16 Principle 12 - Jesus Christ The Head of the Church

Principle 12. Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church. The headship of Jesus Christ was not just a doctrine or an idea to the early apostles, but rather a present reality to them. The Lord was the active head of the church. They realized it was His church, and everything was done in His name for Him and through Him. This apostolic dependency on the person of Jesus Christ allowed the Lord to be in control of each assembly. God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be head over everything for the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. In the life of the church and in the function of the members of the body, it is important to keep our Lord as head. He should be the center of our thoughts, actions, reactions, and endeavors, so that all the body looks to the head for direction, and thus unity ensues. He should be spoken of much, for all things are from Him and relate to Him. He is the head of the church. Paul the apostle stated, For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The truth of Jesus Christ being the head of each assembly, or gathering of believers, is not just important, it is everything. We find in the book of Revelation statements of great significance towards this. For instance, our Lord says that He will remove the lampstand from an assembly if they lose their first love and their first works, the following closely of the Lord's commands and ways. A lampstand has the light at the top of the stand, which represents the presence and testimony of Christ as head of that church or assembly. The light at the top of the lampstand is vital to the life of the church or assembly. If the light is severed from the lampstand, then Christ is separated from the body being the church, and the assembly is dead. Such is the danger when a gathering of believers is not under the headship of Jesus Christ, but under some specific prominent teacher, ism, practice, or even doctrine. We have a great rest and happiness when, as a church, we simply are the body and allow Jesus to be the glorious head. The head is able to direct the body as it wishes, and so it should be with our assemblies. The Lord should be able to direct us easily through His Holy Spirit without complaints and contention. Opposition and disobedience grieve the Holy Spirit. We have the example of the Apostle Paul and others in Antioch who were waiting before God with prayer and fasting, and then the Holy Spirit spoke to give them orders. This should serve as our example that God wants to continually give orders to the church by the Spirit of Christ so that we can fulfill His good pleasure and will. So, therefore, to look to Jesus Christ as the active present head of the church will bring much fruit to God. If we accept God's heart and direction to look to Christ and not men, then division, competition, debating, and strivings would surely cease as Jesus Christ Himself is put in His rightful place. When we are gathering in meetings, we are gathering together to commune and meet with the Godhead. Meetings of believers are not merely for knowledge and good fellowship. Rather, the most important aspect of meeting is to meet with the living God. Do we come to our gatherings with this focus and prayer? It is very helpful to prepare one's heart with the Lord in prayer and confession before coming to a gathering of believers, so when at the gathering there will be a purity of spirit and a hunger in the hearts of the saints to meet with God. Such hungering after God is necessary and important to obtain the full blessings in Christ Jesus. There is such great blessing He wants to pour out on His church if we would allow Him to. We must also not just treat the Lord Jesus as a truth or principle, but a very person of God. A personal, vital relationship with Him will result in a healthy believer who will have a bright, burning, first love relationship with Jesus Christ. Thus, the desire of such believers will be to exalt the Lord as the head of the church in every gathering of believers.