Sermon on Colossians 1:15-23 - some notes

OK, my notes on Pastor Steve's sermon on Colossians 1:15-23 a couple of Sunday's back may seem sketchy to some readers. And it's most probably my fault (should have paid more attention & not let my mind be distracted by internal thoughts on other things).

But anyway, Pastor begin by saying that a lot of writers who claim to be Christian write materials which effectively say "Jesus, come follow me". A lot of people ask the question - Jesus, what can you do for me? It shouldn't be like that. It should be the other way round. The passage in Colossians is all about Jesus; Jesus is mentioned a dozen times. The invisible God, whom we cannot see, is made visible here. So, no longer can we ignore God & say He is not really relevant. He gave Jesus authority over this world, & we are to do what Jesus commands.

Jesus not only has authority over this world, He died to achieve salvation for this world. Pastor reminded us, & referring to the passage, that Jesus' death has paved the way for the world to change. Because He has achieved salvation for us believers, we are to live in line with that. We once rejected God & want to do things our way & marginalise or exclude God from our lives. But Jesus achieved salvation for us, & so reconciled us to God. Therefore, we are to continue in our faith.

Jesus Christ, Lord of creation, restorer of all things, Saviour of our lives. Since Jesus is all that, what then are we to do? As mentioned previously, we are to continue in our faith. We are to consistently attend church & not neglect meeting up altogether. Pastor then left us with a challenging question: What are we captivated by? Whatever it is we are captivated by shapes our lives. Pastor was basically saying that since Jesus has done so much for us, are we captivated by Him?

Reflection:

Am I captivated by Jesus? I'd say "yes" in the sense that I'm aware (from the Bible) of all the things that Jesus achieved while He was on earth, many of which only Jesus was capable of doing. Certainly in the case of His death & resurrection on the cross, only Jesus was capable of doing that, because He is the Son of God. So, from me, there is the awareness of all that Jesus has done & acceptance of who He is. Being surrounded by fellow believers at church & my Bible study group, I'm often reminded to focus on Jesus & what He has achieved on the cross. So yes, I am certainly captivated by Jesus.

But, in all honesty, at the same time, I'm also captivated by other things. I'm captivated by the things of this world. I watch football on TV & also clips on YouTube, & so am captivated by footballers, & their skills & all that. I'm captivated by materials I read on money, investments etc., & start thinking of what I can achieve in the future when my earnings go up & I start looking at various money making ventures/opportunities (e.g. share trading).

And, believe it or not, sometimes I'm captivated by my personal delusions of grandeur, of my perceived level of ability. I tell myself: "wow, look - I can do this, I have done that". And thump my chest & feel self satisfied.

I realise I should be more captivated by Jesus & less captivated on other things. Wow, it seems whenever I listen to sermons, I get reminded of the areas in my walk that I'm deficient in. I pray that God will help me overcome those spiritual deficiencies. But then again, I always talk like that. Remember DT, MTE talk by K Birchley - wisdom is more walk than talk. Or to modify for myself, wisdom is more walk than blog.