Christmas 3: The Firstborn Over All Creation

0:00 On Thursday, on Christmas Day, at around 1.30, family will descend on our house. Ricky, who was leading praise, will be there, and his family. For those of you who don't know, we married each other's sisters, so that's an invite that you can't really get out of. I have to bring him along. My dad will be there. My in-laws, David and Pamela, and our family will be there as well. And what happens at half one is, is that everybody comes in and everybody congregates around this little island in the middle of our kitchen. And some people will be hard at work, mainly my wife Sandra and her dad, David, and the rest of us will just lurk and hover, acting as if we could step in at any point to help, realizing that nobody's going to ask us to, but we hover there anyway.

0:50 But one thing happens without fail every Christmas day, and that is this, that visitors to our house, at least two or three of them, will crack their heads off the cooker hood that sits above the island in the center of our kitchen. It will definitely happen to at least two or three people and to David who is hard at work, he will do it himself two or three times. It is inevitable. Now, those of us who live there, of course, it doesn't happen to us. We're used to that space. But to those visitors to our house, Every 25th of December, a certain proportion of them at least, are confronted by the hard edges of the cooker hood above our island in a very physical and violent way. At Christmas, we celebrate, we rejoice in, and we find deep comfort and peace in the incarnation of the Son of God, in the word who became flesh. In Emmanuel, God with us, this story, this reality of God and his power and his love and his mercy stepping down, stooping down into our story and entering that story with us and for us.

2:13 And it is good that we celebrate. It is good that we rejoice. It's good that we comfort and we strengthen ourselves in the truth of the incarnation. And we've done that this morning and I want us to continue to do that. Absolutely, but the incarnation should also confront us. The incarnation should also confront us. And so I want us to turn to this passage this morning in Colossians 1.

2:46 There wouldn't be a normal choice necessarily for Christmas. And that's on purpose in the hope that in its unfamiliarity in this season, a bit like the cooker hood for the people who come to visit our house at Christmas, in a metaphorical sense, we might even gently bang our heads a little bit off this. We might be confronted by what we find in here. And so we turn to this. It's a poem type passage, a hymn type passage included in Paul's letter to the Colossians in chapter one. This sublime, profound, and exhilarating articulation of who the Son of God is and what he has done. The fullness of the identity of the Son of God and the glorious, cosmic, eternal purposes of his coming to the earth as the word made flesh. Paul wants his original hearers of this letter to be confronted with the fullness and the sufficiency and the supremacy of Jesus the Messiah.

4:01 He doesn't want them to allow that to be diminished in any way, to be compromised in any way, and that's the same for us. So let's open ourselves up to being hit on the head a little with these words. Open ourselves up Yes to the comfort, yes to the peace, yes to the assurance, but also to the deep challenge found in these words of doxology, these words designed to stir our hearts to worship as they proclaim to us who he is, why he came in the flesh, and what he has done. Here's what Paul says, beginning in verse 15 of Colossians 1. The Son, the one born according to the promise in Bethlehem, in the line of David, the Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

5:34 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. So that in everything, he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. So let's just work our way through this step by step. Paul begins, the son is the image of the invisible God. The son is the full and the ultimate revelation of God. Why in the first place did he come in the flesh?

6:25 He entered our world. He entered our story, our plight as this fragile, needy, holdable, breakable baby. First of all, in order to reveal the majesty and to reveal the glory and the mercy and the love and the character of God. The Greek word used here is icon. Jesus the Son makes the invisible God, the one who dwells in unapproachable light, visible to all. Jesus reveals God to humanity in his fleshly human presence. Think of a periscope. You see these little things in kids' play parks a lot these days.

7:17 To see God, this passage is telling us, we don't look up. To see God, we look down at the man, Jesus. Hebrews 1, where we'll be going in January, says it this way. The sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. To see God, we look down at him. Now this periscope and the little mirrors analogy in it is helpful to a point, but like all analogies, it always breaks down. And of course, this one does because we're not simply looking at the reflection of God in Jesus. We are looking at the real thing.

8:02 We are looking at the one who is himself God. As verse 19 tells us, God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. All his fullness. Not just a little bit of his fullness. Not just a third, as if this was some sort of pie chart. You know, a third the Father, a third the Son, a third the Spirit. That is not how it works. But wondrously, mind-blowingly for our minds,

8:37 Paul makes it clear, all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in the baby of Mary's arms and continues to dwell in the Son at the right hand. Who is he? He is the image of the invisible God. That's where Paul starts. And then he goes on. He is also the firstborn over all creation. Now we could allow this little phrase to trip us up if we're not careful. firstborn does not mean Paul does not mean here that somehow the son of God was created that he was the first step in God's creation that's not what he's talking about here that is not what this word means in this context in this Greco-Roman context firstborn was a title it was a title that meant heir of everything.

9:34 For example, Octavius was Julius Caesar's great nephew. In that sense, Julius Caesar did not create Octavius. But yet, Julius Caesar made Octavius his firstborn, his primary heir. Firstborn means everything a father had. All his wealth and possessions were the inheritance of the firstborn and the firstborn alone. The point Paul is making here is not that the son was created, he wasn't, but rather that the son is God's appointed authority and ruler over all creation. And he expands on this then. What has the son done?

10:22 It is he who has brought creation into being. It is he who is sovereign and supreme over it all. Look at how many times that word all is repeated. For in him, all things were created. Not just things on earth, but things in heaven as well. Not just things that are visible, but those that are invisible. Not just little small things, but everything. Thrones, powers, rulers, authorities, the most powerful other things in the whole of the universe.

10:52 All things. all categories have been created through him and for him in him through him for him this is who he is this is what he has done he is matchless he is beyond compare He is without equal. He is without rival. There is none like the Son. He alone is worthy. And then we find that all being repeated again. He is before all things.

11:35 In the beginning was the word. There are lots of parallels here, aren't there, between this passage and what we were in back in the autumn in John 1. And in him all things hold together. Do you think Paul was trying to make a point here, perhaps? All things. He is not only the one who is before all things, preeminent, supreme over all created things. He is also the one that holds creation together. As Hebrews 1 puts it, he is sustaining all things by his powerful word.

12:14 This is not just a matter of what he has done. This is a matter of what he is continuing to do. Right at this very moment, his holding together is the reason there is a cosmos and not chaos. His sustaining. He continues to be involved in his creation right now. holding it all together, sustaining it by his powerful word. He's not this sort of watchmaker type picture of God who winds up creation and then just lets it go. He continues to be intimately involved, sustaining by his powerful word.

12:53 This is who the Son of God, the incarnate Son of God is. This is what he has done. This is what he is doing. The word made flesh is the one who is supreme, over all creation. And when I was reflecting on this, I'm praying this through, the old kids chorus came to mind. My God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, there's nothing that he cannot do. What a mystery that my God revealed in the Son, the Word made flesh, the tiny baby in the arms of Mary is so big, so strong, so mighty, there is nothing that he cannot do. And that is true for creation.

13:51 The rivers are his. The mountains are his. The stars are his handiwork too. But that's where the kids' song stops. It doesn't go on like this one does. This one, this song, this poem goes on to tell us that what is true of his power and his sufficiency and his supremacy over all creation is also true of his power and his sufficiency and his supremacy over all redemption, over new creation. Paul transitions this in verse 18 to what has been achieved in that redemption through the incarnation. He turns now to the sons, to the word made flesh, his handiwork now of reconciliation and new creation.

14:43 And you can see the transition. He is not just the head of all creation. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the living source of us, his new humanity. People, we find our direction and our shape and our power in his personal sustaining. Just as he holds creation together, so he holds by his headship us together as his people. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead. What a strange phrase.

15:20 Have you ever read this before? I thought it's a really weird way to put something. The firstborn from among the dead? What does it mean? well again remember firstborn means heir firstborn means full inheritors from among the dead then here we have encapsulated in a phrase the purposes of God in the incarnation of the son here we have the son of God God himself who became the word made flesh in order that what's the purpose? So that he might reconcile everything that has become alienated from God, including humanity, through his death, through his blood shed on the cross, reconcile all of that to himself. He became the word made flesh to die. But he became the word made flesh too to rise again, to be raised to new life in that body so that he might triumph over the enemy of death and so that he then might become the prototype, so he might become the firstfruits of all of those who he has reconciled to himself,

16:39 the firstfruits of all of us who will rise too. He became the word made flesh so that we might be reconciled to him and so that we might, And we talked about this a little bit in Ephesians, but this still amazes me every time. So that we might become his inheritance. So that he might inherit us. And all of this has happened. His incarnation, his crucifixion, his resurrection, all of this has been fulfilled. And here's the next line.

17:21 so that in everything, he might have the supremacy. That in everything, creation, new creation, the church, his new humanity, he might be supreme. He might be preeminent. He might have first place. He might be king of kings and lord of lords over all. This is who he is. this is who the word became flesh is this is what he has done this is the incarnate son of God Jesus Christ this Christmas there is so much comfort and there's so much peace and there's so much assurance to be find in this proclamation of praise about him.

18:17 When we dig in comfort and peace and assurance in what he has done for us, what he has achieved for us, past tense, forever. He is sufficient. His work is sufficient. There is nothing that we need to do ever to somehow top it up. It is done, it is finished, it is achieved. He is and always has been in control, been sovereign, had all the authority. Nothing can or will stand in his way because he is so far above anything else in all of creation. He has entered our world and has, past tense, made peace with God for us through his blood.

19:13 and we can sit here this morning knowing that we are fully reconciled to God by Christ's physical body by his blood shed on the cross we are holy in his sight we are without blemish we are free forever from accusation all of this has been achieved for us by him and we can this Christmas rest in that truth rest in that reality but but this proclamation of praise also confronts us it confronts us when we consider our response and it's that line in verse 18 that confronts me? So that in everything he might have the supremacy. Why did the word become flesh? So that in everything he might have the supremacy. As many others have been over the last year, I have been really excited to see a lot of the stuff in the news about this thing called the quiet revival. I'm sure a number of you have heard this term used as well.

20:36 It's these numbers and these stories that are coming out, especially across the water, of more and more people turning up at church, surges in Bible sales, people being much more open to God and Christ and faith and all of those things, especially younger people, And particularly out of any sort of demographic, particularly young men. And I am excited about it. I remember listening to Phil Knox a little while ago talking about this. And he was saying, I don't think it's quiet. And I don't think it's a revival yet. But I'm excited about it. And I am too. But I'm also a little cautious too.

21:25 I'm a little cautious when I hear some of the individual stories when you dig down into some of those. Some of them are amazing. And do you hear me correctly? It's not up to me to judge whether someone's faith is genuine or not. And I know that transformation of thinking takes a lifetime. But it does concern me when I hear someone describe, for example, How they've accepted Jesus, but then they go on to talk about him in terms like a, I don't know, like a sort of comrade or sort of cheerleader for a political or a social or a personal agenda that they held fervently before they met him. Like he's some sort of high profile recruit to their cause. Or when someone describes how their life was nearly complete, there was just a little thing, something missing.

22:21 And Jesus is described like that sort of last piece of the jigsaw, you know, like the last 5% or so, almost like a multivitamin supplement. And he's just fitted in very nicely and very smoothly into that little space that was left with everything else just staying the same, nothing else displaced, nothing dislodged. It's just like he's just fitted in there perfectly. Now with a cozy, with a sanitized, domesticated Christmas story, with an unassuming sweet, no crying he makes, baby Jesus in the manger, that might be possible. But the image of the invisible God, The firstborn over all creation, the one in whom and through him and for him all things were created, the one who sustains everything in the entire universe, the one who claims supremacy over everything through his resurrection from the dead. You cannot fit this Jesus into a corner.

23:35 You cannot recruit this Jesus to your agenda. You cannot compress ultimate reality himself, creator, sustainer, reconciler, into a fraction, into a percentage of your life. You cannot read so that in everything he might have the supremacy and then say, well, in my life he can have maybe a 10% stake. He can have a ring fence section, but he can't mess up the rest of it. He can't encroach. Here, here, here. Now the Son of God, the Word made flesh presented to us by Paul here demands

24:26 simply by who he is, simply by what he has done, he demands supremacy, preeminence, first place, lordship. My God revealed in the sun, the image of the invisible God is so big, so strong, and so mighty, and so worthy, there is nothing that I can hold back from him. Rightly. And this Christmas, the question that confronts me, The question that bangs me in the head, the question that actually comes back to me as I question it on other people. When I read those stories is this, does he have everything he deserves in my life? Does he have supremacy in my everything? Does he have lordship over my everything?

25:20 Or where do I need to say yes this Christmas? I need to give this over to you. This is yours. I'm sorry for holding on so tightly. I'm sorry for trying to squeeze you into this space so that I can keep my supposed nice cozy life over here. I've used this analogy before, so forgive me that it's not new, but on our phones, we're all familiar, aren't we, with these, the difference between an operating system and a set of apps that we have on our phones. And if we're being honest, sometimes we relate to the Son of God as a self-contained app. You know what I mean?

26:14 You've got your relationships app over here. You've got your marriage app over here. You've got your finance app over here, your career one here, your dreams and hopes and visions over here, and then your Jesus one down here. Might get a good bit of screen time on Sunday, but maybe not so much the rest of the week. But the Son of God made flesh. The image of the invisible God, the first born over all creation, first born from among the dead, does not work as an app. He only works as Lord. He only works as supreme.

26:57 He only works if we give him the place of the operating system on which all of the other apps, in which all of the rest of life is built. He gets, I don't know, to write the code, to set the pattern for all of those other things. He gets to have supremacy over everything, the operating system where nothing is outside of his authority, nothing outside of his primacy. How are you relating to the incarnate son of God? I'm going to finish here. Here's the thing. In his love, and we tell ourselves different sometimes, but in his love, in his kindness,

27:55 we need to remember that his promise is that when we surrender that position of lordship to him, that position of supremacy in our lives to him, that's where we find true life. that's where we find freedom a lot of the time the stuff we're holding on to we don't realize there's some sort of enslavement going on there but listen to a couple of his promises that connect with this just to finish first this one whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me will find it. And then Matthew 11, come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke, take my lordship, take my supremacy upon you and learn from me

29:05 for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy. It's still a yoke. It's still a burden, but they are easy. They are light. The word became flesh so that in everything he might have the supremacy. This Christmas, our question should be, as the reality of who he is confronts us, has he got that place, that first place in our lives in the way that he deserves? Knowing that and trusting that as he reveals those areas that we are holding back. That his promise is that as we let go, as we relinquish, there is a connection between the confrontation here of who he is and the comfort and the peace and the assurance that we will find as we give him his place in our lives.

30:21 Let's pray together as the band come back. my God is so big so strong and so mighty there's nothing that he cannot do my God the incarnate son of God the word became flesh is so big so strong and so mighty there is no part of my life he does not deserve to have supremacy over veiled in flesh the Godhead see heal the incarnate deity Father by your spirit use your word to transform our thinking, to transform our hearts, to transform our lives,

31:36 to lead us, to have supremacy over us for your glory, for our good in his name. Amen. Amen.