Look Again at Jesus
Every church has its lane. And each one thinks they are right, and to some degree we all get stuff wrong. Think about different kinds of churches...
From high church with their smells and bells
To the sawdust trails of revivalists
Liturgical churches following a calendar or free ones ignoring them
Some so very conservative they squeak, all the way to plenty liberal enough to ooze
and like Baskin-Robbins, so many many more flavors
As for my tribe, you could call us people of the book. We see the Bible as divinely inspired and authoritative for both faith and practice. We study it and most of our sermons are drawn directly from a passage within it, and we intend to bend our lives to its curves.
We call it the Scriptures, or the Word of the Lord, or just the Word. Some will wave it around to make a point, and might even shout things like Ken Hagen used to say, "The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it" (which is not at all as good a statement as it might sound at first, and short-circuits any further dialogue for understanding).
But, importantly, what every church in whatever lane must remember is that the true Word of God is not a "what" but a "who." John hits this square on when he opens his recollection of Jesus with...
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Regardless of our lane, the best vaccine against drifting into spiritual error is the occasional reminder of the supremacy of Christ. Much like swimming in a lake, one needs to stop occasionally and pop up to see if you are still heading in the right direction, seeing Jesus for who he is and for what he has done does a person good.
Let's look over Paul's shoulder as he writes a young group of Jesus followers, and he does just this. The believers in Colossae (in western Turkey today) had teachers coming in and bringing a syncretistic mixture of Jewish law, and Greek gnosticism, along with some Asian mysticism. It was "Jesus, plus..." Like a clear peal from a bell, Paul displays Jesus and thunders that we really need nothing more than who Jesus is and what he does. Read over, again, Colossians 1:15-22.
He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created by him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that he himself might have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross; through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in bad deeds, yet he has now reconciled you in his fleshly body through death, in order to present you before him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.
In these verses, Paul goes from telescope to microscope, from all of creation to you and me, and says that it is all important to Jesus. There is so much here, but for today let's skip a stone across the surface of this passage and tease out three things about Jesus that can get lost in the multiple messages that we often come across. These three glimpses of Jesus held front and center in a believer's mind helps keep us on a right path of faith.
First, the Word of God stands as Master of all creation.
Paul grabs his readers by the lapels, gets close and says without hesitation that Jesus. Is. God. and has the first place in everything. His role in the creation is that of the Agent of life. When Genesis 1 opens the Bible with "In the beginning God created..." that's Jesus. When one wonders how planets orbit or atoms hold together, that's Jesus. He stands in first place, alongside the Father and the Spirit, to everything that is made. What Paul says is for believers to put away their tiny Jesus and worship him in his majesty. He is nothing like the little plastic bobblehead on a car's dashboard that we control. He really is God and truly, like the song says, "He has the whole world in his hands." From that place, we can draw strength to face all of life since the Master stands in the middle of it all.
Next, the Word of God lives as head of his body, the church.
For both the church universal and any local congregation, Jesus is preeminent. He is both leader and pioneer. The word translated "beginning" has the idea of an undisputed first principle and chief. Jesus, not any church tradition or board of elders or pastor or pope, rules his church, his congregation, his body. And this head prompts each member of the body to work in ways to extend the Kingdom message to all the world. That's why we carry gifts; not to amuse ourselves but to serve others as God prompts. Also, Jesus is the pioneer for us who went through death to life and showed us the way home. Mission and confidence!
Then, the Word of God both frees and welcomes every believer.
Look back at the middle of the passage above. God's grand plan is to reconcile to himself all that has been turned upside-down. To bring peace to every corner of creation and straight through to the street where you live. You've heard of trickle-down economics? This is trickle-down grace, without any dilution of its power. You and I have been swept up in God's great drama and included in this massive act of reconciliation. Now, that's good news! Both forgiveness and justification/reconciliation flows over us, with the goal to present us before God "holy and blameless and beyond reproach." Once reconciled, we carry the goodness and perfection of Jesus all the way into the throne room of God, inviting others to come along.
Today, look again at the Jesus who is master of all creation, and head of his church, and the reconciler of you to him. Just before this passage, Paul prays for the group, and sets the stage for his teaching on Jesus.
We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
Now, that's a prayer I would love someone to lay before God on my behalf! Every Christ-follower is free from condemnation of sin, and is welcomed into the presence of God, because of Jesus. Ed Clowney used to say, "Forgiveness says, 'You may go.' Justification says, 'You may come!'" What a release and invitation. You are free and welcomed.
And if you are reading this and don't know this freedom and welcoming from Jesus, the invitation to come along with us is wide open.
Let's have some music...
...and a couple of funnies...
Three ministers sat discussing the best positions for prayer while a telephone repairman worked nearby.
"Kneeling is definitely best," claimed one minister.
"No," another contended. "I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven."
"You're both wrong," the third insisted. "The most effective prayer position is lying prostrate, face down on the floor."
The repairman could contain himself no longer. "Hey, fellas," he interrupted, "the best prayin' I ever did was hangin' upside down from a telephone pole."
__________
A couple with three children waited in line at San Francisco's Pier 41 to purchase tickets for a boat trip to Alcatraz.
Others watched with varying degrees of sympathy and irritation as the young children fidgeted, whined, and punched one another.
The frazzled parents reprimanded them to no avail.
Finally they reached the ticket window.
"Five tickets, please," the father said. "Two round trip, three one way."