Creation and the Gospel

Recently I was supposed to preach at a local juvenile detention center. Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances involving a fire alarm and multiple Sham Wow's our group wasn't able to go inside and talk to the young men and women. However, my preparation left an impression on me that I would like to share with you.

Every time I get the opportunity to preach the gospel I feel the weight of a new truth that I should try to press on the lost person. This time was no different. For the greater part of this year I have been thinking about the importance of God's role as Creator and how that should play a big role in my presentation of the gospel. It flies in the face of the secular worldview to tell a person that they must do anything in order to please someone they have never seen.

My intention last Friday was to go to one of my favorite passages- especially lately- Colossians 1:15-17, 19-20:

[The Son] 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...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.

It is one thing to tell a person that they were created by intelligent design, therefore they should believe in a god, and while they're at it they might as well go for Christianity. It is quite another thing to tell that person that Jesus Christ created them with a purpose for himself. It doesn't matter if you think you are a great person or the lowest of the low, if the rulers and authorities (demons) were created for Christ, you are no worse than they.

This is what is so offensive to a Christopher Hitchens or Richard Dawkins. This is the truth they want to suppress. If they were created with a purpose, rather than haphazardly, they have no rights over their own life, whatever they do that is not for Christ is rebellion against him and fully deserving of the appropriate response for cosmic treason.

But this passage doesn't stop there! It doesn't only tell us that we were created for Christ, allowing us to realize how far short we have fallen, it also tells us how this is accomplished despite our rebellion. Verse 20 tells us that Christ reconciled all things through his death on the cross. This is how rebellious sinners become the adopted children of God. This is where all things find their purpose, including those who are infinitely and eternally evil, never to find repentance. They find their purpose in being shamed by the cross (Colossians 2:14-15).

This is a wonderful passage for reflecting on the gospel and sharing it to those who don't know Christ. I encourage you to give it a read today and thank Christ for creating, redeeming, and ultimitely restoring you. If you don't yet believe in him I plead with you to trust in the only Savior of the world.

Grace and Peace,
Stephen