Colossians chapter 1. I'll be reading, starting in verse 13, and I'll read on down to verse 20. And the text for the sermon this morning is verses 18 through 20. You can find Colossians 1 on page 748 in your pew Bible. Again, this is God's holy word. Pay attention to it. Colossians chapter 1, starting in verse 13. He has 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. He 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, and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And 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. Amen. A few weeks ago, I suppose about two months ago now, Dorsey and I had the opportunity to go to a wedding here in Fresno. It was a beautiful wedding. It was a very nice wedding. It was held in the backyard of a large house, a large estate, if you will, in the Fig Garden area. It was a night wedding, and after the actual ceremony, there was a very nice reception. They put on a full meal, and there was white tables, and there was music, and there was lights hanging up in the trees, and the lawn was manicured, and everything was all beautiful for this wonderful occasion. And the bride and the groom were not with all the other tables that were all lined up, but they were kind of on their own table, they were in their own table, and more or less in the middle of this big area. And as is common in many weddings, after the meal, a mike was passed around, and toasts were given, and speeches were made, and the best man gets up, and he gives, in this case his brother, his well wishes, his blessing, and the maid of honor gets up. And the focus, of course, is on two people. They have the preeminent place. Father the Bride, Father the Groom. They are speaking to these people. These two, this young couple, this new couple. This is their day. And they are all focused. Everyone is focusing on them. Because it is their time. They have the preeminent place. How inappropriate it would have been if someone was to take that microphone and get up and start talking about how beautiful their wedding day was. How beautiful their wedding venue was. Oh, by the way, our marriage is really going quite well. Otherwise, something that would otherwise be appropriate to talk about in another context, how inappropriate it would be to remove them from the prominent place, from the focus, and from the attention that everyone is giving them. And what's going on in this passage of scripture, which if you notice is part two, what's so great about Jesus, Paul is continuing to remind the Colossians of how great Christ is and why he should have the preeminent place in their hearts. The Colossians, they're just like me, they're just like you. They faced competitors for their heart, for their attention, and for their love. There was those that were saying that the knowledge of Christ really isn't all that great. You want some other knowledge. Oh, and you think Jesus is great? Well, he's pretty good, but angels are really great too. You should focus on them. That was the problem that the Colossians were facing. That specific problem probably is not your problem. But fundamentally, fundamentally it's the problem of all Christians. You face distractions, competitors for your heart, for your love, for your focus. And it may be that this warning in some way, for some of you, Christ does not have that preeminent place. and you're a lion. In different ways your focus may be on other things and not on the one who's so great and so beautiful. And this morning what I'd like to do is I'd like to remind you once again just really going Continuing on this theme here of Paul, just to give you some reasons why Christ is so great, why he should have the preeminent place. What we learned this morning is Christ ought to have the preeminent place in the Christian's life because of who he is, because of what he's done, because of who he is and what he's done. I'm going to unpack that. If you have the bulletin, you'll notice there's really four points, one or two. topical headings that are scattered throughout these three verses. I want you to see who Jesus is. First off, I want you to see, first of all, the reason why you should give Him the preeminent place in your heart, in your life, is because He is your rightful authority, and even the rightful and supreme authority in your life. Paul says in verse 18, this phrase here, and He is the head of the body, The church is the head of the body, the church. And of course, we should understand that he's using a metaphor, the head of the body, which the body is the church. This is a metaphor that often implies that in another context, the head is giving life to the body. We can understand that from an anatomy perspective. But here, the focus is on authority, okay? There's a focus on governance, leadership, Christ is the king of the church. He's the head. Now, there's a couple of reasons why we should take this. The metaphor, the head of the body can have an idea of life giving, but it's also the idea of governance. Think about it. Your legs don't have a mind of their own. You are going to stay in this seat. You are not going to walk out of this room. Because your mind, your head has not told your legs to move. I kid around with my children about the claw. As if my hand had its own imagination. It was going to attack them or something. Well, my hand is going to do what my head tells it to. Just as the church. does what Christ tells it to do. Now the Scriptures are also, the Old Testament Scriptures, also help us understand this phrase. I want you to think about authority a little bit more. We talked about this in Sabbath school this morning. How should we understand Scripture? Interpretation is important. How would Paul use the word head? He'd have an Old Testament context. I was reading my devotions this week, Judges 10-18. Judges 10.18 says, "...and the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, He was the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon. He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead." It's a common Hebraism. You can look at 1 Chronicles 7.2 and chapter 9 and verse 9. The leaders of families are called the heads of the father's houses. So Christ here is betrayed in his authority, and he's the rightful authority. Authority, that word can have a negative connotation, can't it? Well, he's the rightful authority. Think about it in the context of sibling rivalry. An older sibling maybe kind of bullying a younger sibling. Give me that toy, or you need to move, it's my turn. And the younger sibling, kids, you might identify with this. Younger sibling might kind of catch on. What authority do you have over me? It's my turn. I haven't even begun to use it. But if that older sibling says, Daddy has said, There's rightful authority there. Lawful authority. That's what Christ... Christ is like that. He's not an older sibling bully. He's the rightful authority. He is the supreme authority. And this is something that we just need to think about. There's different levels of authority. Christ is supreme. He is the head. It's part of the meaning of head. There's only one. I mean, in all of creation, all cattle and birds and humans and all animals, Who's ever heard of a two-headed creature? Okay, there's one head. He's supreme. He's over all. He's over all. This phrase here is grossly abused by the Roman Catholic Church. They say that the Pope is the head of the church. That's just flat wrong. The Pope is not the head of the church. Christ is the head of the church. He rules his church through a plurality of elders whose only rule of faith and practice is Christ's word. The Pope's words and the Roman Catholic Church are authoritative and are equal with scripture. And here this verse is a clear rejection of such error. Now, we're talking this morning about Christ having the preeminent place in your life. And one thing that will be evident to you, if Christ is in the preeminent place, then you will yield to Him. You'll yield to His Word and His commandments because He is your rightful authority. And you need to know that if you are rejecting God's Word, perhaps you're conscious of something this morning that you're doing. This is against God's Word. God wants you to obey Him. He wants you to turn and take heed to His Word. Now, one way that's common, I know from my own life, where I can, I'm not so much in rejection of His Word and in rebellion, But one thing that's common for Christians is they're not sensitive. They don't have a sensitive disposition to Christ's words. In other words, you may be unaware of lots of things that God has said. You may be unaware of, I don't really know how I should live my life on Sunday. Or maybe how the scriptures speak to your work or how you raise children. And you may say in your heart, I don't intend to learn. Ignorance is bliss. There's no desire to pay attention and to learn more. Take, for example, a boss and employer-employee relationship. What happens if you begin to just kind of not pay attention to his desires or her desires? You're not in open rebellion against your employer. You're not really paying attention. There's going to be some negative ramifications. This is one way Christians can kind of take Christ from His position just by not paying attention, not having a sensitive disposition to His Word. Consider these verses. Notice the sensitive disposition. Isaiah 66, but on this one will I look on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and who trembles at my word. James says in James 1 21, receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your soul. Do you have a sensitive disposition to God's Word? He is, Christ is, your lawful, your rightful and supreme authority. This is the first reason why you should give Christ the preeminent place in your life. But there's another reason, and there's something else about Jesus that I want you to see. Again, who is Jesus? I want you to think about Jesus secondly, and specifically in his humanity. Christ is still now human, just as you are human. Don't let his divinity, again there's this very unique balance in our doctrine. He's God and man. Don't let his divinity say, well he's not really a man, like I'm a man or human. The second point is this, Christ is the godliest man, godliest person ever to live on the face of the earth. He is the godliest person. In His humanity, He has and has expressed and has demonstrated all perfections of grace. All perfections of grace. We see that in verse 20. I'm sorry, verse 19. 4, Paul is continuing why Christ should have the preeminence. He just says that in verse 18, that in all things He may have the preeminence. for or because, here's another reason why you should have the preeminence. It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell. All the fullness should dwell. And that's where I'm getting this idea of Christ being the godliest man ever. Is that in Him all the fullness dwells. Now there's a lot of discussion But what this means, you've noticed perhaps that I've kind of been slowing down a little bit through this section because these are powerful words, strong phrases, a lot of punch can come out of these words. What does this mean? One way of understanding this, all the fullness would be to understand it as His divinity itself, His divine nature. And one of the reasons why some take it that way is because it's used in that way in another context, in other places in the New Testament. The fullness would be referred to the nature of God. That's not what's being said here. And the reason for that is because this is something that the Father has done. It pleased Him to place, if you will, the fullness. Okay, well here's the thing. The Son of God is God by nature. In His own right. From eternity. The Father didn't give Him His divinity. He's equally God with the Father. What's being described here is the fact that in his humanity, that God will become man and in his humanity he would have all the perfections of grace. That's what's being described here. One commentator writes, this word fullness signifies all the graces and excellencies requisite to the full and entire greatness that becomes the Christ of God. I'll give you one other place in scripture that's helpful for us to see this meaning. It's Ephesians 4.13. Ephesians 3.19 may be a little bit better. Ephesians 3.19 says, to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Okay, we're not filled with the deity of God, the divinity. We're filled with His graces. We become, as it were, by His Spirit, godly. Christ is the godliest man ever to live, and this is why you should admire him. I want you to think about someone you admire, and someone who has your affections and your focus as it were, your respect, because they're godly. You know for me, I've mentioned to you before my grandfather, who I've named my son Sebernafter. Granddaddy Seaborn, one of the reasons why I respected him is because he was so kind to me and my other brothers and my other siblings. He was a kind grandfather. He was generous to us. He would take us out and we'd get a haircut and get an IC and he would just talk to us and he was hardworking. Even in his elderly state, he would work on his garden, his backyard. That's just who he was. It drew me to him. Now, how much more should we admire the Lord Jesus Christ? I want you to think about the man from Nazareth, whose name is Jesus. Jesus is the most patient person that has ever been. Do you have a hard time being patient? Being long-suffering with people? How many times did His disciples come up to Him with silly questions? Weak in faith. I've preached on the passage where he feeds thousands of people and then two chapters later he's asking, you know, the disciples come to him and they say, who's going to feed all these people? What does Jesus do? You dummies? No. How many loaves of bread do you have? He's patient. He's compassionate on the poor and the homeless. How many times have you been walking down a street in Fresno, or driving maybe by at a stop sign, and there's a homeless person there, and you're not gonna help them, not because you're afraid, maybe you're not safe, or maybe it's because you don't have anything. You just have no compassion for them. Jesus didn't do that. He had compassion. He exercised that compassion when it was a wise thing to do. Jesus on the cross said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. Now last time your spouse annoyed you, did you say, God forgive them? Last time your spouse did something wrong to you, your children did something wrong to you. They sinned against you. It was your first inclination. Father, forgive them. They don't know what they are doing. This is Christ. This is who He is. He is the godliest man ever to live. And this is why you should admire Him. I want you to think about the man He's worthy of your respect and your love for who He is. Well, secondly, it's not just who He is, but what He's done. My second part of my message, points three and four, have to do with what Jesus has done. Now, my grandfather Seaburn. Granddaddy Seaburn. Happened to be a very kind and generous man, but he also was a World War II veteran. And he also helped his mother, because his father died, and his sisters survived the Great Depression. I mean, he's been through the trenches. And that was one of the reasons why I loved him and respected him, because of what he had done. Well, Jesus, likewise. What did He do? Well, He gives His people New bodies. He gives them new bodies. We have that in verse 18. You'll notice I went on to verse 19. I'll finish verse 18 here. The ESV begins a new sentence where the new King James has, who is the beginning? And I think we should understand this is a second thought. Who is the beginning? The firstborn from the dead. Who is the beginning? The firstborn from the dead. What is being described here is the fact that Christ gives to all those who call upon Him and believe in Him new bodies. The firstborn from the dead is a reference to the resurrection. Christ is the first to rise again from the dead. We looked at this word, firstborn, I believe it was last week. And here it carries a different meaning. Probably because, again, the context. Context helps us so much when we interpret Scripture. He's already said, who is the beginning? That's a temporal idea. Christ is the first person to rise again from the dead. Now you might be thinking, well that's not true. Because Lazarus rose again from the dead. And Elijah raised a child from the dead. Or Elisha, one of the two. But this is a different type of resurrection. See, Lazarus died. Physically died after he was risen again. Christ defeated death. No longer to die. He's the first born from the dead in that sense. The scriptures make this clear. We read 1 Corinthians 15. Again, verse 20, but now Christ has risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Because Christ has risen again, all those who are in Christ will also rise again. Jesus says in John 14, 19, because I live, you will live also. He gives us new bodies in that sense. He is that path breaker. One commentator said this, that this resurrection is also the beginning or cause of their glorious physical resurrection. He is the path breaker. I want you to think about that picture, path breaker. I immediately thought about how when I was younger, growing up in my father's home, we had horses. We would get on our Tennessee walking horses. We'd get in our trailer, six or seven horses, a big trailer, a horse trailer. We'd drive out in the middle of the woods someplace and we'd ride. We'd ride all day, all Saturday. And lots of times it was a dirt road and lots of times there was already a trail. Some of the times we needed to blaze our own trail. And if we wanted to blaze our own trail, we would always pick Bo. Whoever was riding Bo, he was going to blaze that trail. Because all the other horses didn't really like, you know, twigs hitting them and didn't want to jump over a creek. They couldn't see the water and all those things. Bo would just go. And all the other horses would follow. Because Christ has gone and blazed that trail, we are all going to follow. That's what's going on here in this text. He gives us new bodies. Some of you, I guess in some sense all of us, We are all certainly dying. Some of you are very aware that your salvation is not complete, because your bodies are giving you pain. Even right now, you feel pain. Kids, you love your mother because she puts a band-aid on you. She gives you coffee syrup, if you will. Your mommy can't make you well. She can't keep you from getting a disease. Jesus can. and he does. He gives you a new body. This is yet another reason why you should admire him. I admired my granddaddy because he had fought in the war. Jesus has defeated death and he gives his people new bodies. But lastly, fourth, Another reason why you should give Christ the preeminent place. It's not just that He gives you a new body, a resurrected body, but He gives His body for you. He gave His life for you so that you might be reconciled to a holy and just God. Verse 20, the idea from verse 19 continues, it pleased the Father, not just that all the fullness should dwell, but also 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. I want to speak to you Of course, I pointed that He gives you His life, but by that He reconciles you to the Father. I want to speak to you about reconciliation for a moment. The first thing I want to say about this verse is the object of reconciliation. This verse, in the history of the church, has caused a lot of confusion. And I hope that you have, when you read this verse, all of Scripture in mind, and so you know what Paul's not saying because you've read other parts of Scripture. But think about this. It says, "...and by him to reconcile all things to himself." It's emphasized. By him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. All things. Now, is the object of reconciliation all people? And all angels? Is Paul a universalist? Think about it. What would you say? Listen, this is alive and well. You may have heard of a man named Rob Bell. Rob Bell, well I know he went to Wheaton College at some point. Wheaton College is an evangelical Bible believing church or school. He wrote a book in 2011 called Love Wins. And basically it says there's no hell, there's no judgment. You know he's a universalist. It's alive and well. Is Paul teaching that? Well no. The reason why we should understand that is for two reasons. First off, keep in mind that in, again, the Hebrew mind, to encompass all creation is to speak about heaven and earth. Okay, Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Okay, we also created the sea. We talked about that last week a bit. And here, that's what he has. Whether things on earth or things in heaven. It's a way of emphasizing all things or all creation. And Paul didn't have an under, you know, he couldn't highlight things and write it in bold. Okay? He's emphasizing by repetition. But also keep in mind that he's already mentioned all creation in this context. Just in a few verses before this. Now, Paul has in his own theology, judgment, and hell. The wages of sin is death, Paul said. The same God who inspired Paul to write this book has also inspired Matthew to write. Matthew 25 clearly teaches that there is eternal life and there is eternal punishment. Verse 48. That is not the object of reconciliation. The object of reconciliation we learn in this epistle and other places are those who believe in the Lord Jesus. I want to speak to you about whether or not you believe in the Lord Jesus. I have been talking this morning, speaking to you as God's people, because you are. You're members of this church. Even our children are members of this church, though they may not have believed yet. Kids, I wanna speak to you on whether or not you actually believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Adults, have you called upon the name of the Lord? It's only those who believe who are reconciled. What shall we do to be saved? The crowd said to Peter. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you'll be saved. Now the means of this reconciliation, which is more to my point, is his body, is his life. Having made peace, the verse says, through the blood of his cross. That's the second thing I want to say about this verse. The means of reconciliation. Christ died a sacrificial death through the blood of his cross. Blood had to be spilled, perfect blood, precious blood. We read in verse 14, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. And I've mentioned this to you last week, or two weeks ago. We needed a death. And that death is Christ, a perfect death, a sufficient death. This is the means by which the Father has reconciled a sinful people to himself. And the result of that is peace, which goes to help us understand what reconciliation is. The text says, having made peace. Having made peace. See, we've got to keep in mind that the natural man is at enmity with God. There's two types of ways we can look at this piece. From the natural man who hates God. Okay, Romans 1.30, Paul describes the unconverted man as haters of God. We look out upon our life, our city, all our relations and all our friends. Now, not everyone hates God equally as bad as others. But if someone's not converted, If someone is not, by the Holy Spirit, drawn to Christ, then they are fundamentally against God. And that needs to change. As a result of Christ's death, and of His work in them by His Spirit, He's made them no longer in enmity with God. But also through the blood of Christ, there's peace from God's perspective. God is a righteous God, God's a holy God, and there must be punishment. Psalms 5.5 says that God hates all the workers of iniquity. Through the blood of Christ, the result is peace. I was reading in preparation for this sermon. A story came up in my reading. I don't know all the details, but basically the situation is very touching. A couple, they're married. They have a son. their only son, time passes, he's a young child and they divorce. This is a true story. And I don't know all the details, but they're divorced and they spend a few more years separate and divorced. And their son tragically dies of an illness. And they go through all of the funeral and all that, but time passes and they're still mourning. Though they're divorced, they've lost their only son. And one day, I believe it's the man, is at the grave, just weeping for his son that has died. And the wife comes to the grave at the same time, unexpected. And at that engagement, because they're both Then the means, the practical means of this death, because they're both, they love their son, they actually at that time began to be reconciled. And they were eventually married again, because of the death. Now the illustration's not perfect, but I want you to think about it. Because there's been a death, because Christ gave his life for you, you have peace with God the Father. Why should Christ have the preeminent place in your life? If there is anything, this is it. Earlier this week, my son said to me, Daddy, I want to go back to the place where Dr. Piper, who is the professor of my seminary, president of my seminary, I want to go back to that place where Dr. Piper, after the preaching at the chapel, he would give us candy. I want to go back there. He liked Dr. Piper because Dr. Piper would give him candy. Jesus has given you his life. He's given you his life. Love him. Be affectionate toward him. This is why he is preeminent. He ought to be preeminent in your life. Christians ought to hold Christ. He ought to have the preeminent place in their life because of who he is and what he's done. As I finish my sermon this morning, I want you to think about that question. I want you to think about whether Christ, this wonderful man, who is so wonderful in himself and has done so many wonderful things for you, whether he has the preeminent place in your life. You have, just like me, you have competitors in your life. Not everyone in this room is going to study the Bible as much as I study the Bible. I'm your pastor. It's my occupation. But do you listen to His Word? Do you study His Word? Are you paying attention to it? Is all that you do in your life, does it fall under your desire to glorify Him? You know, work, chill, your kids, hobbies can quickly overtake. It can overtake your life. You know, church on Sunday, it kind of becomes, well, if I can get to it, I'll do it. My devotions, if I can get to it, I'll do it. Do you think in your life as you go and as you make decisions, as you go through the week, are you thinking about what Christ desires for you? Or is it first and permanently what you desire for you? These are the things. This is what I want you to think about. This is what Paul wants the Colossians to think about. They face competitors. You face competitors. I want you to see how great Jesus is. He is worthy of your love. love him, listen to him, live for him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we again praise your name for giving us such a wonderful mediator, for planning such a full redemption that God would become flesh and die for sinners. Father, we praise you for your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we ask that you would help us to live for Him, to focus our attention upon Him. to remove anything or anyone who's taken that preeminent place, that preeminent seat in our heart. To the degree that this has happened, Father, we ask that you would give us strength to put Christ back on the throne, to put him back in the preeminent place in our life. We ask that you would do this. Give us faith, give us strength to do this. For we ask in his name, amen.