Is Christ Prominent in Your Life, or Is He Preeminent?
Good Morning Friends,
Much of the false teaching taking place in Colosse had to do with the minimizing of Jesus. Many people thought He was important but not essential. They had given Him a place in their lives, without recognizing that He demands first place. And that had led to a series of false teachings that are addressed in our text today in the Book of Colossians. Here Paul refutes at least three misconceptions that were leading people astray. The first was that God did not create the world because, in their view, matter was evil and God could not create evil. Second, believing that matter was evil, they argued that God would not have come to earth as a human in bodily form. And third they did not believe that Christ was the unique Son of God but rather one of many intermediaries between God and people. Friends, people today are falling into the same pit. Either Christ is God or a madman. Either Christ is the pinnacle of Christianity, the complete and perfect revelation of the divine or all this is meaningless. So it all comes down to this question. Is Christ Prominent in Your Life, or Is He Preeminent?
Scripture: Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf, and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you may lead lives worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God. May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him— provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I, Paul, became a servant of this gospel.
Colossians 1:1-23 (NRSV)
so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:10-11 (NRSV)
Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified.’
Acts 2:36 (NRSV)
Message: Today’s scripture from Colossians starts out as a prayer about the supremacy of Christ. You see, the world that we live in desperately needs God’s interventions, and so, we need the kind of prayer that changes things. God wants us to be faithful in our prayer life and also effective. We have to be honest, fervent and be engaged in action if we hope to have salvation. That is why we are called to pray for others, but we are also called to be good in the love of the Spirit. And here behavior matters as much as anything in how things are connected with Jesus in a solution. Look at the world’s financial and environmental problems. They are connected. They both are caused by unethical behavior that is situationally justified. Here when what is needed is something eternal and sustainable God wants us to be faithful in prayer. Here we learn that God wants us to make a difference in the world and that we will not succeed until we pray for our world as something created by God. We can do more than pray but we can never do more until we have prayed. Friends, prayer connects us to God. It is the way we can make a difference. To be effective we need to pray with insight. We need to pray consistently. We need to pray scripturally for God’s purpose. Friends, only with Jesus do our prayers have power. The journey of prayer must be with Jesus because Jesus holds everything together. To some of you this brings great comfort. To others of you, if it’s not comforting, you can make it so if you but acknowledge Christ as King.
Pray we realize that we do not make Jesus Lord of our lives…that God did that a long time ago. Pray however that we submit to God’s Lordship. Pray
with thanksgiving that we have a holy and helpful life that has been saved by our Savior for a purpose, but that we also count Jesus as our Lord. Pray that we be filled with the knowledge of His will. Pray that our prayers contain ideas that are sustainable. Pray we realize that power over people is not sustainable, but that power through people in Christ is infinite. Pray we realize we are ethically dependent on each other. Pray we cultivate virtue. Pray for an opportunity to be significant. Pray that the endeavor of human leadership be a source of progress, the source of all things sustainable. Pray we grow beyond the situational values of underpriced risk, privatized gains and socialized losses and find a way of life that is not a way of crisis. Pray we no longer be too greedy or too fearful …Pray that we not just be able to relate situationally but sustainably. Pray that we realize that the best performers, the best producers must also be principled servant leaders. Pray that ethical cultures be a source of competitive advantage. Pray we be a disruptive inspiration that transcends the way we make money in the world. Pray we be too good to fail. Pray we practice love in helping the weak, encouraging the fearful, challenging the rebellious and motivating members of our family and church. Pray that the love of Christ helps us all break free. Pray we realize that Jesus is the way, Jesus is the truth, Jesus is the life. Pray we realize that there is only one arbitrator who can bring God and man together….. and that is Jesus Christ ….the One who is both fully God and fully Man. Pray knowing there is supreme power in the sweet name of Jesus.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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