Jesus - The Image of the Invisible God

Like I said earlier in our scripture reading, we are in our Christmas series. We put our series in the Sermon on the Mount, The Extraordinary Christian Life. We put that series on hold to look at some information, some scripture, some truths, some messages pertaining to Christmas. And this is all about Jesus, the incarnation of God, and we started last week. And if you would, go ahead and take your Bible and turn to where I asked you to turn to earlier, and that is Colossians chapter 1. Now I will reference some other verses. I'll read some other verses. Don't necessarily turn there. I want you to follow me.

Maybe write those verses down and make them a part of your own personal study. But let's take our Bibles and let's turn to Colossians chapter 1, and we're going to be in verses 15 to 18. So let's read those verses together. What does Paul say here? He says, "And he," that's Jesus, "he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by him and for him." Now that's a mouthful. We're going to unpack that very well, I believe.

And then verse 17, "And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together." And then our last verse, "He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might come to have first place in everything." Now I think we all have a Bible in hand. It could be on your phone. It could be on a device. You know, that's a strange thing. I see the glow on your faces. I trust you're not text messaging. I trust you're looking at your Bible, maybe on your phone or your iPad. But you know, we have our copy of God's Word. And we have both Old Testament and New Testament.

And you know, the Bible is all about Jesus. Primarily from Old and New Testament, it's primarily about Jesus. We could say it like this, although it is more. See Jesus is the main character of it all, although he might not be seen in every verse. He might not be mentioned in every chapter. The Bible is the story of God's Messiah who came to earth to redeem a people for himself. That's Jesus. That's the incarnation. We studied that thoroughly, I believe, last week. Now I want to get a little more specific here. The Old Testament. The Old Testament is the story about the coming Messiah, Jesus. We have prophecies that predict the coming Messiah.

And then we have types and shadows all throughout the Old Testament that are a picture of the Messiah to come. That's found in the Old Testament. And then the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They are the story of the Messiah who has come. And if you really want to know the full story about Jesus, you just take Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and you mix them together. And that's the story of the Messiah who had come. And then we move on into the book of Acts. It is the story of the Messiah who is made known to the world.

Those first believers took the message of Jesus and the Gospel and they went all over the known world of angelizing the lost. And then we have the epistles. They are primarily the theology of the Messiah. And the rest of the New Testament is a record of the development of the body of Christ and the church. And then last we have Revelation, the book of Revelation. It's the story of the Messiah who is on His throne and He has all power and all authority has been given to Him by God the Father. Now I said earlier Jesus is the main character of the Bible, but He is much, much more.

He is more than the main character of this play that we would call history. Now the verses that we've just read show us this reality. Verses 15 to 18 are some of the most important teaching concerning the supremacy of Christ or the preeminence of Christ. Paul is writing to remove any doubt or any confusion among God's people concerning the true identity of Jesus. And there was a lot of confusion in this local church, the Colossian church, concerning the identity of Jesus.

Now listen folks, for us, for you, for me, just like a proper understanding of the incarnation is essential for a proper Christology, understanding the true identity of Jesus as it relates to His supremacy is essential for a proper Christology as well. This is needed for all of us, maybe more than you know. Now last week I asked us to think. I talked about this being practical. I talked about this being relevant for all of us. I asked us to think about how we live out Christmas and we all live out Christmas differently. We celebrate all that Christmas means to us differently and that is good.

One of the men in the church this week said, "Pastor, it sure seemed like you were telling us to feast at Christmas." I said, "Yeah, feast at Christmas." We learn in our study of proverbs we have times of feasting and we have times of fasting, but yet throughout the week and the year we live and eat in moderation. Christmas is a wonderful time to be with family, yes, and to feast. We celebrate with family. Christmas, we eat during Christmas. We give presents during Christmas. Maybe you have time off during Christmas. Some have to work during Christmas. Some may travel and some of you may even have family traditions.

You know, I thought about it this week, COVID has changed many of our plans. I would add to that, COVID has ruined some of my family plans. Some of my family that always gets together, we just can't get together because of COVID. And I did call us to live out how we celebrate Christmas all for the glory of God. I mean, we enjoy this time with family, feasting, presents, traditions, recreation, travel. We do it all for the glory of God, even if COVID changes our plans. But how do we do that? How do we celebrate all that Christmas means to us for the glory of God?

We do that by making sure that the incarnation that we studied last week and the exaltation that we studied last week, the incarnation and the exaltation of Christ, we want to make that the center of our Christmas celebration. But there's more, there's more that we must consider if we're going to make Christ the center of our Christmas, we must see that Christ is the supreme one. You can say it like this, he is the preeminent one. We must understand that this Christ who came to earth as a man, he was ultimately crucified, he was dead and he was raised from the dead. And then eventually, ultimately he was exalted as the preeminent one.

And there is no being higher. And that is the theme of what we are going to examine this morning. We are going to look at God, he left heaven to become a man. And we're going to look at the fact that he is the image of the invisible God, but yet even more, he is the preeminent one. Now, just like in Philippians chapter 2, verses 5 to 11, here in our verses, in Colossians, we have the practical and theological. Remember we discussed that last week. We have the practical and we have the theological. Practically, this Colossian church, they were under attack. They had a problem.

There was this dangerous heresy which was truly threatening the church. Simply, this was a heretical teaching that attacked the person of Christ. Now, theologically, this teaching denied Christ's humanity. These heretics saw Christ as some lesser being or some spirit that emanated or came from God. These heretics taught that spirit was good, but they taught that all physical matter was evil. So to them, Christ could never have taken on flesh because they believed that flesh or the physical was evil. All matter was evil to these heretics. So this was a heretical teaching that attacked the person of Christ.

And later, this heresy turned out to be what dogged the church for really generations that was called Gnosticism. Well, practically, Paul was addressing the heresy in this church. He had never been to Colossae, but he had heard oh so much about this wonderful word. And then theologically, he is debunking the heresy by truly describing who Christ is. He is debunking the heresy by exalting Christ as the Supreme One. By putting forth Christ as the preeminent one, he is showing that there is none higher. So again, this is our theme this morning. This is the teaching this morning. Christ is the preeminent one. He's the Supreme One.

He is the image of the invisible God, and you see the title of the message that we're going to look at this morning. Now we're going to cover three major truths in our message. These will be easy for you to follow. They really come right out of the verses. And when you see them, you will see them just jump right out of the verses. It's easy for you to follow. So number one, I want us to see first, Paul shows us his relationship to God. This is Christ Jesus. Paul shows us his relationship to God. This is right out of verse 15. Look at the verse with me. And he, that's Jesus, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all the creation.

Now earlier I mentioned what these heretics were doing to Jesus. They saw Jesus as a mere spirit coming from God. They saw Jesus as lesser than God. They saw Jesus as lower than God. They did not see him as God. They also taught that all physical matter was evil. So the idea of Jesus being God who took on flesh was completely absurd to these heretics. And these heretics would have scoffed at such a notion, the incarnation, they would have laughed. So these heretics were altering the theology of Christ.

They were propagating a faulty Christ and to them Jesus was a lesser spirit from God and he could have never taken on flesh again because they saw all flesh as evil. Well, to debunk this heretical teaching in the church, Paul describes who Jesus really was in two ways. He describes his relationship to God. First, he explains that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. You see that right in the verse. Here Paul is explaining that Jesus enables man to see what God is truly like. Now if you know your Bible, you know that God is spirit. You know that God himself cannot be seen. God is invisible, but there is a key word here.

This word image, it can be translated likeness. In Christ, God himself made it possible for man to see him with the mortal eye. In that sense, Jesus is the image of the invisible God and he is the manifestation of God. He is the representation of God. See, Paul is really emphasizing that Jesus is two things. He is the representation of God and the manifestation of God. He is God in human flesh. He is the complete and perfect manifestation. He is the full and final manifestation. A corresponding verse, a verse that really just says the same thing in Hebrews chapter 1, verse 3.

"He, Christ, is the radiance of the glory of God and notice and the exact imprint of his nature." So, we see that Paul explains that Jesus is the image, the representation, the manifestation of the invisible God. Second he explains that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. Jesus is the firstborn of all creation. Now honestly, this phrase can be a doozy. This can be a toughie. Look back at the verse. And he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all the creation. Now here is where false teachers come up with the idea that Jesus was a created being. There are false teachers that teach that.

Some teach that Jesus was the first person that God ever created and they're perverting this verse. The Jehovah's Witnesses do that. They pervert this verse and they believe that Jesus was the first created being. Now this term firstborn, it can refer to the firstborn chronologically. It can refer to physical birth. Simply the firstborn in birth. But here in the scripture, it refers to position. Remember the word that we used last week? Rank. This refers to position and rank. And this is very cultural as well. In Hebrew culture and in Greek culture, the firstborn was the son who had the rights to the inheritance.

And it wasn't necessarily the firstborn by birth. I'll give you an example. Esau. He was born first. We know the story of Jacob and Esau, but it was Jacob who received the inheritance because he was seen as the firstborn. And Israel, the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel was seen as the firstborn. Now Israel was not the first peoples born on earth, nor was Israel the first nation. But they were chosen by God and Israel was esteemed to a higher place above all of the other nations. Well for Jesus, he was God's one and only son. He was and is the unique one. But this has nothing to do with his birth.

This speaks to God the Father's unique relationship with God the Son through their eternal relationship. Simply, this does not speak about time. This speaks about position. This speaks about priority. This speaks about his rank. We see this in other places. I give you a good verse for you to go back and read and study and mark in your copy of God's Word. Psalm 89, verse 27 says, "And I will make him," that's Jesus, that's a prophecy, "and I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." That is Jesus. So right here in verse 15, what do we have here? It's really a lot. Paul explains two realities concerning Jesus.

All of this was to debunk. All of this was to kick out this heretical teaching about Jesus there in a local church. Paul does this by declaring that Jesus is the perfect and complete manifestation or representation of God. And he is the firstborn, meaning he has the highest position, the highest priority, the highest place in rank. And he has been all of this, all of this throughout all of eternity. Now, if we have a good memory, I'm not going to ask you to call it out loud. If we have a good memory, we can recall what we learned last week in verses 6 to 8 in Philippians chapter 2.

Before we looked at Christ's humiliation, his purposeful humiliation, we saw that Christ was and is God. Paul said to the Philippians that Christ existed in the form of God. He existed as God before the incarnation, during the incarnation, and after the incarnation. He has always existed as God, unaltered, unchanged, always the same. So in the flesh, there at the incarnation, Jesus is the perfect. He is the complete manifestation of God. And he is the firstborn holding that highest position, that highest priority, that highest rank. Now, for us, yes, we celebrate Christmas in all the ways that we enjoy. We celebrate Christmas with family.

Hopefully you can get together with some of your family. We celebrate Christmas with food and with travel and recreation, and we celebrate Christmas with presents. But the real meaning of Christmas is this, the incarnation. And this Jesus who became flesh must be seen in this way. This Jesus is the perfect manifestation of God. I don't know why, but I thought about it like this last night. You ever seen one of those cheap manger scenes? You know, we have manger scenes. You know, we have little kids manger scenes and we have very expensive manger scenes. Have you ever seen a cheap manger scene?

Well compared to what we've looked at right here, every manger scene is a cheap manger scene because it's not a true manifestation and representation of who this Jesus is. This is not a cheap manger scene, folks. He was and he is the perfect manifestation of God. And we should worship him as just what we see here during the Christmas season. Again, Hebrews 1.3 says, and I'm reading the rest of the verse, he is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he holds the universe by the word of his power. This is the Jesus of Christmas. So we see his relationship to God. Let's move on.

I want us to see our second major truth in our outline. Second Paul shows us his relationship to creation. Paul shows us his relationship to creation. Now we see this in verse 16 and 17. It's quite a bit here. I want us to read it again and then I'll refer to it as we kind of unpack this together. Look at verse 16 and 17. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things have been created by him and for him. And then verse 17, and he is before all things and in him all things hold together.

Now what Paul gives here in these verses might surprise you, but it's connected to what's been happening in verse 15. The false teachers, they were infiltrating the church there at Colossae. They were diminishing and attacking the person of Christ. They were perverting the theology of Christ. They did not see him as the true manifestation of God or the first one in position power and priority. And here Paul elevates Jesus to his proper place using another angle, the creation. That's what verses 16 and 17 are all about, the creation. And this echoes the verse that we read last week, John 1, verses 1 to 3. Listen to what the apostle John says.

In the beginning was the word, that's Jesus. And the word was with God, that's Jesus. And the word was God, that's Jesus. He was in the beginning with God. And notice verse 3, "And all things were made through him and without him was not anything that has been made." So Paul here is still debunking this heretical teaching surrounding the person of Christ. And here Paul shows three things about Jesus and how he relates to the creation. First he shows Jesus as creator. He shows Jesus as creator. We saw that in verse 16.

"For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by him and for him." That's a mouthful. Now as far as Jesus' relationship to the creation, these heretics believe that Jesus was from God, but they did not believe that Jesus had anything to do with the creation. These heretics taught that some other being much lesser than Jesus created the physical universe. Why? Because all physical matter was evil. Well to combat that lie, Paul makes three statements in verse 17. They are subtle, but they are very, very powerful.

I want you to look at verse 16 in your copy of God's Word. Notice what he says. "First all things were created by him, for by him all things were created." Second, he says that all things were created through him. "For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, and all things have been created by him and for him." And then third, "All things were created for him." I know that's subtle, but it is extremely powerful. Paul is saying that the universe was created by Jesus. He was the architect. He was the designer of it all.

Paul is saying that the universe was created through Jesus. He was the agent of creation. He was the doer in creating it all. Paul is saying the universe was created for Jesus. He is the one for whom all of the universe was created. It's all for his purpose. It's all for his pleasure. It was by him. It was through him. And it was for him. And there's another layer. There's more. Paul gives a list here that gives no room for doubt. He says all things, whether in heaven or on earth, he says all things, the visible and the invisible, that's the spiritual. He says all things.

Scholars say these thrones, these dominions, these rulers, these authorities speak about angelic beings. So simply Paul shows us Jesus as creator. You can abbreviate it all this way. He was the architect. He was the designer of the creation. He was the agent. He was the doer in all of this creation. And it was for him and by him. It was for his purposes and for his good pleasure. But then second, Paul shows Jesus as what I call the pre-dater. The pre-dater. Look at verse 17. And he is before all things. This verse is really simple. It's all about time. Before all things refers to the creation.

And there is one word that is rather profound here. The word is. Look back at your copy of God's word. Verse 17. And he is before all things. That's why I say pre-dater. Listen, Paul says he is, not that he was. This speaks about his deity. Jesus said something very similar in John chapter 8, verse 58. Jesus said to the Jewish leaders and the Jews and the crowds there, he said, truly, truly, I say to you before Abraham was, I am. Not I was, I am. And then third, Paul shows us Jesus as sustainer. Back to the verse. Verse 17. He is before all things. And in him, all things hold together.

Not only did Jesus design it all, not only did Jesus create it all, and not only was it all created for his purposes and for his good pleasure, Paul states that Jesus sustains it all. One commentator that I read this week said it like this. He is the sustainer of the universe and the source of its perpetual motion. Listen, he simply holds the entire universe, and he keeps the entire universe in motion. Monday, when I was doing quite a bit of study in these verses and other verses, I was looking at my news feed, and I ran across a Newsweek headline, and it said this. This is the title of the headline.

A mysterious object is hurtling towards Earth, and we don't know what it is. Now, when you read that, automatically fear, and uncertainty, and all types of questions that are rooted in fear. But listen, folks, according to what we see here, Jesus knows exactly what it is. He designed it. He created it. He created whatever it is, and he created it for his own will and for his own purposes. And he existed before whatever that is was ever created. So really, in verses 16 and 17, we see a lot. Paul is giving us a lot. He explains that all of the creation, it was all created by him.

He was the master designer, the master builder of it all, and it was and is for his purposes and for his good pleasure. And he sustains it all. Nothing is out of control. He holds it all together. That which is seen and unseen, that which is understood and not understood, the physical and the spiritual, all means all, folks. And listen, if one atom is not under Christ's control, if he can't sustain one atom, or one human being, or one star, or one planet, then he is not God. You hear me? If one atom is out of control, then he is not God.

And you know, at Christmas, we may just need to sit down with our family and discuss the fact that man cannot destroy earth because Christ sustains it. Listen, I do know that man can mar the earth. Man can damage the earth. Man can, in one sense, ruin the earth, but man can't destroy it. Only God can and God will. And this idea that man can destroy what God sustains is erroneous. And listen, this Christmas, this is the Jesus that we must worship. This Jesus is the one who left heaven. And listen, he subjected himself to the very creation which he created.

The master submitted himself to the slave of the creation, but the creation was marred by sin. And ultimately, the ones that he created, and the ones that he sustained, crucified him. Some of you really need to hear this. Some of you are not born-again Christians. You have not come to that place where you've been converted to Christ. Do you realize this very same Jesus is the one that sustains you? The breath in your lungs, the beat in your heart, the days, the years that you have at your disposal? He is the sustainer of it all.

And while you're rebelling against his lordship, while you're rebelling against his word, this same Jesus is sustaining you. And according to the scripture, if he were to snuff your life out right now and send you straight to hell, that would be just. Every moment, every millisecond that you have is nothing but grace by this eternal creator God who sustains your life all while you are rejecting him. What great love. What great grace. This is the God that we Christians serve. And this is the God that we must celebrate and worship here at Christmas. It's more than a cheap manger scene. So we see his relationship to his creation.

And then third, this third major truth, Paul shows us his relationship to the church. This is just right out of verse 18. His relationship to the church. Let's look at the verse. He is also head of the body of the church. And he is the beginning, the first born from the dead so that he himself might come to have first place in everything. Now this may surprise some of you, but what is taught here in verse 18 is truly connected to verse 16 and 17 as well. In verse 16 and 17, we saw that Christ has dominion. In his dominion, it encompasses spiritual and physical, physical and spiritual.

His divine dominion consists of that which is seen and unseen. While here in verse 18, Paul simply continues with the spiritual, that which is not necessarily seen. He continues with the church, which is first and foremost spiritual. Although the verse, this verse has a physical aspect, the church, it's people. The church consists of that which is spiritual. So it's physical and spiritual. Now here Paul presents four realities and these will be rather short. Concerning Jesus and how he relates to the church. First, he shows us that Jesus is the head of the church. Isn't that what the beginning of verse 18 says? He is the head of the church.

Now we probably all need to be reminded what the church is. The church is at buildings and budgets, although that can be a part of the church. The church is at plans and programs, although plans and programs can be a part of the church as well. But the church is people. The church is people. The church is all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is all of God's people. The church is all true believers in the Lord Jesus during this church age who were formed into what is commonly called the body of Christ. That's one of the metaphors that we see in scripture. It is used to describe his people.

And we see that in 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 to 20. Well here Paul is stating that Christ is the head of the church. Now just as a physical body has a head and that head controls the physical body, so it is with the church. Christ is the head. Christ guides, he controls, he dictates to the church. What did Jesus tell the disciples after the resurrection? All power and all authority has been given to me, so he is the head of the church. Then second, Paul shows Jesus is the beginning and the source of the church. Paul shows us that Jesus is the beginning and the source of the church. Go back to the verse, verse 18.

He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning. Here Paul is saying Christ is the beginning of this new creation of life. See, those who were in the church have been born again, they have a new life. It is because he is the one who purchased the church with his own blood by his sacrificial death and his resurrection. He purchased for himself a people in new life. So in that sense, he is the beginning. He is the originator of the body. He is the originator of this work, this work called the church. This reminded me of a friend I had years and years ago, a friend that I used to play golf with. I grew up playing golf.

I haven't played golf much in years, but I'll never forget I had a friend that I used to play a little bit of golf with. He was from Taylorsville, Smith County. And he lived and hunted and fished around the Leaf River. And I remember one time he was talking about where he lived and hunted and fished, you could really just hop over the Leaf River. And he used to talk about how he could follow the Leaf River upstream. And he said one day, you know, I've been to right where it starts. I've been to the source. I've been to where it really just comes out of the ground. He'd been to the head, to the source, to the beginning of the Leaf River.

And see, any stream, it can be traced back to its headwaters. It can be traced back to its source, to its beginning. And well, if you trace back this new life in Christ, if you trace back the work of the church, listen, you find its beginnings in Christ. He is the source. He is the beginning of it all. And then third, Jesus is the first born from the dead. We see this in the verse, verse 18. He is also the head of the church and he is the beginning, the first born from the dead. Now we must be careful here. Paul is not saying that Jesus was the first to rise from the dead. Others in the scriptures did rise.

I'll give you an example, Lazarus, Jesus' friend. Jesus was much different than Lazarus. Lazarus died. Jesus raised him and ultimately Lazarus died again. But Jesus is much different. He was the first to be raised from the dead, never to die again. Jesus was the first to rise with a glorified body and he rose as the head of this new creation, the head of this new creation, the church. He is the first born from the dead. And then fourth, Jesus is the supreme one. That's right there at the end of the verse. Go back to verse 18. He is also the head of the body, the church.

He is the beginning, the first born from the dead so that he himself might come to have first place in everything. Now because of Christ's perfect obedience to the Father, through his death, ultimately his resurrection, as a result of all that Christ did to redeem for his glory and honor of people, all because of his perfect obedience to the will of the Father. He has been given the highest place, the supreme position he has been made, the preeminent one. So notice what we have here in verse 18.

Paul shows us that Jesus is the head of the church, the body, the living, breathing, spiritual body, his bride, and listen, his people which he purchased on the cross, he is the beginning of this new life. How, why? It was because he was and is the only one to rise, never to die again. Therefore God the Father has made him the preeminent one over the church, over all. Now a question we need to ask ourselves, what does this have to do with Christmas? Well the answer is everything. This has everything to do with Christmas. Listen folks, only those who are of the church can truly celebrate Christmas.

Only those who have been redeemed, who've been born again, can truly celebrate Christmas. Listen, the church is only the redeemed. The church is only the blood-bought. The church is only those who have been born again. The physical church may be comprised of many members, but the true spiritual church is only comprised of those who have a new life in Christ. And truthfully, you can't truly celebrate Christmas disconnected from the church. You can't do that. Culture may, but we can't. I just don't see how you can. It is the fellowship of the redeemed who truly know what Christmas is about.

It is the fellowship of the redeemed who know that Christ should be central to the celebration of Christmas. And listen folks, bring all that we've studied and more, bring it into your family this Christmas. Moms, dads, some of you have teenagers, children who are lost and not converted to Christ. This is the Christmas you need to give them. Presents, yes. Feasting, yes. Good times, recreation, yes. Oh, but this is the Christ. This is the Christmas that they need to hear because this is the Christ that shows them their need of salvation. This isn't the cheap manger scene. This morning, I text a fellow minister who's dealing with a lost son.

His daughters are converted to Christ. I text him, said I was praying for his son this morning. And I text him and I'm said, I'm praying for your son to come to faith in Christ. See, this is the Christmas, this is the Christ. This is the Jesus that brings lost sinners into the church and they can truly, truly celebrate Christmas. So what do we have here? Paul gives us his relationship to the church. Now as I begin to close, notice what we've seen here. That's a lot, I know. Jesus is the image of the invisible God. He is the perfect, he is the full manifestation of God. Jesus is the creator God. He designed it all. He created it all.

He sustains it all. And it is all for his pleasure. It is all for his purposes, not yours and not mine. And he is the head of this church. His people, those that he died to save. You know, this is the time of the year where we enjoy sports, football, spring's coming. We will enjoy baseball. We enjoy a little bit of soccer this time of the year. You know, some of us enjoy sports and some of us, maybe we do not enjoy sports. But hasn't COVID changed all of that? COVID's changed so much. I did see where the state high school championships were played. You know, there's a debate about if churches should meet.

Say to Mississippi Dean that Mississippi high school athletics is essential. The church is more essential. Well, there's something else that's changed in sports besides COVID. You know, in the place of a first place trophy, in the place of a second place trophy, in the place of a third place trophy, you have the participation trophy. We didn't have that when I was a kid. You either got first, second or third. And after that, you didn't get anything. But you know today to accommodate everybody, you got a participation trophy. Isn't that right? Listen folks, Jesus didn't get a participation trophy. Jesus didn't get a participation trophy.

He is the Supreme One. He is the preeminent one. That is what Paul is presenting here. He is the first in everything. Go back to verse 18. He is also the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first born from the dead. And this last phrase can get by you, but we can't let it get by us. What does it say? So that he himself might come to have first place, first place in everything. I love how one scholar said it, describing who Jesus is here. He said the Lord Jesus has a double preeminence, a double preeminence. I like that. He is first in creation and he is first in the church.

And in verse 18, we see that God the Father has decreed that in all things, Jesus is preeminent. He is the Supreme One. There's none higher folks. So as we celebrate Christmas with family or without, as we celebrate Christmas with feasting or without, as we celebrate Christmas in all that we do, let's do it all for the glory of God. First, by making the incarnation and the exaltation central to our celebration of Christmas. Second, by discussing in our families, by explaining to our children, even sharing with others that Jesus is God. Jesus is God. Jesus is God. He created the world. He governs the world, even the coronavirus.

He is the head of the church. He is the Supreme One. He is the preeminent one. Some of you need to hear something I shared again earlier. This is the Jesus that you must submit to in salvation. I'm not talking about a cheap manger's thing Jesus. I'm not talking about a repeat this prayer and just walk down the aisle and make some cheap promise. No, some of you need to come face to face with this Jesus and repent of your sin and your rebellion and surrender your heart and life to Christ and be born of the spirit, born again. That's who the church is. So let's make Christmas great again.

Remember we borrowed that slogan from Donald Trump, our president. We're gonna alter it and make it useful for the church. Let's make the Christmas great again by taking what we've been studying and making it central to our celebration of Christmas. Let's pray. Let's commit what we've been studying last week and this week 'cause it all builds together. Let's commit it to the Lord and let's ask the Lord to help us here so that our Christmas will be all that he would want it to be. Let's pray.