Return to the Center
For Meditation
This passage is one of the most significant Christological passages in the whole Bible. Paul says some astonishing things about the person of Jesus, namely that he is the one through whom God made the world, he is one in whom everything in existence currently holds together, and he is the one by whom God will eventually renew all things. It is a remarkable calling to re-center ourselves on the person of Jesus.
This passage speaks to our own vision statement at Third, which is “Called Together for the renewal of all things through Jesus Christ.” What is God renewing? We see from this passage that God is renewing individual lives, calling people out of alienation and isolation and into relationship with himself. He is renewing human community, remaking humanity through his church. And God is renewing all things, remaking a broken world through the resurrection of Christ. This is truly an enormous purpose that God calls us into, and a privilege to be a part of.
The key, of course, is that all of this renewing is through Jesus Christ. This Sunday, we’ll not only unpack this passage but also look at our the implications for our life together in this upcoming season.
Colossians 1:15-23
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 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.
21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.