Colossians 1:15-20 –

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶For 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. ¹⁷And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸And 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. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Introduction

The ongoing questions Paul’s letter to the Colossians forces careful readers to consider are: (1) What hardships are you facing in life, and (2) What help is there for them (or where are you turning to for help)? For the Colossian Christians, the ongoing answer to the first question was persecution and false teaching. And Paul’s ongoing answer for the second question is the preeminence of Jesus.

A proper understanding of and trust in who Jesus is and what He’s done (His preeminence in nature and practice) is always the main help we have and need, Paul wrote.

We saw at the end of the last section of the letter (1:12-14) what Jesus did: Suffered, died, and rose from the dead in order to redeem us, that the Father might qualify us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light, deliver us from the domain of darkness, transfer us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, and forgive us of our sins.

We’ll see what He did again at the end of this passage (1:20): He died on the cross to reconcile us (and all things) to Himself.

That’s what He did in His preeminence. The rest of the passage, once again, speaks to who Jesus is as preeminent.

Last week, we saw that He is preeminent in that He is the image of the invisible God. And because of that we have great help in every hardship. Specifically, (1) We can be sure that He is always with us for our good in our trials and (2) We can be sure that in the New Heavens and Earth we will see Him with eyes sanctified precisely to enable us to behold Him in His glory forever and ever.

For the next three weeks, we are going to continue to consider who Jesus is as a means of growing in worship and help in trials. Specifically, we’ll see from this passage that Jesus’ preeminence was at the center of God’s work in Creation (this morning), is at the center of God’s ongoing work in sustaining creation (next week), and will be at the center of the coming recreation (Easter Sunday).

The big idea of this sermon is that whatever form the hardships in your life take, you must know that Jesus is supreme over every aspect of every object of the difficulty. As the means and aim of all Creation, there is nothing causing you pain that Jesus is not over. There is great help in that knowledge for all who are hoping in Jesus. The main takeaway, then, is to learn to live out of that story—the greatest and truest story, with the greatest Hero, the greatest ending, and the greatest Author.

Jesus is Preeminent Over All Creation

In my experience, it is a common tendency for Christians to draw bold lines around the work of the persons of the godhead. For instance, it is normal to think exclusively of the Spirit when it comes to the ongoing power we have for ministry today, of the Son when it comes to securing our salvation, and of the Father when it comes to the Creation of the heavens and earth.

Of course, there’s some truth to this—God’s Word does speak primarily of the Father’s work in Creation, the Son alone died on the cross, and only the Spirit indwells believers—but the Bible consistently teaches that all three persons of the godhead are all involved in all that God does.

Our passage for this morning is an example of that in an important sense. If we miss it, we miss another awesome aspect of the preeminence of Jesus and help for our troubles; namely, in His involvement with and relationship to the Creation work of God. As we just noted, God the Father is the primary mover in Creation, but He did so, as we’re about to see, by, through, and for Jesus.
But what does that mean and how does it help in times of suffering?

The Firstborn of All Creation

The second phrase Paul uses to describe the preeminence of Jesus in v.15 (the first is that He is the “image of the invisible God”) is that: “He is…the first born of all creation.”

That might not sound at first like an expression of Jesus’ preeminence. In fact, the idea of Jesus being the “firstborn of all creation” ought to sound at least a little strange. It sounds a little like His involvement in Creation includes being created. And it sounds like His uniqueness is only that He was the first to be created and born. If that’s what Paul meant, it doesn’t seem all that impressive and, worse yet, it opens a giant can of worms.

That’s how certain groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons read it. And that’s part of what they use to deny the Trinity.

Biblically, “firstborn” can certainly mean the first to be born in a family. That is a big deal and a real honor. It included an extra inheritance and the primary responsibility to keep the family unified in the next generation. There are many, many examples of that.

But is that the case? Is that what Paul had in mind?

Certainly not! He makes that crystal clear in the following verses when he says that Jesus is before Creation and that all Creation was by, through, and for Him.

If that’s not what Paul meant, then what did He mean?

Throughout the Bible, the term “firstborn” also refers to someone who is first in importance. Psalm 89 gives us a sense of this in a remarkable way.

Psalm 89:27-29 I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. ²⁹I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens.

The Psalmist, Ethan the Ezrahite, wrote in God’s voice of King David, in what is considered a Messianic psalm. In other words, these few verses in Psalm 89 are ultimately about Jesus being the firstborn in the same sense as Paul means it in our passage.

I read a similar use of “firstborn” in John’s Gospel in my quite time this week. John the Baptist was questioned by the Jews concerning his ministry. In response, of Jesus, he declared, “After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me” (John 1:30). John was the firstborn of the cousins (physically born before Jesus), but Jesus was the firstborn over the cousins (greater in significance, importance, worth, power).

That’s the same connection that Paul made in our passage. Jesus is the “firstborn of all creation” in the same way that He is “before all things” in Creation (v.17); namely in that He is preeminent, in first place over Creation.

The next verse in Colossians, v.16, unpacks that idea further—it explains some of what Paul meant by Jesus’ firstborn-Creation-preeminence. But before we get there, Grace, let’s pause to marvel at this and check our suffering-story and that of the Colossian Christians against it.

That Jesus is over all Creation (again, that’s what it means that He is firstborn of all Creation), means, at the very least, that those persecuting and spreading false teaching among the Colossians, as well as whatever aspect of Creation is troubling you—be it renegade cells in your body or people in your life or even demons from hell—are under Jesus. He is over them all!

There’s more to the story than that, but there isn’t less. And if your story doesn’t include that reality, if the way you are processing your hardship doesn’t have that as the center and backdrop, then you’ll never navigate your suffering as you ought, you are missing out on great help, and God is not glorified as He deserves in your response.

That Jesus is the firstborn of all Creation must dominate every aspect of how you think about and respond to your suffering. And the more it does, the more help it will be, and the more God will be honored. That’s what Paul first commended to the Colossians and it’s what I first commend to you.

Creation By and Through Him

That’s quite a bit of help already. But Paul was not done. He further unpacked Jesus’ preeminence in Creation. Look with me at v.16 to see more of what that means, and therein find even more help for your trials.

¹⁵He is … the firstborn of all creation.