Implications of the Headship of Christ
Josh at “Called to Rebuild” as written an excellent article called “Christ the Key Ingredient.”
He begins with what he says stands out above everything else: “The absolute centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ as Head over all things.”
Beginning with the headship of Christ, Josh steps through several implications, including love for, fellowship with, and unity with other followers of Jesus.
Concerning that unity, Josh writes:
Once I began to know this kind of unity I knew I could no longer denominate myself from other believers. I became convinced that this experience-this bond of life and fellowship-was the answer to all our questions and all our seeking. So I became hungry for more. And eventually I realized that to know this kind of fellowship on a daily basis-which is what the New Testament envisions-I was gonna have to live close enough to my brothers and sisters that we could see each other as regularly as we wanted. No more driving to “church†thirty minutes away, having a couple hours of fellowship (if I was lucky), then having to return home and try my best to survive the rest of the week all alone as a Christian. No. I would spend all my moments within the community of the redeemed, for this is where the Christian life is meant to be lived.
When we began to consider the implications of the headship of Christ – along with his presence – we truly begin to see the church and others in a different light.
What has changed in the way you view other believers because of the headship and authority of Jesus Christ?
For me it means we are all followers; taken together, co-followers if you like. Some follow so well we mark them as examples. All of us are focused on following Him, and helping one another do so.
In following Him, we go against the flow of the world and of our own hearts. In following Him we discover the way to life is death, that suffering precedes glory, that enslaving ourselves brings freedom, that impoverishing ourselves brings riches we hadn’t conceived.
The world has a very different message, and we have that mess inside us. We sometimes confuse ourselves, and intermingle the world’s ways with God’s ways.
In the world there are masters-slaves/servants. For those of us translated into the Kingdom of His dear Son, there are only slaves/servants; taken together, co-slaves and co-servants if you like. Those who have walked after Him the longest and the farthest see themselves as the least, not as the greatest.
While the world prizes power, position, leadership, we prize humility, service, followership.
In the world, leadership is responsible for the actions and failures of their followers. This is a noble enough approach among men, and can have some humbling effects if approached in a humble way (the “how have I failed them and what must I fix in me” vs “how have they failed me and how shall I force them to do better?”). It can also create dictatorial monsters in large and small organizations, who will stop at nothing to produce conformity to their way. Failures reflect badly on their person. Failures set back their agenda for glory. The responsible-powerful leader concept demonstrates our proclivity to pride and self-competence, to having power over others, a power unique to those who esteem themselves both greater and better than others.
But look at our Head, our King. His followers fail in so many ways they are uncountable. Could He enforce conformity? Yes. But instead, He seeks transformation. We fail utterly, horribly, willfully, and he meets us on the beach, invites us to breakfast (serving us), and encourages us again to feed (serve) others. He washes our feet, and invites us to do the same for others. He who alone has the authority to be Master and Lord becomes servant.
Not the world. We do love our shortcuts and instant mashed potatoes. Our heart burns as we sing “I am worthy and capable” – Master now, Lord now, is too easily our hope and our pursuit. This insane twisting around of God’s way remains, sadly, in many of our own hearts just as it is in the world around us. It rises among the saints again and again insidiously, relentlessly. And we fail and leave tragic consequences of bitter division and deeper wounds in our wake.
And our Head?
Unlike the world which seeks to prevent failures and suffering of every kind by force and rule, one of His tools is to allow and use our failures and suffering which He uses to bring us to the end of ourselves again and again. God gives followers time and space and responsibility to follow. And in this, as co-followers, we learn to give others space and time and responsibility. We give room for learning by failure and suffering. We learn–too slowly–to love others as He loves us.
This is something we need to learn in following Him together. Patience. Longsuffering. Forgiveness. Bearing with one another. Entrusting both ourselves AND others to His grace and care. Who will follow such a One there?
Art,
I don’t know what to say. I have nothing to add. This is an excellent piece of writing on its own. If you haven’t copied this and published it somewhere, please do.
-Alan