Within the sermon Maclaren states his purpose: "My business is not so much to try to prove Paul's words as to explain them, and then press them home." His subject is, "Why is Jesus Christ supreme over all creatures in everything?" and his complement is, "Because of His relation to God, to the creation and to the church." Bringing his subject and complement together, the statement of his idea for the sermon would be, "Jesus Christ is supreme over all creatures in everything because of His relation to God, to the creation and to the church." In developing this idea through explanation, Maclaren purposes to motivate Christians to make Christ preeminent in their lives.

How then does Maclaren go about the sermon? He offers his idea twice in the introduction. "Christ," he declares, "fills the space between God and man. There is no need for a crowd of shadowy beings to link heaven with earth. Jesus Christ lays His hand upon both. He is the head and fountain of life to His church. Therefore, He is first in all things to be listened to, loved and worshipped by men."

The entire sermon will say nothing more than that. In the next paragraph Maclaren presents the idea in an abbreviated form a second time: "There are here three grand conceptions of Christ's relations. We have Christ and God, Christ and the creation, Christ and the church, and built upon all these, the triumphant proclamation of His supremacy over all creatures in all respects."

In the body of the sermon, Maclaren explains what those relationships involve. Reduced to its outline, the sermon proceeds in this way:

I. The relation of Christ to God is that He is "the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15).

A. God in Himself is inconceivable and unapproachable.

B. Christ is the perfect manifestation and image of God.

1. In Him the invisible becomes visible.

2. He alone provides certitude firm enough for us to find sustaining power against life's trials.

II. The relation of Christ to creation is that He is "the firstborn of all creation" (Col. 1:15-17).

A. Christ is the agent of all creation, and the phrases Paul used imply priority of existence and supremacy over everything.

B. Christ sustains a variety of relations to the universe; this is developed through the different prepositions Paul used.

III. The relation of Christ to His church is that He is "the head of the body" who is "the beginning, the firstborn from the dead" (Col. 1:18).

A. What the Word of God before the incarnation was to the universe, so is the incarnate Christ to His church. He is the "firstborn" to both.

B. As "the head of the body," He is the source and center of the church's life.

C. As the "beginning" of the church through His resurrection, He is the power by which the church began and by which we will be raised.

Conclusion: "The apostle concludes that in all things Christ is first -- and all things are, that He may be first. Whether in nature or in grace, the preeminence is absolute and supreme.... So the question of questions for us all is, 'What think ye of Christ?' ... Is He anything to us but a name? ... Happy are we if we give Jesus the preeminence, and if our hearts set 'Him first, Him last, Him midst and without end.'"1