Christ Is The Head Of The Church

By Winston Ko

Introduction

The big Chinese characters in the vestibule read, "Christ is the head of the church." It is a very important reminder for us. It is particularly fitting in this year when our church's emphasis for growth and revival is in Church Life.

A great and rich chapter on church life is 1Cor 12. It speaks of the church as a body and we are all living parts of it; it speaks of unity and inter-dependency of the members; and it speaks of the law of mutual care and support in church life.

1Cor. 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.

1Cor. 12:26-27 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Similarly is Eph. 4:15-16. It not only speaks of the body but also Christ is the head of the body; it speaks of all the ministries and fellowships of the church are to join in unity; and it speaks of how we can grow and build on each other in love:

Eph. 4:15-16 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.

During this year when our church's planned emphasis of growth and revival is church life we will certainly have more in-depth studies of the body life. Today I will just concentrate on one part -- the head; "Christ is the head of the church." I am speaking today especially to the whole body. The whole church consists of different ministries and different fellowship groups being held together and under the same head.

Eph. 1: 22-23 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him (Christ) to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

A normal church -- and the corresponding church life -- should have the fullness of Christ filling everything in every way. Church should be where there is abundant life. How can that be accomplished? We see here that Christ must be the head of the church. The headship of Christ is indeed basic to the growth and maturity of the church and its church life.

To comprehend the headship of Christ, we will approach it from three perspectives -- the three attributes of the triune Godhead: God the Father, God the Son ans God the Spirit.

I. Submit to the will of God the Father

A head is where the thinking is done, where the planning is made, where the vision and the will lie. Therefore the first thing concerning headship is to discern God's will and to submit to it. It is apparent that without this understanding and without the willingness to follow God's will, declaring Christ to be the head of the church is merely empty rhetoric.

Let us take a look at a powerful passage that clearly describes the plan of God the Father:

Col. 1:16-20 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 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 and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

"All his fullness dwell in Christ" is the master plan of God the Father. It is his plan of creation. It is his plan for you and for me. This plan is simple in principle and intricate in detail. We, through the blood Jesus Christ shed for us on the cross, may have peace with God and share with him the fullness dwelled in Christ. The fullness of Christ should be our vision. The fullness of Christ should be the essence of church life. Without it, what is left is vanity. Let us share this master plan of God the Father that we may have fullness of Christ. In all church activities, always ask the "Christ content"!

In a few weeks Sunday lunch program sponsored by church life will start again. Sunday lunch preparation is a non-trivial operation. Yet there are labor of love and sweet fellowships during the preparation. These are the "Christ content."

Church life also coordinates a caring ministry in our church. Compassion to the poor, the weak, the suffering and the sick is to follow Jesus' steps. Matt. 14:14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. Although direct evangelical words might not have been spoken, witnessing by deed is often more effective. "Christ content" is surely manifested in the action.

Church life's involvement in the urgent bone-marrow donor drive could be this kind of action in love.Information will be made available by church life on how someone here might have a rare chance to save another person's life.

A life following Jesus' steps is blessed life. Mother Teresa passed on two days ago. She had such a clear vision of what God's purpose of her life that we see the fullness of Christ in her and her life is surely blessed. Fullness of Christ which God the Father has planed for the church is described in another powerful passage:

Col. 3:12 -14 Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

This vision of the fullness of Christ can subdue our ego that is surely the main obstacle for us to make Christ the head of our lives. This is the vision that makes what we do meaningful and blessed. This is the vision that can bind us in perfect unity in love.Understanding this master plan of God the Father makes it easier for us to submit to his plan for us and our church. How many times have we made decisions in church by using our reflex rather than through the central nervous system, i.e., the head? What is the difference? Reflex deals problem at hand. There is no plan and there is no vision. The purpose is often lost. A proper plan of the church must relate to the master plan of God the Father. To develop a proper plan that is connected to the head should also involve all members of the body.

II. Come near to God the Son

The head is where the central nervous system is. Therefore it is also the center of all feelings. It feels the pain of the members of the body. Christ feels our pain. He feels our sorrow. It has been well said that leaders should feel the pulse of the people they lead. Yet Christ is more:

Isa. 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel --which means, "God with us."

Phil. 2:5 -8 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!

Hebr. 4:14 -16 ... since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are --yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Perhaps it is the aspect of the head which has feeling that we husbands should read into Eph. 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. To be the head of our wives does not mean that we husbands are to sit on the shoulders of them, but rather we are to be sympathetic to their feelings.

Christ Jesus is sympathetic with our problems and our needs. He said: Matt. 11:28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." and John 14:6 "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

Bring everything to Jesus. Pray in the name of Jesus God the Son. This is the way we can build a personal relationship with God. A normal Christian life is measured by personal relationship with God. It is this relationship that can sustain us through our prosperity and through our adversity, through our happiness and through our sorrow, through our success and through our failure. Similarly it applies to church life. Surely this is the secret of a united church life -- that we can pray together and bring everything to Christ who is the head of the church. We pray individually. We pray in the fellowship groups. Yet the corporate prayer of the whole church corresponds to Christ being the head of the church. Tuesday night we have the whole church prayer meeting. We have to admit that in our Deacon Board meetings we have spent too much time discussing business and not enough time for prayer. Now we have scheduled the deacons to pray together at least once a month. Soon, all coworker in the church will also join to pray.

Bring our sorrow, our care -- the sorrow, the care of the members of the body to our head. Bring the problems and the difficulties in the church to Christ. Why? It is simply because he is the head of the church. Yes, let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

III. Unified by God the Spirit

The head also empowers actions, gives guidance and coordinates the body. Holy Spirit was explicitly promised by Jesus Christ. It came and empowered the church. John 14:25 -26 "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

God the Spirit gives us prompting to seek to know more about God, to reset our priorities, and to help others. He gives us spiritual gifts so that we can serve. Do not resist the Sprit and squander away the spiritual gifts. Listen carefully first for what the Holy Spirit is saying to us. To young people of the church I say: Your focus of serving might be your fellowship; do you care about the affairs of the united church? To all those who are not involved I can ensure you that there are much to do.

Apathy and complacency are devastating to church life. Revelation describes a latter-day church:

Rev. 3: 14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15..you are neither cold nor hot. 17You say, `I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 20Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.... 20He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

(The word "ruler" in Chinese translates to "head".) These are the words of the head of God's creation, the head of the church: Here I am. I stand in the door and knock. How sad a picture! The head of the church got locked out of it and is standing outside the door and knocks. Why? There was apathy and there was complacency. Apathy and complacency can prevent the fullness of Christ to fill our church life. How do we avoid apathy and complacency? We must humble ourselves and listen carefully to what the Spirit says to our church.

Humbling ourselves in the sight of God and allowing ourselves to be lead by the Holy Spirit is key to church unity.

Eph. 4:3-4 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit...

A sign of God the Spirit at work is that the urging should be universal because there is only one Holy Spirit. It is not the privilage of one or two people. We all say Amen when we sense the leading of the Spirit. Note that this is different from polling everyone's opinion. In fact the word Laodicea means "opinion of everyone." It is not the majority opinion that directs our church; rather, we are all taking part in church life and sensing the guidance of the same Spirit. We are to let the Holy spirit coordinate our church life.

For unity we must submit to each other. We must love and honor each other; respect what others are doing. This can happen only if we all recognize Christ as the head of our church who coordinates the body. For unity we must have orderliness. The church secretary has organized a calendar for the church. It tells us at any given time which activity has priority in using the time-slot for a given space. It is potentially a useful tool for orderly church life. Its potential can be realized only if we all cooperate and respect her work. I would encourage you to pay attention to it. I would also urge all ministries and fellowships to be sure of giving her your information.

The psalmist draws a beautiful picture in his description of church life unified in love. Holy Spirit, running down from the head to the body as we live together in unity:

Ps. 133:1-2 How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron's beard, down upon the collar of his robes.

Summary -- Trinity

We have seen how all three attributes of the triune Godhead play the role of head of the church. All three attributes are intimately related to our relationship with Christ as the head of the church.

We have seen that God the Father has a master plan for the creation and for us. It is a plan to give us the fullness of Christ. This plan needs to become the vision and plan of our church. We need to discern it and submit to it as Christ is the head of the church.

We have seen that through Jesus Christ we can have a relationship with God. We can approach the throne of grace with confidence. We can bring to God the joy, the tears, the victory and the frustrations of our church life. We will receive sympathy and help in every way as Christ is the head of the church.

We have seen that the Holy Spirit flowing from God lights our way, teaches us and guides us to walk in unity in church life that he prepared for us. Let us humble ourselves and hear carefully what the Spirit says to our church as Christ is the head of the church.

Perhaps here is the best place to understand the difficult doctrine of TRINITY. May I offer a modern analogy to the "operational" attributes to the triune Godhead. Let me give you a demonstration.

I am showing you this little chip -- a Pentium chip. It is the central process unit of a computer. It can perform one hundred million calculations a second. It can devise a detailed design plan of something. However, holding it up here, I cannot ask it what I need to calculate and I do not have any access to the result of the calculation. Here is a computer with the "Pentium inside" as well as a key board and a display screen. The keyboard is of the size of my fingers and allows me to input my requests. The screen communicates to me in the language and graphic representations that I can understand instead of ones and zeros. The Pentium chip is a computer indeed. It is correct. Yet this whole unit is a functional computer completed with input and output channels that are of human size! It is a fully functional, complete computer.

Similarly, God the Father has a plan for us. He has prepared for us the fullness in Christ. He is the inspiration and vision for the church. He is the "central processor." He is also omnipotent and omnipresent. He is infinite. However, God the Son became a man. He came to be our size. He can understand our pain and weakness. He is our input channel to God. God the Holy Spirit gives us guidance and coordinates church life. He is the output channel of God. Yes, Our God is more than an abstract Lord of the Universe. He is our personal God. He is meant to be fully functional as the head of the church.

Knowledge of this is the first step for our personal growth and revival. We must make God our personal God. We must establish and improve our relationship with him. Similarly, our church must recognize the direct headship of Christ and improve our direct relationship with him. As in Prov. 9:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.... Fear and respect (as in Chinese translation) of the Lord Christ as the head of our church and improving our direct relationships with him are the key first steps for an abundant church life!

Brothers and Sisters, revival means returning to the head. Let us, the whole church, have the vision of God, the personal relationship with Jesus and the obedience to the Holy Spirit. Let "Christ is the head of the church" be the center-piece of this ministry year when our church's emphasis of growth and revival is in church life. Let us remember this whenever we walk in the church door and see these big Chinese characters -- "Christ is the head of the church."

Title: Christ Is The Head Of The Church
By: Winston Ko
Series: The Truth About Jesus Christ
Date: 09/07/97