Jesus 101 – part 2
Colossians 1:15-20 (18c)
March 8, 2015
Last Sunday night we started a new study here together.
We’re calling it “It’s All About Jesus”
That describes both the content and the aim of the study.
We’re studying Jesus so we can learn how important He is in our lives.
We know that He is our example.
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”
God has made Christ the chief example.
We are all to be conformed into His image.
He is the highest and most lofty goal of any believer.
Paul wrote:
Colossians 1:28 “We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ.”
The goal is to be “complete in Christ” which is done by gazing upon Him.
This is why Paul proclaimed Him.
2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”
And so you get the point.
We study Christ so that He may receive the glory He deserves
And so that we may be transformed into His image.
So this study is “All About Jesus”
Last week we began this study with what I told you may be
The pinnacle “Jesus Passage” in all the Bible.
We called it Jesus 101
Paul sets out to show us who Jesus is, What Jesus is done,
And what Jesus deserves.
He is writing to a Gentile church heavily exposed to false doctrine.
• Jews there who say that Jesus isn’t God
• Gnostics there who say that Jesus isn’t man
• Pagans there who say that Jesus isn’t important
• Folks into self-deprivation (asceticism) who say that Jesus isn’t sufficient
Paul then writes to show them who Jesus really is.
The result is absolutely fascinating.
We started this study last Sunday night.
#1 HIS RANK
Colossians 1:15-18a
If you weren’t with us, you can easily see Jesus’ rank
If you will pick up on the four distinct clues Paul left for you.
4 times Paul used the phrase, “He is”
We looked at HIS DEITY
(15) “He is the image of the invisible God”
Christ is God.
• He is the creator of all things and the sustainer of all things.
• He created what you see and what you don’t see
• He even created the natural order of all things
• Paul said that everything was created “through Him and for Him”
So we saw His deity
We looked at HIS SUPERIORITY
(17) “He is before all things”
That is to say He is the most important piece of all creation.
He is the most important cog
He literally holds all things together.
Apart from Him everything falls apart.
Creation…the church…society…even life
Nothing and No one matters more than Jesus.
We looked at HIS AUTHORITY
(18a) “He is also head of the body, the church”
In a day where even the church seems to think they should call the shots (i.e. vote and follow majority rule)
Paul reminds us that there is only one decision maker in the church.
Christ is the King
He is the head, He calls the shots, He makes the rules
Without a doubt the highest and most important person in the church
Is Jesus Christ.
And we looked at HIS NECESSITY
(18b) “He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead”
That is to say that He is the beginning of life, especially eternal life.
Jesus Christ is the author and beginning
Of all things relating to salvation and spiritual life.
If you remove Him from the equation, there is no salvation,
It doesn’t even begin to be.
He is the essential piece.
We even looked at the judgment and noted that it is not sinners who are thrown into the lake of fire, but sinners whose names are not written in the book of life.
Jesus is an absolute necessity to all things related to life and salvation.
And when you put all those things together
Paul was very clear about Jesus’ rank.
(15) “He is…the firstborn of all creation”
(17) “He is before all things”
(18) “He is the beginning”
(18) “He is…the firstborn from the dead”
Are you picking up on Paul’s point?
Where does Christ rank?
FIRST
First in creation
First in importance
First in the church
First in things eternal
He is the highest
He is the most important
He is the most significant
Those are just the facts about Jesus’ rank.
And that is what we talked about last Sunday night.
Nothing and No one is more important than Jesus.
Now we move on to the second point.
First, His Rank
#2 HIS RIGHT
Colossians 1:18c
“so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
Now we finally are getting to the point of all this.
Up until now it was just factual information
About who Jesus is and where He ranks.
Now are beginning to see WHY Paul wanted to show us all of this.
There was a purpose
There is an intention
There is an expectation
There is a “so that”
And the answer is “so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.”
I like the way the KJV puts it:
“that in all things He might have the preeminence.”
Paul wants you to understand how important Jesus is
So that you will honor Him as He deserves.
THERE IS NO EQUAL TO CHRIST
And no one deserves more importance in your life.
I actually like how Paul refers to Jesus in the third chapter.
Colossians 3:4 “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”
Paul adamantly says that Christ “is our life”
Paul also wrote:
Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren”
We already talked about how we are to be conformed into His image,
BUT NOTICE WHY.
“so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren.”
Hopefully you remember from last Sunday night that “firstborn”
Is not a title of order, but one of importance.
God made Christ the standard
God is working to make all men like Christ
So that all the brethren would realize that it is all about Him!
God is doing for Jesus,
What Jacob would have liked to do for Joseph.
Jacob placed that coat of many colors on Joseph to elevate him among his brothers, God is most certainly doing that with Christ.
At His baptism…
“this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased”
At His transfiguration…
“this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him”
Make no mistake about it, God put Jesus first
Because He intends for you to put Him first.
And oh how easily we lose sight of that.
Consider the Pharisees (the religious elite) who actually thought it was all about them.
Matthew 23:5-10 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. “But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. “Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ.”
Or do you remember Diotrephes from 3 John?
3 John 9 “I wrote something to the church; but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not accept what we say.”
Or even the apostles James and John:
Matthew 20:20-28 “Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.” And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. “It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
How easily we seem to forget that none of this is about us.
God isn’t trying to glorify me as the best preacher
God isn’t trying to glorify you as the best Christian
God isn’t trying to glorify us as the best church
God is seeking to glorify Christ as the best everything!
It is not about you
It is not about me
It’s All About Jesus!
He is first and He deserves to be first.
• His will before yours
• His plan before yours
• His joy before yours
• His satisfaction before yours
• His glory before yours
And I can actually give you a very good example
Of a person who figured this out.
TURN TO: JOHN 3:25-30
In John 3 we have a unique situation unfolding.
We have the reigning spiritual icon about to give way to the next.
For a while now John the Baptist has been THE spiritual leader.
• He has had the crowds
• He has had the notoriety
• He has had the publicity
• It’s been his show.
But of course now Jesus is coming on the scene
And it doesn’t take long for the tension to surface.
(3:25-26) “Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.”
Do you see the problem?
We have here John’s disciples.
This in and of itself is problematic for John already told his disciples to follow Jesus back in chapter 1 (something two of those disciples already did)
Obviously we have a few here who are still hitching their wagons to John.
And as John is ministering a Jew comes up and asks about “purification”
The revealing problem is that while John is baptizing here,
Jesus is baptizing over there and all the people are going to Him.
John’s disciples are ready to defend his honor and his ministry.
Satan is trying to provoke a fight; Jesus vs. John the Baptist.
John’s answer is absolutely phenomenal!
(3:27-30) “John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
John makes three amazing points to these disciples
Who just can’t seem to figure out who should hold “first place”
1) I CAN RECOGNIZE
“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ’”
John was able to recognize something very important.
I AM NOT THE CHRIST
There is a Savior of the World
There is a King of Kings
There is One who is before all things
AND IT’S NOT ME
That sounds simple, but how many in church seem to forget that.
They are more concerned with people liking them
Than they are with people liking Jesus…
John knew his place, and it was not to steal Jesus’ glory.
Let me give you another great piece of perspective from John.
2) I WILL REJOICE
“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.”
• John was losing his crowd
• John was losing the spotlight
• John was about to be thrown in prison
There was a time when the best man took center stage,
But now the spotlight is rightly shifting off of the best man
And on to the groom.
And John has a choice.
He can either try to hold on to the spotlight,
Or he can see that this is the way it is supposed to be
And it is a good thing.
John saw it rightly.
“this joy of mine has been made full.”
He was rejoicing that the people were going to Jesus as they should be.
He was happy to see Jesus getting all the credit and the crowds.
He was happy to see himself fading into the shadows.
Let me give you one more great perspective from John.
I can recognize, I will rejoice
3) I MUST RESIGN
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Not only am I losing my crowd, but I must continue to lose my crowd.
Not only am I fading in the shadows, but I must totally disappear.
I have to shrink back until the world sees only Jesus.
See John knew something that every believer should learn.
It wasn’t “Jesus and John”
It was just “Jesus”
It is not “Jesus and Rory”
It is just “Jesus”
God does not share His glory.
Isaiah 42:8 “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”
And can you see that this is precisely the attitude
That Paul is talking about here in Colossians chapter 1?
• Christ is the most important
• Christ is the first
• Christ is the beginning
• Christ is the head
Then by all means He should “have first place in everything.”
There should be no area where He has to compete for attention.
There should be no area where He has to share glory.
Your will
Your plan
Your joy
Your satisfaction
Your glory
SHOULD NEVER COME BEFORE HIS
THAT IS JESUS’ RIGHT.
TURN TO: PSALMS 2
Of course the first 3 verses begin with
People NOT GIVING Jesus what He deserves.
(2:1-3)
Instead of glory and submission to His will,
They seek to remove His control and diminish His glory.
You see in verse 4 that God finds this humorous.
(2:4-6)
It is humorous to God
Because He has already decreed that Christ will get all the glory.
He has already determined that Christ will be first.
And so to some degree it is actually humorous
To see dinky man seek to go against the divine decree.
It is pointless.
Christ is first
(2:7-9)
You can’t change it, God has said that is how it is.
Now, there is some advice for you.
(2:10-12)
Again, that is Paul’s point.
Christ is first, so you had better treat Him as first.
It is all about Jesus, so you’d better make sure it stays all about Jesus.
Otherwise you find yourself on very dangerous ground.
And we could go on and on about this point.
• Read Hebrews 1 and listen to the preacher systematically show you that Jesus is greater than the angels.
• Read Hebrews 3 and listen to the preacher show you that Jesus is greater than Moses and the Law Moses brought.
• Read Hebrews 5-7 and listen to the preacher show you that Jesus is greater than every priest.
• Read Hebrews 9-10 and listen to the preacher show you that Jesus is greater than every sacrifice.
• Read Hebrews 12-13 and listen to the preacher show you that following Jesus is greater than any earthly comfort.
I mean, this theme saturates the Bible.
It is all about Jesus.
• Our singing is to Him
• Our preaching is about Him
• Our faith is in Him
• Our love is for Him
• And our desire is to see Him returning so that He can reign and get the glory He deserves.
Jesus must have the highest rank in all things at all times,
Especially in this church and in your life.
So examine the things you do.
• Why do you sing?
• Why do you preach or teach?
• Why do you work at your job?
• Why do you volunteer in Little League?
• Why do you get on facebook?
• Why do you visit people?
• Why do you do the things you do?
Do you do them so that people will notice you?
Do you do them so that people will love you?
Do you do them to gratify your own ego or self?
Or are the things you do done for Jesus?
Do you see that this is the fundamental difference
Between true and false religion?
The false religious gave and prayed and fasted and traveled on sea and land to make proselytes and many other things.
But Jesus was clear in the Sermon on the Mount:
• They give to be noticed by others
• They pray to be noticed
• They fast to be noticed
They don’t do it so that God will be glorified
They don’t do it so that Jesus will be noticed
IT IS MISSING THE POINT.
Paul said:
Philippians 1:21 “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
“to live is Christ”
Now I’ll be the first to admit that I often fail here.
There are way too many times that I do things in my life
So that I will get glory from them.
There are way too many things that I do so that people will notice me.
And that is not how it should be.
“He must increase, but I must decrease.”
He must get “first place in everything”
I reminded of the old preacher who was preaching about the triumphal entry when Jesus entered Jerusalem on that donkey to the shout of “Hosanna!”
And the preacher said:
“The donkey that carried Jesus on that day,
Knew the applause was not for him.”
You and I are but donkeys who carry Jesus.
• We are meant to be forgotten
• We are meant to be used
• We are pawns, He is the King
And He deserves it.
That is His Right.
Now, like we did last week,
I want to introduce you to the next point which we will study next week.
We saw His Rank, We saw His Right
Let me show you why He deserves first place.
#3 HIS ROLE
Colossians 1:19-20
If you have any doubts as to why Jesus deserves first place in everything,
WELL JUST LOOK AT WHAT HE DID.
He’s not just the spoiled little rich kid who gets to go first
Because His daddy is the most powerful person in the room.
He deserves to go first because no one has earned it more than Him.
WHY DOES HE DESERVE IT?
“For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.”
• Do you know anyone else who was God made flesh?
• Do you know anyone else who shed his own blood to reconcile sinners to God?
• Do you know anyone else who was successful to reconcile those on earth and heaven?
What Jesus did far exceeds anything anyone else has ever done,
So it is not just who He is that makes Him worthy of preeminence,
But also what He has done.
And we’ll talk about this more next time.
Tonight simply understand that Jesus deserves “first place in everything”
All the glory
All the fame
All the right
All the joy
All the satisfaction
It’s all His.
“He must increase, but I must decrease”
