Sermon Tone Analysis

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My wife and I took our honeymoon out in Yellowstone National Park.
One of the sights that we experienced was the Grand Tetons, a majestic and beautiful mountain range.
Standing there viewing this literally breath-taking scene was amazing!
It is literally impossible for me to adequately describe it to you using such mundane things as words.
This morning I approach our text with great humility and an awareness of my own shortcomings.
I feel a little like the apostle John as He was given a vision in the book of Revelation of the Glorious Son of God.
How do you put into words and adequately describe something like that?
How do you do justice to the majesty of Christ.
It is impossible.
Mere human words cannot express the such divine wonder.
This is how I feel as I approach Col 1:15-23.
Here Paul paints for us a picture over the exalted, supreme, preeminent Son of God.
And I will admit to you now that I will not do it justice.
The greatest theologian, the greatest preacher, the greatest scholar could not do justice to this kind of text, because mere human language ultimately falls short of describing the grandeur, the high and loftiness, the supremacy that belongs to Jesus.
There was a heresy threatening the Colossian church.
There was an idea that you needed something else besides Christ to grow in spiritual maturity.
Rather than viewing Christ as exalted, as supreme there was a temptation to seek after something other than Christ.
So...
Paul wanted these Colossian believers to understand that Christ is supreme, that He is exalted above everything else.
Christian, you must come to a point in your walk of faith where you sincerely view Christ as supreme over and exalted above everything else.
Why should you make Jesus your life?
Why spend your whole life for Christ?
Why center your relationship with God on Christ alone?
Why seek to grow spiritually in Christ alone?
Why should everything about you be all about the Lord Jesus Christ?
Two reasons why everything in your life should be centered on Christ.
I. Christ is supreme over all creation
A. His Position
Image of the Invisible God- that which has the same form as something else, living image of God.
So Jesus is the living image of God, He is the exact imprint of His nature- the very radiance of the glory of God.
He is also the living image of the INVISIBLE God.
And so Jesus is the perfect manifestation of the invisible God!
Firstborn- sense: Christ is supreme over ALL creation.
He is elevated above ALL, He is superior to ALL, He is exalted far above ALL
What does God mean that David is His firstborn?
The parallel phrase makes it clear- Firstborn means higher than the kings of the earth.
And this is the sense in which Christ is firstborn.
It is not that he is first-created.
Firstborn does not mean created, it means exalted.
Christ is higher than ALL.
And while God made David higher than any other king on the earth.
Christ is higher, He is supreme over ALL CREATION.
B. His Prestige
Christ is firstborn, He is supreme over all creation!
Why is this so?
Why is Christ supreme?
Paul uses three prepositional phrases to prove that Christ is supreme over all creation.
16 ὅτι ἐν αὐτῷ ἐκτίσθη τὰ πάντα*
For (because) by (in, ev) Him all things were created
⸀τὰ πάντα διʼ αὐτοῦ καὶ εἰς αὐτὸν ἔκτισται·
All things were created (perfect, pass, ind, created and continue to consist?) through Him and for Him;
So all things were created in Christ, through Christ, and for Christ.
ev- by vs in translation.
Is Christ the instrument of creation?
All things created by Him?
This is true, if you understand ev as “by” then Paul would be repeating himself later in the verse when he states that all things were created “through” Him.
That is the same idea.
And so some have argued that Paul uses ev to mean “in” Christ.
This would carry the idea that Christ is the sphere of creation.
God’s creative work took place “in terms of” or “in reference to” Christ.
“They were created in Him, because all the Father’s counsels and activities (including those of creation) are centered in the Son; they were created through Him, because He is the divine agent in creation; they were created for Him, because He is the goal to which they all tend.”
F. F. Bruce
Thus Paul argues that Christ is superior over all creation.
In case you have any doubt, Paul elaborates for us.
He is superior over all, and everything is subject to Him in terms of:
Things in heaven were created by Him.
Earthly things were created by Him.
Visible things and Invisible things they too were created by Christ.
Even the most powerful and supreme things within these spheres- they were still created by the firstborn, the living image of God.
Thrones, dominions, principalities (rulers), powers (authorities).
These words are most likely modifying the word invisible.
And are a reference to invisible or spiritual beings that exist in creation- both good and bad.
Chris is supreme over all spiritual powers and beings.
There seems to be a hierarchy and ruling structure to the spiritual world.
Christ is superior over even the highest kind of spiritual being.
Part of the false teaching in Colossae was that Christ wasn’t sufficient for spiritual growth- for sanctification.
There was this idea that you had to turn elsewhere to find the strength necessary to being spiritual mature.
And some even turned to worshiping angels to accomplish spiritual growth.
Here Paul turns that idea, overwhelmingly, to dust.
You don’t need to turn to spiritual beings to aid you in your sanctification.
Why?
Because Christ, the living image of God, the firstborn, He is supreme over creation.
How do you know that?
Because ALL CREATION was created in Christ, and through Christ, and for Christ.
Even the most powerful element of creation- the invisible thrones and dominions and rulers and authorities, are all subject to Christ.
Why would you center your life on anything other than Christ?
He is supreme over all creation.
Paul goes on in v.17 to heighten this idea of Christ’s supremacy:
17 καὶ αὐτός ἐστιν πρὸ πάντων*
And He is before all (things)
καὶ τὰ πάντα ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν,*
and all (things) in Him hold together (perfect, act, ind)
V.17 literally says- And HE (emphatic) is before ALL.
And ALL in Him hold together.
Christ is before all- this speaks to His eternality.
Christ is the pre-existent One, the eternal God, the first and the last.
Our Lord also has a present ongoing role in creation.
By Him, or In Him all things consist or hold together / they cohere.
This is a perfect tense verb meaning that all of creation from the moment it was spoken into existence until now and for as long as it continues to be, owes its continuing coherence to Christ.
So in summary, Christ is the living image of God, the firstborn over all creation, and all things were created in Christ and through Christ and for Christ and He is before all things, and all things owe their continuing coherence to Christ.
In short the Lord Jesus is supreme over all creation!
And thus your life should be centered on Christ alone.
Illustration: Foreign exchange student- wanted to go to church across the street from my parents house because it was a beautiful structure.
Since the building was superior, it must be a superior church.
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