Headship: Radical Servanthood

Dec. 24, 2016 | By Taffi Dollar

Summary

Jesus is our example of how a servant’s heart is necessary for headship. Jesus came to offer all of what He has to everyone, male and female, and allow everyone to partake of His fullness. He overcame the enemy when He died on the cross, went to hell, and was resurrected. He wants all His children to benefit from this victory. He has the advantage over darkness, sin, and the Law, and now He wants to give us this advantage. As the head of the church and our ultimate servant-provider, Jesus is the source of all our growth. He did not come to dominate us, but to provide for us by serving us.

A. Christ chose to share all His power and authority with us, and He did it in love.
  1. He has put all things under Jesus’ feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:22, 23).
    1. In this Scripture, Jesus is described as the supreme source of headship.
    2. He did not come to lord over the church or dominate it, but to serve it. He came to position us to partake of His power and share in His gifts.
    3. As the church, Jesus fills us so we can grow and develop.
  2. Speak the truth in love so that we may grow up into him in all things. Christ is the head from whom the whole body is fitly joined together (Ephesians 4:15, 16).
    1. It is Jesus Who causes us to grow and fit together as one. This is His will for us.
    2. God is concerned that each joint of the body of Christ operates at its fullest potential.
    3. “Kephale” is the Greek word for headship. It also means the source of life, but it does not mean rulership.
    4. Kephale embodies the spirit of servanthood in the same way that Jesus did when He gave His life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45).
  3. Christ is the head of the body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have preeminence (Colossians 1:18).
    1. Jesus is our Originator and the Completer of our salvation. Our completion is in Him, not in any mortal man.
  4. Not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints, nourished and knit together, increases with the increase of God (Colossians 2:19).
    1. Christ is the Head from Whom the whole body grows. He nourishes the entire body.
    2. His intent was never to control or rule over. This is not His relationship with the Church.
    3. He is the Servant Who gives us love, new mercies, and the opportunity to fellowship with Him at any time.
B. Jesus’ example of servanthood teaches us what true submission is all about.
  1. Submit yourselves one to another in the fear of God. Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as unto God. The husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the savior of the body (Ephesians 5:21-23).
    1. When couples get married and become one flesh, it is important for both people to understand the spirit of true submission to each other. Submission is not based on gender.
    2. We must respect and serve each other as members of the body of Christ.
    3. Having a reverential fear of God does not mean being afraid of Him. He will not punish us or have mood swings from one day to the next. His Word remains constant, and He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
    4. We will not have to experience God’s wrath, because God poured out His wrath on Jesus when Jesus was on the cross.
    5. Husbands who are the heads (or the kephale) of their wives are their enablers. They bring them to completion in the same way that Christ brings the Church to completion.
  2. The head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God (1 Corinthians 11:3).
    1. We must understand that “head” means “source” or “base.” We see this when we remember that Eve came out of Adam.
    2. When Paul wrote this, he was not thinking of hierarchy or a chain of command. He was thinking of Christ’s supreme expression of His servant ministry, and of Him being the original Giver of life (Colossians 1:16; Colossians 2:10).

Scripture References

Ephesians 1:22, 23

Ephesians 4:15, 16

Matthew 20:28

Mark 10:45

Colossians 1:16, 18

 

Colossians 2:10, 19

Ephesians 5:21-23

Hebrews 13:8

1 Corinthians 11:3

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