In Old Testament times the headship of Christ was not completed, because Christ had not yet become a man. As God alone, He was not qualified to be the Head. Christ had to accomplish two things as a man before He could be made Head over all things. First, God needed a man to fulfill His eternal purpose, which is for man to be one with God for His expression. Christ carried out God’s eternal purpose not as the Son of God but as the Son of Man, because God’s purpose concerns humanity.
God also needed a man to defeat Satan, who was created by God to be the archangel but who rebelled and became God’s enemy. As the Creator, God would never lower Himself to deal with one of His creatures. Therefore, He needed another creature, man, to deal with His enemy. When Christ came, the devil knew that Christ was the Son of God coming as the Son of Man in order to bruise the head of the serpent (Gen. 3:15). Therefore, when the devil tempted the Lord, the devil tried his best to cause the Lord to leave His standing as a man, saying to Him, “If You are the Son of God, speak that these stones may become loaves of bread” (Matt. 4:3). The Lord answered, “Man shall not live on bread alone” (v. 4). He did not leave His standing as man. Christ came as a man to deal with Satan. Hebrews 2:14 says, “Since therefore the children have shared in blood and flesh, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same, that through death He might destroy him who has the might of death, that is, the devil.” Thus, Christ accomplished two things as a man: He fulfilled God’s eternal purpose, and He destroyed God’s enemy. By accomplishing these two things, Christ was qualified to be the Head.
According to Acts 2:36, in Christ’s ascension God inaugurated Him into the headship. After Christ accomplished God’s eternal purpose and destroyed God’s enemy through His incarnation and crucifixion, He resurrected and ascended to the heavens. In His ascension God gave Him to be Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22). Because Christ carried out God’s eternal purpose and defeated God’s enemy as a man, He is fully qualified to be Head over all things. As the enthroned Head today, He is still a man.
The headship of Christ should be more than a doctrine to us. In 1 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says, “I want you to know that Christ is the head of every man.” In our daily life we need to consider that Christ is our Head. When we do not take Christ as our Head, the self is our head. Although some Christians regard Christ as their life, few regard Him as their Head. However, if we do not realize that Christ is our Head and practice the headship of Christ, it is difficult to take Him as our life. The headship of Christ is a crucial matter that affects our personal life, family life, daily life, and church life. In order to have all the areas of our life fully attuned to the proper, normal way, we must see that Christ is our Head and practice the headship of Christ.
There are many opportunities to practice the headship of Christ in our daily life. To fellowship is wonderful, but we often insult the headship of Christ in our fellowship. Suppose a young brother fellowships with another brother about where he should go to school. In most cases, when a saint comes to a brother asking for fellowship, the brother will immediately begin to give his opinion. This kind of conversation is not fellowship but rather merely a secular conversation. Brothers in such a situation need to realize that neither one of them is the head but that Christ is the unique Head. They should fellowship in a way that honors His headship. No matter what our fellowship concerns, we need to regard the headship of Christ, giving Him the full honor.
The angels and the demons are watching to see whether we honor the headship of Christ. Regrettably, in our consideration of any matter, we usually fail to recognize that Christ is our Head. Before we begin to consider anything, we first need to recognize the headship of Christ. If two brothers who are talking about a matter have been enlightened to see the headship of Christ, their conversation will occur not in a secular way but in a heavenly way, under the headship of Christ. The brother initiating the fellowship should say, “Brother, we need to consider this matter under the headship of Christ.” Just this one sentence will transform the whole fellowship. Neither brother will dare to make a decision, because both will realize that neither one of them is the head. Since Christ is their Head, neither brother has a right to make a decision or even to propose anything. If we are enlightened, we will repent for all the times that we have disregarded our Head.
A married sister may know doctrinally that the husband is the head. However, if she has truly been enlightened to see that her husband is her head, when their son asks her how to decide some matter, she will turn to her husband before answering anything. This indicates that she regards his headship. On the other hand, if the sister answers before checking with her husband, she disregards his headship, for it is as if she has no head. Just as a wife may consider and even decide many things without checking with her husband, in our daily life we often do not respect Christ as our Head. We need to repent, praying, “Lord, forgive me. All these years I have disregarded Your headship. I have lived in a way that does not acknowledge You as my Head.”
When a brother comes to us for fellowship, we insult the headship of Christ if we propose anything to the brother. We do not have the position to tell another brother what to do, because we are not the head. If we dare to tell a brother what to do, it indicates that we disregard the headship of Christ. If we realize that the Lord is the unique Head of the brother, we will only help the brother to realize the headship of Christ. We will not dare to propose or decide anything. We will have the burden only to help him to realize that the Lord is his Head. In doing anything, we need to realize that we are not our own head. Neither is any other saint our head. Only Christ is our Head.
When we fellowship, we need to help one another to honor the headship of Christ. To make the right decision in a situation is secondary; to realize the headship of Christ is primary. Once we are clear that the Lord is our Head and respect His headship, we are ready to know His will, because we have given Him the proper and necessary position. Often when we seek to know the Lord’s will, we do not give Him the right position. For this reason, we may pray for a long time but still not know what we should do. The Lord must have the position as the Head in order to be able to make us clear. Christ is the Head, yet when we do not recognize or regard Him as the Head, we do not give Him this position. When we regard Christ as our Head, we give Him the position as the Head, and we are rightly positioned to learn His will. In a family, school, or corporation, the father, principal, or boss, respectively, would not give orders until he and the others are properly positioned. Most of us are not properly positioned in our daily lives because we do not realize that Christ is our Head. A sister cannot realize that her husband is her head until she positions herself by taking Christ as her Head. If she does not take Christ as her Head, she cannot be rightly positioned to be a proper wife. To take Christ as our Head is crucial.
It is only when we take Christ as our Head that we are properly positioned in the presence of God. Position is a crucial matter. What we are able to physically see depends on our physical location. No matter how hard we try to see something, we cannot see it if our position is wrong. Likewise, no amount of prayer will cause us to know God’s will if we are not positioned under the headship of Christ. If we consider our experience carefully, we may realize that we rarely recognize Christ as our Head. The burden in this chapter is that we would see that Christ must first be our Head before He can be our life, person, reality, and way. We are short of the experience of Christ simply because our position is not proper as a result of our not regarding Christ as our Head.
We need to be enlightened to see that for years our position has not been right. We have not been properly positioned before God because we have not realized or regarded Christ as our Head. To change our position, we need to see our shortcoming and declare to the Lord that we recognize and take Him as our Head. This will change not only our position but also our concept concerning many things. If we take such a position, recognizing Christ as our Head, we are practicing the headship of Christ. If we practice the headship of Christ in our daily life, we will recognize that the Lord is the Head and that we have no position or right to make a decision or even propose anything. We will acknowledge that we are under Christ our Head. This is to honor and practice His headship.
Suppose a serving brother invites us to go with him to visit another locality. If we make a decision right away, we insult the headship of Christ. However, if we are practicing the headship of Christ, we will immediately answer, “Brother, I have to ask the Lord.” This is to honor the headship of Christ. If we make a decision without checking with the Lord, we assume the headship and insult the headship of Christ.
If we are clear that Christ is our Head, we will see that we do not have the right to make any decision, even to buy a pair of shoes. When we see that Christ is our Head, we lose all our rights. For Christ to be the Head means that we are not the head; we are only those who are under Christ. If the Lord leads us to buy a pair of shoes, we buy them. If He does not say to buy the shoes, we do not buy them. This is a matter not merely of obedience but also of honoring the headship of Christ. The Lord decides whether we should buy a pair of shoes, and He also chooses the style and the color. In one sense, this may bother us, but because we were predestinated by the Father, we truly feel happy only when we are bound by the headship of Christ. The Christian life is an extraordinary kind of life. The more we are bound, the happier we are. We need to be willing to be bound. We should not make any decisions for ourselves or for others. We need to allow Christ to make every decision for us. If we are bound by His decisions, we will be the happiest persons.
The first step of experiencing Christ is to recognize Him as our Head. When we take Christ as our Head, He makes every decision. It is easy to experience Christ when we take Him as our Head. When we are altogether under His headship, not only doctrinally but also experientially, and are willing to lose every right and to take His decision in everything, we will begin to experience Christ.