Scripture Lesson: Colossians 1:17
January 2019
“God’s Son was before all else, and by him everything is held together." ~ Colossians 1:17
It may sound strange but today I want to talk about glue. I’m sure you know that there are several types of glue. There are Glue Sticks for paper but it can’t be placed in small tight places. There is Elmer’s glue, you know that white glue that is a little stronger than glue sticks, that allows you to stick things together like game pieces or plastic pieces. There is Wood glue which allows you to hold wood work together as long as it doesn’t weigh too much. But if you are working with small delicate pieces that must be tightly held together, if you are working with something that weighs more than a few ounces, then you need a type of glue that is very strong, a glue that will stay where you put it, and you will need a colorless glue so that others can’t see where you placed it.
The Scripture we are looking at today, Colossians 1:15-23 tells you why Jesus is the Christian’s superglue. Throughout the centuries Christians have relied on the stories told about Jesus and Jesus’ ministry to guide us. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why? It seems to me more than just the fact that Jesus is the Christ and the foundation of our religion. If that were all that it was, I doubt that the Bible would continue to out sell all other books in print. It seems to me that Christians (and others, I might add), like to hear the stories about Jesus and Jesus’ ministry among the people, these stories encourage us and help us see that God uses imperfect people to do God’s perfect will. That is probably why David is such a popular character in Christendom, we see the magnitude of God’s love for humanity in God’s forgiveness of David’s many sins. God used David to carry out His will in spite of the fact the David often got sidetracked carrying out his own desire. David is popular among Christians because knowing about David and his exploits helps us to accept God’s unconditional love, God’s unconditional mercy, and God’s unconditional grace.
Pastor, are you saying Jesus is a patsy, a real sucker? No, I am not saying that. In fact, God is far from being a patsy. (Keep in mind that when I talk about God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit, I’m talking about the other 2 because they are One.) Though God is loving, forgiving, merciful and gracious, God is also all-knowing and all-seeing. That means, God knows the desires of our hearts and therefore God knows whether we sincerely want to be forgiven. Some may think God is a patsy when they hear that God will forgive their sins. However, there is a slight catch to God’s promise. People are forgiven for their sins only when they sincerely ask to be forgiven. When they do so they open themselves up to allowing the Holy Spirit to begin working a change in them. The Holy Spirit works with the sin, whatever it happens to be, to make the practice of it, and even the thought of it, distasteful to the person. Asking sincerely to be forgiven means acknowledging that God the Father, and God the Son, are present every time we commit the sin, watching our participation in it and watching whether we compound that sin by adding on the sin of lying, in an effort to cover up the first sin. And God is watching to see if our guilt about our involvement in the sin causes us to get anger at others, for no good reason, because we are really angry at our self for what we have done.
The Bible continues to be the best-selling book of all time because people are encouraged when they read it; they are encouraged by reading the numerous biblical stories of God initiating interaction with humanity rather than waiting until humanity figured out how much we need God. If it were not for God allowing Jesus to come into the world and if it were not for Jesus being willing to come into the world, we would still be offering sacrifices of pigeons and goats in an effort to atone for our sins. However, the God that we serve knew that was not enough, and knew it would never be enough, so the Three In One worked together to allow Jesus to come into the world to atone for our sins once and for all. Because of Jesus’ atonement, we have a newer and stronger relationship with the Father than was possible through the old system of atonement.
Jesus’ atonement is why we celebrate Communion month after month. Taking Communion is no small thing. It is to be taken sincerely, just like asking for forgiveness of our sins because when we take Communion that is precisely what we are doing. We are acknowledging that on our own we can’t do all that God wants us to do. We are acknowledging that with God’s help we will more often be who God wants us to be and we are going to be less often the sinner that we are most comfortable being. In taking Communion we acknowledge that our relationship with God rests on Jesus, it rests on who Jesus is and what Jesus brings about in our lives. In taking Communion we should be awestruck by the magnificence of Jesus’ saving act of love and compassion in spite of our sinful ways.
Jesus is the spiritual superglue that holds our lives together. Because Jesus is a spirit He is colorless so no one sees that you carry Him everywhere you go. Because Jesus is a spirit He can go exactly where He is needed and doesn’t ooze everywhere reducing His effectiveness. Because Jesus is a spirit He is as powerful as we need Him to be, thus helping us in situations where we need a little assistance, to those situations where we need a lot of assistance. Jesus is the superglue that binds the fragile areas of our hearts to His will. Jesus is the superglue that holds families together in the midst of individual wants and desires. Jesus is the superglue that holds churches together when disagreement threatens to divide them. Jesus is the superglue that holds communities together in the midst of violence, pitting one group against another.
We participate in Communion not because we must but because it is our privilege to do so. By our participation we certainly honor Jesus, the One who instructed us to carry out this act of remembrance. But more than honoring Jesus, we renew and strengthen our relationship with God the Father through our participation in this act of obedience. This ritual of the church has nothing to do with our importance but everything to do with our humility. We come to the Table humbly and we should rise from the Table even more humbly knowing that we just participated in the ritual which marks Jesus’ gift of eternal life to us. By giving us eternal life, Jesus renewed and strengthened our relationship with God our Creator, thus filling our greatest need.
Yes, there are several types of glue but Jesus is the Christian’s superglue that binds us to the living Lord. And because Jesus is our superglue, we must joyously participate in Communion to show our understanding of our need for Jesus to bind us to God. Jesus is our spiritual superglue, allow Jesus to bind us so close to God that we are assured of eternal life in the future and abundant life in the present. It is up to each of us to live everyday as though we know that Jesus is our superglue binding us to God our Creator, and God our Sustainer.