15-18 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. We look at this Son and see God’s original purpose in everything created. For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels—everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.
18-20 He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone. So spacious is he, so expansive, that everything of God finds its proper place in him without crowding. Not only that, but all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross.
—COL 1:15-20 MSG
Paul’s letter to the Colossians is all about Jesus! There are at least five major themes that show up in this really short letter, but the gist of all five themes is summed up in this simple statement:
It’s all about Jesus, always about Jesus,
only about Jesus!
The book of Colossians is all about Jesus!
I’ll mention all five themes in the book, and then circle back to the first.
Five Themes In Colossians:
1. Jesus is sovereign and supreme over all creation (1:15-20; 2:9-10; 3:1).
More about that in a few.
2. Jesus is the only one who can rescue us, redeem us and forgive us of our sin (1:13-14; 20-22).
Check out vs 13-14.
[Christ] has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
—COL 1:13b-14 NLT
Peter said it like this years before:
12 “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” —ACTS 4:12 NIV
Only Jesus can rescue us!
Only Jesus can transfer us out of the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of His dear Son!
Only Jesus can redeem us or set us free!
Only Jesus can forgive our sins, giving us the ability to become new again!
Only Jesus!
Only Jesus!
Only Jesus!
3. Through faith we’ve been united with Christ, and made whole and complete (2:9-14; 3:1-4).
For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority.
—COL 2:9-10 NLT
Don’t miss this line in v 10: “…you also are complete.”
The NIV reads, “…in Christ you have been brought to fulness…” The ESV reads, “…and you have been filled in Him…”
Think about that!
“All of the empty places in you and in me. All of the gaps where we’ve always felt like something was missing. The huge gap between who I am and who I know I could and should be. When I trust Jesus, all of my gaps and emptiness are filled with and by Jesus Himself. Your gaps and emptiness can be filled, too!”
Running On Empty
As I write these words, I feel as “empty” as I’ve ever been.
Emotionally, I’m out of gas. The gauge on the dashboard of my life is way below the empty line. I’ve been living on fumes for days, maybe weeks, even months.
Mentally, I’m completely wasted. When it comes to my mental health, I’ve never felt more vulnerable and “empty” than I feel most days.
Physically, the mental and emotional struggle has taken its toll on my health.
Relationally, I’m past empty. In many ways, I feel bankrupt. Yes, there are close friends who have loved and are loving me so selflessly, but a significant relationship in my life is on life support, largely due to failures on my own part.
But in spite of all this, Jesus still wants to give me “fullness.” He still wants me to be “filled with Him.”
He knows that anything and anyone else that I’ve fashioned into some kind of functional savior will never be able to fill me the way He can. So His invitation stands, even and especially when I am way past empty.
Read v 10 again.
10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. —COL 2:9-10 NLT
Don’t miss that! “You are complete through your union with Christ…”
I’m complete, whole, full and filled with all the goodness of God, not because of what I’ve done, but because of what Jesus has done!
The moment I trust Jesus, everything true about
JESUS becomes true about ME.
HIS life, death, resurrection and victory, become MINE!
That’s as a radical a thought as there’s ever been. If Christians ever truly begin to believe it, it will change everything. Absolutely everything.
This is the truth I have to keep going back to day-in and day-out. It’s the radical truth of the gospel. It’s the truth that if I really believe, changes everything about me and can change everything about you.
The moment I trust Jesus, everything true about JESUS becomes true about ME.
HIS life, death, resurrection and victory, become MINE!
Through faith, you and I have been united with Christ, and have been and are being made whole and complete.
So on those days when I “feel” empty — whether it’s emotionally, mentally, physically or relationally — I have to intentionally remind myself that I have been filled with the fullness of Christ. I have to remind myself of Colossians 1:20 in The Message.
“…all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies, all because of his death, his blood that poured down from the cross…” —COL 1:20 MSG
The Gospel of Humpty Dumpty
There’s an old Nursery Rhyme that was popular a few decades ago. It’s a Nursery Rhyme that we used to teach kids. I’m not certain whether or not it’s still in use, but it goes something like this.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall;
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again…
Talk about a complete downer.
I was raised on that nursery rhyme! My generation was raised on it. No wonder so many of us suffer from depression.
That nursery rhyme is sad. But it also represents realty.
According to people who study such things, Humpty Dumpty isn’t a recent nursery rhyme. It’s a relic that is hundreds and hundreds of years old. Versions of it have appeared in at least eight different European languages.
Why?
Because the story of our brokenness goes back to the beginning of recorded history. It’s proof that everything and everyone eventually breaks.
When our first daughter was born, more than 30 years ago, our home church in Tennessee gave us a book filled with “Christian versions” of Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes. We’ve still got those books put away in storage. I need to get them out because they would make for some great comedy.
Some of them are a little hokey. But, at the same time, I’ve never forgotten the way Humpty Dumpty reads in that book.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
Humpty Dumpty shouted “AMEN!”
God can put me back together again!
BOOM! That’s the truth Paul is getting at in Colossians 1!
Regardless of what has been broken within us or around us, because of Jesus…
“…all the broken and dislocated pieces of the universe—people and things, animals and atoms—get properly fixed and fit together in vibrant harmonies…”
—COL 1:20 MSG
If you don’t remember anything else in this post, remember this:
The moment I trust Jesus, everything true about JESUS becomes true about ME.
HIS life, death, resurrection and victory, become MINE!4
4. On the cross, Jesus completely defeated and disarmed the powers of darkness. When we are united with Him, we share in His triumph and victory (2:8, 10, 15, 20).
Don’t miss Colossians 2:15.
15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. —COLOSSIANS 2:15
Somehow, on the cross of Jesus, in a way that we will probably never fully understand, God took all the powers that had arranged themselves against us since the fall. He took the power of sin, death, guilt and evil. He took financial powers, political powers, and structural evil, and at the cross and through Jesus’ resurrection, God disarmed them, disgraced them and defeated them, stripping them of their power and ability to cause ultimate harm.
This is why Paul would write in Romans 8.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
—ROM 8:37 NIV
5. Becoming like Jesus isn’t about trying, it’s about trusting. It’s about believing that everything once true about me is ancient history. That because of Jesus’ life, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, I am a new person with a new identity (3:1-17).
I love Colossians 3. The entire chapter is so rich, but the first four verses are jammed.
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory. —COL 3:1-4 NLT
Don’t miss the mind-blowing truths covered in those verses.
I have been “raised to new life with Christ.”
Because Jesus is “seated in the place of honor at God’s right hand,” I have also been “seated with Christ in heavenly places” (Ephesians 2).
On top of that, my life is “hidden with Christ in God.”
Finally, Christ is now “my life.” He’s the center and the circumference of everything I am and ever will be! Christ is “my life.”
Every one of these themes show up in Paul’s letter to the Colossians. They’re all worthy of further study, but I’ll wrap this post by going back to the first theme I mentioned.
Jesus is sovereign and supreme over all creation
(See Col 1:15-20; 2:9-10; 3:1).
In other words, He’s large and in charge.
The words of a modern hymn describe it like this:
“[He] has no rival.
[He] has no equal.
Now and forever, [Jesus] reigns!” [1]
My power and ability is finite and limited. But Jesus’ power is infinite and unlimited.
There are some situations and circumstances that are way bigger than me, but there’s nothing — no challenge, circumstance or situation — this is bigger, greater or stronger than Jesus!
In Colossians 1, Paul gives us a glimpse of Jesus’ sovereignty and supremacy when He writes:
18 “He was supreme in the beginning and—leading the resurrection parade—he is supreme in the end. From beginning to end he’s there, towering far above everything, everyone…” —COL 1:18 MSG
From start to finish, from A to Z, there has never been a moment when Jesus hasn’t been sovereign and supreme! There’s never been a moment when He hasn’t been sustaining the universe, and sustaining you and me.
In fact, whether it’s the universe, the church, or my very life, according to Colossians 1:17, Jesus “holds it all together.”
He holds me together!
Over the past several days and weeks there have been more than a few moments when I felt as if I were literally falling apart — mentally, emotionally and even physically. Everything in and around me has felt as if it was crumbling. At times, I’ve even wondered whether or not I could survive the crumbling of these walls, the unraveling of my life and the shaking of my faith (see Heb 12).
Then I read the words that appear in Colossians 1:17.
“He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.” —COL 1:17 MSG
I’m aware that this passage is about Jesus and creation! That Jesus was there before it came into existence. That He’s still there sustaining it and holding it together. But I don’t believe that it does damage to the text to apply the passage to my life personally and to the circumstances I’m currently walking thru.
Jesus was there before my life began to crumble. He was there before the unraveling and shaking started. None of it caught Him by surprise or off guard. On top of that, He hasn’t abandoned me in my brokenness or the dust and debris that was once my life.
Instead, in love and grace, Jesus looked at this very broken, shattered “Humpty Dumpty” of a man and in kindness said,
“Trust me. Trust me. Trust me.
“Chris, stop trying. Start trusting.
“Give me your brokenness...
“Your emotional brokenness.
Mental brokenness.
Relational brokenness.
“Give me the broken, shattered pieces of your heart, mind and life and watch what I can do.
“When you feel as if you’re completely falling apart, trust that I am the one who has been and will continue to hold it and hold you TOGETHER.
“This is not about your will power.
It’s not about your grit and determination.
This is about your ability to trust me with the broken moments, broken things and broken relationships in your life.
It’s about believing that I put broken things back together and I am holding you together
It’s about believing and trusting that I really am the one who brings beauty from ashes — the dirt and debris of your life.
“Chris, never forget that I am sovereign and supreme.
I am large and in charge.
There are no limits to my ability and power.
I’m the God who brings the dead to life and I’m the God who creates something out of nothing (Rom 4:17-25).
Will you choose to trust me today?To, really trust me?”
Years ago, country singers and songwriters, Buddy and Julie Miller recorded one of the most beautiful songs ever. The melody is simple. The lyrics simply profound. They describe what it’s like to trust God with the broken pieces of your life, asking Him to put you back together and to hold you together.
Verse 1
“You can have my heart, though it isn’t new.
It’s been used and broken, and only comes in blue.
It’s been down a long road, and it got dirty along the way.
If I give it to you, will you make it clean,
And wash the shame away?
Chorus
“You can have my heart, if you don’t mind broken things.
You can have my life; you don’t mind these tears.
Well, I heard that you make old things new,
So I give these pieces all to you.
If you want it, you can have my heart.
Verse 2
So beyond repair, nothing I could do.
I tried to fix it myself,
But it was only worse when I got through.
Then you walk right into my darkness,
And you speak words so sweet,
And you hold me like a child,
’til my frozen tears fall at your feet. —Julie Miller
You can watch a recording of a live performance of the song here.
Who or what is holding you together?
According to Colossians 1, Jesus can take the broken pieces of your life and my life, put them back together. He can also hold us together until He finally gets us safely “home.”
“…everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. He was there before any of it came into existence and holds it all together right up to this moment. And when it comes to the church, he organizes and holds it together, like a head does a body.” —COL 1:18 MSG
He holds it all together! He is holding YOU together.
[1] What A Beautiful Name, Brooke Ligertwood and Hillsong Worship, 2017.