The Supremacy of Christ
Tony Nester
Colossians 1:15-20
How big is your Jesus?
Back in 1952 an Englishman by the name of J. B. Phillips wrote a little book that's still being widely read. The title was "Your God Is Too Small". J. B. Phillips said people everywhere tend to shrink down their concept of God to the size of their own ideas and feelings.
Thinking along the same lines, Don McCollough recently wrote a book called "The Trivialization of God". People have created, he says,
• "The God of my cause,
• the God of my understanding,
• the God of my experience,
• the God of my comfort,
• the God of my success,
• the God of my nation."
McCullough writes, "Any god who fits the contours of me will never really transcend me, never really be God [with a capital G]. And any god who doesn't kick the bars out of the prison of my perceptions will be nothing but a trivial god."
We all know that today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. But some of you also know that according to a different calendar, the calendar known as the Church Year, this is Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King Sunday is when the Church Year asks us,
• "Is your God too small?"
• "Have you trivialized God?"
• "How big is your Jesus?"
There's a statue of Christ in Brazil that some of you know about. It's called "Christ the Redeemer" and looks out over the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Take a look. (Photo shown on screen)
The statue stands 120 ft tall, weighs 700 tons and sits on the peak of a mountain at 2300 feet. It's the tallest statute of its kind in the world.
Now why would anyone create a statue like that? Why such a big Jesus? It's because most of us need a larger Christ than the little Christ that we've constructed out of our own idea, emotions, biases, and desires.
Our modern tendency is to cut Jesus down to our size in order to make him seem relevant, accessible, and inviting. This is the Jesus who is our pal, our buddy.
...
Tony Nester
Colossians 1:15-20
How big is your Jesus?
Back in 1952 an Englishman by the name of J. B. Phillips wrote a little book that's still being widely read. The title was "Your God Is Too Small". J. B. Phillips said people everywhere tend to shrink down their concept of God to the size of their own ideas and feelings.
Thinking along the same lines, Don McCollough recently wrote a book called "The Trivialization of God". People have created, he says,
• "The God of my cause,
• the God of my understanding,
• the God of my experience,
• the God of my comfort,
• the God of my success,
• the God of my nation."
McCullough writes, "Any god who fits the contours of me will never really transcend me, never really be God [with a capital G]. And any god who doesn't kick the bars out of the prison of my perceptions will be nothing but a trivial god."
We all know that today is the Sunday before Thanksgiving. But some of you also know that according to a different calendar, the calendar known as the Church Year, this is Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King Sunday is when the Church Year asks us,
• "Is your God too small?"
• "Have you trivialized God?"
• "How big is your Jesus?"
There's a statue of Christ in Brazil that some of you know about. It's called "Christ the Redeemer" and looks out over the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Take a look. (Photo shown on screen)
The statue stands 120 ft tall, weighs 700 tons and sits on the peak of a mountain at 2300 feet. It's the tallest statute of its kind in the world.
Now why would anyone create a statue like that? Why such a big Jesus? It's because most of us need a larger Christ than the little Christ that we've constructed out of our own idea, emotions, biases, and desires.
Our modern tendency is to cut Jesus down to our size in order to make him seem relevant, accessible, and inviting. This is the Jesus who is our pal, our buddy.
...
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