Colossians 1:18

0:00 I love this church, and it's a privilege to preach to you tonight from God's Word, Colossians 118. I preached this verse a year ago, so I'm tempted to actually just raise this mic, find the audio of my sermon on this phone, bend it down, leave it, and then go sit back down and enjoy my preaching with you all. Believe it or not, the main idea has not changed. It's an absolute joy, seriously, to be able to preach this verse to you again. And what I want to do tonight is basically dive deeper into the implications of this glorious verse.

0:33 So we're going to look at a brief summary of this verse and then spend the majority of our time looking at the implications of Colossians 1.18. You'll find it on the front of our bulletin. Colossians 1.18 reads, 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 main idea of Colossians 1.18 is this, that Jesus holds first place for his people. So hold fast to him and to each other.

1:05 You'll notice in the verse that Jesus holds three titles, three firsts. He's the head of the body, the church. He's first in the church. He governs it. He nourishes it. He's first in the new creation. He inaugurates the reign of God in this world, as we heard about this morning through Greg's preaching. He's also the firstborn from the dead, the one who is a forerunner of the resurrection. One day we too will rise with him because he is first in the resurrection. So Jesus is preeminent in all these things in redemption for his people, and we grow up into him and we can have great hope because of who he is.

1:42 So we need to be reminded of Jesus' preeminence because we're tempted to often shift our confidence elsewhere or elevate other things to try to grow as a Christian in other ways. But the only way that we'll grow as a church is if we hold fast to Jesus and to each other because he holds first place. So that's what I preached a year ago. You can listen to the rest of the exegesis on the devotion if you want to on the audio. But what I want to do tonight is dive deeper into implications of that truth. So this is Colossians 118 2.0. The main implication of this verse is this. Write this down. If Jesus is preeminent in our redemption as his people, if he's preeminent in our redemption as his people, if that is true, here's the implication.

2:33 Our lives should be dominated by Jesus, by each other, and by other churches. Let me say that again. If Jesus is preeminent in our redemption as his people, our lives should be dominated by Jesus, by each other, and by other churches. So we're going to break it down into three points. Dominated by Jesus, dominated by each other, and dominated by other churches. So let's look at the first one. And as we look at these, I'm actually going to just step out of our verse, and we're going to look at other parts of the book of Colossians tonight. Because it's through the book of Colossians that we actually see the glory of Jesus displayed in this implication worked out in the life of Paul and other believers in the letter that he wrote to the church in Colossae.

3:21 So point number one, dominated by Jesus. Just look at the context of Colossians 1.18 and you'll see that Paul is just glorying in who Jesus is. Firstborn in creation, firstborn from the dead, All of his letters are just glowing with the glory of Jesus. He can't stop talking about him. Jesus dominated Paul's letters because Jesus dominated Paul's life. Ever since Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, his life was changed.

3:54 Paul met the head of the church, the firstborn from the dead, and it transformed his life, and Jesus dominated Paul's life for the rest of his days. You know, to be honest, right now, my life doesn't feel dominated by Jesus. It feels dominated by details. In about a month's time, I'm about to move my family to the UAE, and I'm not sure we're going to get everything done in time. It's so easy for all of these details to come crashing in and dominate my life right now.

4:27 I need to be reminded that Jesus is the head of the church. even though I'm running like a chicken with my head cut off. He's the head of the church. He's alive and well. He's fine. And he is the firstborn from the dead, the beginning of a new creation. He's the whole reason we're moving to the UAE in the first place. Getting things done for God's glory is a good thing, but letting those dominate my life is not. Jesus should loom larger in my life than my departure date. Brother and sister, what dominates your life right now?

5:02 Where does your mind go when you wake up in the middle of the night? What is your 3 o'clock soul? Or what about the day? What dominates your conversation when you get together with friends? When you meet up together, what do you always talk about? Show me your Instagram, your text messages, and your bank account, and I will show you what is first place in your life. Is it Jesus? You know, tomorrow is the solar eclipse where millions from around America will flock to the path of totality.

5:35 We're enamored with the beauty of this rare event, and we ought to be. It's an incredible thing, once in a lifetime. But ancient man was terrified by the eclipse. It was the end of the world. Imagine not knowing that it would end. Imagine being plunged into darkness. I want to use the eclipse, as beautiful as it may be, to help us think about an analogy of how to apply Colossians 1.18 in our life. You see, Jesus is preeminent in all his glory. He is a sufficient and enough for us.

6:06 He should dominate our landscape. He should be the one in whose light we walk every day. But I wonder, is there something, some other object that has come between you and Jesus? Or between Jesus and me? What is it in your life right now that is blocking out the glory of Christ? You know, if crickets start chirping and the stars come out in the middle of the day, something's not right. If your conversation in your life starts looking less and less like Jesus and more and more like this world, something is blocking his light. Satan and the world want to draw you into the path of total darkness. Flee. Pick up your Bible. Find someone in this church to disciple you.

6:51 Gather every Sunday morning to bask in the light of Jesus as he is proclaimed and sung and read about every Sunday. Pray that the glory of Jesus would never be eclipsed in your life, but it would dominate everything that you think, say, and do. That's point number one. Point number two, dominated by each other. You know, one of the signs that Jesus is preeminent in your life is that the relationships of other members in this church, they will become a top priority in life as well.

7:25 So if Jesus dominates your life, then this church will dominate your life too. Now I know some of you are thinking right now, that sounds cagey, it sounds tribal, it sounds claustrophobic, but it's true. Christ's preeminence, that he is the head of the body, the church, means that the relationships in this local church should be the top priority in your life, just like Greg preached this morning. And can I just say, I am so encouraged by the introverts in this church who hate big crowds and feel like everyone knows everyone else except them, and yet they come to church every Sunday and they talk to someone.

8:12 That is a glorious sign of Christ's preeminence in their life. Brother and sister, be on the lookout for that kind of glory. And when you see it, tell that person. Encourage them and befriend them. Talk with them too. You know, we really have no excuse as a church. The Apostle Paul was under house arrest in Rome when he wrote his letter to the church in Colossae. You know, if anyone was having a bad week, it was Paul. And yet his thoughts and his affections were dominated by the believers around him.

8:47 As he writes his letter, he keeps talking about the people with him in prison. Aristarchus, Mark, Tychicus, Onesimus, Demas, Luke, Epaphras. Paul can't stop talking about these guys. They're with him. He loves them. Mark, the failed missionary, the guy that caused the sharp disagreement between Paul and Barnabas and caused them to separate. Mark. Mark is with Paul. Their relationship is restored, and Paul is talking about him. he loves him. Or Anesimus, the runaway slave who abandoned his owner Philemon and abandoned the church in Colossae, he's with Paul and he's helping Paul. Both are with Paul in prison, Mark and Anesimus, and Paul speaks about these brothers with respect and affection. He loves them. They're useful to him so much so that he plans to send Mark and Anesimus to the church in Colossae to help them, even though Mark was flighty and even though Onesimus had run away

9:48 from that very church. Picture this, picture this. Mark and Onesimus peering over Paul's shoulders as he writes Colossians 3, 12 to 17. Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

10:21 And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. I can picture Mark and Onesimus as they're peering over Paul's shoulder, watching him write, just nodding their heads and saying, oh yes, yes, totally. Paul, you live just like that, even when you're in jail. You see, Paul loved the local believers around him. He forbore with them, he forgave them, he admonished them, he was singing with them.

10:52 His life was dominated by helping those around him to follow Jesus. Tonight, we're going to take the Lord's Supper together. As you examine your life, I want you to leave room in your thoughts for other members. Don't just think about you and Jesus. Think about you and Jesus and Dan and Chris and Amy and Greg and Cindy and Tyree and Kara and Sampan.

11:23 And the list goes on and on and on. Look around this room. Think about others. Fill your thoughts with the one another's. Use our church covenant tonight to be a guide to help make the members of this church a top priority in your life. But that leads us to point number three, the last point of this devotion. Dominated, not just by the members of this church, number three, dominated by other churches.

11:56 You know, loving church members is actually low-hanging fruit. This is the heavy lifting. What blows my mind about Paul's letter to the church in Colossae is that he had never met them, ever. Yet listen to what Paul says in Colossians 2, 1 through 5. For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance and of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery which is Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments for though I am absent in body yet I am with you in spirit rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. You know Paul is under house arrest in Rome and yet churches he has never met fill his mind and attention and he takes time to build them up

13:00 if you are here tonight and you are not a christian what further proof do you need that jesus walked out of the grave and that he is alive today reigning in heaven paul paul who persecuted churches is now writing love letters to them from prison and these are the people he had never ever met. And it's not just Paul, it's Epaphras too. Listen to what Paul says about Epaphras, the guy who planted the church in Colossae, who is now with Paul in prison. Colossians 4, 12 to 13, Paul says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you. He's always struggling on your behalf in his prayers, that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

13:44 For I bear him witness that he has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Heropolis. You know, Epaphras had helped three different churches in that region. And even though now he was far away from them in Rome, he was still praying for them, even from prison. Brothers and sisters, when was the last time you thought about another church? And Greg's pastoral prayer doesn't count. Do you pray for other churches as you drive to third? you're going to pass some on the way, pray for them. Do you get to know the members of other churches and seek to build them up? Or what about our church partners, our Omer Johnson and Aaron Scott household names? Do you know what's going on in the life of Lauren Whitmore? What about the Mays, the Carters, the Collins, the Manley's, the Phillips? Will you cancel your dinner plans in two weeks from now after the evening service so you can come to Andy and Meredith's info night? You see other churches dominated the life of Paul and Epaphras because Jesus is not just the head of one

14:47 local church he's the head of all local churches everywhere. As Greg preached this morning Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to local churches but he also intended local churches to link arms with other congregations to advance his kingdom together. You know I take great comfort from thinking about the implications of Christ's preeminence and how it just led to this flurry of activity, this coming and going. Paul praying and preaching and writing letters and people coming to visit him and him sending them out and them coming back. And all this coming and going between these churches, loving one another from afar. I take comfort in that because I've been struggling with something. I have a dilemma. And we'll end with this. This is my dilemma. I'm part of this local church. I'm a member here and I'm about to be dismembered from this body. But I love you guys and it's going to hurt, but I'm excited to go to Russell Kaima and be incorporated into that body.

15:46 I'm thrilled to be a member there, to be a pastor and to build it up. And reading this verse and the context and implication helps remind me that both can be true. I can love this church as a member now, and I can love it from far away when I'm a member there. And I know that you will keep loving me even when I am no longer a member here. I love tonight how in our prayer time Joao reached out and wrote about what's going on in Brazil. What a beautiful example of what we saw tonight.

16:18 We see Christ's preeminence in the life of Joao as he reaches back out to this church he was a part of to tell us about what's going on in Brazil. And we as a church pray for him as well. You see, a watching world cannot understand how churches would love one another and work together to see Christ's name glorified around the world. It's through our love for one another as members and as churches that we declare to a watching world that Christ is preeminent.

16:50 He is the head of the church, that a new creation is dawned, and that one day we will rise with him and reign forever, gathered around his throne, feasting together. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your son, Jesus. Jesus, thank you for your glory. I pray that your glory would dominate our lives, that it would lead to the prioritizing of our relationship with one another as members of this church.

17:23 And God, too, that we would be eager to get to know, to pray for, to love, to serve, to visit, to go to other churches as well. And we pray that in all of this, the preeminence of Christ would be magnified. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you.