Seeing Jesus | Colossians 1:15-20

Good morning, Watermark. How are we doing today? Good to see you. I hope your holiday weekend is going really well. College football is back. That's a good thing. I'm so glad to see you. I'm so excited for what God has in store for us this morning. If this is your first time ever with us, thanks for trusting us with your Sunday. I hope this place feels like home very quickly.

I want to start by sharing with you all something I've shared before when I was talking about marriage, but in case you weren't here for it… Several years ago, there was a point in our marriage where Kat and I were struggling. It was harder than we wanted it to be. So, there were a few things we did. First, we sought counsel from some close friends. Secondly, we actually went to a marriage counselor to talk things through.

The third thing we did was this exercise someone had shared with me. We decided we would try it. The exercise was to sit on the floor and touch knees with one another. Then, for 10 minutes, you had to sit silently, staring at one another. Very awkward exercise. Very uncomfortable. Kat and I are both people who like to joke around, so you can imagine the jokes that come into your mind when you're sitting there silently, touching knees and just looking at each other.

So, the first couple of minutes were incredibly uncomfortable, very awkward, but then something crazy happened, at least for us. You might never try this; you might. I would challenge you to give it a whirl and see what happens. For us, something happened that by the end of those 10 minutes, we both had tears coming down from our eyes. It wasn't tears from pain. It wasn't tears from laughter. It was tears because something new was happening in our marriage.

The reason I had tears coming down from my eyes was because I was beginning to see Kat again for who she was, and having eyes to see her again in a new and fresh way, what it did was it exposed to me the attitudes and actions toward her that weren't fitting in light of who she was. My appreciation for her began to climb again because I was seeing her clearly. There was a new desire to move in close to her, to be near her, and to be connected again.

The reason I even share that experience with you again is we're not talking about marriage this morning, but we are talking about intimacy with Jesus Christ. As I thought on that experience, here's what I realized: we all need an experience like that with Jesus. We all need to have a moment where we, in a sense, begin to see him clearly again, where we begin to gaze at him in a way that unearths in us a realization for the attitudes and actions we might have toward him that aren't fitting in light of who he is.

We need to be able to see him in a way that appreciation for him might begin to climb. We need to see him in a way that would stir in us a new desire to be close to him and near him. We will know we are seeing Jesus clearly when those things are happening, when we feel the attitudes and actions that aren't fitting, where we genuinely sense appreciation for him and desire to be with him.

So, what we're doing today, as we step back into the book of Colossians, is we are looking at the most famous passage in the entire book, but it's not just the most famous passage in the book of Colossians; this is actually one of the most beautiful passages about Christ in the entire New Testament. That's not just my opinion. If you go and read commentators, scholars would all agree this is one of the most beautiful passages on Christ in the entire New Testament.

As we walk through this passage verse by verse, what it is is an invitation to every person in this room to see Jesus clearly. This is an opportunity for you to, in a sense, get on the ground and get knee to knee with Jesus to just stare at him in hopes of seeing him in a fresh way that might stoke the fire of intimacy in your relationship once again. So, if you have a Bible, I want to invite you to turn with me to Colossians 1:15-20.

"He [Jesus] 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."

I just want to invite you right now to pray for yourself. Here's the prayer I want to invite you to pray today. Just pray, "Lord Jesus, help me to see you in a fresh way today. Help me to see you." And would you pray for the people around you and say, "God, would you give everyone in this room spiritual sight today?" Then, would you pray for me? Would you pray that God would use me to show you Jesus clearly today?

Lord Jesus, I pray that not one person would walk out of here today without getting a fresh glimpse from you. Lord, would you give us eyes to see you in a way that would truly change us? We love you and give this time to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

I want to show you something I did this week. The reason I'm going to show it to you is just to show you what you can do in your own time with God, which might help the Word of God come more alive to you. The reason I'm going to show you this is it's going to help us see right from the beginning what the point of this passage even is.

This is part of my journal. This is something I would encourage you to try. Here's what I did. I wrote out the passage. Ben encouraged us to do that last week. What it does is it causes you to slow down and to engage with the passage in a way you normally don't. What I did is I broke it down based on punctuation. So, anytime there was a period or a comma, I would space that out and go to the next line.

When I'm studying the Scripture like this, I like to highlight repeated words and phrases, underline verbs, and circle key words or phrases. What I want you to focus on here is the highlights, because when you go through a text and begin to highlight the words and phrases that are repeated, it causes the point of the passage to jump out at you.

So, as I was going through this, here's what I saw. If you look at the yellow highlights, do you know what you see? Four different times in the passage you see the words he is. So, in five verses in verses 15-20, he is is mentioned four different times. Why? Because this is a passage that is unpacking who Jesus is.

Then, if you look at the blue highlights, what you see is that two different times the word firstborn is used. Jesus is referred to as the firstborn of all creation, and then he's referred to as the firstborn from the dead. That's interesting terminology, and it happens twice in the same passage. I'm going to show you in this talk how Jesus being the firstborn is not referring to his birth order; it's actually referring to his supremacy.

Then, if you look at the highlights in pink, you have eight different times where the word all is used. Just a small little word…all…all creation, all things, all things, all things, all things, in everything (same word in Greek), all the fullness of God, all things. So, what's the point when you begin to put this together? This is a passage about Jesus who is supreme over all things.

Now, if you look at the orange, like, University of Tennessee or Longhorns kind of orange there, what you see is by him, through him, for him, in him, in him, and through him. So, think about that. This is a passage about Jesus who is supreme over all things, and all things are by him, in him, through him, and for him. What's the point? Jesus is the point. He is the point of everything. Got it? That's where we're going this morning.

My hope today is that you would leave here with new eyes to see that Jesus is, in fact, supreme over all things and is the point of everything, including your life. So, as we go through this passage, I'm going to encourage you to make five different decisions. Maybe you've already made some of them, but I'm going to encourage five different decisions today, and the hope is that you would leave here with an urgency in your bones to at least make a couple of them.

1. Start looking at Jesus. That's my encouragement to some of you. Maybe you're just visiting today. Maybe you don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. My encouragement to you is to simply start looking at Jesus. Verse 15 starts by saying that he, Jesus, is the image of the invisible God. That's a magnificent statement. "He is the image of the invisible God."

Now, if you're familiar with your Bible, then a good thing for you to do would be to pair that verse with Genesis 1:26-27, which says that humanity has been created in the image of God. Humanity was created in the image of God to represent and reflect God throughout the earth, but Paul says Jesus wasn't created in the image of God; Paul says Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

Paul is communicating that Jesus doesn't just represent God on the earth; Jesus Christ reveals God perfectly on the earth. Jesus Christ actually has made the invisible visible. We can see God, we can know God, we can understand God, and we can fall in love with God because Jesus Christ is God up close and personal. God has, in a sense, moved into the neighborhood for us to get to know him.

Just a few verses later, in verse 19, look at what Paul says about Jesus. This is powerful. He says, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…" What does that mean? It means Jesus is the place where all that can be known and experienced of God is to be found. So, think about it. There are these false teachers in Colossae who are saying, "Look. If you want to experience the fullest extent of spiritual maturity, if you want to ascend the spiritual mountain, you're going to have to look beyond Jesus."

Paul is like, "You don't look beyond Jesus; you look in Jesus, because if you're going to be fulfilled in God, you have to look to the one in whom the fullness of God is found, and that's Jesus Christ." So, I just want to invite some of you here this morning to start looking at Jesus. Do you remember in the movie Forrest Gump when Lieutenant Dan is like, "Have you found Jesus, Forrest?" What did Forrest say? "I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for him, sir." (That was terrible, by the way. I can feel Kat cringing right now. I can just feel it.)

Think about what Forrest is saying. He's saying, "Look. I didn't even know I was supposed to be looking for him." Maybe that's where you are this morning. You're like, "I didn't even know I was supposed to be looking for him. I didn't know Jesus was the one I was looking for." The reason you're here right now is because you sense something is missing in your life, so something in you has been wondering, right here at the beginning of the fall, if becoming a more spiritual person is what's missing.

Let me just say this. It's not just becoming a spiritual person; it's becoming a Christ follower. That's what's missing from your life, because Jesus Christ has made God known to us. You can fall in love with God by moving in close and getting to know Jesus. So, my encouragement to you is to seek to find Jesus. The best way to find him is through studying this book, the Bible. If you don't have a Bible, would you allow us to give you one as a gift today?

I encourage you to go open up the gospel of John, which is an introduction to the person of Jesus. If you have questions about the faith, we have a ministry here at the church called Great Questions. It's an opportunity for anyone to come and just ask questions so you can begin to see Jesus more clearly. So, maybe that's a decision you need to make. You just need to start looking at Jesus.

2. See your point and purpose in Jesus. This is what I want to invite the entire room to see. I want to invite everyone here to see your point and purpose in Jesus. Where do I get that from the text? Well, let's unpack some more. In verse 15, Paul says, "He is the image of the invisible God," but then he goes on. He says he's the firstborn of all creation.

When we use that word firstborn in our English language, we always think it's talking about birth order. We use it in reference to our oldest child. A lot of people think that's what the Scriptures are doing in regard to Jesus. When a Jehovah's Witness came to my front door and we began talking about the deity of Christ, do you know where they turned in their Bible? They turned to Colossians 1:15, because they were like, "Jesus isn't God; he is a created, mighty, spiritual being." Why? Because this text says he was born.

Do you know why we have the Nicene Creed, if you grew up in a church that read the Nicene Creed? We have the Nicene Creed because in the fourth century, there was a heretic named Arius who advocated for this belief that there was once when he was not, that there was a time when Jesus didn't exist. That's why the Nicene Creed affirms that Christ was eternally begotten of the Father, begotten not made, of one being with the Father. Why? Because the word firstborn here doesn't refer to birth order. It's not referring to any point in time when Jesus was created.

See, in the Bible, the word firstborn has multiple uses. I think the most helpful one in this moment is Psalm 89:27. Listen to what God says about King David. He says, "And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." Now, for those familiar with their Bibles, was David the firstborn child of his father Jesse? No. Where did he come in birth order? Last. Remember? He was last. He was so insignificant that when Samuel came to anoint the next king, his own dad didn't even bother bringing David in, because he was like, "Surely it's not the youngest." Yet, here God is like, "I'm going to take the youngest and make him the firstborn."

So, it can't be talking about birth order here. We see it in the text. It says, "And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth." So, the word firstborn in the Scripture can refer to birth order, but it can also refer to supremacy. What God is saying here is "I'm going to make David the supreme king on the earth during his time. He will be more important than any other king in the world." That's what he's doing here with Jesus when he says Jesus Christ is the firstborn of all creation. He means Jesus is the supreme King over all creation. There is no one of greater importance than Jesus. That's what he's pointing to. Jesus is supreme.

Now Paul goes on and explains why he's able to say that. This is where I really need you to lock in, because this is amazing. He goes on in verse 16 and says, "For by him [Jesus] 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." Paul is saying, "The reason I can call him the firstborn of all creation, the reason I can declare that he is the supreme King over all creation is because Jesus was the agent of creation."

Think of it this way: God the Father was the mastermind and Jesus was the muscle. When it came to all of creation coming into existence, God the Father was the mastermind and Jesus Christ was the muscle. We don't tend to think of Jesus in this way. When we think of Jesus, we think of his 33 years on earth, and we end up cropping out eternity from Jesus' identity, but Jesus Christ has always existed.

The eternal Son of God existed for all of eternity before he took on flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. Isn't that incredible? So, now you can have new eyes to see Jesus at work when you look at all of creation. It is so important you realize that in verse 16, when it says, "By him all things were created…" That word we've translated by is a Greek word that's just two letters. It looks like the letters E and N…en, which translates in. En means in.

Paul uses the word en when he talks about us being in Christ. So, Paul isn't just saying Jesus was the agent of creation; he's also saying he was the sphere of all creation, because commentators, scholars, believe the greater interpretation is not just that things were created by Jesus but everything was created in Jesus. Think of it this way: Jesus is like the womb of creation, and nothing has come into existence outside of Jesus' life-giving presence and activity.

So, everyone just breathe in right now. Breathe out. Yeah, that's from Jesus, because he's the sphere of all creation. Nothing exists… You can reject Jesus, but in his kindness, he gives you the breath with which you reject him, which is pretty crazy to think about. Jesus is the sphere, life-giving presence and activity.

Now, remember the point we're talking about. We're talking about seeing your point and purpose in Jesus. Well, where is that? Why haven't we gotten to that yet? Well, it's right there at the end of verse 16. It says, "…all things were created through him and for him." Which is pretty awesome. Think about it. Paul is making the point that all of creation began with Christ, but creation doesn't just begin in Christ; its end is Christ.

Creation begins in Christ, and at the same exact time, creation's end is Christ. Everything in all of creation, including you and me, is meant to find its ultimate point and purpose in Christ. Jesus is the point of everything. So, my hope is that this is really clarifying for some people here. If you're tuned out, come on back.

Many people here are trying to figure out how to fit Jesus into their life. You're really busy. You have a lot going on, and the thing you wrestle with from day to day is how to fit Jesus into your life, but that's the wrong equation to be working. You're not trying to fit Jesus into your life; your responsibility is to fit your life into Jesus. If your life doesn't fit in Jesus, it's not Jesus who needs to change. Does that make sense?

So, the question you need to ask is…Does your life fit into Jesus? You're like, "Well, that's a play on words. I don't even know what you mean by that." Here's what I mean: Does every aspect of your life point and pull toward Jesus? The answer is simple. It's either yes or no. If everything exists for him… We can boil it down. You don't have to wonder why you exist. You don't have to wonder what your purpose is. The text spells it out. You have been made for Jesus. So, the question is…Is your life about Jesus or not? Does it point and pull toward Jesus or not?

Several years ago… I'll explain it this way. Look. Let me state from the beginning I am through and through a Texas Rangers fan. I said it. So, don't question what I'm about to say. When I was living in College Station, a friend invited me to drive to Houston for a Houston Astros game, so I went. I was so glad I went, because it was the type of experience where this guy had been gifted tickets from a very important person.

It was the type of experience where you walk down to your seats. A lot of times we're walking up. No, we were walking down. We walked all the way down to the first row directly behind the catcher. We had the first four seats that are directly behind the catcher. When I realized where we were sitting, I realized, "I am going to be on television all night long. For the next three hours…" This was prior to the change in the pitch clock. "For the next three hours, I am going to be televised."

So, the next three hours were no longer about the Houston Astros; the next three hours were about Timothy Ateek being on television, and it changed everything about me. It changed the way I sat, because I wanted to look engaged. It changed the way I interacted with the people next to me. It changed the way I ate. I mean, it was free food, so my goal was to eat continuously, but I was like, "What are the people at home watching my life unfold going to think?" It all became about me. I don't even remember who won. I just remember it was all about me.

Isn't that often our reality? We make life about us when it's not about us. It's Jesus' game, yet we're sitting there. We're not even right behind the catcher. We're in the upper deck of right field, and we're like, "Man, I think I'm on TV." You're not. But we're like, "Man, I think everyone's attention is on me." So, we begin to live "Look at me" lives instead of "Look at him" lives.

This is where we have to course-correct that we haven't been created to be seen; we've been created to show. That's why we exist. We have been made by him, but we have been made for him, and we should think about the way we engage with others. We should think about the way we are reflecting Christ in the world.

It should change the way we live, the way we think, the way we feel, and the way we act. Not because we're chasing something from others but because we've freely received the grace, forgiveness, love, and acceptance of God and we want to reflect that to the rest of the world. We exist for him. So, my hope and prayer is that we would be a people who see our point and purpose in Jesus.

3. See your peace in Jesus. In verse 17, Paul goes on and says, "And he is before all things…" That just means Christ existed before anything else existed. He's before all things. Watch this. These are some of the most beautiful words, and some believe this is the crux of the passage. "…and in him all things hold together."

Think about what it's saying. Jesus existed before space and time existed, yet Jesus entered into space and time, yet space and time are only able to exist in him. Isn't that interesting? He entered into space and time, yet space and time are only able to exist in him. He's the glue of the universe. He's not only the Creator; he is the continuous sustainer of the universe. Everything would fall apart apart from him.

Now, if he holds the universe together, surely he can hold your world together. Do you hear what that's saying? "He's before all things. In him all things hold together." So, if Jesus Christ is consistently holding the entire universe together, surely he can hold your little world together. What you need to understand… And this is something that's easy for me to say, and then I'm forced to live it.

Here's the reality: God will give you opportunities, whether you like it or not, to experience and testify to his ability to sustain you. Do you hear what that's saying? He's going to give you opportunities to experience his sustaining power in your life. Sometimes that opportunity is going to last for a day, where work is crazy and chaotic, and you're going to look to him, and he's going to be the one holding things together. Sometimes that opportunity is going to last weeks. Sometimes it's going to last months or even years.

What we need to realize is that in the middle of an opportunity like that, as long as we are focused on what we are holding, we'll never look at the one who is holding us. That's where stress comes. That's why we're anxious a lot of the times. A lot of the times we can't sleep at night, it's because we're looking at what we are having to hold, but we're not looking at the one who is holding us.

So, if you want to begin to experience a peace that surpasses all understanding, like Philippians 4 talks about, you have to begin to believe that Jesus Christ truly is before all things and in him all things hold together. I call them opportunities because they really are opportunities. For the people Kat and I connect with on a one-on-one basis… One of the God stories we have been sharing in our lives recently is something that happened back in April.

There was one Saturday night where I could not sleep at night, and the reason was my mind was turning and spinning about one of my kids regarding schooling for the next school year. So, the next morning, I called Kat, who was out of town, and I just said, "Kat, I couldn't sleep last night because I'm thinking that we might need to make a change regarding school."

It was already the end of April. The reason stress set in is because school ends at the end of May. To make a change, there are a lot of dominoes that would need to fall. If we're going to change schools, we have to find a new school. Not only that. We have to get into that school, which would require a multiple-day visit. Then we realized some of our testing was outdated from what schools needed, and then there'd be the question of, "Can we even afford it?"

So, when we got to that place where we were like, "We might be exploring different schools," do you know what happened? Stress set in. Anxiety set in. Do you want to know why? Because I was looking at everything I believed I had to hold together. That's where sleepless nights come in: when you believe you're the one who's kind of "Spider-Manning" your life and everything in it together.

Then God just invited us to stop looking at what we were holding and look at him who was holding us. It was amazing, because what it did was it invited our trust to Jesus in the midst of the unknown, not knowing what was going to happen and how the dominoes were going to fall. When we allowed ourselves to turn our attention from looking inward to upward, it began to change things. Peace began to come in. We began to live in the uncertainty of "We don't know what's going to happen, but we know something is happening."

So, one of the greatest God stories we can share, at least in this season (and we have plenty of other seasons to share about), is that for that month, right before the end of the last school year, we got to watch God begin to pull levers to do something new in our kid's life, and he took us along for the ride. We had a choice to make. We were either going to live in stress and anxiety of the unknown or we were going to rest in the one who already knew what this fall would look like.

I don't know where you're at right now, and I don't know what you're living in, but I know that everyone here… We're only a few weeks into the school year, but whether you're single, married, have kids, or are a grandparent, it doesn't matter. Everyone is holding something, and whatever you're holding can cause a lot of stress and anxiety if all you do is look at what you are having to hold.

I want to invite you this morning to stop looking inward and start looking upward, not to what you're holding but to the one who's holding you, because Jesus Christ is before all things, and in him all things hold together, including your individual world. So, I want to invite you to see your peace in Jesus.

4. See your place in Jesus. Look at what Paul goes on and says about Jesus in verse 18. "And he is the head of the body, the church." Think about it. Because Christ went to the cross, what happened on that cross was Jesus Christ rescued and ransomed a lot of people, and he has brought us into the family of God. He took enemies and made them children. We're not only now in the family of God. The Scriptures use a different metaphor that we have been purchased into the body of Christ, which is the church.

So, right here, Paul is using a metaphor of a human body. In this metaphor, Jesus Christ is the head and, believers, we are the body. If you think about it, Paul is saying he is the head of the body, the church. He wants you to visualize a human body. If you think about it, without the head, the body is incapable of existing or operating or living. It's impossible. You can't have a body without the head.

Paul is saying, "Look. That's who Jesus is. He is the head, and because he's the head, he's actually the leader of the body." The head is the one in charge of the body. He's the owner and the leader of the church. So, if that's who Jesus is, that tells us a lot about who we are at Watermark Community Church. What that means is that Jesus Christ is truly the lead pastor of Watermark Community Church. He's the one who is ultimately in charge here. It's not the elders who are in charge; it's Jesus Christ who is in charge.

So, if you want to pray anything for the elders, please don't pray that the elders would do what you think is best for the church. Pray that the elders would be extremely sensitive to and surrender to Christ's leadership of his church, because when we stand before God, we won't give an account for how we catered to your preferences and convictions; we'll give an account for how we followed his leadership, because he's the head and we're the body. We don't want to be a body that's acting separate from the head, who is the lead.

This is where you come in. Here's how I want to challenge you. As a Christian, you belong to Christ's body, the church. One of the ways you engage with the body of Christ, which is all believers universally, is to be connected to a local expression of the body. Watermark Community Church is one of those. So, follow me on this. This is so important. You can't have a healthy connection to Christ, the head, if you don't have a healthy connection to his body, the church.

A sign of spiritual growth is a growing connection and investment in his body, which is the church. So, I want to invite you to evaluate right now. Are you simply attending and spectating on Sundays? Are you dragging your feet to go through membership? Are you apathetic toward your Community Group? Are you content to receive from this place every Sunday and yet not serve or give financially to be fully invested in the work God is doing here?

If that's the case, here's what I would suggest. I would suggest you aren't just lacking health in your relationship with the body; you're lacking some health in your relationship with the head of the body. There's something unhealthy in your relationship with Jesus that is leading you to have an unhealthy relationship with his body.

Let me just say this. The expectation here at Watermark for every member is that you would be fully invested…you'd be committed to your Community Group, you would faithfully serve, and you would faithfully give financially. Why? Is it because you signed a membership covenant? No. That's not the reason you should be fully invested. The reason you should be fully invested is because you recognize that Jesus is the head and you are part of the body. If you're not fully invested in and connected to the body when you are a part of the body, you're not fully invested in and connected to the head, which is Christ.

5. See your future in Jesus. Verse 18: "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning…" That's the Greek word arche, which carries the meaning of founder. He's the founder of something. What's Jesus Christ the founder of? It tells us. He's the firstborn from the dead. He's the founder of a new humanity marked by resurrection life. That's incredible.

Jesus Christ was the first to conquer death in a way that he is never to die again, and one day, because he conquered death, so shall we. His resurrection guarantees our resurrection. So, I'm just inviting you to see your future in Jesus. Some of you desperately need that because you're just hanging by a thread.

I have a friend right now that it just feels like one day after another is one punch after another that knocks him down. The number of people he has lost, the physical ailments he has experienced, the stuff he has had to navigate with one of his children… It is enough for any of us to just say, "I'm done."

I think about a friend losing a loved one to cancer way too early. I think about friends caring for a loved one with disabilities. I think about Officer Burks, who was shot and killed just a couple of days ago. By the way, I'm so thankful for the police officers who serve us here at Watermark Community Church. I know several of them knew Officer Burks and the other two who were shot.

It's easy to look at everything going on in the world and lose hope, yet Christ is the one we find hope in. Why? Because he's the firstborn from the dead. He's the founder of a new humanity. The distinguishing marker of that new humanity is resurrection life. Here's what that means for those who know Jesus Christ and have hope of that resurrection life. It means this is the closest you will ever get to hell. That's great news. That is great news that this is by far, without a doubt, hands down, the closest you will ever get to hell. We have hope because of Jesus Christ.

Paul declares that because of his resurrection… Did you see what he said at the end of verse 18? "…that in everything he might be preeminent." Preeminent means first place. Don't let Jesus just be significant when he's preeminent. He doesn't just deserve a place in your life; he deserves first place. Why? Because he's the only one who conquered the grave for you and for me.

Look at how verses 19-20 pull everything together. He says, "For in him…" He's now explaining why Jesus Christ is first place over all things. "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."

Think about it. Paul started out by saying that Jesus Christ is supreme over all creation. All things were created by him. All things were created for him. But you could easily argue that Jesus lost his supremacy over all creation. The reason you could argue that… Look at creation. Instead of order, you find chaos. Instead of love, you find hatred. Instead of harmony, there's brokenness.

Yet what happened? The Creator entered into his creation. The visible image of the invisible God laid down his life. His body was broken. His blood was shed. Why? Because that's how costly sin is. The agent of creation died. God in the flesh seemingly was conquered. On the third day, though, he walked out of the grave victorious.

In doing so, the text says he made peace. What does it mean for Jesus Christ to make peace? It means he satisfied the wrath of God for all who would put their faith in Christ, and he overcame evil. In doing so, he made peace for all who call upon the name of the Lord. Do you know what that means? It means Jesus isn't just the agent of creation; he's the agent of a new creation, a new humanity marked by resurrection life who will one day enjoy a new heaven and a new earth for all of eternity with no trace of Satan, sin, or death.

So, what do we do with this today? Well, think about it. Kat and I sat down, touched knees, and looked at each other for 10 minutes, and I'm so glad we did. Do you know why? Because it gave us a chance to just stop and begin to stare and begin to see one another. There was a different option. Do you know what we could have done? We could have just kept going, crossing our fingers that something would magically change.

You can do the same thing with Jesus. You can be busy enough to say, "You know what? I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope something is going to change, that things are going to begin to turn, and I'm going to magically begin to appreciate and grow and get closer to Jesus." This morning, I'm inviting you to stop and stare. I'm inviting you to see him. The point of the passage is that Jesus Christ is supreme over all things. The extent of his supremacy universally should dictate the extent of his supremacy personally. If Jesus Christ is supreme over all things universally, then he deserves to be supreme over all things personally.

If you don't know Jesus, the next step for you is to begin looking at him and to give your life to him. If you already know him, even if you've been walking with him for 40 years, how can you acknowledge his rule, his reign, and his supremacy in your life even more? My hope is that we would be a church where it is overwhelmingly clear that Jesus Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, I pray that if there's anyone here this morning who doesn't have a relationship with you, they would begin looking toward you and that they would seek you and find you and put their trust in you. God, for the believers in this room, I pray we would see you as the point and purpose of our lives, that we would live lives that point to you. I pray we would find our peace in you, Lord God.

I pray we would find our place in you, that we would be people who are fully connected to your body because you're the head. I pray we would see our future in you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that through faith, this is the closest we will ever get to hell. Thank you that a day is coming where we will experience the new humanity that has already begun in Christ. We need you. We love you. In Jesus' name, amen.