03042015JesusWorksInCreation#1DonRuhl

Jesus Works in Creation #1 

Colossians 1.15–18

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • February 4, In the year of our Lord, 2015

  1. What does the following passage mean?

    15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence (Col 1.15–18).

    1. If Jesus is the firstborn over all creation,
      1. if Jesus created all things,
      2. if all things were created through and for Him,
      3. if all things consist in Him, and
      4. if He has preeminence in all things,
        1. does He still work in creation, or
        2. does Paul only mean that Jesus worked at the beginning of creation?
    2. As a follower of Jesus Christ,
      1. how should the truths of this passage affect me?
      2. How should I view creation?
      3. Do I see Jesus at work in His creation?
  2. How much is here? 
    1. Will we ever stop discovering things in creation?
    2. Has the natural creation become commonplace to us?
      1. Perhaps it is the exception that something catches our attention, and
      2. we notice the beauty of creation again.
        1. Why does anything exist?
        2. Why did God create what He did?
          1. For example, what do you think of first when imagining creation?
          2. Why did God make that item?

            11 “You are worthy, O Lord,
            To receive glory and honor and power;
            For You created all things,
            And by Your will they exist and were created.”
            (Rev 4.11)
  3. Is there a meaning to it all? 
    1. What can we learn about God through His creation?
      1. We can learn something, but
      2. creation is limited.
    2. What can we learn about Jesus through His creation?
      1. Creation alone does not even tell us that Jesus exists.
      2. We need the Scriptures to learn of Him and
        1. to learn more about God.
        2. The Scriptures show God in Jesus entering the natural realm.
    3. Think about creation as revealed in Genesis 1.
      1. We know the first sentence, but
        1. the days of creation, and
        2. the things made on those days,
          1. prepare us for the highlight of God’s material creation,
          2. the creation of man,
            1. of whom alone it is said in Scripture,
            2. that man was created in the image of God.
              1. See all your fellow-humans as images of God.
              2. How does that affect your treatment of others?
      2. Then think of God entering the creation, and
        1. think on the way in which He entered it.
        2. Remember the meaning of “Immanuel.”
    4. Think of how the birth of Jesus was received.
      1. Angels announced it.
      2. Shepherds greeted Him.
      3. Wise men worshiped Him.
        1. From the highest to the lowest,
        2. all creation honored the Creator becoming as His creation.
    5. Consider Paul’s words to our Galatian brethren,

      4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law… (Gal 4.4).

      1. First, whom did Paul say God sent forth?
        1. God sent His Son.
        2. Therefore, Jesus is the Son of God.
          1. That means Jesus is also the Creator.
          2. That means someone divine left heaven and came to the Earth.
      2. Second, of whom was Jesus born?
        1. He was born of a woman.
        2. This shows the Creator experienced the creation process.
          1. The Supernatural entered the natural.
          2. Jesus came to work in creation by taking on the body of a creature.
      3. We put these two together to form a magnificent mystery.
        1. The Creator living in Spirit
        2. inhabited a created body of flesh.
          1. He allowed Himself to become a single-celled creature.
          2. Through the whole time in the womb, and
            1. through all His growing up years,
            2. He willingly placed Himself in a vulnerable position.
    6. May every birth remind us of the wonderful thing the Son of God did.
      1. Truly, when we beget and conceive,
      2. we play a small part in creating.
        1. How amazing is that?
        2. What else do humans do that compares?
    7. Once a baby has been born,
      1. the difficult work of caring for the child sets in.
      2. Babies are messy.
        1. We may fail to see this as part of God’s plan.
        2. Once when our youngest daughter was still in the diaper stage,
          1. I had been meditating on fantastic spiritual truths for my sermon.
          2. I went home and did something that I rarely do,
            1. I told my wife of the spiritual high I was experiencing
            2. in preparation for my sermon
              1. (I usually do not let her in on my sermons, and
              2. so she hears it for the first time when you do), and
                1. she felt down, because
                2. of what had been her concerns during that day:
                  1. childcare and dirty diapers.
                  2. He believed that what she had been doing that day
                  3. was far below what I had been doing.
      3. Is having babies and transforming them into men and women of God
        1. also a high calling of the Lord?
        2. Is it less in importance than meditating on Scripture?
          1. No, because each one fills a need that must be met.
          2. Remember Paul’s teaching in First Corinthians 12.
      4. Yet, we have a tendency to view children as a problem,

        13 Then little children were brought to Him that He might put His hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them. 14 But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 15 And He laid His hands on them and departed from there (Matt 19.13–15).

        1. Why do you think the disciples rebuked the parents or the children?
        2. What place do children have in the eyes of Jesus?
  4. Thoughts for discussion: 
    1. We want to get away from people, yet, for people did Jesus come to the Earth.
      1. Is there a time to get away and to get into nature?
      2. Is there a time to get into people and minister to them?
    2. What about Jesus coming into His creation amazes you the most?
    3. As we go about the craziness of life, we are tempted to lose sight of Jesus, as He spoke in a parable,

      14 “Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity” (Luke 8.14).

      1. What can we do to avoid this problem?
      2. How do you stayed focused on Jesus working in the craziness of life?