Author Archives: justkeithharris

Romans 12:1-2 —

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

1 Peter 2:4-5 —

⁴  As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

            Greetings, readers! It is Thursday again, and I am excited to be writing to you. I am especially excited to be writing to you about the Word of God.

            I have been praying over where to go next in these devotions, and I find my heart and mind focused on the Church and what it means to be a part of it.  That led me to Romans 12 where we will be camping out over today and upcoming weeks.

            The Church – notice the capital “C”, referring to all believers everywhere (the Bride of Christ) – is a very special organism. You read that correctly, I said “organism” not “organization”. You see an organism is a grouping of parts that come together as a whole life[1]. The Church is made up of all saved people – no matter their nationality or denomination – coming together because of the Life – Jesus (John 14:6). John, in Revelation, gives us a picture of what we will all be like together in heaven as “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). That is a bit different than what we associate in our minds with the word “church”.

            We often think of a building or a specific gathering time of people in or around that building (Sundays from 11 to better-hope-he-stops-preaching-at-12). The Covid-19, #safeathome, lockdown has turned that understanding of church on its ears. But the Church has not stopped being the church – whether or not it has or has not physically met together. That is where Romans 12 comes into play.

            Romans 12 is a special chapter because it bridges the gap between the theology in chapters 1-11 and the application that follows in the remaining chapters, hence that’s what the “therefore” is there for in verse 1. Hear me clearly on this: theology – the study of God (in Scripture) is very, very important. But that study of God must result in application and obedience. I love the way that the New American Commentary on Romans puts it: “Theology in isolation promotes barren intellectualism. [Activity/application] apart from theological base is impotent to achieve its goals.” The Church needs both theology and application in its activity or else we will stay in the safety of our pews or comfortably padded seating and never impact the world with the Word of God.

            Verse 1 sees Paul’s appeal to the Church to “present [their] bodies as living sacrifice[s]”. Any reading in the Old Testament is sure to cross paths with the sacrificial system. This is necessary for our understanding of what God through Paul is asking of us. While he is not asking us to lay our bodies on an altar; he is calling for “living” sacrifices. The fact that it is “living” shows that it is voluntary. God wants us to willingly give our lives to Him – every day that we live.

            This imagery is uncomfortable, but it should not be. The Bible is clear that in order to be saved one must confess aloud that Jesus is Lord. Our problem often lies in the fact that we want to share lordship with Him, giving Him the parts we want Him to have and retaining control over the areas we want. That is not how lordship works. If He has bought us, we are His (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). He could demand what He wants of us. But rather than treating us as His slaves, He wants us to want to give ourselves to Him.

            The best example I can think of is a little personal, but here it goes. The first decade of my marriage was made up of Candice working hard every day at work and then doing the vast majority of the work at home. I would work hard at work, stay late at work, and keep my mind on work all the live-long day.

Candice deserved my service; after all, I am supposed to be willing to give my life for her (Ephesians 5:25). I would – sad to say, seldomly – offer up my help (after she had likely asked repeatedly). But the area I hated the most was the dishes. She informed me one day that I should want to wash the dishes. I was dumbfounded – really, I was just dumb! Unfortunately, it took me a decade to realize that I love her more than work and genuinely wanted to do things for her – not because she needed help or any such foolishness – because of my love for her.

            God offered up His life for us in Christ and redeemed us – saved us. We should want to live our life for Him. Living our life for Him becomes less of an act of service than a response of love with love. Serving Him should not be a chore. Sooner or later, we have to realize how blessed we are to get to serve Him and spend time with Him. That realization is a game changer!

            More than that, He wants us to be different from the world around us. He commands us to not be “conformed to this world”. He wants His Church – His Bride to be different than the lost world around it. 1 John 2:15a says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Jesus does not want His Bride to have more than one object of its affection. He will NOT share His affection and adoration.

            Instead of being like the world, He calls for us to be “transformed by the renewal of [our minds]”. So many things come after our attention. Now, more than ever before in the history of the world, we are bombarded with more information and advertising than we can appropriately handle. We need our minds set on Christ (Colossians 3:1-3)! There is nothing inherently wrong with work or phones or hobbies, but, if it takes attention away from our spouse, we should know it needs to be taken away to save the relationship. What is there in your life that is trying – and likely succeeding – in taking your attention off of Christ? It’s time to redeem the relationship with Christ!

            Having an appropriate focus on Christ, offering ourselves daily to Him (Romans 12:1; Luke 9:23) in an act of worship, and taking our mind off of the world and putting it on Him helps us know His will for us. How can we know that? Is He going to speak audibly? Will I have a vision? While God can certainly do any of that as He pleases, I think Rick Warren put it best: “God’s will is found in God’s Word. Stop looking for a sign, and start looking for a verse.” There is no better way to put your mind on Christ and seek His will apart from His Word.

            The 1 Peter passage puts this all into context for us. Christ is saving people, and they are the “living stones” of His “spiritual house”. His Church is made up of people who are living out Romans 12:1-2 every day. They do not need buildings, although they are nice. They do not need priests to speak to God on their behalf. God has given us everything we need to follow Him. At some point, we just have to do it.

            Hopefully, it will not take you as long as it has for me to get the picture. But I am sure that many of our spiritual houses are not up to code.  Some of our bricks are half-baked with lacking devotion to God and too many distractions. Repentance is hard and it might be a bit of an embarrassment to have to start again. Hear me out: it is worth it all!

            My prayer for you today is that you can experience transformation from the renewal of your mind. And I think Colossians 3:1-3 describes that process best:

“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

May it be so in your life. Get your mind on Christ and be His Church.

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[1] This is a combination of various definitions from Google and Merriam-Webster online.

Acts 17:10-12 —

¹⁰ The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. ¹¹ Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. ¹² Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men.

Romans 10:14-17 —

¹⁴  How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? ¹⁵And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” ¹⁶But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” ¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of Christ.

Greetings, readers! It’s Thursday again – a day that is fast becoming one of my favorite days of the week because it means that I get to interact with you all in the Word of God via these devotions.

Today, we are going to look at some things the Word says about the Word. And, in doing so, I hope you find something that draws you closer to the Word of God and by it our Savior, Jesus Christ.

As I have shared with you in the past, these devotions were a response to part of Peter and John’s sermon in Acts 3, specifically verses 19-21:

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed to you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets long ago.”

We have looked at length about what it means to hope that “times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord”, and the primary way that we have seen the presence of the Lord play out in our lives is by reading the Word of God.

The passage above from Acts 17 introduces us to a group of people who have something important to teach us about the Word of God. Paul and Silas had just spent a period of time in Thessalonica where they “reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying , ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ’” (Acts 17:2-3). They received a mixed response from the people there (which was nothing new – and still is not) where some were saved and others were angered. A group of locals got angry, literally drug some of the local believers out of their homes to the authorities, and accused Paul and Silas of “turn[ing] the world upside down” (v. 6). Then, the believers in Thessalonica sent Paul and Silas to a town called Berea in the cover of night.

So, what do you think Paul and Silas did? (Hopefully, you read the Scripture passages before my writing.) That is right; they did the same (“as was his custom” – v. 2) as they always did: they went to the synagogue, opened up the Scriptures (Old Testament) and told those there how the Scriptures point to Jesus. They did this time and time again. Only Berea offered them a different response.

Look back at verse 11: “Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the Word with eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.” Rather than jumping up to respond without thinking or deciding they were heretics and planning to run them out of town, the Bereans at the synagogue rolled open the scrolls of Scripture in the synagogue and tested what was being preached to them by the Word of God. What an amazing idea!

I hope that you do the same thing when you sit under someone’s teaching or read their devotions or other writings. That’s right: I want you to always check what I say or write by the Word of God.  In fact, that’s the purpose of these weekly devotions; I want to help you seek out the presence of God in His Word.

We live in a world where it is easier than ever to seek out facts. For all of the foolishness that this world offers via the Internet and other sources, there are means by which to check up on things on a scale never dreamed of through most of history. Yet people are willing to believe whatever is presented them, allowing fear, anger, hatred, or whatever else to drive them rather than simply returning to the source.

Many places in the ancient near East where Paul and Silas were preaching did not have access to scrolls of the entire Scriptures at that time. The Bereans were blessed, and they knew it! They took full advantage of the gift they had been given in the Word of God. Yet each and every one of us have access to many physical Bibles and free access to many digital versions of it. And we take people at their word and neglect the Word.

The Bereans were eager to hear what Paul and Silas had to say. They found themselves moved by their preaching. Yet they did not rely on their hearts. Maybe they read Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” They checked everything that Paul and Silas said by the Word, and, when they found what they said to match up with the Word of God, many of them were saved.

This is extremely important because it reminds us how God intends salvation to work. Salvation cannot happen apart from the Word of God. Romans 10 offers us such a clear picture of what it takes to respond to the gospel and be saved. It also makes sure we know how to be saved. Romans 10:17 makes it clear that “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.”

The Bible tells us the story of Jesus. It tells us that we are sinners (Romans 3:10, 23). It tells us that there is no way for us to remove our own sin aside from responding to the gift of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:23). It tells us that God fully knew our sin and what it would cost for Him to take away that sin – and He paid the price for us (Romans 5:8). And the Bible makes it clear how to be saved: “…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).

There is no salvation apart from that because there is no salvation apart from Jesus. I am not saying that testimonies or songs are not important or good things. I am simply saying that there is no substitute for the Word of God when it comes to people getting saved.

So, what will you do with this information? You could treat me like those whose worlds were turned upside down by the gospel in Thessalonica. They were so outraged that they followed Paul and Silas to Berea and kept…well, you will have to continue in Acts 17 on your own to see what happens there.

Maybe you spent adequate time with God in His Word. Maybe you open your Bible and check it every time you sit under preaching. Maybe you have it open right now, checking my words here. I genuinely hope this is the case. But, were I a betting man, I would wager that is not the case.

If you are not spending time with God in His Word daily, I urge you to repent. Seek Him there and He will be found. Charles Haddon Spurgeon said it thusly, “There is dust enough on some of [our] Bibles to write ‘damnation’ with your fingers [on its cover].” That was true when he preached in the 1800s, and it is true now. But he also said, “My dear friend, when grief presses you to the dust, worship there!”

So, wipe off the cover or reinstall the app – whatever you need to do – and get back in the Word of God. If you do not have one or would like to know how to get into the Word of God, I would love to talk to you. If you have questions, I cannot promise you that I will be able to answer them, but I can look in the Word of God with you to help you find the answers you seek. I genuinely hope that you will do this.

I want to close with some verses from Psalm 119 about the Bible. May they give you a hunger and thirst for the Word and you find Him there:

• v. 9 – How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your Word.
• v. 11 – I have stored up your Word in my heart that I might not sin against you.
• v. 41 – Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord, your salvation according to your promise….
• vv. 49-50 – Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope. This is my comfort in affliction, that your promise gives me life.
• v.77 – Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.
• v. 81 – My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.
• v. 105 – Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Colossians 1:15-23 —

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

            Greetings, readers! Writing these devotions, specifically getting to dive into Colossians 1:15-23, has been a joy for me, and I hope it has been of some encouragement for you.

            The first two weeks in this passage, we looked at the greatness and preeminence of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. We looked at how all of creation is by Him, through Him, and for Him. We looked at how fully embodied all that God is and yet is personal and sets His affections on us.

            I want us to pick up the idea of reconciliation again today. Last week, we ended with a plea for people to trust in Christ and be reconciled to Him and how reconciliation most simply means change – a change of status.  He sealed that reconciliation by “the blood of His cross” (v. 20). This week, I want us to look at our own pasts – for some of us, it will be our present, and I want us to get a clearer picture of what reconciliation means for us.

            In verse 21, Paul writes that we were “once alienated”. I thought about asking a rhetorical question here, like: have you ever felt alienated or isolated? But that is not a fair question in this day and age. Alienation and isolation have been the norm for the past two months, and it is in this fact that we begin to truly grasp reconciliation.

            The word translated “alienation” can be defined as being dislocated or excluded. It carries with it elements of one who would be considered a stranger or a foreigner.  Sin alienates us from God. Before one comes to know God and trust Him as Lord – before being born again – there is definite alienation (Ephesians 2:1-2, 12) because the dead cannot commune with the living.

            To get a better picture of this, I want to bring up some imagery from the Old Testament. Alienation was a byproduct of being unclean. Numbers 5:3, when speaking of people who were classified “unclean” for a number of reasons, says that they should be put “outside the camp, in the midst of which [the Lord dwells]”. There was a prescribed number of days in many situations to be spent outside the camp before they could return. The Old Testament “unclean” exile is a picture for us of the reality of our sin. Because of our sin, we are unclean, unrighteous, and hopelessly outside the camp of a relationship with God in Christ.

            This is where reconciliation comes in. If alienation is being dislocated or excluded, reconciliation becomes something better than a change of status. Reconciliation is being reunited or reestablished. It gives us the picture of a former way of life being left behind. To continue with the Old Testament imagery, Jesus was taken outside the “camp” to Golgotha and there was took our sin and made reconciliation for all those who put their trust in Him. Those whom He saves have a status change: dead to alive, lost to saved, unclean to clean, outside the camp to inside, and dislocated to reestablished.

            It reminds me of a change of status in my life. I can remember vividly the first time that I saw Candice. I had a theoretical knowledge that she existed as I had heard that our prospective pastor had a daughter around my age. I had heard that she was beautiful, but, for me, that remained to be seen. In my mind – pre-Candice – I was content with the status quo. Then, I met her.

            I am not writing you a tale of love at first sight, but let me tell you that meeting her and beginning to get to know her was more than enough for me to long for a change in status. I wanted to leave my former way of life behind. I did everything that I could over the next several years to pursue her. And, thankfully, some nearly nineteen years later, I get to pursue her still.

            My illustration falls short here, but I want you to keep that image in mind – the pursuit of a mate for the purpose of marriage. Look at how Paul speaks of reconciliation in verse 22: “he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.” If that sounds familiar to you, you may be thinking about the marriage passage in Ephesians 5. Look at verse 27 of that passage: “so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.” He is speaking of Christ with His Bride, the Church!

            Christ loved His Bride so much that He gave His life for her. He “reconciled [her] in his body of flesh by His death” so that He could be with the Church for all eternity. That is better than a knot-headed Mississippi boy hoping to marry above himself; that’s God in love stooping to our level to pick us up, dust us off, and save us.

            God showed “His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). He meets us where we are as lost sinners and offers – through the gospel in the Word of God – an opportunity for salvation. When people respond to the gospel with faith in Christ alone, the Bible says that they are born again. The change of status occurs.

            This next part is key to our understanding of this: “if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you have heard…”. This gives me a lump in my throat and a knot in the pit of my stomach. I would like to say that I never have any doubts. I wish I had a track record that gives me peace of mind. Folks, if I look to myself in this, I am hopeless – and rightfully so! But this is not meant to be a discouragement. Rather, it is meant to be an encouragement. Track with me here.

            If we truly stand upon the “hope of the gospel that [we] have heard”, if we have been saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus alone – if we have been born again, we will continue in the faith because our salvation is not in our hands but in Christ’s. I know a lot of people want to leave salvation up to us, but let us look at a few verses to place our hope in His hands:

• John 10:28-30 – “…I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
• Romans 8:38-39 – For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all of creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 1 Peter 1:3-5 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The “hope of the gospel” is real, genuine hope – desiring something good with the expectation of getting it – in something more than we can accomplish. Forget Allstate, you are in God’s hands.

            I would like to close with an extension of my earlier illustration. I first laid eyes on Candice in July 2001. As powerful a moment as that was, my status remained the same until June 17, 2006. Somewhere around two o’clock in the afternoon, I saw her more beautiful than I could imagine when the back doors of the church opened revealing her in her wedding dress. Shortly thereafter, I became her husband, a status I am glad to hold. I was no longer just a foolish boy pursuing a girl. Candice now has a foolish husband.

            I am not trying to be overly sappy. I want you to know that God looks at His Bride better and with more affection than I am capable of showing mine. God died AND lives for His Bride. And there will be a day when we can echo the words of the song:

“When we arrive on eternity’s shore | when death is just a memory and tears are no more | We’ll enter in as the wedding bells ring | Your Bride will come together, and we’ll sing….”[1]

I plead with you: if you are not reconciled to Christ, you can be. If you are and you have forgotten how sweet it is, repent and find peace and joy in the love of your Savior.

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[1] Phil Whickham, “Messiah/You’re Beautiful”

Colossians 1:15-23 —

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

²¹ And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, ²² He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.

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            We are continuing in our journey through Colossians 1:15-23 this week, and I could not be more excited! This Christ-exalting hymn is packed full of opportunities to know King Jesus more fully. And, as we looked at last week, He is a personal God who gives us opportunity to know Him and be known by Him.

            It is my prayer that, through looking at these verses, you have a desire to draw nearer to Christ. I do not know about you, but I will never have the opportunity to enter into the court of a king here on Earth. I have as much chance being invited to tea with the queen at Buckingham Palace as I do conversing in the Oval Office. But that does not matter, because there are things more important than this world, and the King of kings and Lord of presidents has bought me and made me His own.

            That is where our focus is going to shift today, from focusing on His personal nature to that of Him being Lord – specifically, preeminent. Let us begin unpacking verses 15-18 to get a clearer picture.

            Verse 15 begins with our discussion from last week with Christ being the “image (icon) of the invisible God”; we’re going to look at the end of the verse today: “the firstborn of all creation”. This focuses on the rank and status of a firstborn son. In the ancient Near East, the firstborn son was above any of his other siblings. He would inherit all the power from his father. Here, we see that Jesus has the rank and status of His Father over their Creation. Jesus, “whose coming forth is from old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2), is preeminent over all Creation.

            Verse 16 says: “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him.” Jesus, being God, is Creator. He existed before Creation and will still exist when all these things pass away. He is “the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). John 1:3 tells us that “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” He is Lord of Creation. Nothing that we know – including ourselves – would exist if it was not for Jesus. Yet He set His affections on us!

            Often, we look at Creation and have a very children’s-story-Bible view of it; we often see it as God doing some stuff in a garden thousands of years ago and letting things work out on their own. But it is more than a story; it is our existence!  Look at the part of verse 16 where it says, “whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities”. Jesus’ preeminence in Creation is not limited to Genesis 1-2; He is working in the here and now as well. Right now, Satan thinks he is winning the cosmic battle between him and King Jesus. So many things seem to be going his way. Look at the words of the hymn “A Mighty Fortress is Our God”: “The Prince of Darkness grim, We tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, For, lo, his doom is sure, One little word will fell him.” “One little word” is key to our understanding of Christ’s preeminence in creation. Let us look at verse 17 to understand.

            Verse 17 says, “And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” The first part of that verse continues the repeating of Christ’s being preeminent. Focus in on the second part: “in Him all things hold together”. Think back to creation (Genesis 1:1-3). God was there “in the beginning” and the Spirit of God “hovered over the face of the deep”, but what about the Son? Genesis 1:3 begins with “And God said…”. The Word of God (John 1:1-14). Here is where we see Jesus in Creation and how we understand verse 17! His very presence – the presence of the Word of God – is how everything, even today, is held together. Hebrews 1:3 says, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.” So, I say it again, Jesus is preeminent in Creation. He is preeminent because He is the Creator.

            In the first part of verse 18, we see a shift in the language. Paul starts this passage looking at Christ as the supreme and sovereign Creator of everything. He then begins to look at the creation of the universe. His focus begins to zoom inward past all creation to the earth and, ultimately, to His Church – the Bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-33). “And He is the head of the body, the church.”

            Too often, we confuse the Church with bricks and mortar, steeples and pews. But the Church is the redeemed of Christ, world-wide, throughout history, and even locally. Our focus needs to shift to understand our Christ more fully: “…the church [is] a living organism, inseparably tied together by the living Christ.”[1] To say that Christ is the “head of the body” is to say that He is Lord. Just as our physical bodies cannot continue without our heads, the Church is nothing without her head. He drives all functioning and sustains all life – He is the Life (John 14:6)!

            How does it accomplish all this? Because “He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent” (v. 18b). His death secured His preeminence! Philippians 2:8-11 says,

“And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the Name that is above every name, so that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

Without His death, we would never have Life.

Look at verse 20 for what this means for us: “…and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.” This is where it becomes less of a study of Bible verses and intersects with our lives.

            That word “reconcile” changes everything for us. You see, at the end of the day, words like Lord and preeminent are just words if they do not have an impact on our lives. The word “reconcile” here could be translate as “change”. But what changed? Obviously, Jesus – being God – does not change. What changes is our status with Him.

            Our sin makes us an enemy of the sovereign God of the Universe (Romans 5:6-11). Without reconciliation, we remain in that sin. So, “For our sake, [God] made [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He gave His only Son (John 3:16) to make a Way for us – to reconcile our sin and bring us into His family. How can we have this reconciliation? We bow the knee. We submit to Him as Lord. It is more than just words; it is done with one’s life.

            There is reconciliation to be had, my friend. If you have not submitted to Christ, His word is very clear on how this can be done. Romans 10:9 says, “…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Saved and reconciled are one and the same. All you have to do is call out to Him as in Romans 10:9, and the Bible says that you will be saved; in fact, “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). If you would like someone to talk to about this, I would love to talk with you.

            Maybe you are reading this and have been saved, but you feel like the trajectory of your life has shifted. Times like we find ourselves in have effects on our lives. Know this: Christ is Lord over this as well. None of the happenings have surprised Him, and He is still on His throne! Turn to Him and call out to Him. He is sure to be found on our knees and in His Word. May you find “times of refreshing [that] come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:20).

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[1] John MacArthur. The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Colossians and Philemon. 51