{"id":187,"date":"2010-09-20T10:18:49","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T14:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.fbclafayette.org\/?p=187"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:29:05","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T14:29:05","slug":"giving-jesus-first-place-in-everything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.faithlafayette.org\/church\/giving-jesus-first-place-in-everything\/","title":{"rendered":"Giving Jesus First Place in Everything!"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the previous post<\/a> in this series, we focused on Paul\u2019s prayer for the church (Col. 1:9-14); namely, a prayer for spiritual wisdom and discernment in order to understand God\u2019s will.\u00a0 Understanding God\u2019s will was not simply for knowledge sake, but more importantly for the purpose of pleasing God with one’s life.\u00a0 In addition, we saw 4 characteristics of people who please God; (1) they bear fruit, (2) they grow in the knowledge of God, (3) they are strengthened for the situations of life, and (4) they give thanks.\u00a0 Paul concluded his prayer in vv. 13-14, reminding us that without Christ\u2019s work there is not one single request that could have been fulfilled.<\/p>\n

As a result, Paul turns his attention to Christ himself. In this short section of Col 1:15-20 Paul explains several truths about Christ that should motivate us to want to love him more, serve him more, and worship him more than we do right now.<\/strong> We are going to consider four of those truths.<\/p>\n

Truth #1:\u00a0 Jesus is of first priority (v. 15)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to Col. 1:15, Jesus is the \u201cfirstborn of all creation.\u201d\u00a0 This verse has been used by some to say that Jesus is a created being and thus not God at all, or at least that Jesus is some \u201clesser God\u201d than the Father.\u00a0 This line of interpretation fails on two accounts and completely misses the point.\u00a0 First, it fails because it ignores the context.\u00a0 We will see in v. 16 that it is by Christ that all creation came into being (not simply the \u201ccreation\u201d that was not him).\u00a0 Second, it fails to properly understand \u201cfirstborn\u201d terminology.\u00a0 The term used here can either mean \u201cfirst\u201d in the sense of sequence, \u201cfirst\u201d in the sense of \u201cprior existence,\u201d or first in the sense of priority or importance. \u00a0We believe that last meaning is the proper one in this context.\u00a0 As a result the point of v. 15<\/cite> is that Jesus is of first priority over all creation.<\/p>\n

Can I ask you:\u00a0Does Jesus really have priority over all of God\u2019s creation?<\/strong><\/p>\n