Colossians 1:16 “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:”

Colossians 1:17 “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”

Colossians 1:18 “And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.”

Well well! So much to write about, but for today we will be considering the “preeminence” of the Lord Jesus Christ as exemplified in the life of Joseph, whom we read about in the latter half of the wonderful book of Genesis.

The question today is, does the Lord Jesus Christ have “the preeminence” in “all things” in your life?

Preeminence means “Superiority in excellence” and “priority of place; superiority in rank or dignity.” …So is Jesus in “all things” you think, say and do?

Note that word “consist” in Colossians 1:17, that’s where we get our word “constitution” and “consistency” from… if you honestly look at what your life consists of, it’s composition and make up, how it is put together … is it really based on preeminence of Christ? Because a life without Christ utterly preeminent will fall apart, because of the “inconsistencies”, which may have crept into your life also, even if you are saved.

I hope Jesus has “the preeminence” seeing as all things are created by him, for him! And if he is preeminent, maybe your life makes about as much sense as a Bible character like Joseph sitting in a prison cell for now… but you can be darn sure that, in the end, the preeminent Christ will make “all things work together for good to them that love God” This happened in Joseph’s life remember! And for every true child of God. No matter where you are, nothing is outside his holy purpose.

… The preeminence of Christ personally and publicly is just so vital for our lives… and the fact he is no longer preeminent in most homes of this nation is why things have fallen apart at the seams, because when you build a life not consisting of Christ… it cannot work together for good and cannot be made good. It is well documented and noted that many social issues are only increasing, we cannot get the bandaids on fast enough… because when you legislate the sin in and God out… that’s what you will get, with more to come.

Look, Bible believing Christians cop all the blame for high depression, unhappiness and suicide rates and all that in people who are deep in sin… with the rationale that if you’d just accept sin more, love them in sin more, that’d fix everything. But that’s Freudian psychology, not Bible doctrine… the old “if you make their environment better they’ll do better”. No they won’t, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel couldn’t have lived in a better paradise than Eden… and they still sinned, and Cain killed Abel without ever having been shown how. Man’s evil is a product of the heart within, not the environment. If it was the environment, and we are slaves to environmental conditions… why didn’t Joseph sin then? Why didn’t he hang himself in his own cell? He was in a pretty bad circumstance in life… MULTIPLE times… and he didn’t sin. In fact, he was a blessing to others, a light in a dark place. And so he had a bad environment and didn’t sin, and in the best environment, Cain chose to murder his brother. Hmm. If Bible doctrine contradicts wordly doctrine, what should you go with?

We are in a time where people are inventing different ways of evangelizing the lost. And this idea of sharing good times with lost sinners to win them to Christ appears to have some merit… but the attraction of Christianity is that it offers something totally different and not of this world…. not in offering more of the same. Look, even Joseph’s example with his brothers he showed this form of evangelism does not work. He invited his brothers home, shared good times with them… Genesis 43 “… and they drank, and were merry with him.”… yet they were no more right with God, walking in truth, or in knowledge, communion and fellowship with him than before.

And the fact is, if you get your wish and eliminate every actual Christian from society, like Herod’s wife did in demanding the beheading of John the Baptist because she had a little quarrel with his rebuke of sin… what would you have then? Would things be better? Would you finally have Utopia? Would it be heaven on earth? … Well the Bible says hell on earth “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

Sin cannot be made to prosper! Balaam couldn’t do it, and neither will you. The Bible says “and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death”. You know what causes someone to kill themselves? You know what’s causing all this death, at both ends and everything in between? Yes there’s some horrible situations in life, with people looking for an exit, and noone to help as there’s many problems no human being can fix “and there stood no man with him”… and they need the message of hope and the blood of Jesus Christ… there’s still power in the blood! …but if you’re living in disobedience and denial to God… you cannot ever find the happiness, peace and rest that you may seek in it, it’s a mirage people, because those things are only found in Christ.

Sin is destructive. It will destroy your life. All sin will. No matter how little or miniscule it may seem. Without respect of persons. It’s done a job on my life, and I am an authority too on how sin can take a wrecking ball through one’s own life. Remember, a leprosy that eats the whole body, consuming nerve endings, leading to a life of loneliness and despair with no hope… begins with the smallest of spots. You need to be told that sin is the enemy of your own soul, you need someone who loves you enough to tell you that, to be there for you with that message “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” … and those kind of people aren’t frequent, let’s be honest.

They’re as rare as Joseph was. He was the “one among a thousand”. Joseph was that kind of person. He was the salt and light that Jesus spoke of wherever he was, and he was in some bad places in life, but a blessing there. He didn’t hang himself, because he had hope. He was mistreated, lied about, falsely accused, forgotten, but God was with him in it. And people saw he had something in him and with him… God… which excelled anything they had and knew and which exalted him. Let your Lord exalt you, not yourself.

And Joseph was serious about sin. His brothers were very wicked, and he didn’t go along with it, that’s part of why they hated him. He did not consent to it. And he was honest with others about it. As plain as day, he told the butler the was going to live and the baker he was going to die “each man according to the interpretation of his dream”. If you’re going to hell you need to be warned, it’s coming fast if you have rejected Christ… it was three days for the baker… not long. That’s why the gospel message is an urgent warning and message of hope “Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech”! Don’t bother telling God how good you are. Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt telling him how good they were, he said I don’t believe you “there is none good, no not one”.

Back to preeminence, and I hope you let this precious doctrine adorn your life, for many will not, as Jesus said in his parable concerning himself “But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us”… Note: it was “his citizens” that sent this message, which he received loud and clear, and there are many Christians who Jesus says to them “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”

If he truly is your Lord, if he was your “preeminent”, wouldn’t you do what he tells you to do? … What kind of a servant tells his Lord no? I don’t tell my boss no, and I may protest and appeal or even reluctantly acquiesce to his mandate… but if you tell your boss no, you’ll be out of a job soon enough. What makes you think telling God “no” will end any different? A lot of Christianity is empty words, with no substance, when he’s as Lord over your life as those soldiers who put the purple robe on him.

… In Genesis 19, God, in his great mercy, and honouring the prayer of Abraham, saves Lot, and the few family members who would listen to him, in sending angels to Sodom to literally drag him out of the city before fire and brimstone consumed it… and as they dragged his reluctant, indecisive and lingering self out of there… the angels told him urgently! “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.”

How did Lot respond? Well, he does say oh gee thanks so much God, but instead of heeding these urgent words “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly” Lot says this to God in reply to his directions “And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord:” … He then goes to explain to God why God is wrong and he knows better.

Isn’t the Bible just so up to date? How many professing Christians correct God, would explain to him where he’s wrong, they know how to love people more than God does “Not so, my Lord”. What kind of words are those? Are you living a “Not so, my Lord” Christian life? Just how “preeminent” is that Lord of your life? It’s a bit of a mockery, and that’s why when he warned his sons in law to get out the city with him, they didn’t listen to him “and he seemed as one that mocked”… what a high price is attached to not embracing the preeminence of Christ in our lives. We all lose all power and credibility in the lost, and achieve the opposite of what we were there to do, he was liked with no power to help others get saved, but the calling of a Christian is to be unliked but they know you’re the real deal. You actually achieve the opposite of evangelism if you follow Lot’s example of being “all things to all men”… which isn’t the tenor of those words at all.

… In bringing this thing on the home stretch, why Jesus should be preeminent in your life is because he IS preeminent as Colossians 1 so clearly articulates, and the whole Bible. It’s just rendering what is due to him. And amazingly, the life of Joseph is just the most wonderful illustration of this preeminence that Jesus Christ has, and how good it would be for your life and all those around you. Jesus will benefit anyone’s home if they would bring him in and make him preeminent over “all things”!

Joseph shows the doctrine of the preeminence of Christ in amazing detail! When Joseph was a boy, God gave him a dream about his preeminence, them making obeisance to him… a preeminence which he told his brothers and father about, but which they scolded and hated him for “And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.”

It hasn’t changed has it. The reason why people hate Jesus are “for his words”. Most people don’t mind Jesus Christ until “his words” of scripture. They came for the bread in John 6, but it was for his words that “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”.

But despite this rejection from his brethren, Joseph was nevertheless preeminent in all things.

He was preeminent in Potiphar’s house “and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.”

… and in prison “And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.”

…and in Pharaoh’s house “Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled…”

… and in all Egypt “And Joseph… went throughout all the land of Egypt”

… and over those brothers also! “and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.”

This is God’s word people. Why refuse Jesus Christ’s preeminence? There is no wisdom to it, as Proverbs says “There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.” He is inevitable in all things, including your life! Right now, today, while it is called to day, he would save your life and give you a life worth living. He would benefit every part of your life, there is no area he should not be preeminent and that he would not benefit “that in every thing ye are enriched by him”. It’s a blessing to have Christ where he belongs! Not just in your house, but PREEMINENT! When the famine hit hard, maybe it’s beginning to hit you hard, they went to Pharaoh, and Pharaoh said to them … “Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do”. Pretty simple rule of life! Mary echoed these words in John 2. Go to Jesus Christ and what he says in his word… do! It’s what works and what he will work together for good! May God write such blessed words upon each of our own hearts.

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