Bible Reading – Colossians 1:18-20
And He (Jesus) is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross.
Devotion
Yesterday we looked at Christ, the Rock/Foundation of the church. Today we read about Christ, the Head of the body. In the book of Ephesians, we see an emphasis on the fact that the church is the body of Christ. In Colossians, the emphasis is on the head of the body, the person of Jesus Christ. In verses 18-19, we read about Christ’s relationship to His church. Here, Paul uses the metaphor of the human body to refer to the church. Christ is referred to as the “head.” Being the “head” communicates the ability to think and reason and to control all the parts of the body. Authority comes with headship. We not only see authority in this passage but also in Matthew 28:18 where Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
Jesus has all authority in the church. The buck ultimately stops with Him. This is true because of who He is and what He has done. This has practical implications for the church and for individual believers. Christ’s headship or lordship requires submission from the church as well as from individual believers. This means we must submit our will and our ways to Christ daily. This means that church leaders must also submit the church under the headship or lordship of Christ. Christ is the head, not an earthly leader. Everything we do as a church must come under the direction of the Holy Spirit as we submit ourselves to Christ, the head of the body!
The Big Question
What does it mean to say, “Jesus is Lord”? What did Paul mean when he wrote, “so that in everything He (Jesus) might have the supremacy”? What did Paul mean when he wrote, “For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him (Jesus)”? How do these verses define the person and work of Christ? How does the authority of Christ play out practically in your daily life?
Spend some time in prayer meditating on what God revealed to you today.