In this chapter we will fellowship more concerning the New Testament leadership. The proper leadership is a great matter. In any human institution there is the need of a proper leadership. If a country has an excellent president, that country will be an excellent country. If, on the other hand, the leadership is poor, the people of that country will suffer. Even in a family, having the proper leadership helps everyone in the family. Without the proper leadership, there is confusion and disorder. God is not a God of confusion, but of peace and order (1 Cor. 14:33, 40). Any situation of confusion is not of God; everything of God is always in order. The universe is so great, but all the billions of items in it are in a proper order. Because everything is in order in God's creation, the earth is in a peaceful, restful situation. A small change in this order, however, would make the earth unable to support us.
Because man was created by God, everything related to his physical body is in order. If even the smallest disorder occurs in our body, we become sick and suffer. In the same way that our physical body is in such a proper order, there is also an order in the church, which is the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 1:22-23). Some have said that since the church is the church of the saints, the saints in the church are equal in every way, with no leadership or delegated authority among them. This is a wind of teaching (Eph. 4:14) which disrupts the church and brings disorder to it. The Bible does say that the church is the church of God (1 Cor. 1:2; 10:32), the church of Christ (Rom. 16:16), and the church of the saints (1 Cor. 14:33). There is no verse in the Bible that tells us that the church is the church of the apostles. The apostles never proclaimed themselves to be the owners of the church. Rather, they preached Christ Jesus as Lord and themselves as slaves to the churches (2 Cor. 4:5). However, this does not mean that every member in the Body is a head. For all the members to be the same with no leadership among them is not according to God's ordination.
When God's people in the Old Testament became a collective entity, there was a proper situation of order among them. Likewise, in the entire New Testament we can see that God is altogether against any kind of confusion. We have to see the truth of the New Testament leadership according to the pure Word of God. The Bible is our "constitution." In a democratic country such as America, the highest authority is not the president or the Congress. It is the constitution. To solve any matter, we must come back to our "constitution," the Bible.
Concerning the New Testament leadership, the Bible firstly speaks of the headship of Christ. The unique Head of the entire universe is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ was made Lord and Christ by God (Acts 2:36). As God, the Lord was the Lord all the time (Luke 1:43; John 11:21; 20:28). However, in His incarnation He became a man; the Creator became a creature. As man, He was made the Lord in His ascension after He brought His humanity into God in His resurrection. Moreover, as God's sent and anointed One, He was Christ from the time He was born (Luke 2:11; Matt. 1:16; John 1:41; Matt. 16:16), but as such a One, He was officially made the very Christ of God in His ascension.
God made the man Jesus the Lord to head up and own all things. None of the founders of any religion, such as Mohammed or Buddha, was called the Lord. Only Christ Jesus is the Lord. As Christians we have the deep realization that Jesus is our Lord. Especially during times of trouble or even at times when something good happens to us, the first thing we often say is, "O Lord!" How good it is to have Jesus as Lord! Jesus was made the Lord, as the Lord of all (Acts 10:36), to possess all. If one does not have Jesus, he does not have an owner. Jesus was also made the Christ in His resurrection and ascension to carry out God's commission, His plan and eternal economy. The Lord is the owner, and Christ is the doer. He is the One who owns all things, and He is the One who fulfills God's commission.