Colossians 1:15-23

THE SUPREMACY OF JESUS CHRIST

Colossians 1:15–23 Lesson 3
Key Verse: 1:18 Shp Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF 6-21-09

"And he is the head of the church; he is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy."

There were three blind men who were asked to describe an elephant that was standing before them. One grasped a hairy, dry leg and said, “An elephant is like a huge tree.” Another grasped his tail and said, “An elephant is like a rope.” Another grabbed its trunk and said, “an elephant is like a fire hose.” All of them were right in some way, but the description is not complete. Their understanding of the elephant is limited. But if you put them all together, and if they communicated together, then you get a better picture. The same principle goes when sinners, lost in the darkness, attempt to describe who Jesus is. Everyone clings to their own impression and fails to see the complete picture. In this passage, Paul was writing to Gentile believers who were influenced heavily by Greek culture and philosophy. In the Colossian church there were several misconceptions about Christ and his gospel. They were in danger of eternally having the wrong concept of Jesus. That is why Paul wanted to teach them clearly about who Jesus is. Paul continued to bring the argument back to Christ. May you focus on Christ and have the correct image of Jesus in your heart.

Part l: Jesus, The Creator Of All Things (15–17)

Who is Jesus? This is a very hard question to answer. In the Colossian church there were so many misconceptions about Jesus. Believing that matter is evil, false teachers argued that God would not have come to earth as a true human being in bodily form; they believed that God did not create the world because he would not have created evil; they said that Christ was not the unique Son of God, but rather one of many intermediaries between God and his people; they refused to see Christ as the source of salvation, insisting that people could find God only through special and secret knowledge. Speeding through time, to the present day, there is still much confusion as the identity of Christ. There is poster with about 300 names of Jesus. One person said that trying to know Jesus is like looking into a diamond. A diamond is full of light, it glistens and it changes in countless ways as you look at from different directions. Jesus is like a diamond. How can we even begin to describe Jesus? Some think that it is impossible to do so and think that we should not even try. But Paul thought it was very important to attempt to describe Jesus. It was because there were so many false ideas floating around, proclaiming quite boldly whom they thought Jesus was. Paul wanted the new Christians to understand who Jesus is, for having the right concept of God is crucial to how we relate to God and how we live out our lives. To know Jesus correctly is tantamount to having eternal life. (Jn 17:3)

Let’s see how Paul’s describes Jesus. We’ll call this, “Jesus 101”.

First, look at verse 1: 15a, “He is the image of the invisible God…”, According to Paul, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Our immortal God is invisible. (1 Tim 1:17) He is spirit. (Jn 4:24) He is very real and very alive, but he is also very invisible. We can see glimpses of God in nature. (Romans 1:20) We can see him in answered prayer. We can feel him in our hearts, dwelling in us through his spirit and his word. We can see him though the loving acts of his people and the truth of his words. We can see him the noble deeds of his people. But we can not actually see him. If we did see God, in all of his glory I doubt if we could stand it, for he lives in unapproachable light. (1 Tim 6:16)
But God did not leave us groping in the darkness with no way to see his glorious image. He sent Jesus into this world. Jesus is not merely a prophet or a good teacher. He is the image of the invisible God, that is, he is the exact representation of God, not only reflecting God, but he reveals God completely to us. (Heb 1:3) John 1:18 reads, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known." Once, after following Jesus for three years, Philip was still confused about Jesus’ true identity. He asked Jesus to show them the Father and that would be enough for them. "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'? (Jn 14:9) When we see Jesus was see the exact image of our Father in heaven…nothing more, nothing less. Most people do not know who God is. But they are searching for God. They want to know God. They must look to Jesus. Verse 15a, says again, “He is the image of the invisible God…”, To know his image is essentially to know who God is. Where do we start? The Bible is the best place to start. Let’s commit ourselves to deep Bible study with the intention to see the image of God in Jesus.

Second, Jesus is the "… the firstborn over all creation." (1:15b) This is referring to Jesus in relation to creation. Jesus is not a created being, created by God, like the angels and all of us are. If Jesus was created then we are denying the deity of Jesus. John 1:1-2 reads, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning." Jesus is God and he existed before creation. The “First born” means that he was born before the creation of the heavens and the earth. Jesus is the eternal God. The “first born” also refers to the head. Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers. (Ro 8:29) God established Jesus’ authority over all who are born again into God’s family. In everything Jesus must have the supremacy over all creation.

Being the firstborn over all creation, also refers to the act that Jesus is the creator and the source of all things. In Colossae, there were angel worshippers who said that created angels were even superior to Christ. There are angel worshippers even today. At the U of Manitoba there was an angel workshop for $80 teaching you how to exploit angels. Angel worship was one of the different ideas that caused doubt that Jesus is the Supreme Creator God. But John 1:3 reads, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” Jesus has supreme eminence over all creation, even angels, because he is the creator God.

Why did God create everything in the first place? When I study Genesis chapter 1 with students, I give them this simple formula, “This world was created for us and we were created for God.” But Colossians 1:16 teaches me something a little different, "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.” We like to think that God does everything for us, even creating the universe for us. We become so “me” focused, that we fail to be God focused. This makes “me” more important than God. But we learn here that God loves us for Jesus’ sake. God saved us for Jesus’ sake. It is all about Jesus and not all about us. In heaven it will not be about us, but about Him. Our center of life must be Jesus. If you can’t accept this now, you probably won’t enjoy heaven.

The living Jesus is continually involved in his creation, sustaining it. Look at verse 17 again. "He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." God is not only the Creator of the world, but he is also its Sustainer. He can be the Sustainer because he has the power to create. In Jesus, everything is held together, protected, and preserved from disintegrating into chaos. Jesus holds things all together. The weather works patterns work together to bring forth life. Gravity keeps us from flying off the plant the atmosphere from dissipating into space. God keeps our nation from falling into chaos. God keeps our families and fellowship together. He helps us to grow spiritually instead of stagnating and falling apart spiritually. You are held together because of the grace of Jesus. Because Christ is the Sustainer of all life, none of us is independent from him. We are dependent on Jesus. We are all his servants who must daily trust him and depend on him for protecting us, caring for us, and holding all things together for us.

Part ll: Jesus, The Head Of The Church (18,19)

Now that we have established Jesus’ true identity as the Creator God and the exact image of the Father, let us discover Jesus’ relation to the church? Let’s read verse 18 together. “And he is the head of the body, the church;” To understand this more fully, let’s read Ephesians 1:22-23, "And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." Paul says that Jesus is the head of the church, the body. Let’s think of this anatomically. We really need our heads. We can not live without our heads. We can say that our head and body are inseparable. The head is the center of life and the center of the will. With the head, decisions are made. In that way also, Jesus is the head. Jesus and the church are inseparable. Jesus and the church have a life giving relationship. The body is the church. The church is not just a building. In fact, a church may not have a building. The church is group of people who are born again and redeemed by the blood of Jesus. There are members of the body of Christ in every congregation. There are members of the body of Christ in no congregation. Together they make up the body of Christ. If you accept Jesus as you Lord and Savior and have given your life over to him, by faith, then you are part of the body of Christ. The head of this NIU UBF body of Christ is not Kevin Jesmer. I have been appointed a servant of God’s word. Jesus is the head this church and every Christian church. Jesus paid a very high price in order to be the head of the church. It happened through his death and resurrection.

Let’s think more about the resurrected Jesus. Paul states, in verse 18 that Jesus is the “beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.” Jesus was raised from death, and his resurrection proves his lordship over all creation. Because of Christ's death on the cross, he has been exalted and elevated to the status that was rightly his. (see Php 2:5-11). Because Christ is spiritually supreme in the universe, surely we should give his first place in our thoughts and activities. This world is a full of dead heroes. But our supreme ruler is a living hero because he conquered the power of death and lives forever as our Lord and King.

There is more. Look at verse 18 again. “…the firstborn from among the dead ..” This refers to the fact that Jesus’ resurrection is the guarantee of our own resurrection. (Eph 1) All who trust in Christ will also defeat death and rise again to live eternally with Jesus. (1 Cor 15:20; 1 Thess 4:14). He is the first fruit and we are the second fruit. This frees us from the fear of death and fills our hearts with resurrection faith and victory.

The Father was very pleased to reveal his glory, power and majesty in Jesus. Colossians 1:19 reads, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,” Jesus contains all of God’s fullness. In Jesus, we have all that we need, physically, spiritually… educationally, intellectually, emotionally. We have true and complete life in Jesus. People are all searching for a full and complete life. They want fulfillment. Most are looking in the wrong place and never taste that fulfillment. They try and try and then their short lives are over. With the things of this world, we feel that there is always something missing. But John 1:4 says, “In him was life and that life was the life of men.” Jesus is indeed enough. John 4 reveals that in Jesus we will never thirst. John 6 reveals that in Jesus we have the Bread of Life. Jesus is sufficient for us to discover God and know him and enter into a life giving relationship with God. If we are looking for fulfillment we need to begin our search in Jesus and not in the things of this world.

Part lll: Jesus, Our Reconciler (20–23)

God has accomplished great things through this Jesus. Colossians 1:20 reads “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.” Reconciling means to secure forgiveness. It means making peace through forgiveness. It means making friends. It means bringing back together to who have been torn apart. Nowadays people are knowing less and less what it means to be reconciled. People would rather remain in their bitterness and unforgiveness than to be reconciled to anyone, let alone God. If you try to reconcile to some people you had better be ready to dodge a few punches. It is because they do not know Jesus and the lengths that he took for us to be reconciled to himself. When we know that grace then we can forgive others.

Paul writes in verse 21, “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[a] your evil behavior.” " Because we were alienated from God, we were living as "enemies" of God. The sin that mostly dwelt in our minds, through our thoughts and emotions and desires, spilling over to our behavior, had completely ruined our relationship with God. We were outside of Christ, with no hope in this world. We were like orphans and with no home and cut off from the family of God. It was not God’s fault. It was our fault because of the sin that we allowed to grow in our minds. We suffered a lot because of our broken relationship with God. But God had mercy on us.

It required a very heavy price for Jesus to be a reconciler. Look at verse 20b. “…by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” Everything is restored in Jesus Christ our Lord and through his shed blood on the cross. Christ's death provided a way for all people to come to God. It cleared away the sin that keeps us from having a right relationship with our Creator. We can have peace with God and be reconciled to him by accepting Christ, who died in our place. If there a distance between you and Jesus, be reconciled to God today. Come to him through Christ.

What did God do? Look at verse 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— Paul explained that Jesus' physical body actually died. (this counteracted some of the claims of the false teacher that claimed Jesus was only spirit.) Jesus suffered death fully as a man, so that we could be assured that he died in our place. Jesus faced death, as God, so we can be assured that his sacrifice was complete and that he truly removed all of our sin. No one is good enough to save himself or herself. The only way to be free from sin is to trust in Jesus Christ to take it away. Think of it this way, when a judge, in a court of law, declares the defendant not guilty, the person has been acquitted of all the accusations or charges. Legally, it is as if he or she had never been accused. When God forgives our sins, our record is wiped clean. From his perspective, it is as though we had never sinned. God's solution is available to you right now. No matter what you have done or what you have been like, God's forgiveness is for you. If we want to live eternally with Christ, we must depend totally on God's grace. Let us come and accept the free gift.

Once you accept that free gift, we must realize that this is not the end but only the beginning of a new life in Christ. Look at verse 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.” We must remain "established and firm" in the truth of the gospel, putting our confidence in Jesus alone to forgive our sins, to make us right with God, and to empower us to live the way he desires. This requires more than an accumulation of some secret knowledge, as some of the mystery religions purported. It takes a life commitment with obedience to Christ’s commands. This is the only way to be established and firm.

Part lV: Conclusion

I hope, that through this passage, you can see more clearly who Jesus is. Paul continued to bring the argument back to Christ. Who is Jesus Christ? Christ is the image of – the exact likeness of – God. He is God himself and yet he died on the cross as a human being. Paul proclaimed that Jesus is Christ is the Creator of both heaven and the earth. Paul explained that Christ existed before anything else and is the firstborn of those to be resurrected. Paul proclaimed the way of salvation to be through Christ alone. Jesus is sufficient. He is the fullness of God, that is he is everything to everyone, even to you and to me. We don't need anything else. We must continue in gospel faith and hold on to this hope. May God grant you deep insight into the person of Jesus and grow in your personal relationship with him. Then you will taste his goodness and enter into eternal life.