A2 Follow-up

Colossians 1:15-20

In the first part of chapter one, Paul gives us a clinic  on Gospel Prayer. He tells us and them that since the day he first heard that there were believers in Colossians,

Colossians 1:9-12a ESV

“we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”

Paul knew that their real needs, like ours, were not physical in nature.  What the Colossian believers needed in the first century, is the same thing that we need today.  A miracle.  We need to be able to know, grasp, and receive God’s will for all our lives.  From birth we are bent into ourselves, groping in the dark for a way to think and live that will bring joy and satisfaction to life.  The thing that we are missing in all our lives is a relationship with our Heavenly Father.  The knowledge of God’s will or simply put knowing God, is the key to a glorious power that brings with it an ability to endure the ugliness and betrayal of this world with patience, joy, and thankfulness.  But how is it that we come to be changed?  How is it that this knowledge comes to us?

Colossians 1:13-14 ESV

He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

God the Father gives it to us, as we by faith, immigrate from the Kingdom of darkness (spiritual ignorance and death) to the Kingdom of His beloved Son.  It is by Jesus, the Beloved Son and King that we are rescued from darkness, “He lights everyman that comes into the world”.  It is also through Jesus that God the Father offers to us forgiveness from our sin.  But how can one man be the basis for all this.  How can one man rescue everyone in the world that will come to Him?  How can one man provide forgiveness for all of mankind?  Well, for starters He was not just some random guy.

Colossians 1:15-20 ESV

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Jesus, is God in the flesh.   It is a great mystery, but Jesus is presented very clearly here as the one by whom all things were created and for whom all things were created.  It even says that Jesus continues now to hold all of creation together.  The references here to him being the “firstborn”, are not references to His natural birth as a created being as some suppose, but rather the term “firstborn” is a unique term denoting His place in God’s household.  Think of it this way.  Paul is saying that in God’s divine household, alive or dead, past, present, or future, there is not now, nor will there ever be one greater than Jesus.  He is the head of creation, earth, heaven, invisible things, visible things, all types of rulers, and His church.  In everything He comes first.  He is the preeminent one.

In the person of Jesus we see the Triune God working out the reconciliation of the world.  Jesus shows us a pattern to live by, one filled with forgiveness, patience, empathy, all fueled by love.  Jesus settles our sin with God being executed in our place for our crimes.  Jesus allowed himself to be killed, He offered himself, His undeserved death, as a sacrifice to His Father.  That sacrifice was accepted.  We have peace through the blood of His cross.  God welcomes us to come to Him because of Jesus, His Beloved Son, our King.

Questions to consider

What is some way I can practice making Jesus preeminent in my life this week?

Is there someone that God is leading me to share this beautiful Gospel event with?

Who do I need to be praying for to receive the miracle of spiritual wisdom and understanding?

Is Jesus really first in my life, is He before all things to me?