Colossians 1:15–20: “Christ Jesus in the Christ-Hymn.”

Let’s take our Bibles together and turn to the book of Colossians. We come today, church, to one of the most famous and recognizable sections of this book—Colossians 1:15–20. Allow me to make some preliminary observations here as we begin.

The first observation is that the grammar and the sentence structure of this section are extremely difficult to discern. Even for Paul, this section is unique. The syntax runs on. It has no ascertainable clarity as to when one sentence ends and another begins. And that has led scholars to rightly conclude that the genre of this particular section of Scripture is a song. This is a hymn, if you will. And that’s why this section of six verses is referred to as the Christ-hymn of Colossians.

And that makes sense even from our vantage point. Because songs often lack clarity with punctuation and sentence structure. I’ve never been able to figure out punctuation in music—where to put what punctuation. And if you were to read a modern song that we sing on the screen without breaks or formatting, it would read a lot like Colossians 1:15–20.

Some scholars conclude that this was a preformed hymn that Paul (via Timothy) inserted here into his letter. Some scholars conclude that Paul wrote this hymn or poem extemporaneously as he was drafting this letter to Colossae. Either way, we have a pretty fantastic piece of theological art inserted into this letter.

What’s this theological piece of art about? Well (shocker!), it’s about Jesus. It’s about Christology. And more particularly, it’s about the two great works of Christ in this world—creation and redemption. It’s not a song or poem to Christ; it’s a song about Christ. It’s about Christ’s work in creation, and it’s about Christ’s work in redemption.

God the Father created all things through the agency of Christ. That’s what’s emphasized on the front side of this hymn. And God the Father redeemed all things through the agency of Christ’s death on the cross. That’s what’s emphasized at the end of this hymn.

And the word that best describes Christ Jesus in this Christ-hymn is the word “preeminence.” He is preeminent over all things.

Many people say about Michael Jordan, that he’s the G.O.A.T. (the Greatest Of All Time). Many say that of Tom Brady and Babe Ruth and Wayne Gretzky. The latest thing in San Antonio is talk about Victor Wembanyama. They say he’s on a “G.O.A.T. trajectory.” Someday he’ll be the Greatest Of All Time. I’ve got lots of thoughts and opinions about all that stuff. I am, in many ways, an incurable sports fan.

But today, we are going to leave the trivialities of sports behind. And we are going to examine the true “Greatest Of All Time.” Today, we explore the Jesus Christ revealed in Colossians 1:15–20. Let’s talk about him.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Go ahead and write this down as #1 in your notes. Today I’m going to give you eight answers to the question—Who is Jesus? I’m calling these,

Eight Descriptions of Christ in the Christ-hymn of Colossians 1:15–20:

Write ‘em down, church. Here’s #1. Jesus is…

1) The Image of the Invisible God (1:15a)

Paul writes in verse 15,

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God,

Which prompts the question—who is the image of the invisible God? Who’s the “He” of verse 15? The answer is found in verses 13 and 14 just before this. Paul said in verse 13,

¹³ He [i.e., God the Father] has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

So the “he” of verse 15 is the “whom” of verse 14. And the “whom” of verse 14 is the “beloved Son” of verse 13. Are you tracking with me? The “he” is the “whom,” who is the “Son,” who is Christ. Everyone got it? In other words, this is about Jesus. You knew that already, didn’t you?

Now what does it mean for Christ to be the image of the invisible God? The Greek word for “image” here is εἰκών (eikōn), from which we derive our English word “icon.”

One of the reasons that idolatry, or even iconography, was so despicable to the Lord, is because the invisible God (God the Father) was not meant to be seen or displayed in any way by idols or images made by man. That’s a violation of the second commandment (Exod 20:4).

Also, the only legitimate manifestation of God’s image was to be found in man himself. We are the icon of God. We are made in his image. So iconography isn’t just the defilement of God; it’s the defilement of the true image of God, man.

And in the same way that we are the children of God, and yet Jesus is the Son of God, Paul is saying here Christ Jesus is the Image of the invisible God. He’s the Perfect One! He’s the embodiment of all that humanity was supposed to be.

And yet, he’s greater than that, because he is “God enfleshed” (John 1:1–18). He is the God-man, in ways that we will never be. The author of Hebrews says it this way, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Heb 1:3).

And Paul says in Romans that we are actually conformed to Christ’s image when we get saved. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Rom 8:29).

If we are made in the image of God, and Christ Jesus is the Image of the invisible God, why do we need to be conformed to the image of the Son? The answer is, because we have been marred. We are fallen and broken. And Christ is perfect, and he restores us. Paul talks about this later in Colossians when he tells them, “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image [εἰκών] of its creator” (Col 3:10).

In other words, Christ Jesus, the Image of the invisible God, has restored our status as image-bearers. We might call that justification. But also Christ Jesus, the Image of the invisible God is currently restoring our identity as image-bearers every day. We might call that sanctification. As we put off the old man, and put on the new, we are aspiring to be like the Perfect Image-bearer, Christ.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Write this down as a second description of Christ in the Christ-hymn. He is…

2) The Firstborn of All Creation (1:15b)

Paul says,

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

What does that mean that Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation?” You’d better have that down. Because the JWs will make a mockery of this when they come knocking on your door. They will come and, unbeknownst to you, blaspheme your Savior. And they’re going to tie you up in knots unless you know what this passage means.

Let me explain first what it doesn’t mean. It doesn’t mean that Jesus was literally born of God as if God the Father literally fathered or sired Jesus. To conclude that is to torture the metaphor, and to project something human on the eternal God of the universe. Don’t do that. Don’t let the JWs do that.

Actually, it’s worse than that. It’s heresy. And I don’t use that “h-word” lightly. I don’t like to throw that around indiscriminately. God the Son cannot be literally born of God or created by God the Father, because God the Son created all things, as we will see in just a moment.

The Greek word here for “firstborn” is πρωτότοκος (prō-to-to-kos).

And that word doesn’t mean the “first created one.” If Paul wanted to say “first created,” he would have used a different Greek word. He would have used the word πρωτόκτιστος (prō-tok-ti-stos)—“first created.” But he doesn’t say πρωτόκτιστος (prō-tok-ti-stos)! He says πρωτότοκος (prō-to-to-kos), meaning “firstborn.” And that word (πρωτότοκος [prō-to-to-kos]), in this context, signifies that God the Son is the Inheritor of all that is God the Father’s, like a firstborn son in the ancient world inherited all that belonged to his father.

This is a statement about the Son’s supremacy. It’s a statement about the Son’s legitimacy as an heir. It’s a statement about the Son’s superiority. Again, we are inheritors as Christians. We are heirs to an eternal inheritance. But that derives from the Son. Our inheritance is contingent on our connection to the Son.

We are image-bearers, but we are not the Image of the invisible God. We are children of God, but not the Son of God. And we are heirs, but we are not the Heir Apparent. That right belongs to the Firstborn of all creation. It’s the difference between capital letters and lowercase letters. And that’s a big difference! We are heirs, because Christ Jesus is the Inheritor of all that belongs to God the Father.

Because everything that we have as Christians is dependent on us being “in Christ.” It’s all derivative. It’s all contingent on our connection to him. That’s why “in Christ” is the most important prepositional phrase in the book of Colossians. Everything that we have, we have “in Christ.”

-------------------------------------------------------------

Write this down as a third statement about Jesus. He is…

3) The Agent of Creation (1:16)

I’m choosing my words this morning very precisely. I hope you can sense that.

Paul says in verse 16,

¹⁶ For by him

By whom? Well, the “him” is the “he” is the “whom” is the “Son” is the “Christ.” This Christ-hymn from start to finish is all about Jesus.

In fact, every single pronoun in these six verses refers to Jesus. There are eleven of them, by the way. Eleven pronouns! And all eleven refer to Christ. Sometime this week, you should read through this passage from start to finish and just exchange every pronoun for “Jesus.” And feel the weightiness of these statements about Jesus.

¹⁶ For by him [by Christ] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Now for the Colossians, this statement might have come as quite a shock. Because when they look at the book of Genesis in the OT, they don’t see the name “Jesus” anywhere creating the universe. Instead they see Elohim in Genesis 1. And they see Yahweh Elohim in Genesis 2. And Paul is connecting Jesus to Elohim here, which is really just the plural form of the word “God” in Hebrew (translated “God” or “gods”). But Paul is also connecting Jesus more particularly to Yahweh or Yahweh Elohim.

Some of you savvy Bible readers know that Genesis 1:26 has a mysterious “us” statement—“Let us make man in our own image.” Who is the “us” of that statement? Is that the royal “we?” Is that a plural of majesty? I don’t think so. There is a plurality in unity in the Godhead that dates back to the very beginning of Scripture, the first chapter of the OT. In fact, it dates back to eternity past. There has always been, and there will always be, an “us” that is intrinsic to the Trinity.

John’s Gospel makes this clear. “In the beginning was the Word [Jesus], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). How can Jesus be both God and with God? I can either be Tony Caffey, or I can be with Tony Caffey. But I can’t be Tony Caffey and also be with Tony Caffey!

How does this make sense for God? The answer, as I’ve argued before, is the Trinity. At the beginning of time, God the Son was both God and with God (i.e., God the Father). And the work of creation was a Trinitarian activity. God the Father created all things through the agency of his Son. That’s the force of that statement “by him” in verse 16.

Everyone see that in verse 16? This is not “in Christ” this time, but “by Christ.”

¹⁶ For by him all things were created,

That’s a divine passive there in verse 16—“were created.” Who were they created by? I would say God the Father created all things by or through the agency of God the Son. Paul doubles down on this a few words later when he says, “all things were created through him.”

This may have been a shocking revelation to the Colossians. Because they had these false teachers circulating in the church that were saying that angelic beings were supremely powerful. Maybe they should be worshipped! And maybe Jesus should just be put on par with the angels!

But Paul says strongly in Colossians 2:18, “Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels.” That’s what we might call an apostolic smackdown from the Apostle Paul.

“Should we worship angels, Paul? Should we put them on par with Jesus.”

Paul responds to that by saying, “No, no, no, no, no, no, no.” “NO! Angels are not on par with Jesus. In fact, they were created by Jesus!”

¹⁶ For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

By the way, I used to read that statement about “thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities” and think human thrones on earth. Maybe tangentially that’s what Paul is talking about. But now I think he’s referencing Jewish angelic categories and a hierarchy that was prominent in first-century thinking.

The Jews viewed angels as a vast hierarchy of thrones, dominions, rulers, and authorities. There were angels and archangels and cherubim and seraphim all the way up and down that hierarchy. And Paul is saying here, “I don’t care how powerful you think an angel is or high-ranking he is, Jesus created all of them. And none of them compete with him. Don’t worship angels. Worship Jesus.”

And I would just say, church, we don’t worship “saints” or venerate them or burn incense to them. That’s idolatrous. And it’s superstitious. And we don’t worship Mary, the mother of Jesus. And we don’t worship the Apostles. We don’t worship any men or women apart from Christ.

And by the way, it’s not the angels’ fault that people in Colossae were tempted to worship them (unless we are talking about demonic angels). Remember when John mistakenly started to worship the angel in Revelation (19:10; 22:8–9). The angel was mortified. He rebuked John, “Get up. Don’t worship me.” It was an honest mistake by the Apostle John. And if the Colossians were tempted that direction, Paul is giving them a warning here.

And also, it’s not Mary’s fault that people in our day worship her. She didn’t ask for that. She’d be appalled by that.

Who do we worship? We worship God and God alone. Let me quote the Ten Commandments for you again. “You shall have no other gods [Elohim] before me” (Exod 20:3). We worship Yahweh Elohim alone. We worship God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Write this down as a fourth description of Christ in the Christ-hymn. He is…

4) The Preexistent Son of God (1:17)

Paul says in verse 17,

¹⁷ And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Jesus was not created. Jesus was before all things. Jesus existed in eternity past with God the Father and God the Spirit. He is eternally the Son. He is eternally God, just like God the Father is eternally God.

In the fourth century, the church fathers battled the Arians (the precursor to the JWs) over the minutest points of doctrine and Christology. And they fought over the nature of Christ. Is Christ ὁμοούσιος [homoousios] with the Father? Or is he ὁμοιούσιος [homoiousios] with the Father? Is he the “same essence” as the Father (ὁμοούσιος)? Or is he “similar essence” (ὁμοιούσιος)? The difference between those two Greek words is one letter—one iota. What a difference one letter makes!

The Nicene Creed (AD 325) reads as follows, “Jesus is God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance [ὁμοούσιος] with the Father.” The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity says that God the Son is ὁμοούσιος [homoousios] with the Father. He is of the same substance or essence. He’s not ὁμοιούσιος [homoiousios]. He is not of a similar substance. And those church fathers, in accurate interpretation of the Scriptures, determined that Christ was ὁμοούσιος (the same essence) as the Father. And they denounced as heretical the Arians and anyone who would say less of Christ than they should.

Look, if you don’t believe in a preexistent Son of God, then you don’t believe in the God of the Bible. And you don’t hold to Christian orthodoxy. You might be ignorant about this, and still be a Christian. But you can’t deny this and still be considered a Christian.

In fact, I think the Colossians may have been ignorant about this. That’s why Paul is writing to them. He’s telling them, “Your view of Christ is too low! Let me tell you about Christ!”

Notice also that Jesus holds all things together. He isn’t just before all things; he holds all things together. Our massive, intricate, and surprisingly fragile universe is held together by the power of our cosmic Savior.

John MacArthur writes, “The sheer size of the universe is staggering. The sun, for example, has a diameter of 864,000 miles (one hundred times that of earth’s) and could hold 1.3 million planets the size of earth inside it. The star Betelgeuse, however, has a diameter of 100 million miles, which is larger than the earth’s orbit around the sun. It takes sunlight, traveling at 186,000 miles per second, about 8.5 minutes to reach earth. Yet that same light would take more than four years to reach the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, some 24 trillion miles from earth. The galaxy to which our sun belongs, the Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of stars. And astronomers estimate there are millions, or even billions of galaxies. What they can see leads them to estimate the number of stars in the universe at 10²⁵. That is roughly the number of all the grains of sand on all the world’s beaches… The universe also bears witness to the tremendous wisdom and knowledge of its Creator. Scientists now speak of the Anthropic Principle, ‘which states that the universe appears to be carefully designed for the well-being of mankind’ (Donald B. DeYoung, “Design in Nature: The Anthropic Principle,” Impact, no. 149 [November 1985]: p. ii). A change in the rate of Earth’s rotation around the sun or on its axis would be catastrophic. The Earth would become either too hot or too cold to support life. If the moon were much nearer to the Earth, huge tides would inundate the continents. A change in the composition of the gases that make up our atmosphere would also be fatal to life. A slight change in the mass of the proton would result in the dissolution of hydrogen atoms. That would result in the destruction of the universe, because hydrogen is its dominant element.” The creation gives testimony to the intelligence of its Creator. Its creator is God. And God the Son holds it all together.

Do you think that might have an impact on the way that you sing worship songs on Sunday morning? Do you think that might have an impact on the way that you perceive Christ Jesus, your Lord and Savior? Is this how you envision Jesus, your Savior?

-------------------------------------------------------------

Write this down as a fifth statement about Christ. He is…

5) The Head of the Church (1:18a)

Paul says in verse 18,

¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church.

This is a pretty amazing and surprising statement. Paul just got done talking about how Christ is the supreme power in the universe. And now he moves from the cosmic to the local. He moves from the power over the universe to the power over the church. If there was any doubt in Colossae about who has ultimate authority over their church, Paul addresses that now with laser focus—Christ is the head of the church!

I won’t belabor this point. Paul doesn’t in verse 18. I’ve told you before that Christ Jesus is the senior pastor of this church. He’s the Elder over Messiah Bible Church. He’s the Chief Shepherd; we are his under-shepherds. We are nothing more than his caretakers and stewards. And if we screw this up, we will be answerable to him, the head of the church.

And he’s not just the head of this local church, he’s the head of every church, even the church universal. Without Christ, there is no church. Without Christ there is no redemption. Without Christ there is no salvation. Without Christ there is no reason to gather and worship.

I heard once about this group of Atheists that got together and tried to imitate a church gathering. They didn’t believe in God. And they didn’t want to be Christians. But they liked the idea of gathering and singing songs and being together like Christians do. I guess “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”

But when I heard about that, I started to wonder, “What songs are they singing?” “Our God is not an awesome God.” “It is not well with my soul.” “Blessed assurance, we’re all going to die! The earth is going to burn up in one billion years!” Who’s going to Hallelujah that?

Look, when we gather as the church on Sunday mornings, it’s all about Jesus. Without him, there’s no reason to gather. Without him, there’s no hope for the future. Without him, there’s no salvation. Without Christ, there is no Christ-ianity. And without the head of the church, there is no church.

That’s why it’s so ridiculous when liberal churches deviate from Christ or from orthodox Christian doctrine. You are essentially taking an axe to the base of your own tree.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Write this down as a sixth description of Christ in the Christ-hymn. He is…

6) The Firstborn from the Dead (1:18b)

Paul says in verse 18b,

¹⁸ … He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,

Paul uses the same word here that he did in verse 15 for “firstborn” (πρωτότοκος). But the description here is different. He’s not described as the “firstborn of all creation” but “firstborn from the dead,” which means that he is the first and preeminent one who was raised from the dead.

I would liken this description to what Paul says about firstfruits in 1 Corinthians 15. He’s the firstfruits of our own resurrection. His resurrection body will be like ours. His resurrection assures our own future resurrection.

And that’s because he’s “the beginning.” Everything begins and ends with him. He is the alpha and the omega, as John says about him in Revelation. He’s the beginning and the end (see Rev 1:17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:13).

The famous Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (reigned AD 161–180) reportedly hired a servant to walk behind him and whisper in his ear, memento mori… literally translated, “Remember, to die.”

We might paraphrase this as follows, “Remember your mortality, Marcus.” “Remember, you’re just a man.” Marcus Aurelius needed that reminder. We need that reminder—memento mori. But nobody whispers that to Christ Jesus… because it’s not true! He is not, never was, and never will be “just a man.”

Yes, he died. But his death defeated death. And he is the firstborn from the dead.

-----------------------------------------------------------

And as a logical outworking of that, here’s a seventh description of Christ. He is…

7) The Preeminent One (1:18c-19)

Paul says in verse 18,

¹⁸ … He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

The descriptions here are moving from the rarefied air of Christ’s identity as God and part of the Godhead to his identity as the supreme and preeminent Son of Man. In other words, Paul goes from transcendence to immanence. He goes from Christ’s deity to his humanity. And that movement will become clear in the final verse where Christ’s humanity was necessary for salvation.

But the statements here in verses 18 and 19 are statements about the God enfleshed. He died. He actually died. That’s not possible with God the Father. It was possible with God the Son, because he was enfleshed. And that was purposeful. He did that to defeat death. He did that to rise from the dead, and therefore he became preeminent.

And yet through all of that, through all of the incarnation, Jesus’s birth, his life, his death, Jesus never stopped being God.

Look again at verse 19.

¹⁹ For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

Jesus didn’t set aside his deity when he became man. Instead, he added humanity to his deity. We call this the incarnation. We call this the hypostatic union. Jesus became the God-man. And the fullness of God dwelt in bodily form. He was Emmanuel—God with us.

By the way, the word for “preeminent” here is actually a verb in Greek. It means literally, “to be first” or “to have first place.” No human being ever competes with Jesus. No one ever takes his place or becomes perfectly like him. He is and will always be preeminent.

This word “fullness” here was later used by Gnostics to describe these little bits of “God” that would float down to the earth and be deposited in human beings. Thus people would be partially deified. That kind of teaching may have even circulated (in germ form) to the Colossians. If so, Paul is countering that here. All the fullness of God dwells in him. He gets all of it. Only he is deity, and only he is deified.

Look, one day we will receive glorified bodies. And we will be, in a sense, glorified. But we will never be deified. That never happens. We will never be gods. But we will be God’s. We will never become gods. But we do belong to God. And God is happy to share his kingdom with us. But he will not share his Godship. That is reserved for Father, Son, and Spirit.

Some people think that we will become gods in heaven. That’s not true. And some people think that we will become angels in heaven after we die. I hear that at funerals sometimes. I don’t know where that comes from. That’s not true either. The fullness of God will dwell in Christ Jesus, in bodily form, forever. The end. We will share Christ’s kingdom forever. But we will not share in his Godship.

-----------------------------------------------------------

And why does the fullness of God dwell in human form in Christ? In other words, why the incarnation? Why didn’t Jesus just stay the preincarnate Son of God forever? Why dwell in human form? Why come to this earth as a human?

Here’s why. Because Jesus is…

8) The Peacemaker (1:20)

Paul says in verse 20,

²⁰ and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Now we’re going to talk in more depth next week about this work of reconciliation that Jesus accomplishes. I don’t want to shoot all my bullets right now. But I do want to say this. The peace that we have with God is made possible by blood. No blood, no peace. No sacrifice on the cross, no salvation.

Why did Jesus leave his throne in heaven to come to this world? He didn’t leave his deity behind. He took that with him. But he did leave something behind, for a while. His exalted status was left behind, for a time. The glory and the comfort of his eternal status as the Son of God was left behind, for a season anyway.

This is how Paul says it elsewhere, “Though he was in the form of God, [he] did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:6–8). Jesus didn’t leave his deity behind, but he did leave something behind in the incarnation. If nothing else, he left his dignity behind, as he allowed himself to be stripped and whipped and humiliated by the very men that he himself created.

Why would the Son of God do this? Why would he allow this? Why would God the Father allow this? Why would this person, the second person of the Trinity, the one whom Paul describes with such beautiful and grandiose language in Colossians 1:15–18 allow Colossians 1:19–20? The incarnation? The humiliation of the cross? The crucifixion? The blood shed for reconciliation?

Why? Why, why, why, why, why? Here’s the reason why. Because he loves us. Stupid and pathetic creatures that we are, Christ loves us. And there was no other way. There was no other way to save us from our sins apart from the blood shed at Calvary. And through that blood we have peace with God through Christ Jesus, our Lord. That’ll make you sing songs a little differently on Sunday mornings. That’ll put a little oomph in your worship. That’ll make you think about communion differently.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Who is Jesus? Who is he? Is he some random carpenter in the first-century world that a few lowly fishermen made more of than they should have? Is he some enigmatic teacher who put the Pharisees and the Romans in their place? A defier of the status quo? A socialist liberator of the people?

Or is he (1) The Image of the Invisible God, (2) The Firstborn of All Creation (1:15b), (3) The Agent of Creation, (4) The Preexistent Son of God, (5) The Head of the Church, (6) The Firstborn from the Dead, (7) The Preeminent One and (8) The Peacemaker through his blood? Is he the Christ of the Christ-hymn of Colossians 1:15–20 or not?

Years ago, C.S. Lewis presented his famous trilemma in his book Mere Christianity. And the trilemma goes like this. Jesus is either (1) a liar, (2) a lunatic, or (3) LORD. Every person has to make a determination about that. What Christ cannot be is just a good, moral teacher. Either (1) he’s lying about who he is. And Paul is lying too in Colossians 1. Or (2) he’s crazy. He’s a raving lunatic. And so is Paul, by the way. Only a crazy person would follow and worship a crazy person… and talk about him like this in Colossians 1:15–20.

Or here’s the third option. (3) He’s the Lord. He’s the Lord of all! He’s the Lord of all, or he is not Lord at all!

And if Jesus Christ is Lord of all… if he is who Paul says he is in this passage, then this is not someone you come to and say, “Okay, Jesus, thanks for saving me. But I’ve got wonderful plans for my life. I just need you to get on board with them.” No! It doesn’t work that way.

And by the way, we don’t come to Jesus as the church and say, “Okay, Jesus, you are the head of the church. But we are the neck. And we’re going to turn the head any way we want!”

No, we come to Jesus and we recognize him as Savior and Lord and we say, “Here I am, Lord. I am yours. Everything I am belongs to you. Use me for your purposes.”

“Here’s our church, Lord. Messiah Bible Church. You are the leader. You are the Lord. You are the Son of God. You are the Head of this church and every church. Use this church, Messiah Bible Church, for your glory and for your purposes.”

Let’s bow in a word of prayer and then we can take communion together.