Sermon Cloud

1. PAUL’S DESIRE FOR THE COLOSSIANS TO GROW TO MATURITY IN CHRIST (1:1-14)

a. GREETING & INTRODUCTION (1:1-2)

b. GRATITUDE & GROWTH OF THE GOSPEL(1:3-8)

c. GROWTH OF THE COLOSSIANS IN CHRIST (1:9-14)

KNOWING CHRIST IS A BEGINNING NOT AN ENDING.

KNOWING CHRIST IS A PROCESS NOT A PRODUCT.

KNOWING CHRIST IS A ABOUT KNOWING A PERSON NOT A PRINCIPLE.

KNOWING CHRIST IS A POSSIBILITY TO BE RECEIVED NOT A PUZZLE TO BE SOLVED.

KNOWING CHRIST RESULTS IN POWER FOR LIFE NOT A PASSIVE RESIGNATION.

13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV)

2. PAUL DECLARES THE SUPREMACY & SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST (1:15-23)

a. THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST (1:15-20) [OVER CREATION, POWERS, CHURCH, DEATH & SIN]

b. THE SUFFICIENCY OF CHRIST (1:21-23)

1. CHRIST AND CREATION (1:15-17)

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 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. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Colossians 1:15-17 (ESV)

The concept of “image” involves three things: likeness (Christ is the exact likeness of God, a mirror image [cf. Heb. 1:3]), representation (Christ represents God to us), and manifestation (Christ makes God known to us [cf. John 1:18]).41 While God made man in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), Christ is the image of God (cf. John 1:18; 14:8–9; 2 Cor. 4:4).

The Greek word translated “image” (eikon), “. . . does not imply a weakening or a feeble copy of something. It implies the illumination of its inner core and essence.”

“To call Christ the image of God is to say that in Him the being and nature of God have been perfectly manifested—that in Him the invisible has become visible.”

“First-born” (Gr. prototokos) may denote either priority in time or supremacy in rank (cf. v. 18; Exod. 4:22; Ps. 89:27; Rom. 8:29; Heb. 1:6; Rev. 1:15). It may also denote both of these qualities. Both seem to be in view here. Christ was before all creation in time, and He is over all creation in authority. In view of the context (vv. 16–20), the major emphasis seems to be on His sovereignty, however.44 What “first-born” does not mean is that Christ was the first created being, which Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. This is clear because verses 16–18 state that Christ existed before all things and is the Creator Himself.

a. PREEMINENT

b. PLANNER

c. POWER

d. PURPOSE

e. PRECURSOR

f. PILLAR

“For centuries, the Greek philosophers had taught that everything needed a primary cause, an instrumental cause, and a final cause. The primary cause is the plan, the instrumental cause the power, and the final cause the purpose. When it comes to Creation, Jesus Christ is the primary cause (He planned it), the instrumental cause (He produced it), and the final cause (He did it for His own pleasure).”

2. CHRIST AND THE NEW CREATION – THE CHURCH (1:18-20)

18 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. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:18-20 (ESV)

He is sovereign because He is the first-born from the dead. Christ is the “beginning” of the church in that He is its power and source of spiritual life. He became this at His resurrection when He became the first-born from the dead in time. Christ was the first Person to rise from the dead with a glorified body never to die again. He broke death’s hold on humanity (1 Cor. 15:20, 23). Thus Christ became preeminent also in the new creation, the church, as well as in the old creation (vv. 16–17).

3. CHRIST AND THE NEW CREATION – THE CHRISTIAN (1:21-23)

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 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, 23 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.

Colossians 1:15-23 (ESV)

“Holy” means set apart from sin.

“Blameless” means without blemish or defect.

“Beyond reproach” means totally without occasion for criticism.

“If” introduces a condition the writer assumed was true to reality for the sake of his argument (a first class condition in Greek). We could translate it, “Since.”

1 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, 2 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. 3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

Hebrews 12:1-3 (ESV)