For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Colossians 1:19,20
Paul pulls out all the stops when it comes to the Colossians and Jesus. He doesn’t hold anything back. He comes out guns-a-blazing about Jesus. Who he is. Where he came from. Why he came. And our reaction and response to this most unique person in the history of the world. Look at what Paul doesn’t say about Jesus. He doesn’t just have some of God in him.
He’s not just touched by an angel.
He’s not just some nice guy that lived 2,000 years ago.
He’s not just some charismatic prophet or seer that managed to get a following.
He’s not just another guru in a long list of gurus.
He’s not just another martyr.
He’s not just someone that got in the way of the governmental.
He’s not just someone that caused a ruckus for the religious leaders.
He’s not just an angel that popped onto the earth for a while.
The words and message couldn’t be clearer. In Jesus is the total fullness of God. Period. Not just a touch. Not just a smattering. Not just a dash. But all. Total. Whole. Complete. Jesus is fully God. In Christ dwells all the fulness of God as deity.
This means that there’s nothing missing when you look at Jesus. You want to know who God is? Look in Jesus. You want to know what God thinks about people? Look to Jesus. Want to know what God would do? Look at Jesus.
Jesus didn’t start out as someone without all of God and then, by some great achievement get more and more of God. He didn’t need to pray or meditate to become more and more like God. He didn’t need hundreds of reincarnations to become more and more like God.
Oh no. Jesus always has been God. There was never a time that he wasn’t God. He’s been God from eternity past. He was God while here on earth. And he’ll be God forever and ever. Amen.
There was never a time that Jesus needed to get a refill of God. Yes, there were times that he needed to get alone with his Heavenly Father. There were times of fasting and prayer. But they were not to refill his godly gas tank because some of his deity dwindled or disappeared.
There’s so much of God in Jesus that he’s spilling it all over the place. Look at his compassion for people who didn’t have it all together. Look at his mercy as he looked at the crowd who were like sheep without a shepherd. Look how he comforted and healed the sick. The lame. Those possessed by evil spirits.
Yes, Jesus is fully God. But why did he come? It wasn’t to showoff or to amaze the crowds. It wasn’t to make a big splash, getting thousands of “likes” or “followers” on social media. It wasn’t even to teach. Paul tells us exactly why God came down in and through Jesus. It was to reconcile and make peace.
Reconcile. Because of our pig-headed stubbornness to live life our own way, to turn away from the God who made us and loves us, we separated ourselves from him. We created a debt that makes America’s federal deficit[1] look like what you owe when you take a candy bar without paying for it.Our debt to God was and is more than you can imagine. That’s why we can’t pay for it. It’s way bigger than our ability to pay. And that’s why God had to step in and pay for it himself. That’s what brings us back to God. To be reconciled with hi, By him.
Peace. Now that God has reconciled us with himself, he then can make peace with us. There’s nothing left to separate us from him. Since he took all our stuff and brokenness to the cross, we can be reunited with God in that Heavenly Father relationship that we so desperately want and need.We no longer have to fight the memories of guilt and shame that keep us away from God. When Jesus said, “It’s finished[2]” that included the once-and-for-all payment for all our sins. We can now freely approach God because we now have peace with him.
I know that just like me, we’ve all had broken relationships. Either we caused it or someone else did. And in that brokenness, that separation, we didn’t want to be with them. Heck, we didn’t want to even be near them. And if nothing was done about it, that brokenness still exists today. That gap, that separation is throbbing like hitting your finger with a hammer.
But God went way out of his way to heal our broken relationship with him. To repair our brokenness and sin. There’s nothing that he wouldn’t have done to get us back. And that exactly what he did in Jesus. He did what we couldn’t do for ourselves.
God fully came down to save us in Jesus. He didn’t leave anything behind. He went all out to save you and me. Is it any wonder that we should want to give him everything in return?
[2] John 19:30