How Christ Holds All Things Together

We hope that you enjoy this teaching from Christchurch.

This material is copyrighted and no unauthorized duplication, redistribution, or any other

! use of any part is permitted without prior consent from Christchurch.

Please consider donating to this work in the San Francisco Bay Area online at Christchurcheastbay.org.

Our scripture reading this morning is from Colossians 1, 15-20.

This is from Paul's letter to the Colossians.

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,

or their 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.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Well, Jonathan said my name is Paul.

I am really delighted to be here.

I served as a pastor in Palo Alto for 19 years.

Lived down in Mountain View.

My wife and I have been married for 26 years.

We have five kids that are all out of the house.

So we have this great season of emptiness.

One of my sons is here with us this morning.

He lives not far from here in Berkeley.

And my wife is a pastor in Redwood City.

So, oh, I forgot I had a picture.

I was like, what are they looking at?

Okay.

Yeah.

So that's our family.

That's me and my wife and our five kids.

Yeah.

It's a fun season of seeing what God is doing in new ways for us

as we enjoy this empty nest season.

It's really fun to be here at Christ Church with you.

I've known Bart Garrett for a long time.

I've known Jonathan for a few years now.

Denise and I, as Jonathan mentioned, have worked together for a couple of years.

And so what a privilege it is to be here.

I feel like I'm already a part of the family.

Gail was giving me a back rub up here in the front row.

I've met some of the young kids.

So this is just wonderful.

What a gift to be here.

And I love beginning a sermon by reading the scripture

because I know that I've said something profound.

If everything else is garbage, at least you've heard the word of God read.

So you can rest easy in that.

When I was in college, I went to a school on the other side of the bay

that is of no importance in this city.

But I went to a school and I took a class, 101 Psychology.

And it was taught by a relatively well-known psychology professor

by the name of Philip Zimbardo,

who had established some notoriety for some dodgy things he had done

early in his career.

And this particular class was all about him.

So he gave the lectures.

We watched videos as part of the class featuring Philip Zimbardo.

We read a textbook written by Philip Zimbardo.

And we did exercises designed by Philip Zimbardo.

So you could not have taken part in this class

without understanding who he was and his opinions

and how he fit into everything.

And it was a little bit awkward

because he was a kind of complicated person.

But what we're talking about this morning,

this passage that we're looking at this morning,

is in the same vein, but it's not about Philip Zimbardo.

It's about Jesus Christ.

And I figured this was a safe passage to preach at Christ Church

because this is all about how Christ is literally in everything.

Now, this should come as no surprise to you.

I hope I'm not coming preaching something that is radically new

or radically different.

You're probably not going to walk away from here this morning

with some big new ideas.

But what I hope we're going to see

is how embedded and present and powerful

the person of Christ is in every moment of our lives.

Because if you've been a follower of Jesus for some time,

you believe in Jesus, you worship Christ,

you understand who he is.

But I think a lot of us just don't really

experience the constant awareness

of how present Jesus is.

I think that matters in two big ways.

First, because as we walk around as individuals,

as we try to live our lives and figure out what to do

and make decisions and deal with our emotions

and do all these things that the world requires of us,

we're not always aware of Christ's role

in that detail of life.

And then secondly, as we come together as a church

and we worship and we try to get to know people

and we have studies and we eat fellowship lunches

and all these kinds of things,

sometimes we're not even aware of the role

that Christ plays here among us as a community.

And so what's beautiful about this passage

is it really lays out both of those things.

It talks about how Christ is prominent in creation

and in everything, but also how Christ features

in the church.

We're gonna walk through this passage in two big chunks

and look at some of what the Apostle Paul says

about who Christ is.

Now, I noticed I just learned

that there's some third graders in the room

for the first time sitting through service.

So I hope you brought a pillow.

So here's a little cue.

Sometimes I do this when we have kids in the room.

I want you to listen for two stories I'm gonna tell.

I'm gonna tell a story about Legos

and I'm gonna tell a story about football.

So you young kids, the old people, you're fine.

The younger kids, listen for those stories

as a way of making sure that you're paying attention,

all right?

Okay, we're gonna start then with Colossians 1, 15 to 17.

And I think I'm gonna have the passage up here.

We're gonna just jump through this

and highlight some really significant phrases

that the Apostle Paul gives.

The first one is this phrase,

the image of the invisible God.

See if that gets highlighted.

There we go, perfect.

All right, so this is kind of a interesting phrase

because image is something you see,

but an invisible God is something that can't be seen.

And so it's a conflict even in the language

that Jesus makes visible

what otherwise would be invisible.

The Greek word there is the Greek word for icon.

It's what we use,

what the church has used for a long time

to represent truth.

Your iPhone has lots of icons on them.

That represent something deeper.

That's what Jesus is.

He is the representation,

the physical manifestation.

He makes tangible God

whom otherwise is hard to see.

The image of the invisible God.

He's also the firstborn of all creation.

Now this is interesting

because particularly in the ancient world,

and it's still true in a lot of cultures today,

being the firstborn was very important.

The firstborn had certain privileges,

had certain responsibilities.

The firstborn was kind of the leader of the family.

Now what's important here,

this Greek word firstborn is prototokos.

Proto is the first and tokos is the word for born.

The prototokos,

what's important here is not so much

that he was the firstborn

because he wasn't really born,

but that he is the inheritor

of what God has designed.

That he is a unique representation

of who God is.

He is first of all the world

in terms of his importance.

And we're going to see that come back again later

as in the second part of this passage

when we talk about Christ having the supremacy

over all things.

Third phrase here is

that he is over things in heaven

and things on earth.

Now when we read that phrase,

we think about the heavens

and to us,

because we're kind of in this religious setting,

we think heaven in a religious sense,

but what Paul probably meant by heavens

was more the sky,

the space.

So I want you to imagine,

some of you maybe have been in settings like this

where you are,

where you're somewhere that's very, very dark

and you're there at night.

Maybe you're on a camping trip

or you're out on the ocean somewhere.

And if you imagine in your mind

what the heavens look like

when you're not in a city

and you see the stars,

you can see the stripe of the Milky Way.

And the Apostle Paul is describing that image

to people in the first century

that Jesus is creator of all of those things.

And so we can imagine it from their perspective,

but we could also imagine it from our perspective

because we see those stars

and we know a little bit more about what they are.

We know that each of those stars are suns

with planets in their own galaxies,

in a size of space

that is completely unfathomable.

And Jesus created all of that.

That's what we're told.

The Jesus that we worship here today,

the Jesus whose body and blood

we'll celebrate today,

the Jesus who died to save us,

created all of that.

Things in heaven

and things on earth.

Then we get this phrase

that he is over all powers,

whether thrones, dominions, rulers, or authorities.

And these words signify

different kinds of authorities

in the ancient world.

There were political authorities,

there were religious authorities,

there were civic authorities,

there were local authorities.

And the point that Paul is trying to make here

is that Jesus' authority is over all of those.

For us then, we could imagine,

and I want to invite you just to think in your head

about what kinds of people

have authority over you.

For kids, maybe it's your parents.

For students, your teachers.

If you have a job, then your employer.

If you started a company, then it's your investors.

There's local authorities.

There's whoever runs Berkeley or the city you live in.

There's statewide authorities.

There's layers and layers of people

for all of us

who have some level of authority over our lives.

Some of that we're grateful for.

A lot of it, we are less than grateful for.

And we don't like it

when people have authority over us sometimes.

But Jesus rides above all of those layers.

Not only is Christ above them,

but he instituted them.

It says, in him all things were created.

He created all of those levels of authority.

Everything with authority over you

is under the authority of Jesus.

And hopefully, that makes it easier

to live under the authority of the people

whom Jesus has established over us.

This next phrase is really cool.

It's just so comprehensive.

We hear that Christ is,

everything was created in him,

everything is created through him,

and everything is created for him.

Each of those phrases is uniquely important.

Everything is created in him.

And we don't,

this phrase occurs all throughout the New Testament

where we have this idea of being in Christ.

Christ, as if Christ were a sphere.

The image that comes to mind for me is one of those.

Anybody have hamsters?

Or kids have hamsters?

You know those hamster balls?

It's like Jesus is a hamster ball,

and everything in the universe

exists inside that hamster ball.

Everything that happens,

all the stars,

all the everything,

all of our lives,

everything is created in him.

Jesus somehow contains all of us.

But it also says everything was created through him.

And so everything that is,

everything that exists,

was created through Jesus as the mechanism.

He was the way that things came into being.

You might think of Genesis 1,

where God speaks things into existence,

and then we find out later that Jesus is the word of God.

So it was through the word of God

that things came to be.

All things are created through him.

Now all things are also created for him.

So they're in him,

they're through him,

but they're also for his benefit.

And so Jesus is the one who receives

the goodness of all of creation.

Here's the Lego story.

You guys ready?

So imagine kids building Legos.

And you can imagine a kid building this,

this intricate Lego design,

and then wanting to,

to show their parents,

and say,

look what I've done.

Look what I've built.

It's almost as if God built the world,

and then said to his son Jesus,

this is for you.

All things are created for you.

For you to enjoy and celebrate,

have the benefit of.

In him,

through him,

for him,

all of these things.

And we're just piling layer upon layer

of how Jesus is really in literally everything

until finally we come to this last phrase

where it says that

in him all things hold together.

And this is where our minds are really blown.

That in Jesus,

all things hold together.

I want to invite you,

maybe you're wearing a shirt or a blouse or pants,

just feel the fabric that you're wearing.

Just feel it.

So this fabric

would otherwise

burst into atoms

flying around the universe

except for one thing.

Jesus.

You probably didn't think about that

when you put on your clothes this morning.

You probably didn't say,

thank you Jesus

for keeping the atoms of my clothes

melded together

so that I can wear this outfit.

But we just read

that all things

hold together

in Jesus.

There's maybe some scientists in the room

and I'm going to very quickly reveal

the limits of my knowledge of physics.

But my understanding of physics

is that there is some understanding

that there is a

kind of a universal force

that holds things together.

And then we read in the scripture

that Christ

holds all things together.

And we realize that

Christ is literally

everywhere.

That the reason I'm able to stand

on this floor

is because the molecules

support me

through Christ.

Now, this is a lot bigger,

a lot vaster,

a lot kind of more comprehensive

than how a lot of us

are taught to think about Jesus.

This is so much

more cosmic

than Jesus was a

God who became man

who died on your sins

so you could go to heaven.

And he lived 2,000 years ago

and now we have church

to sing about him.

That's kind of the frame

a lot of us have

and yet this says

that Jesus literally

holds the universe together.

Important thing about that for us,

there's many important things,

but one of the real

encouragements

is that

that Jesus

Jesus

is with

us

as individuals.

And so as

as unfathomable

as it is

that Jesus

is this

cosmic

deity

that holds

the universe together,

it's

in the same breath

we know that Jesus

walks with us.

He's present with us.

He knows

you.

He knows

in a very real sense

what you are experiencing.

I went through a season

in my life

several years ago

of a lot of anxiety

and insomnia,

some depression

and

it was a really

kind of a pruning season

for me

where I was trying to

figure out how to deal

with some emotions

that were happening

and

there was an image

that was really helpful

for me

in that season

and continues to be

of just

I would sometimes

imagine

when I'm walking

into

situations

that cause me

anxiety

I would just

imagine

holding Jesus'

hand.

And I would

imagine it

but it wasn't

an imaginary

thing

because Jesus

was there

with me.

It was

it wasn't me

pretending

it was me

acknowledging

the presence

of Jesus

with me

wherever I went.

And what this

passage says

is that

the one who

holds all

things together

is also there

to hold our

hands.

And that's

that changes

everything.

Changes everything

about every

situation you

encounter

about every

challenge you

face

about every

mistake you've

made

that he's

forgiven

and embraced

you for

about every

calling he's

given you

that he's

invited you

into

he is there

with you

the one

who literally

holds your

shirt together

also walks

with you

into this

world.

Christ

holds all

things together

and he

holds us

as we

follow him.

That's the

first thing

it's the first

part of this

passage and

it's um

it would be

enough if

that were all

Christ did

that is

that that's

enough to

just occupy

us for

for at least

a lifetime

to reflect on

that.

But then Paul

goes on

and he

talks about

not just

Christ

holding all

things together

individually

but then he

moves on to

talk about

the church

and this is

where it gets

really practical

for a group

of people

sitting together

in a room

on a Sunday

morning.

He starts

by saying

that Christ

is the head

of the body

the church

and this is

a image

that the

Apostle Paul

uses in

various ways

throughout the

New Testament

the image

of a body

and the

image of

the distinction

between a

head and

the body

of the

human.

And so

it's an image

he applies

to the church

he applies

it to marriage

in different

ways he applies

it a couple

different times

and what's

significant

about this

metaphor

is the

inseparable

nature

of the head

and the body.

So

you know

this would be

a tragedy

but if I

were in an

accident

and I lost

my left

hand

I would

be a

person

without a

left hand

right?

If I

were in an

accident

and I lost

my right

leg

I would

be a

person

without

a right

leg.

If I

were in

an accident

and my

body

and my

head

became

separated

I would

not be

a person

anymore.

My life

would end.

So

the fact

that Jesus

is the

head

and we

are the

body

one of

the

purposes

of that

metaphor

is to

say that

there is

such an

intricate

unity

between

Christ

and the

rest of

the church

that if

they are

to become

separated

they cease

existing

as such.

Christ

so if

by some

tragedy

Christ

church

were to

lose

Christ

its

connection

to

Christ

it would

cease

to be

a church

because the

head and

the body

are

inseparable.

Jesus is

the head

of the

church.

Then we

have this

phrase that

he became

in all

things himself

first.

This is a

really

unique

phrase.

He says

he is the

head of

the body

he is the

beginning

and the

firstborn

so that

in everything

he might

have the

supremacy.

Now this

is a

really

weirdly

translated

phrase.

The

literal

Greek

there is

in order

that he

may

become

in all

things

himself

first.

In order

that he

may become

in all

things

himself

first.

You can

see why

they translated

it this

way because

that other

way doesn't

really make

sense.

But the

idea is

that Jesus

is the

one for

the church

that goes

before.

It's not

supremacy in

terms of all

the power

and authority.

It's

supremacy as

the one who

charts the

way.

Okay, you

ready for the

football story?

Okay, here's

the football

story.

We went to

a football

game several

years ago.

Actually, my

son was with

me and it

was the

San Francisco

49ers, which

maybe aren't

popular here,

in the

Oakland Raiders

in a

preseason

game.

So if you're

familiar at

all with the

sport of

football, these

are two

teams that

really love

each other.

It's just

like a

shared

brotherhood and

affection

between these

two teams.

That's a joke.

They do not

like each other

at all.

And so this

particular game,

there was a

lot of

emotion as

we're walking

into the

stadium.

And for

some reason,

it was a

preseason game

that hadn't

figured out all

the systems yet.

So it was

like one

entry point.

And there was

this crowd of

people that

were pressing

against this

one entry

point.

And I

had, I

think, two

of my kids

there, maybe

three.

But it was

kind of chaos.

And there was

fighting over

there and there

were screaming

over there and

people had been

drinking over

here.

And so I

had my young

kids with me.

And I

remember I

grabbed their

hands and I

just used my

body as like a

tip of the

spear and I

just pushed my

way, like

literally dragging

them through this

crowd, trying to

get through the

gate.

And finally we

made it through

and everything

was fine.

So that's a

little bit about

what this passage

means by saying

Christ is in

himself first.

That he is the

one that drags

us, that grabs

our hands and

pulls us.

He is the one

that goes first

and drags us

along into his

purposes.

Jesus.

He is the one

that absorbs the

impact, that

takes the

risks, that

has the

vulnerability so

that we can

be who as a

church God

created us to

be.

The passage

continues to

say that all

of God's

fullness dwelt

in Jesus.

And so this

unifier of the

church, the

head of the

church, is

God himself

dwelling in

him for our

sakes.

And then we

read that

through him,

through Jesus,

God reconciled

to himself

all things.

And so now

we have these

double images

of Christ is

the creator

of all things,

but he's also

the reconciler

of all things.

All things

came into

existence

because of

Christ.

And the

brokenness of

the world also

is restored

because of

Christ.

Because Christ

literally drew

all things to

himself and

reconciled them

in him to

the Father.

You can imagine

Jesus just like,

remember when my

kids were very

little and they'd

be having some

conflict and you

just like wrap

wrap them both

in a hug.

It's like,

until they stop

hitting each

other.

You know,

it's kind of

what Jesus

does.

Just,

I'm going to

reconcile all

of you to

myself.

For the purpose

of this,

making peace

through his

blood shed

on the cross.

peace.

Now, we

often read this

and we think

about peace

with God,

which is true.

Jesus makes

peace with

God so that

we can be

reconciled to

the Father.

But this

word peace,

we read peace

and we think

kind of like

zen.

You know,

like,

Jesus made

peace,

I'm okay.

which is not

totally wrong,

but the word

is really

more about a

lack of

hostility,

about a

lack of

warfare,

about warring

entities that

have come to

a truce.

And so,

yes,

Jesus made

peace with the

Father,

but what's

also in view

here,

especially because

we're in the

context of

talking about

the church,

is that Jesus

made peace

between us.

Jesus stopped

the hostilities

between us.

And,

you know,

maybe Christ's

church is

different than

the other

churches I

know,

but other

churches,

people hurt

each other.

They disappoint

each other.

They make

mistakes that

affect even

generations.

They lie

sometimes.

They betray

trust.

And when that

happens,

what do you

do?

How do you

fix that?

How do you

come together?

How do you

continue to

worship together?

How do you

continue to

serve the

purposes of

God in your

city?

How do you

keep doing

that when

this person

did that

thing and

they're getting

away with

it?

Except that

they're not.

Because Jesus

absorbs that.

He makes

peace.

He absorbs

the hostility.

He creates

justice.

And he draws

us together,

enabling us

to forgive.

And to

move past.

And to

do the

hard work

of

discussing

it,

coming together,

praying through

a reconciliation.

Jesus makes

peace through

his blood

on the cross.

peace.

What all of

this means is

that Christ

doesn't just

hold all

things together,

Christ also

holds the

church together.

Christ is the

one who

inhabits this

community and

keeps it from

splintering, from

going its

separate ways.

peace.

Just like we

heard that

Christ is the

reason why my

clothes don't

split apart into

atoms in the

universe.

Christ is the

reason why a

community of

people who

follow Jesus

stays together

and has a

bond that

allows them to

experience the

person of God,

love.

Love for each

other.

Love for the

world.

That's what

Christ does.

Christ is here,

in this place.

is not just

the God that

we come together

to worship.

He is present.

He is the

sinew that

connects all of

us together,

that helps us

to overcome

hurt and

find forgiveness

and serve his

purposes in the

world.

Christ holds

all of creation

together.

He is there

for me.

And Christ

holds the

church together.

He is there

for us.

So I

opened up by

thinking about

this class

that I took

with Philip

Zimbardo and

this very kind

of Philip

Zimbardo-centric

view of the

universe that I

was forced

to endure for

a semester.

And that

was great.

I learned a

bunch about

this particular

person, but

then it ended.

And yet, what

we've talked

about this

morning is how

the person

of Jesus,

the Christ,

the Son of

God, the

Word of

God, the

Prince of

Peace, all

of those

things, how

Christ is

literally in

everything, how

he walks with

us, how he

holds us

together.

And I think

the big

takeaway for

me, because

if I think

about what

I expect

to do the

job of

holding things

together, it's

often that I

expect that

that's up to

me.

And maybe

you're the

same.

That there's

a lot of

things in

your life

where different

priorities,

different people,

keeping different

people happy, and

you kind of feel

the burden of

like, I have

to hold it

together.

I have to

keep these

things together.

Or I have to

keep the church

together, or I

have to keep my

small group

together, or I

have to manage

this.

And so, this

word is a

word of

freedom, of

release, of

rest, of

grace, that

you don't have

to hold it

together.

That's not our

jobs.

There is one

who does that.

There's a song

I like, and

there's a phrase

in it that,

singing to

Jesus, the

artist says,

I can never

let you down

because I never

held you up.

And that's

beautiful.

We can never

let God down

because it's not

our job to

hold him up.

we don't have

to hold all

things together.

That job is

taken, and he's

doing a great

job at it.

So, let me

pray for us

that we could

receive that,

that we could

live in that,

and that we

could go from

here with

that.

Father, thank

you.

Thank you that

we are

created by

you.

We are

redeemed by

you.

We are

empowered and

sent out by

you.

Thank you

that Christ

is there,

that you are

here with us

in Christ and

through the

Spirit, and

every second of

every day, in

all of our

decisions, in

all of the

creation we

encounter.

I just pray

you'd help us

to see that.

Help us to

develop the

habits of

living in

that, of

appreciating it,

and of

communing with

you more and

more as we

go.

We love you,

Jesus.

we're so

grateful you

love us.

We pray

this in

your name

and by

the Holy

Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.