“…that in all things He might have the preeminence” Colossians 1:18
Reading through Colossians 1:15-20, we observe that the Lord Jesus is Creator, Sustainer, Redeemer, Head of the church, and the very Image of the Invisible God. If one holds to the truth of the Scriptures, Christ can only be perceived as the Preeminent One.
We must be careful not to interpret the words of verse 18 as a suggestion of what is possible but rather as a statement of what is fact. Christ is preeminent. He is of paramount rank, dignity, and importance. He alone is worthy of our praise, our worship, and our adoration. Only He is worthy and fully deserving to occupy the uppermost place in our hearts and in our gatherings. He alone is awesome! However, that being said, it remains that He is not always recognized as such. In the letter to the Colossians, Paul was addressing a problem that had arisen in that young assembly that is not altogether foreign to many of our gatherings today.
The Challenge to Christ’s Preeminence
Being on a major trade route, many people would come through Colossae and introduce strange ideas and philosophies from other cultures and peoples. Many of these ideas would find their way into the meetings and, before long, tolerance and even acceptance of these ideas and practices would begin to erode the centrality of Christ. The total sufficiency of Christ was challenged and the Lord Jesus was moved from the central place in their gatherings into the peripheries. Instead of being held as preeminent, the Lord was lowered to the same levels as the traditions, superstitions, and ideas that were allowed to permeate the church.
Is it possible that this same terrible thing could be happening in our assemblies today? Have we allowed worldly or religious philosophies and ideals to be introduced and given room in our gatherings that diminish or deny the truth of Christ’s preeminence? Perhaps you’ve noticed some of the symptoms. As the centrality of Christ is subtly eroded we shouldn’t be surprised to see a lack of solid spiritual growth among the brethren. We shouldn’t wonder that souls are not being saved and being added to our numbers. And it only stands to reason that if Christ is not given the preeminence in our meetings, then our prayer and worship times will be dry and lackluster. Concerned about the symptoms, we then go looking for remedies to the spiritual dryness we find in ourselves.
But what help can there be if we go looking outside of Christ? We might try the programs or techniques of modern day philosophy or even religious thinking, but, alas, we will end up disappointed. How long will we plod along until we realize that spiritual awakening can only occur when we turn our eyes upon Jesus? Only when we give the Lord Jesus His rightful place in our hearts and in our assemblies will we see the fruit we long for. Indeed, Jesus is the answer!
The Defense of Christ’s Preeminence
Upon the command of God, a group of men led by Joshua, son of Jozadak, and Zerubbabel returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity to rebuild the temple of the Lord (Ezra 4). As they were building, they were approached by a group of Samaritans who were living in the land and who offered to help out with the project. In their own words, “Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do” (Ezra 4:2). We may say that was a very friendly and neighborly offer to make. But understand, these Samaritans were the products of the union between some of those Israelites left behind from the captivity and the colonists from other countries who had settled in the land. They were the product of God’s people mixing with those who were not God’s people, and they held no allegiance to the God of Israel. And so Zerubbabel and Joshua replied, “Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel” (Ezra 4:3).
There was discernment in this response and wisdom in the fact that Zerubbabel and Joshua knew that if the Samaritans were allowed to have a hand in building the temple, they would also claim the right to have a say in its use. The God of Israel was but one deity that the Samaritans worshipped, and it wouldn’t be long before they would introduce their false deities and pagan practices into temple worship. It was as defenders and upholders of the uncompromised truth that Zerubbabel and Joshua took their stand, and it was against this sort of compromise that the apostle Paul was exhorting the believers of the church at Colossae to take a stand. Such a stand would demonstrate the preeminent place of Christ in their assembly.
But this wasn’t the end of the matter for Zerubbabel, Joshua, and company. The Samaritans went on to spend much time and effort attempting to derail the work of the Israelites in their building of the temple, and the enemy of the church will do no less today. We can expect many and varied challenges against our stand for Christ in the local gathering.
One such challenge we face is the strong cry for tolerance in the church today. We are seeing unions form between Catholics and evangelicals; we see an acceptance, and even alliances, made between Christian groups and non-Christian cults. But no godly alliances can be made with those who do not honor the Lord or practice the teachings of the Scriptures. The measures necessary to avoid offending such partners would require us to compromise or abandon our commitment to the Lord and His Word. If Christ is to be preeminent, we cannot compromise our commitment to Him or His truth.
The Practice of Preeminence
To practice the preeminence of Christ is to be diligently obedient to Him and to be defenders and contenders of the way, the truth, and the life. The enemy will continue to attempt to weaken our stand and to infiltrate our meetings with that which will deny the Lord His proper place. We must try the spirits to see if they be of God and measure all things against the Word of God.
The defense of the preeminence of Christ must begin with the individual believer, for the enemy will not only attack our assemblies on this point, but will also assail the heart of each believer. Our strength to resist and ability to discern comes from above. We are built up in our personal times with the Lord in prayer, and Bible study, and also in our obedient walk. We should pray that we would have submissive hearts to follow where He leads and to hold firmly to what He teaches.
The Lord Jesus is the preeminent One. Our place is to walk in, and defend, this truth, casting aside anything in our lives and in our assemblies that denies it. To the degree that He is exalted and His preeminence in all things is recognized, taught, and practiced, we will see His work being done in the church and spiritual fruit will result to the glory of God.
We should pray that we would have submissive hearts to follow where [Christ] leads and to hold firmly to what He teaches.