He is the Head . . .

Our church is large making it impossible to have intimate fellowship with everyone, never mind knowing all their names. For that reason, small groups are encouraged. Ours meets weekly and we have become close as we study and discuss God’s Word and pray for common concerns. Teasing is allowed, as are tears. Our worship and sharing last night was joyful and edifying and so it should be!

(God) put all things under (Christ’s) feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:22–23)

The analogy is a body with Christ as the head and His people are His Body. The NT says it elsewhere, telling us to “hold fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God” (Colossians 2:19) and:

“. . . speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:15–16)

The longer description is in 1 Corinthians 12, listing some of the difficulties in Christian relationships using the same analogy. For instance, a foot should never say they are not a hand so are not part of the body because each person, like each body part, is necessary for proper and healthy functioning. This applies to our spiritual gifts, personalities, experiences, and the sharing of what God is doing in our lives.

Today’s devotional puts an emphasis on the church being “the fullness of him who fills all in all” meaning that the full glory of Jesus Christ is completed in the degree that His glory is reflected in us His Body. We are to complement Him in whom “the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Colossians 2:9) so that His grace and truth are made visible in this fallen world.

It’s true that we fall short far too often. Before Christ came into our lives, nothing could be more obvious. However, as Christians we now battle sin rather than giving in to it. That old life is dead to the things of God yet taunted and pulled by the ideas of the world, the lies of the devil, and mostly by a mess of old ‘I wants’ that draw us away from our Head into running our own lives. To this, God says:

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. (Galatians 5:16–17)

This personal battle is overcome only by yielding to God, for we cannot resist sin any other way. Many Christians testify that the worst of it is failing to realize we have fallen into running our own lives, at least in the least conspicuous ways.

However, our Head, Lord and Savior has ways of informing His Body that there is sickness and pain among us. He uses His Word, the Holy Spirit, and being with one another to do it. Just as “iron sharpens iron” we sharpen one another. (Proverbs 27:17) That is the value of small groups and deep fellowship.

Not only that, the desire to glorify the Lord is contagious. If one person is set on complimenting Christ and adorning His teaching, others are motivated to turn from personal ambitions to do the same. We encourage one another to “let our light shine before others in such a way that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). We also encourage one another by reminding each other that God gives us all that we need to glorify the Lord. (2 Peter 1:3-12)

Jesus, Psalm 139:23–24 tells me to ask You to reveal sin that hinders me from glorifying You. I’m learning not to dread what You might show me, but also learning how each part of the Body helps me to be a stronger and more obedient Christian. Thank You for Your leadership as Head of Your church and the wonderful way that You enable us to work together in doing Your will.

MORE: What are the spiritual gifts mentioned in 1 Corinthians 12:1–30? What answers those who think their gifts are less valuable that others? How am I gifted to minister to other? In what ways does that show up in my fellowship with them and my life in this world?

 

Stay plugged into God’s Power

 

My hubby and I often talk about the difficulty of understanding what motivates people, even ourselves. We cannot read minds and realize that our own minds can be driven by the subconscious part so that we do things and wonder why we did them. Living by the power of the Holy Spirit can be difficult to understand too, yet the Bible uses the word EMPOWER to clarify His activity and show us a little about what the Spirit does.

My Bible dictionary says empower means to implement or cause to function; to carry into effect. It is the empowering to enable us to do what we are supposed to do. A similar word is defined as, “to do what something is used for; perform as expected when operating.” An English dictionary says it is about putting something into effect. All this tells me that the function of the Holy Spirit is to enable me to live like God created me to live. It is about motivation but also about the ability to bypass human motivations and do what God wants. As the Bible says, the Spirit and the flesh are in conflict however the Spirit can win that ‘war’ empowering me to obey God from the heart.

For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code. (Romans 7:5–6)

One of the first descriptions refers to spiritual gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 says there are a variety of them but all are given and empowered by the same Spirit, even if those gifts are seemingly opposites, such as leading/serving.

This empowering is illustrated in the life of the apostles. Peter had an apostolic ministry to the Jews while Paul served the Gentiles, both empowered by the same Spirit but doing different work. (Galatians 2:8)

Further, this is not about rules, or special programs, or any human inventions. It does not happen because of God’s laws but depends on faith and love from God and working together. (Galatians 3:5 and 5:6) We cannot decide what the Spirit should be telling us because He “works all things according to the counsel of his will.” (Ephesians 1:11)

The reality is that once I was under the empowering influence of Satan. God’s Word is clear that this evil entity can govern those who do not believe. However, the power of the Holy Spirit overcame that influence and brought me to new life in Christ. This was His doing, not mine:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:1–9)

Even though that “lawlessness is already at work” the Holy Spirit still “restrains it” (2 Thessalonians 2:7) so we can depend on Him because He is “able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” (Ephesians 3:20) For that reason, my obedience to the Spirit of God has great significance.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. God tells me to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” because it is His Spirit who “works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12–13) This passage says that working means to put something into effect entirely or thoroughly! For that reason, I must agree with Paul who said, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” (Colossians 1:29) and also “thank God constantly for this, that when Christians received the word of God . . . they accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in them.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Another application is that I fervently continue to confess my sins and pray for others because God says, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (James 5:16) using the same word as the verse that speak of the function power of the Holy Spirit to implement the will of God. Wow!