Who Is Jesus? Series

Who Is Jesus?

CCCAG, March 5th, 2023

Scripture: Colossians 1:15-27

How many people here have ever flown in a commercial airliner?

Either the small propeller planes or the huge jumbo jets?

Do you pay attention to the Flight Attendant as they give their safety briefing, or do you already have your headphones and listening to music?

Well today, I want you think of this message as that safety briefing- what to do if the plane starts going down.

In fact, let’s a pretend for a moment that we are on a smaller plane flying in Colorado- you and 10 other people. You’re looking out the window, and are amazed looking down at the mountain peaks as you pass through the occasional cloud. You’re focused so much on looking around that you have gotten so used to the sound of the engines, that you don’t even notice the low hum sound they make.

That is, until suddenly you can’t hear it anymore.

All the sudden, the pilot comes over the PA system asking everyone to take their seats and fasten their safety belts. There is a mechanical issue that they are working through, but don’t worry, the crew is well trained and they will get the engines running again in no time, and they have plenty of altitude, and they are gliding well, and it will be a bit before this becomes a real danger.

You’re kind of tense now. You hear a high pitched noise coming out of the engines as they try over and over again to restart them without success. After about 5 minutes of this, the pilot comes back on the PA-

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we regret to inform you that we have actually run out of fuel and our gauges were not showing this.

We cannot turn the engines on, and due to our rate of descent, we have no chance at reaching an airport and since we are in the mountains, there is not a long enough or flat enough area or body of water for us to attempt an emergency landing.

However, I’m happy to inform you that we have parachutes for everyone on board. We are currently circling a fairly level plateau, and although we can’t land on it with the airplane, it would be a great place to land with a parachute. In about 10 minutes will have reduced enough airspeed to have everyone parachute onto the plateau where emergency services are enroute to take care of you.”

You immediately start thinking, “Wow, I wish I had paid more attention to the flight attendant at the beginning of the flight…even though I don’t recall them ever talking about a parachute”

Not to worry, the flight attendant hands you a parachute with an instruction card on how to wear it and use it. She tells you- It’s very simple, step into the loops, put the shoulder straps on, chest strap, and tighten everything until your voice changes. When you jump, it will open automatically when you reach a certain fall rate or altitude. If not, look down and left, and with your right hand pull hard on the red handle and your parachute will open.

She moves on to explain it quickly to the next row of people.

Now, you have this heavy container in your lap. It is the only thing that can save you from the coming crash.

In that moment, would you wish you knew more about parachuting?

Do you wish you would have paid more attention during the safety briefing.

Would you want a few extra minutes just to watch a few videos, or read up on how this thing works, how to use it, how to land, how to steer it.

After all, this device is supposed to save your life, and you know very little about it other than what you have seen on TV or in a movie.

In this life we live, we are all heading toward various mountains so to speak. Some of these mountains might be sickness, some might be relationship problems, job losses, war, famine. Couple that with the fact barring the rapture, none of us will get out life alive.

But I have some good news today. Even if our plane seems to be going down, God gave us a parachute.

His name is Jesus.

Now prior to today, you may have not paid attention to the safety briefings we called sermons. You may have tuned out or chosen not to think about what might happen if your life looks like it’s about to crash.

Listen, we are living in very chaotic times. There are dangers everywhere, and we want to make sure that if God calls us to jump into our next life, that we do so being very intimately acquainted with the thing that will ensure our soft landing into heaven.