DAY EIGHTY-FIVE: 

The Supremacy of Christ 

Colossians 1:15-23 

  Christos Pantokrator (Christ Almighty), 12th Century Byzantine Mosaic

As the first century AD came to a close and the last of the apostles died, the church faced serious challenges. The Roman Empire began to persecute Christians in earnest. Over 300,000 died for their faith from the mid-first century until 313 AD when Constantine ended persecution. In addition, a wide variety of false teachings competed with what Jude called "...the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints." (Jude 1:3) Some melded Christianity with Greek philosophy and the eastern mystery religions. The Book of Revelation mentions the Nicolaitans. In my theology class in seminary we learned about a whole host of these heresies: arianism, marcionism, ebionism, gnosticism, monophysitism, monothelism- you get the idea. Emperor Constantine, a convert to Christianity, wanted to see these issues settled. He called for the church leaders to gather at Nicea and hash things out. They came up with the Nicene Creed, which has become the standard brief statement of the true Christian faith. They reached the conclusions that they did through careful study of Scripture, and today's passage was one that played a very important role in those discussions.

Paul taught that Jesus was more than a man. "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." The Greek word for image is eikon, from which we get our word icon. Our computers have all sorts of icons. An icon is a picture that represents the program or file we want to access. An icon puts a face to those countless pages of code that make up digital content. In the same way Jesus puts a face on the invisible God. When Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father He replied, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" (John 14:9)

Jesus existed before the "in the beginning" of Genesis 1:1. "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. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Everything that exists owes that existence to Christ. He didn't just create everything. He created everything for Himself. He is the rightful ruler of the universe and by His sovereign providence He holds everything together. A few days ago we read Romans 8:28, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." That's what God says to us, and He backs it up!

"And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning,the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent." The Roman Catholic Church holds that Jesus delegated His authority to Peter when He ascended, and that authority was delegated to a successor from the next generation until today, when Pope Francis sits in Peter's seat. Protestants, and especially Presbyterians, believe that Jesus never delegated His authority. He still governs His Church. Presbyterian governance looks like a representative democracy as we elect elders. The truth is that Jesus Himself rules us. The Session's task is to pray and seek His will concerning the church. I like what Graham Standish, the pastor of Calvin Presbyterian Church in Zelienople, PA says about how we should vote on issues. Instead of saying "all in favor" or "all opposed," he puts the question in this way: "all who believe this is God's will for us say yes" and "all who don't believe this is God's will for us say no." This reminds us that we gather as a Session not to do our own will but God's.

"For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell..." The word fullness here is pleroma, which means all, everything, completely, totally. Jesus isn't just one-third God because He shares His divinity with the Father and the Holy Spirit. There is just one God, who exists in three Persons. Each Person is fully God, and yet each Person is distinct from the others. This is heavy stuff. The doctrine of the Trinity can be defined from Scripture but not explained so that our human minds can comprehend it. If you want to read more, I recommend this article from Theopedia.com.

"...and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." The word for reconcile here is the same as we saw in 2 Corinthians 5, except for the addition of the prefix apo. With this added part it means to restore something to its original condition. When we trust in Christ we're reconciled to God, but we're not put back into our original state before Adam and Eve sinned- not yet. This verse is looking to the conclusion of God's plan to put back in place what we ruined through sin. Through the blood of His cross He will lift the curse on creation that we saw in Romans 8. We've got a great future ahead of us!

"And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him..." Jesus came into the world to save us from our sins. He will present us to His Father in mint condition, holy, blameless and above reproach. I love to read and hear conversion stories. God's ways of calling us to Himself are so varied, but lead us to the same place. The Body of Christ is a wonderful collection of people from many backgrounds, but we're one in Him!

"...if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister." The race we run as Christians is not a sprint. It's a marathon, a long run with many dangers along the way. Satan lies in wait. Sometimes he's a serpent, nipping at our heels. Other times he's a roaring lion who threatens to tear us apart. Hebrews 12:1-2 says, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God." Don't let weariness or despair stop you! Put one foot in front of the other and keep going. It will be so worth it when we see Jesus face to face!

We read in 3 John 1:9, "I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority." The King James Version translates it more accurately: "...who loveth to have the preeminence." Diotrephes put himself first, ahead of anyone else, even Christ Himself. But we read in today's passage that in all things Christ has the preeminence. A lot of our problems in the church today stem from our desire to be first, to have our own way. It goes back to the big lie Satan told Eve in the Garden- you will be like God. I love the first line of Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Life: "It's not about you." Seldom have so few words said so much! It's not about you and me. It's about Jesus! It becomes us as Christians to love one another, to esteem others over ourselves and to be a servant.

Here's a wonderful song that sums up what we read today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fQJPsnhZwA