Sabbath School 1st Quarter 2026: Uniting Heaven and Earth: Christ in Philippians and Colossians

Mark Finley

HopeLives365

08 The Preeminence of Christ

In our Sabbath School lessons for this quarter, we're studying the book of Philippians and the book of Colossians.

We make a transition now in lesson number 8 to move into the book of Colossians.

We've finished Philippians, a tremendous book, so encouraging, so filled with hope.

So let's pray as we jump into the lessons, starting with lesson 8 in Colossians.

Father in heaven, we thank you with all of our hearts for the opportunity to study your word.

We thank you that as we study, that we have new insights into scripture, That scripture speaks to us in quite remarkable ways.

And so Lord, I just pray that as we study Colossians, that your spirit would guide us into all truth in Jesus' name, Amen.

Our lesson title for this week is the preeminence of Christ.

What do we mean when we talk about preeminence?

This person is preeminent, they're superior.

Our memory text in Colossians 1, verse 15 to 17 this week, talks about Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

We need to talk a little bit later about what the firstborn means.

For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, where the thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through him and for him, he is before all things, and in him all things consist." As we look at that, it's important for us to notice that Christ is the active agent in creation.

It says here very clearly in our text, it says, for by him all things were created.

So if he is a created being, then the text would be wrong, because all things wouldn't be created by him.

It's obvious here that Jesus is not a created being.

It also is very clear here, it says that all things were created through him and for him, and he is before all things, and in him all things consist.

So how could he be before all things if He in some way was begotten by the Father, what does that mean?

If he in some way came forth from the Father, he would not consist before all things.

We're going to get into some interesting discussion in our lesson today, so let's take a look at it.

First we raise the question, Christ is preeminent.

The image of the invisible God, Sunday's lesson.

What does image of the invisible God actually mean?

Well, there are a number of Bible passages that use the word image.

Genesis 1, verse 26 and 27 says God created man in his own image.

It means mentally, spiritually, relationally, physically, we're created in the image of God.

In 1 Corinthians 15, verse 49, we again read this idea of image.

As we have borne the image of the earthly, and the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly man.

So here, image, image of the earthly, image of the heavenly man.

In other words, we, when we have our heavenly bodies, when we have the glorious immortal body, it'll be an image of what we are today.

So The word image has to do with likeness.

Under the Sunday's lesson, human beings were created to be as much like God as possible, physically, spiritually, relationally, and functionally.

Still, they reflect God's image in certain aspects only, and sin has damaged that image.

But Jesus enables us to see the invisible God.

Jesus said, He who has sent me, has, He who has seen me has seen the Father.

He is the exact imprint of God's nature, Hebrews 1.3.

He is God's thought made audible and God's character made visible.

If Jesus is the image of the invisible God, was he with the Father from all eternity?

Here in John chapter 1, we read, John 1, and we're going to look there at verse 1, 2, and 14, and 18.

The Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So as far back as we can think at the beginning, The Father and the Son were together.

Then, verse 3, all things were made through Him.

Again, if He's a created being, then all things weren't made through Him.

He was not a created being, but verse 4, in him was life, and the life was the light of men.

The word became flesh and dwelt among us.

We beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." Let's look at this word begotten.

The word begotten comes from 2 Greek words, monogenes.

And so you're building cities 1 at a time.

Monorail, it's a train that doesn't go on 2 tracks, but 1 track, so mono is 1.

He's the unique divine son of God that has existed from eternity with the Father.

He came to earth to save us from our sins.

The divine unique Son of God tabernacled in human flesh.

And as he did, we could behold, according to this passage, the glory of God.

No 1 has seen God at any time, the only begotten Son.

Again, this word begotten, the Son who is 1 of a kind, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared it.

What does it mean in the bosom of the Father?

This term bosom is used to deal with the deepest part of the emotions.

It's not that Christ is inside the Father's bosom, but it's rather, he is there, the closest possible being to the Father.

Now, look, here, notice some other ways in our lesson that Jesus described his relationship with God.

He says, my father has been working until now, and I've been working.

No 1 comes to the father but through me, John 14, 6.

Now here are some of the strongest statements that link the divinity of Christ, that Jesus is 1 with the Father.

So the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are separate, distinct beings.

But they are 1 in thought, they are 1 in mind, they are 1 in character, they are 1 in strength, 1 in power.

So here, it's not 3 beings inside of 1 God.

It is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are 3 distinct eternal beings in the Godhead.

Jesus have repeatedly, note, described himself in an absolute sense in terms of God's name.

07 A Heavenly Citizenship

Thank you for joining us for another Sabbath School lesson.

The title of our lessons this quarter is Uniting Heaven and Earth, Christ in Philippians and Colossians.

When you think of citizenship, what do you think of?

You think of a person who is a member or a citizen of a particular country.

When we talk about heavenly citizenship, we're talking about where our mindset is.

Our hope is based on something beyond this life.

So in life, we go through joys and sorrows.

There are many difficult moments in life.

There's sickness, there's financial reverses, family challenges, some people go through conflict in their marriage, some the trauma of a divorce.

There are times that we experience the ravages of war in some countries or famine, heartache, sorrow.

But yet, if you're a heavenly citizen, in spite of what's going on around you, you focus on what's above you.

If you're a heavenly citizen, you anticipate that there's a better world coming.

And it's that joy that takes you through the conflicts of life.

So let's pray and ask the Lord especially to be with us as we study this lesson, Heavenly Citizen.

Father in heaven, we're thankful that we are citizens of another world, that we're citizens of the eternal world.

Keep us ever so focused on the fact that this world is not our home that we're just passing through.

That 1 day we can live with you and see you face to face in those eternal realms of glory.

Under the Sabbath afternoon's reading, the last paragraph under heavenly citizenship says this, Most important, we need not place our hopes in earthly systems or government which regularly disappoint us.

Often governments, as much as they try, disappoint us.

There's dishonesty, graft, corruption at times in some governments of the world.

But as Christians, we are citizens of God's heavenly kingdom.

With that citizenship comes wonderful privileges, wonderful privileges and responsibilities too.

So as a citizen of heaven, 1 of the privileges that we have is being a positive role model to others.

In Sunday's lesson titled Role Models, Let's take a look at Philippians 3, verse 17 to 19.

It says, brethren, join in following my example and note those who so walk as you have us for a pattern, for many walk of whom I've told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they're enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is their destruction, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who set their mind on earthly things.

So here Paul contrasts heavenly citizenship and what it means to be a positive role model and what it means to be a negative role model.

Because as he walks through life, his focus is on eternity.

He shares the Christ that he knows, the Christ that's changed his life.

He wants others to have the joy of knowing Jesus and living in eternity.

Paul's focus is not on the things of time, but on the things of eternity.

Not on the here and now, but on the hereafter.

Certainly Paul was focused on what Christ wanted of his life.

What about those who are poor role models who are enemies of the cross of Christ?

It said they're enemies of the cross of Christ.

They don't believe in the principles of God's Word.

Then it says that they set their mind on earthly things.

So the question is where is your mind set?

These people who are poor role model have their minds set on earthly things.

It says, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is their shame.

Here, under the note of Sunday's lesson we read, we must not miss Paul's love toward those with whom he disagrees.

He weeps over them, that's what the scripture says.

Notice that he doesn't call them his enemies, but enemies of the cross of Christ.

Paul recognized that much larger issues were at stake, namely how the cross breaks down barriers, how the cross places us all on the same level as sinners in need of a savior.

Also not to be overlooked is how Paul urges the Philippians to focus on the good examples, not the bad, to observe carefully those whose manner of life is just much like his own.

So when we walk through life, We often have a stamp we place on other people's souls.

You know, I remember 1 time, I was just a young man, I was 21 years old.

I was flying from Manaus, Brazil, back to Beiling.

I was a student missionary on the Amazon River, worked there on the Lucero 6.

And as I was flying, I was sitting there on the plane.

I saw a man walk in, long hair, deeply etched lines upon his face, long robes.

And I could tell he was some kind of Indian holy man.

And I wondered, where's this guy gonna sit?

And as we traveled, I just enjoyed talking to him so much.

He shared his philosophy of life with me, and I shared some biblical values with him, which is a very healthy, positive discussion.

At the end of the meeting, he stood up to leave, the plane landed by now, and he stood up to leave, and he looked back at me, And with these pensive eyes of wisdom, he simply looked at me and he said, young man, every 1 of us as we walk through life put footprints on the souls of somebody else.

He might have used the word fingerprints on the soul.

And then he said to me, today, thank you for leaving positive fingerprints on my soul.

I've thought about it many times through the years.

It's true that as we walk through life, just as a fingerprint is an identity mark, when you are fingerprinted by the police, hope you're not, but if you are, they are fingerprinting you to check a database to see if you've committed any other crimes.

And what Paul is saying in Philippians chapter 3 here and verses 17 to 19, he's saying every single 1 of us is a positive or negative influence.

And the essence of being a positive influence is we leave positive fingerprints on the soul of another when every action, every word, every thought is based on heavenly values.

So let your life shine like a light for Jesus.

Leave fingerprints on the souls of others, on the lives of others, on their deepest part of their being.

By focusing on the values of heaven, let those values guide and strengthen your life.

In Monday's lesson, the title is Stand Fast in the Lord.

So as a heavenly citizen walking through life, our mindset is on eternity.

It's a way of thinking, it's a thought process.

Philippians 3, verse 20 and 21, look carefully what this heavenly citizenship is all about.

For our citizenship, that's our way of thinking, our way of life, the values that govern us, is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We're looking for Jesus to come, to take us home.

Verse 21, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he's able to subdue all things to himself.

So Jesus, 1 day is gonna come, and he's gonna transform these mortal bodies into immortal bodies.

He's gonna transform this corruptible into incorruption, like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 51 to 54.

The News Isn’t in Control, God Is

The future can feel quite uncertain at times.

Sometimes we look to the future with our plans and they're very, very well defined.

Other times we look to the future and we're not quite sure about it.

Sometimes we have a pretty good idea of what we desire.

But then something unexpected happens and our lives are interrupted and the future that we planned is not there at all.

Now Daniel Gilbert is a psychology professor at Harvard University.

Americans are smiling less and worrying more than they were a year ago.

He tried to figure out why indeed was that happening.

The real problem is not our economy, The real problem is not our finances.

People don't know what is going to happen next.

They wonder, will I have a job next week?

People just don't know what's going to happen and that's the uncertainty that really troubles them.

There was an interesting Dutch study that was done and in that Dutch study people again realised that it's uncertainty that is causing our problems.

Now here's a study that comes from the Gallup Poll that I'll talk about before I talk about the Dutch study.

So When Gallup Poll studied Americans, they found out this.

The black lines represent the negative emotions that people are having.

Worry, stress, sadness, physical pain, anger.

Then they took the green lines, so all the black lines were up in our society.

And then the green lines represent sleep, people getting less sleep.

They represent smile, laughter, people are smiling less.

Enjoyment, they're enjoying their lives less.

And so you go on and you look at it and you say, why, what is happening?

Why is it that sadness is up and disappointment is up and laughter and joy are down in American society.

And so Daniel Gilbert was trying to figure that out.

Now in this Dutch study, they took 20 people.

And in the study, with these 20 people, they said, we're going to give you shocks, and we're going to shock you.

All the shocks for the first 20 will be of the same intensity.

So you're going to get shocked, but all the shocks are the same intensity.

Then they took another group of people, 20 people, and they said to them, We're going to shock you again 20 times.

17 of the shocks will be the same intensity, but 3 of them will be worse.

The 20 people who knew the shocks would be the same intensity or the 20 people who would get 17 shocks that were not very intense but 3 shocks that would be much more intense.

Obviously, it was the people who were uncertain.

They did not know at all when their shocks were going to come.

When those shocks came, They just cried out because they didn't know when the shocks would be intense and when they wouldn't be so intense.

How can we embrace the future When life throws at us so many uncertain shocks, how can you thrive in uncertain times?

There's 1 thing certain about the future.

How can we thrive in unsettled times, in times of rapid change, in times when things are so unstable?

This morning, I invite you to travel back with me 700 years before Christ.

We're traveling to the book of Isaiah to discover how to find certainty in uncertain times, how to find confidence in uncertain times.

Isaiah, the sixth chapter, 700 years before Christ.

Isaiah chapter 6, and we're looking there at verse 1.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple." Uzziah began to reign when he was 16 years old.

He led Israel in prosperity, in preeminence, in promise.

His armies gained all the territory that they lost in future years.

Commerce revived, riches flowed into Jerusalem, cities were rebuilt and fortified, Jerusalem was prosperous, but it lost its spiritual power.

As often happens in times of peace and prosperity, Israel became complacent in spiritual things.

Their worship services became cold and formal.

Great time of prosperity, but a great time of spiritual apathy.

The priests were greedy, they were consumed with getting welt.

Isaiah brazenly entered the temple, where only the priests were supposed to do, and as he enters the temple In disobedience and rebellion against God, he gets leprosy.

The Assyrian king, Tigur-Pelaser, had attacked Babylon in 745 BC and he kept moving closer and closer to Israel.

As he did, he conquered as much of Asia in 744 BC.

His armies march to the border of Judah, but there was 1 who stood against him, Isaiah.

743 BC, he attacks, comes even closer and still closer to Israel.

The Israelites are trembling with uncertainty because Tiger Pallasser, with his mighty armies, is ready to attack and destroy them.

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All Teachings

08 The Preeminence of Christ

26m

07 A Heavenly Citizenship

26m

The News Isn’t in Control, God Is

51m

06 Confidence Only in Christ

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05 Shining as Lights in the Night

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History Records the Moment The Sabbath Changed

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04 Unity Through Humility

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Many Will Use the Name of Jesus and Still Be Lost

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03 Life and Death

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Will God’s People Be Alone During the Seven Last Plagues?

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02 Reasons for Thanksgiving and Prayer

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01 Persecuted but Not Forsaken

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