Colossians 1:15-18 – High Priority
This morning we are continuing our series through Colossians. Today we are looking at 4 verses, 1:15-18. And if you have ever asked, “What does Jesus matter?”, this passage answers that. Let’s read Colossians 1:15-18.
Little Johnny was spending the weekend with his grandmother after a particularly trying week in kindergarten. His grandmother decided to take him to the park on Saturday morning. It had been snowing all night and everything was beautiful.
His grandmother remarked..."Doesn't it look like an artist painted this scenery? Did you know God painted this just for you?"
Johnny said, "Yes, God did it. And, he did it left handed."
This confused his grandmother a bit, and she asked him, "What makes you say God did this with his left hand?"
"Well," said Johnny, "we learned at Sunday School last week that Jesus sits on God's right hand so he HAD to use his left hand!"
Today we are examining what Jesus did, and why does it matter. Now, I’m going to do something that is just not good story-telling. I’m giving you the ending first. I’m giving away where I’m going with this. Here’s the ending: Jesus deserves to be first in your life. That’s what we’re headed towards. Jesus deserves to be first in your life.
Now, let’s get to where we’re going. This passage in Colossians 1 is a great description of the Lord we serve: who He is, and what He did. Next week, we look more at the cross, but this section is more about what He did before people ever came around.
This section uses a handful of descriptions to tell us who Jesus is. The first: Jesus is the image of God. He’s the visible representation of the invisible God. You know, people talk about God, and our culture seems to want to connect with God, to get to know God. Well, if a person wants to know who God is, they can look at Jesus’ life and see. He loved those who were down and out, but confronted those who were smug and self-righteous.
He embraced the humble, and challenged those who only had faith when it was convenient. He never talked about hell to the sinful, but only to those who looked down on others. Jesus was described as a friend of sinners – it was the religious folk who had Him killed. Sometimes I wonder if Jesus would even fit into today’s North American church. Who Jesus is, that’s who God is.
The next descriptor of Jesus is also in v15 – the firstborn over all creation. Some people take this verse to mean that Jesus was the first thing/person created. That can’t possibly be true because the next verse says that all things were created by Him. All things couldn’t be created by Him if He Himself had been created too.
You need to notice that Jesus is called the first-born, not the first-created. The Greek word for "first-born" is about priority. In the culture of the Ancient Near East, the first-born was not necessarily the oldest child. First-born referred not to birth order but to rank. The first-born possessed the inheritance and leadership. What Paul is saying here is that Jesus is superior to everything in the whole universe.
The word is pre-eminence. That’s the word used in v18 in the King James. Pre-eminence. It means the supremacy, the superiority, in comparability, the authority, the excellence, the prominence. It’s about Jesus being more important than anything in all creation. Let’s come back to this in a minute.
The next description used to explain Jesus is the Creator. V16 says it more than once: all things were created by Him. Everything you see, everything you don’t see. He created it all. But how can that be? I thought God created everything. Oh yes He did. This is one of the clearest passages in the whole NT that says Jesus is God.
Most heresies over the years have said one of 2 things: that Jesus is not fully God, or Jesus is not fully human. Now, even though I can’t necessarily understand how it can be, it certainly true: Jesus is 100% God, and at the same time, 100% human.
Otherwise, how could He help us? How could anything besides God connect us back to God, and how could anything besides a person help God know what it’s like to be us? Jesus became the perfect sacrifice by bridging the gap between us and God. God took on flesh, became a man, to know what it was like to be us.
Hebrews 4 tells us that Jesus is able to sympathize with us, to know what we go through, and help us when we need it. If you have ever been lonely, Jesus knows what that feels like. If you have ever been hurt, Jesus knows what that feels like. If you have ever been tempted, under pressure, abused, mistreated, deserted by your friends… Jesus knows what that feels like. The One who created you also knows what you are going through.
The next descriptor of Jesus is v17 – the Sustainer. All things hold together by Him. That means that no matter how bleak the world looks, God has not forgotten us. He is still taking care of things. And even though He allows evil in the world for the time we’re in, one day it will be gone. You need to know: there is nothing going on in your life right now that Jesus isn’t aware of. I can’t guarantee you won’t go through hard times – natural disasters still have, people still die for their faith, and you will have hard times in your life. But through it all, Jesus is not distant or far off. And He’s going through these hard times with you.
The next description of Jesus is in v18 – the Head of the Church. Actually, the head of the body, who is us, the church. He’s the boss of believers. We are His hands and we are His feet and we are His voice, and it is up to us to live for Him in this world. Listen: I know that some people look at the signs of the times, and feel that Jesus is coming back soon, and that may be true, but it is still too soon to check out of here yet. It is still our job, as long as we’re alive, to make this the best world for God as we possibly can, to bring as many with us to heaven as possible, to help others allow Jesus to change their lives and improve the world as well. It is too soon to check out of here yet. We still need to show the world who Jesus is, and to live for Him.
V18 also describes Jesus as the beginning. Let me say, life starts with Jesus. And it’s because of the other description of Jesus in v18 – the firstborn from among the dead. Again, firstborn doesn’t mean chronologically – it means importance. Jesus wasn’t the first to rise from the dead, but He was the first one not to die again. And His resurrection is so life-changing to us. It’s because of His resurrection that we are guaranteed hope, that death is not the end. All kinds of religions serve dead gods; our God is alive. His rising again gives us confidence that this life is not all that we see.
So: this is what we see. Jesus is the image of God, He’s the most important thing in all creation, He’s the Creator, He’s the Sustainer, He’s the head of His people, He’s the beginning, and He’s the Guarantee of a new life after death.
Because of all this, because of who Jesus is, because of what Jesus has done… here it is… Jesus deserves to be first in your life. He’s the most important thing in all creation, so He should be the most important thing in our lives. He created us, so we should be thankful to Him. He sustains us and looks after us, so we should trust our lives to Him. He’s the Boss of Believers, so He should be our Boss.
Notice v16 – all things were created by Him AND for Him. You were made for Him. You were created to give God glory in Your life, to point to Him, to give your heart to Him. That’s why you are here.
V18 says that Jesus is all these things – Majesty, Maker, Measureless, Master – so that He would have the supremacy, so that He would be the Most. The most important thing. The most loved person in your life. That wording means, that He might become being first. He already is First, but He deserves to be placed there, kept there, by His creation, by you and me. Because of who He is, and what He’s done, Jesus deserves to be the Most in your life. He deserves to be First.
Now, when we talk about priorities, we usually picture it this way. At the top of the list, as #1, we write the word “God”. In theory, many of us try to list Him first. Then we write different things: #2 may be “family” or “spouse” or “job” or “hobby” or whatever. So we list these things as our priorities – what is most important.
Unfortunately, that results in a problem or 2. The first problem is that we compartmentalize our faith. We divide our lives into “God stuff” and then “other stuff”. We give God some time, but the rest is ours, as if He has nothing to do with the rest of our lives.
The 2nd problem is the implications. So, if I’m playing a board game with my family, then that means I’m not putting God first at that moment? If I’m working at my job, then I’m not living for God? If I’m puttering around in the garden, then God isn’t first in my life?
No, of course not. Instead of looking at a priority list, picture your relationship with Jesus this way. A bicycle tire. Jesus is the hub, the centre, the thing at the very middle. Everything else is important – those are the spokes. Your spouse, your kids, your community, your school, your church… these all are parts of your life. They keep the tire together. But at the very centre, what everything in your life is connected to, is Jesus.
Let me give you a word. It’s not overly complicated, but it fits what we’re talking about. The word is Christocentric. That means Christ at the centre. It means Christ has the pre-eminence, He is supreme, He is First, he is most important, He is at the very core of your life.
Ephesians 1:20-23 from the paraphrase The Message says this: “All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.”
Christ wants to rule you from the centre. He wants to be part of every decision you make, every action you do, every meeting you’re part of, every leisurely activity you enjoy, every relationship you’re in. He deserves to be part of your job, part of your family, part of your leisure, part of your hobbies, part of your school, part of your home, part of everything you do. Again I say, Jesus deserves to be first in your life.
Let me close off with some lyrics to a song we’re about to hear. It’s called Jesus Be the Centre. The lyrics aren’t complicated, but they are powerful. They say, “Jesus, be the centre. Be my source, be my light, Jesus. Jesus, be the centre. Be my hope, be my song, Jesus. Be the fire in my heart, Be the wind in these sails, Be the reason that I live, Jesus, Jesus. Jesus, be my vision, Be my path, be my guide, Jesus.” May we live Christocentric lives here at Centreville, centred on Jesus.
