As we journey through Colossians today, we’ll be looking at Colossians 1:17. It says, He (Christ), is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
Before we jump in the devo, let me give some context on our journey through the Letter of Colossians. Paul wrote this letter along with Ephesians, Philippians, and Philemon from 60-62 AD, while Paul was imprisoned in Rome. Paul had not visited the Church of Colossae nor did he start the church in the area. A friend of Paul named Epaphras, likely started the church, and reported to Paul all the events going on. The theme and the reason Paul wrote Colossians was to discredit the false teaching going on and to encourage the Christian community reminding them God’s grace is, faith in Jesus Christ alone who is Supreme and Sufficient. Up to this point we’ve reflected Paul’s gratitude and prayer for the Colossian church (v.1-14). Coach Mo helped us reflect God’s story in her life on how she was saved through faithful friends who helped her to know Christ and go out and make Him known to others. If you have been following along, the next section of Scripture (v.15-23) go in depth of the characteristics of Jesus Christ that show He was not only fully human, but fully God as well. Coach Steven kicked us off the last two weeks reflecting the characteristics of Christ in v. 15-16, which says, Jesus is the image of the invisible God, firstborn over all creation, by Him all things were created… Today as we dive into verse 17 which says again, Jesus is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. We see two characteristics describing Christ as God, those are First, Jesus is BEFORE ALL THINGS and second, in Him ALL THINGS HOLD TOGETHER. In the simplest meaning, this says Jesus is both Creator who existed before time and is Eternal. He sustains all things where there is nothing out of His reach, He knows all things, and is in complete control. Right now my future bride, Samantha and I are in this crazy season called engagement season. We’ve had to navigate the challenges and communicate through conflict on topics such as Venue, Finances, Marital expectations and roles, invitations, dealing with family input, housing, and so on to build on our foundation for marriage. Can anyone relate or remember their season like this? As we countdown to our wedding day and the merging of 2 people, we’ve seen a lot of each other’s sinful nature and junk. You name it, we claim it. We’ve seen our struggles through pride, lust, selfishness, idolatry of comfort, control, seeking approval from others, tendencies to withdraw or invalidate one another. Some of you singles might be thinking “there’s something wrong with you guys or sounds way too hard”, but my married folks, who understand will say, “Welcome to Married Life and It’s a Beautiful Thing.” Through the Scriptures, God’s design of marriage is beautiful and is a reflection of both the Gospel and it sanctifying that draws us closer to Christ. When you marry someone, you are taking two broken people from broken pasts and who are coming together. The road to marriage will expose your sin nature and struggles and will uproot that before each other. It is no longer about “you” but now “we”. It puts in you in a position to care for someone else instead of yourself. It shows you how to love the other person as Christ loved the church. It will force your heart to have an attitude of humility and vulnerability. It will put you in a constant position to decide daily to choose to love the other person in their moments of ugliness. It will teach how to ask for forgiveness, keep short accounts, and extend forgiveness to the other person. It will force you to communicate and lean into tough conversations when you don’t necessarily want to. How’s that desire for marriage looking for my single friends…lol, kidding. I say all this because through this season and for the rest of our lives, our hope and dependence cannot be rooted in each other, it cannot be rooted in what the culture of our world says that if you’re unhappy then look to divorce or infidelity as an option, It cannot be rooted when times are tough to withdraw and look to selfish or material motives to cover things up. Just like Paul’s refute in Colossians, it’s a reminder to Sam, myself, and us here, we cannot lean on our own understanding or manmade ideologies on what truth in this world looks like, but to depend and rely on the Scriptures about the One Who is before all things and holds all things together, that is our Savior Jesus Christ. Without Him being the center and the glue of our foundation of what’s to come, our lives and marriage will not survive. In conclusion: As Paul reminded the Colossian church then, to us today and what the entire Bible shows, it shows Jesus was there before creation of the entire universe and earth. It shows Jesus was there at the creation of the earth. It shows Jesus was there in the anticipation of His coming in the Old Testament narrative. It shows that Jesus was there in the New Testament to fulfill God’s plan and glory to offer redemption to mankind through Jesus’ death on the cross. It shows Christ knew before His Death that He would be raised to life on the 3rd day, therefore signifying victory over sin, eternal death, and the opportunity for mankind to receive eternal life by faith through Him. It also shows Christ knew after His resurrection and ascension to Heaven, that He will come back for Israel and the Church and usher in the New Heaven and New Earth. Because of all this, Jesus says, “I am the Alpha and Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty”(Revelation 1:8). Jesus is in control holding all things together. My hope and encouragement is to remind you all and I, we are never out of His reach and if you believe you feel burdened in life that you may think no one can bear, I say look to Christ who bore the Cross for all sin and laid the foundation of all existence. As Hebrews 4 reflects, Jesus can empathize with us in every way and we can approach Him with confidence to find grace and receive mercy for our time of need. Let us then fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…(Hebrews 12:2).
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He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. -Colossians 1:15
What we see in this one verse as we continue our study through the book of Colossians is the direct connection between God and Jesus. We see that God is invisible, we cannot see Him, yet we see that Jesus is the image of God. If you want to know how God is like, look to Jesus. We can see God’s character throughout the Old Testament by how He interacts with the nation of Israel and through the prophets as He speaks to the nation of Israel through them. Yet, what we see is that God became incarnate. Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus came, both fully God and fully man. Through His ministry we can see how God is like by how Jesus interacted with those whom He came in contact with. One of my favorite interactions of Jesus is with the woman of Samaria at the well (John 4:1-45):"Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. And he had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.[a] A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.” Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” They went out of the town and were coming to him. Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?” Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest. Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.” Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” After the two days he departed for Galilee. (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast." What we see through this interaction is that Jesus crosses racial norms, social norms, and the most sinful. What we see is that Jesus as a Jew was not suppose to interact with the Samaritan’s because they were viewed as condemned by the Jews and they were not to have any interaction with them. We see that men were not suppose to interact with women in this time period. We know that this women was sinful in that Jesus knew everything that she has ever done. Through this interaction, we see that the invitation of salvation is available for anyone who would believe in the Son of God for the forgiveness of their sins and will receive eternal life. What we see is that God is compassionate and does not withhold Himself to those who seek Him and trust Him. This is our present reality today. Believer in Jesus, God knows you. He knows you intimately. When we fall, He’s not there with lightening bolts to blow you up. He is there with grace and mercy. The call is to always repent because He loves you and not to earn His favor and love. There are times where the Lord does discipline us, but it is for our good to be comforted more into the image of Jesus. A loving father doesn’t leave His children to continue in ways that are destructive, but corrects for their good. If you don’t know Christ, you are not too far gone for God to do His thing. See how Jesus interacts with the woman of Samaria and how He crosses everything that would be considered as tabooed in this culture and extends mercy and grace and eternal life. Would you consider trusting and believing in Jesus Christ, though we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive in Jesus Christ through faith. Whatever it is that is the center of your life that is not fulfilling you, God is the one who will and can fulfill that longing in your heart to feel loved, joy, validated, healed, and purpose of life. Colossians 1:1-14 “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To God’s holy people in Colassae, the faithful brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace and peace to you from God our father. We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people – the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel that has come to you. In the same way, the gospel is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world – just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and truly understood God’s grace. You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, and who also told us of your love in the Spirit. For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Through Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we see that although Paul has never been to the Colossians’ church, he still prays for them and loves them, especially because of their faith and good works. Today I want to go over what we have been commissioned to do since we have heard the good news ourselves. We often dilute Christian discipleship to going to church, praying every now and then and reading the bible when we “have the chance”. But Paul describes discipleship in terms of qualities of life and ways of living. Paul instructs us on how to pray for other believers and to understand the profile of a growing believer. He tells us to bear fruit with others so that they can also inherit the kingdom of light. As we narrow in on bearing fruit as believers, we’ll see that we need to be able to know God’s will through spiritual wisdom and understanding. To know God’s will (1:9b) As you study God’s Word and spend time in prayer, your relationship with God grows and you begin to understand God’s character. It is important to be willing to seek godly counsel from friends who can give you accountability through scripture.When I became a believer back in 2008, I realized that God wanted more for me than I wanted for me. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Once I started to strip away my desires of this world, and invested my time in Him, I began to understand more clearly what God’s will for my life is. He gives me clarity in my quiet time with him through gentle whispers. To have spiritual wisdom and understanding (1:9) Accurate and correct knowledge of God’s will comes from prayer and study of the Word of God. God’s wisdom is the foundation of our lives and the basis upon which the rest of our spiritual “house” will be built. Proverbs 24:3 confirms this when it says, “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.” Starting my day by spending time in the Word, and praying over what the passages mean in my life has been the most effective way to set the tone for the day. In my quiet time, He gives me insight into how I can approach the current trials I’m facing and also how to counsel others who need help. To live a life worthy of Jesus, one that is pleasing to him and bear fruit by doing good works (1:10) I became a Christian when my friends David and his now-wife, Gerty were working hard to get me out of a toxic relationship. They relentlessly pursued me even while I was sinning. Paul tells us to bear fruit in every good work; David and Gerty did just that. Because they were filled with the Holy Spirit and had the wisdom of the bible, they made themselves stewards of God to bring me to Christ. David and Gerty planted a seed in my life by showing me what grace looked like. They consistently invited me out to lunch and encouraged me to go to church with them; even while I was still sinning. They invited me out to their community group meetings so that I can ask questions about the Christian faith. No matter how hard I pushed them away, theywould not let go of me. They met me where I was and helped me realize the redeeming power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus. As believers, our work is not yet done. God wants us to pursue others so that they can come to know Jesus. In fact, our good works just got started once we became believers; now we have to follow through. How are you relentlessly pursuing those that God has placed in your life? Are you bearing fruit effectively by gaining spiritual wisdom and understanding? It’s time to go to work, friends. Let’s go. |
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