Colossians

Colossians  1:12-29 (KJV) 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14In whom we have redemption through his blood, eventhe forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:16 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: 17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And 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. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him
should all fulness dwell; 20 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 earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies inyour  mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and benot moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, andwhich was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; 24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: 25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; 26Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. 

Let me ask you a question this morning, what is the first?

What takes priority in your life?

What takes priority in the life of our church?

All of us know the Sunday School answer is Christ.  He is first he is prominent. He is preeminent. If we were to ask anyone who is a believer, anyone who is a member of the church, that would be the Sunday school answer.   Oh yes, Jesus is first!

Now let me ask you, honestly in your life, is He first..
in your actions
in your finances
in your talents
in your abilities and
in your resources
in all that you have is Christ first?

Let me give you a little background in the book of Colossians, that is what we will be looking at today. I want us to know little bit about what's going on in Colossians.  First of all Paul has never been there, the pastor Epaphras came and sought out Paul.  
 
The pastor comes and seeks out Paul because he has some problems. We see these problems come through in the response to almost like we have one side of a phone call. We know how the conversation of the pastor with Paul that we can infer from what Paul writes back to the pastor. Some of the things is going on, and one of the things that is going on is Christ is moved from his rightful position.

For Christians Christ must the focal point
Christ must be center
Christ must be front
Christ must be preeminent
Christ must the superior

Christ must be center our lives.  Who He is in reality is unfortunately not exactly focal or center. 

Let me share something with you say, Satan is no fool, he is real and he knows how to manipulate

One of our greatest problems that we face today is not that we ignore Christ. It's not that we have thrown him away. The devil would not be so brazen as to try to get you to throw Christ out of your life, but let me share with you what the devil will do, he will begin to push you, to prod you.  You will begin to move Christ just a little off center. He will get you to begin to move Christ just a little off point to a place where Christ is a part of your life but no longer the center, no longer preeminent. But what Paul is saying to the church at Colossi is Christ can't be a part, Christ must be all of
your life.

Colossians  1:12-29

Christ deserves first  place because:
Christ is for us the image of the invisible  God

How would you define God, how would you tell someone who had no concept of what God was of who God was. How would you explain to them, defying for them God?

God is infinite. In mathematics you have the symbol for infinity but we have no way in our limited minds to explain or understand infinity.

God is spirit. Our problem today is when we think of spirit we are almost and immediately thrown into the Hollywood experience of ghosts and spirits.

God is all powerful. Once again put that into words,  I can't!
God is everywhere
God is love
God is wrath
God is just
God is
God is
God is

Jesus is for us the definition, the manifestation, the revelation of God. He is God defined for us.

God is infinite. Christ did not begin at birth in Bethlehem. He gives us in the picture of infinity before the earth was Christ was. Christ did not end at Calvary, after that Christ is. Christ gives to us a  picture of infinity so we can say that God is Infinite. Christ shows us infinity.

God is spirit. Christ for us walked on this earth physically for a lifetime. He limited himself. The Bible says he willingly limited  himself, for our benefit we get a glimpse of Christ in spirit. There's talk of him after the resurrection with men and women in locked rooms in closed quarters without a door opening without a window opening all of a sudden in their midst is the Lord and Savior. Jesus shows us Spirit.

Christ deserves first place because:
Christ is the firstborn of every creature

Colossians 1:15 (KJV) Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 

The title "firstborn" here does not mean that He was born first or created first of all created beings. The context makes this point abundantly clear: "By him were all things created," Paul says (v. 16). No text must be divorced from its context. If verse fifteen means that the Lord was a created being (as the Arians taught), then according to verse sixteen, He must have created Himself—which is
  an absurdity. The words "the firstborn of every creature" can be rendered "the firstborn over all
creation," making Him superior to and distinct from the entire sphere of created beings and things. The title means that "Christ, existing as he did before all creation, exercises the privilege of primogeniture as Lord of all creation.... He was there when creation began." 
The John Phillips Commentary Series

Throughout the Old Testament the one who was born first was regularly set aside in favor of one who was born later. Thus, God set aside Ishmael and chose Isaac, and He set aside Esau and chose Jacob. "The elder shall serve the younger," God foretold to Rebekah before either Esau or Jacob was born. Similarly, God set aside Saul and chose David. Spiritually, He sets aside "the old man" in the  believer and chooses "the new man"—Adam is replaced by Christ, the "flesh" is replaced by the Spirit.

The "firstborn" in the Old Testament was primarily a title indicating rank and privilege. In the patriarchal family, three things accompanied the title. With the position of "firstborn" went the property; the one who inherited the title received a double portion of the inheritance. That is to say, he received twice as much as any of the others. The "firstborn" also received the priestly right, the right to lead the family in worship. And he also received the progenitor right—to be in the direct line to the birth of Christ.

In the case of Reuben, he was disinherited, and the "firstborn" rights and privileges were divided three ways. Joseph received the double portion of the inheritance—two of his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, became tribal heads. Judah received the progenitor right because Christ was descended from his seed. And, eventually, Levi received the priestly right. All of this indicates clearly that the idea of being "the firstborn of every creature" had nothing to do with being born (or even created) first. It has to do with rank, priority, and position. God's dear Son is thus set apart from all others. He ranks first. He takes precedence over all. He is not only "[God's] dear Son" (v.
  13), He is God the Son.
The John Phillips Commentary Series – Exploring Colossians & Philemon: An Expository
Commentary.

Christ deserves first place because:
by him were all things created by him all things consist

Christ was not merely present at creation, he was the agent of creation.
 
We do well to remind ourselves, in the face of high-powered evolutionary propaganda, that science knows nothing of origins. Dr. Asa Gray, once called the greatest botanist in the history of American science, declared, "A beginning is wholly beyond the ken and scope of science which is concerned
with how things go on and has nothing to say as to how they begin."
John Phillips

Christ deserves first place because:
and he is the head of the church

Colossians 1:12-29 (KJV) 12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Made us meet -To make sufficient, render competent or worthy 
AMG's Complete Word Study Dictionaries

1 Corinthians  15:50-54 (KJV) 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on
immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 

Delivered us from the power of Darkness!

On one level we never really truly understand what the cross of Christ is for us in our lives.  We all have a mental picture of what it is but let me for a moment this morning give you a picture that Paul was painting with these words.

You often hear of text being in and speaking in military terms and that is exactly what Paul is doing here.  The world has been conquered by the darkness.  What Christ does is run into a dark evil world and faces all the forces of darkness and evil at Calvary and triumphs over them!

Colossians 2:13-15 (KJV) 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your
flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way,
nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. 

Christ deserves first place in our life, because he chose to come into our world, to come into our darkness, and to come to were we are and bring us out!

Because of him doing that for us he deserves preeminence

Colossians 1:13-14 (KJV) 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated usinto the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 
  
"Redemption" means "to buy back" or "to save from captivity by paying a ransom." One way to buy back a slave was to offer an equivalent or superior slave in exchange. That is the way God chose to buy sinful people back—he offered his Son in exchange for us. Paul was reminding the Colossian believers that they were not saved by knowledge or by good works or by inclusion in some sort of secret religious cult; they were saved by the blood of Jesus Christ. Through him alone had they
received redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

If we want to be freed from the deadly consequences of our sins, a tremendous price must be paid. But we don't have to pay it. Jesus Christ, our substitute, has already redeemed us by his death on the cross. Our part is to trust him and accept his gift of eternal life. Our sins have been paid for, and the way has  been cleared for us to begin a relationship with God.
Life Application Bible Commentary 

He Qualified us
He Rescued us
He Redeemed us!