Colossians 1:15-20 A Savior Above Everything

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Transcript

Why Colossians Was Written

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Colossians chapter one.

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All right.

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Colossians chapter one. All right. Colossians chapter one. And we will start around, well, verse nine. We'll get a running start at it. But verse 15 is what we're really looking at into verse 20. So just so you know. All right. Well, it might be a good idea to consider, remember why Paul was writing this letter. It was written by Paul and Timothy. Don't forget Timothy, he's there too. To the church in Colossae. And good things were happening in Colossi. Epaphras told them that. But along with the good things came some bad things. Some false teaching was creeping into the church in Colossae. And there were some specifics of this false teaching. It was Jewish traditionalism, it was Greek philosophy. But for us, the big thing to remember it was Jesus, and you'll remember. Jesus is great in all. And so glad you found Jesus. But you need to buy this book. You need to learn these things. You need this secret knowledge to be complete. And Paul gets pretty fierce here in other places in the Bible, uh, where he says, you know what, if it's Jesus and it's not Jesus, it's got to be just Jesus. We look to what God has done for us there on the cross, and we hold on to that alone. If we trust anything else to save us, we're missing the point. And Paul gets very uh serious about this. Now, Paul has greeted the people, he's let them know that here that he's praying. Um, and then he's gonna slip right into talking about Jesus, how great Jesus is. He's gonna almost go into a song of just praise of what Jesus has done. Uh, so looking at verse nine, that's the prayer. We'll we'll we'll kind of get a running start into the passage.

Paul’s Prayer For Spiritual Growth

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So, Colossians 1, starting with verse 9. For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power, for all patience and long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He's delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Jesus As Redeemer And Forgiver

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And here's where we pick up in verse 15. And he, that's Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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. He is before all things, and in him all things consist. 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. For it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell, and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. All right, we won't cover all that, but you got it, right? Um, he goes right from this prayer to talking about what Jesus has done. He has qualified us there in verse 12. He's delivered us in verse 13, he's conveyed us to the kingdom of light in verse 13. In him, that's Jesus. We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sin in verse 14. And I think Paul gets a little traction here as he starts to talk about what Jesus has done, and he'll come back to it, that's for sure. Um, he just kind of goes off.

The Image Of The Invisible God

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Um, and in verse 15, he says, for he uh is the image of the invisible God. Now, here we see that Jesus is the revelation of God to us. Notice there at the end of that statement, God is invisible, God is invisible. Jesus says it probably most clearly in John chapter 4 to the woman at the well. Uh, John chapter 4, the conversation there with the woman at the well, a Samaritan woman, uh, turns towards worship. And you can go read that conversation, it's a great conversation, but it turns to worship. Is this the place to worship, or is Jerusalem the place to worship? The lady asked. Trying to change the subject, really. But Jesus says this in John 4 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth. Um, God is spirit. When we look at God, we realize in the Old Testament, uh, for the most part, nobody ever sees God. Uh, in fact, that's what John says of John 1.18. He says, No one has seen God at any time. Now, of course, there's um visions of God, there's things like Ezekiel saw, the throne of God, uh, but it's never actually God face to face in that way. Um, nobody can see God and live. Um, and so God is invisible for one. Humans can't really see him in that sense. Hebrews 1:1 maybe makes it a little more clear. Uh, Hebrews 1 1 says this God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things. So God spoke through the prophets, God spoke even there at Sinai in this audible, thundering kind of voice, um, but was never really seen. And John bridges that there in his gospel, John chapter 1, verse 1, he says, In the beginning was the word. Now, John uses this idea of the word as code for Jesus. You think about words, right? You have words in your heart, you want to tell people, oh, you love them, and so you speak your words, right? And communicate something that can't be seen there in your heart. Well, John says Jesus was the word, right? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Then in verse 14, John says this, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. We beheld his glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So Jesus comes, God in flesh. In John 1:14, there again, it says, He um became flesh and dwelt among us. He put up his tent and lived among us, and and that's what Jesus did. He came to show us what God was like. Now, here, Colossians 1, to get back to Colossians 1, verse 15, we see that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Image there means a precise copy, he's the part you can see, he's God in flesh, or as my friend John used to say, he's God with a bod, right? And that always made sense to me. He's God so that we can see what is God's character like. Um, Jesus said something amazing in John 14. You can always look it up, but John 14, verse 9. Jesus talking to his disciples says, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? So Jesus says something crazy there. He says, If you've seen me, you've seen the father. If you've seen what I'm like, if you've seen my heart, my compassion, you've seen what the father is like. And so that's why Jesus came. Jesus is the image, the exact representation of what the Father is like, the invisible God. Come to show us what God is like. Now, Paul goes on and he talks more about creation.

Firstborn Means Highest Status

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Um, he goes on to show Jesus' place in creation. Notice there, he is the firstborn over all creation. By him were all things created that are in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. We'll get into that. But it says here in verse 15, Jesus is the firstborn over all creation. And that's slightly confusing, isn't it? As we talk about Jesus being God in the flesh, then we see here he's the firstborn over all creation. Some have taken this to mean that Jesus was a created being. The Jehovah's Witnesses, especially, have said that Jesus was created. In fact, they say that he is Michael the Archangel. They draw some parallels and twist some verses, and that's what they come up with. And this phrase firstborn shouldn't be understood chronologically. I have firstborn children, and you know, in ages I I have them there, but that's not really what this is pointing to. It's less chronological and more uh to do with um status, uh place, firstborn as an heir, right? And we see that this isn't always chronological, right? Remember Jacob and Esau. Strange story there. As these twins are born, um one comes out and he's hairy, like a garment. And so they call him Harry. That's what Esau basically means, hairy. And and as he comes out, there's this hand attached to his ankle. Strange horror movie kind of thing here. This hand attached to the ankle, and so they call the next one who comes out heel catcher. That's what Jacob means. And and and so Esau's the firstborn, if only by a couple minutes, he's the firstborn, but yet Jacob becomes the heir, and he gets all the rights of the firstborn. It's more about relationship and place and status, a little bit like John 3:16, right? The verse we all know. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Now, Jesus was born for sure, but not in the sense that we consider, right? There was no God the Father and God the Mother, who had an only begotten son. He was born in the flesh, but that's not necessarily to show us the fact that Jesus was born. It's to show that relationship that the father and the son have. Not literally father and son, but uh relationally father and son, only begotten son. And and this is a little bit the same way. Here, Paul says, He is the firstborn over all creation, he is the heir to everything in

Jesus The Creator Of All Things

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that. Now he goes on to be even more direct. Look at verse 16. For by him, by Jesus, all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible. Now catch this whether thrones or dominions, principalities, powers, all things were created through him and for him. So all things were created by Jesus. Now, just to go back to our Jehovah's Witness discussion, their translation, which is no translation, puts in the word other there. All other things were created by him. Why? Because Jesus, Michael the archangel, in their idea, was a created being. But that's not what this says. It says all things, and when it says all, it means all. All things were created by him. And then he goes on to clear it up if there was any question. Paul says, whether things in heaven, picture that heaven, what's in heaven, right? The angels, perhaps, heaven itself, um, whether things in heaven or on the earth, visible things, things that you can see, things that you can't see, thrones, dominions, and powers. Now, those specifically deal with angelic um rule, right? So Jesus is the one who created the angels, he created everything. So when you get to Genesis chapter one, you say, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. If you want to be technical, it's Jesus. Um let's turn there. Let's turn to John chapter one because it's a great passage to get some insight into this. John chapter one, there at the beginning of John's gospel. Talking about Jesus again, he uses the word word for code there for Jesus. He says this in the beginning, John 1, 1, in the beginning sounds kind of reminiscent of Genesis, doesn't it? In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without without him, uh nothing was made that was made. So John says it pretty clearly here. Anything that was made was made through Jesus. Um, he is the creator. Now, this is huge for what we've been talking about, because this false teaching of Gnosticism said that matter is evil. People looked at their life and they said, you know, I mess up, I'm evil, my flesh is evil. And they had all sorts of things that they tied into that. If you could sin without really dealing with your flesh, you were a spiritual person. They drew all sorts of things into that. But there was this idea that God could not have created the world because this world was evil. God wouldn't do that, and so creation was done by something further down the road, some other angel or something like that, was responsible for the creation of the world. Well, here Paul says, I want to talk about Jesus and realize that all things were made by him. Um, and Paul faces off with that. Um, but that's saying a lot, right? Let's go back to Colossians. That's saying a lot. Jesus is the creator. Um things uh were created by

All Things Hold Together In Christ

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him. Look at verse 17. And he is before all things, and in him all things consist. All things consist. Um, we hinted at this before because I'm blown away by this statement, all things consist. It literally means that all things hold together. Jesus holds all things together. Now, I'm just gonna confess, last time we talked about this, I kind of butchered the science. Maybe you went home and said, that's not how it works. You're probably right. I failed science. I'm just being honest. But when you look at what things are made of, let's try to keep it simple so I don't mess it up, right? You look at what things are made of, they're made of atoms, right? Atoms in themselves, now I'm not gonna try to explain it this time, but atoms in themselves should have a tendency to fly apart. There should be some kind of resistance within it, and yet they hold together. Um, and even science doesn't understand that completely. Um, but notice this. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one, yeah. Let's do it. Because we're close to Hebrews anyway. Hebrews chapter one, verse two, I believe. Saying some similar things. Hebrews one, verse two. Let's look at verse one because it doesn't make sense without that. God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past by the fathers, uh, to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. It's funny how that sounds a lot like Colossians, who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power. That's an interesting phrase. So there we have this idea that Jesus holds everything together by the word of his power. The reason why our physical world stays together is because Jesus has established it to be that way. In some kind of way, he holds it all together. Um that's good to realize for your own life, right? Right? Life is rough. And honestly, it will blow apart if you don't have Jesus to keep your life together. I think that's a good, a good application of that right there.

When God Lets Go Of Matter

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But what's gonna happen according to the Bible? Well, Revelation chapter 19, we see a final battle. Yeah, people have different ideas of when this takes place, and that's fine. That doesn't really matter so much. But um, a battle, right? And the armies of this world are facing off with one another in a valley called Armageddon, and Jesus comes with his armies from heaven, and strangely enough, the armies on earth turn from fighting each other and they begin to want to fight Jesus. That sounds about right, and it says there that Jesus destroys those armies with the sword that comes from his mouth, his words, simply his words. I don't know what he says, it's over, it's finished, we're done here. I don't know what it is, but all of those armies just toast, right? Um, Peter gives us even more striking picture. We've turned a lot, but let's turn to 2 Peter chapter 3. I love this passage. A lot to think about. 2 Peter chapter 3, and you're always welcome to listen to uh 2 Peter 3, verse 10. 2 Peter 3 verse 10. Peter talks about the end of all things as well. Now, picture this. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. The elements will melt with a fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will all be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what kind of persons are you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with a fervent heat. So here Peter describes the end of all things. And he says, it's gonna pass away with a roar. I don't know what that sounds like. Sounds loud, right? The elements, picture the elements are gonna melt with a fervent heat. They're gonna burn. It's in the 80s we used to say, hey, it's all gonna burn. You know, you're gonna scratch on your card and say, it's all gonna burn anyways, you know? And that's what Peter portrays here. Everything is just gonna melt with a fervent heat. No, that's interesting. I don't mean to be doom and gloomy here, but that's how it says the world. And it's just what's gonna happen. Don't be so attached to the things of this world. They're not gonna last. They're not forever. That's a good application. But here we see this interesting picture of all at once things dissolving, melting with a roar. Now, can you imagine just a little bit of atoms splitting apart? Right? Like a nuclear explosion, I think is what that is. Again, I'm no scientist, but something like that, right? We've seen this fireball just and stuff melt. What if Jesus literally is holding everything together with his word? And all at once, at the end of the age, when everything's said and done, time is taking its, you know, his way, and everything's happened that needs to happen, and God says, you know what? We're done here. And he just lets go every single atom in the universe. What would happen? I assume it would be a roar, and the elements would melt with the furnace. And so all of that to say, consider the power of Jesus that he holds our lives. The thing that you're sitting on, he holds it together. No problem with the word of his power, and that's how great Jesus is. Paul wants us to know.

Jesus The Head Of The Church

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Now, moving on, verse 18. The church. Now, this is a picture that Paul gives in other places. First Corinthians, he talks about us being members of one body, and he talks about the gifts that we all have special gifts. God's made you in a way to be a blessing to someone else. We all have character tendencies, and that's the way God's created us, and he uses us. I love that about this because everybody in this room has a little something that they do when we come together, and it's just sweet. We're the body of Christ, right? Now, in that, we realize in our own bodies, as we've said before, you can live without most body parts, right? You can get along without a lot of things, but you cannot get along without a head. And here, Paul says, Jesus is the head. He tells the people in Colossus, you guys are forgetting. You cannot live without Jesus. Don't give up on Jesus, don't let go of the head. You need it, you need him. And here, Jesus is the head of the body, the beginning, the first one from the dead. Uh, in that all things, he may have the pre-eminent. That's a word we don't use very often, right? Preeminent. That's pre-eminent in my life, right? You don't say that. But it means first place or superiority. And here he's encouraging the people in classic again, like, put Jesus word belongs. He's the head, he's the top, he's superior, he's better than anything else. You can have church without a lot of things, but you can't have church without Jesus. Don't let go of him. And that's the encouragement. That's what the rest of the book is really pointing to. Paul is pleading with them. Don't give up what you have, don't let go of Jesus.

Peace Through The Blood Of The Cross

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Notice verse 19, though. We may talk about it again next week, but please, the father that idiot in Jesus, all the fullness should dwell. Jesus is 100% God in flesh. There's there's no less than he is completely gone in the flesh, the fullness of God in the flesh. But no, it's verse 20. I think it's a good place to come back to and buy him to reconcile all things to himself, whether things on earth, things in heaven. He made peace through the blood of his cross. And Paul comes back to, did you get it? Jesus made everything. He's the image, the exact representation of God. He's God and flesh, the creator of everything that holds your life together in this world. And yet Jesus took on flesh, human flesh, lived and loved, and taught, and then went to a cross and died. Went to the cross and died for our sins to bring us back to a right relationship with God to make peace through the blood of his cross. And we should look at that. And sometimes we just kind of go, yeah, Jesus died on the cross for me. Jesus died for my sins. But do you understand how low he came? How great he is. The creator of everything paid the price for our sins. Not because he had to, but because he wanted to. He decided to do it before he were even created. He was crucified for our sins. And he loves us. That good stuff to hold on to this

Final Prayer And Weekly Focus

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week. So God, I pray you really would do a book. We would see how great you are, for sure. But we would also see how good you are. But that when I can go for a week and not even give you a second thought. Yeah. God, you loved me. Save me and provided a way for me to have life. When all I have is death. God, you are so amazingly good to us. Help us to understand just a little bit more of that. And then we would hold on to that. With our time. Even in a week. We would consider you everything. And you hold our lives in Jesus' name of Christ.