Focal Passage: Colossians 1:9-23
Tim Tebow has caught the attention of American football fans. Why? Because he is passionate about Christ, and that passion transfers itself into the sport he plays. I’ve watched clips of him singing “Our God is an Awesome God” while warming up before a game, and I’ve heard him talking with little boys and girls and his teammates and the media. He never speaks without praising Jesus. Tim Tebow seems to have a proper perspective on who he is in relation to who Christ is and to God’s bigger plan for his life. In a world in which many glamour figures obsess over themselves, it’s refreshing to watch in real time someone who understands life as God intended.
Colossians 1:9-23 is a Christological passage. Christ is the center of all God’s intentions and plans. In verse 15 Paul wrote that Christ is the “image” of the invisible God.
This means that Jesus Christ was God in flesh.
People could see Him, touch Him, experience Him. A few years ago there was a TV commercial that stated, “image is everything.” The commercial pictured sports stars drinking soda pop, a rather vain attempt to associate success with a product. In Christ, however, “image is everything” because He is the reason for all that exists. He is the pre-existent One, but He also is the “pre-eminent” One (v. 18), the first and the best. He was not created (as some cults incorrectly interpret “first-born”). He was with the Father in creation, participating in every aspect of life. As such, Christ was and is the “agent” of creation. Everything – all life – has been created by Him, through Him, and in Him.
Some rightly call Jesus Christ the “glue” of creation. He is the One who keeps the cosmos from becoming a chaos. The place of Christ is that He is the beginning. The function of Christ is that He is the head of the Church (v. 18). He created the Church through His own blood, sweat, and tears. True forgiveness and reconciliation happened at the cross (v. 20).