Sermon on Colossians 1.18 for Easter Sunday

For a 5-minute video summary, click here.

From one New Testament scholar I’ve learned that “resurrection” in the first century person’s mind was something only believed in by Christians and some sectors of Judaism. No other religions or philosophers believed in resurrection. In fact, many found it absurd. Many believed in life after death: some imaginative form of a disembodied soul in a particular state of existence. There were various forms and nuances to what happened after death. But no one except some Jews and all Christians believed that there would be life after “life after death.” That is, after this period of a disembodied state, humans would be “resurrected” in their (re)new(ed) bodies to live forever with God in his resurrected creation (the new heavens and the new earth). So resurrection, in its broadest sense, refers to the embodied state of life after life after death. This would be for all people in some way.

Now why did Christian believe this? They believed that they’d be resurrected in their renewed bodies simply because it already happened before. That is, it happened to someone already. It happened to Jesus of Nazareth. 1 Corinthians 15.1-9 says:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you- unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified around 9am on Friday died around 3pm on Friday and was buried before the sun set. On the third day he rose from the dead and appeared at least 6 times according to Paul here.

If you’re not a Christian you may think: this is just a myth, possibly a conspiracy. There’s no way that seriously thoughtful people believe that Jesus of Nazareth, if he existed, actually rose from the dead. Why do you believe the resurrection happened? It’s interesting that Paul could make such bold claims and even say that many are still alive to testify. Here are a few reasons to think about if you can’t believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead: (1) the claim was made immediately after Jesus died publicly and was buried. The writings about Jesus and his resurrection came within a generation of Jesus’ death and missing body. That’s too soon for it to not be contradicted. (2) Jesus body is still missing. (3) The fact that there is no other good explanation for the missing body of Jesus points to the resurrection fact. There are many ideas, but not one sticks or rises to the top because none are fully satisfying except the fact that he actually rose. Most people today don’t have thoughtful reasons for denying the resurrection, they just don’t think about it which allows them to continue to ignore it.

It was simply not a debated point in the early days of the church whether Jesus Christ actually rose from the dead. He did. And that changed everything. It had to have changed everything.
Did Jesus have to rise from the dead? Is it really that big of a deal? One bishop said that if Jesus did not physically rise from the dead, it’s ok because he lived a good life and lived for a worthy cause. He says Jesus rose in his heart. That is like many people today who think, “It’s great what Christianity does for you. I’m glad it works for you.” Whether it’s actually true or not is unimportant. What matters is that it gives you emotional/mental stability and is helpful. It is inconsequential whether Jesus actually rose from the dead. I remember one person who observed Christians at UCLA saying, “They were all so secure in who they were. That was different than everyone else I knew.” Some might say in response to that, “See, it’s helpful. And that’s good regardless of whether Jesus actually rose or not.”

But those who read their Bibles and follow Jesus give a different answer. Jesus had to have risen from the dead. It was absolutely necessary. There are several reasons for this, but Paul gives seven to the Corinthians Christians when he writes:

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

If Jesus didn’t rise then (1) our message proclaimed is empty, (2) your faith is useless, (3) the apostles misrepresented God, (4) your faith is futile, (5) you’re still in your sins, (6) all who died have perished not to be raised, and (7) we are of all people most to be pitied as Christians (more on this last point later).

Today it is popular to be a person of “faith.” Faith without the resurrection doesn’t save. We’d still be in sin and under God’s judgment (1 Cor. 15.18). Faith without an actual resurrection of Jesus means we’re wasting our time and our lives are pitiful for believing and living according to this wishful thought.

What was so important about the resurrection that it made such a drastic impact on the lives of those who trusted and followed Jesus? Why would it cause them to live in a way that was pitiful if it wasn’t true?

We’ll focus on one passage that makes one reference to the resurrection with one major direction for our lives that God wants to speak to us this morning. Let’s read Colossians 1.15-23, but we’ll focus on v. 18 for the main point before we apply it to our lives. In verse 18 we read two descriptions of Jesus with the purpose of Paul telling us this.

I. Jesus is the beginning

The Lord God is the beginning. Revelation 1:8 it reads: "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty." The “Lord God” is the A and Z, the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet.

This is Jesus according to Revelation 2.8: "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: 'The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

According to Revelation 22.13 Jesus is the Alpha and Omega: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Jesus is before all things, is at the beginning of all things, and is at the end of all things. Paul’s point in Colossians 1.18 is that Jesus is the beginning.

II. Jesus is the firstborn from the dead

To be dead means most fundamentally not the separation of the body from the spirit/soul, though it can mean that. It doesn’t most fundamentally mean your heart stops beating or your lungs stop breathing or your brain stops thinking. It means most fundamentally that one is separated from God the Creator, the God and Father of the Lord Jesus. There are two reasons I think this is so. First, God tells Adam and Eve that the day they eat the oranges from the orange tree they will surely die (Genesis 2.17, it might not have been an orange tree). But did they? Yes and no. Yes, they were immediately broken in their relationship with God and they were separated physically, emotionally, spiritually from him on that day. But physical death of Adam’s body would come later. Adam lived to be 930 years old. We don’t know how long he was in the garden so it’s hard to say how long he was out. Second, in the lake of fire, everyone will be resurrected and reunited with their physical bodies, even those thrown in the lake of fire (Daniel 12.2; Revelation 20.5ff). This “second death” then isn’t a separation of body from soul but body and soul separated from God forever under his wrath in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur.

Now from this separation with God comes a dying/decaying body and temporary separation of body from soul. But that is an effect of the core of what death is, which is being separated from God. This is why people die. It’s not because of cancer, old age, car accidents, or natural disasters. All die in Adam (1 Cor 15.22). So Jesus too, died and was separated from God when he died for our sins. And Jesus was the firstborn from the dead in the sense that he is the first to have come back from the dead, from being separated from God, to have a fully resurrected and renewed physical body. We will have that one day, but Jesus has it now as the firstborn. Jesus was the first to have this physical body after he became a man almost 2,000 years ago. But I don’t think firstborn means that here.

Firstborn here primarily means first in rank. First in prominence. Psalm 89.27 illustrates this use of the term. Ethan the Psalmist writes speaking from God’s point of view regarding King David, “And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.” David was the youngest of 8 brothers. He wasn’t the firstborn in his family in regard to timing of birth. He was first in rank.

So Jesus is the firstborn, the first in rank, the first in prominence, among all the dead, particularly the dead that will be resurrected because of union to his resurrection. Jesus is king of the old creation (Col 1.15) and king of the new creation (Col 1.18). This is the main point of Jesus’ resurrection in this passage: Jesus is preeminent and first in the new creation.
Jesus’ resurrection meant many things:

1. In Jesus’ resurrection he triumphed over evil forces (the devil and his works) holding his people in bondage (Heb 2.14-15; 1 John 3.8b).
2. We have a living hope for humanity through Jesus’ resurrection according to Peter (1 Pet 1.3).
3. He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Cor 15.20).
4. The coming resurrection for Christians is anticipated here and now by us who know Jesus as the resurrection and the life since we enjoy eternal life through participation with Jesus Christ (John 3.15-16; 11.25-26).
5. Jesus was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Holy Spirit by his resurrection from the dead (Rom 1.4).
6. Jesus is the firstborn among many brothers (Rom 8.29).
7. Jesus is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the alpha and omega (Rev 1.8; 2.8; and 22.13).

So if Jesus is the head of the church, the beginning, and the firstborn of the dead, who cares? What’s the point (purpose)? Look again at Colossians 1.18 for the answer. Well, it means that Jesus is preeminent, or holding supreme place, first place, in all things. This is extremely practical and radical. This means that Jesus is not only first in your life above all things, though he should be that because in reality (whether old or new creation) he is above and supreme over everything. But it also means he is supreme in everything. So he’s not only above my relationships with my wife, kids, sports, neighbors, church, city, career, etc. It also means in my relationships he’s first, in my watching and playing and coaching sports he’s first, in my career he’s supreme, etc. Do you see the difference? It’s not just his category as first above other categories. He permeates, invades, and is supreme in all existing categories as well.
This is why Paul says that Christians are so pitiful if the resurrection of Jesus and all Christians is not real and true and certain (1 Cor 15.20). Because to live your life with Christ as supreme and preeminent will make you do crazy things in the world’s eyes and if it’s all for a fantasy, then that’s pitiful.

One way to persist in obeying what Jesus Christ is commanding us is that we must take risks that only make sense if Jesus rose from the dead and if we will really be raised from the dead too. It wouldn’t make sense to sell all you had to buy the field, but if there was really a treasure in that field you were purchasing that was worth 5 million times more than all you owned, it’s a no-brainer. Buy the field! Buy the field! But if you do and there’s no treasure, you are to be pitied!

We see this with our brothers and sisters who follow Jesus in other parts of the world. To give just one example of the many we could give:

(SOMALIA — Christian Murdered, House Burned — Compass Direct News): On March 15, al-Shabaab Muslim extremists killed an underground church leader in Mahaday village, according to Compass Direct News. The church leader, Madobe Abdi, had previously escaped a kidnapping attempt on March 2. In a separate incident a month earlier, members of a Somali government-aligned Islamic Courts Union reportedly set fire to the home of someone they thought had converted to Christianity from Islam. Extremists stormed the home after they heard the believer had a Bible and Christian pamphlets. They looted the house before setting it on fire. A neighbor reported, “I saw smoke coming out of the house, then I ran outside and I saw two men coming out of the house with a bucket of gasoline. One of the men was shouting, ‘Allahu akbar! Allahu akbar !’ Then they entered a waiting car and drove off.” Pray for those mourning the loss of Madobe Abdi. Pray for the safety of all believers in Somalia as they serve God. Pray that those who persecute Christians in Somalia will repent and turn to faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus has risen so take risks, sell possessions, make sacrifices that only make sense because Christ is your treasure and your home is in the resurrected creation to come! We as CrossViewers are too comfortable. Here’s our perspective: Go to MSG + come on Sunday + pray + give + talk to others + bring lunch + maybe share the gospel if it’s really comfortable and they’re begging for it = sacrificial living based on resurrection hope. No it doesn’t! We need to step out in faith and love others in ways that will cost us as Christians and members of this church for the sake of others in Christ and in our neighborhood. So maybe it’s not super-radical die for your faith with a gun pointed at your head the way some Christians experience it right now. But who are you sacrificing for and investing in with love that you would not if you did not believe in the resurrection from the dead? In what ways are you spending your money differently? How does it affect your conversations over lunch and dinner? How does it shape the direction of your friendships and relationships with your neighbors? So if it is no change at all, then you are not living the Christian life. You might not be a Christian. It’s worth examining.

For CrossViewers, this means that as we establish this church in our city, we need to sacrificially and specifically spend time building up and strengthening new Christians and explaining to interested non-Christians the message of Jesus Christ. This could be done in different ways and venues. But if your life as a church member is not intersecting significantly with other members of this church and others who need people to intentionally speak gospel truth to them, then you are not living in a way that is sacrificial and believing in the future resurrection based on Jesus’ resurrection.

But why must Jesus be supreme in all of our lives, in our church, and in the universe? Why shape all of our lives around his supremacy? Why sacrifice and do crazy and risky things for the sake of this Jesus? Grasp and believe these three reasons as the power to push you into living for the supremacy of Christ in all things.

There are 3 reasons for the preeminence of Jesus Christ in the new creation. In verse 19 it says, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” Firstly, we see that in Jesus is God. All that it means to be God, without exception or diminishing, dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ. Secondly, according to verse 20, all things in the universe that are reconciled to God are reconciled through Jesus’ cross. So why do animals die if they didn’t sin? Why is there relationship broken with God? Why is there such chaos on the earth in regard to nature if nature didn’t sin? Answer: when man sinned as ruler of creation, all of creation was cursed with it. So when Jesus undoes Adam’s sin and our sin and redeems humans, the rulers of creation, to God, he reconciles the rest of the universe to God, making peace, all by his cross. Thirdly, Jesus reconciled us to God (vv. 21-23):

And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 23 if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Jesus must be supreme in your life, and it’s easy to make him supreme in your life when you realize that he is God in all his fullness! He reconciled the universe to himself in his cross! And he reconciled you and I and all Christians by this death to present us blameless before God on his account! Why would you love other things above Jesus? Why would you love others in a way that doesn’t include and point to the supremacy of Jesus?