The Branch Church
Colossians 1:15-20
All right, good morning, guys. You kind of make your way to your seats. It's always a fun part watching everybody kind of dash back. It's like, oh, yeah, let's kind of forget. Well, good morning. If we haven't met yet, my name is Jared. I'm on staff here at the branch. I have the privilege of sharing with you this morning preaching. Some of the things that I'm over here, I help with set up logistics, but I'm also over our pipeline. And what that is is kind of like internship in a weird way. But it's the way that we train and help grow and equip people to serve their church, to work in ministry. And just to keep y'all informed, we're kicking that off in the next couple of weeks. So you can definitely be praying for the guys that we've got going into it. We've got three people this year, so we're very excited to help watch them grow and see what God does with them. So every week we start our sermons with praying for different unreached people groups. This morning we're going to be praying for the country of Algeria. So Algeria is kind of on the northern coast of Africa. 34 out of 38 people groups in this country are unreached. So what that means is that there's 38 ethnic groups that kind of make up a community. And 34 of those have yet to hear of the gospel. 0.05% of people in this country are evangelicals. The primary religion is Islam. One of the interesting facts I found out about Algeria while I was reading about them this week is that a lot of the gospel work that's been done there in the past few years is from one of their own people groups. So there was a community that learned about the gospel. They learned about Jesus and then they started to move to other parts of the country to people who have yet to hear about Jesus. So a lot of the work that's going on there is from their own people. It was very encouraging to hear that. A couple of prayer points that we can pray over this morning as pray for these new followers of Jesus who are sharing the gospel so eagerly. Pray for a wider spread of Christian resources so they do have radio, internet, newspapers, things like that but they could definitely use more information. And also pray for more gospel workers in this area. It is a larger country. It's one of Africa's larger countries and so they could definitely use more people. But as well as we're praying for that this morning we want to take the time to pray for the victims, the survivors, the Hurricane Helene that came through this last week. There's a town that we like to visit in Florida and it was absolutely wiped off the map. It was very destroyed. So definitely be praying for the survivors, for these communities, for those who lost their lives from this. I'll give you a few seconds to pray and then I'll close this up. [ favel sounds ] Father, I thank you for this morning and just letting us come together and learn and worship you. I pray for the country of Algeria, for these people who have yet to hear about your name and your son and what he has done for us. I thank you for just these faithful workers that have sprouted out in these communities in Algeria and I just pray that you will help encourage them to keep moving, keep doing what they're doing. I pray that the church will become a wider influence in Algeria and that they will make your name known in this part of the world. Father, I also pray for those who have been devastated by this hurricane this week. You are over all things and we know that and we just pray that you will help them in any way that you see fit. Father, in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So this morning we're going to be in Colossians 1, 15 through 20. If you don't have a Bible, we've got black ones at the end of each row. You can take one of those, that's our gift to you. I'm very excited to preach over this passage. This was actually one of the first passages, was the first passage I preached over here at the branch. A little over two and a half years ago, so it's exciting to get to revisit it. Don't worry, the content is hopefully much better, but unfortunately the jokes are going to be just as bad. There's not much that I can do about that. The main point though is the same. Jesus is Lord over everything, right? He has the ultimate authority and this is the only rightful place that he could have. Nothing is more deserving. If your kids are in the room this morning, it is family, Sunday. We're very excited they're here. Main point for kids, Jesus is bigger and better than everything. When we talk through this, we'll hopefully see some of these reasons why. As we've been preparing for the series on Colossians, we keep talking about how Christ focused it is, how deep the Christology is, how much it informs us about who Jesus is and what he means. Paul lays out this section so well and it's very poetic, it's very rich in theology. He does it not just to inform the Colossians, but he does this to pull them away from this false sense, this false teaching that they had going on in this area. Paul is showing them that one day what they have adopted is not just wrong, but it's inferior. It's not as good, it's undeserving of their attention. He does it in a way by just overshadowing it with the picture of Christ, how much bigger and better he is. The truth about it is that we tend to make Christ too small. We give him, take him too lightly, we give him not as much significance as he deserves in our life. We might say things like Jesus is powerful enough to create the earth, but he's not strong enough to handle this situation that I'm in. Jesus is loving enough to die for me, but not loving enough to care for me in my troubles, my stress, my anxiety. Jesus' grace and mercy is never ending and never runs out, but it's not big enough for this one sin. Jesus is important enough that he takes up some of my time, but not important enough to take up all of my time. That last one's for me. This is some of the false thinking that we fall into, and so when we make him too small. On the flip side of that, we can meditate on scripture all day every day. We can know him closely. We can have this really big picture of who Jesus is. We can double it, and it still won't be enough. It still won't quite hit the mark of who he is. One of my favorite songs is a line that goes kind of like this. If everyone on earth were to sit down and write about his greatness, no amount of ink and no amount of paper would ever be enough to detail everything about him. Christ will always be bigger than what we think about him and what we could ever think about him. It's kind of like how they say in iceberg, just the tip of the iceberg, iceberg gets above the water. It's much bigger than what's below the water, except with Jesus, he's the entire ocean. It's not just what we don't see. It's everything that is there. Do you feel that tension there? We make him too small, and he will always be too big. This is the truth of it, but it's only by God's grace, his spirit changes our hearts and help us to recognize these truths and bring these truths into our lives. There's a lot of important truths in this passage, so I'm just going to kind of pick it apart as we read it through this morning. But let's pick it up in verse 13. So Colossians 1 verse 13. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son, and whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. So I want to just bring up the context really quick. Paul is ending this passage talking about the Colossians faith. He's praying for them. He's praying that they would increase in faith and knowledge, and then he jumps into this passage where he's talking about Jesus. So he's saying, "I pray that you will increase in knowledge, and also here is what you need to know." He's praying that they be filled with this. He wants the Colossians to know two things. One, they are not just called out of something, but they are saved from death, but they are called into something. We are delivered from death and brought into his kingdoms. If you've been here for baptism, typically what we do is we'll ask a question, "What is your confession?" The answer always varies, but typically it's, "Jesus is my Savior and Lord." It's not just one or the other, but it is both, and that's the truth of what he's trying to teach us in this passage. He's kind of doubling down. Christ is not just supreme because he made everything. He's supreme because he deserves it. It's his only rightful place. So verse 15, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." So right off the bat, two important things we need to get right about our Christology. One, Jesus is part of the Trinity. So what we mean by that, there's one God, three people. Stephen did that last week. So we have God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit. And we talk a lot about this because it matters, right? Especially in this passage where we see so many big things about Christ. Especially here because the role of Jesus is to represent and point back to the Father, right? So he is the image of the invisible God. The Greek word for image here is very interesting because we think about image like, might be a picture like we printed something off the computer and you have an actual image of it, but what he's saying here is that he is an exact imprint. It's not just a copy, but it is the imprint of God. It is his nature, his attributes, his character, the very things that make up God the Father makes up God the Son. So in Christ, we are seeing what God is like. And that's similar to how we are created, right? We are created in the image of God. We are created to look like him and to resemble him, but it's very different. Christ takes it up another notch. We see that he is the exact imprint of who God is. The second thing we need to get right from this passage is that he has always existed, right? He was never created. There was never a point in time when Christ was not there. In this passage, Paul is referring to him. He calls him the firstborn over all creation, but this isn't in reference to his literal birth. He's not referring to, there was a point, and that Christ was born, and now it's different. He's referring to the status of Christ. He's referring to him being the firstborn as the way to show that he has the right to inherit all of these things. So firstborn inheritance is not something that we have a lot of in America, but typically, right? If there's a kingdom, the firstborn son would be the one to inherit the kingdom. They get the castle, the kingdom, the country, all the power, right? And so this is what he's saying about Christ. He's very much referencing the idea of firstborn and inheritance like we would see in the Old Testament. So when we think about Jesus, we have to get those two things right, or he is no longer Jesus, right? He loses his ultimate authority, right? I might be the only one that kind of falls into this trap, but a lot of times I forget that the word God is not just a name, right? That we ascribe to someone, but it is a title. It's someone that has supreme authority, absolute power, perfection. You know, you could go down a whole list that shows the things that, without a doubt, he is number one. But we also have to remember that he became man. He took on flesh, and he did this to save his people. So if we forget that he's fully God and fully man, we have a picture that is no longer Jesus, right? Forget his power, and we also forget the love and care that he shows for the people in his life and death. Let's keep going. Verses 16 through 17, "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." Christ is the creator and sustainer of all things. I love the language that Paul uses here, right? He says these words very intentionally, "By him, through him, for him." There's so much fullness, this complete picture that he gives to how Christ has authority over creation, right? By him, he has authority because he physically created. He manifested everything, right? And the amount of knowledge and creativity that it takes to put the universe together astounds me, right? Like, we don't even understand why dogs can't eat grapes, right? There's probably a reason we just don't know exactly what it is. We don't even know why we go to sleep at night, and that takes up a third of our day. There was one time I was reading an article, and it was talking about sleep, and it said, "The main reason we go to sleep is because we get sleepy. It doesn't make any sense to me." It's like, "What are you doing, science? Come up with something a bit better." But God understands all of these things, right? Through him, he has authority, but he also has the power to create everything. And finally, for him, the purpose of the existence of anything is to bring glory to God, right? So everything that he created is naturally for him. In him, all things hold together. I think that there's a lot of comfort in this saying that we kind of forget, knowing that Christ holds everything. Our lives are not left to chance. They're not just left to a role of the dice, some malevolent spirit, or even worse, left up to our own desire and thoughts, right? He has the insight and the wisdom to be able to hold and bring the universe together. He isn't an absent king who builds his kingdom and then just leaves it to figure it out itself out and to run itself, right? He doesn't take vacations or breaks or need to take a little nap, and while he's gone, the earth is destroyed. That doesn't happen. Jesus is over everything, and he has the ability and the power and the might to hold it all together. One of my favorite Bible stories, right at the end of Job, if you're looking for more understanding of this, when Job is questioning God, "Who are you? Why are you doing these things?" When God answers, he lays out all of these things. Do you know how goats birth in their season, how they feed? Do you know how to make rain and snow and hail? Not at all. It's definitely something that we see the gap in our knowledge between who we are and who God is. We see that Christ is not just Lord over creation, but he is also Lord over salvation. The verse 18 continues, "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, then in everything he might be preeminent." If you write in your Bible, I would underline those last words, everything he might be preeminent and circle everything two or three times. Here we see that Christ's rule and reign is not just over physical creation, but over his spiritual creation, the church. Again, it's doubling down on the supremacy of Christ. It's not just he deserves it because he built it, but he deserves it by his deeds, what he has done for creation. He came to the earth to conquer even death, bringing everything back into peace with God. The metaphor that Paul uses here about the church is one that we see quite often. He talks about the church being a body. The difference between other passages in this one is that his emphasis is not placed on the individual members, on the body coming together, but rather it's placed on our head on Christ. Verses 19 and 20 get into why it is his rightful place to be the head of the church. Number one, Christ is our head because he is our beginning. We already saw that all creation flows from Christ, but recall what it says in verse 13. You see that Christ has delivered us not just from darkness, but into his kingdom. He doesn't just save us from evil, but he delivers us into something good that's better. It's not like the Israelites who were saved from Egypt and then were made to wander the desert for 40 years because of their disobedience. But we are a people that he took from captivity. He brought us into the Promised Land. We were taken from darkness and we were given life. I like to think about it like this. If you were hungry and didn't have anything to eat and were looking for food, who would you place more of your love and trust in? Person A who ignores you, they walk on the side of the street and give you one of these. Person B, they take you out for a nice dinner. They load you up on groceries when you're done. They give you everything that you need to survive, to eat. Obviously, it's the second one. Christ has done everything for us and deserves much more loyalty than we could ever give him. Preeminent over all things. That is one of my favorite lines, Christ's preeminence. I still don't know how to spell the word preeminence. I didn't know how to do it two and a half years ago, still don't. But what it means is that he is number one in all things. He is ranked first above everything else. And I like to put this in my mind. It's not just that he is ranked first in creation, but he is ranked first in our lives. He's the most important thing that we could think about, do, follow, fill in the blank. It's not just over some things, but it says that he is preeminent. He is first over all things. Verse 19, he says, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." So we see that Christ is our head because he reveals to us who God is. And like I was saying earlier, it's not just a part or a picture, but it is the exact imprint. We see everything, his divinity, his wisdom, his glory, his majesty. All of these things were pleased to dwell in Christ, who then came and dwelled with us as people. Christ makes God known to us. And we read the Gospels and we see Christ feeding the 5,000. We see God having compassion to feed his people. We see the care God has for his people. When we see Jesus weeping at the tomb of Lazarus, we see the heartbreak God has over creation and death. So it's not only this divine authority that we are following, but it is also the knowledge of God, his character that he gives us. We also have our ultimate satisfaction in the revelation of God through Christ. So when I was younger, one of my favorite things to go and do, one of the things that brought me the most happiness, was going to blockbusters and renting a movie. We'd get to run around the store when my parents picked out what they wanted and look at the candy and the video games and all the movies. And I thought, man, life can't get any better than this. Fast forward 10 years, blockbusters no longer exist. This is why it's important not to place our trust or our joy in something that can be so passing like a video store. It's just silly because those things will pass away, they'll be bankrupt, they'll be gone, but Christ is forever. He's never changing, he's always there. And it always feels kind of like an ulterior motive, like a selfish desire that we would want to follow Christ because he satisfies us. But we couldn't be further from the truth, right? We are created to enjoy God and to glorify him forever. And so when we step out of that, we say, no, this is a selfish desire for me to want to follow Christ because I enjoy him, right? That's where we get things wrong. That's where we start going into bad territory, right? We were literally created to enjoy him, and so we should. Number three, we see that Christ is our Lord head of the church because he is the victor, not just for the earth, but all of creation. I don't want to downplay what this verse is saying here with the word reconciled. That's a big deal, right? Romans 8, 19 puts it this way, "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, but the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, and hope that creation itself will be set free from bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom from the glory of God." It says in that passage, creation was groaning with the birth pains, right, while they waited it. Never given birth, never will give birth, but I understand that that is not a pleasant experience to go through, right? Creation was absolutely lost without Christ, and not just in the way of, like you're in the supermarket and you don't know where something is on the aisle, but rather it's in the way of groaning, it's painful, it's lacking, right? And so we were completely lost, right, and we weren't just slaves, but we were slaves to corruption, slaves to death and sin. Christ's kingdom is not one that was given to him as a gift, or a consolation prize, but rather it was one that he fought and won, right? Remember, this is a kingdom, kingdoms are not won by people being nice, kingdoms are won by war in battle, right? Rome was not known for just taking over the Mediterranean just by being nice to their neighbors, right? They'd come in with an army and kick down their neighbor's door and take what they wanted, right? But Jesus is not a king who, when he saw that his kingdom was broken, he shut himself in or sent other people to war, but rather he's a king whose love was so great that he left heaven itself, he came himself to conquer, and he did it by the shedding of his own blood, right? And that's what the gospel is, is that we were so wrecked, we were so lost without him in our sin that he came and died for us. He shed his own blood for us so that we can be reconciled and brought back to the Father. That's why we follow him, because he has the divine authority and might to do this, but also the love for his people that he would come and do this for them. And if you don't know who Jesus is, please find someone today and we'd love to talk to you more about who he is and what he has done for us. So again, we see Paul is using this passage to inform the Colossians and to instruct them in opposition to this false doctrine that they were being taught. He does it in such a way though that it's beautiful, right? So a lot of scholars think that this is part of a hymn that they had, some kind of poetry that they would use a liturgy kind of, and that Paul used it to help drive them in the right way. He does this to drive them to worship. Why else would it boast of Christ's power and His majesty and do it in such a way that is beautiful, right? And I think it asked the question, what is this passage pulling you from? For the Colossians it was this false thinking that was taking them away from Christ that was blinding them that was distracting them, right? For us, what is that thing that we are placing next to Jesus? What are we saying? Jesus and this, right? What are we saying? Jesus is preeminent over all of these things, but not over this thing, right? If Jesus is over everything, it means that He has the power, authority, and right to do whatever He wants. And I think this points to some great assurance and comfort in this passage as well. So, yes, we get these things wrong, but Christ is still there and Christ is still great. So what do we do of this? We recognize that these things are true and it's easy for us to sit and say, "Yes, Christ is number one. I can logically follow Paul and what he's saying, and yes, it makes sense he would be over creation if he built it." And it's easy to sit there and realize that, but what's difficult is to let it sink into our hearts and take the comfort in knowing that Christ truly is in control of everything. So how do we make Christ more important? Number one, have a correct view of God. Having a correct view of God drives everything, our worship, our choices, our lives, what we do. Paul David Tripp has this great quote that he talks about all of God, right? He says, "All of God is meant to rule every domain of our existence. The spiritual danger is that when all of God is absent, it is quickly replaced by all of ourselves." So when we are all struck by God, when we go, "Wow, He really is awesome. It helps drive the rest of our lives and the rest of our choices." When we get that right. In my mind, again, I like to swap the order of those things. I like to say, let me follow Jesus and then be amazed by who He is and what He has done. But what we actually see is that it's easier to do the opposite. It's easier to be amazed and awe-inspired by God and who He is and what He has done for us, and that leads to our worship. And again, I don't want to skip over the context of what is happening in this passage. The truth of our sin, again, that we don't recognize these things, that we are guilty of forgetting these things very easily. If you grew up in the church, you probably have heard this before and you probably recognize all of these things as true. But what's difficult is for this grace to sink in. It's only through the grace of God that this knowledge can sink in and become part of our hearts and lives. And two, we live in adoration and devotion. The right response to theology is worship. I don't know who I heard that quote from the first time, but it's something that sticks in my mind. When we are informed of this bigger, better picture of Jesus, it isn't right just for our brains to absorb it and become puffed up, but rather that we go out and we live in adoration and devotion to Him. And it's not just in the songs that we sing when we're here on Sunday mornings, but it's the way that we dedicate our life to Christ. John Piper says, "If Jesus isn't everything, then everything is futile." So if we aren't placing Him first, everything else will pass away, everything else will corrode and fade, dollars won't be worth the same, your job won't be satisfying Sunday, your family will frustrate you. Whatever it is, fill in the blank. That is exactly why Jesus' right place is number one. So what does it look like for Christ to be our Lord? Let's turn to Matthew 16 verse 24 through 27. I'll give you a second to flip there. Matthew 16 verse 24, Jesus says this, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul, or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. So I don't want to place the focus necessarily on what's like our works or our actions, right? That's not the point of this. Rather, the point of it is what are we giving up to Christ, right? Is it our life? Are we placing him in the right place? And when reading this verse in this passage, it comes across very radical, very extreme. Giving up everything for this guy that we just read about can seem a little silly, but the reality of it is that everything is already his, right? If it was created through him, by him, for him, then it is all his to begin with. So we aren't giving him something that he doesn't deserve, but we are just simply recognizing that it is already his, right? We're not living radically, but rather we're living in the way that the universe was created, the way that God intended and teaches us to live, right? That all starts with our idea of who Jesus is and what he has taught us about himself, how great he is, and all the things that he has done. So as we go into this time of communion, as we take the time to go to the table and get the bread and dip it in the cup, we have little picture frames over there that help you pray through this. And one of the parts of that prayer, right, is adoration. So I'd encourage you to spend some extra time in that. Reflect on who Christ is, how he was our first born, how he has led the way for the church, how he continues to lead us and love us, not just in what he has given, but what he has done for us in his ultimate authority. If you would like someone to pray with, I'll be at the back, some of our leaders and elders will be around the room. We'd love to pray with you if you would like to. So I'll pray for us and we will go to communion when you're ready. Father, I thank you for who you are and what you have done for us. That you wouldn't just leave us in our sin, that you wouldn't just leave your creation to fend for itself and to figure everything out. But that you would build something beautiful with your power and that you would come back to set everything right again with your power. Thank you for your goodness and who you are. And I just pray that in all the ways that we seek to place things over you, Father, that you will be your number one in our lives. That we will reflect on how great and beautiful and majestic you are, how terrifyingly glorious you are and that these things will just become truths in our lives. Not just something that we think about vaguely, but something that we think about often that would come into our lives that would become part of who we are. I thank you for your son, Father, that you would send him to die for us to set all of these things right. And I just pray that you will teach us these things and help us where we are lacking. In Jesus' name, amen. (gentle music)
Colossians 1:15-20 by The Branch Church