Leaving Out Hours of Preaching

Posted on Jan 25, 2018 in Pastor's Blog |

As I learned to preach – and I guess, to be honest, I’m still learning – one of my mentors told me, “Good preachers know what to put into their sermons. Great preachers know what to leave out.” In agreement to this pithy little proverb, I have always labored to streamline my sermons so that they are laser-focused on the main idea of the text. In order to do so, however, I end up leaving out mountains of thrilling, Christ-exalting, and disciple-edifying comments every. single. week.

This past week’s sermon, “Jesus Above All” from Colossians 1:15-23 was no exception. In fact, this one particular text is so rich with Christological implications, that from my vantage point, limiting the coverage to just one sermon can’t help but rob the text of its fullest tribute to our Lord Jesus. What a tremendous hymn! So, just to whet your appetite regarding this passage, I’ll give you some of the spade-work I did for this text, line by line.

The image of the invisible God—For those who claim that they would believe if they could just see God, Paul points to Jesus as the exact imprint. All of mankind bear the image of God, but Jesus is the exact one, the preeminent one, the perfect one….well, you get the point. This idea is echoed in Hebrews 1:3, He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…

The firstborn of all creation—Following the logic of the image, firstborn here speaks to station or position rather than lineage. The person of the Son of God is an eternal being, coequal with the Father and the Spirit. He has always existed. So the idea of firstborn is one of primary heir.

All things were created – by Him, through Him, for Him. I fiddled with the wording in verses 16 so you can see the thrust of the sentence. According to this, Jesus is the actor, the instrument, and the purpose for the totality of creation. If you’ll pardon the vernacular, He’s the Dude. No one can touch Him, for He is…um…preeminent. Supreme. One of a Kind.

The firstborn from the dead—not only is He preeminent in creation, but He is first-place in the resurrection. He not only serves as Head (image-bearer, decision-maker, representative, champion) of creation, but He also serves as Head of the resurrection. He is the ultimate Adam, Son of God, Son of Man, the resurrected One. He represents us post-mortem, and leads us through to the other side. Because He has been there.

In Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell—so there is no more “God-ness” anywhere that is not in Jesus. He is the ultimate One. Passages like this one precludes any blending of Christianity with other religions or philosophies. Either He is, or He isn’t. And, He is.

Which brings us full circle. That in all things (like, really, all things) He (Jesus, the God-man, the Son, our Warrior-King) might have the preeminence (first place, supremacy, highest seat of honor, none like Him). And, that’s just Who He Is.
 
In Him,
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Pastor Jim Collier