SIMPLY JESUS DEVOTIONAL - THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH - Friday, October 10, 2014

Friday, October 10, 2014
SIMPLY JESUS DEVOTIONAL - HE IS THE HEAD

And he is the head of the body, the church...  COLOSSIANS 1:18

 

 

Not only is our LORD JESUS creator and sustainer of all the physical universe, He is the head of the spiritual realm.  Though His crucified, buried, and risen body has ascended into glory, He ordained the Church to be His present body on earth. He is our head.

 

Someone has aptly said, "The church is not an organization it is an organism." The Scriptures teach:

 

Christ conceived the body.

Christ inspires the body.

Christ nurtures the body.

Christ directs the body. 

Christ controls the body. 

Christ builds the body. 

Christ protects the body.

Christ indwells the body.

Christ loves the body.

And Christ will one day, He will return for the body.

 

The Apostle Paul confirms Christ's indisputable headship to the Ephesians, writing "[God] hath put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."  Ephesians 1:22,23.

 

Just as a body is powerless and lifeless without a head, so the Church of Jesus is powerless and lifeless without the Christ.  The prideful organizers who play church while ignoring the will and the word of Christ will not stand in congregation of the righteous on that great last day. Those who allow the sons of men, rather than the Son of Man to reign, are destined for tragedy.  Jesus is the head of His Church--that body--which has and will triumph now and forever.

 

Like a mighty army
  Moves the Church of God:
Brothers, we are treading
  Where the saints have trod;
We are not divided,
  All one Body we—One in faith and Spirit,
  One eternally.  

Onward Christian Soldiers, Words by Sabine Baring-Gould

 

Head of Thy Church triumphant, We joyfully adore Thee;
Till Thou appear, Thy members here Shall sing like those in glory.

We lift our hearts and voices With blest anticipation,
And cry aloud, and give to God The praise of our salvation. 

Charles Wesley

 

Written by Samuel Stone at a time when the Church was facing a particularly vexing challenge to Biblical orthodoxy, read this inspired verse:

 

The Church's one foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord,

She is HIS NEW CREATION by water and the Word,

From heaven He came and sought her, to be His holy bride,

With His own blood He bought her, and for her life He died.

The Church shall never perish! Her dear Lord to defend,

To guide, sustain, and cherish, is with her to the end;

Though there be those who hate her, and false sons in her pale,

Against a foe or traitor, she ever shall prevail.

 

'Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war,

She waits the consummation of peace forevermore;

Til, with the vision glorious; her longing eyes are blest,

And the great Church victorious shall be the Church at rest.

 

AND WHO IS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH?  SIMPLY JESUS!

 

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