Tuesday 6 September 2011

The greatness of the head of the church

Ephesians began with the great plan of God for the world - one day to bring all things together under the headship of Christ. In the second half of chapter 1, we're told of the supremacy of Christ now and how this great Christ has been given to his church as its head.
At  the beginning of this section (vv15-23), Paul says that he thanks God for the Ephesians' faith in Jesus and their love for each other (15), and that his prayer is for God to give them the Spirit of revelation so that they might know: the Lord Jesus (17), the riches of the glorious hope to which he's called them (18), and the immeasurable greatness of his power that is at work in them (19f).
Paul then picks up this last point and runs with it a while as he shares the astonishing logical truth of our union with Christ: the power that's at work in us is the same power that raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at the right hand of the Father!! We are a people, therefore, not only of the cross, but also of the resurrection: the power of the cross forgave all our sin and saved us from God's just punishment, the power of the resurrection seats us in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus (2:6).
But the truth I hadn't really noticed before is in vv22-23.
And he [God] put all things under his [Christ's] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
God put everything under Christ's feet, giving him all authority and power, and then he gave Jesus Christ to the church to be its head. Today, the Lord of lords and King of kings exerts his rule and power for the sake of his church. Empowering us to be 'his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all'. Chirst's church lacks nothing - and can lack nothing because Christ would not fail to provide 'his own body' (if we can speak like that) with all it needs.
Thus, if we hold positions of leadership and responsibility in the church (pastor, treasurer, elder, deacon, PCC member etc), we can be confident of Christ's provision for us. But that doesn't mean we're lazy. Far from it - we're called to be servants and stewards who are empowered by the Spirit. So as we wrestle in prayer, give generously, teach carefully, preach passionately, evangelise courageously, serve lovingly, administer wisely and so on, we can rest in Christ's ultimate provision. The Spirit works in and through us and we are governed by the Lord Jesus, in order to achieve his purpose: to bring all things under one head - the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
Individual churches and their leaders may seem weak and feeble, but that just highlights the glory of the power and grace of God which is given to his church.

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