Dr. Montia Setzler, Lead Pastor
June 26, 2016
Sermon Series
Objections: Answers to the Most Common Objections to Christianity
Jesus Was Just a Man
Common Objections: What makes Jesus so different from other great men in history?
Colossians 1:15–22 (HCSB)
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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. 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. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven. 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…
The Supremacy of Christ
1. HE IS THE VISIBLE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD v 15a
2 Corinthians 4:4 (HCSB)
In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
Hebrews 1:3 (HCSB)
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word…
2. HE IS THE FIRSTBORN OVER CREATION v 15b
• Christ precedes all of Creation (see v. 17)
• Christ is Sovereign over all of Creation
3. HE IS THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE vv 16-17
John 1:3 (HCSB)
All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.
Hebrews 1:2 (HCSB)
In these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son. God has appointed Him heir of all things and made the universe through Him.
4. HE IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH v 18a
Ephesians 1:22–23 (HCSB)
And He put everything under His feet and appointed Him as head over everything for the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all things in every way.
5. HE IS THE BEGINNING, THE FIRSTBORN FROM THE DEAD v 18b
Revelation 1:5 (HCSB)
… and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by His blood…
1 Corinthians 15:20 (HCSB)
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
Philippians 2:8–9 (HCSB)
He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death – even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted Him and gave Him the name that is above every name…
• Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sin.
Hebrews 4:15 (HCSB)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.
• Jesus overcame death and the grave to provide our hope.
6. HE IS THE FULLNESS OF GOD v 19
Colossians 2:9–10 (HCSB)
For the entire fullness of God’s nature dwells bodily in Christ, 10 and you have been filled by Him, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
Ephesians 4:13 (HCSB)
… until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.
7. HE IS THE RECONCILER OF ALL THINGS vv 20-22
2 Corinthians 5:18–19 (HCSB)
Everything is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
The supremacy of Christ is demonstrated in Scripture, forcing us to understand God’s activity in the tension of two seemingly irreconcilable concepts – that Jesus is and was fully man and fully God. This pivotal doctrine allows us to see the activity of God.
