This boy had it figured out. In a children’s sermon the answer is almost always God, Jesus or love.

Paul’s letter to the Colossians is equally transparent. No matter where Paul starts out, he always ends up with Jesus. And as we look together at Colossians 1, we are asking the question, “Who is Jesus, really?”

Listen to God’s word from Colossians 1:15-20.

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We have already looked at what Paul has said about Jesus in two previous sermons on verses 15-17. Those sermons are on our web site. I encourage you to read them. We aren’t exactly moving quickly through this section. We shouldn’t. It’s rich stuff.

Now, in verse 18, Paul writes that Jesus, as the head of the church which is His body, is also the “the first born of the dead.”

This phrase “first born of the dead” is very significant. It tells us about Jesus. Jesus is called the “first born” because in the resurrection of Jesus, a brand new thing happened in human history. But it also tells us what we can expect because we are joined to Him in faith. By His resurrection, Jesus has also opened a door for us.

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul writes that Jesus is the “first fruits of those who have died.” The image here is the way sacrifices were offered at the Temple at the beginning of the harvest. The first part of the crop, the first bunch of olives or the first sheaf of wheat, was presented at the Temple. When these first fruits were accepted, the whole harvest was accepted. Paul says that Jesus is our “first fruits” and that by the acceptance of Jesus, we are also accepted.

That is good news we need. For death is a bitter enemy - a relentless foe. It will come to each of us one day.

British pastor John Stott writes of being called to a London hospital to visit a woman from his congregation. “It was a great emergency,” he writes. “I expected to find her at death’s door, but instead she was sitting up in bed and smiling. She said, ‘When I was brought in, the doctors and nurses all gathered around me as if I was going to die. But I decided that I wasn’t going to die!’”

Stott observes: “It was a spirited remark, but not an entirely accurate one. That lady has, in fact, since died. For we may succeed in postponing death but we cannot escape it. And after death nothing can stop the process of decay and decomposition. Even the most sophisticated embalming techniques and sealed caskets cannot preserve the body forever.”

No! We are dust and, as Genesis 3:19 declares, ‘To dust we will return’. No human power can prevent this -- let alone bring a dead person back to life.

But God has done what people cannot do. God raised Jesus from the dead. First he arrested the natural process of decay. He “refused to let His Holy One see corruption” as Peter declares in Acts 2:27.

But in raising Christ, God did not just reverse the process of death, as Jesus did in the raising of Lazarus. God raised Jesus to an altogether new kind of life which no one had ever experienced before and which nobody has experience since — or not yet. For the promise of God is that despite the natural process of decay and death, God will one day raise us with Christ — and give life to our mortal bodies.

In verse 18, Paul next tells us that Jesus is destined for preeminence: “He is the first born from the dead — in order that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.”

What does this mean?

At first glance, the statement that Jesus is destined for preeminence might sound like a given.” I mean, if you are the image of the invisible God and the first born of all creation, then, of course you are preeminent. You are way up there.

However, in verse 18, Paul isn’t just saying once again that Jesus is numero uno in the universe -- as important as that is. Paul writes in verse 18 that “Jesus is the first born from the dead — in order that He Himself might come to have first place in everything.”

If you look at the context and the very precise words Paul uses, you see that the “everything” means exactly that — everything — and that Jesus’ “first placeness,” as Paul describes it here, is somehow connected to Jesus’ experience of death and resurrection.

I tried to think of an image of what Paul says here about Jesus being first place in everything. The image that came to mind is of Jesus as being like the star quarterback on a Superbowl football team.

In his role as quarterback, this guy is already number one. He has a lock on the Hall of Fame. However that is not enough. It is the coach’s will that this star quarterback must also be the best running back, guard, tight end and safety. In fact, I believe the word “everything” goes even farther. In my image of Jesus as the best quarterback, He is also determined to be the best water boy, the best equipment manager, and the best team doctor.

I don’t think I’m, stretching the analogy too far. For Jesus isn’t just first in one, important area. He is first in all areas. Yes, He is first in glory, power and the receiving of worship. But He is also first in suffering. He is first in death. And He will be first, even in the hum-drum of everyday life.

I believe that this is what Peter glimpses in our Gospel text when Jesus out-fishes him. For it is not the demonstration of Jesus’ power in teaching or healing that finally brings Peter to his knees in faith. What does the job for Peter is the demonstration of Jesus’ preeminence in fishing — in Peter’s own area of greatest expertise. Peter began to see that there is nothing we can experience where Jesus isn’t there before us.

This is why Paul writes in verse 19 that it is “the Father’s good pleasure that all the fullness should dwell in Jesus.” This is not only all of the fulness of what makes God, God -- although it includes that.. It is also the fullness of what makes us, us. Jesus is not only the perfect image of God. He is also the perfect image of humanity. He is the image of what we will one day be as we become like Him.

All this wonderful truth about Jesus is what made Fyodor Dostoevsky write in The Brothers Karamazov: “I believe there is nothing lovelier, deeper, more sympathetic and more perfect than the Savior; I say to myself with jealous love that not only is there no one else like Him, but that there could be no one. I would say even more. If anyone could prove to me that Christ is outside the truth, and if the truth really did exclude Christ, I should prefer to stay with Christ and not with truth. There is in the world only one figure of absolute beauty; Christ. That infinitely lovely figure is as a matter of course an infinite marvel.”

Amen.

Now look at verse 20. Paul next writes that it is God’s purpose to reconcile all things to Himself through Jesus.

This is a core teaching of the New Testament. It is the same teaching as Ephesians 1: 9-10. There Paul writes that God has “made known to us the mystery of his will...to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

Let’s unpack this important truth.

Everything was together in Jesus at creation. However, in the rebellion first of Satan and then of Adam and Eve, everything ceased to be united to God.

But history is heading somewhere. And that somewhere is that everything will once again be reunited in God again by redemption -- by the blood of the cross.

Now by saying that all things will be united in Christ, Paul is not teaching universalism. Universalism is the the belief that all fallen creatures will be saved whether they believe or not or even whether they want to be saved or not.

In crass terms, it is the belief that Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein have as much hope of heaven as Mother Theresa. It is the belief that everyone gets to heaven one way or another -- that all roads lead to the top of the mountain.

Universalism is clearly rejected in other places in the Bible. Jesus Himself said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.” We can’t just throw that out because we want to be accepting.

However, Jesus’ statement does not necessarily mean that only Christians will be saved. I want to be very clear here.

Yes, Jesus is the exclusive way to God. But He also has a love for people which is much more vast and personal than ours. And Jesus, as the Lord, has the right to be as inclusive as He wants to be. Since He is Lord, He makes the rules. Since He is love, his rules are designed to draw in rather than keep out. People will be judged according to the light they have received. But that is still not universalism. For Jesus also tells us flat out that not everyone in going to make it.

So if Paul isn’t talking about universalism in Colossians 1:20 where he writes of “all things being reconciled in Christ,” what does he mean?

It is simply that one day all things will be subjected to Christ. Some will be subjected willingly. These are those who have been redeemed by Jesus and joyfully exult in His rule.

Some will be subjected unwillingly. For example, the principalities and powers whose conquest by Christ is portrayed later in Colossians 2 are not described there as gladly surrendering to His grace. They submit against their wills to a power which they cannot resist.

But however it happens, Jesus has the power and the authority -- the authority to save and the authority to pacify.

Everything in the universe was created for Christ and everything will ultimately be subjected to Him. That is the goal of history. It is the working out of the will of God.

Some people see history as a series of random events with no unifying purpose. Oscar Wilde in one of his epigrams said: “You give the criminal calendar of Europe to your children under the name of history.” G.N. Clark, in his inaugural lecture at Cambridge, said: “There is no secret and no plan in history to be discovered. I do not believe that any future consummation could make sense of all the irrationalities of preceding ages. If it could not explain them, still less could it justify them.” Andre Maurois says: “The universe is indifferent. Who created it? Why are we here on this puny mud-heap spinning in infinite space? I have not the slightest idea, and I am quite convinced that no one has the least idea.”

We are living in an age in which many people have lost their faith in any purpose for this world. But it is the faith of the Christian that in this world God’s purpose is being worked out. It is the revelation given through Paul that that purpose is that one day all things will be and should be brought togther in Christ.

Paul then writes in Colossians 1:20 that Jesus has made peace by the blood of His cross --- whether things on earth or things in heaven.

First, the cross has made peace between us and God. As Paul writes in Romans 5: “Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God.”

John Bunyan, author of Pilgrim’s Progress, puts the results quite vividly: “I was made to see, again and again, that God and my soul were friends by His blood; yea I saw that the justice of God and my sinful soul could embrace and kiss each other through His blood. This was a good day for me; I hope I shall never forget it.”

We must never forget it either. It is what we need.

Second. the cross also makes peace between person and person. Paul writes in Ephesians 2 that in the cross, hrist has broken down the dividing wall of hostility between person and person. He has takes Jews and Greeks and has made them in to a new race called Christian. In Galatians Paul writes that in Christ there is neither slave not free, male nor female, Jew, Greek, Scythian or barbarian -- for all are all now one in Christ Jesus.”

This is why “isms” like racism, classism and sexism have no place in the church. They are heretical assaults on the work Christ has done.

Third, the cross is also the agency of peace for the created world. Paul writes in Romans 8 that the world, as the home of sinful humanity, was made to share the fallout of human sin. As Paul phrases it there in Romans, “the creation of subjected to futility.” But we are also told that the creation is also “standing on tip toe” waiting eagerly for the revealing of the sons and daughters of God — for when we are glorified, this created world we live in will also be made new.

Fourth, Paul also makes it clear in verse 20 that the peace brought about by the cross also extends to the heavens.

Paul is talking about the angels and us. The faithful angels have enjoyed peace with God but they have not always enjoyed peace with us. Scripture strongly suggests that the angelic powers have been angry with humanity because of our rebellion against God — just as you become angry when someone hurts a person you deeply respect and dearly love. Angels often seem to show an attitude when dealing with human beings. But on the cross, Jesus showed the angels how much we are valued and loved — even in spite of our sin. This has taken away the angelic anger that was aimed at us.

What Paul is telling us in verse 19 and 20 is that all redeemed souls, all the universe, and all the faithful angelic hosts - literally everything in Heaven and on earth - everything material, everything spiritual, everything within, without, above, and below - will be united in Christ. This is the blessing of the universe.

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones who was minister of Westminster Chapel on London for thirty years writes of what Paul says in these verses: “The perfect harmony that will be restored will be harmony in man and between men. Harmony on the earth and in the brute creation! Harmony in heaven, and all under this blessed Lord Jesus Christ who will be the head of all!

“Everything will again be united in Him. And wonder of wonders, marvelous beyond compare, when all this happens it will never be undone again. All will be re-united in Him to all eternity.”

Lloyd-Jones concludes: “That is the message; that is God’s plan. That is the mystery which has been revealed unto us...These things are so marvelous that you will never hear anything greater, either in this world or the world to come.”

I agree. I’m sure I could have said it better. But I could not have talked this morning of anything greater.

For Jesus is “the head of the body, the church, and He who was in the beginning is also the first-born from the dead, so that He might have the preeminence in absolutely everything. For it pleased the Father that all of the fullness -- the fulness of deity and the fulness of humanity -- should dwell in Jesus and by Jesus to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”