Notes
taken during Easter Sunday's sermon: Col 1:15 - 23, The Supremacy of Christ, with a few echoes back to last September,
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
- Paul's words here are not only significant in talking about God incarnate, God in the person of Jesus, they also enact a movement away from the known Image of the day; of Caesar on the Roman coin, "imperator, divus: Emperor, God."
- You want to know God? You want to know what He is like, his character, his attributes? Look at Jesus.
- Something which struck me again, afresh in thinking on the resurrection. God raising Jesus from the dead - it wasn't just a lone event in the halls of time, it was an event which restored and led onto the Holy Spirit also coming to dwell,to be at work in us:
And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. - Rom 8:11
Max Lucado writing on the Crucifixion ~ "Hoax or Hinge?" / "The Cross":
" It is a hinge point in history. A chink has been found in death’s armor. The keys to the halls of hell have been claimed. ";
" It rests on the time line of history like a compelling diamond. Its tragedy summons all sufferers. Its absurdity attracts all cynics. Its hope lures all searchers. History has idolized and despised it, gold-plated and burned it, worn and trashed it. History has done everything but ignore it. How could you? "
The Message,
21-23 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted.
NIV: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
- DR: ... But the resurrection is not just about reconcilation between God & man - it's also about a restoration, re-creation, redemption of the whole cosmos as all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (1:16-17)
Although 'citizens of heaven' does play its part here, it's not merely about the passive 'Where like stars His children crowned / All in white shall wait around ' but about transforming this world in the here and now. 'Your will / be done on earth, as it is in heaven' and the partnership of us with God, seeking to transform and change. So we praise God with thanksgiving for Jesus, for his humanity and his divinity, for love come down to earth and made known to us.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
- Paul's words here are not only significant in talking about God incarnate, God in the person of Jesus, they also enact a movement away from the known Image of the day; of Caesar on the Roman coin, "imperator, divus: Emperor, God."
- You want to know God? You want to know what He is like, his character, his attributes? Look at Jesus.
- Something which struck me again, afresh in thinking on the resurrection. God raising Jesus from the dead - it wasn't just a lone event in the halls of time, it was an event which restored and led onto the Holy Spirit also coming to dwell,to be at work in us:
And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you. - Rom 8:11
Max Lucado writing on the Crucifixion ~ "Hoax or Hinge?" / "The Cross":
" It is a hinge point in history. A chink has been found in death’s armor. The keys to the halls of hell have been claimed. ";
" It rests on the time line of history like a compelling diamond. Its tragedy summons all sufferers. Its absurdity attracts all cynics. Its hope lures all searchers. History has idolized and despised it, gold-plated and burned it, worn and trashed it. History has done everything but ignore it. How could you? "
The Message,
21-23 You yourselves are a case study of what he does. At one time you all had your backs turned to God, thinking rebellious thoughts of him, giving him trouble every chance you got. But now, by giving himself completely at the Cross, actually dying for you, Christ brought you over to God's side and put your lives together, whole and holy in his presence. You don't walk away from a gift like that! You stay grounded and steady in that bond of trust, constantly tuned in to the Message, careful not to be distracted or diverted.
NIV: 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
- DR: ... But the resurrection is not just about reconcilation between God & man - it's also about a restoration, re-creation, redemption of the whole cosmos as all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (1:16-17)
Although 'citizens of heaven' does play its part here, it's not merely about the passive 'Where like stars His children crowned / All in white shall wait around ' but about transforming this world in the here and now. 'Your will / be done on earth, as it is in heaven' and the partnership of us with God, seeking to transform and change. So we praise God with thanksgiving for Jesus, for his humanity and his divinity, for love come down to earth and made known to us.