Are you the president and CEO of your life, or have you given Jesus the authority to guide your decisions? Today on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah explains why Jesus must have preeminence as Lord of our lives. Using Paul's example of presenting Christ as Lord of all, from Investing for Eternity, Here's David to introduce today's important and inspiring message, Stewardship is Lordship. And thank you for joining us.
If you have your Bible close by, find Colossians chapter 1. We're going to focus our attention on that for these next two days. And here's one of the high and lofty passages of the Word of God. And the outtake from the passage is that he might have preeminence in our lives. He wants to be first.
God is a jealous God in that respect. He will not share His honor and glory, His preeminence with anyone. We will only know the blessing of God when we put Him first. That's the issue we face today. Stewardship is lordship.
And we'll get started in just a moment. We have a beautiful study guide for this series. We have just redesigned it and reprinted it and made it a little more up-to-date in its color. But inside are all the notes and outlines for all these messages that I'll be preaching here on the air during the month of January. If you'd like to have this, you can go to our website, and there you can find all the information about ordering the study guide.
The website is davidjeremiah.org, really easy to find. And this will be up front where you can get a hold of it, have it shipped to your home to use in teaching small groups. teach a Sunday school class, maybe as fodder for a message you're going to preach sometime in the future. I hope you'll use it in that way. We want this message to be shared, and we're thankful for those of you who take that seriously.
We are going to take two days to talk about Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 through 19, and we begin right now with part one. Here's Stewardship is Lordship. One of my favorite stories is the story of a football enthusiast who was frantically repairing his television antenna on the sloped roof of his second story home one Saturday. he was trying to get ready for the four o'clock game. And as the game time approached, he began to hurry his preparations of the antenna, got a little bit careless, and began to slide down the tile roof that covered his two-story home.
He frantically clawed and scratched and grabbed, and as a last result, as he fell over the edge of the roof, he grabbed the eavesdrop, and there he hung two stories above the ground.
Well, his first impulse was to seek help from ground level. And so he yelled down below, can anybody down there help me? But already they had gathered in the living room in preparation for the game. The doors were closed, the windows were closed, nobody was listening, and so nobody answered. Instinctively and without really thinking it through, he looked up to the heavens and he said, can anybody up there help me?
And as he listened, he heard a voice from the clouds say, believe and let go. He thought for a moment and then said, can anybody else up there help me? And whenever I hear that story and replay it in my mind, I am reminded that this obviously apocryphal story is illustrative of how we usually think as Christians. Isn't it true that for most of us, we consult the Lord as the last result, having tried everything else, and then when we ask Him to help us, if He gives us instructions that are difficult for us to obey, we don't like to hear those instructions. Lord, could you tell me something easier to do?
Sometimes I personally believe our modern concept of the lordship of Jesus Christ is summarized by Peter's confusing statement in the Gospels. When he responded to the Lord by saying, not so, Lord. If we say not so, he isn't Lord. And if he is Lord, we do not say to him, not so. It's sort of like the question that Jesus asked as recorded in the book of Luke when he said to his friends, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
It is evident that that was an incongruous thought in the mind of our Lord, that anyone could say Lord and then not do what the Lord tells him to do. I remember reading in history some time ago that in the days of the Roman Empire, everyone was required to put a pinch of incense on the altar and confess, Caesar is Lord. and it was because the Christians would not do this that many of them died a martyr's death. The Christians in that day, you see, were clear in their minds about the lordship of Jesus Christ. They knew that allegiance to their Lord demanded renunciation of all other lords.
To them, lordship was the ultimate issue. And if we are to have the impact on our generation that they had on their generation, then we need to get back to that as the ultimate issue of our lives as well. If whether or not Jesus Christ is Lord is resolved in our hearts, then all of the other questions become incidental. I love what Vance Havner says about lordship. He said lordship is the flagship of all the other ships.
And then he pointed out that the reason that's true is that the issues of membership and fellowship and discipleship and stewardship and worship and all the other ships are settled if once you settle the issue of lordship. It is the flagship of all the other ships. And if you settle whether or not Jesus Christ is Lord and sovereign in your life, all of those issues that I just mentioned will automatically be taken care of.
Now when we say that Jesus Christ is Lord what we mean is that there can be no limitations to to that issue If he is Lord then he rules every creature and everything everywhere He is Lord in heaven. He is Lord over all the worlds. He's Lord over the angels. He's Lord over Satan and all the powers of darkness. He is Lord of his church.
He's Lord over all the nations. He's Lord over all things, animate and inanimate. He's Lord over everything, and he ought to be Lord over us. It seems to me that this one single issue divides the world, perhaps more than any other. Men always take sides when it comes to the lordship of Jesus Christ.
It is interesting to me that even now in the evangelical world, in the journals and in the papers that I read, there is a waging war over the concept of the lordship of Jesus Christ. And this is not between those who believe and those who do not believe. These issues are now being debated between those who believe. scholars that I respect are arguing over what is involved in the lordship of Jesus Christ.
Now, most men out there in the world will not argue over whether or not there is a supernatural being or a supernatural cause required by our universe. But when you talk about a savior who is Christ the Lord, they resist. With the exception of a few self-proclaimed atheists, the majority of mankind readily accepts the idea of some kind of a creator god. Their ideas may be grotesque and their worship may be very perverted, but the concept of God is there nonetheless. Muslims have no quarrel with that idea.
Even the Buddhists are for the most part in agreement that there is an ultimate cause, a creator god out there. Even the pagan animists who bow down before a rock and a tree understand that there is one who is far above all that he worships, and he worships that rock and that tree representing the God he believes is out there somewhere. But I'll tell you something. When you insist that the Creator God is Lord and that as Lord he has the sovereign right to our personal lives, you draw a line that separates all men. And if you don't believe me, you try it.
you can preach Jesus of Nazareth until you're blue in the face and people will nod their approval you can stand up in a pulpit and present Jesus of Galilee to the glad acclaim of great numbers and as long as you speak of Christ in terms of the meek and lowly hardly any negative comment is generated by your speech but the Jesus of the New Testament is the one to whom all authority has been given. He is the one on whom the Father looked and is pleased. And when we present Jesus Christ as Lord, men always take sides. And they stand in opposition one to the other. William Ramsey suggested that the greatest name that was given to Jesus Christ in Jerusalem was the name Lord.
And he went on to say that today those who use that name thoughtlessly, Sunday after Sunday hardly realize the significance of this word, Lord.
Now the New Testament passage, which in my estimation presents Jesus as Lord perhaps better than any other passage we might choose, is Colossians chapter 1, verses 15 through 19. And your Bibles are open there, so let's read that passage together. Who, Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by him and for him.
And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn and from the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence, for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. As Paul wrote these words to the Colossian church, false teaching had begun to creep in among these believers. The particular kind of false teaching that was in the church at Colossae did not ignore Christ. It simply relegated Jesus Christ to a position of unimportance.
The Colossian heresy believed that God was up there and that from God there were eons that emanated out from God like concentric circles until finally you got down to man so that man was sort of a projection from God. And somewhere between God the creator and man the created was Jesus Christ in one of those concentric circles as a created being of God. They did not deny that Christ was Christ, but they did not give him the supreme important place that the word of God accords him. And so the Colossians were not much different than the average Christian today who wants to make a deep commitment to him and wholehearted commitment to him, and yet at the same time enjoy everything else that is in the world. They don't mind having Christ as long as he's not supreme.
They don't mind having him as their savior as long as he doesn't have to be their Lord. And if they can fit him in comfortably with every other thing that's going on in their life, then it's wonderfully convenient to be a Christian. But when you talk to a Christian today about making Jesus Christ Lord of his life, you have drawn that line again, and you have made an issue in their life.
Now, Paul had a number of options open to him as he tried to combat the heresy in the Colossian church. He could have done as modern apologists do, taken all the tenets of their faith in one by one, taken them apart as he was so good at doing. But Paul, as he wrote to the Colossians, thought rather that the best message he could preach was not taking apart the negative philosophy, but rather presenting Jesus Christ in all of his glory and his majesty and all of his power and of his greatness. And so he undertakes in the first few verses of Colossians to lift up Jesus and present him as he truly is. He points to Jesus as the central figure of history.
He says of Jesus Christ that he is preeminent. He speaks of him as the creator God. He knows that if he can get these Colossians to come to grips with who Christ was and what he had done they would get rid of the false teaching that was poisoning their church And so he presents Jesus Christ as Lord He presents him as Lord of creation Jesus Christ, said Paul, is the Lord of creation. That's the logical starting place for any presentation of the Lordship of Christ. The Colossian heresy taught that Jesus Christ was a created being.
But Paul presented him as the very agent of creation himself. He said, in him, all things were created in heaven and on earth, both visible and invisible. And he is also the goal of creation. For all things were created for him, said Paul. And as the agent and the goal of creation, Jesus Christ is also the sustainer of creation.
for Paul writes that in him all things consist or hold together. Listen to what Paul is saying. He is saying Jesus Christ is not a created being. He is the one who has created all the world that we see and know. Not only did he create it, but that whole world was created for him.
He is the goal of creation. And not only is he the agent and the goal of creation, he is the sustaining influence that holds creation together. In the language of the layman, that means that if for one moment the Lord Jesus Christ would withdraw his sustaining hand from the universe as you and I know it, it would fly off into oblivion and be self-destructed. Jesus Christ is the creator, the sustainer, and the goal of all of this world as we know it. He is the creator.
He is the Lord of creation. This was Paul's answer, you see, to the great question that plagued the day of Colossians. Do you know what their great debate was? Their debate was, what is the coordinating force that brings everything together? 500 years before Paul wrote this letter, a philosopher by the name of Thales taught that water was the ultimate agent that held everything together.
Water was the ultimate principle, that all things come from water and all things are held together by water. They believed that water was the ultimate issue. And some others taught, no, it's not water that's the fundamental principle, it's air. Air is the fundamental principle. And then others would come along and say, no, it's not water and it's not air, it's fire.
Fire is the fundamental principle. And here is Paul, the great Christian thinker, standing up in the midst of this intellectual society and saying to them, you want me to tell you what the fundamental principle is, it's not a what, it's a who. Jesus Christ is the fundamental principle. He is the creator. He is the one for whom all creation was created, and he is the sustainer of the universe.
Jesus Christ is the fundamental principle of the universe. It is no wonder that the humanists and those who like to level their heavy artillery at the Christian church choose to make the point of their attack, the creationist view that we hold to. I suppose I might have thought at one time that this was because they were interested in settling the issue of the origin of the universe, but that is very far down on their lists of concerns. The very important issue in the mind of the secular humanist and the reason they go for the creationist as they do is because they know that if Jesus Christ is Lord of the universe, then he is the one who has the claim over their lives, and it is nothing more than an issue of who is to control one's life. If Jesus Christ is Lord of the universe, then he has every right to be Lord of the lives of those he has created.
And the humanists battle us on the subject of evolution and creationism, but it's not a debate over the origin of life. It is a debate and a battle over the lordship of Jesus Christ. We live at the eye of the storm here, don't we? May I suggest to you that we are becoming more and more distinct even from other Christian organizations? My heart was saddened as I learned of a sister organization that has, in my estimation, capitulated, has compromised to the world system and has taken creationism out of their science classes in order to gain acceptance by the accrediting association in their particular area of the country.
And I say to you that we will never do that. If it means being unaccredited in order that we be able to teach creation science in our science departments, then we will be unaccredited. Because you see, Jesus Christ is Lord. And if he is Lord, then he is the fundamental fact of the universe. And if you for one moment stop integrating that, you have destroyed the foundation of everything we believe.
I love what I read. Handed to me, first of all, by the president of our college. And then I went and researched it myself in a book that's in our college library written by Robert Jastrow, who has written a book called God and the Astronomers. And in his book, he asked the question that we're debating. This is his quote.
He said, why this strange reaction on the part of many scientists? I think part of the answer is that scientists cannot bear the thought of a natural phenomenon which cannot be explained even with unlimited time and money. For the scientist who has lived his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountains of ignorance. He is about to conquer the highest peak.
and as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries. End of quote. Jastrow was not a believer, but he is right. My friends, if you take the first verse of this Bible, you have solved every problem between the covers. In the beginning, God.
He's the creator. And the New Testament teaches us that he created this world by his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He is the God of creation. As we have studied in the Gospel of John, the life and ministry of Jesus Christ, it has been evident to us as He walked upon this earth that He was sovereign over His creation when He chose to be even as the incarnate Son of God He walked upon this earth and he demonstrated his absolute sovereignty and lordship over his creation He spoke and the wind and the sea obeyed him. At his command the property of water changed into wine. The lame and the blind and the halt came and he spoke and their degenerate limbs and body instruments were restored to new life.
In his resurrection body, he was not bound by time and space as we are. And his ultimate triumph over death and the graves settled forever, his right to rule over the universe. Jesus Christ is Lord. And today we are told by Peter that he is at the right hand of the Father in heaven. 1 Peter chapter 3 verse 22, and this is what it says.
He is gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. Where is Jesus now? He is Lord in heaven at the right hand of the Father. He is Lord of his creation. But Paul does not even make a transition between the thought that Jesus Christ who is Lord of the creation is also the Christ who is Lord of the church.
Notice in the context of verse 18, it says verse 17, he is before all things and by him all things consist. And he is the head of the body, the church. Not only is he Lord of the creation, he's Lord of the church. And this passage presents him as the head of the body. The New Testament pictures the church as a body on earth which is controlled by the head which is in heaven.
Just as this body gets six signals from this head, the body which is the church which lives here on this earth gets six signals from Jesus Christ who is the head who is in heaven. and Paul is saying that just as Christ was the Lord of creation, he is also the Lord of the church. If you'll notice in verse 17, he uses the term before all things, and then in verse 18, he says that he might have preeminence. In other words, Paul is saying Christ is already sovereign over the first creation by virtue of his work, and now he desires to be sovereign over his creation, which is the church. I wonder if that does not explain to us much of the coldness and deadness in the church today.
Is it possible that the church is a body separated from its head? The Colossians had fallen into this pit. They had begun to substitute for Jesus Christ feasts and new moons and all kinds of things, and they were off on other side issues, and they lost the focus of Jesus Christ in their lives. They had replaced the Lord with visions and angel worship and human tradition and asceticism, and they were in danger of losing all of their power because, you see, they had cut themselves off from the head, and they were like a disembodied individual walking around without any strength, without any direction, without any signals. And Paul writes back to them, and he says, just as the Lord is the Lord of creation, He is the Lord of the church, and if you want the blessing of Jesus Christ in your life, you better plug into the head because that's where the source of strength is.
That's where the direction comes. As we look around at the church of Jesus Christ today, it almost reminds you of a body running around without a head, running after every nuance that comes down the road, running after every new thing. If you saw the mail that comes to the clergy today announcing all of the new things that are available for the church to give themselves to, many of them good ideas, but ideas which take one away from the supremacy of Jesus Christ, you would understand what I mean. It is not going to be until the church of Jesus Christ gets back in control by the head who is Christ that the church of Jesus Christ has the power that it so seeks.
Someone far more eloquent than I will ever be put it into perspective when he penned these words. He wrote, when the church has been victorious in power and has had a cutting edge in society, It has been because she has kept Jesus Christ at the center of her creed, and her members have been captivated by his greatness. Amen. That statement is ever more true today than it was when it was made, because as we look around, we see so many who have lost that and moved away from Christ as the center of the church and the Bible as the subject of the church. We know for a fact, having watched it over the years and practiced it in our lives, that when Christ is first in our lives, things go well.
When Christ is first in the church, that's when you see the joy of victory in the lives of other people and outreach around the world. We'll have more about this tomorrow as we continue our discussion of Stewardship is Lordship. Ladies and gentlemen, we try every month to come up with a resource that will be a blessing to you. And this month we have outdone ourselves. This is what God promises you, a brand new 208-page hardback gift book that's available to you for your gift of any size during this month.
Be among the first to ask for your copy when you send your gift today. And we'll see you right here tomorrow. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Investing for Eternity, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio.
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Get all the details when you visit our website, davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Investing for Eternity on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
