We have in our recent blogs been looking at the preeminence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have seen that Jesus is preeminent in His image as He reveals the heavenly Father to us. Then last week we saw all that He is preeminent in his power and that He is the author of creation and the end of creation. Today we want to consider the fact that Jesus Christ is preeminent in His headship of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We read Paul’s words, “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may have preeminence”, (Col.1:18 NASB). The church from the beginning to the end is purely the creation of the Lord Jesus Christ. In eternity past He sketched out its first outline, projected its design, and constructed it as a living organism.
Jesus formed the church with His life, death, resurrection, and ascension and He empowers it with spiritual riches and gifts by the indwelling of believers today through His Holy Spirit. Not only is Jesus supreme in the universe, but He is to be supreme in the church as well. The unity of Christians is subordinate to the Lord Jesus Christ both in heart and mind. Paul uses the human body as a metaphor for the church not only in this passage but in other passages in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 12,14) as well. Every part of the human body is directly connected to the brain by means of the nervous system and cardiovascular system and if there is something that is wrong in the functioning of the brain the body does not work properly. You and I should never lose contact with our head the Lord Jesus Christ. The fact that He is the head of the body the church speaks of His superiority and authority and that you and I need to yield to His direction and guidance in not only our lives, but in the life of the church.
The church is a living organism, inseparably tied to our head the living Christ. Whatever is displeasing to our head is dishonoring to the body of Christ. The secret and power of the church’s authority lies in obedience to our head. We need to have renewed obedience in our day to our divine head the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the phrase, “firstborn from the dead”, does not refer to Jesus being the first to be raised from the dead, because He was not. Paul once again is speaking of his superiority to all that have ever been raised from the dead before. All those that Jesus raised from the dead died again, but Jesus in His resurrection did not die again, but rather made a way for each of us to go to heaven to be with Him. Jesus was the first chronologically to be resurrected and to never die again. His preeminence is so awesome and so absolute there is nothing exempt from His supremacy, not even death. Let us as a church make sure we stay connected to our living head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as individual believers and members of the church of Christ, let us make sure that we are living in a manner and walking in a way that results in the Lord Jesus Christ greeting us with these words, “Well done my good and faithful servant”!
All for God’s glory,
Pastor Rich Sivo
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