We're looking at Colossians 1, verse 15-19. And as you're turning there, I'll just remind you that this is the fifth part of this series, The Supremacy of Christ. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell." Let's pray together. Father, we offer up first of all our thanks, for we are grateful for all of these designations of our Lord Jesus Christ, all of these divine designations, the image of the invisible God, the beloved Firstborn, our Creator, the Supreme One over all. Lord, we thank You for what You revealed to us in Your Word about His very nature, that He was and is, in fact, God revealed to us. And so, Lord, help us in our understanding. that we might grow in our appreciation for our most important designation, Savior. He is our Savior when we rightly worship Him according to His revelation in the Word and not according to our own fashion or imagining. Lord, forgive us where past thoughts or imaginations about Christ were idolatrous by definition, blasphemous perhaps. former religions or cults, former incomplete thoughts. Help us, Lord, to grow in a more comprehensive way our understanding of who He is, what He was meant to do, and what He's meant to mean in our lives. For we would give Him glory. We bend the knee to Him either now or then, but we will bend the knee for He is the Sovereign One. the Supreme One, the Holy One. And so, Lord, help us as we look at this fascinating designation of Christ as the Head of His Body, the Church, the Firstborn from the dead. Help us now, in our understanding, to yield and bend to this, our Supreme Living Exalted Head, we pray in His name. Amen. So we've been on quite a journey so far. This is part five. We've looked at the first six designations from verse 15 through 17. We find ourselves in verse 18 today. We've covered verse 15 where he is the image of the invisible God, that he is the exact representation, the physical manifestation and the very revelation of God himself. Before Abraham was, I am, the great I am, and it was fully understood what he meant by that in terms of his declaration of deity because they picked up stones to kill him for making that declaration. There's no question, at least in the mind of a first century religious person, of what Jesus' claim was. He was very clear about it. What it meant to be first born of all creation, the prototokos, the one who would inherit all, first born in terms of his rank and his authority, not in terms of sequence. We learned, of course, last time that he was before all things a nod to his eternality, which refutes any idea that he was just another created emanation from God, which is being refuted there in Colossae. Many false ideas, many false teachings that were going on at that time and linger to this day are being refuted in this passage. I like how Paul starts out guns blazing. Nothing holding back. He's got both pistols drawn and he's firing away with truth. All these truths. These wonderful, wonderful eight points of truth. Eight divine designations of image. Firstborn, Creator, Eternal, Sustainer, Head, Supreme, God. As we're looking at all of them now. These next two in verse 18, He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent. So we begin by looking at that sixth designation of Him as head. So this is our sixth divine designation, which is the head of His body, the church. And this is what we look at this morning. And when we get to the second half of the verse, we'll be looking at the supremacy of Christ, that He is supreme above all the first who would be resurrected from the dead and lead the way for the rest of us in Christ to be free from the grave, to be resurrected. But for now He is. The head of the body of the church is a very unique expression. It hadn't been used before. Nowhere in the Old Testament is it expressed in exactly this type of a metaphor. That he is the head of a body, literally a body, which is his church. In Ephesians and here in Colossians, which I remind you are sister books, the figure head and body is first appearing early on in these places. The church of Jesus Christ, of course, is recognized as a body. It's called many things, you know, building, field, many things in the New Testament. And here it's being illustrated by the figure of a body, which Jesus, of course, is the living head. This is why we would say, for instance, that the church is an organism. It's a living thing. It's an organism, not an organization. Not like a corporation or any other organization. It's an organism. It's a living thing. Living and breathing because of the head. He who gives it life. So we look at the head and particularly the way the head was viewed in the Bible as the noblest part of the body. Of course the head is what the royalty would have the crown placed on their head. So it's the place of dignity and it's also the place to demonstrate humility because it's demonstrated by the head being bowed. So everything from an exalted king to a servant's head bowed low, it's all signified by the head, the noblest part of the body. And in the case of the church, the exalted part. The head is the place also of intelligence and reason and emotion. And we're going to spend some time this morning with a very short science lesson what the human head has because there are so many close similarities and parallels to what Jesus is to the church as His body. When you look at how a brain functions, it's rather amazing. But, in essence, the head, we could say, could be considered the command center of the entire whole body, couldn't we? It's the command center. The human head, houses arguably the most important organ in the body, and that's the human brain. It's the human brain. And there's basically, we won't get into a detailed lesson, even if Bethany might enjoy that. Her and I used to watch videos on studies on the brain, if you can believe that. She's an amazing young lady. But we made some popcorn and sat on the couch and watched videos of a Vanderbilt professor teaching on the brain. That she enjoyed that was rather remarkable to me, because she's the same one who suggested that we see some movie about Mr. Fox after that. We watched that with popcorn too, but those are precious times to us, we'll never forget. So Bethany, the rest of us will have to, she'll recognize this, the rest of us need to have a little bit of schooling. There is in fact three important, of course Jerry's got medical behind him so he may know these parts, because we're going to be referring to them as we go through to look at the role of Christ as our exalted head. Basically, the three main parts, the way you can divide up the brain is the cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem. Not responsible for spelling. The cerebrum, the cerebellum, and the brain stem. And those are going to be important when we look at the role of Christ as a head. So there's a reason that Paul is using this as a metaphor. It's a very effective one. As I was looking at that, it reminded me of the different things that we had studied about the brain. And it's like, wow, Christ does that. This thing that the brain does here in the cerebrum and in the cerebellum and in the brainstem, the things that we were studying and read about, that's what Jesus does in the body of Christ. The cerebrum, just briefly, is the largest part of the brain. It's about 85% of the brain. It controls some very important things. Things like thinking, reasoning, calculating, problem solving. It's that frontal cortex. It's that thinking and reasoning area. It's the place that performs the math. Interpreting visual and auditory information, it's all processed there. Communication, rationale, your place of judging and perceiving all those kinds of things take place in this major portion of the brain, the cerebrum. Second is the cerebellum, and that's located way in the rear, way in the back. The cerebellum, that's the motor skills. That's performing Body function, it's responsible for coordinating and the harmonizing of motion to make sure it's fluid. You know, when somebody has some brain damage, sometimes they lose some motor function or whatever that's damaged to the cerebellum. Balance, coordination, physical functioning, when you're doing sports, when you're even walking, when you're, all of the motor skills performances are done in the cerebellum. And then the brain stem is in the way back and it connects the brain to the spinal column. Spinal columns like the internet. Spinal columns sending all of these reports from the nerve endings up where? To the command center, right? So when some nerve is damaged, something hurts or there's damage to tissue or nerves, your body says, oh, and sends that message to the place that needs to process the information of the hurt. The place that can perhaps tell me how I should perceive what just happened. Whether I should be in fear or this is of little concern. Whether it's minor, whether it's major. I'm thinking and reasoning in terms of what I should do next to protect the health of the body. Hopefully, immediately already you're seeing some of these connections to our exalted head in his role. The brain stem is very important. Third, the brain stem connects the brain to the spinal column And it carries out critical internal life functions, such as regulating your breathing, your blood flow, your blood pressure, your heart beat, your temperature, your sleep cycles. Those things, all the way in the back. It keeps things moderated. It keeps things functioning. It keeps the environment calm and healthy the way it should. Thank God we don't have any way of interfering with that other than damaging it. Would you always remember to breathe? Would you get scared and probably hyperventilate when you don't need to? That's taken care of in the brain stem. The brain organizes and interprets the various impulses it receives from the outside world as it's reported through the senses and the reports that are coming internally. Uh-oh, something's wrong. Something hurts. Something's in pain. So it receives and interprets this information. It receives sensory signals, of course. It reads and interprets whether we hear things, whether we see things, smell things, things catch our attention, and in milliseconds, in immediate real time, it's processing. Things are firing away so rapidly, you couldn't even see the process. It happens so quick. It reads those signals in immediacy. That is, without media, without the use of media, it is immediate. Boom! You know whether something is pleasant or not, whether something is good or bad, pleasant or safe or dangerous, that kind of thing. Something you desire is something that's offensive to you, whether it's helpful or whether it's harmful. So all of these things and many, many more are going on in the head, in your brain. Now, turning the corner, I think we ought to consider it the highest honor that our Lord Jesus Christ would consider Himself incomplete without His body. The body is to him as important as your head is to you. They have no life apart from it. And that he considers it that way is rather amazing. So it occurs to me that the thing that connects that exalted head to this marvelous ecclesiastical body is love. Love is the neck. Love is the connection. Love is the spinal internet that's reporting. It's love. Love sent down, attachment, love brought back up. Like a blood stream. Like a nervous system. It functions in a connected way. Disconnected, it dies. There is no life apart from the head. It is love that bonds and fastens the head to the body. It's love that is, in fact, the lifeblood that flows through us. We have the blood of the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ coursing through our veins symbolically in the church of Jesus Christ. His blood keeps me alive. His love, his blood brought me to life. So this analogy I think is remarkable. I think this is a brilliant analogy that Paul's using here. Now remember while we go through this, don't lose sight with all of this science information of what Paul is refuting in Colossae. Look at the Christ that's being presented by way of heretical teaching in Colossae. And look at the Christ that Paul is presenting in all of his glory. This is an amazing comparison that he is the head of a body, the church. Jesus speaks of his body. I invite you to turn to Ephesians. We're going to spend some time in Ephesians, the sister book to Colossians because there's More information there. And he speaks quite often about this idea of love. This idea of love being the connective tissue. This idea of the blood of Jesus. This blood of His love coursing through the body. As I have you turn to Ephesians 5, you might think, why are we turning to that section on husbands and wives? I don't want to hear that again. Well, we're going to look at it in a different way. This isn't a wedding ceremony. We're going to look at a different wedding, the one we have in wonderful hope and expectation, the wedding ceremony that awaits us with Christ as his bride. But I want you to see the comparison as he's speaking to husbands and wives here. But instead of focusing on the husband and the wife part, which we typically do, we're looking at what he has to say, what's revealed about Christ here with regard to his being head of the body. Look with me, for instance, at verse 23. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is head of the church." See, there it is. Christ is head of the church, His body, and is Himself its Savior. Husbands, love your wives. As Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. We're learning of what Christ is and what He's done. What He means to the church. Why? That He, verse 26, might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word. Verse 27, so that He might present the church to Himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. For no one, verse 29, ever hated his own flesh, but, and these are important words, but nourishes and cherishes it. We usually think of that in terms of what just preceded it. Think of it as what follows just as Christ does His church. He nourishes the church and cherishes the church. It is His nourishment we receive from the head of the body because He cherishes His church. You know, our song leader was right to point out this morning We can't make too much out of the church, because He makes a lot out of His church. This is His bride. And too much of that role has been diminished. And when you read words like this, He nourishes and cherishes His church. He loves His church. He calls His church His bride. A bride picked out by His Father. His own Father selected this bride. The bride He came to die for, as you know. So this is an amazing statement. Nourishes and cherishes it as Christ does the church because we are members of His body. So there it is. What I want to tell you about this morning from this passage, from our passage, is the reason for which Jesus Christ is the head of the church. There's going to be five of these. And it will all begin with, He is the head of the church for the sake of. And then we have five reasons that He is primarily the head of the church. So first of all, we learn from Scripture and from Ephesians and other places that He is head of the church for the sake of grace. For the sake of grace. Jesus loves the church. with a love that's hard for us to even comprehend, much less emulate any portion of. He loves the church. He lovingly provides this nourishment we saw in Ephesians 5. The nourishment that's necessary to keep it healthy, but he provides that because, as I said, he cherishes it, as the text says. So he's intimately and indissolubly united with the body, his church. Connected by this love to this boundless, steadfast love that he has. So it's his steadfast, boundless love that prompts him to extend grace. It's that same love, that cherishing, steadfast, boundless love that bids him, compels him to extend grace to undeserving sinners. That's what grace is. Favored, bestowed on an undeserving person. for no other reason than that the impetus is this amazing love. So He must be, and He is the head of the church because of His grace. For the sake of His grace. I want you to keep your finger in, Ephesians. If you'll flip back to Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter 1, an amazing passage. Beginning in verse 3 to verse 6, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Boy, could we preach that. Even as He, now it gets amazing. Even as He chose us in Him, God chose us, the Father chose us, chose a bride for His Son in Him, in Christ, before the foundation of the world. Why? That we should be holy and blameless before Him. What was the impetus? What are the next two words? In love He marked us out. In love He set the horizon line, the Puritzo. In love He predestined us for adoption. I will adopt these that I love. In love He predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will, to the praise of His glorious what? Grace. So love moves to grace. When you love your spouse, when you love your child, you extend them quite often favor they don't really deserve, right? Often, well, hopefully you do that once in a while. Of course you do. And Christ is the one who's made that possible before it was a selfish love that was self-seeking, which isn't love. Throughout Ephesians, Paul's writing of the love of Christ, for he has for us the love that we are to return to him. It's to be a reciprocal love. Like the nervous system or the blood flow, the respiratory system, whatever you will, the circulation of the blood continues to flow. through the head, down through the body, through the head, down through the body. That's how love is supposed to work. So if you look at love, it's that connective tissue as that light blood that flows through the body, His church, I think we'll be right on track. Because love is unending like the blood flow is. The blood keeps flowing in the living body. It never stops. It continues to go because it's regulated by the head, by the brain. It continues to flow, continues to flow, unless there is damage. Unless there is some malfunction, it continues. Ephesians 2, 4 and 5, a beautiful passage. 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. You see, He found you, continuing the analogy of a body, as a dead, lifeless, flat-lining cadaver, spiritually. You were dead, the first part of that chapter tells us, in your trespasses and sin. It killed you spiritually like it did Adam and Eve, our first mother and father. And so, as a result, we ever since have been stillborn, spiritually. So He came and He brought us life. And there's that emphasis again. It was His great love that breathed life into us. That connected a living head to a body and brought it to life. When we were dead in our trespasses and sinning, He made us alive together with Christ. By grace, you have been saved. So He's the head for the sake of His grace. If He had no grace, He would have no way of expressing His love. His love would be locked up. It would be frustrated. It would be stifled. Love gives where love is not deserved. That's grace. So, He is the head for the sake of His grace. He receives glory for the sake, in other words, of, as the text says in Ephesians 1, verse 6, because of His glorious grace. This grace extended when you give favor, you show the glory of God and so did He by animating our lifeless lives. His great love is expressed this way in grace. It's one thing to love someone. It's quite another to love an enemy to the extent of allowing your only son to be killed on their behalf, isn't it? As he says in chapter 3 of Ephesians, verse 19, Oh, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. Hard to fathom that kind of love. Mostly, as fallen creatures, we only know a love that's self-seeking. It's only after the things that I want. That's what we inherited in our sin nature. So, unless we're converted, that's who we are by default. But because of conversion, because of transformation of the heart, I now receive a love foreign to me. It's shed abroad in my heart. Romans 5 and verse 5. So that it might flow through me and out to other people and back up to God. Like a circulatory system. Ephesians 4 chapter 1 and 2, I therefore prisoner before the Lord urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you had been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love." There is the love extended out. First up to Him. I love Him because He first loved us. And then out we love one another. That same lifeblood That same love being expressed back to Him and then out to others. Chapter 5 and verse 1 and 2, Therefore, be imitators of God. As beloved children, walk in what? Love. As Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Chapter 6 and verse 23 and 24, He finishes His letter this way, Peace be to the brothers and love with faith. from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Here it is. Grace be with you all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with love incorruptible. I would suggest that he's competing with the apostle of love, John. This is an epistle of love, no? Yes. It permeates the entire... from chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. We see love. and typically connected to grace, and that grace connected to His glory. For the sake of His love, for the sake of His grace, He is the head. He gave life to provide life to a dead body, mine. And for the sake of grace, He bowed His head in death that mine might be lifted in new life. And so the psalmist in Psalm 3 and verse 3, but you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head." The lifting of the head was something that only a sovereign was able to do. He alone lifts the head. When you went into the presence of a sovereign, of a king, royalty, you bent the knee and you bowed the head. It shows obeisance. It shows respect. It shows submission. And when we do that, and folks listen, only when we do that does He come and lift up our head. It's beautiful because He did that with His own Son. Read Philippians 2 verse 5-8. He emptied Himself to the point of death so that in that lowly state of humility the Father might lift Him up. So, He bowed His head in death in ultimate humility and sacrifice that the Father might have reason to lift mine up and spare my life. And so, He is my head. He is the head of this body, His body, the church. Second, so He is the head of the church for the sake of His grace. Second, He is the head of the church for the sake of His guiding. Jesus is, you could say, first of all, since the church is an organism, His body is the organic head of the church. And continuing with our look into our little science lesson on So this is guiding. For the sake of guiding, he is the head of the church and this is the function in the human brain of the cerebrum. It's necessary that he be the head of the church because we need guidance as a body. The head houses the physical faculties and proper functioning of the mind. This can't be overstated. We've been talking a lot about this recently and we need to continue talking a lot about it. Because the mind is the first place where sin is born or where righteousness is formed. The choices that we make. If the head is damaged, the mind is detrimentally affected. If you've dealt with or counseled or worked with any brain injury people, you see that they aren't functioning well in their minds. the current issue with the concussion that professional football players are receiving, that they're giving attention to now and I'm glad they are. They're turning their brains into mush in those brain buckets called helmets. They're getting bashed over and over again like a boxer. So, when that happens and the brain is jarred and damaged, your reason is affected, your mind, is affected, the proper functioning of your mind. A lot of times with brain injury you have people that lose their temper quickly. They almost have no control over their temper. Right? Some of you are familiar with that, that are familiar with medical issues. So with this main feature of the head being the brain, the brain is obviously the physical arena. where thinking, perceiving and judging and reasoning are played out. Because as I said, the cerebrum controls the thinking, reasoning, calculating, problem solving, interpreting of visual information. Are you confident apart from Christ and apart from your salvation experience of the way you perceive your life? Are you confident that you perceive it accurately 100%? Or do you need a head, an exalted head, a pure and holy one whose mind is perfect, whose wisdom is infinite, whose reasoning is perfectly logical? Do we need that? For the sake of His guiding, we need the head of this body. The brain also provides clear vision, so you can see things accurately. We help each other. Because my vision is fallen and your vision is fallen by virtue of your fallen nature, we need this. These are our lenses, if you will, to see things accurately. We must look through the lens of Scripture. We need glasses, spiritually speaking. This takes place in the head. If we're going to be guided, we need a clear vision. The senses that report to the brain are gathered, evaluated and interpreted there, as I mentioned earlier, which send signals then to the body. Danger, move away. This is something pleasant and good drawn near. That's what the Lord does in this role as He guides in that position as our organic head, the head of the church. divine faculties for right thinking. Through the Word and through the Spirit that has renewed you and given you the power and by the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, you can now see accurately with accurate and right judgment. But it has to be through the lens of His mind, which is revealed where? Scripture. gives us right thinking, reasoning, judging, guiding, and having been giving the mind of Christ through His Word and His Spirit, we can see accurately wherein we should walk. That's what the human brain does for the body. And that's what the spiritual head, our living Christ, does for our mind. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 12-16 gives us biblical support for this idea. Now we have received not the spirit of the world. That'll cause me to stumble like one with poor vision. Right? We've not received the spirit or the wisdom of the world. Right? Which James calls earthly, sensual, and demonic. Things that seem right to man. I need some way of seeing clearly. We have not received the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is the Holy Spirit, who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given to us by God. You see, this is as role as our head. And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Holy Spirit, interpreting truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. He puts these glasses on, so to speak, and it just makes everything blurry. It doesn't make any sense. What's this? We put them on because the Spirit dwells in us and it's a corrective lens. It's the only corrective lens we have on this earth. It's the only thing that transcends the writings, the determinations, and the musings, the judgments of man. The best they can do is stumble and stagger across a truth. But that's typically by accident, not by any wisdom from above. The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They're folly to him. Typically, you know, you're considered a sort of a simple fool, if all you hold to for your life and to help others, Bible. They don't understand this. They're folly to Him and He is not able to understand them because they are what? Spiritually discerned through that lens with the Holy Spirit. The spiritual person, on the other hand, judges all things. That's our lens. But is Himself to be judged by no one. And then this amazing, amazing last verse. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? And yet, men do in their books, in their volumes, through their sciences. They say, I know. And they're made fools. Who has known or understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? Think Job. Where were you when I created the world? Where were you when that fawn was being born. Where were you when I hung the stars in their heaven? Set them on their course. Where were you when I created Leviathan leaping through the oceans? Where were you? This is an amazing statement. For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct Him? Now, brace yourselves, folks. But we have the mind of Christ. He is our head because we need his mind. That's why we spend a lot of time on the Logos. The understanding of the divine mind for which in Christ you have full access. And yet this access is denied whenever the lens, so to speak, the Scriptures are set down and not consulted or thought not sufficient or inadequate. I'll look from this book to the thoughts and interpretations of one Dr. Phil. I'll look to Minarth and Meyer. Because those guys have something important from science to add. You have just been told you have the mind of Christ. Where again, folks, is it revealed? in the Bible, utterly sufficient, completely adequate and fully practical. There is nothing missing in terms of our life or godliness or how to interpret. It helps us to judge, to reason. It helps us perceive things rightly. I don't know where we would be if we had not been given this Word. We would not have clear vision, that's for sure. The senses that report to the brain are gathered and evaluated and then direction is given. The organic head of his body, the church, has received the divine faculties for right thinking. Three, he's not only the head of the church for the sake of his grace to give expression to his love. He's not only the head of the church for the sake of guiding, for the sake of clear vision so that we have right judgment, understanding and perceiving. Because apart from that, folks, you're going to be confused, hurt, misdirected, shipwrecked. He's the head of the church for the sake of his governing. Now this is his role. His two roles as the head of the church. This is his role as the ruling head. So three for government. We need a head. We talk about the head of the state, the head of government. This is that role. Jesus is not only the organic head, he is the ruling head. My brain, your brain, has authority over your bodies. Think of it. You can't lift a finger. You can't roll your eyes without your brain telling them to do so. Right? You can't nod without your brain just told you to. You can't smile, turn your head, or drop your head and meditate without your brain telling you to do so. True? So it has a ruling authority, and so does Jesus. So this would be, speaking to it in our brain analogy, anybody know? The cerebellum. Because that has ruling authority over proper functioning, the direction whatever movements come from the body, come by way of the cerebellum. That second part in the back. It controls and harmonizes our motor skills and our balance, as I said, our posture, our movements, our coordination, and other physical functioning. So, think of that in terms of the body of Christ, the church. Same thing. He governs. He's the exalted head, not only as an organism providing nourishment and life through the blood and providing the thinking through the cerebrum, He also is overseeing by way of authority as the prototokos, how that body functions, what it can and cannot do. We talk about open doors and closed ones. We talk about things we just can't seem to do and things we're able to do. Paul wanted to go to Asia and the Lord said what? The Holy Spirit said, no, no, you're not going. That's Paul. So, you ought to feel comfortable when you can't do things that you want to. So, a malfunction, again, A damaged brain, again, damage to the cerebellum would provide for a stumbling, staggering body, just like damage to the cerebrum would cause a blindness or improper thinking, a madness, if you will. Damage to the mind, this is damage to the body and its functioning. By His supreme power and authority given to Him by God the Father, Jesus is a sovereign ruler over all things. And we learned that as we saw Him in His role as creator of all things from verse 16. All things, in verse 16, were created through Him and for Him. So He is, as we'll see in the second half of verse 18, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be. preeminent. So, He's the ruler over all things. He's the ruler and the commander over the body, the church. He commands all bodies, whether bodies celestial or bodies terrestrial. Celestial or terrestrial. Whether they're physical bodies here on earth or whether they're heavenly bodies in their courses. He is controlling all of those things. as we saw His role just before as sustainer at the end of verse 17. In Him all things hold together. So putting these together provides an amazing depiction of who Jesus Christ is. Ephesians 1 and verse 22, He put all things under His feet. That's the Father. God giving Jesus all things. Put them under His feet and gave Him as head over all things to the church. So this is His ruling role. But this connection is still one of love. It connects the organic head and the ruling head. Sovereign oversight that He is as He reigns over the universe and serves the purposes and interests of His body, the church. And as I was reflecting on that, In other words, He reigns sovereign over all bodies, celestial and terrestrial. Everything is sustained by Him as the One who holds all things together and sets them in their course. For what reason? To protect, sustain, keep, and provide for His bride. And so the world turns for His Bride. And so the temperatures are regulated for His Bride. The tides are regulated for Your sake. The sun stays in its course, warms You, provides light, provides growth to vegetation to feed You through photosynthesis so that You can continue to sustain life All because, for the sake of His bride, the church. Isn't that amazing? He said to Peter in Matthew 16, verse 18, second half and first half of 19, on this rock I will what? build my church. And here's how important, you want to see how important it is to Him? You want to see how important you are to Him? The gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. That belongs to you. This belongs to you. I'm raising up cattle and vegetation to feed you. I bring up the waters out of the earth. I cause them to flow from a rock if I need to, to water my people. I oversee them. I feed them with manna dropping from heaven if I have to. I feed them. I care for them. So much do I love them. So much will nothing, no ruling authority, no dominion, no power, no darkness, no governments, no tyrants, no one will come against my body, the church. All of this is given up for you. Now what do you need to muck around with self-esteem for? What a bunch of junk. I can't feel more important or special or dignified when I reflect on that. All that Christ holds together for your sake and mine. That Son is up there for you. Do we acknowledge that each day? With appreciation? With praise? No, we grumble when it's cloudy. When it rains, we bow down and praise the Lord. We raise our voices up as we think of all the farmer's fields that are sprouting new growth and the fruit trees that are bearing luscious fruit to feed us. That's what we do, don't we? No, we grumble because it's raining. Who's that rain for? Does He need rain? He created these and He put them in their storehouses. Everything from hail to thunder and lightning and clouds with rain. He made physical things. Does He need any of that? Your God is what? Spirit. He doesn't need any of it. Well, then what on earth is it for? Wow. You're kidding. No. For His glory. and the good of His bride, you. He loves you. I don't know about you, but that gives me serious pause to take my next step. Will it be in selfish pursuit, or will it be in full-throated full court press appreciation in service and sacrifice for the One who has given me all things to enjoy. Will I grumble? Probably. The Sustainer, the One who upholds all things in the entire universe, keeps them functioning for one crucial reason. The survival of His Bride, His Body, He keeps His body alive. He would reckon Himself non-existent, if you will, if He had no body. He can't just be a head. He created all things through Him. All things were made by Him and for Him. And so Paul says emphatically in 1 Corinthians 6, what? Don't you know that your bodies are what? the members of Christ. So, it struck him as well. Shall I take then the members of Christ and cause them to sin in immorality? Oh my goodness. Folks, we need to jack this up, don't we? We need to lift this up where it belongs. This needs to change our life and the course of it. This needs to affect the things that I choose to think about and dwell on and savor and stroke and pet in my dark little heart. Who knows what I'll stroke or pet or call as my greatest affection if I'm blind. The black fly in Africa that causes river blindness has a little parasite in it. When it bites, it plants this little parasite that makes you blind. And I remember hearing John Piper talk about that. So those who don't look at their life through the grid to see properly, to see things as they are, can find themselves petty, that black fly and calling it velvet. Now if Christ is both organic and ruling head over his body, the church, that means the church in no sense, whatever, is dependent on any other creature or angel. That's Paul's point. He is our head. And the reason He makes that point is because they're suggesting otherwise. You could not be saved were it not for the role of angels. And Jesus is just another emanation from God. That's all He is. He's no Savior. He's no God. In one passage, Paul wipes that off the map and says, this is who He is. And in second The second chapter of Colossians, verse 18-19, he says, let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions puffed up without reason by his, listen, sensuous mind and holding instead fast to the head. How do we hold fast to the head again? What's the connective tissue called? Love. Love connects the head to the body. Love provided the blood that keeps it alive. Four. He's the head of the church for the sake of growing. So he's the head of the church for the sake of the expression of his love, which is grace, for the sake of grace. He's the head of the church, secondly, for the sake of his guiding, but he's also the head of the church for the sake of growing. growth. Chapter 2, Paul mentions the surest measure to take in avoiding being led away by heretical teaching. It's to hold fast to the head, and that is through the return circulation of love. If love goes out one way, if there is an exit wound, it bleeds out and dies. Holding fast to the head is you loving Him. Those who are teaching heresy from a sensuous mind, as he said, are not holding fast to the head. They do not love God. They love themselves. From whom the whole body, he says, look at this, holding 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. This is brilliant. defensively. This is brilliant apologetically. Because what were the Greek dualists against? Found abhorrent. Said there's no redeemable purpose for it. What? Anything physical. He just connected the living Christ saying He's God and He's connected to us. He provides all of the nourishment. In this analogy, He wipes out all that heresy. Because of His love, He nourishes. Because of His love, we are knit together and He provides the necessary growth as our organic head again. He supplies this nourishment. He nourishes us. Remember Ephesians 5? So now, we're looking at foregrowing. This relates to what part of the brain? The third one, the brainstem, right. The brainstem. We have thinking, reasoning, judging, perceiving in the cerebrum and we have balance, functioning, movement, direction from the cerebellum And now we have growth from the brain stem. This brain stem connects the brain to the spinal column. It carries various critical internal life functions such as regulating the breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, temperature, and sleeping, as I said. But at the base of the vertebrae is something called the pituitary gland. Who knows what that is? You know what that is, right? The pituitary gland is in charge of what? What does it cause? Growth. Did you ever hear of a pituitary dwarf? I don't know if that's politically correct or not. A pituitary small person. Something happened to it and it's arrested in its growth and so they're smaller people. They just aren't very big. They don't look like, is it okay to say midgets? I don't even know anymore. Short people. Thank you. They don't look like short people. That's a different issue. Pituitary gland being arrested in some kind of way, something happening. malfunctioning. They're just people that are smaller of stature. I knew a man like that, who was a friend of my brother's when we were younger. So they nicknamed him Pit. Isn't that friendly? You can tell we weren't Christians when we grew up. So the pituitary gland, however, it controls the endocrine glands that influence growth metabolism and maturation. It provides the other endocrine glands that regulate the growth and maturation in our bodies. This is His role. In Him we have all that we need for the growth and the maturity in Christlikeness, right? both the things He causes externally, as we talked about, and the things that are going on internally, as He's producing them internally through the power of His Word and the Spirit. So it's through the power of the Word and the Spirit where He uses external circumstances, things we suffer, things we go through, people we're stuck with, I mean, people we're married to, for our spiritual growth. That's why marriage is challenging. I mean, who says their marriage isn't challenging? I'd love to talk to you because there was something arrested in the brain somewhere along the way for you. It's a challenge because we're all sinners. It's not easy. So he uses those things. He knows exactly who you're married to because he gave you him or her. And he did that because he loves you. And he did that because he is in charge of your growth. You have exactly the person that you need to grow in Christ's likeness. Whether that growth has been arrested in you is between you and the Lord. But that's what His role is. Ephesians 4 again. Ephesians 4, 15 and 16. Now look at this verse that you're familiar with in this context. Rather, speaking the truth in love. That's what keeps everything connected. That's the blood that keeps things alive. 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 which is equipped when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love." It's all about the love of God, isn't it? God so loved the world that He did all of this, particularly putting His Son through what He went through. It's all about God looking to give expression to His love, so He did that through His grace. And He does that so that He can guide. He does that so that He can govern. And He does that so you and I can grow. That's His role as head. Growth and transformation is a work from the inside out, isn't it? And its power to transform is love. Love is the driving force that makes me grow. I love God. I love His Son. So I love the place that He's revealed. So I love His Word. And you talk to Christians that haven't spent much time in the Bible this week. Are you kidding me? Take your spiritual pulse. Is your body alive? Your spiritual body? How can you say you love Him? Spend a week without your spouse. I better not say that. You'll probably say, great, sure, I'll spend a week without my spouse. Bye. You don't get married and then fly off somewhere. We're infatuated with our spouse. We love our spouse. When Barbara and I are apart for short times, I think about her the whole time. I can't wait to be back with her again. That has no comparison to how much I love Christ. He's my life. I think about Him every moment. For 22 years I've not known a single day without thinking about Him. And hopefully there's very few where I didn't have opportunity to come. to the place that He's revealed Himself, to the place where He guides me, to the place where He extends His grace to me, to the place where He governs my life and watches over me as I look at everything turning in their course for my benefit, the place where I can be promised that I'm growing like Him, where I can have virtues that look like His, where I can love my wife the way I'm supposed to, where I can love you the way I'm supposed to, where I can love people that are lost and dying the way I'm supposed to. You disconnect from this, what do you have? What do you have? Are you satisfied with that? I'm not for me. I know too much about my wickedness, my failings, and my sin-fallen nature. I must stay connected. And it's that love that compels me. The love of Christ compels you. 2 Corinthians 5.14 Otherwise, please take your spiritual pulse. Are you talking to Him? Are you praying? Do you speak to Him regularly? That's the connective tissue. That's the reciprocity of love. He's pouring it down in His Word and I bring it back up in my adoration and praise of Him. I need Him every day. Just like I need a cerebrum, a cerebellum and a brain stem. I need someone to control the functioning of my breathing. I need somebody to help me to think rightly. I need somebody to help this body to function the way it was meant to instead of immorality and selfish pursuits. I bid you love Him. That's why He came for you. That's why He saved you. Find Him. Go after Him with zeal. That love that is not in hot pursuit. I agree with the Puritans. I know there are those that disagree with me. That love that does not have hot pursuit of Him is not worthy of Him. We cheapen love. We diminish The sacrifice on the cross, if we do not go after Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. And isn't that, after all, how He defined it as the most important commandment? I want your love. I want your life. And I promise you life, He says. I promise to stay connected so that I can give you hope, give you the nourishment, because I cherish you. This is so convicting for me. Love was the driving force that, as I said, put the entire redemptive enterprise into motion and continues to function and move today. And now, this love has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit for a reason. Romans 5, 5. The love of God being shed abroad. I love that. way of expressing it in Romans 5.5. It's in the persic tense, which means that it's a past event with ongoing effects. Isn't that wonderful? He did it. I wouldn't have done it. I love me. I still fight with loving me. But He shed His love, connective tissue, the connective lifeblood He sent down. He sent it down. and to a domain of darkness. And to that exousia of groping in the darkness for myself, He sent it down. His Son took His robe off, the robe of majesty. He took it off and He plunged down into the murky, dark depths to retrieve me. His love sent Him down. And He breathed life and He pulled me up. He performed CPR. Huh? There's a heartbeat again. There's royal blood coursing through my veins now. Now my head, which was bowed when it understood its need, has been lifted up. It's been lifted up. Is that you? Is that you? I pray. All love, John Owen wrote, in general has an assimilating efficacy, a power to make you look like the object of your love. All love has in general, you know, married couples after a while that love one another start taking on characteristics of each other, right? Opinions of things shared. Views of things shared. But he goes on. All love in general has an assimilating efficacy. It casts the mind into the mold of the thing beloved. This is awesome. It casts the mind into the mold of the thing beloved. So I love Him. Where can I find Him? Lord, right here. My son, look here. Look here. I've painted this picture for you. I want you to be engrossed by it. I want you to be enamored by it. I want your face in it. I want your heart in it. And when you lift your head up, you'll look like Him. Isn't that what you want? It has an assimilating efficacy. Cast the mind into the mold of the things that it loves. Love has that power. Love brought you to life. Love keeps you breathing and gives your loved ones who know Him not another day's sunshine. Praise the Lord. Yes. We pray for those in our family that aren't saved. He keeps their heart beating so gracious and patient is His love. He hears our prayers. He records our cries. He stores our tears in His bottle. The psalmist said, Owen, every approach unto God by ardent love and delight is transfiguring. All He bids you is love Him. But that means that all He bids you is all. He wants all of you, or He wants none of you. Five, and finally, He's the head of the church for the sake, of course, of His glory. For the sake of the glory of Christ, He is our head. This is what it's all about. Ephesians 1.22-23 He put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fulfills all in all." The brain reacts either voluntarily or involuntarily to stimulus. The head brings life into the body. The head gives each particular body part its unique purpose and meaning. We're out of time, but you read 1 Corinthians 12. Verse 12-27 on your own. That's where it talks about you and I in the church of Jesus Christ as His body. Many parts becoming one. Functioning as one body. No one weak or indispensable. No one exalted higher than the other. There's no division in the body. But the members may have the same care for one another. The love goes on because we are in a common mission, functioning together as one body. If one member suffers, what? We all suffer. If one member is honored, we all rejoice. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. The body owes its life, its health, its vitality, its strength, its meaning, its purpose, all of it. its usefulness to the head. Let me close with Revelation 19, 5-9 and 11-16. Revelation 19, 5-9 and 11-16. And from the throne came a voice saying, Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him small and great, Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, the roar of many waters, and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying, hallelujah, for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exalt and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, write this. Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true words of God." Verse 11, Then I saw heaven opened up, and behold, a white horse. And the one sitting on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire and on His head are many diadems. And He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. The name by which He is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty and on His robe and on His thigh. He has written the name King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I beg you, make yourself ready. He comes in a different role. when He comes again. Make yourself ready. Love Him. That was His intention for His love for you. Let's pray. Father, we do love You. We have this strange mixture of both love and fear which we learn saves our life, saves us from ourselves Any clear-thinking human being, any reasonable, rational Christian mind will surmise that you are coming again to make war. Lord, save us. Save our lives. May we be safe in You, our exalted Head. May we follow You. remaining connected. Lord, help us to love you the way you call us to. In the name of your Son, Jesus, we pray and for his glory. Amen.