Getting Together Over the Foundational Truth
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
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.
And 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, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,
and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
Repetitive prayer is a thing. In the early church, they didn’t have podcasts or the internet or even a printing press to spread the teachings and news about Jesus and other Christians. At the same time, the culture was a lot like current Middle Eastern culture in that education depended on memorization over developing new ideas about what was taught. There would be plenty of time for innovation as you grew old and wise in what you had memorized, basically.
This section of this letter might have been one of those types of things. Something to memorize so that we would more easily codify and unify our beliefs as Christians. You don’t have to spend much time on Facebook or at Denny’s to hear some wild and divergent beliefs that all still fall under the heading of Christian. Even today on Halloween you can get an earful of different ideas that are all justified by various scriptures.
So what if for a few days we came together over what all Christians can agree on and build a foundation upon. Read through this passage a few times. Write it out on post-its and look at it over and over at the office.
Bret focused on 4 factors on Sunday:
- Claims
- Reasons
- Implications
- Actions
Only think about the first 2 today.
What are the claims in this first section?
What are the reasons? Not just reasons that it is true, but why would God do that? What are God’s reasons?
Let’s join together in that today, and you already know what we’re going to do tomorrow.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
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.
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
—
You can get the Daily Bible Readings to your inbox via email every day by subscribing here. Join the discussion online on Facebook or Twitter.