Why Do Christians Follow and Serve Jesus Christ?

The Supremacy of the Son of God

-- Colossians 1:15-1:23 – Amplified --

What is it that drives us as Christians? What makes us so different from all other “magic solutions” for life’s problems? Seafaring tradition holds that the Captain must go down with his ship. What is it that makes him the last to leave a sinking ship and the rats the first to jump off? It is merely devotion to duty, or is there a higher calling? The rats’ duty is to feed themselves and reproduce, when conditions make that impossible they leave; no regrets, no hesitation, and no looking back. The captain’s duty on the other hand is to look out for the welfare of all crewmembers and passengers on the ship. When the ship makes that impossible for him to do he gives orders to abandon ship. Every crewman under his command is expected to help save the passengers first, then themselves. To assure that his orders are carried out and therefore fulfilling his duty, the captain remains and is the last one to leave. Every person on that ship looks to the captain as the supreme authority. Each one knows that he holds their life in his hands.

The earth is a sinking ship thanks to sin and the devil. We as Christians are the crewmen, unbelievers are the passengers. It is our duty as crewmen to be sure as many of the passengers as possible are saved before the ship goes down. Jesus Christ is our captain, our supreme authority. He holds our lives in His hands. We all look up to Him knowing His devotion to duty will keep Him with us till the very end. We all know that He has entrusted us with the safety of the unbelieving passengers who would rather party on the lido deck until they drown instead of getting into the lifeboat of salvation and be saved. The success of the entire operation hinges on the supremacy of the captain, the Christ, our Lord and Savior.

So just what is it that makes Him so supreme? Paul explained it for us in his letter to the Colossians:

1)       When we see Jesus, we have also seen the Father.

Col 1:15 [Now] He is the exact likeness of the unseen God [the visible representation of the invisible]; He is the Firstborn of all creation.

a.       Jesus IS an exact representation of what God the Father is like. (not WAS because He is still alive with the Father working for, and in, and through us.)

b.       We can still learn about Jesus through study of the Bible just as the disciples learned about Him by walking with Him.

c.        Therefore, by learning about Jesus, we also learn about the Father.

d.       This makes it clear to us that He is a real loving and caring Father who looks out for our welfare in everyday life, not the unknown terrifying and uncaring image the devil wants us to have of Him.

e.        Being “the firstborn of all creation”, just as in human families’ means:

                                                               i.      He existed before anything else was created and will always exist eternally.

                                                              ii.      He is the first one born into a family, and all other siblings that follow Him are His brothers and sisters by the same parents.

                                                            iii.      This means, as Christians we are all not only a brother or sister to all other Christians, but to Jesus Himself as well. We are both a brother or sister to Jesus, and also a son or daughter of the Father.

                                                            iv.      Just as Jesus was born physically of one parent, the Virgin Mary, from an already existing spiritual state, we are spiritually born again of one parent, God the Father, from an already existing physical state.

                                                             v.      His resurrection made Him the firstborn perfect physical and spiritual being, and He promised that all who believe in Him will be saved and also one day become perfect spiritual and physical beings just like Him.

2)       No authority, spiritual or natural, can exist without Jesus’ permission.

Col 1:16 For it was in Him that all things were created, in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen, whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities; all things were created {and} exist through Him [by His service, intervention] and in {and} for Him.

a.       Things created “in heaven and on earth, things seen and things unseen” refer to both all things natural (physical) and supernatural (spiritual).

b.       No authority on earth or in heaven, whether good or bad, can exist or operate without Jesus’ permission. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and therefore Ruler of all

c.        He serves others through the good authorities in both realms, and intervenes to bring good through the evil authorities who intend to do us harm in both realms.

d.       All of this is not only for our benefit, it is so that His will and His plan that He is following from the Father will be completed exactly as the Father wants it to be.

e.        Nothing in the spiritual or physical realms has any authority or ability to change or cancel anything He wishes to exist or occur.

3)       In fact, nothing in creation (natural or supernatural) can continue to exist without Jesus’ permission.

Col 1:17 And He Himself existed before all things, and in Him all things consist (cohere, are held together).

a.       Repeats the fact that He existed before anything else in creation existed.

b.       Since this passage covers both things spiritual and physical, it states that He existed even before the angels and the angelic realm.

c.        Before anything in creation existed the only possible thing that could exist is God Himself, therefore Jesus IS God himself. The second member of the trinity (Father, Son, Spirit)

d.       This explodes any myth about him being only a man born of a woman, an angelic being in the role of savior, or any other attempt by false religions to explain Him as anything other than God Himself.

e.        The only way Jesus can be both God and “firstborn of all creation” is by God the Father appointing Him as savior of all mankind even before the heavens and earth were created (Gen. 1:1) and planning for him to be born as a man to fulfill that purpose.

f.        This means that Jesus is both 100% perfect God, and 100% perfect man in one person forever as our 100% perfect Lord (deity) and Savior (humanity).

g.        Before He was born of a virgin, while He lived on earth as a man, and after His resurrection and sitting at the right hand of the Father until the end of all creation, He is the one holding everything together, both in spiritual and physical creation.

h.       Therefore, nothing can be stolen, killed, or destroyed, without Him allowing it to be. Even our bad choices which lead to negative consequences can either be allowed for our benefit, or reversed through His intervention to prevent our destruction.

i.         The challenge for us in everyday life is to figure out which one is taking place, strengthening toward maturity, or an opportunity for him to show His love for us through deliverance.

                                                               i.      Regular Bible study will equip us with the tools for growing to maturity. This amounts to expressing our love for Him through the desire to get to know Him better, a key foundational principle for all good relationships.

                                                              ii.      Prayer keeps us in touch with Him about our situations and needs. Since He knows everything we need before we even ask it, prayer is not to give Him information He doesn’t know, rather, it is our expression of reliance, trust, and therefore love for Him as the only one able to meet our needs.

                                                            iii.      He responds to both expressions of love toward Him by loving us back through giving us the ability to understand, and know Him better, and delivering us from harmful things.

                                                            iv.      Even the lack of deliverance from harmful things (as in terminal diseases, handicaps, or accidents) are an example of love from Him to us, and through us to others in similar situations by using us as an example of how we can still love God, and ourselves, and each other in spite of whatever situation we find ourselves in.

4)       Jesus is the supreme authority of the church and our example for living.

Col 1:18 He also is the Head of [His] body, the church; seeing He is the Beginning, the Firstborn from among the dead, so that He alone in everything {and} in every respect might occupy the chief place [stand first and be preeminent].

a.       Just as our head (mind) determines the words and actions of every other part of the body, Jesus is the controlling part of His body—the church.

b.       Jesus’ resurrection made Him the firstborn of what we all are to be one day, and as His brothers and sisters we all look up to Him and strive to be like Him as any child looks up to and tries to be like their older brother or sister.

c.        As the first and finest example of what we should be, He alone is the pattern and authority we should accept and follow for our lives
.

5)       God the Father is well pleased with the perfection of His Son Jesus Christ.

Col 1:19 For it has pleased [the Father] that all the divine fullness (the sum total of the divine perfection, powers, and attributes) should dwell in Him permanently.

a.       When we are well pleased with things our children do that reflect how we raised and trained them, we rejoice with and dearly prize them for their obedience to our instruction.

b.       Similarly, God the Father rejoices with and dearly prizes His Son Jesus for all He has done for us in obedience to Him, His Father.

c.        In like manner, when we take on the same obedience to God’s will that Jesus did, He will also be well pleased with and dearly prize us as well.

6)       Jesus’ death on the cross made peace and fellowship with God the Father possible for all of us.

Col 1:20 And God purposed that through (by the service, the intervention of) Him [the Son] all things should be completely reconciled back to Himself, whether on earth or in heaven, as through Him, [the Father] made peace by means of the blood of His cross.

a.       Because of sin in our lives, we are hopelessly condemned to eternal punishment.

b.       God the Father’s plan was for His Son Jesus Christ to serve Him and intervene on our behalf so that the punishment would be taken off of us and put on Himself.

c.        The resulting payment by Him of our sin debt forever released from condemnation all who believe in who He is and what He did for us. (Rom. 8:1)

d.       This parole from eternal punishment applies to all, whether on earth or in heaven.

                                                               i.      “On earth” means all who are alive on the earth after Jesus paid our sin debt to the very end of time when He returns.

                                                              ii.      “In heaven” refers to all the Old Testament believers in the coming messiah that died before the sin debt was paid. Their faith in what He would do saved them just as our faith in what He did saves us now.

e.        Jesus’ death on the cross was the payment required to cancel the sin debt for all of us. He lived a sinless life, took our sins on Himself as His own, and died in our place. (For the wages of sin is death” Rom. 6:23)

f.        The obvious conclusion here is that no other person, place, thing, thought, or action by anyone else can ever erase our sin debt to the Father. Jesus is the only one, and the only way. (Jn. 14:6)

7)       Jesus is the only one who was born and lived in complete, perfect fellowship with God the Father.

Col 1:21 And although you at one time were estranged {and} alienated from Him and were of hostile attitude of mind in your wicked activities,

a.       All of us, at some point in our life (before our salvation), were separated from and hostile to God and everything He stands for, doing only what suited ourselves with no thought for anyone else.

b.       This wicked attitude in everyone’s life forever disqualifies anyone else but Jesus Himself from fulfilling the role of God and Savior of all mankind.

c.        Anyone else claiming another truth, another way, or another way of living in order to earn or deserve salvation other than way Jesus provided, the truth He revealed, or the life He lived for us is a liar and is not to be believed, much less followed as the god or leader of a religion they build around those lies, even if they try to use His name to validate it. (2 Cor. 11:4)

8)       Jesus’ service to God of sacrificing Himself in our place makes Him the only one able to bridge the gap between sinful man and sinless God.

Col 1:22 Yet now has [Christ, the Messiah] reconciled [you to God] in the body of His flesh through death, in order to present you holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father's] presence.

a.       “Jesus” \j(e)-sus\ as a boy's name is pronounced JEE-zus, or hay-SOOS. It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Jesus is "the Lord is salvation". Short form of Joshua, from the Hebrew name Jehoshua. This name refers to His being God Himself, the second member of the trinity.

b.       The name “Christ” (Latin Christus) is from Greek Khristos, a derivative of khriein ‘to anoint’, a word borrowed from the Hebrew mashiach ‘Messiah’, which likewise means literally ‘the anointed’ (dedicated to the service of God). This refers to the human form he had while on earth.

c.        Jesus, being God cannot be in service to himself, therefore “Christ” can only apply to His humanity.

d.       He took away our imperfect sinful position before God and replaced it with His own perfect sinless position before God. When God the Father looks at us He no longer sees our disobedience or imperfections, He sees His Son Jesus Christ’s obedience and perfection.

e.        Through the death of His flesh in service to God the Father Jesus Christ was able to present us “holy and faultless and irreproachable in His [the Father's] presence.”

                                                               i.      Holy – dedicated or devoted to the service of God the Father, just as He is.

                                                              ii.      Faultless – free from existing faults, flaws, or defects; perfect, just as He is.

                                                            iii.      Irreproachable – free from future faults, blame, or causes for disapproval, just as He is.

9)       The Supremacy of Christ and what He did for us is what drives us in our service God through Him.

Col 1:23 [And this He will do] provided that you continue to stay with {and} in the faith [in Christ], well-grounded and settled {and} steadfast, not shifting {or} moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel), which you heard and which has been preached [as being designed for and offered without restrictions] to every person under heaven, and of which [Gospel] I, Paul, became a minister.

a.       With our salvation certain and secure through Christ’s work on the cross, and with our sins and faults erased from God’s sight, all that is left of us for Him to see is whatever we do as a Christian that reflects what Christ did on earth as our example for living.

b.       Salvation guarantees that we will be in Heaven with God forever. But whatever portion of those believers in Heaven that  Jesus will present to the Father as holy, faultless, and irreproachable depends on the decisions those believers make in their everyday Christian lives:

                                                               i.      Their faith will be constant. They will “continue to stay with {and} in the faith [in Christ]”

                                                              ii.      Their hope will not waver. They will stay “well-grounded and settled {and} steadfast, not shifting {or} moving away from the hope [which rests on and is inspired by] the glad tidings (the Gospel

                                                            iii.      Their love will drive them onward. They will be so passionate about spreading the good news (the Gospel) of what Jesus did for us that every part of their lives will be a reflection of Jesus Christ Himself. Our example, our words, our actions, will reveal our thoughts about Him, and the results all this has on our lives creates a hunger in others to have what we have.

Conclusion and Summary: The Supremacy of Christ

Jesus Christ is the visible, physical reality of our invisible, spiritual God. Everything that exists comes from Him, and nothing can exist without him. He is the head of the church, and all believers are the body of the church. Together, With Him as the leader, we are one unstoppable force for good forever. His perfect life made possible His ability to claim our sins as His own for our forgiveness by God the Father. His death paid the sin debt we owed to the Father. His resurrection gives us the reality of what we will also one day become. No person, place or thing can ever equal what He did for us. He is the only one through which salvation is possible. This supremacy of Christ above all others is what should drive us in our faith, hope, and love for God (Father, Son, and Spirit) in our service to Him in and through the church, the body of believers all working together as a unified force for the same purposes that drove Christ while He was on earth.

Understanding the supremacy of Christ supplies the information we need to understand the next message Paul was communicating to us in Colossians, namely, our service, our labor, and our ministry for the church as the body of Christ.