Sunday: “Who’s Going to Be the Head of the Church?”
Earlier this month, Alinn@’s parents asked me this question when they found out about the Kims’ departure for Globe: Who’s going to be the head of the church?
When they asked me the question, the Lord reminded me of Ephesians 4:15. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
And though we would all agree that Christ is the head of the church, we have the hardest time putting it into practice. This isn’t a problem that’s unique to the present day. This has been true of God’s people for a few millenia.
When the nation of Israel took hold of the land of Canaan, God was king over them. But later, the people of Israel demanded a king and in so doing, rejected God as their king and having direct rule over their lives. 1 Samuel 8:6-7.
6 But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. 7 And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.
Later, Joel wrote about a “Day of the Lord”, a day in the future when God’s Kingdom would be made manifest on Earth and the Lord would once again rule over His people. Joel 2:28.
And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Pentecost, as recorded in the book of Acts was the fulfillment of this prophecy in Joel. The Lord’s Spirit was poured out on all people, not just the king or a priest. And the early church believed this, though they also had a hard time putting it into practice. It didn’t take long before the church established the office of the pope to clarify and unify doctrine, and unify and lead the church. He wasn’t a king, but the pope still served as a mediator between God and His people.
The Protestant Reformation revolted against the establishment of this mediator and believed that all people could access and understand Scripture and in the process access God. But again, the Protestant church had a hard time putting this into practice. We erected our own seminaries to produce doctrinally correct graduates to teach and lead the rest of the church how to properly handle a relationship with the Lord. We call our mediators pastors.
And now, with the Kims’ departure, we’re mediator-less… but we’re not headless. Our head, Jesus Christ remains the same. And so, we now have an incredible opportunity to recapture the Lord’s design for us, His people. We have an incredible opportunity to see that we do not need a mediator to stand between us and the Lord. The Spirit’s been poured out to all people. We can have a direct relationship with Him. Let’s take advantage of this opportunity to open ourselves up to the possibility that we can connect directly to Christ and thus, have Him as our head.
