Jesus is First Place!!

This past Sunday we learned, "that in all things Jesus may have the preeminence." The word preeminence means, "to have first place." How is it that Jesus can claim that right? It is a direct result of His death and resurrection. In Philippians 2:8-11 Paul tells us "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. "

Paul was combating the thought that some had that they needed something else to help them get saved. That is so foreign to what the Bible teaches us to be true. It is in Christ and Christ alone that we find everything needed in order to restore us to a right relationship with the Father. Jesus is above all and through all this is due to the the fact that He is the creator and sustainer of all things.

John Owens summarizes this beautifully in his book "The Glory of Christ." "The revelation made of Christ in the blessed gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, more filled with rays of divine wisdom and goodness than the whole creation, and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without this knowledge, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries is wrapped up in darkness and confusion. This therefore deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations and our utmost diligence in them."

Let us indeed give Jesus FIRST PLACE IN EVERYTHING IN OUR LIVES!