Creator, Ruler, Reconciler

Colossians 1:15-20 exalts Christ for who He is. It shows that Christ is our creator. He made the world. He made people. He created the angelic or spiritual world in addition to the physical world. It is by the power of the eternal Christ that everything continues to exist and to operate.

In addition to being our creator, Christ is also our ruler. He is the head of the church. He is the source of the church. He is the leader of the church in every area, including the area of resurrection. Christ ultimately rules not only over the church, but also over all things.

Along with being creator and ruler, Christ is the great reconciler. He makes peace between God and men. He will one day restore this fallen creation to it's original glory. The cross of Christ was the means through which Christ made peace between sinful man and a holy God.

How should a knowledge of Christ's greatness impact our lives? First, we ought to worship the one who made us, rules over us, and gives us peace with God. Second, we should trust the one who holds this life together- the one who will restore the earth to it's former glory- the one died on our behalf. Trusting Him means accepting Him as our way of salvation. It also involves living our lives for His glory and pleasure. Finally, a picture of the greatness of Christ should be a picture that we want to show to other people. Just as grandparents find any excuse to show off pictures of their grandchildren, we ought to make opportunities to present Christ to the people with whom we interact.

Christ is great for many reasons. Let's make sure we remember His greatness and act according to it.

Colossians 1:15-20:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions 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. He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

It Happens

One of my responsibilities as "dad" is to get the toilet un-clogged. This is not my favorite part of my dad job-description. In fact, I'm sure that un-clogging toilets is not even in my top ten favorite parts of being a parent. Nevertheless, I plunger onward.

Recently I was again called on to make the water flow through the pipes. For some reason I was having a particularly difficult time convincing the poop to get un-stuck. After working for several minutes one of my children suggested an easier method. She informed me that if I would just walk away, it would clear up on its own. At least, that's what always works for her. What a great laugh my daughter provided me. She didn't understand what was so funny. I explained that the reason the toilet re-gained it's ability to flush all of those times was not because the problem just went away, but because I was continually fixing those problems.

Some time after I stopped laughing (and had considered crying) and after I finally had a break-through with that current back-up, it occurred to me that we might fail to notice the work of our Heavenly Father. We are happy when problems in our lives just work themselves out. But we don't always see that God was the one who was behind the scenes actually fixing the problem. Let's remember to look for evidence of God at work, even when we don't immediately notice Him.

Building Update

The plans for an addition to our building are continuing to take shape. The Building Committee of Grace Church met with our site engineer yesterday. The engineer has showed us his plans and helped us choose some of the landscaping and make some style choices for the front of the building. The engineer should be ready to submit our permit application to our township next month.

Applying for permits costs money. Before we spend that money, the Building Committee wants to make sure the entire church is informed and in approval of the plans. In order to inform the congregation, the Committee will call a special congregational meeting for our church immediately following our next Fellowship Dinner (after church on Sunday, November 21). At this meeting I expect that the plans for the building and the plans for the parking lot and driveway will be presented. In addition, the cost of the project and the needed monthly payments will also be shown. Once we spend the money on permits, that money will be wasted if we come back later with a different plan or if we decide not to build the building that we apply to build. As a result, it seems important that we all are in agreement on the building plans before we apply for the permits. Additionally, once we borrow money for the building, our monthly mortgage cost will rise. We need to make sure that the people of Grace Church are financially committed to the project before we shoulder a new mortgage.

Proud Papa

My daughter asked a terrific question during our Bible reading last night. She wanted to know why the pronouns had changed from "they" to "we" in Acts 16. We talked about the fact that Luke wrote the book of Acts. The kids were able to realize that the transition from "they went and did things" to "we went and did more things" meant that Luke had joined Paul's group. My daughter also wanted to know why Luke didn't just say that he began travelling with Paul.

I was very proud of my daughter for noticing this very minor change. It not only showed that she was paying attention, but also lets me know that she is already equipped to handle the first step of studying the Bible for herself- the step of observing what the text actually says.

Quotes About Reading

"The man who never reads will never be read. He who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men's brains proves that he has no brains of his own." C.H. Spurgeon

"And in all this reading, our objective is not so much the accumulation of knowledge as the stimulation to think Christianly." John Stott

"Unread Bibles are evidences against rebels, and are unbecoming in believers." C.H. Spurgeon

"Either read or get out of the ministry!" John Wesley

"This much is certain; we will never preach more than we know and we will never preach above our reading." Albert Mohler

(speaking of preaching) "There is no profession in which performance depends so much upon the accumulation of insight and information." John Killinger

100 and 100

You are currently reading the one hundredeth post on this blog. In addition, our church Facebook page now has 100 fans. You may now access Grace Church of Old Bridge's Facebook page with this link: www.facebook.com/GraceChurchOB.

Quotes about Prayer and Preaching

"Whatever else a preacher does in preparing for the pulpit, let him above all pray." Arthur Pierson

"Spare neither labour in the study, prayer in the closet, nor zeal in the pulpit." C.H. Spurgeon

"Prayer will singularly assist you in the delivery of your sermon; in fact, nothing can so gloriously fit you to preach as descending fresh from the mount of communion with God to speak with men." C.H. Spurgeon

"Great talents you may never have, but you will do well enough without them if you abound in intercession." C.H. Spurgeon

"The minister who does not earnestly pray over his work must surely be a vain and conceited man." C.H. Spurgeon

"Good preaching is born of good praying." John Piper

"We can preach competently, earnestly, faithfully, intelligently, interestingly, missionally, passionately, humorously, and even brilliantly. But we fail when we do no preach prayerfully." Phillip Jensen and Paul Grimmond

"All preaching must be prayerful, because no preaching is effective unless God is at work in it." Phillip Jensen and Paul Grimmond