The Universal Adhesive

The Universal Adhesive Col. 1:17

INTRO.: When the driver of a huge trailer truck lost control of his rig, he plowed into an empty toll booth and smashed it to pieces. He climbed down from the wreckage and within a matter of minutes; a truck pulled up and discharged a crew of workers.

The men picked up each broken piece of the former tollbooth and spread some kind of creamy substance on it. Then they began fitting the pieces together. In less than a half hour, they had the entire tollbooth reconstructed and looking good as new.

"Astonishing!" the truck driver said to the crew chief. "What was the white stuff you used to get all the pieces together?"

The crew chief said, "Oh, that was tollgate booth paste."

What a wonderful adhesive. In fact there are a lot of fine adhesives in this world: Super Glue, JB Weld, Silicon Sealer, Gorilla Glue, etc.

Our text reveals the most powerful adhesive of all time. “In Him all things hold together.”

I. Christ holds all things together in the physical realm:

A. He was the agent of creation: John 1:1-3 & Col. 1:16

1. ILLUS.: Like the Mississippi flows outward and expands from Lake Itasca, all creation flows from Jesus.

2. He is the Word by which God spoke the universe into existence.

3. From the tiniest microbe to the farthest star, He is the Creator.

4. Created for Him. The universe is “His.”

5. ILLUS.: Our son brought a puppy home. We let him keep it with the understanding it would be his dog. He would feed, bathe, and care for it. He enjoyed it. In the same sense, the universe is Jesus’

B. He is also the sustainer of all things. Heb. 1:3

1. What we call “natural laws” are divine laws. They are products of His mind.

2. Everything from the circulation of your blood to the movements of the stars continue at His word.

3. All of life’s constants depend on His constancy. Without it, there could be no math, science, or medicine. We depend on things always behaving the way He decreed from the beginning.

C. The miracles we wonder at were as nothing to Him.

1. Feeding 5000 people: surely the Creator of the universe could create a little bread. John 6:1-14

2. Turning water into wine. A simple matter for the One Who created water and the grape.

3. Stilling the stormy sea. Easy for the One Who sustains all things by the power of His Word.

II. Christ holds all things together in the spiritual realm: Col. 1:18-20

A. He reconciled all things to God. 20

1. A very comprehensive list: everything seen and unseen in heaven and earth.

2. God initiated the process of reconciliation. He has always loved us and always will.

3. God loves us so much He sent His Son to reconcile us through His blood on the cross.

4. He is the “glue that binds us to God.”

B. All God’s fulness dwells in Him. 19

1. He is the image of the invisible God.

2. In this day of 3-D cinema and streaming video, this takes on a whole new meaning.

3. Even in this context, He is more than we can imagine. All the fullness of God is in Him. He is everything we need to see or hear about God.

C. He is head over all things in the Church. V. 18

1. By virtue of His resurrection. 18

2. The resurrection gives Him this authority because it verifies all His teaching and validates all His claims.

3. When we abandon His headship, we no longer have a Church. We have a headless corpse.

III. Christ can hold all things together in your life and home.

A. If we put our trust in Him and make Him the center.

1. He can be a unifying figure in your life.

2. So many live without any purpose in life. That’s why their lives are so fragmented and frustrated.

3. Our goal in life is to become like Jesus and glorify our Heavenly Father.

B. He cares about you and your welfare:

1. He raised a widow’s son. He healed Peter’s Mother-in-law. Brought forgiveness to Zaccheaus.

2. Can we imagine One Who holds the universe together not being able to meet our needs?

C. How to access His power:

1. Through prayer. Take our problems to Him.

2. Through Bible study, learn what He is like and know what God is like.

3. Christ works through His Body, the Church today. Become part of it to discover what He can do.

CONC.: In the story of the raising of Lazarus in John 11, Jesus comes upon a scene of brokenness and mourning. Wailing and confusion are everywhere. They even seemed to want to blame Him for their troubles. “Lord, if only You had been here . . .” Terrible distress and confusion prevailed.