Only Jesus: The Supremacy of Jesus Christ | Colossians 1:15-20
We are going to talk about Jesus today. Who is Jesus? It is the most frequently asked and important question. You came to church today so I would assume you have general positive thoughts about Jesus. No person in the history of the planet has had more of an impact or influence than Jesus. Muslims believe Jesus is a prophet but not divine. Jews believe he is a teacher but not a prophet. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe he is the Archangel Michael, and some skeptics even doubt Jesus existed at all! The one thing about Jesus is you can’t really be neutral about Him. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity, “Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” Whatever you believe about Jesus is the most important thing about you. The Nicene Creed says: “One Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial (same substance) with the Father; through him all things were made.”
Paul is in prison writing to a group of believers he has never met before but has heard a lot about through their pastor Epaphras. His concern for them was the pressures of the culture around them to add to or abandon Jesus. False teachers were teaching that Jesus was prominent, one of many, but not supreme or divine. Paul is in prison because he refused to stop preaching that Jesus was Lord over and above all (including Caesar). His primary objective is to teach the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus alone. Most scholars believe these verses were a hymn that was commonly sung in the early church that may have been written by Paul. Even though these verses may not be derived from worship they should result in worship; the worship of Christ should overflow into witness for Christ. Paul teaches us the most essential truths about the person and preeminence of Jesus so that we will put Him before all things in our lives.