Colossians 1:15
If I were to ask you what you know about God or what you think He is like what would you say?
Perhaps you would think of religious paintings you have seen where God has been depicted as an old bearded man on a throne, or in clouds surrounded by light and angelic figures.
Or you may think back to learning of God's Ten Commandments and having the sense that God is to be feared and will punish you if you tell a lie or steal something.
Or perhaps you would simply answer me, "There is no God. I don't believe he exists".
What would you say?
Do you know anything of God from your life?
Well today I would like to:
- Share a little story of a recent event in my life;
- Tell you how this related to a Bible verse I had been reading;
And then next time:
- Look at one event in the life of Jesus Christ, God's Son, and pick out what it tells us about God the Father .
One recent afternoon our doorbell rang unexpectedly. As I approached the door I could see the orange of a fluorescent jacket, blurred through the frosted glass.
On opening the door I was surprised to see an Amazon delivery driver - I hadn't ordered anything which was due to arrive that day. As he off-loaded a rectangular box into my arms I was equally surprised at how heavy it was.
For a few clumsy seconds the delivery man tried to take his photo for proof of delivery whilst I was carefully shifting the box around and angling the address label into view - I wanted to check it was for us and not the neighbour.
And yes, there it was - my name and my address and some writing about a cast iron bread pot.
A bit taken aback I brought it indoors and started slowly undoing it whilst my suspicions grew.
It was a beautiful enamel cast iron bread pot and I was 99% sure who had sent it and why.
The love, the kindness, the generosity and the thoughtfulness of the senders brought me to tears - I felt so undeserving of such a gift - whilst acknowledging the love of my Heavenly Father over it all too.
After checking with my husband just in case he had sent it I immediately tried calling those who I suspected had sent it.
No answer.
Eventually I had a response to my messages of thanks, that it was a 'just because' gift.
It wasn't my birthday, Christmas, or a time of celebration. It was 'just because' they had seen a need and they were prompted by love to respond to it.
But why am I telling you this today and what has this got to do with our title, 'How Jesus Shows Us What God Is Really Like'?
Let me take you back a few hours earlier:
2. The image of God
I have recently been picking up my Bible at my morning coffee time and very slowly reading one verse at a time.
A few days earlier and then again on this day I was so drawn to the words in Colossians 1:15, 'Who is the image of the invisible God...'. The verse is referring back to Jesus, God's 'dear Son' referred to in verse 13.
I just kept re-reading these words and thinking about the wonder of it. I could hardly comprehend it and I can hardly express my thoughts now but Strong's concordance helps - it tells us that this word 'image' always refers to a 'prototype' from which it is drawn and resembles. It contains the idea of 'representation' and 'manifestation'.
So this verse in Colossians is saying that Jesus is essentially and absolutely the perfect visible expression and representation of the invisible Archetype, God the Father, to us created beings (because Jesus IS God).
Everything we see and read in the character and behaviour of Jesus the Son of God, is showing us what God the Father is like.
Jesus Himself says this when He says to His disciple, Philip,"...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me..." (John 13:9-11).
How wonderful that God gives us these glimpses and insights into who and what He is!
But this isn't all - Strong's also refers to the verse in Genesis where we read that WE are made in the image of God.
'So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them' (Genesis 1:27).
Strong's outlines how although we are sinners in God's sight we still have a likeness to our original - 'we still have God-like qualities, such as love of goodness and beauty'.
And here is the relevance to my cast iron bread pot story! In the love and kindness I saw in that gift I saw 'man made in the image of God'.
People behaving in a little way like their Creator.
It gave me a glimpse of the kindness and love in God.
And then I thought again of how Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God His Father, and how much more His perfect life of sacrificial love shows us what God is like.
You may feel that you don't know God very well, He may seem very far off. But perhaps the next time somebody does something good or kind towards you, you may be reminded that they are showing you a little example of what God is like.
For as Jesus said to His disciples when encouraging them to ask God for 'good things',
"what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father in heaven give good things to them that ask him" (Matthew 7:9-11).
Next time, Lord Willing, we will continue these thoughts by looking at the time Jesus went to a wedding and performed a miracle - but His miraculous deed was not the only thing that shows us what God is like (or can do).
No, there was listening, compassion, answered prayer and Jehovah Jireh - the God who sees and provides. What loving-kindness!
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