On Friday, I gave a devotional for the Board of Trustees meeting at Erskine. I decided to talk about the supremacy of Christ in all things and how that glorious truth can motivate us in the task of Christian higher education. Below are the barebones of my notes, which I'm posting because as I spoke on this topic I was heavily convicted myself - for I realized that I, like the Pharisees of old, speak often of Christ but so often my heart and my actions are far, far from Him. Kyrie eleison!
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Goal: To briefly reflect on several aspects of the supremacy of Christ, and how they ought to motivate us in the task of Christian higher education.
Texts: Colossians 1:15-18; Colossians 2:6-10.
Colossians 1:15-18: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 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. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
Colossians 2:6-10: 6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.
Three aspects of Christ's supremacy:
1) The supremacy of Christ as the Creator of all things: 1:16, "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth...All things were created through Him and for Him." Therefore, Christ is the supreme Lord over all things - including our task of Christian higher education at Erskine! Cf. also Hebrews 2:10, "...for whom are all things and by whom are all things."
2) The supremacy of Christ as the Sustainer of all things: 1:17, "And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."
3) The supremacy of Christ as the Head and King of all things: 1:18, "And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence" (emphasis mine).
Three points of application for Christian higher education:
1) We can have a coherent understanding of reality!
We live in a postmodern age that is ever-more fragmented by its consumer-capitalism and individualism. Our consumer-capitalist culture teaches us that everything is relative to our own desires, that there is no truth, that there is no coherent story about the world. That is a lie, however: for everything holds together in Christ! Therefore, we really can gain understanding of our world through the practice of education.
2) We need to see everything in relation to Christ.
The task of Christian higher education is a redemptive task that is a part of walking in Christ and being built up in Him (2:6-7). Since Christ is the supreme and preeminent Creator, Sustainer, and Head over all things, we can only truly understand the world in relation to Him. The challenge of Scripture - to me as a student, to the Board of Trustees, and to the Faculty and Administration - is, are we seeking to honor Christ in all that we do? Are we seeking to see and do everything in relation to Him, in a way that glorifies Him as preeminent?
I would like to share a quote helpfully illustrating this; it comes from Nicholas Lash, a Roman Catholic theologian from Cambridge. Lash says that:
...to think as a Christian is to try to understand the stellar spaces,
the arrangements of micro-organisms and DNA molecules, the history of Tibet, the operation of economic markets, toothache, KIng Lear, the CIA, and grandma's cooking-or, as Aquinas put it, 'all things'-in relation to that uttering, utterance and enactment of god which they express and represent. To act as a Christian is to work with, to alter or, if need be, to endure all things in conformity with that
understanding.
["Nicholas Lash on the tasks of theology: Performing Scripture,"
Christian Century, December 11, 2007, Vol. 124, No. 25]
As the Psalmist writes in Psalm 119:105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." In the light of Christ and His Word, we can really and faithfully understand the world and live in a way glorifying to the supreme and preeminent Christ.
3) We can have a vision of Erskine as a community of faculty, administrators, and students that glorifies Christ in all things.
From the activities and decisions of the Board to the classroom to campus life to athletics to what I do as an individual student, how are we seeking to acknowledge the preeminence and sovereignty of Christ? How are we striving to honor Him in all and through all that we do? As the Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 10:31, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
Lastly, since as Christians we serve a Christ who is preeminent in all things as the Creator, Sustainer, and Head and King of all things, we can and ought to have a large vision for Erskine as a community that glorifies God in all things. We serve a cosmic Christ, and so we should have a large, Christ-honoring vision for Erskine.
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My own response to talking about Christ's supremacy was to be convicted as to how I fail to honor Him. I fail to think highly of Christ, to give Him the worship due Him. I am not in awe of Him as I ought to be. I do not have the heart of sacrificial love He calls me to have; and my actions frequently fail to bring glory to Him because of my failure to truly worship Him and to truly love others.
May our prayer ever be that the Lord would forgive us for these failures, and lift up our hears to truly worship and honor Him in all that we do, that we would think and love in the truthful, sacrificial, and worshipful ways He calls us to as Christians (Romans 12:1-2; Phi. 2:1-11; Col. 2:6-10; Col. 3).
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