The Preeminence Of Jesus Christ

Speaker: John Phillis
Date: August 1, 2004, Sunday Evening Worship Service
Main Scripture References: Colossians 1:13-18

I want us to clear our minds of all of the earthly things that usually occupy our minds. Put those in the back of our minds, and let’s think about Jesus—All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name, the song we just sang. Indeed, “All hail the power of Jesus’ Name.” He is a wonderful Savior, and He is worthy of all of our thought, of all of our contemplation, of all of our devotion.

Tonight, open your Bibles to Colossians, the 1^st chapter. We want to look at a few verses here in Paul’s letter to the church in Colossi. We will read Colossians 1:13-18. Here, Paul is speaking about this One, this marvelous One, Jesus, the Christ. And he would write to these Christians and say, “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, Who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

Did you notice the last word of this text—preeminence? “…that in all things He (that is, Jesus) may have the preeminence.” Well, what does this mean? In our English language, we have a word, “eminent,” and that word means “a high station or rank”; it means “distinguished, prominent, celebrated, renowned.” If someone is introduced, and as part of the introduction they are called “eminent,” Oh, that’s a very high compliment. You know, I can’t recall a time when I have ever been introduced as, “John Phillis, the eminent one.” We might want to work on that and see if we can come up with a good introduction in that regard—or not [and John laughs along with the congregation at this bit of humor].

But, we see here in verse 18 of this text that Jesus is not mentioned by Paul as being just “eminent.” Oh, that would be high praise, yes. But he mentions Jesus as being PRE-eminent. You see, that word, that prefix, “PRE”, means “before.” In other words, He is before; He is above anyone or anything which might be considered “eminent.” And that’s just what that word, “preeminent,” means. It means before or above; it means superior; it means surpassing others; it means distinguished beyond others; it means standing out, rising above.

Preeminent comes from a Greek word. The meaning of that Greek word is “foremost in time, in place, in order or importance.” And it has the meaning of “before; beginning; first of all; first in rank; first in influence.” Well, I think that gives us a good idea of what Paul is talking about here when he would say that, in all things Jesus Christ has preeminence.

You see, Jesus is the greatest; He is the most preeminent personality; He is the most preeminent being of ALL ages. He surpasses, He rises above ALL others; He is superior to all others. All of history past, all of prophecy future, all points to, and is centered around, Jesus Christ. And so, this evening, let us consider from the Scriptures some specific areas in which Jesus Christ is preeminent.

Let’s notice first of all that, Jesus Christ is Preeminent with the Father. In John 8, verse 58, Jesus tells a crowd of Jews, “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” Moreover, John 1 and verse 12 tells us that “He was with God in the beginning.” He was with the Father.

He was with God in the creation. In John 1:3, John writes and says, “Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.” He was present with God when God uttered these words: “Let there be light” Genesis 1, verse 3. And when God said, “Let us make man in our image” Genesis 1:26, Jesus was right there.

Project your mind back in time, back as far as your imagination can carry you—back to a time when there was no sea, no land, no living creatures, no man, no moon, no stars, no planets hanging, as it were, on nothing. In that time, the time that was before time began, Jesus was right there. He was the bright light of eternity past. You see, God has always made much of His Son. Paul writes in Philippians, chapter 2 and verse 9, “…God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the Name that is above every name….” You know, if we want to please God—and who among us would not agree that it is our heart’s desire to please God—but you see, if we are to please God, then we, too, must make MUCH of His Son.

Think about it from our perspective as parents, or perhaps, grandparents. When someone makes much of our child, or our grandchild, when they say complimentary things about our youngsters, how does that make us feel? Oh, our heart swells with pride, does it not? Well, think about how Father God feels when His Only Begotten Son is exalted, is glorified, is praised by us, His creation.

There are some who would say that they believe in God, but not in Christ. Think about the reaction of God to such a statement. Can you imagine that pleases God? No. It would displease God very much for someone to make that claim, “Oh, I believe in God, but I don’t believe in Christ.” In John 14 and verse 6, Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father, but by Me.” Yes, some talk of “finding God”, but unless they have found God—unless they have come to God through Christ, the Son, then they have not found God. Yes, God makes much of His Son. Christ has first place with the Father, and you know what? He needs to have first place with us. He needs to be first in our hearts, in our minds.