Grace and peace be to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Prayer: 
We offer you, O Lord, the troubles of this day.    
We lay down our burdens at your feet.   
Forgive us our sins,  
give us your peace and your healing,  
and help us to receive your Word.  
In the name of Christ.  Amen

Reading:              Colossians 1 verse 15 – 20

Paul had been told by Epaphras, the founder and leader of the church at Colossae, that the church has been influenced by some visiting preachers whose message was that the Gospel as presented by Paul and Epaphras was inadequate in some respects. We are not given the exact details of these heresies but only Paul’s answer to them.

After his greeting and prayer for the church Paul launches into one of the greatest creedal statements in the New Testament concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ. Some think that Paul was quoting an existing creed or even a song that the Colossians would have already been familiar with.

  1. Jesus Christ is supreme in creation

15:  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

16:  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

17:  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

The words, “You are just like your father”, are not always meant to be complementary but here we are clearly given the relationship between Jesus Christ and his Father God. Not only does he have the family relationship but being the firstborn, (not that Jesus was in anyway a created being, this idea is denied to us by what follows), he is the heir of all things as expressed in the first chapter of Hebrews.

1:  In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,

2:  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Jesus is supreme in creation. We remember the first verses of John’s Gospel,

1:  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2:  He was with God in the beginning.

3:  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.

The emphasis is on “all things” material and spiritual. This opposes any idea of a division between spiritual and secular because all things were created by Christ and he claims them for himself, and in his supremacy he maintains the relationships of all things. It was the sinfulness and disobedience of people that brought crashing discord into the harmony of creation, separating God from people. A situation that only God could put right.

  • Jesus Christ is supreme head of the church

18:  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.

Jesus Christ as supreme head over the created order is now acclaimed as head of the church, God’s new creation. In 2 Corinthians we read,

17:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

The incarnated Jesus was the first to conquer death and by our faith in him we share the risen life of Christ. We were once dead in our sins but now through our faith in the saving blood of Jesus we are part of a new creation order. We, the church, are not a minor sect quietly going our own way, but we are the new creation and heirs with Christ who eventually will inherit the whole earth under our supreme leader, Jesus Christ. Paul in his letter to the Romans chapter 8:

 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

  • Jesus Christ is the supreme sacrifice for our sins

19:  For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,

20:  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.

Jesus being supreme in both the original and the new creation and being the only Son and heir of his Father God, endowed with the fullness of his Father, became a man to be the only perfect human to stand before God and give his life for his creation, “a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world”.

The climax of this hymn leads us to the blood of Christ shed for us on the cross of Calvary. That ultimate act of reconciliation, destroying the barrier of sin and making it possible for us to become born again into the family of God.

It is believed that the Colossians had been led astray and were accepting teachings that denied the absolute supremacy of Jesus, and Paul in this great song reminds them of the Gospel they first heard and believed that Jesus Christ died on the cross for their sins, he rose again, ascended to heaven and is seated on the right hand of God in Glory. By the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit he lives in the hearts of all believers giving them the sure hope of eternal life.

As Christians our focus should always be on Jesus as the writer of the letter to the Hebrews writes:

2:  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Given the absolute power given to Jesus by his Father God making him supreme over all creation and the church, and his once and for all sacrifice on the cross reconciling us to God,  why would we as his followers need to turn anywhere else? Why would we need to add anything or anyone else to our prayers and worship? We should always heartily sing:

In Christ alone my hope is found,  
He is my light, my strength, my song;  
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,  
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.  
What heights of love, what depths of peace,  
What heights of love,  
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease! 
what depths of peace,  
My Comforter, my All in All,  
Here in the love of Christ I stand. 
A Prayer: 
Heavenly Father we thank you for your Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ who, by his death brought peace and reconciliation to your people. In these trying times help us to remember that there will be a time when we can all meet in the intimacy of your presence and in the Glory of your name. Amen
The Lord’s Prayer: 
Our Father in heaven, 
hallowed be your name your kingdom come,  
your will be done on earth as in heaven.  
Give us today our daily bread.  
Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen 
The Blessing: 
The God of all grace, 
who called us to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus,  
establish, strengthen and settle us in the faith.  
And the blessing of God almighty,  
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,  
be upon us and remain with us always.  Amen. 
Go in peace to love and serve the Lord 
In the name of Christ. Amen

Prayers for Sunday 24th May 2020

ACTS: Adoration; Confession; Thanksgiving; Supplication
A. O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness………… kneel & adore Him the Lord is His name. In this time of epidemic and lock-down, it is easy to forget that this wonderful world has been made by God and that we are part of it. He is worthy of our adoration and praise – in fact more than we can ever express.
We thank you, Lord, for all Your goodness to us – Your created world; daily revelations of Yourself in nature, the arts and the lives of people; Your word spoken to us in the Bible and through sermons, talks and Christian literature. May Your Spirit live in us helping us to serve you with gladness.
Lord, in Your presence we lift our hearts to You.

C. We bow down & confess…………..we bow down, we bow down.
We may not realise what affect our words and actions, however seemingly insignificant, may have on the lives of others or other parts of God’s creation – but they all do! So we bring to God those things we have done wrong, or just failed to do and lay them at the foot of the cross to ask for His forgiveness.
Lord God we need Your healing and forgiveness. Give us true repentance. Some sins are plain to us; some escape us; some we cannot seem to face. Please forgive us; set us free to hear and respond to Your word. Set us free to serve You.
Show us the way of life and help us to walk in it.

T. Give thanks with a grateful heart………………………give thanks.
Thanking someone is so easy – yet we often forget to do it. It’s also easy to thank the Lord – yet we often forget to do that too. For health and strength, for families and friends, for the fellowship at St C’s, for our mission partners. These are some of the things for which we should give thanks – and we can all add significantly to that list. Why not do so today?
Loving Lord, we remember now with gratitude those things for which we so often forget to give thanks. We thank you for our work as well as our leisure; for rain as well as sunshine;, for saving us from hidden or unknown dangers for the lessons we have learned in life’s ups and downs; for answered prayer even when it was not the answer we wanted or expected.; for Your overruling of our lives. We thank You Lord.
Both heaven and earth are full of God’s glory

S. Ask, ask, ask and it shall be given you………………..seek & you shall find.
So much to ask for; so much already given. This month we pray especially for Simon and Becky and their work at OM especially remembering the difficult situations they encounter resulting from Covid in the community in which they minister; for those on our prayer list in the Notices; for the health experts and government as they seek a way through the Covid 19 epidemic; for the future of St C’s both in terms of appointment of a minister and organisation post-Covid.

Most merciful God, at this difficult time, we look to You in hope and trust. There is much that is beyond our understanding. Wwe ask that you will give us compassion for those who are suffering and support for those who are working for their relief. Give wisdom to those who make decisions on our behalf and show us what we can do to support them in their task. We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want..
Merciful Father accept these prayers for the sake of your Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen


Category: Prayers , Sermons , The Bridge

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