The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 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. 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 1:15-20
This is a powerful passage. You read this and can't help but worship God. It's very different from the passage about him washing the disciples' feet. Who he is and what he's done is painted so well in this part of the letter that it almost makes you feel like you'll never turn away from him. But we know that's not the case.
I scratch my head and wonder how Adam and Eve could have been deceived so easily and make that decision to disobey God, I mean they were literally made by him, they really knew him! And when I try to imagine it, I think it comes down to they took their eyes of what mattered most, they lost focus. And when I think about how they allowed that to happen, God quickly humbles me and shows me that I repeat that same scene over and over. Yes, they saw God in all his creating power and still disobeyed, but I got to experience him in all his redeeming love.
Each time I sin I get this anxiety that I've just taken a few steps back as a beloved son and now I have to work back up to where I was--almost like playing Shoots and Ladders, you're doing good climbing and skipping over spots that'll make you lose and then your next turn you fall, but not just one shoot, 3 levels worth. Thankfully, Jesus did a work on the cross that is beyond my understanding and I automatically am back at the top level and don't have to climb any extra ladders! But, regardless of that beautiful grace, I still feel like I gave something away.
Paul does so well dressing up Jesus with strength and authority and portrayed so supremely in the letter to this church he's never met that it makes you forget what he was really like. We read this and we sing songs about his might and heavenly glory that it slips our mind that he was abused and made to suffer. We know Jesus is the firstborn over all creation and in him all things hold together, but he was also the most human person to have ever lived. Jesus was more human than any of us. It's not only in him we see how a saint should live, but also how we can be a real citizen. You know that feeling when you have tiger blood and you're on a roll with knocking out things that need to be done (but don't want to do), that was Jesus' entire life. He never took his eyes off of what mattered, never lost focus. Jesus was able to experience the human form at it's purest and the awesome design God made; he was able to see what the image of God is like at its fullest. Because, he never gave it away.
This, of course, is not what happens to our fallen race, we do it give it away. When I'm looking at myself after I screwed up, though, I am forgiven and no longer condemned, I still can't help but wonder why would I worship anything else, why would I give up the Image of God and hand over this power to some other thing.
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Galatians 4:8â€-‬9
I become a decayed, disgusting corpse instead of the lively, flourishing person God had created us as and for that moment I helped lift up another god in the world.
We've heard that we are worshipful beings, we were made to worship and when we aren't giving that to God, then that goes to an idol, which is what perpetuates sin. The truth is we individually will worship other things, we will give up our humanness to be a zombie, again and again, but glory to God for the work that he's already done; so pretty much this post would be pointless, if I only talked about our individual sins since we will continue to do so.
But God in all his beautiful creativity and perfect design made us an army. He doesn't only want to make us saints, but citizens. And citizens are part of something bigger than just themselves. I still really struggle with this, but when I fall down those shoots I have to remember there's an entire church that is still climbing and when someone else from the church falls then there's still a bunch of us going and, even though I am very "me" focused, I can still get excited when I think about the church, with all its tiger blood, getting things done that need to get done.
God has us part of a huge community and as long as we are his sons and daughters then we are part of that family regardless of what we do. And our hearts should be for the progress of our people, not our own. So when I fall, I want to rejoice that there's still a bunch of us charging and while you're on a roll doing good, please pray for those that are down.
As I mentioned in "Citizen & Saints" part 1, even us an entire people-group can get distracted. And just like all the other times, it's because we take our eyes off of the full picture and place them only on some of the parts. We as the church have a hard time looking at Jesus as both God and human. Some churches focus too much on him being a man and their perception of the gospel gets a little shoddy. Others of us will focus too much on his omni's and forget how he not only forgave people's sins, but made friends with them. Like a lot of areas in the bible, we are not either Citizens or Saints, but both/and. Jesus Christ was the most involved person ever in a community. He healed, lifted up, and advocated more than we can read about (John 21:25), but it's easier for us as a whole to fix our eyes on one part of him, not the whole. But when that happens we as the church start to lose our humanness.
The army we're a part of is unstoppable when we remember to worship the powerful Jesus that Paul described, the same normal Jesus that washed feet and didn't want to go anywhere without his friends.