Headship: How it exalts Christ

I would like you to turn with me to the book of Ephesians and chapter 1. I would like to think with you this morning about the subject of headship as it is found in Ephesians and I want us to see in particular how the truth of headship exalts the person of Christ. That is our objective with the Lord's hope. We'll begin our with the Lord's help.

We'll begin our reading at the end of Ephesians 1. My readings with you in the teaching portions this weekend are going to come from the Christian Standard Bible. That is my custom, the CSB, and I will make reference to the King James at times. Ephesians 1, we're going to pick up in the near the end of the chapter.

This is Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church. He's asking that they might know more of God's power. Notice verse 20.

He exercised this power in Christ by raising him from the dead and seating him at his right hand in the heavens, far above every ruler and authority or principality and power, far above every ruler and authority, power and dominion, and every title given, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way. Well, I hope that reading helps us to see that the truth of headship is meant to make us think about the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

So it must be a beautiful and a glorious doctrine because it is highlighting the supremacy and the greatness of Christ. Let's notice two more references in Ephesians to this concept of headship. Chapter 4, and we're going to read from verse 7 to verse 16.

Ephesians 4, 7 to 16. Now grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. For it says when he ascended on high, he took the captives captive, he gave gifts to people.

But what does he ascended mean? That he also descended to the lower parts of the earth. I would suggest that means that he descended to the lower parts that is the earth. The earth is called the lower regions here.

It's not middle earth where you find Bilbo and Gandalf, but this is the lower regions, the earth. Verse 10, the one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens to fill all things. And he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, equipping the saints for the work of ministry to build up the body of Christ.

Verse 13, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God's son, growing into maturity with a stature measured by Christ's fullness. Then we will no longer be little children tossed by the waves and blown around by every wind of teaching by human cunning with cleverness in the techniques of deceit. Verse 15, but speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ.

From him the whole body fitted and knit together by every supporting ligament promotes the growth of the body for building up itself in love by the proper working of each individual part. Chapter five, our last reading, chapter five, verse 22 to the end of the chapter. Wives submit to your husbands as to the Lord because the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church.

He is the savior of the body. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives are to submit to their husbands and everything. Husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to make her holy, cleansing her with the washing of water by the word.

He did this to present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and blameless. Verse 28, in the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself for no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares for it just as Christ does for the church since we are members of his body.

For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am talking about Christ and the church. To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself and the wife is to respect her husband.

Let's turn back now to chapter 1. And notice that before you get to chapter 5, you get to chapter 1. And before Ephesians speaks about the man, the husband, as the head of the wife, before he addresses that, first of all, he says that Christ is the head of the church. He does something similar in 1 Corinthians 11. Remember that 1 Corinthians 11 is the passage that speaks about man as the head of woman in the local church.

But before he says that the man is the head of every woman in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, he first says Christ is the head of every man. Lest a man get carried away with himself as his role as head, he reminds them firstly in both Ephesians and in Corinthians, he first presents the headship of Christ. And the headship of Christ is, of course, a model for us as men to function as head.

But headship must be a beautiful doctrine because it is exalting the person of Christ. The Lord Jesus is the risen, exalted head of the church. Let's think first of all about the place that he occupies.

Chapter 1, verse 20, the place he occupies, he is at the right hand of God in heaven. Now, tomorrow morning, Lord willing, we will give visible, tangible expression to how low Christ came. With the bread and the cup, we'll take those emblems and we will proclaim the death of the Lord Jesus and not just any death, but the death even of a cross.

So no one has ever humbled himself to such a degree as our Lord Jesus has. But Ephesians 1 is now teaching us that God has exalted him to a place that no other man could ever occupy. So he took a lower place than any man has ever known.

God has given him a higher place than any man could ever experience. He is far above every ruler, everyone in this age and in the age to come. No one can ever be higher or greater than our Lord Jesus Christ.

Praise the Lord. Notice the different links in the chain of the Lord Jesus' majesty that are given to us in this last paragraph of chapter 1 of Ephesians. Verse 20, he is raised from the dead, his resurrection.

Then again in verse 20, he's been seated at God's right hand, exaltation. Then verse 21, far above every principality in power, far above every ruler and authority, that's his conquest. Then verse 22, everything is put under his feet, that is his dominion.

Resurrection, exaltation, conquest, dominion, that's what belongs to the Lord Jesus. Don't lose sight of that, because men and women in our age will exalt themselves, striving to achieve the dominion, the conquest, the power, and the dominion that belongs to the Lord Jesus, and no one is ever going to compete with our Lord Jesus Christ. The head of the body sits enthroned in the heavens at God's right hand.

Christ is the ultimate head. He is not the first head, though. He's not the first man to have everything under his feet.

Your Bible may have a reference at verse 22 that links that expression, everything under his feet, that links that expression back to Psalm 8. And Psalm 8 is referring initially to the position that Adam had in the original creation. Adam was head of that original creation, so that teaches us that headship is creatorial, headship is part of the original creation. And while the first Adam lost that headship, the last Adam, the second man, the last Adam, the Lord Jesus, he has regained it.

We await the fulfillment of it in his coming millennial kingdom when everything is brought together in Christ, Ephesians 1 verse 10. So though he's enthroned, he is enthroned above every ruler and authority. It doesn't take a PhD to look around and realize that the dominion of Christ is obviously not yet fully activated in the earth.

And that's why that's why our culture is seeping into madness. That's why violence and confusion still grip our words. All things under his feet, verse 22, and yet Hebrews 1 says he is waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool.

So then what good does it actually do us to have a risen, exalted, powerful Christ ahead if this world is still going to be engineered and driven by the devil? Well, it does us much good. Notice the purpose of his headship now. So first we have thought of the place that he occupies, God's right hand.

Let's think now about the purpose or the function of his headship. I'm at the end of verse 22. He is given as head over everything to or for the church.

He is head for the church. So this dominion of Christ is in one sense already activated. It's been activated in and for the church.

The fullness of his conquest obviously hasn't yet been fully activated throughout the world, but the church is already experiencing the conquest of Christ. We enjoy a foretaste of that coming cosmic dominion of the Lord Jesus. In fact, this is the Ephesian letter, by the way.

The church is a foreshadowing of the kingdom to come. That's what's going on in Ephesians. The church is a foreshadowing of the kingdom to come.

In that kingdom yet to come, in the fullness and the dispensation of the fullness of times, all things will be brought together in Christ. But you and I have already been brought together in Christ. This is Ephesians 2. He has reconciled us, Jew and Gentile, into one new man.

Ephesians is a doxology to the glory of our oneness in Christ. Ephesians is teaching us that the church is like a foreshadowing of the kingdom to come. And so while the world rejects Christ, they resist his authority, but in the church we submit to the authority of Christ as our head.

He will be head over all creation. He is already head over all things for the church. In our age, the world is never going to give preeminence to the Lord Jesus, but we can.

The world isn't going to do that in this age, but we can. Ours is the privilege of submitting to, of respecting Christ as our head. And we are to respond to his headship by a willing, voluntary submission.

There's a bit of a different slant of emphasis between lordship and headship. They're related and both convey a sense of authority, but lordship is emphasizing the Lord's rights over his servant. Headship is calling for a voluntary submission.

All right, so lordship is emphasizing the Lord's rights over the servant. Headship is calling for a voluntary submission. So ours is the privilege, brothers and sisters, willingly submitting to Christ as the head of the church.

And our true and only head is Christ. Thankfully, he is not sitting in the Vatican. He is not in a seminary.

He is not in a church headquarters in Salt Lake City or in New York City. He's not in the biggest gospel hall in the continent. He is exalted at God's right hand in heaven.

That is the only head of the church. The place that he occupies, God's right hand. The purpose of his headship in this age, it is for the church.

Let's think about the provision that the head gives to the church. That's coming out now in chapter four. Remember, it spoke about the gifts that Christ has given to the church.

The apostles and prophets for the foundation of the church. Chapter two says that they were for the foundation. The foundation has already been laid.

But not only did he give apostles and prophets, but also evangelists and pastors and teachers who are continuing. They abide and they in turn equip the body to serve one another in love, to build up the body. Grace is given to each one of us according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

He's the giver. When he ascended on high, he took captivity captive and he gives gifts to people. That's what a head does to those who are under his headship.

He is responsible to provide for them. Let me give you three sets of pairs. Three pairs that give us a sense of what headship implies.

Headship implies authority and responsibility. The head is over the body. Headship implies leadership and direction.

The head directs the body. Headship implies provision and care. So headship implies authority and responsibility, leadership and direction, provision and care.

Remember the husband in chapter five, it said he is to provide and care for his wife as Christ does for the church. Authority and responsibility, leadership and direction, provision and care. So I think it's great then that that we have the Lord Jesus as our head.

He's a good head, a good leader. He provides for and cares for his church. He gives gifts to the church.

More than that, chapter five, he has given himself for the church. He intercedes for us. He comforts us.

He cares for us. He feeds us. One day he will present us to himself in splendor without any splot or spot or blemish.

He's a great head. See, as husbands, we don't always fulfill our responsibilities as head in our home. At least we don't always fulfill them well.

And sometimes, sometimes we let our wives and children down. I'm very thankful for the patience and support of my wife. But one thing I know is that the Lord Jesus never lets his church down.

He is a risen, exalted, triumphant and faithful head. From him, it says, from him, the whole body is fitted and knit together. He provides that.

He does it. He's a great provider. Wonderful to have Christ as the head of the church.

My prayer for this weekend is that we will experience the provision and the care of Christ for his church. That's what I would love to observe and experience this weekend with you. Christ providing care for his church.

There are many, there are many winds of strange teaching that blow against the church at times. This is the language of Ephesians 4. Well, my prayer is that we will hear the truth of Christ spoken in love and that we will grow in maturity and likeness to Christ. That that will enable us to walk worthy of this noble calling and to build one another up this mighty conqueror, the ascended Christ, he provides his church with gifts and you experience that in the local churches from which you come.

We come from a variety of assemblies and what you experience in local assembly fellowship is gifts that the Lord Jesus has provided to bless and to feed and strengthen his people. That's the provision from Christ, the head of the church. The list of gifts that are mentioned here in Ephesians 4, it's obviously not a complete list.

It's a partial list, but it's serving a very focused purpose that Paul has in Ephesians 4. Apostles and prophets. Well, we got apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor teachers. Those four gifts all have this in common.

They are all ministers of the word of God, the truth of God. So the role of the apostle, the prophet, the evangelist, the pastor and teacher, he is preaching the truth of God. And why is that? Why is that his focus? Why does he just select those four in this context? Well, in the setting, he's talking about the church reaching the unity of the faith.

Growing into maturity, not being blown about by every wind of teaching. How how is the church going to reach unity of the faith? How are we going to be preserved from from not being blown about by every wind of teaching? Well, he says it's going to be by you hearing and learning and and receiving the preached word of God. Spiritual maturity and knowing God's truth go together.

Spiritual maturity and knowing God's truth go together. So if we are a mature church, then we will no longer be like little children tossed by waves and blown around by every wind of teaching. We are more spiritually stable when we know God's truth better.

We are more spiritually stable when we know God's truth better. That's that's one of the reasons then that we're at a Bible conference this week to hear the truth of God and the unity of the church is strengthened when we love and serve each other in humility and when we share a foundation in biblical truth. Now, that that is true concerning the body of Christ, and it's true in our local churches as well, isn't it? The unity of any local church is strengthened when we're lovingly and humbly serving one another and when we share a foundation in biblical truth.

And those two things need to function together, loving each other in humility and sharing a foundation of Bible doctrine. The church grows spiritually strong as each member of the church recognizes his or her role in the body, their responsibility to serve the body according to the grace given to them. And as the evangelist and pastor teachers that Christ has given to the church faithfully impart to us the word of God.

The head, the Lord Jesus, the head of the church, he has given gifts to the church. He he's taking you see what he's doing. He's taking responsibility for his church.

He wants to bring this church into his likeness. And so to do that, he provides for us. He's caring and providing for his church.

That headship of Christ then becomes the model of the husband's headship of the wife in chapter five. Let's turn there. Now, it's not it's not identical in every respect.

The husband isn't above every ruler and authority. And the husband doesn't have everything under his feet, certainly not his wife. But he is called to follow the example of Christ, the head of the church.

So in the home, the husband is the head of the wife. Let's see that now in Ephesians five. God is teaching us that his design for the home is modeled after the headship relationship of Christ to his bride, the church.

Now, that that in itself should tell us that it's a good thing, that God's design for the home is a good thing and it's intended for our blessing. This is God's original design for a harmonious Christ honoring, well-ordered home. If it's modeled after the relationship, the headship relationship of Christ and his church, then the submission of the wife is to be willing and voluntary.

What I mean is he doesn't say, husbands, make your wives submit to you. That's not how he frames the argument. He doesn't say, husbands, force your wife to submit.

No, he addresses this to the wives. Wives, submit to your husbands. Not because your husband is the perfect spiritual leader and provider, but because the husband is the head of the wife.

The wife is to respect her husband, verse 33. Of course, she is to love him too, Titus chapter two, but as head, the emphasis is on the fact that she is to respect him. And it is possible for a wife to be loving her husband while showing him disrespect.

Maybe she's often critical of him in the presence of guests in their home. Maybe she's always rolling her eyes and sighing deeply when he says something in front of the children. And yet then she might turnly, kindly turn around and prepare him his favorite supper and do all of his laundry.

She loves him, but does she respect him? If that relationship is to be modeled on Christ and his church, then the husband is to exercise his headship, not against the wife, but for her. Christ is the head for the church. He is head for the blessing of the church.

Headship is designed to be a blessing. It's for our good. Remember what headship implies? Authority and responsibility, leadership and direction, provision and care.

So it's my responsibility to lovingly provide that for my wife. And my loving care for her is not to be dependent upon her, you know, looking exactly like a swimsuit model or cooking my pasta just perfectly. No, I provide that to her because she is my wife.

And I have responsibilities as head in my home. It's not something I use against her, but for her, like Christ does for the church. I am to provide loving care for her.

I am to enfold her into my heart. I am to make her feel special. I am to show her that she is the only one for my heart.

She should have no doubt about that. I am to make her feel extra special, like Christ does for the church. That's being a man.

A couple of years ago, Baker Books came out with a new book by Brant Hansen called The Men We Need. The Men We Need. And he says he's sort of answering the question, what is a man? And in recent times, the more popular question in our culture has been, what is a woman? And that is also a good and important question.

But he is addressing the question, what is a man? And he says, if you ask the culture, what is a man? People will struggle to answer. And they'll tell you a whole bunch of things that it isn't. And they'll decry toxic masculinity.

Well, that's good. Toxic masculinity is bad. But what is good masculinity? Now, this is actually a bit of a qualified recommendation.

I haven't read this book in total yet, but his overarching point is good. He says, what does it mean to be a man? What are men responsible to do? Men are responsible to make vulnerable people feel safe. And we are at our best when we make the people around us feel secure.

Adam was the keeper of the garden. He was given that instruction before he was given a woman. Well, we also have a garden, our sphere of influence, particularly our home, and we are responsible to make the people in our garden feel secure and safe and cared for.

That's not fulfilled by being physically abusive or domineering. None of this means that the wife doesn't have a voice in the home. Absolutely, we treasure her voice and her input and her help.

But headship is providing loving care. And that responsibility as head of my home, it's challenging, but it's good for me. It's good for me.

I would like young men to hear this now. Aspiring to get good employment in order to provide for a family, to get married, to have children, to seek to lead that family in spiritual devotion, that is a very good and noble desire. That is Christ-like.

Aspiring to get good employment, to provide for a family, to get married, to have children, to seek to lead that family in spiritual devotion, that is a good and noble and Christ-honoring desire. That is Lamentations 3, that it is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is still young. And it may sound a bit ordinary, but it's Christ-like, and it's good and noble.

Now, God's design for the home is obviously counter-cultural, and it generally has been. Ephesians 5, the teaching of Ephesians 5 was counter-cultural in the first century as well. There's two parts in the relationship, right? The wife submitting to her husband, and the husband providing self-sacrificing, loving care.

That was counter-cultural in the first century, but the aspect of those two sides that was counter-cultural was different in the first century than in the 21st century. So in the Greco-Roman era of the New Testament, self-sacrificing, loving devotion to one woman, that was counter-cultural. And if you were one of them, if you were with some of the other Roman men in the Roman baths, and you're sitting there one day, and you're talking about your relationship with your wife, and you're affirming this kind of love, they probably would have said something to you like, what? Don't be such a wimp! You're gonna lose your freedom! You're giving her too much! You're gonna be a bad influence on other homes! You're weakening the power of men! But despite that cultural pressure, that husband should still affirm the model of Ephesians 5, because it's God's design for marriage, and it's for the blessing and beauty of that marriage.

Well, in 21st century Western culture, the aspect of God's design that is counter-cultural has flipped. Now it's the idea of the wife submitting to her husband as the Lord, that's counter-cultural. So if you go to the spa with some women from work, and you're sitting there in the hot tub, and you affirm your willing and joyful submission to your husband, they might say, you'll get walked over! You'll lose your freedom! You're setting the cause of women back a hundred years! Don't do it! But despite that cultural pressure, should she affirm Ephesians 5? Yes.

Because it is God's good design for marriage, and because it is showing it is for the blessing and the beauty of that marriage. God designed it from the beginning of creation for her protection and care and flourishing. That's what Adam was to do in the garden, help that garden to flourish.

And as marriage is part of God's original creatorial design, we recall that that headship was part of God's original design. We commented on that already. Adam was head.

He was created first. That's part of the clue to that. He was the one given the responsibility to name Eve and to name the animals.

That was a sign of his authority. He's held responsible, Romans chapter 5, for the original sin in the human race. So Adam and Eve were partners.

She's created from his side to show that she is his equal. They are both the imagers of God. They are a marriage team, but he was the leader of the team.

Headship implies leadership. And in the home, the wife should try to promote that leadership. And as men, we need to step up to that leadership.

Let me give you one very practical example, as I'm about to sit down, of how this leadership should be carried out. And I'm going to cite this example because this is something I've become aware of in my own life again recently, of how I'm failing at it, and I need to be more Christlike. When there is some tension in the marriage relationship, as the head of my home, I am responsible to make sure that tension gets resolved shortly.

I shouldn't leave that to my wife. Now, many of us men aren't good at that for two reasons. Number one, we're not always as quick to perceive the tension as she may be.

And number two, many of us can shake it off more easily, and so we can kind of just carry on as if everything is normal, but it's actually bothering her a lot more. It may be a bigger deal to her. And it's for the blessing of that entire home that I seek to alleviate that tension.

I need help in that. I need her help in that very much. I'm not always the emotional tower of strength either, but headship implies leadership and responsibility.

So it's Christlike to take the initiative in seeking to restore that relationship as soon as we can so that we can experience the emotional oneness that God intends for the Christian home. The husband is head of the wife as Christ is head of the church. We showcase God's wisdom in his creatorial design.

And as Christ is head of the church, we are to submit to his headship in the church. God has been very kind to us in giving us Christ as our head. Recognize the goodness of that.

Rejoice in the place God has given him, and let us learn more of the wisdom of his ways through this weekend.