INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• When you think of some of the greats or those reigned supreme in their areas of achievement, what made them supreme?
• People like Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, George Washington, and Billy Graham; they all did something that set them apart from the crowd.
• This is an impressive list of people, and I bet we could add to that list if we wanted to take the time.
• All of these people made the most of their opportunities, some of them in the face of deep adversity.
• These people will be remembered for a long time. They have left their mark and staked their claims to greatness.
• Now I want to mention another name, the name above all names, Jesus!
• What is it that makes Him great? What puts Him on the list of greatness?
• Is there something about Him that makes you want to follow Him, something that makes you want to have Him be a part of your life?
• When Paul penned this letter to the Colossian Church, there were people who were saying a lot of false things about Jesus.
• I am glad that does not happen today!
• Today we are going to examine four things that make Jesus supreme. These four things should help motivate us to want to follow Him and make Him the object of our affection, the center of our life!
• Let’s turn to Colossians 1, we will be in verses 15-20, we will begin in verse 15!
• SLIDE #2
• Colossians 1:15 (ESV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
• SLIDE #3
SERMON
Jesus is SUPREME because…
I. Jesus is the image of the invisible God! (15)
• If you watch any NBA, you will hear a lot of people asking who the next Michael Jordan will be. You also hear a lot of people compare LeBron James to Jordan.
• In sports, people always want to know who the next person is going to be like the previous star of the league or the team.
• With Jesus, people do not have to ask who the next Jesus because Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the ONE and ONLY begotten of God!
• SLIDE #4
• John 14:7–9 (ESV) If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
• When people looked at Jesus, they were looking at the image of God, not someone who was god-like or some cheap imitation, He was God.
• When I worked for Square D Company, we did a lot of business in Mexico. Some people from our facility were sent to Mexico to help train the workers in the Mexico plant.
• Many of them came back with Rolex watches.
• Do you know how much a Rolex costs? They are high dollar watches to say the least. People were paying $20 to $60 for these “Rolex” watches.
• They sure looked good, they looked like Rolex watches. They were cheap initiations of the real thing.
• I purchased one a few years ago when I went to Mexico, it did not last long!
• Imitations never do.
• Many people try to get to God by purchasing some cheap low-cost imitation, they never last nor will they work!
• SLIDE #5
• John 14:6 (ESV) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
• The word IMAGE was used in Paul’s time for the likenesses placed on coins, portraits, and for statues. We get the English word ICON, referring to a statue.
• It carries the idea of representation of the original. It is the word the represented the nearest equivalent in the ancient Greek to our modern photography.
• It tells us that Jesus is the perfect representation of God.
• When God created us, we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), but that image got marred by sin. Jesus is the perfect image of God, He is what we were created to be.
• SLIDE #6
• Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV) Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
• Jesus is the one and only Son of God. There have been NONE before and there will be NONE after Him!
• Paul calls Jesus the “firstborn of all creation.” This does not mean He was a created being, it means that He takes first place in rank in all that has been created.
• In both Greek and Jewish culture, the firstborn was the son who had the right of inheritance. He was not necessarily the first one born.
• Although Esau was born first chronologically, it was Jacob who was the “firstborn” and received the inheritance. Jesus is the One with the right to the inheritance of all creation
• Let’s turn to verses 16-17 for our next observation!
• SLIDE #7
• Colossians 1:16–17 (ESV) For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
• SLIDE #8
Jesus is SUPREME because…
II. Jesus is the creator of all things! (16-17)
• We give a lot of praise and fame to people who invent things. We give a lot of praise to people like Thomas Edison, Bill Gates, Alexander Graham Bell, and many others.
• Their accomplishments are impressive, but consider this, none of those people created something from nothing. They all used things God had already created.
• SLIDE #9
• Hebrews 1:2 (ESV) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
• The universe is complex and much too fragile to have happened by accident.
• A change in the rate of Earth’s rotation around the sun or on its axis would be catastrophic.
• The Earth would become either too hot or too cold to support life. If the moon were much nearer to the Earth, huge tides would inundate the continents.
• A change in the composition of the gases that make up our atmosphere would also be fatal to life.
• A slight change in the mass of the proton would result in the dissolution of hydrogen atoms. That would result in the destruction of the universe, because hydrogen is its dominant element. (MacArthur Jr.)
• Imagine thinking that all this happened without the hand of God!
• Creation screams out that there is a CREATOR!
• SLIDE #10
• Psalm 19:1 (ESV) The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
• Now let’s turn to verse 18.
• SLIDE #11
• Colossians 1:18 (ESV) And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
• SLIDE #12
Jesus is SUPREME because…
III. Jesus is the head of the church. (18)
• There are many metaphors used in Scripture to describe the church. It is called a family, a kingdom, a vineyard, a flock, a building, and a bride.
• But the most profound metaphor, one having no Old Testament equivalent, is that of a Body. The church is a Body, and Christ is the head of the Body.
• The church is the bride of Christ! He will come back for His bride at the second coming.
• One of the things we need to ALWAYS keep in the forefront of our minds when we are a part of the church is the fact that Jesus and Jesus alone is the head of the church.
• Jesus reminds us in Matthew 28
• SLIDE #13
• Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
• Too many churches brought to ruin be one or two people of families who try to make the church their own little fiefdom.
• WE ALWAYS need to make sure the church is on the mission that Jesus gave to us to reach lost souls and to edify or build up the saved.
• WE tend to look at heads of corporations as great people; they have worked hard to get to the top.
• Jesus is the head of the church, He is the great one that we follow and worship!
• “Beginning” and “firstborn” here refer to the “creation” of the church through Christ’s resurrection.
• Since he was firstborn he made it possible for others to be “born from the dead.”
• “Firstborn” may mean he was the first victor over death, but it may indicate his authority (as it did in v. 15) over death as it was over all creation. He produced and ruled both the old and the new creation. (College Press Commentary)
• We are the BODY, Jesus is the HEAD, we are called to follow HIS lead! WE are called to KNOW HE is supreme within the church, not ANY human!
• Let’s turn to verses 20-21 for a final thought!
• SLIDE #14
• Colossians 1:20–21 (ESV) and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,
• SLIDE #15
Jesus is SUPREME because…
IV. Jesus is God’s choice to bring salvation to mankind! (19-20)
• Why was Jesus the one to save mankind? The Father chose Him to do so.
• The little word “FOR” explains why Christ will have first place in everything. God wanted his fullness (meaning “completeness” or “totality”) to dwell (meaning “live permanently”) in Christ.
• By this statement, Paul was refuting the Greek idea that Jesus could not be human and divine at the same time. Christ is fully human; he is also fully divine.
• God wants Jesus to reconcile all things to Himself through His blood.
• “Reconciliation” means reestablishing a relationship, causing the relationship to become friendly and peaceable when it had not been so.
• SLIDE 16
• Romans 3:23–25 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
• When we commit our first sin, we put ourselves at war with God. We are not in a peaceful relationship with God at that time.
• Jesus made peace between man and God on the cross. That peace is offered to who so ever will place their lives in the hands of Jesus. It is available to anyone who desires to be saved.
• Slide #17
• Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• Since God is the one who is in charge, we must accept God’s terms for salvation!
• FAITH, REPENT, CONFESS, BAPTIZE, AND WALK!
• SLIDE #18
CONCLUSION
• If you take the greatest people you can think of, none of them stack up to Jesus.
• Or God is great and He is most worthy of being praised!
• What are you doing to show God you believe He is great and worthy of your praise?
• He IS worthy to be your Lord and Savior!
• Jesus is SUPREME!
