Sermon Tone Analysis

A group of computer programmers put together a Python script that collects data on hundreds of thousands of Wikipedia entries.

It then ranks them by length of entry, number of links to pages, and how long they lived.

The result is a list of the world's (or at least the Internet's) consensus of the most influential people of all time, from leaders who liberated people (Abraham Lincoln) to those who killed millions (Joseph Stalin).

It's also a reminder of privilege, since there's one woman and no people of color on the list.

Joseph Stalin

Sidney Lee

Napoleon

George Washington

Queen Victoria

Winston Churchill

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Abraham Lincoln

Carl Linnaeus

Adolf Hitler

Second Sample

Mother Teresa

Christopher Columbus

Saint Paul

Buddha

Albert Einstein

Mahatma Gandhi

Isaac Newton

Confucius

Muhammed

Jesus Christ

Third Sample

Charles Darwin

Sigmund Freud

Hippocrates

Christopher Columbus

Galileo

Isaac Newton

Michelangelo

Mozart

Archimedes

Homer

Julius Caesar

Da Vinci

Alexander the Great

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, the founder of the Christian religion has a direct influence on the 2 billion followers of Christianity in the world and is hence one of the most influential people in history.

However, Aristotle and Plato have frequently been cited as being more influential since their ideas were not restricted by religious doctrines and are widely accepted by people of all faiths.

Apart from the 2 billion followers, Jesus Christ has had a significant impact on the world as a whole since many Christian values have been universalized due to the conscious efforts of kingdoms and countries that accept the religion as the official religion.

Plato

Today is the last Sunday of the Church year and has been designated a “Christ the King” Sunday.

It is fitting that we should conclude our year with an emphasis on the importance of Jesus on the history of the world, the message of the Bible, and our own personal lives as a whole and on a daily life.

There should be no doubt that Jesus was (and is) an influential person in history.

I asked Google for a list of the most influential people in history.

The first list I saw was not what I expected.

It was a list based on activity on Wikipedia.

I think it says more about the people who use that platform than actual facts.

So I kept searching.

The second list was more what I expected.

A third list also put Jesus near (but not at) the top with a disclaimer.

Well, we don’t need a Google search to tell us who is the most important person in our lives.

As Christians who believe in the Triune God, we confess just how important Jesus to us in our worship and in how we conduct our daily lives.

But this was not always been accepted by everyone.

In our gospel lesson we are reminded of how the life of Jesus seemingly ended as he was condemned to death either because of the accusations made against him (historists) or because Pilate wanted to save his own reputation (biblical).

John tells us in his prologue about the origins of Jesus and that his life would seemingly end tragically.

After Jesus rose from the dead, he commanded his disciples to witness to the world who he was, and is, and what will happen in the future.

One of the most influential people in doing this was St. Paul.

We don’t have the exact content of everything he preached but we do have the inspired letters that he wrote which often testified to who Jesus is and why he is influential.

One of those examples is our text.

Verse by verse commentary and application.

The subject of this verse is God the Father.

He is the active person who rescues us.

But he did this through his Son, Jesus.

Jesus is the one he sent on the rescue mission to redeem us (buy us back).

Therefore, our relationship with God is described as being members of his Son’s kingdom.

As king Jesus won the victory over our spiritual enemies and now rules in our hearts by the Word and over all things as he is at the right hand of God.

The benefit for us is that we are God’s people and that our sins are forgiven.

This speaks to the divinity of Jesus.

We cannot see God the Father or the Holy Spirit because they are spirits.

We could not see Jesus unless he had become man (which he did).

As true man and true God he revealed our God to us.

“The firstborn of all creation” has been interpreted by some to say that God the Father created the Son and through him created everything else (see reference).

It has been alleged that firstborn means that Jesus was the first creation of God.

Does this mean that Jesus Christ was a created being?

The Word Can Mean A Number Of Different Things

The Greek word prototokos, which is translated as firstborn, can refer to different things.

It could refer either to something or someone that is first in order of time, such as a firstborn child, or it could refer to someone who is preeminent in rank.

Or it could refer to someone who was both firstborn and preeminent in rank.

It all depends upon the context.

It Has The Idea Of Preeminence In The Book Of Colossians

In the passage in Colossians the idea of Jesus as firstborn means that He is preeminent over creation not that He is a created being.

This can be seen from the verses that follow.

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together (,).

Jesus is clearly called the Creator of all things.

Consequently He could not have been the first thing created.

The more accurate understanding is as seen above.

Often people are cited as being influential because of what they created (ideology, theories, art, political systems).

Jesus is above all because he was involved in creating everything.

Here St. Paul uses a common analogy to stress how important Jesus is.

He calls him the head of the body.

I saw a recent post on Facebook of how a family was in the hospital with the husband and father who had lost part of his arm in a farming accident.

Losing a limb or an organ can be devastating.

But losing one’s head is always fatal.

We know how important the head is.

Jesus is the most important person in our church — any church.