Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: (NKJV) — 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Text: (NKJV) — 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.

All things were created through Him and for Him.

17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

19 For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, 20 and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

Introduction:

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

Transition: But remember what was happening…

Review:

1. False teachers were rampant.

2. The message of truth fell prey to a message of convenience.

3.

That false teaching seemed to be centered on a demeaning of the person of Christ.

Transition: But what Paul says next may surprise…

Background:

1. Salvation is by works.

Note: We are justified by works: just not our own.

Illustration: James

Note: But Christ’s work on the cross isn’t the only reason Christ is qualified to be our Savior.

2.

Here Paul speaks of works in a different way.

Note: These works qualify Christ as Savior

Illustration: You thought you knew Christ.

3.

While doing this Paul brings out the supremacy of Christ in all creation.

Note: In fact that’s how this passage naturally breaks up.

Question: What does it mean to have supremacy?

Answer: It means Christ reigns supreme over all.

Word Study: The word in our text is “preeminence.”

It refers to

4. It should come as no surprise that it is this idea that is being attacked most vigorously in our modern times.

Note: The first things cults do is demean Christ.

Transition: Christ is supreme in two ways, and these qualify Him to be…

Exposition:

I. Christ is qualified to reign supreme because of His work in creation.

vv.

15-17

A. His nature gives the basis for His supremacy over creation.

v. 15

1.

He is God.

“He is the image of the invisible God.”

a. God is invisible to us.

Note: Paul wanted to stress here God’s true nature in relation to man.

Transition: As we’ve found elsewhere…

c.f. (NKJV) — Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible.

Word Study: It doesn’t seem as though Paul is using the word “invisible” to describe God as someone who can’t be seen.

It’s more possible that this word “invisible” describes man’s inability to approach God.

c.f. (NKJV) — He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light.

Note: God’s glory is that which makes Him unapproachable.

Illustration: O.T. revelation of God

Note: This quality sometimes denoted with the word “holiness” is God’s “aboveness” over His creation.

Illustration: God’s holiness

Note: In other words God’s “invisibility” and “unapproachableness” are best ways to describe who God is.

Illustration: The President of the U.S.A.

b.

Christ has those same invisible traits.

Note: Paul explains Christ is God’s very image.

Word Study: This is where things get a little sticky in regard to the deity of Christ.

The word “image” here refers simply to a representation of the real thing.

Often this word was used to describe idols which represented false gods.

Note: Those who would pervert the Scriptural idea of who Christ is claim that Paul is saying Christ is less than God because He is only the “representation of God.”

Word Study: To combat this idea some claim this word refers not strictly to Christ’s deity alone but also to His humanity.

When Christ became human, He made the invisible God visible.

Transition: I’m not saying this may not be the meaning here.

Note: I however don’t believe this is Paul’s point since the subject here is Christ’s supremacy in the created order.

Word Study: Paul didn’t need use a specific word to describe Christ’s deity.

How can you describe deity in one word anyway?

This word in fact describes not just the appearance of deity but also the substance.

In fact sometimes people expanded the meaning of this word to include the substance of an object not just its outward appearance.

Note: In other words Paul is saying Jesus is God.

Transition: The rest of Scripture agrees with…

c.f. (NKJV) — 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person…

c.f. (NKJV) — 5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,

Transition: And of course…

c.f. (NKJV) — In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Question: What about the times Christ said He didn’t know things?

c.f. (NKJV) — “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.”

Note: The attribute of deity that describes God’s ability to know everything is called omniscience.

Question: If Christ were really God, why did He not know everything when He was on earth?

Answer: He knew everything before He came to earth and He knows everything now.

Note: However, when He was on earth, He limited Himself.

c.f. (NKJV) — And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Question: If Christ were God and was omniscience just like God, why did He have to grow in favor with God?

Answer: This is a perfect way to say that Christ limited Himself while on earth.

Note: In other words, when Christ was on this earth, He chose to live in His humanity, while voluntarily refusing to exercise the power of His deity.

Transition: That’s why the author of Hebrews could say…

c.f. (NKJV) — For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

Note: More on this later.

2.

He is owner of Creation.

“the firstborn over all creation.”

Note: Paul goes on to describe Christ’s right to reign over the universe.

Word Study: Some have seen in the phrase “firstborn over all creation” proof of Christ being a created being.

This isn’t so and wasn’t Paul’s point.

Background: In ancient culture the “firstborn” held special prominence.

The word could literally refer to the son in the household who was born first.

But by Paul’s time, the word came to refer to not the order someone was born but the position they held in the family.

Word Study: By the time Paul wrote to the Colossians “firstborn” came to refer to someone who held all the rights to the estate of His father.