Jesus is Head

Now let’s bring it altogether. Jesus is first in the church, he’s the head of the church, he is first period, he’s the beginning, he’s first over creation as well as first in the new creation. Finally, what does it mean for Jesus to have first place in everything practically in your life and mine?

This has got to be, on the one hand, the simplest truth that can set you free, and, on the other hand, one of the most challenging truths in all of Scripture.

When students come to me asking for career advice, this truth really is liberating because my simple answer is, do whatever you want to do as long as Christ is first. Simple advice but hard to live out. You can choose to be a pastor or a missionary and still miss the mark because you failed to put Christ first. Because church or saving souls or ministry or feeling important were more important than Jesus. Or you could choose to be a banker on Wall Street or a CEO in Silicon Valley working 80 hour weeks and still put Christ first because you prayed before every decision, before every meeting you, opened up your Bible. So in that sense, a secular career can be more honoring to Christ than someone who goes into full time ministry.

Putting Christ first can be so simple and liberating. Choose a career that you enjoy, that you’re good at and remember to keep Christ first so that as you achieve higher levels of success, you can thank Jesus for your success and when you hit some rough patches, you can cast your burdens to Jesus. But whether you are experiencing good or bad times in your life, remember to keep Jesus first.

Putting Christ first can also be challenging because He has to be first in everything. This is not metaphorical language. This is about as concrete as it gets. Jesus has to be first literally in everything. Jesus has to be first in your career. Are you choosing a career path just because it looks good on a resume or are you pursuing it because you want Jesus to be first? It’s tough, right? It’s challenging.

Jesus has to be first in your family. First in your marriage. Don’t just settle for a happy marriage, free of conflict where you get along. That’s such a low view of marriage. That’s easy. Is Christ first place in your marriage means “Are you seeking to make your spouse more like Jesus?” Now that’s challenging.

When you are thinking about dating, don’t just look for the cutest girl or the handsomest guy. Find out, is Jesus first place in the person I am considering for marriage? If not, why would you want to date this person? Just for looks or personality? Looks fade and you don’t see someone’s true personality until you marry them so don’t be fooled by these things. Look for people who put Jesus first before you date them.

Is Jesus first in your parenting? Before you teach them Kumon, are you teaching them about Jesus?

In your finances, is Jesus first? Do you thank Him for your daily provisions? If Jesus has blessed you with far more than you need, are you looking to hoard it for yourself, or are you praying about how you can be a blessing to others through your generosity?

Is Jesus first in terms of your future? Is He Lord of your future? How can you tell? Are you anxious? Anxiety stems when you think, everything rides on me, it’s up to me to work hard and make things happen. If Jesus is Lord of your future, you are freed from anxiety because you are trusting Jesus. Your only concern is that Jesus remain close to you, that you remain close to Jesus, so that wherever you go, you’re content.

What happens when you put these other things first in place of Jesus? What happens when you put career first ahead of Jesus? Or family first, or marriage first, or kids first, or finances first or your future first? What happens if you put any of these as first place in your life? You will be disappointed. Guaranteed.

I can testify that whenever I put Jesus first, I was never disappointed. Jesus never disappoints. Don’t bow down to creation. Don’t ever bow down to created things. Everything I mentioned is just part of creation so we should never bow down to any of them. Bow down to Jesus only. Put him first. Everything else is a distant second.

It is fitting that Paul ends this hymn of praise to Jesus with the gospel.

Col 1
21 Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. 22 But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him— 23 if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.

Maybe at one point, Jesus was first in your life. When I was a sophomore in college in 1993, 20 years ago, and I bowed my knee to Jesus and accepted Him as my personal Savior and Lord, to the best of my knowledge, Jesus was first. It’s easy to make Jesus first when you are a single college student with no family, no wife, no kids, no job, no financial worries. It’s another thing entirely to make Jesus first when you are married and you have family, kids, a job, when you are making money and your decisions affect not only YOUR future but also the future of your loved ones. There is a world of difference between me saying that Jesus is first as a 19 year old in college and me saying Jesus is first now as I am approaching my 39th bday.

While it is true that salvation happens in an instant, at a particular moment in time, God saves you in Christ, however, we also need to understand that salvation is a process. I have learned this over 20 years that it’s not easy to make Jesus first in the practical details of life. It’s easy to make Jesus first in theory, in the privacy of my heart and mind. But Christian life is a living faith. We have to make Jesus first place in every area.

Jesus reconciled you through his death and resurrection if you repented of your sins and placed your faith in Christ. Brothers and sisters, now that we have been saved, it’s our responsibility to remain grounded and steadfast in our salvation.

v23 – if you and I are saved, we need to REMAIN grounded and steadfast in the faith, in the gospel. Some of you need to confess that Jesus was first at one time in your life many years ago, but since, other idols have crept in and taken first place. Jesus was first when you initially surrendered your life. But it’s been a while since you have surrendered your life in areas that actually matter.

I encourage you to give your life to Jesus every day. Surrender is a daily activity. Make him first. As you approach the Lord’s Table in the moment, prayerfully examine your heart to see if Jesus first.

There is something not right when someone fails to trace things back to their Creator and they act as if they just popped into existence. As if they created themselves. There is something right and beautiful when a concert master performs Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major at Carnegie Hall and afterward, amidst the roaring applause and shouts of Encore, the concert master looks up at the balcony because he just wants to see the nod of approval from his violin teacher. How much more beautiful when the concert master thanks his parents because without them, there would be no violin, no violin lessons, no pushing from the parents to practice so that the young violinist could blossom into a soloist at Carnegie Hall. This is beautiful because he is recognizing that he didn’t get to where he did and he didn’t achieve what he did completely on his own, but his success is the product of many people pushing him and sacrificing in the background.

If you trace the line back further, who gave the violinist the musical talent in the first place? Okay, it’s genes from the parents. But where did the parent’s genes come from? If you trace it back all the way, who will you find? You will find Jesus. That’s the point. Jesus is first place in all creation.

When you see Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa or the sculpture of David by Michelangelo, you are supposed to be in awe of the artistic genius of the creator. Same thing when it comes to this universe. When you look at a sunset at Laguna Beach or El Capitan in Yosemite or a molecule or a star several hundred light years away, you are supposed to get overwhelmed by a deep sense of awe and wonder for the Person behind everything we can see and touch and perceive with our senses. The person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is not only the firstborn over all creation at present, but He is also firstborn from the dead in the future. He is superior over everything in creation right at this moment and He’s going to continue to be first place in the new creation, the new heaven and new earth. I hope you are starting to see a trend.

Working our way back through v18 in reverse, Jesus is first place in everything, Jesus is firstborn or first place in the old creation as well as the new creation. Next we have–Jesus is the beginning. Jesus is literally the FIRST. In Revelation, it says, Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. At the very beginning, Jesus was there. He was there beforehand, before time. And at the curtain call of this universe, Jesus will be there waiting for us.

Finally, we’ve arrived at the beginning of v18, the famous phrase, Jesus is the “head of the body.” This verse has got to be one of the most misinterpreted verses in Scripture. I’m afraid that I’ve been guilty of misinterpreting it myself for many years. In the past, I stressed the interconnectedness between the head and the body. The head and the body are connected. They form one whole. You can’t have one without the other. You can’t have a bodyless head, nor can you have a headless body. The head and the body are two sides of the same coin. This is true, sort of.

Although it is true that the head and the body are interconnected, this is NOT Paul’s point here. The word “head” means superior, or leader, it means Jesus is the top dog, he has a preeminent status. Are you following Paul’s logic? Let’s put the pieces of v18 together. Jesus is head or first place in the church, Jesus is THE beginning, or literally THE first, next, Jesus is first among the creation as well as the new creation, and finally, Jesus is first place in everything.

How do we know that Jesus is not equal to church? Simple. Because Jesus existed before church. Jesus and church are not two sides of the same coin because Jesus existed an infinite time before church was ever created. So when we say, Jesus is the head of the church, we ought to do the translation mentally, this means, Jesus is not equal to church, Jesus is first, Jesus always has to be first at the church. Jesus always has to be the sole reason we are gathered in the first place to form a church. This is what it means for Jesus to be the head of the church.

This is going to sound weird coming from a pastor, but church is not really that important. Hear me on this. Church is very, very important, but compared to Jesus, church is not really important. It’s like winning the gold vs. the silver. A silver medal will get you a few handshakes and a certificate for a dinner, but a gold medal will get you a multi-million dollar contract with Wheaties and your face on the cover of their cereal boxes and a sponsorship with Nike. Gold is what people remember. Jesus is the gold medal and church is like the silver medal in terms of relative importance.

Along those lines, I’m not practicing false humility, nor am I paying lip service when I say, Jesus is the Head Pastor of Hill Community Church. He’s the Lead Pastor, the Head Pastor, He’s the Chief Shepherd and I work for Him. I’m just a servant, an undershepherd. This is just how things are.

The head and body parts are connected but there is a separation in terms of priority. There is the head and then there is the rest of the body. My index finger might think it calls the shots, but my head ought to overrule it. I say ought to overrule it because sadly, there was one time when my finger did rule over my head. When I was a missionary in Japan. I was in a crowded train and on one of the inner walls of the train, there was this big red button and some Japanese characters written underneath it in big bold characters. I couldn’t read it, but most people could probably figure out, red means stop. Don’t touch it. But for some reason, at that moment, I was like Gollum and that button was like the Ring. My brain was telling me, don’t touch it, but my finger was telling me, touch it, touch, come on, nothing bad will happen. I couldn’t resist. My finger won the battle and I touched it. As soon as I touched it, a siren went off, the train stopped and the conductor came to where I was standing. All eyes were on me. And I just said, sorry, me no speak Japanese!

Normally, the finger does not overrule the brain. My head should be in charge. How do I know this? If I get a paper cut, I can still function. If I get a stomach ache, I might be uncomfortable but I can still get through the day. If I break a leg, it’s a pain because I have to wear a cast and use crutches but I can still get from Point A to Point B. But if I get hit in the head and I am knocked out with a concussion, that’s it. The rest of my body can be perfectly healthy, but if my head is damaged, I’m out of commission.

Brothers and sisters, we are just body parts. I’m just part of the body. I’m not the Head. Jesus is the Head. Maybe I’m the little pinky. I hope I’m not the pinky toe because then this means I’m always living in darkness due to the sock and shoes and I’m constantly itchy because I’m covered with foot fungus. I hope the Lord put me somewhere else in the body. Maybe I can graduate and be the arm or the leg, but none of us are the Head. Only Jesus.

Both Jesus and the church, both are important, but where you place the accent makes all the difference. If I emphasize church over Christ or church as equal to Christ, weird things begin to happen. Because I am the pastor, I can easily begin to be puffed up. Look at me. Look at how great I am. Look at my church. Look at how many people attend. Then I write some books. Look at how many people read my books and look up to me. This church is so important. Church is equal to your relationship with Christ. You leave this church, you are leaving Jesus. You see how things get out of whack very quickly depending on what you accent.

Like Mary and Martha. When Martha was serving and getting the meal ready, she was upset at her sister Mary who was just lounging around at the feet of Jesus. What Martha was doing was commendable. She was selflessly working hard. But her priorities were off. She placed the accent on serving Jesus more than she did enjoying His presence. And so Jesus tells Martha in Luke 10:41-42, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Where you place the accent is critical. Jesus being first place means that the accent needs to be on Christ always. Place the accent on anything else and you distort the gospel and risk losing Christ, you risk forfeiting your salvation, eternity, you risk losing everything.

This is a warning that good things are often the biggest enemies of the best. Jesus is clearly the best. Church is a good thing. Ministry is a good thing. Evangelism and disciple making and church planting and missions and social work, these are good things. But if any of these takes first place, then you’ve lost everything. Christ has to be first in everything.

Text: Col 1:15-23

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! Our house was packed on Thanksgiving Day for dinner. And of course, with any Thanksgiving meal, the highlight is the turkey. Sophia and Jarvis graciously offered to cook the turkey and I must say that it was one of the tastiest turkeys I have eaten in a while. Between Audrey’s turkey last Sunday and Sophia and Jarvis’ turkey on Thursday, I think it’s time for me to hang up my baster because God is raising up a new generation of young turkey chefs who are taking Pasadena by storm.

I did cook a smaller turkey on the side and it tasted good, if I do say so myself, but I kind of cheated. I fried the turkey. You can fry a shoe and it would taste half decent. My mom and I cut up the turkey into pieces while it was still raw, and just as a warning, if you decide to do this in the future, please stretch your shoulders and back. Turkey meat is quite tough and I was all sore afterward. I’m not lying. It was a workout. Thank you again for all 6 of the real turkey chefs, including Mario, thank you for stuffing this body of Christ with loads of tryptophan this holiday season.

Please turn with me to Col 1. I want to read the key verse for today’s sermon. Col 1:18 [READ].

Col 1
18 He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything.

Today, I have one point, and it is this–Jesus is first place in everything. That’s it. This would be the shortest sermon in history if I ended it right there, but I could because at the end of this message, I want you to be able to walk away with this one point, that Jesus is first place, not in some of the things, not partially, not here and there, but Jesus is first in EVERY thing. Period.

Col 1:18 is a packed verse. Not sure if you read the RIV Bible translation, Ray’s International Version because it doesn’t exist, but If I had my own Bible translation and I were to translate this verse in my own words according to the context of this chapter, here’s my version of v18.

Jesus is first in the church, Jesus is first in all creation, both the physical creation as well as the new creation, and in case you are not getting Paul’s main point, he tacks on one last phrase at the end of the verse–Jesus is first place in everything.

There are 4 key words in this one verse which basically say the same thing in 4 different ways. Let’s work our way backward. Starting with the last phrase in v18. Jesus is “first place in everything.”

This is a very good translation. Other translations say, that He/Jesus might have the supremacy. Or, that Jesus might be preeminent. “First place in everything” is a good translation. If you are not fluent at English, then you might wonder, what does preeminent mean? Or, what does supremacy really mean? It almost sounds like the name of a type of pizza at Pizza Hut. But first place, everyone understands that.

From birth, every single person since the dawn of time has been trying to be first in something. Even before we were conscious, parents have been pushing their kids to be first. Who’s son or daughter started walking earlier, who’s learning their alphabet faster, who started reading first, who got the higher SAT score, who was the valedictorian at their school, who got into the better university, who is getting paid more?

We live in a world that values people on top. The CEO, the gold medalist, the Nobel Prize winner. First place finishers rule the world.

Of course, people are so desperate to be first place in something that you have some of the most ridiculous categories in the Guinness Book of World Records. Like Jackie Bibby who has the world record for the most number of rattlesnakes in one’s mouth. He managed to stuff the tails of 13 rattlesnakes in his mouth.

Not to be outdone by Jackie Bibby, Simon Elmore has the world record for fitting 400 straws in his mouth. How is that humanly possible? This is not something to be proud of. He’s a freak of nature. A lion I can understand–400 straws, no problem. Human jaws should not open that wide.

Or, Sam Stilson who holds the world record for crushing 56 eggs against his head in 30 seconds. Who thought of this?

Or, the largest hamburger, a 185.8 pound monstrosity made by Mallie’s Sports Grill and Bar in Southgate, Michigan.

People are so desperate to be first that they are willing to embarrass themselves by inventing the most ridiculous categories just to say that they hold the world record in something. In college, I took pride that among my friends at church, 20-30 of us, I could eat the most. Shameful, I know. I was a foolish college student. There was an all-you-can-eat KFC about an hour away. I know what you are thinking. All-you-can eat KFC sounds gross and who on earth would drive an hour to eat KFC. We were college students. A bunch of my friends and I ate like 10 pieces each. Sounds shameful now that I mention it, but in my mind, I actually felt good that I came in first place for eating the most pieces of chicken.

First place is a big deal. You probably remember who won the Superbowl last year–it was the Baltimore Ravens, but I doubt most people would remember who they beat. Or, the Olympics, most would recognize Usain Bolt, the gold medalist and world record holder for the 100m sprint. I bet few, if anyone, would remember who came in second.

I think this is the point. If Jesus is first place, you are supposed to see Christ, remember Christ, focus on Christ, and second place or secondary things are overshadowed and they really fade in the background.

Working in reverse, the next significant phrase in v18–Jesus is the “firstborn from the dead.” The word “firstborn” can be translated as existing before or superior. Sounds familiar, right? First place. Firstborn.

Paul also uses the word “firstborn” in v15. Col 1:15 [READ]

Col 1
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Then, Paul goes on to explain what being the firstborn over all creation means in the following verses. Col 1:16-17 [READ]

Col 1
16 For everything was created by Him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together.

Jesus is the agent of creation. Everything in the created universe, everything in heaven and on earth, everything was created through Jesus and for Jesus. He is the firstborn of creation and this means, not only did he exist before the creation because He IS before all things, but also, he is superior over all creation because He made it.

This means, whenever we look at something in the created universe, we are supposed to be able to trace everything back to Jesus and worship him because he is first. For example, when my kids make a cool spaceship using Legos, they might pat themselves on the back for their masterpiece, but they should wonder, where did these Legos come from? Who invented Legos? Then, if they cared enough to research the answer, they would trace the origin of their spaceship back to the creative imagination of the inventor of Legos, a man named Ole Kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Denmark, who began making wooden toys in 1932. Two years later, his company came to be called “Lego.” Then, my kids ought to wonder, where did the wood that the inventor used to make the first Legos come from? Well, from trees. Then, where did trees come from? And as you trace it back, we should eventually find our way to Christ. This is what it means when it says, Jesus is the firstborn over all creation.