The Name Above All Names

I recently came across an article in the Outlook magazine that caught my attention, and it really convicted me. Let me read it to you, it’s simply a paragraph long with some possible answers. “If someone watched you in worship last week, reading your body language, your facial expression and manner, what would they assume about your opinion of the one you are worshipping? Would they think you view Him like a superior officer to whom protocol demands that you salute. A casual friend with whom you hang out? A family member who must be visited on weekends? Or a Great Hero to whom you owe your life? What is it that we think about Jesus Christ? Is He good, or is He Great? Today I want us to continue in our look at why Jesus is so great and we will see this morning through our text, that Jesus Christ is great simply because of Who He Is.

There are three things in our scripture that was read to you earlier this morning that jumps out at me about who Jesus is that makes Him so great.

First I want you to see that Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God. Vs 15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” This is truly an amazing statement. John 1:18 says “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.” Nature can tell us a lot about God, about His power, His beauty, but it can’t tell us about His personality, or His immense love for each and every one of us. But when we look at Jesus, we see God for Jesus is God. John 1:1 says, “In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

If you want to know what God the Father is like, take a look at God the Son. He is the exact representation of the Father. John 14:6-9 reads “Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” S.D. Gordon once said, “Jesus was God spelling Himself in a language humanity could understand.”

During one of his political campaigns, a delegation called on Theodore Roosevelt at his home in Oyster Bay, Long Island. The President met them with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up. “Ah, gentlemen,” he said, “come down to the barn and we will talk while I do some work.” At the barn, Roosevelt picked up a pitchfork and looked around for the hay. Then he called out, “John, where’s all the hay?” “Sorry, sir,” John called down from the hayloft. “I ain’t had time to toss it back down again after you pitched it up while the Iowa folks were here.”

Politicians will go to great extents to relate to there constituents, but think of the great length God went to relate to you-----The God of this universe became flesh, John 1:14 reads “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” __________ , commander of the Apollo ____, said that when he first stepped on the moon, he said, this is wonderful, man has walked on the moon, is there any greater moment in history.” He said it was then that God whispered to Him, and said, “Yes there is. I walked on the earth.”

Now in vs. 15, I want you to circle that word Firstborn. The word there has nothing to do with time, the same phrase is used to call Solomon as David’s firstborn, and we know that was not the case. The term carries the meaning of rank. It means that Jesus is the utmost importance in Creation. He is the most important figure in creation because He is the creator. Lets look at Vs. 16-17 “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

The reason why Jesus could walk on the water was because He made the water. The reason He could calm the storm was that He made the air and the seas. It says that all things were created by Him and for Him. For Him. Imagine how that concept could drastically change your life if we truly understood it. This world is not for us but for Him. The things we own are not for our glory, but for His glory. In Him all things are held together. What keeps the sun from just jetting out into space? What keeps the millions of electrons rotating around the nucleus in the trillions of atoms in your body? It’s Jesus. What keeps you from having a nervous breakdown right now, its Jesus. Jesus is the bond that holds all things together. Whether it be the physical properties of this universe, or the fact that when Jesus Christ is at the center of your home, your family stays together, we read in Him all things are held together.