HEAD OF THE BODY

‘He is the head of the body, the church’. Paul says this of the same One who was before everything, in whom was everything and for whom are all things. He is Head of the body!

This will speak volumes to our hearts today. The Lord has not set up an administration for the church which removes us from Him personally. No, He himself is the Head of the body. That means there is no one between Him and His own. We belong so intimately to Christ that although He is the Sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, He will not be separated from us. We are His purchased possession. He has sold all that He had to buy us back and nothing will now come between us. Rejoice today in a love that will not let us go!

The title implies relationship but also His place of authority and control. A simple analogy would be seen in the way the human body is directed by the head. As our head ministers to the needs of our body so does Christ to His body. Our head is the controlling centre of all that we do in every way, be it physical, mental, or emotional. It all begins in the head. From the head we send out all the directions that control, direct, motivate, coordinate, guide and sustain all that we do in every moment of every day. Quite a thought isn’t it!

He is the Head of His body, the church, and as such will energise, initiate, coordinate, inspire, guide and direct all that the saints do for God in the world. That is individually, locally and universally. He is the Head. He supplies the sustaining power, the inspiration for activity, and the centre of its unity. He is the central cause of all that it is and ever will be.

How much does this mean to me in my daily life as a Christian? How much is He called upon to show us how to function in the local assembly? What is His place as Head in all we do and are? Do we display our acknowledgement of His headship as we are instructed to do, or just cast the scripture aside as a cultural tradition? e.g. 1 Cor. 11. 2-6. He doesn’t ask much of us but for what He does ask are we now to refuse Him? We may gather to His name but is that where it begins and ends? May the headship of Christ challenge our hearts today.