That Christmas baby is...

As we read through the gospel narratives of the birth of Jesus, we have also read Colossians 1:13-29 a couple of times in our family. We are trying to remember the bigness of Jesus' rule.

So why don't you open up Col 1:13-29 and read through it with me. There will be plenty to add, so please do!

That Christmas baby is...

The king of the kingdom of light. He is the redeemer, the one who achieves the forgiveness of sins (13-14).

The image of the invisible God (v.15). This means:

• Jesus shows us the God we can't see (see also John 1:1-18), because he is God.
  

• Jesus is the perfectly human, perfect image bearer of God (Gen 1:26-28).

In Jesus, the fullness of God is happy to dwell (v.19). God is happy to dwell as Jesus the man. As a perfect man, God (who created heaven and earth v.16) is happy to bring back and restore all things to himself - on heaven and earth (vv.19-20).

Jesus is the firstborn over all creation (v.15).This means:

• He is heir of it all, as God's Son.
  
• Jesus is also leader of all creation as the perfect man who has it all under his feet (Psalm 8, Hebrews 2).
  

For by him all things were created (v.16). This means:

• God the Son, second person of the Trinity, was active in the creation of the world. The same world he was later to enter and redeem and restore.

Everything was created through Jesus and for Jesus (v.16). This means:

• There is no more asking, "What am I here for? What is the meaning of life?". Jesus. It's all from and for Jesus.
• There is nothing which Jesus does not have a right to and authority over.
  

As God, Jesus is before all things, in time and importance. This means:

• Creation depends on him, not the other way around. In Jesus, God the Son, everything holds together and makes sense. It all conforms to his rule and purpose (v.17).

Jesus is the beginning (v.18):

• In creation, because he is God who caused creation.

• In redemption, because he achieved it (in his death); guarantees it (in his resurrection - firstborn from the dead); and he will bring it to conclusion by reconciling all things in himself.

Jesus is first in creation and salvation, because both are his work, so that his power and worth and brilliance would be unmatched and unrilvalled in all things (v.18).

What a vision of Jesus to keep in mind as we think about that baby hidden away in shame and weakness. So much to savour and so much yet to understand!

I'm sure you've noticed I skipped huge bits of the passage, we'll cover that soon!

Psalm 58

1 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
2 No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands deal out violence on earth.
3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
4 They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
5 so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.

6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O LORD!
7 Let them vanish like water that runs away;
when he aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
8 Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime,
like the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
9 Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away!

10 The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Mankind will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who judges on earth."

How lovely are your branches!

Audrey reinventing herself as a Christmas tree this morning.

Colossians' antidepressant

One thing scares me about depression. I see missing godliness fruit and feel so exhausted and paralysed that I don't desire that fruit much. I can't handle having another thing to do. So over recent months, there are many portions of Colossians I have been ignoring.

But degrees of relief have come lately. Colossians has reminded me about two things:

1. Christ Jesus reigns over all and everything exists for him, because the fullness of God is in him.

2. I am in Jesus, purchased by him and irreversibly hidden in him.

The wonder is, the stellar greatness of Jesus and the mystery of being "in him" have sparked the desire for loving and serving and doing good.

This shouldn't surprise me. It is exactly how Paul structures his message in Colossians: Jesus is supreme, he is your life, redeemed by him and planted in him you are being changed to be like him. All of a sudden, the parts of Colossians I have skipped over for months don't feel burdensome, but beautiful. In Jesus, there is finally rest.

Next, we will get our vision of Jesus (who Christians are hidden in) cleared up.

Colossians: Jesus is more than relevant

If I think...

Jesus is a fact I believe; a person I know about and feel some warmth for. But he is quite forgettable in the buzz of daily routine. He is an add on, enriching life (certainly extending it!), but still separate and contained. There are many neutral parts of life which he has nothing to say about, surely he isn't interested! I am comfortable talking about "faith in Christ Jesus", because it keeps me here and him out there; handy but not imposing.

How do I make sense of words like,

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." Col 3:3-4?

Jesus is not just "relevant to our lives", He is not a convenient, though distant, addition. If we have faith in him, he is our life. Jesus is not some interesting fact we believe. We are dead and made alive only as we are joined to Jesus.

But what does it mean to be "hidden with Christ in God" when we feel very much planted in the dust of this earth?

Any thoughts?

Colossians: looking for an in

Here are the most surprising ways "in" is used in Colossians. Can you see any themes emerging?

his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.1:13-14

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 1:17

He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 1:18

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 1:19

he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, 1:22

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, 1:27

Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 2:3

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him 2:6-7

For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.2:9-10

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 2:11

He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 3:3

Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 3:11

Look what came in the mail!

This is the third year we are doing an Advent calendar. This year is the easiest and best thanks to my generous friend Ally.

We received our handmade calendar in the mail, ready to hang and open. It is gorgeous and the contents have been so fun and meaningful. Ally has worked hard. You can see what is happening each day by looking at Ally's blog here.

I think we will frame the numbered squares when Christmas is done, they are so beautiful.

Thanks for making memories for us Ally!