Icebreaker
Kent said we're “not much better off than Coco the gorilla trying to describe an earthquake” when we try to describe who Jesus is. Does that stretch you or discourage you? Where have you felt the gap between how big Jesus is and how small your words for him feel?
Read Together
Colossians 1:15-23 (ESV)
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.
Discussion
1
Verse 15 calls Jesus the “image” — the icon, the exact incarnation — of the invisible God. Kent said, “people wondered for centuries what God is like; God's answer was, look at Jesus.” If someone asked you this week “what is God actually like?”, what would you want to point them to in Jesus?
2
“Firstborn of all creation” doesn't mean Jesus was made — it means first in honor and glory; he is the agent of creation, uncreated and eternal. Why does it matter that Jesus isn't a creature or an “echo” of God, but God himself? What changes if he's merely the first good thing rather than the Lord over all things?
3
In verse 16 even the thrones, powers, and angels are created through him and for him. Kent quoted Kuyper: “there is not one molecule in the universe over which Jesus does not cry, Mine.” Is there a corner of your life — a habit, a relationship, a worry — you've quietly kept off-limits from that claim?
4
Verse 17 says “in him all things hold together.” Kent walked through the fine-tuning of the universe — Earth's tilt, the moon, the rate of expansion — and said order versus chaos is finally a faith choice: “I've planted my flag on the side of faith.” Where do you most need to trust that Christ is holding things together right now, even when it feels like chaos?
5
Verses 21–22: we were “alienated and hostile,” and he reconciled us by his death. Kent said, “the one who breathed the world into existence one day also breathed his last on a Roman cross so that we might be saved.” Sit with that sentence. What does it stir in you that the Lord over all things chose the cross for you?
6
Kent said we can come to God broken, crushed, guilty, ashamed — any way except dishonestly — because “his grace is greater than your sin.” Where are you tempted to clean yourself up or play games with God before you'll come to him? How can this group be a place where people come honest — not fixed, not lectured, just welcomed to Christ?