The Lordship of Christ

Remote Control

There is a little black thing that almost every house has one, and I suspect with few exceptions becomes the focus of many of many disagreements, and at times, full on conflict. This little black thing I talk of, is none other than the TV remote.

In our house, when the girls turn on the TV, they each want to have hold of it, because the one who holds it, has the power to choose the channel.

What is interesting in this, is that our three girls each know that Fiona and I, as the parents, have the ability to overrule, yet for as much time as they can manage, having that little remote gives them a bit of power.

Now I’m not trying to be too critical of my kids here. This is hardly unusual behaviour. I think it is actually more of a reflection of the human spirit that is in each of us.

The idea that someone else has control over us is a horrible feeling. We might recognise to an extent, having authority figures is necessary, but to the best of our ability, we want to keep some control for ourselves.

Covid restrictions

Let me give another example on a bigger scale.

This last week we passed the milestone of one year since the first case of coronavirus was diagnosed in Australia. Since that time, we have endured, and continue to endure many restrictions in our day to day lives. At times, these restrictions have been quite severe.

Now whether each of these restrictions have been suitably justified, is a question I’m going to leave for another day, the observation I want to make now is that in many of us, it has exposed just how much we hate when those above us try to control us.

Now maybe you might argue that your actually just objecting to unnecessary control, but I suspect in part, its a bit like when someone takes the remote out of your hands. You don’t like losing control.

Jesus is Lord

This morning its not the control of governments that I’m concerned with, rather, its the role of Jesus in our lives, and more specifically, in the church.

Now this is something which as Christians, I dare say we would be quick to agree with - that Jesus is Lord of our life. That we have given him control of our lives.

But here’s the thing. It can be an easy thing to say, but then to keep it in that theoretical world.

You see, there is a problem in living this out the way we should. That is, that we have a tendency to put ourselves first.

It’s like the child who sits down on the couch, saying they recognise that there parent has the final say in the channel, but not letting go of that remote control.

We like to take to heart, the parts of what Jesus says when it suits our particular purpose, but when it becomes hard - like when Jesus tells us to love our enemies, well then we might just twist this a bit to suit our own needs. You know, maybe we can settle to just tolerate them.

This morning I’m going to explore this issue a little further. I’ll give a little consideration to it from a personal perspective, however I want to consider what it means for us as a church. I’ll be arguing quite strongly that we must consider Jesus as the head of the church. But just like in our personal lives, it’s easy to say that, but it is so easy for our own selfish power drives to get in the way that we fail to actually stop and listen to what Jesus is saying.

Now when I consider it from a church perspective, I’m going to do two things. You see, firstly, this is a principle that absolutely every bible believing church should be aiming for, whether it be an Anglican Church, Presbyterian, Pentecostal or whatever. But secondly, once I look at this universal principle, I also want to give consideration to the way that the Baptist church has included it in the way that we do church.

Ephesians

Well, to give us a bit of a Biblical basis for all of this, I’ve chosen a few verses at the end of Ephesians 1, because here Paul is expressing some of basis for these ideas.

So firstly let’s start with a little context of Paul’s letter. Paul is writing a letter to the church in Ephesus as a means to encourage godly living in both church life, family life and their personal lives.

This letter starts in a powerful way. After a fairly typical greeting for Paul, he then launches into this amazing description of how God has chosen us and blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Have you seen that in verse 3: “every spiritual blessing in Christ” - now that’s something worth meditating on for a while. In fact, this whole opening section is worth meditating on as it reminds us just how blessed we are because of what Jesus has done for us.

But then, after this great opener, in verse 15, Paul then launches into describing his prayer for this people and their church. It starts with thanksgiving, but in verse 17, he describes the prayer which will enable this relatively young church get the foundation that it needs.

In verse 17, the prayer is for the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

This is the start. If we are to go down this track which I’m going to describe this morning, we need wisdom. Because at the end of this, there will be countless questions about different scenarios, each with unique set of circumstances, and to navigate it all, we need wisdom.

In order to get this wisdom, Paul adds to this prayer in verse 18.

He says: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you...”, in other words, he wants us to be able to see that blessing which he described in the earlier verses.

But he wants the opening of our eyes to reveal even more.

You see, it’s not just about where we have come, it’s about where we are going as well. And as our eyes are opened to what God is doing, we see power and strength.

In verse 19 he wants us to see the “incomparably great power for us who believe”.

That great power is not inherent in us, but is ours through the power of Jesus.

In verse 20 he reminds us how we know this power is there.

It was powerfully demonstrated as Jesus was raised from the dead and seated in the right hand of the heavenly realm.

The bible is very clear. This resurrection was not some mere allusion. Some have tried to argue that it was some allegorical allusion symbolic of moving forward - but the bible couldn’t be clearer that that is a load of rubbish. Jesus actually rose in bodily form. He physically conquered the one thing that is constant in every single person since the dawn of time - death.

But as Paul reminded us, it didn’t end with just a resurrection. Because Jesus took the top spot in the heavens - something which is hard for us to get our heads around, but through the Spirit, we can begin to comprehend.

As Paul goes on in verse 21 - the implication is that he is now “far above all rule and authority , power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come”.

I’m pretty sure that Paul has covered everything in that verse. There is nothing in this world, neither in the past nor in the future, which Christ is not above.

You know, last year we all watched the US election, and I know that in this room, there are a variety of different views on the matter. But regardless of your view point - whether you think Trump was God’s man, or that Trump had to go - one thing is clear, Jesus was and continues to be, above it all.

In verse 22, Paul continues this idea: “…God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church”.

Now, what I love about this is that even though logic would tell you that if Jesus is over absolutely all things, then the church is going to be included in that - but yet he pulls it out for special mention, because it is in the church that we find this rule on a different level.

You see, if you look at a government, they may or may not recognise the sovereignty that Christ has over them - it doesn’t change the fact that he is, only whether they know or not.

In the church however, it is a different story. Within the church we see a greater awareness of Christ’s sovereignty.

The reality, however, which Paul spells out for us clearly is that the church is not just another organisations among many who are part of sovereign rule - but that the church is none other than the body of Christ, and this body has the fullness of Christ fill every part of it in every way.

Now, I get the impression that Paul is trying to make quite a point here about the church. He’s not saying that the Christ has a cursory role over the church. He’s not some figure head, say like the Queen Elizabeth’s role over Australia. Rather every little section of every single part of the church needs to be completely and utterly shaped by who Jesus is.

Application

So what does this all mean for us? Well, it means at every level of our lives, we need to see Jesus as having authority.

This applies to you on an individual level. Now that doesn't just mean the big decisions. You know, sometimes we need to make big decisions, like changing jobs, or moving town - and if you’re a committed Christian, then you are more than likely going to bring Jesus into your decision making process.

But this isn’t talking about just those big decisions. On an individual level, you should consider this to mean that every aspect of your life should be shaped by Christ and done for Christ. Something as trivial as catching a bus should be done in such a way that you are honouring Christ in your conduct.

But I want to move on from the individual application, and move to considering this from a church perspective.

In a similar way, we can see this as not just applying to the big decisions.

For our church, we’ve been giving consideration lately to some big proposals involving our land. Quite obviously we should be bringing these decisions before Christ, but it’s not just in the big things.

Every thing we do should be shaped by the character of Jesus. If we look at the character of Jesus, and then the character of the church, and we start noticing big difference, we should be asking questions.

Governance structure

But there is another aspect of this which I want to turn to now. And that is to the governance structure of the church.

Now I’m going to get specifically to the Baptist structure in just a moment, but before I do, there is a general principle that must apply to any biblical based church regardless of their structure.

You see, within any church system there needs to be some level of structure. That’s because without structure you get chaos, but God is a God of order not chaos. So we need some system to hold us together in a manageable way.

In some denominations, this will involve a hierarchy that extends beyond the local church and throughout the world. Notably you have the Anglican and Catholic churches in this category. In other denominations, for example some pentecostal churches, it is very leader driven. The pastor, usually with the help of a leadership team make the decision, and then the church follows.

Now in these examples, this concept of Jesus being Lord of all still applies. Because, whatever their structure, they need to recognise that the top person is not the top. The whole structure must (if it is to remain true to its calling), remain under the Lordship of Christ.

Baptist Structure

Which brings me to the Baptist Structure.

Now before I describe it, let me be clear, as much as I like it, and as much as I believe it fits nicely within the Biblical framework, I’m not one to suggest that this is the only true biblical model. No system is perfect, that’s simply because any system is going to include fallible human beings. And the Baptist system is no exception.

A brief history

But before I explain the system, let’s actually step back and have a very brief history lesson.

Baptist history is not usually very well known, so I suspect that many of you don’t really know the origins of the denomination that your connected with.

There’s a good chance you know about the reformation, which kicked off in a big way with Martin Luther taking a stance against the Catholic church. If you want to know more about that, then ask me about it after the service because it is a great story.

You also probably know that in the years that followed, the reformation finally got to England but in quite unusual circumstances. You’ve possibly heard about Henry VIII wanting a divorce and the church refused to give it to him. Again a great story, but one I’ll save for another day.

Well this all happened in the 1500’s. By the late 1500’s, the Church of England (or what we refer to as the Anglican church today) were pretty settled in their way. They had a prayer book and were very rigid in the way they operated. While they had reformed some of their ways from how the Catholic church operated, it became pretty evident that they suffered from some of the same problems that the reformation had fought against. That is that the church became a powerful tool that people used for political means. Unfortunately, I’m not talking about good political involvement, that is, when the church can be a force for positive social change. I’m talking the self-focused kind. When the church was used to promote their own selfish ambition.

A number of believers became alarmed at this. The reformation had taught them to read the bible for themselves, and the realised that this was not the way it should be. The church did not belong to the government, it belonged to God.

And so, a few separatist churches began.

One such church, under the leadership of a man by the name of John Smyth, formed. There were about 80 people in this church, but due to fear of persecution, they fled to the Netherlands in 1609, and this is generally considered the first Baptist Church.

Now there’s a bit more to the story which I might share later, but what I want to highlight is that right from the beginning, fundamental to the essence of the Baptist Church, is this idea of the Lordship of Christ.

They formed because the church they were witnessing in England had made the King of England the head of the church.

Now don’t hear me wrong, I’m not trying to critique the Anglican Church today. As I stated before, when they recognise their structure falling under the Lordship of Christ, then we have no issue. But the Baptist structure was formed to counter a perceived problem.

Today’s structure

Which brings me to what we actually see in Baptist Churches today.

Actually, if you look in the modern Baptist church, you will find a variety of different leadership models. Typically however, a Baptist church will involve the congregation, deacons, elders and pastors.

One of the issues that constantly come up in the Baptist Church is who is the one calling the shots.

You have the deacons who are managing the day to day affairs of the church. In this sense they are calling many of the shots. But you’ve also got the pastors and elders, and they are providing spiritual oversight, so you could say they are calling the shots. But then there are the members in the congregation. They call the pastors, they elect elders and deacons. In the Baptist system, they ultimately hold the whole system to account. They get to have an input on the big decisions. In this regard, you could say they are the ones calling the shots.

The reality however, is the system is designed to ensure that no one person holds all the power. You see, the pastor is not the boss. The deacons are not the boss. Those in the congregation are not the boss.

The boss (if you want to use that word) is Jesus and him alone. And by having a structure that has the checks and balances of all the believers in the church, helps us to remember that Jesus is Lord.

Now as I said, I don’t want to pretend that the Baptist System is perfect. It is very easy for an influential person at any point within the system to learn to use the system to wield power for themselves. This has happened many many times in many Baptist churches.

The important thing that I want to take from all of this is that it is paramount for us as a church to remember that Jesus is the one truly in charge.

As we conduct the various functions of this church - whether you’re doing that as one of the leaders, or as someone within the church, remember that we need to be seeking Jesus for absolutely everything that we are doing. Use our structure as a way to keep the ways of Jesus forefront in all we do.

Conclusion

It is very easy for any of us to fall down the trap of putting ourselves first. This is after all, human nature.

In fact, it is easy to do this while convincing ourselves that we have the interests of others first. That’s because selfishness puts blind spots in our vision.

But with the help of all working together, we can each help each other reduce those blind spots and in the process to see Jesus more clearly. He wants us to do this in community. He has given us each different gifts so that we can help one another.

And in the process, we can help one another keep Jesus as Lord.

To put aside the love of self, and put Jesus in front of every thing we do, whether in the major decisions, or the daily grind we face each day.

Jesus is Lord. He is Lord of everything in this universe. And he is Lord of this Church.

So let me pray...