Rev. David Holwick I
First Baptist Church (well-received)
Ledgewood, New Jersey
March 17, 2002
Colossians 1:15-20
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I. We have been visited.
A. A really high dive.
Rodd Millner is an Australian ex-commando.
Sometime within the next few weeks, he will perform a stunt
that will either stretch the frontiers of science or the
boundaries of insanity.
He's going to sky-dive from space.
Millner intends to climb into a spacesuit and ride a balloon to a
height of 130,000 feet, up to the very edge of the atmosphere.
That's an altitude higher than four Mount Everests stacked on top
of one another, or 24.6 miles.
It will take him two-and-a-half hours to float that high.
Once he gets there, he will jump out of the gondola.
The first second, he will fall 32 feet.
The next second, an additional 64 feet.
The next, 96 feet.
After 41 seconds he'll be plummeting toward earth at 900 miles an
hour.
If all goes well, he will be the first human to break the sound
barrier without a vehicle.
He'll slow down as he falls down.
He'll reach what's called "terminal velocity," a steady speed
created by the collision of air molecules with a falling body.
At higher altitudes there are fewer air molecules to bump into, so
a body can travel at velocities of 900 miles per hour.
But as divers approach the earth they encounter thicker and thicker
air, and their speeds are reduced to about 120 miles per hour.
This is really a huge advantage when you are trying to deploy a
parachute.
As for where he'll land, the official guess is within 50 kilometers
of the launch site in central Australia.
"But I'll be basically aiming for the planet Earth," Millner says,
"and trying to hit it."
If he reaches 130,000 feet, he will certainly hit it.
The only question is: how hard?
Millner expects the thickening atmosphere to slow him down enough
so he can pull the cord at about 5,000 feet.
"My decision to do this is based on the fact that I want to come
back safe and alive," he explains.
Safe and alive.
It's an understandable wish.
But it wasn't the outcome that Jesus experienced when he took his
plunge to Earth 2,000 years ago.
No, when Jesus aimed for the Earth, he hit it.
Hit it hard.
#22593
B. Dramatic Christian doctrine - God walked here.
1) Human form, slave's demeanor and criminal's death.
2) But in reality the Master of the Universe.
3) Do you believe this? Really believe it?
C. Our view of God matters.
1) It shapes our morality.
2) It determines our destiny.
II. What does God look like?
A. You first ask the question as a little kid.
1) You don't lose sleep over it.
A little boy who was drawing pictures on the floor one day
as his mother was working in the room.
She asked him, "What are you drawing?"
He said, "I'm drawing a picture of God."
"But no one knows what God looks like," she said.
"They will when I get through!" the boy replied.
[this one got a collective groan]
2) I remember asking, "How can he be everywhere at once?"
I had similar issues with Santa Claus.
B. Variety of answers.
1) Skeptic - no ones knows, or can know.
a) Finite minds cannot comprehend the infinite.
2) Mormons - he looks like a man. (Brigham Young - like Adam)
3) Mohammed - he is invisible spirit.
4) Christians - both can be considered true.
III. Jesus is Divine.
A. Colosse heresy and mediating angels.
1) Low view of Jesus enhanced the mystique of the teachers.
2) Jesus is just one link on path to God, which they could
reveal.
B. Jesus is image of invisible God.
1) Two meanings of "image."
a) Likeness.
1> Jesus looks like God.
b) Manifestation.
1> Jesus exhibits God's nature.
2) In the face of Jesus we see God.
a) Not so much his form - he is spirit - but his character.
b) When you see Jesus, you see what God is like.
c) This is a clear statement that Jesus is divine.
C. Firstborn over creation.
1) Jehovah Witnesses' misinterpretation.
a) Firstborn suggests a created being.
b) Only true in earthly sense - Christmas.
2) Firstborn doesn't have to mean "first" born.
a) Jacob and Esau switched places.
1> Firstborn was designation for main son of
inheritance.
b) Term means Jesus is heir of universe.
D. Paul describes a very high view of Jesus.
1) Popular to see this doctrine as made up by NT writers.
2) But this passage comes only 30 years after his death.
IV. Jesus made the Universe.
A. Creator of creation. 1:17
1) He made whole creation.
a) Physical realm.
b) Supernatural realm.
2) Sustainer of creation.
a) Everything holds together in him.
b) (we sometimes think it is all falling apart.)
B. Intelligent Design argument.
1) Wonder of creation should lead us to faith.
a) Remarkable discoveries of physics, Hubble Telescope.
b) Universe is more vast and wonder-filled than we can
imagine.
c) (Messier Marathon last night...)
2) Creation is not a substitute for religion.
a) Astrology puts cart before the horse.
V. Jesus leads the Church.
A. Head of the body, the Church.
1) Head - leader and life-giving force.
a) Lose your head, you are in big trouble.
2) Church is the body.
a) We are a living organism.
b) We may seem diseased at times, and senile, but we
bring Jesus to the world.
c) (Astronomy club member who goes to church at a diner
because he thinks church age is over.)
3) Firstborn from dead.
a) Jesus' resurrection shows our future existence.
B. Jesus wants to have supremacy.
1) We often treat him like British monarchy - elevated
but ignored. (Stedman)
a) All fullness of God is in him.
b) He wants all of your life.
2) All reconciled through him.
a) Universal salvation? (No - other verses)
b) But shows salvation is a big deal.
c) We can have peace with God through blood on cross.
C. Are you reconciled to Master of Universe?
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#22593 "Terminal Velocity," Homiletics magazine (no author listed),
March 2002, page 36.
The story of the boy drawing God is from a sermon by Rev. Ray Stedman.
These and 20,000 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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