Christ in All Things

 

Colossians 1:15-20

The Supremacy of the Son of God

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.

 

When are we with God?

 

Or rather, where do we need to be in order to be with God?

 

Many Christians, have shied away from maintaining that God is in nature, in plants and animals.

 

Some suggest this reluctance is due to our Hebrew faith forefather’s accurate belief in the one God, Yahweh but the inaccurate need to separate Him from the elements/creation.

Yahweh was infinitely more powerful than the gods of the surrounding peoples, such as the Canaanites.

Some of the Israelites neighbours connected their gods to natural places.

For the Hebrew people, Yahweh was different;

He was and is creator of those natural places yet in important ways separate from creation and so holy that even today Jews do not say the word God.

But with the astounding incarnation of God in Christ, the early Christians intuited this all had changed. Christ was in some sense in creation, no one understood this more deeply than Paul. In his letter to the Colossians he quoted;

Christ is the image of the invisible God,
The first-born of all creation;
For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—
All things have been created through him and for him.  He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 

The word of God says that the risen Christ is the source and sustainer of all things.  This means that the

rivers,

mountains,

fish and

wild animals all have their beginning in Christ and live in him. 

The church needs to proclaim this message. 

 

It needs to surprise us, to shock us, to respond respectfully to all of creation.

For if the world is the body of Christ, it is in some sense holy.

 

Reverence toward nature and Christ in all things.

 

How different would things be from what we  know?

 

We know that air, water, soil are polluted. 

We read and see on TV stories about the destruction of forests, grass lands and rivers,

to such an extent that plants and animals and fish are becoming extinct.

Many of us spend our lives in areas that were once home to many more of God’s creatures.

Here, around me, we are facing problems with

• polluted waterways,

• Road expansion,

• Housing developments,

• Deforestation, and

• Health problems related to environmental issues!

 

We know all to well that something is wrong.

Can faith be of practical use in this crisis?

I think it can!

 

The belief that God in Christ is holding the world together teaches us several things.

 

There is no competition between the love of God and the love of creation.

Our love is for God, creation is his & as part of him we also love creation!

Do not let our vanity dream up unbridgeable distances between our species and those with more fur and more legs or compound eyes.

We are all given life by the creator Yahweh 

Central to Christ’s ministry is teaching on the love of Yahweh.

That God loves all.

That God forgives.

That God in Christ suffered to bring all back together, reconciled in one spirit.

So that as Christ is in creation, then creation itself

(the eagles, otters, whales, and ourselves)

are connected to a spirit of reconciliation.

Creation is amazing, which helps us to appreciate how amazing is the God who created it.

The truths that the love of God the creator and redeemer can lead us to are no less amazing.

Christ is present in his hiddenness in all things his love and our love for him in return inspire us to care for creation because his spirit is within it in ways far beyond our understanding.

 

Things are not what they seem.

Things are much more than they seem.

They are more connected, more whole, and more holy.

For it is Christ who lives mysteriously all around us, hidden yet present.

We need only eyes to see and hearts to feel.