Word of Salvation – Vol.49 No.19 – May 2004

 

The Supremacy of Christ

Sermon by Rev L Douma

on Colossians 1:15-20

 

Scripture Reading:  Colossians 1:1-20

 

Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why are you here? I don’t just mean why are you in church this morning. I mean the big picture. Why are you here? Why, in the sense of what caused you to be? Why, in the sense of the purpose of your existence? Why, in the sense of the reason you get out of bed and go to work and strive for all you do? Why, in the sense of your dreams and hopes? Why? Why are you here? That is the deepest soul searching question for us as humans. And if I asked you to give your answer in one word, what would that be? Paul in our text says, “Jesus”. He is the reason for everything.

Here in our text Paul writes what was most likely a magnificent hymn that was sung by the Christians in his day. It can also be seen as a confession of faith, a profound statement of faith. The theology here is deep. Just think, it was about thirty years after Jesus was hung on the cross and left to die as a despised man. And now the Christians sing of this man as the Son of God, Creator, Lord of all. Unlike many of our new songs, which are often just expressions of our own personal emotions for God, the early hymns were deep confessions of faith, profound theology that was sung. Our faith is as much inspired by our singing as by the church’s teaching. What are our songs teaching today? How do they compare with this awesome doxology of teaching and praise?

To set the context for our text, the question needs to be asked, why Paul places this hymn here in his letter to the Colossians. Farmers made up the church in the small town of Colosse and they had become guilty of syncretism. They were combining their Christian beliefs with the folk religion of the town.

That religion was a mixture of venerating supernatural beings – such as angels – with magic and Jewish rituals. Paul writes to them to point out that by being involved in magical rites to manipulate the supernatural powers for protection, they were implying Jesus was not good enough. They were denying the power and authority and sufficiency of Christ.

Now you would think that Paul, after having introduced himself in this letter, after having expressed his usual thanksgiving and prayer for them, that he would now identify their wrong ways and clear up what they needed to do. Instead he quotes this magnificent hymn. It seems to just sit there as an awesome piece of poetry. Why does Paul do this? He does it because for them to begin to understand their wrong ways they needed to know the supremacy of Christ.

The song begins by pointing out who Jesus is and mentions two characteristics. It says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (vs 16). How do we know a God who cannot be seen, who is totally beyond our comprehension? The claim here is that He is seen in Jesus. God becomes visible, revealed, in Jesus. As John writes, “No one has ever seen God, but the only Son, He has made Him known.”

Now, all human beings are made in God’s image. But the stress here is on the “invisible God.” The Greek here for ‘image’ means an exact representation. In other words, He is the perfect likeness of God. Jesus is God Himself. There is nothing of God that we need to know that we cannot see in Jesus. Do you really want to know the character of God, to know what He is like, to know what His goals are for the world? Read the gospels. See Jesus. There you see God.

Paul writes Jesus is also the “firstborn over all creation.” What does that word ‘firstborn’ mean? In the Old Testament it referred to the firstborn in a family who had the place of honour, the person who enjoyed a special relationship with the father and assumed the right of inheritance. Psalm 89, in verses 26 and 27, captures the meaning well: “He will call out to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Saviour’. I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth.”

After establishing who Jesus is as awesome God, King of all, the Revelation of the God, Paul writes of what He does. Look first at verses16 and 17 and look at the role of Jesus in the creation of the universe. Remember, these staggering claims are made about a human being who had lived among the people who sang this hymn: “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. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (vss 16-17).

Let’s see what this is saying. First, Jesus is the cause of all that exists: “By Him all things were created.” Note “all things”. Absolutely everything was created by Jesus. The smallest parts that make up each atom, the genetic codes that make up who we are, the stunning mountain ranges, the awesome galaxies in the universe. It’s all there by Jesus. He is the cause. Not only of what we can see, but also the unseen, the spiritual: “things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible.” Every spiritual being, including the angels, Satan, “whether thrones or powers or rules or authorities.” You can see that the last words are aimed directly at the Colossians who were being involved in angel worship and manipulating the spirits through magic.

So Paul is already making clear, there is no need to worry about them. None of these beings has any power in comparison to Jesus. He is the one who determines whether things exist or not.

Second, we see that Jesus is the goal of the creation: “all things were created by him and for him.” So Jesus is not just the cause of the creation. He is its goal. He is the reason, the purpose for the creation. It all exists for His glory, to bring Him pleasure, to do his bidding. Jesus gives everything meaning. He gives it all a purpose. Without Jesus the universe is meaningless. In fact, without Him there is no universe.

Thirdly, he says, “In him all things hold together” (vs 17). Jesus didn’t just create the world and then leave it to its own devices. He is not the watchmaker who creates a wonderful precision instrument, winds it up and goes on holidays. Everything continues to exist, the earth spins on its axis and we get day after night, the earth spins around the sun and we get our seasons, because Jesus “holds all things together.”

Now all this is very relevant for us. We live in a time when so many people wonder about the meaning of life. They don’t know who they are, why they exist, what the point is to everything. And hasn’t so much of that come about because in our sciences we have tried to explain the world in terms of impersonal physics? We have left God out of our thinking and have come up with all these scientific formulas – it’s all a matter of chemistry and physics and mechanics – with the result that we have concluded there is no ultimate meaning or purpose to life. But Paul writes life is neither about a physics formula, nor a splurge in sex, drugs and power because life stinks. It’s all about a Person. It’s all about Jesus. He is the centre of the universe and its reason for existence.

Now the fact that Jesus is the cause and the goal for creation points out that this world is important to Him. We Christians should be at the forefront of caring for this planet, to reduce pollution, to care for the species going extinct, to think about sustainable resources.

The stress on Jesus being the cause and goal of creation also points out something else. Too often Christian thinking has stressed Jesus’ Lordship over the church – which Paul writes about next – at the neglect of his Lordship over the creation. So we have created a dualism in which we worship Jesus in church life, but not at work, university, sports, and so on. In a sense, like the Colossians, we are often guilty of syncretism. That is, we have combined a faith in Jesus with a belief in human secularism because we make little attempt to claim business and politics for the Lordship of Jesus. The reality is we will only find meaning in all parts of life when we do all of them for Jesus.

In verse 18 Paul changes tack slightly and shows how Jesus is also the head of the church. “And He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.” The wonderful creation has become terribly broken by sin. So Christ set about to restore it. It begins by bringing about a new humanity. We see new people of God in the church.

Three things are said of this new people. First, Jesus is “the head of the body”. Now, in terms of the thinking in Paul’s time, the term ‘head’ had two basic meanings. It could mean the source or origin of something. We still speak of the source of a river as the head of a river. So Jesus is not only the source of creation, he is the source of the new humanity, the church. He gives life to it. The word ‘head’ could also mean headship as in having authority and control.

So Jesus gave life to the church and He controls it. He is its Lord. The Colossians were inclined to regard the authority of other voices. Paul here writes there is only One authority in the church: Jesus. Paul is also helping the Colossians, and us, see the significance of the church. They may have thought very little of their small group in their country town. But Paul says you are part of the new humanity, you are part of God’s rescue plan for a whole new universe.

When we look at our congregation what do we see? Do we recognise each other as representatives of the new humanity? Paul goes on to draw out some of the implications of Jesus being the head of the church. He says: “…He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead.” He is the “beginning”. Without Jesus the church would not have come into existence. Without Jesus this creation would just keep struggling in all its brokenness and suffering. But because of Jesus, especially through His death and resurrection, we have begun a new chapter. Things are not the same anymore. He is the “firstborn from the dead.”

Paul has already stated that Christ is the “firstborn over all creation” (vs 15). Now he says Jesus has the same status over the new creation. The new humanity is the community of the resurrection. It’s the community of those who defeat death, that dreadful ultimate in heartache and suffering and brokenness. Jesus is the first to have defeated death forever. Had He remained in death, we would never be sure He had paid the penalty for sin. But Jesus, by the power of God, rose from the dead. He defeated death, clearing the way for all who believe. He is the first.

He is also our model. As it happened for Jesus, so it will happen for all of us who believe in Him. Jesus is the “firstborn of the dead” so that “in everything He might have the supremacy.” Note Paul’s emphasis: “in everything” Jesus is “supreme.” There is absolutely nothing that is outside His control. Not even death. All evil, including Satan, everything is under His control.

Now you would think that at this high point it’s all been said. But Paul says more. Sometimes when we climb on a mountain range we think we have reached the peak, only to find it’s actually over the crest. There is still more: “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 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” (vss 19,20).

This is now the third stage in the work of Christ. The first was the creation. The second was the forming of the new humanity. Now Paul is talking about an entire new creation, the complete restoration of the universe by Jesus. That’s what it means when He speaks of “all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” So it is this earth, with its animals and plants, the mountains and the seas, the stars and the galaxies, that will be reconciled to God and restored. All the powers and thrones will become completely subject to Him. Jesus will do it because of who He is. “God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him.”

As one commentator put it so well: “Jesus Christ is the ultimate. There is none before Him, none beyond Him, nothing without Him. Other than Jesus will not do; less than Jesus will not suit; more than Jesus is not possible. More than all in Him we find. Everything of God is to be found in Him.”

It is through this awesome person, Jesus, God’s Son, that God will “reconcile all things.” God’s purpose was never to save a few Christians for Himself and let everything else go to hell. That sort of thinking is the result of dualism and individualism creeping into our theology. It’s not just about me and my soul and my mystic relationship with God. God has a passion for all the creatures He made, and this universe He placed them in. Everything that has been so terribly broken by sin is going to be reconciled to God. He is going to “make peace” with everything. It will be a creation where sin is gone, where all things, and all who believe, will find their true reason for being, where we will live and work and play in true righteousness, doing it God’s ways, always. And all this is not just a pipe dream. It will happen “through (Jesus’) blood shed on the cross.” On the cross, as Jesus hung there dying, cursed, suffering hell, God’s justice was done. Our guilt was covered. In Jesus all is forgiven, and the way is opened for us to come home.

So, do you see it? It’s all about Jesus. He is supreme. He is the cause and the purpose of everything. Have you come in faith to Jesus? Do you strive to live for Him in all of life? Then you have found the true reason why you are here. And you know where it’s all going. The best is yet to come.

Amen.