On my wedding day I received a marriage certificate. It now has a rather non-glamorous place in our fireproof safe. I did not pursue marriage to gain this certificate; I desired to marry to become life partners with Sonya, to walk through life with her, to be her closest confidant, to love and be loved. When I married, I received Sonya, and she is a greater treasure today than on our wedding day.
The good news of the gospel is that we gain God, a relationship with God. This gospel is not chiefly about the “certificate” but about a relationship with a person who is the goal/ultimate reason for all things.
Consider the comprehensive terms Paul uses of Christ here in Colossians 1:15-20 (emphasis ours):
“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. 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. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
The Son is before all things, creates all things, sustains all things, and is the goal/ultimate reason for all things. All things.
So Jesus is inestimably great – so great that language strains to describe his supremacy. Yet, he is a person, one whom we can know, trust and adore.
He is the agent of creation and yet he invites us to cast all of our cares on him because he cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). He is the end of everything that was created and yet he knows our every weakness, sympathizing with us in our crippling moments of need (Heb 4:15). He existed before everything in radiant glory and yet women and men like us from all walks of life can draw near to be by his side.
In the shortest parable in the Bible Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven like this: “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field (Matthew 13:44).”
If one were to interview this man after he exchanged all that he owned for this field, and asked him, “How does it feel to lose everything?,” the man would be giddy in his response: “I got the treasure!”
The Scriptures not only present Jesus as great, and as a person, but also as an immensely valuable treasure. He who finds Christ will increasingly realize the great worth of him, to the point that what is found in other “treasures” will possess less and less bling.
The heart of the Christian message is that Jesus is breathtakingly great, a person to be treasured in his immeasurable worth.
If one gains Him, one gains everything. Nothing is more pertinent to the Christ-following faculty member struggling to navigate the occasionally foreboding waters of academe. And since Christ is ultimately great, we as faculty have a place of ultimate refuge, comfort, and hope. And since He is the One who created all, knows all and sustains all, we have no reason to sequester him from our academic inquiries and careers.
As Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, a treasure of immeasurable worth, He is ours and this reality shapes everything.
Rick Hove