Christ is the Head

At Bob Jones University they do not have fraternities or sororities, but they do have societies—and everyone is a part of one.  I joined one that wasn’t Greek, it was named after a great statesmen: William Jennings Bryan.

Our society verse was Colossians 1:18:

And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence.

Who is Not the Head

The most important thing to take away from this verse is who is not the Head:

• It’s not you.
• It’s not your Pastor.
• It’s not your board of Elders.
• It’s not your board of Deacons.
• It’s not the trustees.
• It’s not the congregation.

Christ alone is the head.  If you’re following the analogy of the body, what body part gives the orders?  Which body part gives the direction?  Which body part does the planning?

Now go back and read the list again—I’ll wait.

Christ is the Head

The reason that this is so radical is that though we say that Christ is the head, we act as though we are.  We make decisions.  We make plans.  Or the typical way a church operates:

Dear God,

We are about to have our VBS this year doing Dinosaurs.  Please bless our ministry, and make it big, because we’ve done some good planning, and we really want to glorify you.

In Jesus Name, Amen.

Do you see the problem?

We told God what we were going to do.

We told the Head what we were going to do.

Core to the Faith

You see, we state as Christians that the main thing that separates us from other religions is that we have a risen Savior.  We have Someone that is alive today, and then we go and act like those who don’t.  We make our own plans, we devise our own strategy, we create strategic plans, and then we ask God to bless it—much like the pagans do.

And then we wonder why things don’t happen the way that we think they should, or we come up with neat little excuses like “God must not have been in it” or try to find something (anything) to pick as a praise from the week.

In the meantime, those that are watching see a group of people doing things in their own strength, and shake their heads.

What I long for is God to be seen for who He is in such a way that the world cannot help but give Him—not me, not my church, etc.—the glory.