Why It Is Important To Preach The Supremacy Of Christ

Why it is Important to Preach the Supremacy of Christ

We live in an age when nobody seemingly wants to feel inferior. As a result, there is an never-ending onslaught in the media about the need to be tolerant of differences for the sake of harmony and goodwill. A poll by George Barna showed that 67% of Americans do not think there is any such thing as absolute truth. A full 53% of people who claim to be Bible believing conservative Christians said there is no such thing as absolute truth. (What Americans Believe, pp. 171, 184, 1991)

Consequently many people adopt pluralism as their philosophy and theology as it is much easier to go along so as to get along with the majority. Tolerance because many peoples’ criteria for acceptability instead of truth. Pluralism fits well with new age thinking as it makes room for all types of political, ethnic and cultural differences both in society and in the church. Perhaps many believers do not understand how subtly they no longer hold to the fact that truth is disclosed through the scripture, but it is discovered by human experience. This ecletism leads many to believe that one can learn as much about truth from Hinduism, Buddhism, or traditional religions as they unveil new dimensions of truth.

Only when we come to grips with the fact that Jesus Christ is the name above all names who reign supreme over everything can we properly respond to the prevailing pluralistic attitudes of our day. Paul taught the Colossians:

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or power 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…and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. ” (Col. 1:15-17)

We need to preach the supremacy of Christ for some of the following reasons:

1. Jesus is the only one to make the supreme absolute assertion that He was the way, the truth and the life. (John 14:6) Anyone else ultimately knows that to make such a claim they will found to be a liar or a lunatic. The Lord Jesus came to earth as the embodiment of the truth as 100% God and 100% man. He not only taught truth He was truth in human flesh. Everything about Him evidenced the fact He was truth incarnate. Revelation is more than just an accumulation of human experiences, it is found in the person, work, the life and the teaching of Jesus Christ.

I would propose that the subject of the ministry of this house, as long as this platform shall stand, and as long as this house shall be frequented by worshipers, shall be the person of Jesus Christ. I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what is my creed, I reply, "It is Jesus Christ." My venerated predecessor, Dr. Gill, has left a [theological heritage] admirable and excellent in its way. But the [legacy] to which I would pin and bind myself forever, God helping me,...is Jesus Christ, who is the arm and substance of the gospel, who is in Himself all theology, the incarnation of every precious truth.

C.H. Spurgeon, first words in the pulpit of the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London.

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2. Jesus is Supreme because He alone taught that He was God in human flesh. Only Jesus stated that He was equal with God when He said, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:7) Jesus taught that He was 100% God in the flesh with any equivocation. When we know Jesus we know God, something far beyond what human experience can teach us.

3. Jesus was supreme in offering the free gift of eternal salvation for all who would believe in Him as the substitutionary payment for the forgiveness of sins. We all can come to know truth by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through faith. Jesus said, “But as many as received Him to them He gave the power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on His name. Children born not of natural descent, nor or human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. (John 1:12,13)

Unless we come to Him with the faith of a little child, Jesus warned us that we could not enter the kingdom of heaven. Many people are too intellectually proud, stubborn or “rational” to place their trust in Christ as their Savior and Lord and so consequently never come to know Truth, but only shadows of it. Their whole perspective of life is seen from outside of the kingdom of truth. No wonder so many non-Christians become irritated when they are confronted with the fact that their understanding of truth is limited.