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| This is a man whose friendship I regard as no less than a fruit of election. At Nashua Presbyterian Church, he serves our congregation as teacher and is the Stated Clerk of the Ohio Presbytery of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. His father before him numbered among J Gresham Machen and those that were mindlessly castigated and defrocked by the mainline denomination for their refusal to contribute to the poisoning of our faith with baseless, un-catechised modernism. During my examination for membership at Rev Miller's house, Rev DeVelde posed an elemental question to me that nearly threw me off. He asked me "Eric, Who is Jesus?" Such is the level of implacable commitment to proper Christology in the heart of this powerful warrior! It became reassuringly clear to me that the OPC is a lot more concerned with the Lordship of Christ and the transforming power of the Gospel than scholasticism!....Indeed, I was led to a genuine hearth............ This is one of his classic messages to the end and aim of making Christ the sole focus of worship....and...yes, I was in attendance. |
The Preeminence of Christ
SERMON By Everett C. DeVelde
August 20, 2012
TEXT: Colossians 1:15-23 PROP:
Christ alone is the Mediator and Reconciler of mankind. Because He is absolutely pre-eminent we cannot be casual, flippant or careless about our relationship to Christ nor can anyone but Christ be the head of His church. Colossians 1:15–23 (ESV) — 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. 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. 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.
I.
Christ is preeminent because He is the Creator. II. Christ is preeminent because He is the Head of the Church. III. Christ is preeminent because He is the Reconciler of all things.
The person and work of Christ is very seriously misunderstood and misrepresented in the world today. Islam which is so frequently mentioned in the media represents Christ as a human prophet inferior to Muhammad. But so was Jesus misrepresented in the days of the Reformers, Calvin, Luther and Zwingli. Going back farther in time we will recall that the person and work of Christ was the central issue in the Nicene Council, which council published the Nicene Creed in 325 AD. Going back to the time of Christ, we will recall that Jewish leaders often tried to kill Him. Was He not crucified because He came to His own and His own received Him Not? His own people did not believe that He was the Messiah. They did not believe that the Carpenter of Nazareth was Very God of Very God.
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The Scriptures teach us, using the words of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” But the humanity of Jesus is greatly distorted in today's world. Sinful human beings prefer to believe that Jesus is just a man. Mary Magdalene, in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar doesn't know how to love Him. Do I take Him down, she sings? Or is the reason I don't know how to love Him that He is homosexual? Perhaps you are thinking that Jesus Christ Superstar is not all that bad with its compelling music. Perhaps you even find yourself siding with poor Judas as he sings, "My god I am sick, I've been used and you knew all the time. I'll never ever know why you chose me, Christ. You're so bloody, Christ. You have murdered me. Poor old Judas. So long Judas."
This modern music distorts and misrepresents Christ as a mere man, effeminate and powerless. So do the so called pictures of Christ contribute to the His misrepresentation. He is thus represented as only a human being, a kindly teacher perhaps, but only a man. How could it be otherwise? How can you represent the Very God of Very God with an artist's brush or camera? Paul writes, Acts 17:29 (ESV) — 29 “Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man.” In the words of the Westminster Larger Catechism, we are not to make, "any representation of God, of all or any of the three persons, either inwardly in our mind, or outwardly in any kind of image or likeness of any creature whatsoever." (Question 109)
This precept is no different today than it was in the days of the Reformers. Thus Calvin would have no musical instruments in his churches nor could there be any art or images in the church. The Roman Catholic church, the foil against which the Reformers reacted, was replete with images, art, musical instruments, bells, holy water, conjuring of spirits, crossing, signing, anointing, litany, relics, altars, days, vows, purgatory, masses for the dead, prayers to the dead, etc., using the words of the National Covenant of Scotland. And these things continue today.
Christ indeed was a true man, but having said that, we must hasten to add that He was a sinless man, and that's quite a difference from the popular concept of Jesus. It is a comfort to know that Christ subjected Himself to our sorrows that He might be a sympathetic High Priest, yet without sin! He, to put it bluntly, became a man in order to die, to shed His blood for the sins of His people. So when we think of Christ as a man, we must always think of him in that context. It is not that Jesus was just a good Joe, a good friend, a nice guy, all of which He
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was, but He became man for the primary purpose of saving His people from their sins. The blood that was shed for the remission of sins was real human blood but it was also the blood of God. Paul speaks of the blood of God in Acts 20:28 where he said to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:28 (ESV) — 28 “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.”
We need to be cautioned concerning the misrepresentation of Christ through distortions of His humanity. Indeed, Jesus is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He is the glorified Son of God. He is the Prince and Savior that God exalted to His right hand, to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. He is preeminent.
I. Christ is preeminent because He is the Creator.
When we put together from scripture what we know of Christ, it is His deity, His radiance of the glory of God, His exact representation of God's nature that confronts us. His awesome majesty and preeminence fills the pages of holy writ. We see Jesus, infinite, eternal and unchangeable, in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. The preeminence of Christ is certainly in the forefront of Paul's thinking as he pens his epistle to the Colossians. Speaking of Jesus he writes, Colossians 1:15 (ESV) — 15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
He is the prototokos (πρωτότοκος) of all creation. Not that He had a beginning or that He was born before anyone else but that Jesus is the best example, the preeminent one of all creation. He is preeminent. The word prototokos throughout the Bible and other Greek literature almost always refers to supremacy rather than the time frame for physical birth. And here in Colossians 1:15 it refers to "Christ who is the Mediator at creation to whom all creatures without exception owe their creation." (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol VI, p 878). In verse 18 prototokos refers to Christ as the best example of those that have been raised from the dead. He is prototokos or "first-born" meaning that He has first place in everything.
Concerning Jesus, Paul writes, Colossians 1:16–17 (ESV) — 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.”
In the clearest language possible to mankind, Paul speaks of the power and preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He also writes of Jesus in Hebrews,
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Hebrews 1:2 (ESV) — 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. And John writes of Jesus, John 1:3 (ESV) — 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
So Jesus clearly is the creator. He is the heir of all things because He is God, not because He was Mary's first child. He is the heir of all things in the sense that He is great David's greater Son, at once David's root and David's offspring, David's creator and David's Son. Revelation 22:16 (ESV) — 16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
No mere human superstar is this Jesus but the bright morning star of the churches and of all creation. Here is the one from whom all who are thirsty can drink the water of life without cost. The Jesus of Superstar is confused and homosexual and the Jesus of Godspell is crucified on a chain link fence dressed in a Superman costume. How many of us like to roll the juicy morsels of that sort of music around on our tongues? How many tend to think of Jesus in those terms, even a little bit? I tell you that the Reformation must continue in us today. We must continually bring our thoughts and actions back into conformity to the Bible, to God's Law. Jesus must be to us as He is presented in Scripture or we cannot be saved.
While we are here in our text, what do you think of the statements made by Paul of Christ that He is the creator of all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible and that it is through the continuous providential activity of Christ that all things hold together? When you favor the prevailing theories of science such as the big bang or evolution or even theistic evolution you are buying into a Christ that is less than the creator and provider of all things. Most of what passes for education in our world today presents an earth and universe that Christ did not create from nothing by the word of His power. The Christ of secular education is certainly not the Creator God. He is just a man. He is a superstar, a superman. If Paul’s statement of the preeminence of Christ means anything to us we should be moved to re-examine our personal view of the person and work of Christ. It should move us to repent from sin and drink from the water of life freely such that Christ is our bright morning star, our life and our salvation.
II. Christ is preeminent because He is the Head of the Church.
So then Jesus is preeminent because He is the creator, but now let us see that He is preeminent because He is the head of all things. Paul continues
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Colossians 1:18 (ESV) — 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.”
Jesus is head of what He created. That is to say He is the head of all earthly dominions and all spiritual dominions. He told His disciples Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV) — 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Given that the name of the triune God is YAHWEH we infer from this text in Matthew 28 that Jesus has the covenant name YAHWEH which is above all names everywhere. We are to teach all that Jesus commands because to teach what Jesus commands is to teach what God commands. We are to teach the church to observe all that Christ commanded us to do because He alone is the head of the church, her Husband and Redeemer.
Paul writes to the Ephesian church regarding Jesus that He is, Ephesians 1:21–23 (ESV) — 21 “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
So clear is this doctrine in Scripture that Christ alone is head of the Church that no one has any reason whatever to usurp the authority of Christ by claiming to be His vicar. The Pope of the Roman Catholic Church claims to be the Vicar of Jesus Christ. As such he is said to be the head of the Church. Christ did delegate certain authority to the elders of a particular church but never did He designate a personal representative to rule His church in place of Himself. The Bible teaches much to the contrary, 1 Timothy 2:5 (ESV) — 5 “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” And in view of the scriptures in Colossians and Ephesians, that the Pope is Christ's vicar, has no basis whatever.
This issue was a major consideration of the Reformation. Martin Luther, for example, attacked papal abuse and usurpation in 31 of his 95 theses. He attacked the claim of the Pope to the authority to forgive sins, or remit guilt. And of course there was the blasphemous usurpation of Christ's authority seen in the Pope's indulgences. The Pope claimed that he could guarantee the forgiveness
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of certain sins even before they were committed. This is no trivial matter because it strikes at the very heart of the doctrine of salvation. The scriptures teach clearly, Ephesians 2:8–9 (ESV) — 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” The Pope has no contribution whatever to make to our salvation nor any power to affect it one way or the other. Luther goes on to say that no pope possesses greater graces or powers than those declared in places such as I Corinthians 12, which is to say that the Pope has no more power or authority than anyone else in the church. Much less is he the Vicar of Christ.
The Ten Conclusions of Berne published in 1528 say much the same thing as Luther's Theses. The first conclusion states for example, "The holy Christian Church, whose only Head is Christ, is born of the word of God, and abides in the same, and listens not to the voice of a stranger." The pope of Rome is such a stranger. It goes on to affirm that Christ is the only wisdom, righteousness, redemption, and satisfaction for sin. Furthermore, that as Christ alone died for us, so He is also to be adored as the only Mediator and Advocate between God the Father and us. The Roman Catholic Church has long affirmed the doctrine that Mary the mother of Jesus is "co-redemptrix" with him. In fact a cross has been observed in Rome with Christ on one side and Mary on the other.
The original form of our own Westminster Confession of Faith, in the chapter on the Church (XXV), contains what is perhaps the strongest statement of its kind regarding the Pope of Rome. It states, "There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ; nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense be the head thereof; but is that antichrist, that man of sin, and son of perdition, that exalts himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God." The present OPC version omits the reference to the antichrist. I hasten to take note of the fact that this issue has by no means diminished in its importance to the modern church of Christ. Some of our own young men would have us return to the authority of Rome and bow the knee to the present so called Vicar of Christ. (Scott Hahn, who once attended Covenant OPC Grove City)
Nothing has changed, however, with regard to the papacy therefore we must conclude with the reformers that the present Pope is very much an antichrist and man of sin because he continues to deny the authority of scripture and lays claim to be the head of the church. So you see that the authority of Christ was a central issue in the Reformation and continues to be a central issue in our modern world. This too is not a trivial matter because our very salvation depends on a right relationship to Christ. Paul wrote, Romans 10:9–10 (ESV) —
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9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”
Without confessing that Jesus is Lord (YAHWEH) we cannot be saved. We must continually be reforming our relationship to God and to His Christ. When we sin, when we give what belongs to Christ the Creator to one of His creatures, we need to repent anew and turn to Christ again for forgiveness.
III. Christ is preeminent because He is the Reconciler of all things.
We have seen the preeminence of Christ in that He is the Creator and Head of His church now Paul's final point in this portion of Colossians is that Jesus is preeminent because He is the Reconciler of all things. Paul writes, Colossians 1:19–20 (ESV) — 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.”
Now Paul cannot be referring here to universal salvation. He is not saying that it is the Father's good pleasure to save all things, and why is that? For “all things” to mean universal salvation it would include the devil and his kingdom and we know that one day the sea and death and Hades will give up their dead to be judged according to their deeds. These will be thrown into the lake of fire along with anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life (Revelation 20 13-14). Surely the enemies of Christ will not be saved because according to I Corinthians 15:24 he will put His enemies under His feet. In John 8, Jesus tells the Pharisees that they are of their father the devil. Then there is Judas who, Jesus Christ Superstar notwithstanding, is in hell today because he sinned against the Thrice Holy God and would not repent, certainly not because he only did what Jesus wanted him to do and that Jesus was unfair and confused. To believe in universal salvation is to throw justice out the window, to say nothing of the Day of Judgment spoken of in Matthew 25.
What then is the meaning of the reconciliation of all things? Christ, the Reconciler of all things, is unifying a people for God. In order to unify a people for God Christ must powerfully bring them into an estate of salvation by a Redeemer regenerating, sanctifying, washing them and preparing them for glory as a bride for her wedding day. The reconciliation of all things consists in the church of Christ. It consists of a system of justice and righteousness that is pleasing to God. His people have been bought and the devil has been defeated all because
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Christ who is very God of Very God has brought it to pass. Jesus is preeminent as the creator, head of His church and the reconciler of all things.
We are often careless with our view of Christ and we by nature do not bow the knee to Jesus as God of Gods and Lord of Lords. But we are also careless with our relationship to the church of Christ which he has reconciled to God with his own blood. We tend to draw away from a strong and vital relationship with the body of Christ which he has established on earth and through which he provides and maintains the means of grace. God raises up pastors and teachers in his church to maintain and preach his word. They administer the sacraments and urge us and teach us to pray.
We must not be flippant, casual or careless with our relationship to Jesus because He is preeminent beyond our ability to conceive of it. Let us continue in our faith, firmly established and steadfast, and not be moved away from the hope of the gospel that we have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven.
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