses this phrase “word of truth” in reference to the lies being taught by the Gnostic teachers. Paul points out that they had heard and received this word of truth, and believed it, and that believing had brought forth real fruit, real change, in their lives. Only this kind of fruit is evidence of real salvation. What Paul is driving at is that it’s not about learning some hidden mystery, some secret wisdom, some spiritual password. The evidence of the supremacy – the preeminence – of Jesus is the observable changes that have happened in the lives of the Colossians since they received this “word of truth.”
Then, after talking about what has happened in their lives, in verse 6, Paul goes on to say,
Colossians 1:6 (NIV)
6. . . All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
Underline all over the world, and bearing fruit there. Circle the word truth. In other words, “this thing is catching on, and the evidence all over the world is lives that are changing just like YOUR lives are changing. And lives are changing because what you believe is TRUE.
So in these first few verses Paul declares the preeminence of Christ in the message of the gospel itself. Real faith changes lives. Real faith makes a daily difference. And the kind of faith that produces those changes comes by hearing the gospel (Good News) and responding in obedience, not by some special “fullness” or revelation like the Gnostics were teaching. Why is Jesus preeminent? Because hearing the truth about who he is and what he has done has the power to bring real life change.
In verses 9-12, Paul prays for the Colossians, and in that prayer we see his deepest wishes for them – the things that should spring from a life rooted in God. He prays that they might know God’s will (v. 9); that they would walk (live their lives) so as to please God (10); that they would work to bear fruit in their lives (10); that they would understand the Word better (10); and that they would experience God’s power (11). What a wish list! People of Wildwind, that’s a great way for us to prioritize our own lives, isn’t it? Those of us who are already Christ followers should seek to 1) know God’s will; 2) live our lives to please Him; 3) work to bear fruit in our lives (impact others); 4) understand God’s Word better; and 5) experience God’s power in our daily lives. That’s an excellent five-point outline of what the Christian life is all about.
The Gnostic heretics promised their followers that they could know God if they joined the club – received this special revelation and the “fullness” that came with it. To them this “fullness” was a mystical thing – something totally disconnected from the way we live and interact with people every day. They claimed this fullness would come through some mystical, almost out-of-body revelation. But Paul says that because Jesus is a person, he can be known, and we can experience relationship with Him, and we can expect to grow and move forward in our faith every day and that it should make a practical difference in the way we live our lives. Paul declares that the things important to spiritual understanding are to be found only in Christ, and that we will see evidence of God’s character and priorities growing in our lives in ways we can plainly see because Christ has given them human form. So Paul begins his letter to the Colossians by declaring the superiority – the preeminence of Christ - first in the message of the gospel itself – the way it has power to bring real change to our lives.
Next, in verses 13 and 14, Paul goes on to declare the preeminence of Christ in the cross. It really is through the Cross that Jesus stands out above all others. All spiritual leaders have lived and died, but Jesus is the only one who lived, and died, and lived again, and lives still today. There is no one to compare. The Gnostics taught that angels and other spiritual beings were equivalent to Jesus. But what angel ever died to bring spiritual freedom to a human being? What system of religious rules ever brought us freedom from slavery to sin?
Colossians 1:13-14 (NIV)
13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves,
14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
Underline “dominion of darkness” and “kingdom of the Son.” The picture in these verses is that of a great general setting a nation free from bondage and moving the people into a new land of blessing. That’s kind of the picture Paul is trying to get us to see in using this “dominion of darkness/kingdom of the Son” imagery. So when we look at the Cross of Christ, we see his superiority – his preeminence over all things – not because he died on that Cross, but because the Cross could not keep him dead – and because through his death and resurrection, we have what no one else has ever provided for us – freedom from sin, and a way to be reconciled with God.
Third, Paul declares the preeminence of Christ in creation. He writes of Jesus in verse 15, “He is the Image of the Invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Let’s look at this statement.
Colossians 1:15 (NIV)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Remember I taught you last week that the Gnostic teachers believed all matter was evil. For that reason, they said Jesus could not possibly have been God, because God could not, and would not, dwell in a human body. The Gnostics taught that the world was created by a series of emanations from God. Stay with me because this is important. The best way to describe that is to have you imagine that a piece of God broke off and deteriorated a little bit. Then a piece breaks off of that piece and deteriorates a little bit. Then another piece breaks off of that piece and deteriorates a little bit. Each of these broken-off pieces is what we might call an emanation. The Gnostics taught that the world was created through a series of these emanations. Physical matter came into being through this process of deterioration, therefore everything material is as far away from God as it could possibly be. Material things are filthy – what happens when God deteriorates – so people are kind of like God-waste. We come from God, but are kind of nasty pieces of him. Therefore Jesus could not really have been God in the flesh, because God could never dwell in his own waste – in flesh.
Once we understand that, we can see the incredible power of Paul’s words in these verses, that Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
Colossians 1:15 (NIV)
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
The Greek word translated image here is the word Eikon, (from which we get the English word Icon) and Eikon means an exact reproduction!
The company from which Wildwind rents our copy machine is called Ikon Office Solutions. They want us to know we can count on exact copies!!
Paul says Jesus is Eikon Theos –exactly God –
…so that when we look at Jesus we are literally looking at God. The Gnostics taught that this was only semi-true, like when someone says of my middle daughter and her mom, “Boy, when you look at Kyra, you’re looking at Christy.” This is only true in the sense that Kyra has many of Christy’s physical qualities – not in the sense that Kyra IS Christy. But if we were to say of Kyra that she is Eikon Christo, we would be saying that Kyra IS Christy. That’s what Paul says about Jesus. He is Eikon Theos, the image of the invisible God. It adds power to Jesus words we read earlier:
John 14:9 (NIV)
9 Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’?
Paul goes on to say that Jesus is the firstborn over all Creation. The term “firstborn” does not refer to time (as though Christ were the first thing God created) but to position. Maybe I can tell you a story that can explain this better.
A Christian minister once had a member of a well-known Jehovah’s Witness cult in his audience who constantly interrupted the meeting by shouting and heckling. “You cannot prove that Jesus is the eternal Son of God,” he said. “The Bible says He was the FIRST-BORN of every creature; so He could not be deity. The eternal Father must therefore be older than His Son; and if Christ is not as old as His Father, then He is not eternal, if He is not eternal, He cannot be God.”
The preacher carefully considered the statement, “A father must be older than his son”; then he gave this withering reply: “While you might make such a point concerning an earthly parent, it certainly does not apply when we speak of God. I will prove that to you by your own words.
“You have just called God the eternal Father. But how can God be the eternal FATHER (not just God) without having an eternal Son? Eternal FATHERHOOD demands eternal SONSHIP! When did your own paternal parent begin to be your father? At the very moment you became his son, and not before! While time must elapse before one can become a human father, this is not true of God. He is the eternal Father, and therefore He must have an eternal Son!”
And this is precisely what Paul is saying. Jesus is the firstborn over all creation – in other words, there is no one before Him. He is the eternal Son of God. Paul goes on to say all things were created by Him and for Him; and that He holds all things together! This is precisely what the Apostle John writes about Jesus in the first chapter of His gospel, writing:
John 1:1-2 (NIV)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
In other words, Christ is the eternal Son of the eternal Father, God. He participated with God in the act of Creation. He has never NOT been.
Next we see that in verses 18-23, Paul goes on to declare that Christ is preeminent in the church. He is the head – in other words, he is at the top – the church comes from him, takes orders from him, exists because of him. Notice the repetition of the word “all” in this passage – indicating Christ’s superiority – and Paul’s use of the word “fullness,” combating the exclusive and mystical way the Gnostics used the word.
In verses 19 and 20 Paul states:
Colossians 1:19-20 (NIV)
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Circle the words “all” and “fullness” in that passage.
So Paul states that Christ is Lord over the church, over creation, over everything, and declares that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus not only reconciles individual believers back to God, but is a force that has brought everything in the universe back to Him.
Colossians 1:21-23 (NIV)
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior.
22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation--
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Paul reminds the believers that it is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that reconciled them to God, and that this happened for real – physically. Circle the word “physical” in verse 22. Jesus is first in the church because he did the work of dying in order to create the church and present them to God without blemish – in other words free from sin and with the freedom of conscience that comes along with that. Reconciliation with God will not happen through some secret knowledge like the Gnostics claimed, but through Christ’s PHYSICAL body, which they rejected.
And in verse 23 he says the believers will be reconciled with God how?
Colossians 1:23 (NIV)
23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.
Underline the words “if you continue in your faith.” In other words, Paul says, don’t budge people. Don’t be swayed. Don’t abandon Jesus as your hope.
So far in chapter one, Paul has declared Christ’s preeminence in the gospel message, in the cross, in the creation, and in the church. The chapter concludes with his declaration of the preeminence – the superiority – the “first-ness” of Christ in Paul’s own ministry.
Colossians 1:24-26 (NIV)
24 Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.
25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness--
26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints.
Circle the words body (24), fullness (25), mystery (26), and hidden (26). All of these are words Paul uses to explain Christ in terminology that the Gnostics themselves loved to use. I know verse 24 seems kind of cryptic, but all Paul is saying is that Christ has already suffered for the church, and if there’s more suffering to be done, Paul is willing to take his share. Christ is above all things, so the suffering is worth it.
Paul then goes on to write about a mystery – the mystery of who God is, and what he looks like. Because Christ is the image of the invisible God as Paul writes in verse 15, and because no one had ever seen God, Christ’s appearance on the earth was the revelation of a mystery. When Jesus came, mankind saw God. They saw how he acted, heard the things he said – the Creator took his place on this earth with His creation.
In verse 26 Paul says this mystery had been kept hidden for ages, but had now been revealed to the saints – those who believed that Jesus was who he said he was and were following Him with their lives. Remember that the Gnostics spoke of a “special revelation” that people could only get by following certain rules – not handling certain things, not tasting certain foods, observing special holidays and having certain kinds of festivals. The Gnostics loved to speak of “mystery,” and Paul declares that the “mystery” had been revealed, not to the Gnostics and their clan, but to those who believed on Christ – and not because of anything they had done, but because of the mercy and grace of Jesus.
The chapter ends with Paul’s declaration – “we proclaim Him…with all wisdom.” Underline the word “wisdom.” The Gnostics loved to talk about “wisdom,” and “mystery” and “fullness” and “understanding.” But Paul says it is Christ who is first – Christ whom we proclaim. Christ is the mystery that has been revealed. Wisdom is found in Jesus, not in the secret practices and formulas of the Gnostics.
So I close by summarizing: In chapter one of Colossians, Paul basically says, “Don’t listen to the Gnostics, folks. Continue on the way you were taught. Jesus really IS God, really is above all. This mystery is available to everyone who will simply place faith in Jesus Christ and give their hearts and lives to Him. Wanna see how first he is? He’s first in the gospel message as evidenced by the change in your lives, first in the cross as evidenced by the resurrection, first in the creation as evidenced by his position as co-creator with God, first in the church as evidenced by your clean consciences, and first in my life and ministry, as evidenced by my willingness to keep taking the beatings I’m taking. Take everybody in the world who has ever been first at anything, add them all together, and Jesus is far more first than that – He’s the firstest – the most first – preeminent – above all – without equal.
So the question as I close is Who is Jesus to you? A prophet? A wise teacher? One religious option among many? Or the one-and-only, eternal, crucified and risen Lord of life? That’s what I believe is the decision that every person needs to make. I believe the decision to hail Jesus as the preeminent being in the universe is the most important decision a person will ever make, with the farthest-reaching implications for the way he/she will live their life and see the world from that moment on.
Christ is the foundation, the central pillar, of Christianity. If he is not who he said he was, the whole structure crumbles and everyone in every church across America, in fact everyone who has ever hoped in Christ and staked their life on him, they have all wasted their time. Who is Jesus to you? Let’s pray.
Father, thank you for sending Jesus to bring us into light. On behalf of convinced believers here this morning, I praise and thank you for what you have done. On behalf of unconvinced skeptics, I pray you would work in your timing, on your schedule, not mine, not Wildwind’s – but yours. Would you show yourself to us just a little bit more today?
