Colossians 1:15-17
This Is Worship
I. \\#1:1-2:23\\ Christ Exalted Through His Person and His Work
A. \\#1:1-12\\ Introduction
1. \\#1-2\\ Paul’s Salutation
2. \\#1:3-8\\ Paul’s Recognition
3. \\#1:9-11\\ Paul’s Prayer
B. \\#1:12-2:3\\ The Person of Christ
1. \\#1:12-14\\ Paul’s Thanks
2. \\#1:15-22\\ Paul’s Message
3. \\#1:23\\ Paul’s Challenge
4. \\1:24-2:3\\ Paul’s Ministry
C. \\#2:4-23\\ Warnings to the Church
1. \\#2:4-7\\ Don’t Be Beguiled
2. \\#2:8-15\\ Don’t Be (Spoiled) Ruined
3. \\#2:16-17\\ Don’t Be (Judged) Condemned
4. \\#2:18\\ Don’t Lose Your Reward
5. \\#2:19-23\\ Don’t Lose Your Christ
D. \\#2:10-23\\ The Solution is to Remember
1. \\#2:9-10\\ Who Christ is.
2. \\#2:11-15\\ What Christ has done.
3. \\#2:16-23\\ What we should do.
II. \\#3:1-4:18\\ Christ Exalted Through His People
This is worship.
The overall theme of this book is to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lord of
all. That is worship. To worship is to use words or actions to declare who God
is and what He means to you. It is to adore, to magnify, and to exalt God. We
noticed in the last section \\#1:12-14\\ that Paul’s was giving us some reasons
to thank and praise God. Praise is often a prelude to worship. So what we have
here is Paul using the penned word to worship God. Would we not be failing
miserably if as we studied this section tonight, we did not worship our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ?
This is Jesus.
This is an introduction to Jesus such as we cannot find anywhere else in the
Scripture. Who is Jesus? What has Jesus done? What is Jesus doing? These
questions are answered for us in this short verses. They are not answered in
detail, but they are answered well enough that we would have to work at missing
who Jesus is. He is God incarnate!
In that vain, Paul spends a few moments describing Jesus to the readers. In this
short section, Paul lists twelve (12) names, or descriptions, or acts of the Son.
I. \\#1:15-22\\ Paul’s Message
A. \\#15\\ Jesus, the image of the invisible God.
1. "Image" means the resemblance, the representation of, the likeness of.
2. "invisible God" - Alludes to the fact that we worship a God that we
cannot see with human eyes.
3. Thoughts:
a. There is no doubt that we worship a God that we cannot see.
(1) Paul says so in another passage.
1Ti 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
(2) Peter says so.
1Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not,
yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
(3) And John alludes to it.
1John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.
b. And it seems likewise obvious that, as humans, we want to see the
invisible God.
Exodus 22:18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory.
19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will
proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and
live.
John 14:8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not
known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou
then, Shew us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words
that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me,
he doeth the works.
c. And so God has come in the flesh so that we might see Him.
d. Don’t let that word "image" throw you off.
(1) Some would say that since the Bible says that Jesus is the
IMAGE OF GOD instead of IS God here, that Jesus is not God
but a weakened down replica of God.
(2) I believe that the word IMAGE is used because even though
Jesus is completely God, much of who He is, was veiled by His
flesh.
(a) It is obvious that some did not recognize who Jesus was
because He had such a humble visage.
i. To the people of Nazareth, He looked like a
carpenter’s son.
ii. To the scribes and Pharisees, He looked like an
ignorant, itinerate preacher.
(b) Even His own disciples, those who were with Jesus day
and night, had times of doubt.
(c) Even on the Mount of Transfiguration, only the smallest
glimpse of His glory and power were revealed.
(3) So in reality, although we have seen God when we saw Jesus,
what we have seen of God has been selective.
(a) Even in Jesus, we have not seem God in the fullness of
His glory and power.
i. We saw a little of God’s power in the miracles that
Jesus performed.
ii. We saw a little of God’s glory in the Mount of
Transfiguration.
iii. We saw a little bit of God’s mercy, His compassion,
His gentleness, His love.
iv. But we still have not seen anything of His justice,
or of the scope of His power, or of the depth of His
mercy, etc.
(b) That does not mean that Jesus is any less God—only that
Jesus was holding back what we could see of Him.
i. When God appeared to Abraham in the vision of the
burning furnace, all Abraham got to see was a
small peak of God.
ii. When God appeared to Moses in the bush, all Moses
got to see was a small peak of God.
iii. When God appeared to Ezekiel, Daniel, and Isaiah,
all they got to see was a small peak of God.
(4) The truth is that no man can see God in the fullness of His
glory and power and live.
B. \\#15\\ Jesus, the firstborn of every creature.
1. "firstborn" - This phrase causes many to stumble.
a. That judge that if Jesus is the FIRSTBORN, there are others like
Him.
b. Some use this in an attempt to prove that Jesus is not God at all,
but a created being.
c. Others use this in an attempt to prove that Jesus was the first of
others who will become gods.
2. The term FIRSTBORN is both the designation of a birth order and a title.
a. If it is used here as the designation of a birth order, then what
these others attempt to prove, might be true.
b. I believe it is used here as a title.
(1) God declares that He will make David His firstborn.
Psalm 89:20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.
22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.
23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.
24 But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his
horn be exalted.
25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.
26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
(2) In what way was David ever first in chronological order?
(a) Was David the firstborn of Jesse? No, he was the
youngest. \\#1Sam 16:11\\
(b) Was David the first king of Israel. No, he was the second
behind King Saul and even the third behind Abimelech
\\#Judges 9:5-6\\. Of course, David was fourth after
the Lord \\#1Sam 12:12\\.
(c) David was NEVER firstborn in chronological order.
(3) This is God saying that He will take David who was NOT
firstborn and exalt Him to the POSITION of FIRSTBORN.
(a) Firstborn as a title would be the same as calling Jesus
Ruler by inherent right.
(b) Jesus is the firstborn by very nature itself, because of
who He is.
c. God is NOT making Jesus firstborn.
(1) This verse is saying that Jesus IS firstborn and of every
creature.
(2) That is, Jesus, by virtue of who He is, is Ruler over
everything that is created.
C. \\#16\\ Jesus, the Creator of all things.
1. "all things" - Paul actually states that Jesus is the Creator of all
things at the very beginning of the verse; but sometimes, people don’t
listen so well, so he goes on to elaborate upon it.
2. What is all things?
a. It is everything in heaven and in earth.
b. It is everything visible and invisible.
c. It is everything, even it is a throne, a dominion, a
principality, or a power.
(1) A throne would be a monarch. Jesus created the kings.
(2) A dominion would be a kingdom. Jesus created the kingdoms.
(3) A principality would be a spiritual power or ruler. Jesus
created the spiritual monarchs.
(4) A power would be any kind of authority in any kind of domain,
physical or spiritual. Jesus created it all!
d. If Jesus is the Creator of all powers, He is the Owner and Master
of all powers and if Jesus is the Owner and Master of all powers,
those who think they are in control are one day going to have to
give an account to Him!
3. This makes Jesus the God not only of the New Testament but also of the
Old Testament.
Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Pr 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the
day of evil.
4. Jesus is THAT GOD.
Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which
from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by
Jesus Christ:
5. I recently spoke with a man who does not believe that Jesus, God, and
the Holy Spirit are ONE GOD.
a. In being honest with you I would say that I think this person is
sincere in studying the Scriptures and they don’t have all of the
answers, but to try to separate the Trinity into different persons
causes a great difficulty.
b. The Bible says that Jesus is the Creator and that the God of the
Old Testament is the Creator.
c. Either they are one God manifested in three persons or else you
have to have one god who turns himself into different persons
because the Bible says that Jesus was the God of the Old
Testament who did the creating.
D. \\#17\\ Jesus, the One before all things.
1. Again, some would like to take this phrase and make it chronological,
saying that Jesus was created the first in God’s line of created
beings.
2. That is not what the verse says.
a. It says that Jesus was before all things.
b. Why? Because He was before all things.
c. That is a reference to His eternality.
John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
d. He was before all things and in the beginning with God because He
"was God" \\#John 1:1\\.
E. \\#17\\ Jesus, the One by whom all things consist.
1. And this Jesus is the One that holds all things together.
2. Nothing exists today that Jesus, our Savior, does not hold together by
the power of His might!
3. I have made that statement for years. Today, I decided to look it up
on the internet.
a. Today, scientists call this "strong force."
b. Strong Force is accurate enough that formulas can be developed to
calculate it.
c. They believe Strong Force comes from protons and neutrons giving off
a portion of their mass which is then converted into binding
energy.
4. The fact that Jesus is consistent enough in His work that a formulaic
can be written to describe it is not surprising to me.
5. Mr. Scientist, let me introduce you to Strong Force. His name is Jesus!
F. \\#18\\ Jesus, the Head of the body.
G. \\#18\\ Jesus, the beginning.
H. \\#18\\ Jesus, the firstborn from the dead.
I. \\#19\\ Jesus, in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead.
J. \\#20\\ Jesus. the Peacemaker.
K. \\#21\\ Jesus, the Reconciler.
L. \\#22\\ Jesus, the Presenter.
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