In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, out into space. Attached to each one was a golden record, a disc loaded with images, music, and a message from Earth, sent into the cosmos in the hope of communicating with whatever might be out there.
Nearly fifty years later, those Voyagers are still going, somewhere between thirteen and sixteen billion miles away. Here is the beautiful part: the device inside is not just broadcasting Earth’s message outward. The cosmos is communicating back, in both directions, to this very day.
If Earth can place a message inside a small craft and have the cosmos answer, what do you think the Lord of the cosmos will do when he places his gospel message inside of you? The One who holds the universe together, who keeps the sun in its place and the earth at just the right distance so we do not burn up, has chosen to deposit his gospel truth inside of his people. That changes everything. But to see it, we first have to face a problem.
The Problem: A View of Jesus That’s Too Small
The problem is simple. We have a small view of Jesus.
This was the very thing happening in Colossae. It was a culture comfortable with many gods, and the temptation was to let Jesus be one of them. Sure, you can have Jesus, they said. Just set him on the shelf alongside the other deities we already worship. He was prominent to them, but he was not preeminent. He was important, but not supreme. One of the ways, rather than the way.
Paul will have none of it. He stops to brag on his Savior. “The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:15-17).
Jesus is not part of creation. He is before it. He brought into being what did not exist, not by reworking raw materials the way we do, but out of nothing. That means everything that exists is subject to him, and he never loses his authority over any of it.
So here is how you can tell you are holding a low view of Jesus. You believe he can save your soul, but you do not believe he can redeem your marriage. You believe he rescued you from darkness, but you do not believe he can build community around you or free you from the sin that keeps entangling you. We shrink him down to fit our box. The invitation this week is to stop.
Rescued and Transferred
Look at what this God has already done. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:13). Darkness once had a legal claim on you. He went into the darkest place you found yourself, pried that grip loose, and said, “That’s mine.” Then he did not leave you standing there. He transferred you into his Son’s kingdom, where renewal and healing and peace are yours.
And the text says he holds all things together. He has the endurance to sustain. Think of the strongest-man competitions, where powerful athletes hold pillars apart and the winner is whoever holds on the longest. Even the strongest man gives out after two or three minutes. That is exactly what we try to do with our lives. We tell ourselves we are smart enough, educated enough, experienced enough to hold it all together, all while our souls are quietly crumbling on the inside. You can fool everyone in the room, but you cannot fool the Creator of the world.
Here is the difference. He does not run out. If you have ever used the free version of an AI tool, you know the message that says you have reached your quota for the day, come back in twenty-four hours. We do not have a God like that. You never reach a quota with him. What you reach is him. So what are you holding in your hands right now that needs to be transferred into his?
The Solution: Reconciled and Presented Holy
He does not stop at naming the problem. He provides a solution, and the solution is the person of Jesus, who did what no one else would ever do.
He reconciled all things to himself, “making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Colossians 1:20). This is not a promise that everyone is automatically saved. It is the promise that he is a redemptive God who brings what is broken back into its rightful place, and that the peace he offers is the only peace that holds. Peace apart from him is counterfeit. It is temporary, and it fades, because the peace the world hands out has no power to sustain you. His peace endures because he himself holds all things together.
Then Paul turns to something humbling. “Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:21-22). He reminds you where you came from so you can see how far he reached. The lowest, darkest version of you is the one he looked at and claimed.
Picture a courtroom. The accuser stands up to read the whole list of what you have done and what you are still doing. The Judge asks if there is any further evidence, and the answer comes back: none was submitted. When the accuser protests, Jesus answers that he went through the tape and cleaned it up, because his blood covers a multitude of sins. Holy. Blameless. Free from accusation. That is the verdict over your life right now, not only in eternity.
The Response: Don’t Abandon the Gospel
So what is the response? Don’t abandon the gospel. “If you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel” (Colossians 1:23). Do not shift off of it.
You will be tempted to, because doing things on your own terms feels faster. If we are honest, Jesus is often a slow burner. We want him to move like a microwave or an air fryer, and instead he works like a crockpot. But anyone who knows a crockpot knows that when you let it sit and marinate, the result is worth it. Staying in the gospel means that even when the breakthrough has not come yet, over time you start to see him break barrier after barrier and strengthen you again and again.
And do not believe the lie that miracles are only burning-bush moments. The fact that you were on a trajectory away from God and he intercepted it is a miracle. The fact that you can face someone who deserves a piece of your mind and instead feel the Holy Spirit holding your tongue is a miracle, because that is heaven gripping your humanity so you can reflect Christ.
Suffering That’s Not About You
Staying in the gospel even reshapes how you carry pain. “Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24). Paul rejoices, and he suffers for them, plural, for the body of Christ.
That reframes the oldest question we ask in hardship. The honest cry is “Why me?” It is a real question, worth sitting with. But the gospel shifts the lens from “Why me?” to “Yes, me, and for you.” Have you considered that your suffering might be the very thing the glory of God shines through, so that when you meet a brother or sister walking the same road, you have something real to give them? Paul calls himself a servant, commissioned by God to present the word of God in its fullness. That is one of the greatest honors we are ever given. Do not lose it.
What’s in the Lunch Pail
Here is where it all lands. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The One who holds the cosmos together has placed his gospel inside of you.
So stop acting like the lunch pail and start acting like what is inside it. Think back to the cafeteria. Nobody ever leaned over to admire the bag itself, whether it was a fancy pail or a plain brown sack. What made other kids light up was what was packed inside. Too many of us spend our energy talking about the bag, our fears and insecurities and brokenness, while forgetting that the greatest message ever given was packed inside us, namely Jesus himself. Your imperfections are not the headline. Often they are the very thing that makes someone else exhale and say, “You struggle too? How did you get through it?”
And what is packed inside you was never meant to stay with you. A child once added extra food to their lunch, and when asked why, said it was not for them, it was for a friend who does not get to have much. That is the gospel. He gives you more than enough so that everyone around you can feast, and you never have to worry about it running out, because we serve a God who holds all things together.
Your Next Step
This message moves from a problem to a solution to a response, and the response is meant to be lived this week, not someday. Sit with these questions:
- What is the one thing you are still trying to hold together by yourself, and what would it take to finally transfer it into his hands?
- Where have you decided Jesus is big enough to save your soul but not big enough to touch a specific area of your life? Name that area.
- When you rehearse your story to the people around you this week, are you rehearsing your struggle, or the gospel?
- Who is the one person near you, tonight or tomorrow, who needs what is packed in your lunch pail?
Join the Journey This Sunday
Wherever you are with all of this, there is room for you here. Come with your questions, your wins, and the things you are still trying to hold together. You do not have to have it figured out to belong.
Experience Mosaic in person this Sunday at 10:00 AM. Come as you are, grab a coffee at the café, and discover what it means to follow the One who holds the cosmos together and still chose to place his gospel in you. We would love to meet you there.
