Where Does He Rank? - Colossians 1:15-23
We have reached
the time of year where more folks than not discus rankings. I had someone just the other day asked me
where Duke was because Carolina was ranked 23rd and Duke was nowhere
to be seen. It took me a moment to catch
hold of what they were discussing, but I finally sorted it out that we were
nearing the opening week of College Football.
Before all the Carolina fans start gloating too much, I looked it up. Duke would have been ranked 29th
if they showed the results that far down.
There’s not too much difference between the two. And to me, to even be able to say that Duke
was in the Top 30 is a big deal, I can remember when they wouldn’t have made the
top 250). Rankings are important in
baseball this time of year as well, as the teams eligible for the pennant races
and World Series are narrowed down.
NASCAR rankings take on a major role as competitors are locked into “The
Chase for the Championship.” Some folks
already begin looking at the pre-season rankings for NCAA basketball—where, by
the way, Duke outranks Carolina by about the same number of positions that
Carolina outranks Duke in football.
With rankings in
mind, I would like you to turn to the back of your bulletin, where you see 1-5
listed. Take a few moments and quickly
jot down, in order of importance, the top five things in your life. I surveyed my Facebook friends with the same
question. Among the things that made
their top five were Family, Friends, Boyfriend, Helping Others, Quiet, Growing
Spiritually, Car, Health, Self-Respect, Church, and God.
How many of you
fell in line with these responses? Many
folks responded with God/Jesus in the top position, though at least one said
that while that was the order, they had to question whether or not their life
reflected that God was first in their lives.
Another shared with me that while they knew that I would have liked to
have seen God as first, they felt out of respect for our friendship that they
needed to be honest, and could not honestly say God was first in their lives. How many of you God or Jesus in the first
position? How many only did that because
the question was asked in the middle of worship at the beginning of a sermon
entitled, “Where Does He Rank?”
Consider our
Scripture reading this morning. In the
nine verses from Paul to the Colossians, mentions Christ as first three times:
“firstborn of all creation,” “firstborn from the dead,” and, “so that he might
come to have first place in everything.”
Add to that the references to Jesus as being “before all things,” “the
head of the body, the church,” and “the beginning,” and we have six references
in nine verses to Jesus holding the most important place in all of creation.
So what place
does Jesus really occupy in our lives?
We know what the answer is supposed to be—what it should be—especially
if we are sitting here, but if we are all completely honest, we struggle to be
able to say that Jesus is first place.
Many things compete for that number one ranking, and sadly, without even
knowing it, we elevate those things to the first place slot.
Scripture is
full of folks wrestling with where to rank God in their lives.
Abraham had to
wrestle with where God ranked in his life—with Abraham it was “A sense of
certainty or control” that kept trying to push God out of the top spot. At first it would seem that God was firmly in
first place, as God came and told Abram, “pack up your family and your belongings,
and leave this place you are familiar with and go to a land that I will reveal
to you later.” This would be a test for
all of us. Consider whether or not we
ranked God above “a sense of security, certainty, or control.” Now consider that God comes along and says to
you, “I want you to pack up your household, and you’re going to leave this
place behind, and after we’re on the way, I’ll let you know where we are
heading.” How many of us would be on
board with that? Evidently Abram was, at
least at that point, giving God the top spot.
However, insecurity would seek to push God out later on, as he lied to
kings whose land he passed through, saying his wife was really his sister, and
then later on using Hagar, his wife’s maid, as the first biblically recorded
naturally impregnated surrogate mother, in order to try to make God’s promise
of descendants come true, rather than trusting in God and letting God maintain
that top spot. However, when push came
to shove, and Abraham not only had to decide whether God ranked ahead of
security and certainty, but also whether God ranked ahead of family, and he was
asked to be willing to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham took the knife, wood,
fire, and Isaac to the mountain.
David struggled
with where God ranked. For most of his
life, David lived confidently with God in first place, even while he was
running for his life away from Saul—not because he feared Saul, but because
David had such respect for God, that he refused to harm someone that had been
set apart by God. David slipped
momentarily as he elevated pleasure and desire to the number one place as he
had his one-night-stand with Bathsheba.
However, after being confronted with the reality of his sin, a repentant
David, even as he struggled through the family strife that his sin brought
about, placed God back in the forefront, and died “a man after God’s own
heart.”
Those who
encountered Jesus face to face wrestled with whether or not to make following
Jesus the number one thing in their lives.
We read of a member of the crowd again wrestling with whether Jesus came
before family when he said, “Let me first bury my father, and then I’ll come
follow you,” another said, “let me first go say goodbye to my family.”[i] Jesus’s response was that either he was first
in their lives, or they were not fit to follow.
For another man, Jesus knew that his possessions ranked higher than
where God fell in his life—Jesus told that rich young ruler to sell off
everything he had, give the money to the poor, and follow him…yet that man went
away heartbroken, because he was confronted with his “stuff” ranking ahead of
following Jesus.
Even Jesus’
closest followers struggled with where following Jesus ranked. Peter, Andrew, James, and John all quickly
elevated Jesus to first place in their lives when compared to their livelihood—leaving
behind their nets, boats, and family fishing businesses to follow Jesus. However, they struggled to keep Jesus in
first place when it came to their very lives being at risk, as all deserted him
when he was arrested, tried, and crucified.
Later though, bolstered by an encounter with the risen Jesus’ and the
empowering force of the Holy Spirit, they died as a result of their
faithfulness to proclaiming the Gospel.
Many scholars
suggest that Judas’ struggle was between following Jesus and a sense of
nationalism. Many had believed that the
Messiah would return as a warrior king that would lift Israel to its rightful
place above all other nations and that the true Messiah would free Israel from
the control of the Roman Empire. These
scholars suggest that Judas’ actions were less about betraying Jesus and more
about forcing Jesus’ hand, trying to make him the nationalist Messiah that he
thought Him to be.
Thomas’
struggles were with doubts and fears holding rank over His faith and believing
in his fellow disciples. He questioned
their testimony about the risen Christ, rather than believing the other
disciples’’ testimony and holding on to Jesus’ promise of rising again, only
believing when confronted face to face by Jesus.
Judas, again,
along with members of the early church Ananias and Sapphira, struggled with
whether Jesus was number one or wealth was first in their lives. Judas questioned the extravagance of the
woman who anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume. Husband and wife, Ananias and Sapphira, while
others sold all that they had and put it into a common fund in the church, said
they gave everything, but held out a portion for themselves.
Family, wealth,
security, self-preservation, careers, fear, and even nationalism…all things,
whether we want to admit it or not, that vie for first place in our lives. Rather than bring our families with us to
worship, or leave them behind if they choose not to come, we choose to stay
with them or feel like we have to stay home to prepare them a nice meal, rather
than gather with the worshipping body of Christ. At times we let our jobs, careers, or
investments trump what we believe—working when we should be worshipping,
compromising standards to keep further our careers, or allowing investments in
socially irresponsible companies because that is where the higher return may
be. We fail to serve in ways that might
put us at risk, because we might get hurt, might be attacked, or might get
sick. There may even be times where we
elevate national allegiance or commitment to political parties to following
Jesus.
As we consider
where Jesus is ranked in our lives, and possibly feel convicted that Jesus may
have slipped in our rankings, let us celebrate that in our failure to keep Him
first, He has not been removed from His Divinely appointed throne. Let us also take comfort that while Judas,
Ananias, Sapphira, possibly the rich young ruler, and most assuredly others
failed to place Jesus back in first in their rankings, that is not where things
ended for others, nor where they have to end for us. Abraham recovered, David recovered, Peter,
Andrew, James, John, Thomas, and the others recovered and became the witnesses
that have allowed us to be gathered here.
More than anything we have the witness and example of Jesus who lived a
life that revealed to those around Him and to us what it means to live a life
with the will of God first place in His life.
God, who loves us enough to allow us the free will to rank Him wherever
we will, loves us to much to allow us to struggle on our own to place Him
first, so He pours out His Holy Spirit upon us.
Now, filled with the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit that filled Jesus and now
fills us…God’s own Spirit…we are empowered to and can strive each day to live
with Jesus as the first and foremost thing in our lives, allowing that
allegiance to affect everything else and refusing to allow anything else to
move into the position in our lives that rightfully belongs to Him.
In the Name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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