Where did your picture of God actually come from — and does it match the way Jesus treats people in the Gospels?

Image is not a word for resemblance here. The word Paul reaches for is eikon — the term we borrowed for icon — and it means an exact replica, the thing itself made visible. Slow down on invisible God. For most of human history He was the one no one could see, the question standing behind every religion. Paul answers it in five words: He is the image. Kent walked through that Greek on Sunday, and then reminded us Paul writes in Greek but thinks in Hebrew. A Jewish believer hearing image of the invisible God went straight to Genesis — the Spirit of God moving over the waters. A Greek convert heard the logos, the mind that holds the universe together. Both were asking the same old question, and Paul says the answer has a name. For centuries people guessed at what the force behind the world

What are you holding together by sheer force right now — and what would change if you believed Christ was already holding it?

Read the last line slowly: in him all things hold together. Not held together once, at creation, and then left to run on its own. Held together now, this second, by an active hand. The same phrase covers galaxies and the cells keeping you alive as you read. Paul stacks it high — thrones, rulers, authorities, everything visible and invisible — and sets one person underneath all of it. Kent called this the scandal of the gospel, and he was right that it still is. The claim is that a Jewish baby, born in a backwater town to a peasant couple, born into an occupied and despised people, is the one before all things. He quoted the commentator Derek Kidner: He speaks and it is done, He commands and it holds fast. That baby is the one who holds fast. This was offensive when Paul wrote it and it i

What have you been quietly adding to Jesus to feel truly accepted by God — and what would it mean to stop?

One short verse, and the weight sits on two words: all and fullness. Not part of God, not a strong sample of God, but all the fullness of God, pleased to dwell in Christ. There is nothing of God held back somewhere else, waiting to be reached through another door. If the whole fullness lives in Him, then Jesus is not the start of the answer that you finish. He is the answer. Kent was blunt on Sunday: it is not Jesus plus works, not Jesus plus the law, not Jesus plus anything. He quoted Henry Cloud's summary of the sermon we have all heard — God is good, you are bad, try harder. Paul was so serious about this that he opposed Peter to his face when Peter began adding rules back onto grace. Add nothing, Kent said. Nothing. Hear what this does not say. It is not a license to coast. Kent said

Name one ordinary part of your life — work, home, your phone — where Jesus is in the corner instead of the center. What would move Him in?

Paul uses a moving word: walk. As you received Christ, so walk in Him. Not admire Him, not visit Him on Sundays — walk, the plain business of ordinary days, one step after another. Then two pictures sit underneath it: rooted, like a tree drawing on what it cannot see, and built up, like a house rising course by course. Received once; walked out daily. Kent turned this into a checklist on Sunday, and one question cut deepest: what is there in your life that makes no sense if Jesus is not who He said He is? He admitted his own life would be a string of foolish decisions if it were not true. Then he pressed it into the ordinary — your marriage, your kids, your co-workers, and, since it was Labor Day, your job. He was careful to say this is not a fresh set of rules carried down from Sinai on

If the peace between you and God was already made at the cross, not earned by your week, what would you stop trying to prove?

Notice who does the work in this verse. Not us. Through Him God reconciles all things, making peace by the blood of His cross. Peace here is not a mood, and not a truce we broker by trying harder. It is made — past tense, finished, signed in blood. The distance between you and God was not closed by your climbing toward Him. He crossed it Himself, at the cost of the cross. Kent ended Sunday with one of the oldest sermons we have, from Melito of Sardis, and its shocking line: God has been murdered. But he did not stop there. He rose from the dead, Melito preached, and cried out, I am the one who destroyed death and triumphed over the enemy. I am the Christ. The blood that made peace belongs to a Savior who walked back out of the grave. This is where the whole series has been heading. For m

Paul calls Jesus "the image of the invisible God" — the Greek word eikon means an exact replica, not a resemblance. Before Sunday, where had your picture of God actually come from? Does the picture match the way Jesus treats people in the Gospels?

Kent Keller closes the Greater Than series on Colossians 1:15-20 — Christ is above everything, sufficient for everything, and the center of everything.

"In him all things hold together" — not held together once at creation, but actively, right now. What are you white-knuckling right now, terrified it will fall apart if you loosen your grip? What would change if you believed Christ was already holding it?

Kent Keller closes the Greater Than series on Colossians 1:15-20 — Christ is above everything, sufficient for everything, and the center of everything.

The Colossians were told Jesus was not quite enough — they needed to add something. Kent said: Jesus plus nothing. What do you tend to quietly add to Jesus to feel truly right with God — performance, discipline, a good streak?

Kent Keller closes the Greater Than series on Colossians 1:15-20 — Christ is above everything, sufficient for everything, and the center of everything.

Like on YouTube Subscribe on YouTube

Greater Than (Week 9)

Greater Than All · Resources

Colossians 1:15-20

Kent Keller Sunday, September 6, 2026

Watch & Listen

Summary

Kent Keller closes the Greater Than series on Colossians 1:15-20 with Paul's hymn to Christ, summed up in three claims: Jesus is above everything, sufficient for everything, and the center of everything. He works through the Greek — image (eikon), firstborn (prototokos) — insists the gospel is Jesus plus nothing, and ends with Melito of Sardis: God has been murdered, and rose again, making peace by the blood of His cross.

Sermon Outline

1

Greater than all ▶ 0:00

A pursuit video and a lion joke open the final week of the Greater Than series in Colossians — Paul's letter arguing Jesus is greater than everything.
2

One meaning, many summaries ▶ 6:14

Dr. Richard Pratt's rubric for reading the Bible: every passage has one original meaning, many legitimate summaries, and countless applications.
3

Christ is above everything ▶ 7:55

He is the image (eikon) of the invisible God and firstborn (prototokos) of creation — the exact replica of God, before all things, in whom all things hold together.
4

He is sufficient for everything ▶ 16:10

The fullness of God dwells in Christ, so nothing gets added to grace — not works, not baptism, not anything. Jesus plus nothing.
5

He is the center of everything ▶ 19:12

Center of time, history, and civilization — a Judean peasant who, as even Napoleon saw, has stretched His hands across the centuries.
6

Does your life make sense without Jesus? ▶ 25:29

Walk in Him: a checklist for work, marriage, and home — and a warning against living one life at church and another at home.
7

God has been murdered — and rose ▶ 31:33

Melito of Sardis' second-century Easter sermon: the Master profaned, God murdered, then risen — 'I am the Christ,' the peace made by the blood of the cross.

Key Points

Christ is the image (eikon) of the invisible God — the exact replica made visible, not a distant glimpse. Look at Jesus to know what God is like.
In Him all things hold together — a Jewish baby born in obscurity is the one before all things. That is the scandal of the gospel.
The fullness of God dwells in Christ, so He is sufficient for salvation, sanctification, and glory. It is Jesus plus nothing.
Jesus is the center of time, history, and civilization — He changed the world with no money, no army, and no political machine.
As you received Christ, so walk in Him: the danger is not open rebellion but living one life at church and a different one at home.
Peace was made by the blood of the cross — a peace nothing you do or fail to do can unmake.

Quotable Moments

“You want to know what God's like? Look at Jesus.” ▶ 11:10

“What are you going to add to the cross of Christ?” ▶ 18:18

“It's not Jesus plus anything. It's just Jesus.” ▶ 18:52

“I am the one who destroyed death and triumphed over the enemy. I, he says, am the Christ.” ▶ 32:40

Scripture

Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)

Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV) 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.

Discussion Questions

1
Where did your picture of God actually come from — and does it match the way Jesus treats people in the Gospels?
2
What are you white-knuckling right now, afraid it will fall apart if you loosen your grip? What changes if Christ is already holding it?
3
What do you tend to quietly add to Jesus to feel right with God — performance, discipline, a good streak?
4
Kent asked: what is there in your life that makes no sense if Jesus is not who He said He is? What is your honest answer?

Take It With You

Trade in the picture of God you built from fear or your worst week — Jesus is what God is actually like.
Stop adding to the cross to feel accepted; receive the grace that is already finished and rejoice in it.
Pick one ordinary room — your work, your phone, your home — and move Jesus from the corner to the center this week.
Live like the war is already over: the peace was made by the blood of the cross and cannot be lost on a bad day.

The study guide above (summary, outline, key points, quotes, questions) was generated from the sermon transcript with AI and reviewed by our team. Spot something off? Let us know.