Colossians 1:15-20 - All About Jesus
Welcome to Tabernacle Talk, a Bible Study Podcast hosted by Pastor Bryon Self, Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, Maryland. We hope that this podcast will help you to know Christ, grow in His word, and show His love to others.
This is a legacy episode of Tabernacle Talk.
These are episodes that are taken from the past five years of my life and different times that I've hosted different podcasts, like Bible Babbles with my friend, Carlos Farias, or Strength for the Day, that I hosted with my friend, Pastor Dennis Fountain of Moses Lake Baptist Church in Moses Lake, Washington.
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https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strength-for-the-day-a-devotional-bible-podcast/id1547987576
Hope that these episodes will be an encouragement to you. Right now, I'm on a Tabernacle Talk specific sabbatical, but we've uploaded some of these audio episodes to hopefully help you as you are seeking to walk with the Lord.
We'll be resuming some regular Tabernacle Talk episodes in February or March, so please be on the lookout for those. Let's dive right in.
Welcome back to Strength for the Day.
I am not Pastor Dennis Fountain.
That'd be me.
And I am Bryon Self. And great to be back with you on...
Are you Bryon Self the second?
I am Bryon Self Jr. Junior.
Yeah. And your son's the third.
He is the third.
So your dad's dad was not Bryon.
That is correct. But my dad's uncle was Bryon. Spelled weird as well.
Really?
Yep.
So tell them how your name is spelled.
So my name is spelled B-R-Y-O-N.
The number seven, the letter Q.
Exactly.
It's very hard to spell correctly.
Correctly.
And I always know if there's a telemarketer or a fake friend by if I get called Byron.
So like wait, that one time, you won something from another church who will not be named.
But who may or may not be in a country that is not the US.
That is just north of the US.
But south of the northernmost part of it. Whatever is the worth of that.
That's that one time when they called you Byron. That was great.
Yeah.
And I think they did it on purpose.
They said, congratulations, Byron. And I would like to say that I have deeply enjoyed that particular hoodie that was given.
But Byron comes to your mind every time you wear it.
No, no, no, it's not even that. It's that my wife steals it.
Does she really? Hannah steals my sweatshirts all the time. That's fine, though.
Yeah, it's fine.
I don't wear them.
For better or for worse, richer or poorer, sweatshirts or hoodies, you know, it's hers.
She has to put up with me. So she can borrow my hoodie for as long as she puts up with me.
Good.
So I'm good with that. Well, I'm really excited about today's episode, and we're going to be in Colossians 1 and verses 15 through 20.
And why don't you bring us back up to Speed, Pastor, on the Book of Colossians and where we have been up till this point.
Okay. So real quick, just so we don't get too repetitive.
Yep.
Paul, writing to the believers at Colossi, he hadn't been there. He's sitting in a jail cell.
He is writing to them, having heard from Epaphras, who probably started the church, but Paul has heard that this is a, the believers at Colossi are filled with faith, that they love each other. I think they love the community. They love the Lord.
Paul had heard about their hope, like their expectation. They knew what they had was true. But Paul had also heard about some things that were plaguing them.
So some belief systems that were causing a lot of the Christians there to maybe to question. I would say not necessarily question their salvation, but question like, okay, is Jesus enough? Like, do we need Gnosticism?
Do we need more knowledge of something else? Plus Jesus. Do we need asceticism?
Do we need to give up a bunch of things and have sacrificing plus Jesus? Do we need Judaism, the law, plus Jesus? And I love knowing that coming into our text for today.
Absolutely.
Because it's like, we're going to see it.
Paul is like, hey, it's Jesus plus nothing, like just Jesus. And I love that thought. So Paul is writing to help and encourage these believers in realizing what they have in Christ is enough for them.
And so last week, we were challenged to keep growing in our faith. A week before that, we were challenged just in our testimony and how we go through trials and try to encourage others. And I know today will be good too.
Yep.
I'm super excited for this week because this section of verses 15 through 20 in Colossians 1, answers so many questions about Jesus, about kind of our place in the world. It answers questions about the spiritual realm.
It answers questions about the resurrection. It answers questions about the origin of the universe itself. There is so much packed into just these six verses.
Yeah, it really, I don't even know if we can cover it in this amount of time.
Oh, doubtful.
I mean, we'll try to do it, so it'll be good.
Whatever we do, we know from this section, we will get some strength for our day.
So, Pastor, why don't you read Colossians 1, 15 through verse 20?
All right, verse 15, who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature? We need to actually go back. So here's what I'm going to do.
I'm going to go back to verse number 12, just to give us kind of a runway into this.
So, verse 12, giving thanks under the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.
So now, Jesus is the subject, in whom we have redemption through His blood, through Jesus' blood, even the forgiveness of sins, who, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.
For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and for Him.
And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence.
For it pleased the Father, that in Him should all fulness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself.
By Him, I say, whether they be things in heaven, or excuse me, things in earth, or things in heaven. Man, that is just totally packed with so much.
So, what, Bryon, what stands out to you, or what is something that you would say, this grabs my attention?
Yeah, I'd say at the start, verses 15 through 17, tell us a lot about Jesus. Number one, I see there in verse number 15, He is the image of the invisible God. We would know from scripture, God is the Spirit.
Those that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. We would know from other verses, no man has seen God at any time. But Jesus is God's image.
Jesus would tell the disciples, I think it's John 14, He tells Thomas and maybe Philip, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. There is no difference. Jesus is not a lesser God.
He is not something less than God Himself. You would see some of the different creeds and things that would talk about the fact that they are co-equal in glory, in essence, though they are two distinct persons, that Jesus is God Himself.
And one thing I want to note in verse 15, where it says that Jesus is the firstborn of creation, and want to highlight the fact that that does not mean that Jesus is a created being.
This word is used even in Psalm 88 in the Septuagint, the Old Testament Greek translation of the Hebrew Testament.
This exact same Greek word, firstborn, I think it's prototokos, is used where God says that David is his firstborn in the specific kingdom of Israel that he set up. Well, David was like the seventh born kid of Jesse.
So either God is lying or in these instances, firstborn does not denote like the birthplace. It's a place of prominence. So Jesus is given first place over all creation.
He is not subservient to anything in creation. He rules over all of it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And that's where I would say, you know, there's, I think there's five things that Paul is highlighting in just those verses. So he's the image of the invisible God. He existed before creation.
So he is the first born. He created all things, right? It says verse number 16, for by him were all things created.
So there's your co-equality to God. And then he all things exist for him. So verse number 16, whatever it is, they were created by him.
In verse 17, he is before all things. And by him, all things consist. And he is the head.
He is the head of the body, the church, who's the beginning. And he just goes into this mindset of all things exist for him. And then I also see in there the fact that he holds it all together.
He holds everything together. And that reminds us of Hebrews chapter 1, where it says that Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of his power.
And here's what I think, and I'm going to kick it back to you for a thought on this before we get into verse 18. But here's what's interesting to me.
If, and we do not have the time to do it in our episode, but if we studied out Gnosticism, Asceticism and Pantheism, those three things specifically were, they're all addressed in the Book of Colossians.
But what's really cool is all three of them are not completely, they're completely obliterated through just these five verses. Like through these five verses, Paul's like, all right, so let me help you out about Gnosticism.
Jesus is better than all knowledge. Okay, let me help you out about Pantheism, about Jesus in things. Like, no, he is, like he created it.
So he was before it. He's not in it. He was before it.
And then, you know, Asceticism, giving things up. Hey, you need to realize that just because you give things up doesn't mean you're closer to God because he actually deserves all the glory for everything no matter what.
And there's just kind of this, like, let me take all these belief systems that are attacking your Christian faith and let me just give you one name. Jesus.
Yeah.
Okay. Game over. I just won.
You know, that's Paul saying, checkmate. It's done. And I just love that.
I don't know.
What do you think about that?
Yeah, I love it.
I think specifically as you were kind of listing some of those things with Pantheism, I look at verse number 16 and he lists for by him, where all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible, whether they be thrones
or dominions or principalities or powers. So there he's speaking of, we'd see similar lists in like Romans 8 and in Ephesians chapter 6, talking about all of the spiritual realms.
And you can look at the Book of Daniel and see some different things with kingdoms and things. You see Satan referenced as the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians chapter 2.
So he goes, okay, for pantheism or for polytheism or for Greek mythology, where you have all of these spiritual authorities and gods, he says, no, like if there's any angels out there, if there are any foreign gods, if you will, or demons that are
worshiped as gods, he says, Jesus created them. So they are subservient to him.
And I do love the thought in verse number 17, in him all things consist, all, when we go back to our practical takeaway at the end, I have something that just really speaks to me from that.
But that was my thought was pantheism and polytheism and Greek mythology are all taken away by the fact that, no, if there's anything that exists, Jesus made it.
Right. Yeah, and I think there's really some... Well, I would say this.
So in our day and age, like in our culture, I don't think that we struggle with gnosticism, pantheism and asceticism in their... In that way.
Yeah.
I think we do deal with... Well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what I want to do.
Okay, forget that. I'll come back to it. I want you to look at verse number 18.
Because both of us were talking about this beforehand. Like verse 18 truly, I think, is kind of a crux. It's kind of a pinnacle point of this whole thing.
I want you to give me a couple of thoughts about verse number 18.
Yeah, so I'd say verse number 18, kind of if we break it down by phrase, that Christ is the head of the body, the church. So that gives us number one, our main thing in ecclesiology, the study of the church, that the church is about Jesus.
The church does not exist without Jesus. Contrary to maybe some claims that some religions make, you don't need any other head of the church other than Christ.
You don't have to have a Pope or a Bishop or something that leads maybe the church at large. You have Christ. Christ is the head of the church.
And I see from the second phrase, He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that gives us our promise of because He is risen, we're going to rise as well. So that gives us comfort. And that in all things, He may have the preeminence.
So whether we live and if we live and believe in Christ, then we believe in the church and we should be part of a local church. So that gives us purpose in our life. It gives us hope for the afterlife, that as He rose, we too will rise.
And that in everything that we do, life and death, Jesus is the one that we live for.
Yeah, and I think that that phrase of Jesus being preeminent. So thinking about it in the context of verse 18, like that in all things, He might have the preeminence. And again, the subject being Christ and the church right there.
Yeah.
Right.
He should have first place in the church. But I remember doing a study on that word preeminent years ago. And I had heard it explained one time.
Someone said that preeminent means in first place. So, okay, I agree with that. Preeminent to be in first place.
But when you dig into that word preeminent, it doesn't just mean first place. It really means only place.
Yeah.
So it's like, have you ever been really close to something that's right up in your face? You get really close to something, like I just did to the microphone, like really, I'm just getting really close to it.
Even though there's other things around in peripheral, that thing is the only thing you're really seeing.
Yeah.
And that's the thought behind that word.
Yeah.
Is he's prominent. He's preeminent. He is the only one that is being seen.
So here's the challenge then. And this is kind of what I'm thinking about this. That, you know, he's supposed to be preeminent and prominent in the church.
But for every Christian, that means that he's supposed to be preeminent or prominent in my life. Like not just having first place where it's Jesus and a bunch of other things. No, my life should be about, completely about Jesus.
You see, because the fact is that Jesus, I heard it said this way a long time ago. Jesus is preeminent in my life when I realize that he is not just an option to consider. He is the only option available.
Like it's Jesus and Jesus alone. And I think, you know, for us as a Christian, like it is, it is super beneficial for us every day to ask, like, is Jesus, does he have that place of prominence?
Sure.
Like, is he preeminent? I mean, think about my time, you know, like really just dissect your Christian, your life. Yeah.
Is he first place? Is he the only, is he consuming my time? Like, is my time about Jesus or my thoughts about Christ?
Or, you know, and I'm not trying to say this in some weird sense, like you have to walk around and be that weird guy that's like, oh, Jesus is on my mind. Everybody needs to know that.
But the fact of the matter is everything should filter through, yeah, Jesus Christ. Yeah.
My words, my actions, how I treat my family, how I interact with my coworkers, how I use my resources, like it all should point to him because he should have the preeminence. And that's something that stands out to me.
I don't know, what do you think about that?
Yeah, I completely agree. I think of, you know, eminence would be a word that people would use for royalty. Right.
You know, you say, oh, you know, his eminence, your eminence. And I see kind of that, you know, prefix on there that he would have the preeminence, that he is just the complete forefront of our attention and our devotion.
And if it's true for all of creation, if it's true in connection with all of the false gods and spiritual things in the world, if it's true of his church, then it should absolutely be true in our lives.
Right. Yeah, I totally agree.
And then, kind of for my takeaway, or if you will, verse 17 really just brings me so much comfort that he is before all things, and by him, in him, all things consist. Yeah. That nothing in my life happens without his gracious hand allowing it.
Yeah.
So whether hard times come, whether good times come, I don't have to live my life in fear or trepidation or dread, because I know that he's upholding everything.
Yeah.
And so maybe if there's a situation in which I'm feeling panicked or scared or kind of listless, I don't know where the situation will take me.
I know that he is upholding me. He's upholding my family. And so that can bring such comfort knowing that I'm not alone.
I'm not abandoned. And it's not even that I need him to intervene because he's just off to the side watching me go through the struggle. He is actively upholding me, keeping me alive, giving me his daily grace.
And so I don't need to worry. I don't need to panic. Instead, I can trust in him and his sovereignty, his strength to hold me.
And that totally plays into what he says next about preeminence.
Like, when you recognize who he is, like, you want him to be there. I want him to be prominent. I read this about five years ago when we were going through that series.
I just came across it as we were getting ready for this today. Here's a quick thought. One author said this, excuse me.
He said, He, Jesus, was infinitely rich and became poor. He assumed our human nature, entered into our sin polluted world without being tainted by sin. He took our guilt.
He bore our griefs. He carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He was bruised for our iniquities. He was raised for our justification. And then he ascended into heaven for our intercession.
And will return someday to take us to be with him forever. He truly deserves prominence. He truly deserves preeminence.
And I love that because it is in all things he consists. Like he or he, it's Jesus. He's got it.
He holds you in the palm of his hand. And what that does to a Christian's fear and anxieties is incredible because they dissipate when we realize like who he is, what he does and what he has for us today.
So for the Christian out there, strength of the day, I would say this. Recognize Jesus deserves that spot of prominence and preeminence.
And you know, you recognize and surrender to Jesus is preeminent when he's not a priority, but when he's the priority. And so this week, ask Jesus, God, help me to make you, help me to make you preeminent in my life.
Help me to remember that all things consist like by you, all things consist. And so that would that would affect how we approach our week, recognizing who he is.
So we we mentioned last week, one of the things that Christians can do to grow in the knowledge of God is to listen to good godly songs that help teach you the Bible.
And the best song that I've ever heard that always sticks out to me when I'm reading this passage is the song God of the Ages. Yes. And starts off with that.
He is the image of the Invisible God, the firstborn of creation. He is the first, the last, the one that matters most. So would really encourage you to listen to that song, God of the Ages.
Is that Charles Billingsley?
Yeah, I think that's right. But oh, what a great song.
Yeah, I'll link to it in the show notes. But listen to God of the Ages. And that will be a great song.
It'll encourage you in your faith. But it'll help you memorize this passage and these truths. So look forward to it.
Wait, wait, wait.
Before we're out of time. We're out of time. But before we are, the very first time I ever heard that song, Pastor Rob was singing in an ensemble in Lancaster.
Oh, that's awesome.
And he was like in, I don't know, like 11th or 12th grade.
Yeah.
And I literally closed, when you said that, I closed my eyes and I can still see that song.
That was such a great song. So I echo that. Anyway, go ahead.
That's great.
Next week, we are going to be going through, we'll take another kind of close look at verses 19 through, what do you think? Will we make it to the end of the chapter?
I don't know if we'll make it to the end of the chapter, but at least verse 24 and 25.
Yeah.
Probably the end. We'll try to do that. We need to because we're going to be in this for like a year if we don't.
So yeah.
Really looking forward to this time together. Thank you for listening to Strength of the Day. If you will, share this episode on whatever platform that you're using.
If you are listening on Apple Podcasts, we'd ask you to leave a review. If you're watching slash listening on Facebook or YouTube, leave a comment, like, share, and subscribe. And we look forward to being with you next week.
Hopefully finishing out Colossians Chapter 1. Thank you for joining us on Strength of the Day.
Have a great week.
