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HE IS THE HEAD
  COLOSSIANS 1:18
Series:  Armenian Evangelical Confession of Faith - Part Six
Article 11

Pastor Stephen Muncherian
December 7, 1997

I’d like to begin with a true personal story shared by by Linda Riley, director of Called Together Ministries - down in Laguna Beach, California - as she shared it in the current edition of Leadership Magazine. Linda writes:

“We came early to our friend’s funeral. She had been a member of our church for years - before leaving during a church split. The split was now a decade old memory. We had been able to reconcile with many. Others we saw only at funerals or weddings.

After visiting with the bereaved, we took our seats with our children in the middle of the nearly empty church. Soon, another family entered, the family who had led the charge out of our church doors so many years ago. This man had waged a vicious campaign, culminating in our senior pastor’s suicide. He still publicly embarrassed and berated anyone he encountered who attended our church.

Though there were a hundred empty pews on each side of the aisle, his wife and four children, all nearly grown now, headed for the one in front of ours. Our hopes lifted. Perhaps today they would lay their old grudges aside.

They removed their coats and placed their Bibles on the pew, facing us, but looked beyond, as though we were invisible ghosts. Our hopes fell.

After they settled in, my husband, Jay, touched the wife on the shoulder and said something complimentary about her children. She didn’t reply or look at him. She didn’t even flinch. They were making a production of publicly shunning us. Even their children played well-rehearsed parts. They used to play with our children; now they pointedly ignored them.

We tried to concentrate on the reason we had come, but we felt distracted by the odd spectacle before us. Our children looked at their dad with confusion and pity.

Yet we also felt sorry for this family. Ten years is a long time to carry something as heavy as a grudge.”

Linda’s account really bothers me - I think because it strikes very close to home. On one hand it is reassuring to realize that this sort of thing isn’t unique to the Armenian Evangelical Church. On the other hand - an account like this is a sad commentary on a too common reality of church life. While we are called the Body of Christ we often struggle with that relationship.

And Linda’s account also touches our family relationships and friendships - where people we love don’t speak to each other - grudges and wounds that are hard to work through to resolution.

This morning I’d like to share one verse of scripture - my goal is that we would be reminded of who Jesus Christ is in our lives - who we are before Him - and that God’s word might help us to move closer to each other. I’d like to read for you Colossians 1:18.

The Apostle Paul writes this: (18) He - Jesus Christ - is the Head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in every thing He might be pre-eminent.

The implications of this verse are very powerful - the pre-eminence of Jesus before all things. Previous to verse 18 Paul has written that through Jesus all things have been created - through Him and for Him - He is before all things and holds all things together - he is the Head of creation.

And in verse 18, this tremendous truth - Jesus is the Head of the Church - the first born of God’s new creation.

This is very personal. It sounds ethereal - exalted - like we should drown in the theology of it. But its very personal. What Paul is explaining is our redemption and new life in Christ.

Either inwardly - because of our deepest thoughts - our outwardly - in our actions - we don’t deserve God’s attention and care. And yet Jesus came in a body made of flesh - born in a manger - lived among us - and on the blood stained cross - gave His life to reconcile us to Himself.

So Jesus is at the beginning of our new creation - our re-creation from sinners separated from God - to sinners - who live in the forgiveness of sin and renewal of life in God. Jesus is the first born of this recreation - the beginner and the beginning. And He is to be the Head of our lives.

Paul writes, “He is the Head of the body - the church.”

This is a familiar illustration for us. Christ as the head - we are the body - various parts - various functions. And yet, I confess that this is really hard for me - we all struggle with this. Because while we are suppose to be under the Headship of Christ - as individuals we struggle to be one.

At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and unathletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose “loud” as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem, described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical.

With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music.

This is where we need to be in our relationship with Jesus Christ. The relationship we have in the church is unnatural - its supernatural - created by God in Jesus Christ - and only as we individually submit to His Headship can we really be a body together.

Some of you were raised on farms - and I hope the rest of you will appreciate this illustration. I’m told that if you remove the head of a chicken it doesn’t just quietly die. It jumps up and runs around - out of control for a minute or two. Churches - Christians - that lose their awareness of the Head are like that - they go out of control. Our relationships and diversity can tear us apart. Homes - families - friendships - where Christ is not the Head can easily become places of ongoing misery.

The church must have its Head in place and functioning - supplying direction - maintaining order - giving it health - solving difficulties - coordinating its activities - and supplying to every single member its own kind of life. Each individual is related directly to the Head. It is He who should direct each of us in our activities through the week.

This is where the church really functions - not just here on Sunday morning. Here - on Sunday and a Bible Studies - at our gatherings - this is where the church is taught by the Head - where we learn how to function. But we function away from here, in our homes and neigborhoods. There we must relate directly to the Head, expecting Him to open doors, provide energy, wisdom, comfort and forgiveness. This is where the church touches society on every side. This is where Headship effects every relationship of our lives - not just what happens here on Sundays.

So, how can we grow in His Headship? Practically, what can this mean for us today.

In Dicipleship Journal, Carole Mayhall tells of a woman who went to a diet center to lose weight. The director took her to a full-length mirror. On it he outlined a figure and told her, “This is what I want you to be like at the end of the program.” Days of intense dieting and exercise followed, and every week the woman would stand in front of the mirror, discouraged because her bulging outline didn’t fit the director’s ideal. But she kept at it, and finally one day she conformed to the longed-for image.

Sometimes when someone talks about Headship - we get the idea that Christ gives us a lot of orders and we just obey them - like Jesus is a dictator Head of the Church.

He says, “Jump!” And we say, “How high?” on the way up.

Biblical Headship is different. It involves two things - God’s guidance and our response to His guidance. First, God desires for us to conform to the image of His Son - to fit the outline in scripture of who Jesus is. And second, Headship - is when we place as the priority of our lives - doing those things which bring us to conformity to His image.

Over the last few Sundays we have been looking at our beliefs as Armenian Evangelicals - and practically what these mean for us today. I’d like to read article 11 from the 1846 Armenian Evangelical Confession of faith. Article 11 says this: “We believe that any number of believers, duly organized, constitute a church of Christ, of which Christ is the only Head - Headship - and that the only sacraments of Christ’s Church are Baptism and the Lord’s Supper - here’s the description - the former - baptism - being the seal of the covenant, and a sign of the purifying operation of the Holy Spirit, and token of admission into the visible Church; and the latter, - communion or the Lord’s Supper - in shewing forth by visible symbols the death of Christ, being a perpetual memento of His atoning love, and a pledge of union and communion with Him and with all true believers.”

Baptism is a symbolic declaration of our entrance into the Church through the saving work of Jesus Christ and the new life that we have in Him. The Lord’s Supper symbolically declares that our life in the Church is because of Jesus’ death and resurrection and our present and forever dwelling with Him. In both sacraments there is a declaration that we are here because of Him - Jesus.

Paul writes this in Colossians 1:18 - its a powerful reminder - “He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in every thing He might be pre-eminent.”

Today, we welcomed our sisters and brothers into communicant membership - and these words are a reminder for each of us and for them.

We are here because of God’s grace and not our merit. The sacraments remind us that our relationship is supernatural and only the Holy Spirit - working in our lives - can bring about real unity - real union - real corporate and spiritual oneness. And that is only possible if we surrender our pride - our prerogatives - anything which would keep us from conforming to His image - and looking to Jesus as our Head - allow The Spirit to conform us to Christ’s image.

We are not the Calvary Armenian Country Club - a collection of organizations and people bent on supporting an institution that meets our social and cultural needs. We are not a collection of misfits who are waiting for the first bus to heaven - who have nothing better to do and so here we are - eager beaver religious fanatics - looking for some type of spiritual fix for our problems - good feelings and social interaction. We are the Body of Christ - He is the Head - and we live in growing submission to Him.

It is said that Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, once had captured a prince and his family. When they came before him, the monarch asked the prisoner, “What would you give me if I release you?” “The half of my wealth,” was his reply. “And if I release your children?” “Everything I possess.” “And if I release your wife?” “Your Majesty, I will give myself.” Cyrus was so moved by his devotion that he freed them all. As they returned home, the prince said to his wife, “Wasn’t Cyrus a handsome man!” With a look of deep love for her husband, she said to him, “I didn’t notice. I could only keep my eyes on you - the one who was willing to give himself for me.”