The Body of Christ

Ephesians 1:22–23 ESV

And 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 fills all in all.

Introduction

On June 19, 1903, Heinrich and Christina, German immigrants to the US were blessed with a son. They had had three children before him, but each of them had died in infancy. Lou was their only child to survive. Christina doted over the boy and worked hard to build up character that would serve him the rest of his life. In fact, as an adult, Lou was known for his humility, his work ethic, and his leadership skills. To know Lou was to love him.

In 1923, just four days before his twentieth birthday, Lou got to do what few people were ever able to do: he played baseball with Babe Ruth—not just once, but over 1,200 times. The two of them would lead the Yankees to win three World Series championships—each time sweeping their opponents (including the St. Louis Cardinals in 1928).

Babe retired in 1934, but not Lou. Lou kept playing at first, leading the Yankees to win another three World Series championships in 1936, 37, and 38. But something changed in 1938. Lou began to slow down. He became a bit uncoordinated. His power was gone and he would tire so easily. After 2,130 consecutive games, batting a lifetime average of .340, hitting 463 home runs, winning 6 World Series, and being baseball’s MVP twice, Lou took himself out of the lineup early on in the 1939 season. His body was not cooperating.

He took himself to the doctor’s and had a number of tests performed. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). On July 4, 1939, Lou Gehrig retired from baseball, delivering a short but powerful and tear-filled speech, stating, “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth,” before a packed-out stadium. Two years later, Gehrig was dead, as his nervous system slowly ceased to send signals from his brain to his body.

Beloved, we understand the function of the body. It is to carry out the demands of the brain—the head. When the body begins to rebel against the head, we know immediately that something is dangerously and maybe even lethally wrong. If that is true for the natural body, how much more so for the mystical body of Christ?

This morning, we are examining what Paul says about us—the Church, the mystical body of Christ—in relation to the head as we open up Ephesians 1:22-23. Paul reveals two vital requirements of the Church’s union with Christ: the Head must exercise authority over the Body, and the Body must engage in activity for the Head.

The Head Must Exercise Authority Over the Body

The Body Must Engage in Activity for the Head

Prayer

The Head Must Exercise Authority Over the Body

The first requirement that Paul reveals about the Church’s union with Christ is that, as head, he must exercise authority over the body.

Ephesians 1:22 ESV

And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,

As we look at this verse, we need to notice that Paul makes a distinction about Christ’s relationship in regards to creation in general and to the Church in particular.

In regards to creation as a whole, we see that Paul continues on with what we studied last week. In verse 21, we read that Christ is seated in the heavenly places

Ephesians 1:21 ESV

far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

Thus, Jesus’s throne—his authority—is so much higher, so much greater than anything in the physical or spiritual world could ever muster. Every name that we associate with greatness pales in comparison to the name of our Lord.

The Powerful: Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander, Julius Caesar—mere pushovers compared to King Jesus.

The Profound: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle—pretenders standing next to Jesus, the very personification of wisdom.

The Prestigious: Solomon, Elon, Mark, Warren—paupers in rags beside Jesus and his storehouse of heavenly treasures.

And all these people, all these positions, all these paragons of mind, might, and money bow at the feet of Jesus. But not these only—but all things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth.

We’d have to go back a few weeks, but do you remember what the plan of God is? Do you remember the puzzle that the kids put together to demonstrate what Jesus is doing? Jesus is actually bringing everything together under his own headship. By his own power and authority Christ is putting all those broken pieces together. So it is no stretch of the imagination to say that Jesus is head over all. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him (Matt 28:18).

But notice that Paul informed his readers not only that Jesus has been given authority over Creation, but that Jesus himself has been given to the Church! The head of all things has been given to us. I’ll unpack that more in a moment, but let’s be careful how we understand Paul’s statement here. Some might twist this into a “name it and claim it” verse, as if we’re Prince Ali Ababwa and Jesus is a blue Genie with golden bracelets—singing songs, doing a little dance, and granting our every wish. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Instead, Paul is saying that Jesus, the head of all things, has been given to the Church as its head in a more particular way than even creation. Paul calls the Church his body—the Universal Church (or to use a little more archaic language the catholic Church [little c]). But other than authority, what comes with this headship? Let’s see how Paul explained headship later on when pointed out how the husband is the head of the wife, and notice what he says about this relationship:

Ephesians 5:25–29 ESV

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 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. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,

We’ll get to this chapter later in the year, but I want us to quickly notice how Paul displays the relationship of the head and the body; it’s multi-faceted. In this relationship there is love, sacrifice, sanctification and cleansing, presentations, nourishment, and cherishing.

This is how Christ is with his Church. In general, Jesus loves the world and is summing up all things under his headship. In particular, Jesus loves, sacrifices, sanctifies, cleanses, presents, nourishes, and cherishes his Body, the Church. Jesus does not love us in general; he loves us in particular. As Matthew Henry so eloquently stated, “The same power that supports the world supports the church; and we are sure he loves his church, for it is his body, his mystical body, and he will care for it.”

And as Head, he must exercise his authority. But every command, every warning, every word and thought that comes from the Head is loving, sacrificing, cleansing, nourishing, and cherishing—meant to prepare us to be presented before him in splendor.

If we want the splendor and the glory, Christ must exercise his authority as Head.

Beloved, we have a natural bent toward allowing the body to lead while assuming the head will follow. But this is backwards—it’s disordered. We let the body dictate the actions we take—actions that feel good, ease pain, or bring comfort—but those actions will never cleanse us. They will never prepare us for splendor, holiness, or glory.

This is true for us both corporately and individually.

As a body of believers, we must be cautious—not fearful—when it comes to what is “new.” Sometimes the “new” is simply a new spin on old errors, but that doesn’t mean that it always is. What is new can still be faithful and good, so long as it remains under the authority of the Head. Often, the “new” is really the older, godly things we love in renovated form—songs, liturgy, or polity that have been refreshed, yet still rooted in what Christ authorizes.

On the other hand, we also cannot reflexively reject the old. Much of the old has endured because it has been tested and tried—just as we are meant to be. What we must do—always—is let the Head, Christ, dictate to the body through the nervous system of his Word and prayer, guiding the actions we take.

And for us as individuals: because we are part of the Body, we are under the authority of the Head. At some point this week, your body is going to want to lead you—go here, do that, watch this, think that. Everything in you will want to obey the body's impulses. But remember: Christ is your Head. Not your body.

The Body Must Engage in Activity for the Head

Which then takes us to the second requirement that Paul revealed: the body must engage in activity for the head.

Ephesians 1:23 ESV

which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

You may at first glance of this verse say, “Chris, you’re reading a bit too much into it,” but I promise you that I’m not. Think about the what the natural function of the body is supposed to be. If there were no defects in the body, the body would naturally function in a servant’s role. Even with defects and sins, our bodies usually function that way. If I want to move from one side of the pulpit to the other, the only reason I am doing so is because my head tells my body to move and my body moves. If it didn’t move, I would be concerned.

The same goes with the opposite. Typically, our bodies don’t move without the head telling them to do so. Every once in a while, we might get a twitch or a cramp, and so our bodies act outside the instructions of the head. Again, if it persists, we get a bit concerned. If our finger is twitching for more than a day, we’re on WebMD seeing if we have some disorder, don’t we?! Lou Gehrig pulled himself out of the Yankees’ starting lineup and went to the doctor to be tested because his body was acting outside the perimeter of the head.

So, nature says to us that the body engages in activity on behalf of the head. But supernaturally speaking, we the body, just as Paul says, are “the fullness of him,” meaning that we engage in activity on his behalf. Though it has been debated as to which way this fullness goes, we end up ultimately in the same place. Some would say that we fill up Christ. We complete him. What they mean with this is that much like Adam was incomplete without Eve, so Christ is incomplete with out the Church. Or another way to think of it, what good is having a head without a body or a body without a head. Others, and I would fall into this category, would say that the fullness of Christ is poured into the Church. Picture the Church as a drinking glass and Christ a pitcher of ice-cold lemonade. The fullness of the pitcher is poured into the glass, thus filling it to the brim, and the beautiful thing is that the Pitcher is ever full; it is able to fill and be maintain its fullness. He pours out his power, love, guidance, blessings, leadership—what he is full of is poured into his church. How do we become conformed to the image of God’s Son? By being filled with all that make him full.

Whichever way you take it to mean though, the Church must engage in activity for the Head. We are either filling him up as a “help fit” for him and so we are active on his behalf, or he is filling us giving us the power, the strength, the might to constantly be at work for Him.

This is why Paul says that the Church is the fullness of him who fills all in all. Again, we have to go back to Ephesians 1:10. Jesus is uniting all things to himself in heaven and on earth and he is using the Church to do this—the Universal Church, the local church, and even the church member. Why is it that the drinking glass is being filled by the ever-filled, ever-flowing ice-cold lemonade? So that this parched, weary, and broken world can be refreshed, redeemed by Christ. Why is Christ filling us with all that makes him full? Not only so we can experience his fullness, but so that we can express his fullness to those who’ve never known it. So that where the Church is active, so is Christ and his Spirit—thus filling all in all.

If the Church—universal or local—begins to engage in activity for the Body rather than the Head, we cease to be an effective agent for the Spirit, and we actually are at odds with the Head. It indicates something has gone horribly wrong. Like Lou Gehrig, the Body is not receiving impulses from that central nervous system we call Scripture and prayer. There is no life if the body continues this way.

But when the Body engages in its activity as the Head exercises his authority over it, there is not only life, but there is flourishing. That’s what Paul means when he says that Jesus fills all in all. The Body—the Church—has its Head in the heavens, and because the world is broken it cannot see the head. It can only see the body—the fullness of Christ.

Do you recall what Jesus told the disciples just before his arrest?

John 14:12–13 ESV

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

In this text, notice that Jesus says that the reason the disciples—the Church—will do greater things is because Jesus is going to the Father and that they, as the Church, are to pray in his name so that the Father might be glorified through him, which ultimately comes as he is glorified in this world through us! Jesus fills all in all, expands his glory over the world, unites all things to himself and under his feet, through the very Body that still walks and works on this planet.

Brothers and sisters, isn’t it evident that one of the main reasons we find the Western world blaspheming and defaming the Head is because the Body has not shown how glorious the Head truly is. We’ve got churches embroiled in sex scandals and power struggles. We’ve got name it and claim it pulpits preaching a false gospel of prosperity. We’ve got congregations that would rather align with a political party than unity under the King of kings. The Body has developed a kind of spiritual ALS. It isn’t that the Head has ceased to communicate with the Body. Instead, the Body has stopped receiving the messages from the Head!

Some parts of the Body are running amok, acting as if scriptural principles and truth can take on worldly application. Other parts of the Body, in an effort to stay below the radar so as to not offend or raise attention, pretend like those principles and truths don’t even exist!

Both of these actions are symptoms of a disconnection with the Head. But the Head has spoken. It hasn’t left us in the dark as to how we are to engage in activity for him.

Micah 6:8 ESV

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

This is not just some memory verse. This is a call to action!

Conclusion

As we close out these two verses this morning, I want us to understand one more reality. Paul is moving his readers from identity to mission. In fact, he’s doing more than that. Paul is moving from the individual’s identity of being in Christ to a group identity—a world identity. We are the body of Christ and as the body we are on mission to express his fullness to this world. So we’ve seen that Paul gives two essential requirements—one which the Head always fulfills; the other of which the Body often neglects. The first is that the Head must exercise its authority over the Body. The second is that the Body must engage in activity for the Head.

As part of the Universal Church, where do we at Highland View stand? Would you say that we are running amok—giving little thought to what the Head’s direction or running scared—paralyzed and quiet for fear? Or do we, by God’s grace engage our culture, our city, our neighbors in the mission that God has called us to? Let me caution you that we must not answer too quickly so as to give us a pass. It might be that we are adequately and appropriately engaging in the mission, but we don’t want to answer the question flippantly.

Now, let’s bring it closer to home. Being a member of a local church who is under the authority of Christ, where would you say that you stand? Are you purposeful? Are you mindful of the Head’s leadership? Are you running amok or running scared? Is it possible that something you experienced last week—or even something you are expecting to happen this upcoming week—shows you just how easily your body seeks to lead. What would it look like to refocus your loyalties to the Head so that the Body once again listens rather than leads?

We have a gracious God who is not unaware of our weakness. He has become as we are, yet without sin that he might be a sympathetic high priest. Let us then go to him in our time of need and find grace. Not only the grace of forgiveness but of strength as well.

Lou Gehrig’s disease took him from this world within two years of his diagnosis. ALS for the human body is a tyrant and relentless. There is no cure. But for the church, spiritual ALS has a cure: repentance, faith and prayer. These three together restore the connection between the Head and the Body. So if the Spirit is speaking to your heart about a disconnect, perhaps during this prayer we are about to pray or during the song we are about to sing, you might offer up a prayer of repentance and seek a renewal of faith so the Body can take its rightful place of action and the Head its rightful place of authority.