I gave this devotional at our business meeting this last week.
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Dear Heavenly Father, fill us with your purpose and passion today. Let this be a gathering of a church that is intent on making your salvation-work the purpose for our existence. By Your Spirit, let us trust you, and be spurred on by you. And let us share hearts that are grateful and hearts that are full of grace that come from knowing your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Colossians 1:15-23 says:
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and things we can’t see- kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.
Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead, so he is the first in everything. For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.
There is an eternity of observations to make about this passage… And I’d like to highlight three quickly as we meet here today:
1. The first thing I draw from this passage for us is this: The reason we are here today, gathered together as a church, is because Jesus Christ is amazing. When God asks in Isaiah 40, “What image might we find to resemble God?” The answer is Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of God. When God asks in Isaiah 40 “Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars?” The answer is Jesus Christ. He existed before anything was made. He is supreme over all creation. In fact, He is the one who created everything in heaven and on earth. He is the Creator. The Apostle John said “He was in the beginning, with God, and he was God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself is in him, and this life gives light to everyone.” He made the things we see and the things we can’t see. Everything has been created through him… and for him. It is because of Jesus and for Jesus that anything in all of Creation, including our church here today, is held together in communion. Psalm 146 says “Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him from the skies! Praise him, all the angels! Praise him, all the hosts of heaven! Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you twinkling stars! Praise him, skies above! Praise him, vapors high above the clouds! Let every created thing give praise to the Lord, for he issued his command, and they came into being… For his name is very great; his glory towers over the earth and heaven! About Jesus Scripture says: “His name is above every other name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” The reason we meet together today as a church is because Jesus Christ is amazing.