INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• I want to flash some names on the screen. I want you to think about why people consider these people to be great.
• SLIDE #2
• Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, George Washington, Billy Graham.
• There are some impressive names on the list, I could have continued to list people for the whole service.
• The point we are making here is that with all the people listed above, we know what makes people consider them to be great, to be a cut above the rest of the crowd.
• These are people that given the opportunity, many of us would like to be able to be a part of their lives, to be able to share in their glory some how, some way.
• Now I want to toss another name up on the screen for you to consider.
• SLIDE #3
• Jesus!
• What is it that makes Him great? 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.
• With the movie the Da Vinci Code coming out, it seems like old times.
• Today we are going to look at five things that make Jesus great. These are five things that should make us want to follow Him and have Him be the center of our lives.
• Turn with me to Colossians 1:13-20 this morning.
• SLIDES #4-#7
• Colossians 1:13-20
• Today let us examine what makes Jesus great!
• The first reason we can consider Him great is:
• SLIDE #8
SERMON
I. HE RESCUED US. (13-14)
• One of the things we need to understand is that before we came to Jesus, we were literally drowning in our sins.
• We were being taken under the water by sin.
• The word “rescued” is particularly connected with the Old Testament concept of God’s rescue of His people from various situations of adversity (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon).
• Here, however, the concept has been turned into a spiritual metaphor. Christians have been delivered "from the dominion of darkness", the realm of moral and intellectual "darkness" accruing from man’s self-alienation from God
• The domain or dominion of darkness includes spiritually, physically, and intellectually.
• Jesus was the one who jumped into the water to save us from our sins.
• Verse 13 tells us that He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the Kingdom of His Beloved Son.
• God the Father rescued us through Jesus.
• The word “transferred” means to “carry across the line. He carried us across the line that separated us from the Father.
• God not only “qualified” us to be in His Kingdom, but He also carries us over the finish line!
• Verse 14 speaks of us being redeemed by the Son. Redeem means to rescue or deliver from something from which we cannot deliver ourselves.
• SLIDE #9
• 1 Peter 1:17 - 19 (NASB) 17And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; 18knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
• We cannot save ourselves; Jesus sacrificed Himself so that we might be saved!
• He did what you cannot do for yourself. That great act of sacrifice makes Him great; it makes Him worthy of praise!
• We have been rescued from the stain and guilt of sin! Our sins have been forgiven because of Him. To many this is not a big issue because we play down the concept of sin so much in our society, but believe me, you will not enter into Heaven carrying your own burden of sin.
• Let us look a second reason He is great!
• SLIDE #10
II. HE 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.
• People do not have to ask who the next savior will be or who the next God will be because Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
• 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.
• Jesus was not some Mexican Rolex, He is the real thing!
• SLIDE #11
• John 14:9 (GWT) 9Jesus replied, “I have been with all of you for a long time. Don’t you know me yet, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
• 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 #12
• Genesis 1:26 - 27 (GWT) 26Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness. Let them rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals all over the earth, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.” 27 So God created humans in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female.
• 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 us look at a third reason that Jesus is so great!
• SLIDE #13
III. HE IS THE CREATOR OF ALL THINGS. (16-17)
• Jesus the one who is the creator.
• SLIDE #14
• Hebrews 1:2 (NASB) 2in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.
• The Hebrew writer tells us that God created the world through Jesus.
• SLIDE #15
• Genesis 1:26 (GWT) 26Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, in our likeness…
• 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.
• The universe is complex and much to 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.)
• SLIDE #16
• Psalms 19:1 (GWT) 1 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky displays what his hands have made.
• Let us look at a fourth reason that the Lord is great!
• SLIDE #17
IV. HE 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.
• SLIDE #18
• Matthew 28:18 (NASB) 18And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
• I have seen 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)
• Let us look at a fifth reason Jesus is great.
• SLIDE #19
V. HE IS GOD’S CHOICE TO SAVE MANKIND. (19-20)
• Why was Jesus the one to save mankind? The Father chose Him to do so.
• SLIDE #20
• Romans 3:26 (GWT) 26He waited so that he could display his approval at the present time. This shows that he is a God of justice, a God who approves of people who believe in Jesus.
• 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.
• 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.
• Since God is the one who is in charge, we must accept God’s terms for salvation!
• FAITH, REPENT, CONFESS, BAPTIZE, AND WALK!
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?
• SLIDE #21
• If you did not know what makes Jesus so great, I hope the five reasons given this morning will get you started thinking about His greatness.
• I further hope you will begin to realize you put your life in His hands!
