Sermon Cloud

Good morning. It is good to be here with you this morning. It’s also a little of awkward isn’t it? After all, if you were here last week you heard me announce my resignation and my last Sunday is going to be next week. But today, I’m still your Pastor and I still have the privilege of opening up God’s Word for us.

But before we go there, let me just share with you how I’m doing and how our family is doing. Obviously, you have questions as to our future. Let me assure you, that your Elder board is taking good care of us. Let me assure you, that my girls are doing fine, in fact just this weekend we were able to attend one of Courtney’s swim meets in Tillamook and she qualified for Regionals in two events! Let me assure you that Becky is doing well. And let me also assure you, that I am really at peace with all this. God is definitely in control, and I’m really ready for a break. I’ve been working hard in full-time ministry for nearly twenty years, and I’m looking forward to a time of rest, recreation and evaluation. I hoping to exercise off about 20 years worth of sitting at a desk, reading some good stuff that’s been calling to me, spending some quality times with my wife and kids, and just seeing where God might lead next. And I’ve got to tell you, I’m pretty surprised at the contentment I have facing an uncertain future. But I tell you all this so as to encourage you. Because I really do believe God calls Pastors according to their gifts, abilities and passions to help lead a flock so He can use those gifts, abilities and passions to meet the needs of that particular body. I’m pretty content that God has done that here. And even now He’s moving to bring the right guy for the next chapter.

But until then, you and I have a unique opportunity. We get to test the depth of our faith. We get to see who we’re really putting our hope in. After all, God doesn’t want you to put all your trust in one man called a Senior Pastor, nor does he want you to put all your faith in a group of men called Elders, but He wants you to trust in Him and not just in uncertain times, but at all times. You see, now is the time, you and I get to see how big a God we have. In fact, that’s the question I want to ask today: How Big is Your God? How Big is Your God?

Is your God big enough to meet your needs? Is your God big enough to handle the obstacles you’re facing today? Is your God big enough to stand on when life seems uncertain? How you and I answer these questions hinges on what we believe about God. How capable is our God? How great is our God? How big is our God? Well, one passage that attempts to answer that question is Colossians 1:15-23. If you brought a Bible with you today, you can turn there. If you don’t have one, you can use the Bible we’ve provided for you, and you’ll find this passage on page 902.

So How Big is your God? Well as we dive into this passage the first thing Paul reveals to us about Jesus is that:
1. He is BIG enough to meet any need
Needs! Boy do we ever have a lot of those. It seems that all of life revolves around meeting needs. We need money. We need money to put food on the table, clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads. We need people. We need people who will love us, help us and be our friends. Rare is the person who lives in isolation. We need people to enjoy life with. We need health, we need energy, we need to think and laugh and create. We need purpose. We need something to sink our teeth into. And we need hope and peace and security. And the great thing about our God is that He is big enough to meet any of our needs.

That’s the first we see here in this passage. Our God is big enough to meet any need because He is the Creator of everything. Listen to how Paul describes Jesus: Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, firstborn before all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see — such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Colossians 1:15-17

Paul begins by telling us that when we look at Jesus we see God. He is the visible image of the invisible God. Jesus is God in the flesh. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas. Jesus came to us in a body so he could experience life like us, so He could die for us, but ultimately so He could be with us and show us what God is like.

We believe that Jesus is God in the flesh. However, there were those in the first century who did not believe this. They taught that Jesus didn’t have a real body. They believed that all created matter was evil. So they taught that Jesus only “appeared” to have a real body. So Paul gives us this teaching about Jesus as Creator, because Paul wants to thoroughly demolish this lie that created matter is evil. And so he begins His argument by telling us that “Jesus is the firstborn over all creation.” Reading this in English some 2000 years after it was written confuses us. Our first thought is he is talking about birth order. Jesus was the firstborn child of God, just like Kayla is my firstborn. But that is not how the term is used. It’s actually a term that speaks of status or importance or rank. Basically, this title tells us that Jesus holds the Highest Position possible in all creation. He is the Lord of Creation. Why is this? Well, he tells US: It’s because Jesus created everything. Everything that exists owes its existence to Jesus. If you can think of something that exists: whether galaxies or giraffes, asteroids or angels, kidneys or cucumbers, countries or crowns – H20 or CHM2Hill – anything and everything that is, is here because of Jesus. Every living and non-living thing, every particle and every molecule is here today because Jesus made it so. There is nothing that has come into existence apart from Jesus.

But there’s more to it than just that. He didn’t just create everything and leave it run on its own. Like a watchmaker who winds the clock and then lets it run down. He’s intimately linked with all creation for all time.

I love the story Warren Weirsbe tells. He says that one time “a guide took a group of people through an atomic laboratory and explained how all matter was composed of rapidly moving particles. The tourists studied models of molecules and were amazed to learn that matter is made up primarily of space. During the question period, one visitor asked, “If this is the way matter works, what holds it all together?” For that the guide had no answer. But God’s Word here reveals the answer – Jesus Christ holds it all together.

How big is your God? Scientists tell us that 15 pounds of pressure per square inch is what holds us together. That’s power, that’s some kind of strength. Without Jesus holding you together you and I would either explode, disintegrate or meltdown. Somehow Jesus created your living soul and connected to your heart, intermingled it with your flesh and bones, so your soul doesn’t fly away.

How Big is your God? He created you, and He holds your life together. And He made everything that we need for life. But I think the most amazing thing of all, is that when you begin to take in the details of this text we learn that all of this that’s been created isn’t for us. It wasn’t created for your children or grandchildren. No, everything that’s been created was created for Jesus. That’s why He is Lord of Creation. Everything exists because of Him and Everything exists for Him.

Have you ever wondered why a flower blooms on the side of a mountain where no human eye will ever see it? Have you ever wondered why there are living organisms on the bottom of the ocean floor that no one will ever use? When you looked at a sunset this week, did you think that God painted it for you? What about this day? God’s Word says, “This is the day the Lord has made.” It’s His day. We just get to hitch hike on it!

And then think about yourself? Sometimes you wonder “What was I created for? But the better question is “Who was I created for?” Because if I understand what Paul is trying to teach us, it’s this: Every single person who’s ever been born, from the least to the greatest, was created for Jesus.

How Big is your God? In Acts 17:26-28 Paul writes: “From one man God made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so men would seek Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being.”

How Big is your God? He’s big enough to bring all things into existence, He’s big enough to give us life and hold our lives together, and He’s big enough to include us in His life. And if all that is true, then He is big enough to meet any need you and I will ever have.

But that’s not all; Paul now shows us that
2. He is BIG enough to overcome any obstacle we might face
Obviously, one question that may cross your mind as we are preparing to leave is what’s going to happen with the His church? And what I love about what Paul writes next should give all of hope. The church is in good hands. Listen now what he says of Jesus: And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. Colossians 3:17 (NIV)

The church did not come into existence by a creative act, but by a spiritual act – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. That is why He is called the firstborn from the dead. His resurrection marked His triumph over the dark forces that hold us in bondage. He is now Lord of the Church.

How big is your God? He loves His Church. He laid down His life for the Church. Because Jesus rose from the grave, he now holds the supreme place of authority over His Church. The Church exists because He is risen. And He will build His church, care for His church, and protect His church because nothing can defeat Him.

This has huge implications for you if you’ve put your trust in Jesus. Your connection to the church is also based on the resurrection. And all who believe in this Jesus now share the same resurrected life of Jesus. What unites us is what will ultimately allow His church to prevail. How big is your God? If Jesus can defeat that obstacle – he can help His church overcome any obstacle, and not only that, because He loves you, He can help you overcome any obstacle. You and I don’t have to fear. Jesus is on the throne. He’s in control. Now, if that doesn’t give you hope, or courage, or strength, then what else will?

So Jesus is big enough to meet any need you might have and He’s big enough to overcome any obstacle you might face. But amazingly enough, there’s more - Paul now reveals the best thing about Jesus:

3. He is BIG enough to mend any relationship
God could meet every one of your earthly needs. He could provide you with a good income, a great family, good friends, good health and more. He could help you overcome every obstacle in life so that you are free of concern and could truly enjoy all the wonders of creation and celebrate together in a great church and all would seem well. But there would still be one thing missing – you and I would be separated from relationship with God. So now, Paul reveals the heart of the Good News that’s found in Jesus Christ: For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and through him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. Colossians 1:19-22

Jesus has done it all. He is Creator, Sustainer, Overcomer, but above all that He is Savior. He exchanged His life for yours. He died for you. His death brought you peace with God. His death removed your sin that separated you from God. He came to you to bring us back to God. And made you right before Him. He brought you into His presence. How big is your God? He did it all for you.

And if Jesus can do that for you, just imagine what He can do when you let Him rule in your heart? If Jesus can forgive you – if you know peace and harmony with God – then He can help you make peace with those who have hurt, offended, or sinned against you. God wants you to live in peace and harmony. That’s why He gave us Jesus. And He is big enough to do it.

In fact, I would conclude that not only is He big enough to fix any relationship, ultimately, whatever you may need or face or encounter in this life: He is BIG enough to stand on! But it all comes down to one thing: faith. Are you willing to live what you believe about Jesus? This isn’t some intellectual gymnastics. This isn’t some creed that we just repeat and say we believe. God made Jesus big enough for all the issues of life, so we could live it by faith. That is why Paul concludes this Christ hymn by saying: But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. Colossians 1:23

Over the last couple of weeks I have a rising joy in my life. That joy has come from the reality that these truths are firmly entrenched in my heart and in our family. I stand here with a confidence that almost seems foolish to me. Years ago, I heard a statement that goes like this. “I don’t know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.” It’s believing in a big God, a great God, the Lord Jesus Christ that makes such a statement true. My hope has always been that I might help you build a kind of faith that stands on Jesus alone; that you would always believe in this truth and stand firmly in it. To stand on Jesus. For He truly is big enough to stand on.