Sermon on Colossians 1:18

Colossians 1:18 — He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.

I chose this week to preach only on this verse with my focus on the first part of the verse because it is so powerful and one that we need to reflect on in depth. Last week we discussed the second half of this verse and I will touch on it somewhat first and then move to the gist of today’s message. We read in the second half of verse 18 that, “He (Jesus) is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.” We see that Jesus is the beginning (always was and always has been) — Jesus was the firstborn of the dead (the giver of eternal life). This has taken place so that Jesus might come to have first place in everything (including our life and the life of His church). Did you hear what I said Jesus must be first place in our life and in the life of His church! 

The very first part of this verse is so amazing and one that we need to take time to let sink in. Jesus is the head of the body which is the Church — HIS CHURCH. This is important to us because so many times churches and people who call themselves Christians do not live as if Jesus is the Head of the Church. (IN HIS STEPS) — we tend to think with our mind that we are living with Jesus as the Head of our life and the life of the church but our actions prove otherwise. We want to (1) do it our way or the way we always have done it, even if God desires differently; (2) we do things without prayerfully seeking God for direction or even if He wants us to do the program or project we are attempting to do — we must seek God through prayer, and (3) we must seek that what we are doing is in agreement with the Word of God — so many times our good intentions go counter to God’s Word — so many times how we live, how we think, how we treat others goes directly against God’s Word.

For Jesus to be the head of His Church here at Emanuel we must seek Him for all that we do — approaching Him in prayer for guidance and direction before we move forward. When He tells us to stop we must stop. When He tells us to move we need to move and not hesitate. We must realize nothing we have in the church and in our lives belongs to us, but they belong to Jesus if we know Him as our Lord and Savior. The family we have, the job we have, the money we have, the house we have, and I could go on and on are not ours, but given to us by our Lord and Savior! Our life and the life of the church should reflect this mindset of Jesus owning all we have and that Jesus is actively living in our lives and in the life of His church! Simply put Christ has to have first place in our life and in the life of the church. How do we go about this coming to fruition in our life and the life of the church? 

First, we must understand that our covenant that we made to make Jesus our Lord and Savior and to follow Jesus is not one to be taken lightly. We have made a promise to God that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and I am not sure we take that promise as seriously as we should. God is not looking for religious rituals or rule keepers, but He is looking for our obedience to follow Him out of love and adoration and indebtedness for what Jesus did for us on the Cross of Calvary! Do we realize Jesus died for our sins (removing them from our record) so that we could be seen righteous in the eyes of God — something we could not do on our own! In addition, God raised Him from the dead so that we have eternal life found in the firstborn of the dead (Jesus)! This is something none of us deserve, but God desired to give it to all who call on His name. Our gratitude for what Jesus has done for us should be reflected in the life we live for Him and allow others to see Him in us and through us. Our life should be a clean life verses a life lived in sin. Now, we will sin, but it should not be something we habitually do or desire in our heart. We are not loved by God because we have kept a few rules, but because we live our life for Him striving to stay true to the Word of God in how we live our life.

As a church we need to make sure it even goes beyond our life, even to the appearance of the church. Let me give you an example. I shop at Food Lion and Walgreens quite a bit. In the area in which Sandy and I live there are 2 Food Lions and 2 Walgreens within 5 miles or so of our house. 1 Food Lion and Walgreens are right beside each other and the other Food Lion and Walgreens is across the street from each other. I shop at the Food Lion and Walgreens across from each other, even though it is farther away than the other two stores, because they are always clean, the people are super friendly, and the stores are hardly ever, if ever, in disarray. When I walk into a church, including Emanuel, I look at what things are like at the front door. Is it clean or cluttered? Are the people there greeting me with a smile and a genuine friendliness and the love of Jesus? And is the area that I see in my time in the church messy or disorderly? Many times you see this even before you come into the church as you drive into the driveway and parking lot as to whether things look disorderly and/or messy. Is the parking lot clean — are the shrubs kept up neatly — are the doors and windows clean and working in an orderly fashion — Am I being greeted outside or as I enter the door? Haggai 1:4 states, Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Are we more concerned about the condition of our own house than the house of the Lord? Brothers and sisters it goes beyond the physical appearance of the church to the spiritual nature of the people within the church! As a church we need to make sure when people are entering God’s house they see that we take care to make sure it is kept up physically, but in addition, that we have our Spiritual house in order. We should have people in place to welcome and greet people with the love of Jesus. Jesus says at John 13:34 — 35, ³⁴ I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. Do people see that when they come to Emanuel? Do they see the people of Emanuel loving one another and caring for and caring about each other? People can tell if that love is real or genuine! Are they greeted with the love of Christ so that they know we are His disciples? Is God’s House kept up or is it running down or wearing at the edges? Many think that God just wants us to be at a church, but listen to what God says in Hosea 6:6, For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Did you hear that God desires our loyalty and the knowledge of God! The word loyalty means faithfulness and obedience. The knowledge of God is to truly know Him and His Word and they both speak to our love and faithfulness towards our Lord and Savior! And what about 1st Samuel 15:22 where we read, Then Samuel said: Does the LORD take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams. As we can see God desires our worship to be one of obedience, faithfulness and a relationship other than ritual and rules. 

Finally if you want further proof that Jesus must be the Head of our Church let us look at Ephesians 1:22 — 23 together: ²² And He (God) put everything under His (Jesus) feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, ²³ which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way. We see God has appointed Jesus Christ as Head over everything for the church and we see that the fullness of Christ who fills the church is what God desires for His Church! That is what He desires for His Church here at Emanuel. We also know from reading Revelation 1 — 2 that Jesus walks among the churches and is actively watching His churches! Think about that — right now Jesus is here amongst us actively watching what we are doing and seeing if He is the Head of Emanuel and if we are seeking Him for direction and guidance! This is a very powerful thought, but also a very humbling thought if we are not seeking Jesus as the head of our life and the life of His church here at Emanuel.

As I close today, our challenge starts with making Jesus the Head of His church here at Emanuel. Now that may seem simple, but in reality it is so difficult to do. We want to continue doing things the way it has always been done even if it is secular instead of biblical. Why? Because it is comfortable and the way we are familiar with! However, if we will put Jesus at the Head of His church great blessings will flow and amazing things will happen! That is where I desire for us to go as a follower of God and as His church here at Emanuel  — to make Jesus the Head of our life and the Head His church. To do that we must:

• Get serious about our faith — it can no longer be a low priority in our life
• Get serious about our commitment we made to God when we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior — We made a commitment to our Lord and we must keep it
• Get serious about our prayer life — prayer must become an important and integral part of our life and the life of the church
• Get serious about being in the Word of God and not just reading it but living it out in our life — like prayer this must become an important and integral part of our life and the life of the church

And we must be willing to pray, “Lord, I desire to be obedient to You and live for You so others can see You in me. I desire to do all I can to minister to people through YOUR church here at Emanuel. I desire to live for You and not myself. And Lord I desire for Jesus to be the Head of my life and the Head of His church here at Emanuel!” 

Brothers and sisters when we are willing to make that commitment — then great things will happen because Jesus will receive all the glory and honor as we live totally committed, we live sacrificially, we live obediently and we live faithfully for Him!

Let us pray… 

Scripture used is HCSB -  The Holy Bible: Holman Christian standard version. (2009). (Ge 9:8–10). Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers.