First Place in Everything
First Place in Everything
This past Sunday, as part of his sermon, Chad used an object lesson illustrating the point that when things get out of alignment, the things that often suffer are some of the most important things. When we’re too busy chasing less important things, it’s the important things that suffer the most.
In his illustration, he said that the thing that matters most in our lives is our relationship with God. Our relationship with God is our top priority, and every other relationship and decision is impacted by our relationship with Him.
This Sunday we will be looking at Colossians 1:15–20:
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.
We will be focusing specifically on the phrase, “that in everything he might be preeminent.”
The CSB puts it this way: “so that he might come to have first place in everything.”
What Paul is getting at here is that it is through Jesus that all things were made. It is through Jesus that God is reconciling all things to Himself. Christ is the head of the church, and He holds all things together.
This passage sets us up for a potential theological incongruence.
What I mean by that is that we have this passage of Scripture that clearly articulates Jesus’ place as supreme above all other things.
But here is the question: Is He first in our lives?
If not, then we have a theological disconnect. We have learned a fact, but we haven’t applied the truth.
We cannot separate these two things. If Jesus has first place in all things, then that also applies to our lives.
Jesus was the first to rise from the dead, and because of who He is and what He has done, He deserves to be first in everything. This “everything” ranges from His supremacy in eternity1 to being our first priority in our day-to-day lives.
Look at what Philippians 2:5–11 says:
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name,
10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
We need to look no further than the cross to see why Jesus deserves to be preeminent in our lives.
This Sunday, our closing hymn is “I Surrender All.” As I reviewed the Hymn I got to thinking: What would it look like in my life if I truly surrendered everything to Jesus?
When I think of the word surrender, I think of waving the white flag. I think of giving up—like a fighter who is tired of taking a beating. What would it look like if I “gave up” trying to control things in my life and instead did what the song says?
“All to Him I freely give”
“Humbly at His feet I bow”
“Lord, I give myself to Thee”
I’m going to assume that, like me, you’re stubborn. Typically, surrender only comes after exhaustion. Only after trying and trying, and failing over and over again, do I finally give up.
While that certainly can apply to allowing Jesus to have preeminence in our lives, there is a better way.
There is voluntary surrender.
There is looking at Jesus and having the same mindset He had the night before His crucifixion and saying, “Yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).
True surrender isn’t simply giving up because we’ve run out of options. It is choosing to put Jesus first because we recognize that He deserves top priority in our lives.
Over the next few days, spend some time asking yourself and reflecting on the following question
“What would it look like for Jesus to truly have first place in everything in your life?
Adam
- David W. Pao, Colossians and Philemon, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, vol. 12 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 161. ↩︎