Giving God Pre-Eminence

Giving God Preeminence

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

OPENING: - Kirk Franklin several years ago wrote “The Reason Why We Sing”. Some of the words are Someone asked the question Why do we sing? When we lift our hands to Jesus What do we really mean? Someone may be wondering When we sing our song At times we're even crying And nothings even wrong. Someone else said When I think of the goodness of Jesus And all that he's done for me My soul cries out hallelujah. When you think of the preeminence of God and especially when He has preeminence in your life, you can’t help but cry out hallelujah and lift our hands in worship. Just the other day I was getting ready for bed and saying my prayers I was just stopped on Thank You Jesus because I was thinking of the preeminence of God in my life.

PRAYER: -

SCRIPTURE: - Colossians 1:12-18 says, “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by 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 might have the preeminence. ”.

Definition: - Preeminence – Pre = before / Eminent = means high in station, rank, or reputation, and its noun form, eminence, refers to a position of superiority, high rank or status, or fame; therefore, Preeminence is the state of being extremely distinguished, outstanding, or superior to all others.

The Greek word Proteuo only appears in Colossians 1:18 it means to be first in rank and influence. It is most often translated preeminence but is also translated supremacy. Supreme is defined as "highest in rank or authority, highest in degree or quality" (Webster).

Paul uses this word to express the position of Christ in relationship to all things in heaven and on earth.

UNDERSTAND: - Although God is God the creator of all that is and all power in Heaven and Earth is in His hands, realize that he will never usurp His authority or position upon you, He will never forcefully acquire the position of being first, even though He requires it. He said in Exodus 20:3 the very first commandment “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” His requirement is to be first, to be preeminent, and supreme in our lives but He wants us to put Him there of our own free will. The ability, responsibility, and capability of God being preeminent lies within each and every one of us.

The reason we have trouble in letting God be supreme is so often we are wrapped up, tied up, and tangled up in this flesh and Paul lets us know in Romans 7:18 says, “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.”

The flesh is not subject to God, the flesh is under control of the carnal mind. If the mind wants something it tells the flesh wouldn’t it be nice to have that, the flesh now gets the desire for it. That’s why the Bible says in Philippians 2:5 “Let the same mind that is in Christ Jesus be also in you”, because Jesus’s mind was to do the will of his father and his flesh was in subjection to his mind.

Since we have not brought this flesh under subjection we allow the desire, the wants, and the ambitions of the flesh to give its’ first allegiance to everything else but God.

Our nature and tendency is to indulge this flesh, to allow our profession, our social acceptance, our livelihood, our comforts, and our pleasures the opportunity to be satisfied. We spend so much time trying to ensure that we meet the right people, drive the right car, wear the right clothes, attend the right social functions, impress the right people, operate in the proper arenas so that the social elite of this world might take notice of us. We diligently and meticulously strive for popularity and prosperity because human conception is based on the belief that this is what it takes to be blessed and we confuse resource with the source. So what happens is we spend all of our energy trying to reach unattainable expectations all that this flesh may be satisfied and what little we have left we then offer unto God if our flesh isn’t too tired.