The order of the church comes out not of an organization but the authority of the church, which is the honouring of the unique headship of Christ; when we honor the headship of Christ, there is the authority of the church, and there is order in the church.
All authority comes from God; no one in this universe has authority in and of himself – only God is the unique source of authority, and when we are under God’s authority in a proper way, we can express His authority.
As believers in Christ, we are members of the Body of Christ, and in the Body Christ is the Head; He has the headship, and none of us can replace Him as our Head.
When we submit to Christ as the Head, we also care for the Body, for the Head is of the Body and cares for the Body.
It is impossible, however, for us to say that we are submitting to the authority of Christ, and yet we don’t care for the fellow members of the Body.
In God’s eyes, the Body is first, and the local churches are second; the local churches as the local expressions of the unique Body of Christ are the procedure for God to obtain the Body of Christ.
Christ is our Head; He is the unique authority in the Body, and only He has the authority to direct the moves and actions of the members of His Body.
We cannot tell others what to do in the church life, neither can we direct them to move here or there for the Lord’s interest.
Throughout Christian history, many Christians made themselves the “head” and “directed” other members what to do and where to go; this has brought in much division and confusion.
If we would all just take Christ as our Head, we will be under His unique authority. We will then realize that His authority is flowing through the members of His Body.
Yes, Christ is the Head, but He has also ordained some to be those who represent His authority and flow it out; when we submit to Christ as the Head, we will also submit to the deputy authority He has set in His Body.
A good example of this is Saul, at his conversion when he asked the Lord what to do; the Lord simply replied that he should go into the city and he will be told what to do.
Then, the Lord gave directions to a particular member in the Body to come and baptize Paul, helping him to call on the name of the Lord.
Paul was a chosen vessel, one who became the minister of the age with the ministry of the age, yet the Lord used a small and seemingly insignificant member of the Body to bring Paul in and baptize him.
The Lord’s authority flows through the members of His Body, and when we submit to Him as the Head, we will also recognize and submit to the authority of Christ expressed in and through the members of His Body.
The Order of the Church comes out of our Honoring the Unique Headship of Christ
Our God is a God of order, and the way He maintains order is not by organizing things in a system but by means of His authority, by heading up all things in Christ.
There is order in the church, and the order of the church comes out of the authority in the church; the authority in the church is the honoring of the unique headship of Christ (Col. 1:18; Phil. 1:1).
We need to know this not only in a mental way or by having a concept of the order of the church; rather, we need to know this inwardly, for there is a difference between order and organisation.
For example, in our physical body, there’s no organization, but there’s a wonderful organic order. What causes the proper order in our human body is the head; if the head is cut off, the whole body collapses, for the head is “heading up” every member of the body.
It is not the body that bears the head but the head the body; therefore, the authority in our physical body is the head.
Similarly, the authority of the church is the unique headship of Christ; the order of the church comes from our honoring the unique headship of Christ.
There’s no human organization in the church but there is a spiritual order (1 Cor. 14:40; 11:34).
What we should see practiced in the church life is not organizing this or that but rather, our putting ourselves under the headship of Christ by contacting Him and holding Him as the Head, so that there would be the order of the church.
The Head of the church is Christ the Lord; the authority in the church is nothing else but the headship of Christ (Matt. 28:18; Col. 1:18).
If we are under the headship of Christ, we are in order with the church; we must realize, honor, and respect the headship of the Lord.
If we don’t remain under the headship of Christ, we can never be right in the order of the church.
If we have a problem with the elders in the church or with the deputy authority that the Lord has put over us, we need to come to the Lord again and again and take Him as the Head.
The elders in the church need to submit themselves to the headship of Christ; the more they submit to Christ, the Head, the more they are qualified and equipped to be an elder. The headship of the Lord Jesus is the authority in the church.
For us to practice the church life in a proper way, we need to learn the lesson of submitting ourselves to the headship of Christ, for He is the Head and we are all members of the Body under Him as the Head.
If we proper submit ourselves to the headship of Christ, there will be no problems between us and any member of the Body; if there is anything wrong between us and any of the members of the Body, this means we are not under the Lord’s headship in the Body.
If we are not under the Lord as the Head, we are not qualified to say anything to any member of the Body in an adjusting way, for we do not keep the order in the church and therefore have no authority.
To not submit to the headship of Christ and yet say something to a brother or sister in the way of asking them to do something or adjusting them is to be rebellious to the Lord and to the Body.
May the Lord save us from being rebellious against the headship of Christ and against the Body!
In the church, there must be order, but this order comes not from man’s organization but from the headship of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23).
This is something that we need to learn in a thorough way; the source of the order of the church is not man but Christ Himself.
We may be an orderly person by disposition, we may get an MBA in business, and we may be a good manager at work; all these things mean nothing in regards to the church, for the One who keeps the church in order is Christ Himself, the Head of the Body.
It is a shame to the Lord and to the Lord’s recovery if there is organization in the church instead of having the organic order in the Body which comes from submitting to the headship of Christ.
The best way for us to glorify Christ and to honour the Lord is to take Him as the Head.
Lord Jesus, You are the Head of the Body, and we are members of Your Body. We take You as our head. We place ourselves under Your headship and we want to do nothing out of ourselves. Save us from having organization in the church life. May we all be under the headship of Christ so that there would be the order of the church. Amen, Lord, may we inwardly discern the difference between organization and the order in the Body. Save us from becoming a degraded church by allowing human organization in the church life. May there be a proper spiritual order in the church as we all are under the headship of Christ and give Him preeminence in all things. Amen, Lord, we are under Your headship, for You are the unique Head of the Body, the church.
Having the Real Practice of the Church Life by Submitting to the Unique Headship of Christ
A vital factor in recovering the proper church life and practising the genuine church life is submitting ourselves to the headship of Christ.
We can have the real practice of the church life only by submitting to the unique headship of Christ (Col. 1:19; 2:19).
This is the real practice of the church life; what God considers as being a real practice of the church life is what we do under the headship of Christ.
God desires to head up all things in Christ, and He starts this in the church; He first heads up all things in Christ in the church, and then through the church, He will head up all things.
The order in the church comes from the headship of Christ being realized by us in a practical way (1 Cor. 11:3, 16; Eph. 1:22).
Christ being the Head of the Body is not merely a good spiritual doctrine in the New Testament; it is a reality, something that we need to practice and live daily under.
We need to practically realize that Christ is our Head; we need to come to Him again and again, fellowship with Him, check with Him, and follow His leading.
As we fellowship with the Lord, we honour Him, we take His feeling as being our feeling, and we do what He wants us to do.
It may not be big decisions only but also in small things, we fellowship with the Lord, and He gives us a certain feeling, so we follow Him and submit to Him.
In big things and in small things, in the things of our daily life and in the things in the church life, we need to contact the Lord, again and again, taking Him as our Head.
A very good practice of taking Christ as our Head is to spend time both personally and corporately to enjoy Him.
The more we spend time to enjoy the Lord, the more He heads us up, He leads us, and we are one with Him in whatever we do.
When we are headed up in Christ, realizing the headship of Christ in a practical way, we will also shepherd others into enjoying the Lord and being under His headship.
However, if we do not have the spiritual order in the church that comes from realizing the headship of Christ in a practical way, there is no possibility for us to practice the real church life (1 Cor. 11:3; 14:40).
This is not a theory or a spiritual principle only but a reality.
The reason we can practice the church life and go on enjoying the Lord to live a life for the fulfillment of His purpose is that we are under the headship of Christ, and there is order in the church under the authority of Christ.
But there have been cases in the church life where, as seen in Leviticus in the chapter dealing with the leprosy of the house, there was “leprosy in the church”, for some parts were leprous and they had to be removed.
When the headship of Christ is not realized practically, there’s the danger of the abuse of authority, and the elders can overstep their function by excommunicating saints or ordering others what to do. Oh, Lord!
If those taking the lead in the church life don’t learn sufficiently about authority and do not submit themselves to the headship of Christ, we don’t have a proper way to practice the real church life.
May there be a hunger in each one of us personally that we may get into the reality of being under the Lord’s headship in the Body so that we may practice the real church life.
Lord Jesus, we want to practice the real church life by submitting ourselves to the unique headship of Christ. We are not the head, Lord, but You are; we are mere members in the Body, and we submit ourselves to Your unique headship. May there be the order in the church coming from the headship of Christ being realized by us in a practical way. Amen, Lord, we want to practice the real church life without any element of human organization but filled with the enjoyment of Christ! Lord, You are the Head. We realize Your headship in our life in a practical way. Head us up. Head up all the things in our daily life and in the church life. Head up the church. We give You the first place, the preeminence, in all things!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1963, vol. 3, “Basic Principles for the Practice of the Church Life,” pp. 300-305 as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Vital Factors for the Lord’s Recovery of the Church Life (2021 ITERO), week 4, The Factor of Authority in the Body of Christ and in the Local Churches.
- Hymns on this topic:
– In my knowledge and experience / I would not exalted be, / But submitting and accepting / Let the Body balance me; / Holding fast the Head, and growing /With His increase, in His way, / By the joints and bands supplying, / Knit together day by day. (Hymns #840)
– Thru the Church which is His Body / Christ as Head will sum up all; / All will fitly join together, / All things either great or small. / Under Christ, by His full headship, / All in union will subsist; / In the light the Church expresses / All in oneness will exist. (Hymns #981)
– God’s kingdom is God’s reigning, / His glory to maintain; /It is His sovereign ruling, / His order to sustain. / He exercises fully / His own authority / Within His kingdom ever / And to eternity. / Upon the throne, the center / Of government divine, / God reigns, and with His purpose / Brings everything in line. / God’s headship and His lordship / He only can maintain / As King within His kingdom, / O’er everything to reign. (Hymns #941)
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