Moments in the life of a Pastor

Walking with God


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11 “Who’s the Boss?” – Part 2  

Colossians 1:15-22 

“15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Jesus has supremacy over:

  1. CREATION – Vs 15-17 He’s in Control

A. Start

He is the Creator of all things. The big question has always been: Who made who? Did God make man, or did man make God? Is man in the image of God, or is God in the imagination of man? This deals with the Evil of evolution the doctrine of the devil: “There is no God”  It’s a convincing lie because it makes us think that we are in control. We fight control we want to be in charge we are like the little kid who says “Your not the boss of me” Yet when we believe the lie and try to take control chaos follows because we become chained to chance, Evolution gives us control with no hope for change. If you want change you have to evolve and that takes more time than your life has to offer. It takes control from the creator and gives it to the creation, “Mother nature” is now in control so that becomes what we worship. What Paul is reminding us of is that Jesus wasn’t just there when life began it began because He was there. He is in control and we don’t have to live in the darkness and chaos. Genesis 1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep”

He made what we can and can’t see this is the totality of things, it includes both flowers of creation and the forces, radiation, magnetism, gravity. It encompasses every realm, every sphere, every bastion, border, dimension and domain. This is Good News for people obsessed with Fate and Superstition it means Jesus has liberated them having to follow any other ‘Powers’ accept Christ. We find a counterpart today, in the theory of reincarnation and in horoscopes and astrology—the idea of stars influencing and governing our lives. The claim that Transcendental Meditation is the means of getting in touch with invisible beings is another example. We are told that there are Astral Teachers, Spirit Guides and Divine Masters who appear from time to time to impart degrees of knowledge to the human race. All this is nothing new. It is an old dress with a new hat. This is what the apostle labors to correct. He is telling the Colossians, “Jesus is above all angels. You are freed from bondage to these lesser beings when you see the true authority and power of your risen Lord.”

B. Sustainer

Jesus is not Just the Starter he is the Sustainer. Scientist Stephen Hawking says, “The eventual goal of Science is to provide a single theory that describes the whole universe”. Jesus. Today there are those who don’t recognize Him as the creator and from the start they try to run their own lives and then there are those who start with Jesus but then steer off into self-sustainer.  Who is really holding it all together, who is rotating the earth keeping us at the right distance from the sun. Who provides the light and the rain? The single theory that describes the whole universe is Jesus, He is the sustaining force that holds all things together, the unifying principle, the cosmic cohesion. This is not just on a planetary perspective but also a personal one. You and I can rest and relax we don’t have to try to hold it together let Jesus be in control.  By Him everything came to be, and by Him everything continues to be.

C. Satisfaction

Jesus is not only the start and sustainer, He is the source of satisfaction, He gives purpose to life, we were not just created by Him but for Him. The goal of all creation is to glorify Christ. Revelation 4:11, puts it this way: “…For you created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.”


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10 “Who’s the Boss?” – Part 1  

Colossians 1:15-22 

“15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see, such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. 17 He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. 18 Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. 22 Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.”

Last time Paul said we would grow as we learned to know God better and better, now he gives us the opportunity to deepen our understanding and relationship with Jesus. Paul moves from Praise and Prayer to the pinnacle of Christianity the preeminence of Jesus and as he does he moves from the big picture to personal. He confronts us with the big question “Who is the boss?” Much of the false teaching taking place in Colosse had to do with the minimizing of Jesus. People thought Jesus was important but not essential. They had given Him a place in their lives, without recognizing that He demands first place. Jesus was prominent to them but not preeminent. Paul starts by Reminding us that He is not Just the Savior of our lives He is Supreme, He is the sustainer of our lives. 

  • HE IS GOD

“Christ is the visible image of the invisible God” – My wedding band represents the fact that Angel said “yes” to me! When we see the Statue of Liberty, something unexplainable takes place deep inside. And today, the image of the American Flag flying over Ground Zero ignites feelings of patriotism, sadness, and maybe even anger in our hearts. As powerful as these symbols are, they are simply representations of far deeper realities. My ring doesn’t make me married, it’s a symbol that I am married. The Statue of Liberty doesn’t in and of itself do anything. It stands for a nation that honors freedom. The American flag is a powerful national symbol but it only represents what our country is all about. Jesus is not just a symbol of God; He is God. The word “image” in Greek is “eikon” and refers to “likeness, manifestation, or replica.” In that culture the “image” was a die or stamp that was able to make exact reproductions. Jesus is the revealer of God, God came to earth and showed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. Just as a mirror gives a reflection of its image, the Son gives a revelation of the Father. The Image manifests and reveals what is hidden – it makes the invisible, visible. It is not a copy but is a projection of the real thing – Jesus expresses the reality of God. John 14:9 Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”  Previously Paul believed that it was the Tabernacle and Temple that displayed the glory of God. He says it is Jesus the One he witnessed on the road to Damascus. Heb. 1:3 “The Son (Jesus) is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.” Jesus is not like God, He is not close to God, He is not almost God, Jesus is God. He was the us in the “Let us make man” If there ever was a son who imitated his father in every way, it was Jesus. There is a dangerous and deadly disease running rampant through the Christian community today. It may seem pretty harmless but its spores can infect an entire community. Its the virus of practicality, instead of calling people to faith, repentance and submission to the supremacy of Christ, we tell people that Jesus wants to give them a happy stress-free life. While Jesus will certainly change our lives, and our stress levels when we bow before His preeminence, we must move away from “What Jesus can do for me” to “Am I living in light of His lordship?” We don’t simply “add” Jesus to our lives; we adore Him with our lives through obedience. Today we talk about good Jesus instead of GOD Jesus. Paul establishing Jesus’ Position,  He has the supremacy in both Time and Rank – Pre-existence and Pre-eminence. Paul now reminds us of His Power.