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Politics, Power and Promises

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           People are currently divided, Not sure if you have noticed.  Many opinions are expressed and I do not intend to give mine here on political and leadership decisions.   What I do intend to do here is to help us see the bigger picture, the broader context into which we can helpfully place ourselves.  In doing so we can find some stability, hope and steadiness that keeps us from the twin perils of despair at what could happen and wrongly placed hope or idealism in the fallen world system. Listen to Colossians 1:15, 19-20:
 15  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation… 19  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20  and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  

            What would this have said to the Colossians in their context, during their first century world? The Colossians would have been looking to the Roman Empire for hope and stability. They would have looked to Ceasar, similar to the way we look to the next president and his cabinet to bring the same thing.  The Pax Romana  or Rome-wide peace was an alluring concept. Think of the promises made on presidential bumper stickers.  Ceasar would have been looked to as the Lord of this new world.  Ceasar was sure and confident and promised to provide hope. He was to be lord over all and a god-like figure divinely taking his seat on the throne.  The greatest empire of the world had its next leader.

            It is into this situation that God proclaims a different story.  Jesus is Lord, He is the image of the invisible God. He is the rightful ruler of all things.  What this world needs ultimately is a ruler from outside of the sinful condition that we find ourselves in. It is into this world Paul says waiting for the real ruler of the world is better.  More than all of the empty promises of a political pundit etched in temporary signs by the roadside, Jesus Christ is the only one who has the right, and character to rule and keep every promise God has ever made.

Think of how this false message of “Ceasar is Lord” would have been communicated. Before the internet and daily news, images of Ceasar would have been everywhere.  Coins, statues, heads carved in rock and clay tablets would have been sent everywhere to communicate “Ceasar is Lord over everything.”  His image, his imprint would have been sent to the farthest most reaches of the Roman empire.”  Those images make the invisible King visible. They say you can and should put your hope in him.  You should bank all your chips on him.  He’s the image you should have full confidence in, He’s the one whose reign is stable and supreme.

It is into this context that Paul writes, Jesus is the image of the invisible God. It is the image of Jesus that makes the invisible God visible. More than Ceasar you can and should put your hope in Jesus even though as of yet he has no physical throne.  You should bank all your chips on him.  He’s the image you should have full confidence in, He’s the one whose reign is stable and supreme.   God has given us an image of himself – His very own son to communicate his reign over all things. 

Think of this though. Though we know Jesus is the rightful ruler of all things how is the reign of God in and through Christ carried out now that Christ has left the world?  How? He imprints his image on us. Those who trust Christ as their savior are being transformed into the image of Christ. We as His image bearers are to communicate that rule and reign through first the depth of change in us.  Ceasar would have carved his image into statues and coins and sent them all over the world to the uttermost places in his kingdom to communicate his rule all over the world, that Ceasar is the rightful ruler of lives and countries and hearts. 

So God, renews us in the image of Christ, marking us as his image bearers, carving us into the image of Christ as we mature and grow in Christlikeness.  Imprinting Christ’s image upon us and sending us all over the world to the uttermost places in his kingdom to communicate his rule all over all things. To communicate that Jesus is the rightful ruler of lives and countries and hearts.  He is working to make all things new through us.  Our lives are to be a proclamation of Jesus as the king instead of other earthly leaders. They will never come through in everything we need, but Jesus always will. 

In Christ, My Only Hope, Pastor Steven


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