The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 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. 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 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. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behaviour. 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 – 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.
Colossians 1:15-23 NIVUK
When I was growing up, my mother used to make what she called 'Enthusiasm Soup'. Why did she call it that? Because she would look around her kitchen and put everything she had into it: meat, vegetables, spices, flavours. It was never boring and always interesting. Sometimes it tasted pretty good.
Some people have the same approach to religion. They set out to learn and grow as people - nothing wrong with that. But they don't see religion or philosophy as being places where there is a right or wrong. They shop for ideas like we shop for our food, or like my mother used to make her Enthusiasm Soup - a little bit of this and a little bit of that and provided it tastes okay, it's fine.
What would we say if our doctors or our surgeons took the same approach? How would we feel if their treatments were inconsistent - if they just took a bit of one idea and a bit of the other and provided we were still breathing at the end then everything would be fine?
I doubt we would be so happy.
Our minds and our hearts are precious, sacred spaces. We should guard them and prevent them from being polluted with nonsense. How we think and what we believe really matter. We now live in a society that is increasingly being polarised by fringe groups with beliefs that were formed in isolated echo chambers who refuse to challenge them, no matter the arguments against them. It was always important to guard our hearts and minds. It is even more important now.
Paul faced that as he wrote to the small city of Collossae. This city had become a melting pot of ideas, philosophies and religions. Even the church had fallen victim to a hodge-podge of Jewish Phariseical legalism, Greek gnosticism and Roman paganism. The Christian movement was only a few decades old at this point in time. Christians were young in the faith and trying hard to guard their hearts and minds against an onslaught of foreign ideas.
As Paul states elsewhere, to the Corinthians:
Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1 Corinthians 1:22-24 NIVUK
And nowadays nothing has changed. Instead of Jewish legalism, we see the strict, and almost cult-like behaviour of pseudo-Christian groups who have changed rule-keeping into an art form.
Instead of Greek gnosticism, we have liberal groups who, feeling the need to 'love everyone', have watered down Christianity to the point where it is no longer recognisable, removing from it a creator God, the virgin birth, the Divinity of Christ, all the miracles and the resurrection. Instead, they see Jesus as a first century Jewish moral teacher - like a Buddha or an Aristotle or a Confucius, but Middle Eastern.
Instead of Roman paganism, we have the proto-paganistic pseudo-Christian Catholic and Orthodox groups, who have ignored multiple commands against graven images and making idols and have absorbed the ways of worship of the people around them. For Diana/Artemis, see the worship of Mary. For pantheons of pagan idols, see the saints. For Zeus, see Jesus Himself.
So within our modern-day melting pot, where do we stand? Is Jesus truly unique to us? Is He special? Do we understand that we should worship only Him, or have we compromised and diluted our faith to the point where we are willing to accept other so-called gods as being equal to ours?
Does the Bible really say that there is no other God but Jesus? And do we believe it too?
These are burning questions. Indeed, they are questions that don't just change the course of our lives here on earth, but also our eternity.
But there is more. They also set us on a collision course with the culture in which we live - and it doesn't matter where we live.
Those who like an atheistic, materialistic, nihilistic life on their terms and by their rules cannot tolerate the idea of a Creator God who created them with a higher purpose.
Those who live by the liberal 'anything goes' ways of our age cannot tolerate the idea of a God who sets out boundaries and tells us how we should live. They certainly cannot tolerate the existence of sin and the need of a Saviour.
Those who live their lives by strict rules and regulations cannot tolerate the idea that obedience cannot save us.
Those who worship a pantheon of so-called gods and listen to myths and legends and old wives' tales to gain wisdom cannot conceive of the idea of there being only One True God.
It gets more challenging. You see, in Paul's day there was an over-riding power - the Romans - who demanded absolute obedience and subservience and loyalty. Any challenge to their authority undermined the peace of the empire - the Pax Romana - and was a threat to the Emperor himself. Who, by the way, considered himself to be a god.
We think of these authoritarian states and are glad that we live in a free world. But do we?
As one North Korean in an American university pointed out with no little regret, even in the so-called 'free world' there are systems and organisations and companies and even governments that demand absolute, unthinking loyalty and obedience and subservience. When we question that authority and point out that, to quote from a famous children's tale, 'the Emperor is naked', we find ourselves in deep trouble, or even, to use a more modern terminology, 'cancelled'.
The truth of the matter is that if we believe these verses and live our lives by them, then we can expect to be ostracised, prosecuted, rejected, persecuted, and in some parts of the world, even executed.
This is why Paul states these words:
In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
2 Timothy 3:12-13 NIVUK
These verses in Colossians communicate what for many is the Intolerable Truth: that is Jesus Christ is God and He is the only way to Heaven. It was intolerable then for the first century Colossians. It is no less intolerable now.
But that should not concern us. If we want to be saved, the bigger question is not 'is it fashionable?' or 'is it popular?' or 'will it make me popular' but 'is it true?'
And if it is true, then we must believe it. No matter what.
We will explore these verses under four headings and seek to apply them directly to our contemporary life. The first of these is that JESUS IS THE CREATOR.
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