He put the song in our heart when he saved us. We're so glad you're here. It's good to be together as God's people. Congratulations to the Overtons with their precious new baby and the Lord's faithfulness and so wonderful to see the family of God expanding. And congratulations, Grandma and Grandpa and great-grandmother. Nancy, this is a great-grandbaby. Wow, what a blessing. Yes, amen. Take your Bible and turn once again to Ephesians chapter 1. So we've been working our way through this letter the Apostle Paul writes from his own suffering as he's in Rome in prison because of the gospel, not because of anything he's done wrong, but because of the offense of the cross. He's there and obviously his heart and affections are upon the precious believers that are at the church of Ephesus. He knows them by name. They are his brothers and sisters in Christ. Sure, he's an apostle. Sure, he's a leader in the church. But above all that, he's a brother in Christ to them. And he's concerned about the glory of Christ in the church. He's concerned about the believers and their steadfastness in the midst of opposition. He's concerned about the church growing and their knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ because it's out of that faithful service arises. And so he prays for them, he gives praise to them, and then he intercedes on their behalf. We see the first portion of this verse, one long sentence in the Greek language, is Paul giving to us these powerful doctrinal truths. And then he bursts forth into intercession in the second part of the chapter, and he prays, you can see in verse 16, he's ceaseless. in giving thanks for the Ephesian believers and making mention of them in his prayers. So our text this morning, we're gonna look at verse 22 and 23 once again. I'm gonna unpack that more than we had time for last Lord's Day. I'm gonna talk this morning about Christ being the head of the church and we see that glorious and powerful truth in this last couple of sentences in the prayer in chapter one. Look at it with me. The Apostle Paul writes that he put all things in subjection under his feet. He's talking about Christ. Verse 20 says he raised Christ from the dead. It says that he exalted Him and He raised Him and seated Him at the right hand of the Father in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named. not only in the age that we're in now, but also in the one that is to come. And then he put all things in subjection under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Pray with me and for me. Well, Lord, our need is great, but your supply is greater. Lord, our lack is monumental, but Your gift is transcendent. We ask that You, even now, would help us in our minds and our understandings of the truth that the Holy Spirit, the great Spirit of truth, will come and make plain these powerful but yet profound truths given to us in Ephesians chapter 1. We ask that you would lead us and guide us and that you would be our teacher this morning. Lord, I ask that you would help me that my tongue would be like a pen in the hand of a ready writer, that there would be the truth of God proclaimed and that it would be cemented in our hearts that we might walk it out for the glory of your great name. Lord, thank you for all the blessings you give us, the blessings of new babies in the church, of safe deliveries and healthy mothers. We're so thankful, Lord, for godly parents that will raise up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And Lord, I pray, Lord, that you would give us a renewed sense of our vow to the Lord that we will train and raise our children before you in truth and in righteousness. Now, Lord, be with us for this time, and we're so thankful for our friends and visitors that are with us today, so thankful for the family of faith, the faithful laborers, our small group teachers that studied and labored over the lesson this week and taught over the last hour. Lord, may those truths come to bear upon our hearts, and may we live a life of godliness. Lord, we love you, but not enough, so Lord, help us to love you more, and we ask it in Christ's name, amen. Grace of Life, listen, the Apostle Paul is giving to us some really powerful Christology. He's taking our awareness of Jesus Christ and pushing it upward. And he's doing that because the way that we view Jesus Christ is indispensable in the way that we serve Christ. It's monumental to the Christian faith. It's also determinative on how we live for Him. The way that we view Him makes us live for Him all the more Christ-exalting. Some thoughts I want to just cast out this morning. We have to ask ourselves, is our Christology, our knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, simply focused upon the humiliation of Christ? By that, what I mean is, is the way that we view Jesus, exclusive to His earthly ministry, exclusive to His sufferings, exclusive to Him being the man of sorrows, exclusive to Him being stricken and smitten by God, a crucified Savior that is crushed underneath the weight of sin imputed to Him. And by no means am I insinuating that we should undervalue or undermine the passive obedience of Christ. What I mean by that is that whenever he yielded himself to death, even death on the cross, because our justification has been won by the death of Christ, both the passive and the active obedience of Jesus Christ. But the Apostle Paul has been explaining that to us. He mentioned to us in chapter four how God's chosen us from eternity past. We see that Jesus redeemed us in time by becoming a curse for us. We see that His redemptive mission, we see that God raised Him from the dead. We see that the Holy Spirit has come and sealed us with the seal from God that we are the purchased possession of Christ. But now He goes beyond that to show us the reign and the rule of Christ, that He is seated at the right hand of the Father, far above all other authorities, far above all dominion, far above, transcendent to. So Christ is not the man of sorrows today. He is the exalted King that he is the one that governs the cosmos. He's the one that ever lives to make intercession for his church and that he holds King's hearts in his own hand. He's taking the view of Jesus Christ for the Ephesian church and he's casting it up inward to infinitude, which Jesus Christ is. He's celebrating the work of Christ. But now he's magnifying the wonder of the sovereign rule of Jesus Christ. The crucified Christ is not in a grave. The crucified Christ is risen, not only risen from the dead, but ascended on high. And this Jesus, listen, beloved church, this is critically important that Jesus has cosmic authority over all of creation, cosmic authority over all created beings, that he's seated far above, the previous verse, far above all rule and power and dominion, both in this age and in the age that is to come. This is an exalted Christ. Ancient church father John Christostom wrote, he has brought him from the lowest point, that is in his death and his humiliation, to the supremest sovereignty, to that beyond which there is no other honor. the highest place of honor is where our Lord is now seated. He goes from the crucified lamb to the reigning monarch over the entire universe. And so this view of Jesus Christ is essential for the church. And here's what I'm meaning by that. Our view of life and our view of ministry should be contoured by the way that we see Christ, exalted, sovereign, and supreme over all things. That in our text, after disclosing the exalted position of Jesus Christ, after declaring his authoritative position and the subordination of all things, Paul now shows the present ministry of Jesus Christ as the head of the church. There's a progression here, that Jesus Christ crucified, Jesus Christ risen from the dead, the Holy Spirit sent to draw and to seal those that belong to the Father. And then, not only that, but to show us this view of Christ transcended, exalted, supreme, and sovereign over all things, and that He is the head over the church. that he's given this fullness, the Greek term there, pleroma, means to fill up and to boil over. He's given this fullness to the church, the fullness of Christ, and that's what we have. This view of Christ lets us loose on a mission, understanding that we are invincible because we are connected to the head that has conquered all things through his death, through his life, and through his resurrection, and through his being seated at the right hand of the Father to where he rules the cosmos, and he is our head. He's the church's true leader. He's the authority of the church. He sits upon this throne of regal sovereignty. He's ruling the universe and he's doing so, listen my friend, in the interest of the church. He's ruling the cosmos in the interest of His redeemed people. And that's the truth that the Holy Spirit wants us to understand this morning in these final two verses of Ephesians chapter 1. That His power and His dominion are being exercised in the cosmos, but with special reference toward, special interest in, the redeemed, special interest in his ecclesia, the church, the called out ones. And now listen, this is critical that we get this because this is where Paul's going. This kind of a view of Christ will eradicate and help us overcome a defeatist framework that cripples us in our gospel mission. a defeatist framework. What does that even mean? Well, that we think that we can't accomplish the mission. We read about eschatology and the end times, and there are many that have a framework in their eschatological view or our end time theology that whenever things just kind of get bad, Jesus is going to break open, the eastern sky is going to come and deliver us from our problems, that we really can't get our mission done. And so I believe that that becomes a framework which we begin now to embark upon if we have that mindset on, I can't get anything done, so why try? We're thinking that the world's gonna get worse and it's not looking good. But does the Bible teach that things are going to get worse and Jesus is going to come take us away and let it all go to hell in a handbasket? Or does Jesus teach that in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of increasing and abounding wickedness, that he's going to strengthen his church, that he's going to help us have a transcendent view of Christ, and that we're going to labor on despite all opposition and see the power of God that's described fourfold in the verses that have preceded our text this morning, and that the church, because of its great head and his victory is going to overcome even against all odds, even against all opposition. Listen, if you're thinking in your view of end-time theology that things are going to get bad, but then Jesus is going to come and take us and to alleviate us from our responsibilities, then you're wrong. That's not what the Bible teaches, that he's going to empower, sustain, and endue with strength a people for the glory of God as the head is ruling the cosmos in the interest of the church and that our mission is a surety and not just a possibility. And this ought to help us because it helped the church at Ephesus to get a transcendent view of Christ, to see who he is, to see the authority that is invested in who he is by the Father, and that he is over his church, and that he's filled us with his Spirit, he's sealed us as his own possession, and that he enables us to go forth in the might and the power of his name. to conquer for the glory of Christ, and not by force and not by might. Paul will go on to declare in the sixth chapter that we're wrestling not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual principalities, rulers, and wickedness in high places, but the King that we serve is above all powers. He's above all authorities, above all dominions, because He's the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Amen. Listen to what Jesus says. This is Jesus' eschatology in Matthew 24. And at that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. This is the time that we are living in. Have you ever seen a time where there's more hate being spewed even within our own country? And we see the dissidence around the globe. We see over in the nation of Israel an ongoing war and in Ukraine. and with Russia, and so we see the world stage with this tension, and this hatred, and there's war. Many false prophets will arise and will deceive many, and because lawlessness is multiplied, most people's love will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end, he will be saved. Now listen to what he says next. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be proclaimed in the whole world as a witness to all nations, and then the end will come. He says it's going to get dark circumstantially, it's going to get wacko theologically, but those that are trusting in Christ will be preserved to the end, and the gospel will go to the ends of the earth, to the nations of the world, and that those that God has chosen from eternity past will by faith believe and be accounted righteous before God, and then the end will come. Here, the Bible clearly says that the church, because of its living head and their vital union with the Savior, will conquer with the gospel in this present age. So that God may have heaven filled with the people that will bring honor and glory to his great name. for eternity future, the age that is to come. So Jesus here in Matthew 24 verses 10 to 14 promises a multiplication of lawlessness. He promises an entourage of spiritual fakes and a massive host of those that are deceived. He promises a falling away, apostasy and betrayal and hate and lovelessness, but he promises salvation through all of it. He promises an effectual gospel progress And I see in this no escapism, that Jesus is going to come back and give us an escape, that we're going to be caught up, and then all of it's going to explode and go to hell in a handbasket. That's not what it teaches. The church will be here. The church will be tested and tried. The church will be purified, will be led by the Holy Spirit, will be filled with the Spirit of God. Those that are straddling the fence will be kicked off to the wrong side. But the valiant church will be looking to their Lord and the head of the church, which is Jesus Christ, who God has vested all power and authority and sovereignty and dominion, will lead and guide his church, and that we will conquer by the gospel of Jesus Christ, by the good old glorious truth of the Bible, and that we will pray, and that we will fast, and that we will preach, and that we will live holy in an unholy world, and God will use the efforts of the church that lays hold of him by faith, and that we will go forward and see God's power at work in the world in which we live. Listen. right in the middle of difficulty. Yes. So in this I see the Lord leading His church valiantly. Here I am encouraged to see gospel success in Matthew 24. I see the glorious Conqueror with a capital C, the Conqueror who is Jesus Christ, leading His church onward through the embattlements of spiritual oppression. I see the gates of hell powerless to the authority that God has invested in His Son that has been given to the church. And why is that? Because the head of the church is undefeatable. The head of the church is immutable. The head of the church is glorious. And the head of the church has overcome. And the Scriptures say, and the church will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of the testimony that they have, and even they love their lives not even unto death. Look at verse 22, he has put all things in subjection under his feet. This morning I was here a couple of hours before daylight or three. And I was just thinking on this text, and this came to mind. Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war, with the cross of Jesus going on before. Christ, the royal master, leads against the foe, forward into battle, see his banner go. There's truth in that. Listen, beloved, failure is not an option for the church. And it's critical for the church to see Christ as he is. He's seated in heavenly places. As I've already mentioned, he's far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and that his rule spans both time and eternity because he is the victor, he is the conqueror, capital C, he's the champion of the ages, and he is the head of his church. And we've got to let that sink in this morning. The church's head is risen. The church's head is exalted. The church's head rules the universe in the interest of the church. The church's head transcends all rule and authority. He is far above all else. So let me ask this question. How can his church be feeble? How can his church be anemic if her head is supreme as God has said? Our view of Christ is the framework from which we live and carry out the mission that has been entrusted to us. A couple of points this morning in this text. First of all, I want you to consider the authority of Christ. Simply put, beloved, Christ is God. He's not simply like God, he is God. He came on mission to rescue his bride, he came on mission to pay the redemptive price for his people, but the story does not end there. He's called a church out of darkness, he ekklesia, he's called them out. The term church is a compound Greek word, ek and kleo, to call out. 1 Peter 1.9 says, he called us out of darkness. out of darkness. It's the inward call of the Holy Spirit that he has summoned us in our heart. He's come to rescue us, but he's also come to enable us, and listen, to enlist us to duty and to service. He's entrusted the church with a cosmic mission. And we're commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28, 19, and 20 to make disciples of all nations. That is, the church has been tasked, the body of Christ has been tasked with teaching and baptizing. And His promise is that He will always be with us. It says in Matthew 28, 20, Jesus says, I am with you as you go. I am with you even until the end of the age. Now those are powerful terms, that is in light of his mission, that he's entrusted to us, that he's alongside of us, that he indwells us, and that the cosmic rule of Christ, where he's governing and controlling the cosmos, we now see that he's alongside of us and he's divesting of this authority in the church for the cause of his own mission. The church is always in union with her head. And the power that we need to fulfill the mission that's been entrusted to us, which is a dynamic and a mighty mission, is from the power that he has given to us. Look at verse 19 with me. It says, that we might know, as Paul praying for the Ephesians, that we might know the surpassing greatness of his power, what? Toward us. I mentioned last week, more literally in the Greek, into us. It's eis, ego, in the original language, and it literally means into us, the power of God divested in his church. Now, I want to bring out the authority of the head of the church. First of all, I want you to note his authority in his essence. Verse 22, note it with me, that he has put all things in subjection under his feet, the feet of Christ. Now, we don't know that Jesus Christ is authoritative in who He is, in who He is as God the Son. We see in this that Jesus never gained authority. We understand that he never won authority, there's never a moment in the life of the incarnate Son of God when his authority became absent or maybe it dimmed for a moment. No, that's not what the Bible teaches, that Jesus is fully equal to God. He is pristine and undiluted deity. We think about the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he healed the sick. In John chapter 11 he raises a man to life that has been dead for four days and decay and corruption had already set in. We read in the glorious gospel accounts that Jesus being in the boat with the disciples and the windstorm came up and the disciples were afraid and Jesus calmed the storms, and he did so by his power. We read of the madman of Gadara, and he would scream out, and he would cut himself. And this is a man that was deranged in his mind, living among the tombs and among the catacombs. And Jesus liberated him from a legion of demons with absolute divine authority. Not only that, but this climaxes in the death of Jesus Christ, in that he yields himself to death. And after the third day, Jesus raises himself from the dead. Try that one. That he is absolutely authoritative in his essence. Listen, the scriptures continually uphold the full-on deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's fully equal with God because he is God. Let me read some scriptures to kind of bring some strength to this argument. Hebrews 1, verses 2 and 3, in these last days, God the Father has spoken to us in His Son, who He appointed heir of all things, through Him also He made the worlds. Jesus is the radiance of the Father's glory and the exact duplicate, the exact representation of his nature and he upholds all things by the word of his power who having accomplished cleansing for sins sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. Here we see a glimpse into the deity of Jesus Christ. That Greek term icon literally means an exact duplicate. If you've seen me, Jesus says, you've seen the Father. I and the Father are one. Colossians 2, 9 and 10 says, for in Jesus Christ all the fullness of deity dwells bodily and in him you have been filled who is the head over all rule and authority. Again, another text that emphasizes and bears down upon us garnering a right view of Christ, a triumphant, reigning, sovereign Christ that is connected in this vital union with His body, which is the church, which is the victory that we have for the mission that we've been entrusted. Jesus is the creator of the cosmos. Nothing has been made that has been made apart from Him. He made everything that has been made, but more than that, He upholds all of it by His power, that He is the glue that holds everything together, as we see in Colossians 1, 17. In Him, all things hold together, including you. Let's get a little personal. Let's dive more biologically into you, that your next heartbeat has been given to you by Christ. The breath that you just inhaled, that wonderful, and I'm thankful for the oxygen that we have, we've received that into our lungs by His will. He actively, continually, majestically, and purposely upholds all of it. The Nicene Creed in 325 AD says that He is very God of very God, Jesus Christ. He's the creator of the cosmos. the sustainer of the cosmos, and that He is God. Our 1689 London Baptist Confession, that is our doctrinal statement, says in a paragraph, the Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with the Father, who made the world and who upholds and governs all things that He has made. Very God of very God. He is fully authoritative as God. We're familiar, and I made mention of this, of this wondrous story in the fourth chapter of Mark where the wind had come up and the waves were crashing against the little boat, the tiny ship was tossed. And if it were not for the authority of the God-man under the stern of the boat, the minnow would be lost, right? And listen, the disciples went into a panic. And these men were courageous men. By no means should we ever think that they had no experience in sailing or storms. This was a supercell. And these men were scared to death. Jesus was underneath the stern of the boat on a cushion of sleep, and they woke Jesus up, feeling death was imminent, and they cried out, Lord, do you not care that we're all going to perish? And Jesus arose, and he rebuked the storm, and he said, silence. And guess what happened? The wind stopped blowing. The ravenous sea died down. And here's the amazing part. Jesus didn't go, oh my goodness, I didn't see that happening. Jesus fully being fully God knew that when he commanded the wind and that whenever he commanded the waves that they must obey his authority because he is authoritative in his very essence. Daniel prophesied in 700 years before the birth of Jesus about Jesus and says that His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will never be taken away and His kingdom is one which will never be destroyed. It's an everlasting dominion. So a biblical view of Jesus and the inherent nature of who He is will cure a myriad of weak whimpers that we might have. that no valiant work for Christ will ever be accomplished with a compromised view of Christ. Paul knows this. That's why he is unloading this God-sized view of Christ, which is accurate, that the church might be strengthened, that they might not be sucking in their thumbs and whimpering with the mission that's entrusted them. And by the way, I mentioned this last week, that Ephesus was a world mecca for idolatry. It was one of the most sinful places in the known world. It is Las Vegas times a thousand. It was the worst place to be a church plant and a pastor, but right there in the midst of this darkness, Paul says, look at the view, see who he is. Look at the mighty authority that is in Jesus Christ. Get your mind fixed on things that are above and keep marching, Christian soldier. Church, I'm convinced that our biggest problem is not the size of our task, it's not the deranged subjects that we seek to win, it is our deranged view of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is our misunderstanding, it is our anemic view of the glorious transcendent Christ that is seated sovereign and head over His church. Our problem is with our knowledge and it's not with the mission entrusted. I really believe it. Paul here is declaring it. The second feature I want you to note is not only the authority and the essence of Christ, but in His conquest, we see here that He's put all things in subjection underneath His feet. And we have to understand, in light of Jesus' messianic mission, that He exercised divine authority. We recognize in Luke chapter 4, Jesus has been baptized with the baptism of John. The Bible tells us that he marches into the wilderness being full of the Holy Spirit of God. He there faced the tempter with these three embattlements, these three great temptations, and we read of the great victory of Christ whereas God through him championed over darkness. We see then in Luke 4.13 that Satan then left him. Satan then left him. We understand the life of Jesus Christ in His obedience. Theologians call this the act of obedience of Christ. By that we understand that Jesus in His earthly ministry served the Father at every turn. We see in John chapter 4 that His meat and drink was to do the will of the Father, that He always lived for the glory of God, and that He performed these wonderful miracles pointing to his messianic rule and authority. We even know whenever John's disciples, John the Baptist, were querying Christ or the disciples of Christ about his messianic identity, is this the real deal or should we be looking for the real deal yet? And we know what Jesus said in Matthew 11, Go and report to John what you see and you hear. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, and the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Go tell John that I am everything that the fathers, everything that the prophets have predicted that the Messiah would be." So throughout the ministry of Christ, we see this sovereign power, this God-given, this absolute authority being wielded and exercised, but nowhere do we see Jesus' authority on display like we see at the witness or at the cross of Jesus Christ and the tomb, that it was empty. We know that there at the cross, Jesus marched toward Golgotha on divine mission, like a champion. We know that whenever he was tried by Pilate, Jesus said to Pilate, you have no authority but that which has been given because all authority rests in God. And Pilate's authority was only given to do what had been ordained by God. We know that Jesus exercised this divine authority in His death, that He volitionally, willfully gave His life up. No man took His life from Him. And He did this in a supreme act of obedience to His Father who He loves, that His life was not taken from Him, it was gifted. The life of Jesus was yielded, the life of Jesus was given, and the cross, listen my friend, the cross is where he put his glory on full display. There at the cross he fulfilled the Father's designs. It was there at the cross that he bore the sins of his people. Listen to John chapter 10 verse 17 and 18. The Lord Jesus says, for this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life so that I may take it again. Listen to this. No one takes it from me, but I myself lay it down. From myself, I lay it down, and I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again, this commandment I have received from my Father. Paul would say that Jesus died at the right time. The Greek language there says that it's the appointed time. The appointed time. Jesus didn't die one moment too soon. He didn't die one moment too late. It was the time that had been foreordained by his father and his great schematics of the will of God being accomplished through the sun on earth. And then we see throughout John, we see Jesus says, I have authority to lay my life down. Well, what does that even mean? Well, you remember the Jews were trying to kill him, the Jewish leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Scribes, but yet they didn't have any power to do what God had allowed them to do. We see that he made a couple of statements in John 30 and John 8 20 that they could not do anything to him because his time was not yet. Verse 30 of John chapter 7, no man laid his hand on Jesus because his hour had not yet come. Jesus had not yielded his life to them yet. Listen, beloved, every moment of the life of Jesus and the death of Jesus was controlled by His authority. They had no power except that which he granted to them. After three days Jesus' body lay there in the tomb lifeless and listless. He takes his life up again. Listen, the resurrection of Jesus was as volitional as the death of Jesus. There he asserted his authority as God and he raised up that body that was dead to new life and now he's glorified in his body. And by the way, he has a body right now. It's a glorified body. You can touch him with your finger. You can look and see his face. You can see the nail prints in his hand. You can see the scar on his side. And that glorified body is what we will see face to face once we receive ours. What a glorious day it shall be. Oh, I hope somebody writes a song about it. Now, listen, Paul now is asserting that God has put all things under the feet of Jesus, meaning that all things are in subjection to Him, meaning that we are to get in our own hearts and have an understanding that the present authority of Jesus in this present world and the world to come is limitless. He ascended to the right hand of God, meaning divine power. The right hand is indicative when it comes to deity of God's sovereign, omnipotent power. His authority is far above all rule, all dominion, all power. And every name that is named, that means angels, that means demons, that means the devil himself. When I was a young man in the charismatic movement, the devil was bigger than God. Everybody had a sniffle that was the devil on them. Everybody's finances were dealt with, the devil was on them, and more were buying the devil, there was more D than G talked about in service. We talked about the devil, they talked about the devil, they talked about the devil, and I was scared to death of the devil, and I had no idea the transcendence of the God that I served when I was a young man. Listen, His authority is far above all else. Far above all others, it's endless. His authority is both now in this age as the gospel is going forward and the mission of Christ and the commission and trust of the church has been given to us. His authority stands behind us. I want you to be convinced thoroughly of this truth. The second point I want to make We talked about his authority, but let's look about the administration of it. The administration of his authority. Because the authoritative Christ, as we see in our text, he has gave him as head over all things to the church. So the authoritative Christ is indissolubly connected to us, his church. Here, the idea of church is not just restricted to grace life prior, but this is speaking about the universal church, the church that is known unto God. It's all of His redeemed. It is all those who have believed. It is all those who have confessed Jesus as Lord. It is all those who have been sealed by the Holy Spirit of God. It is those that have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus. It is all those that have been given to the Son by the Father in eternity past when God made a sovereign choice. The church, the called out ones, and the point Paul's making is that he is head over all things, listen, for the church. I don't know that we get it. I don't know that I get it. I want to get it. Lord, help me get it, right? I want that to be tattooed on my eyelids. I want that to be emblazoned in my heart. I want that to be ignited within my soul and my consciousness, that Christ, the head, is joined to the church, that his authority and rule is toward us, for us. That the authoritative Christ is our living head. That this sovereign regal and this sovereign reign, listen, beloved, has a special divestment in his church which is his body, in his church which is his body, the hands and feet of Christ. Meaning that his authority is exercised within and in the context of his church and by the way the universal church is made manifested in local churches globally. Local assemblies as large or as small as they might be. My dear brother Wendula has a new church plan, only a couple of years old, but they're brothers and sisters in Christ in Lusaka, Zambia. Or Max Barkowski in Poland. or dear Peter in Indonesia, but there are believers that have been purchased by the same sacrificial blood, that have the same authoritative head, that have the same commission entrusted, that have the same authoritative Christ filling them, that fills all in all, and this power is toward us or into us who believe and that we can get the mission done because God has people. He has a church to take the gospel forward in every nation. Are you with me? It's not accidental in Matthew chapter 28 that the Great Commission, the promises of the presence of God and the authority of Christ go hand in hand. And as we go to make disciples, he promises his presence with us because the head never detaches from the body. It's a critical truth. that the authority of Christ is divested in the church as we go making disciples. This is important for us when we're preaching to Thunderbird kids. It's important when we see them with their arms folded up whenever we get a Bible that's got all kinds of vanity and wicked, perverse things written in it, blaspheming the Lord, a Bible that has been given in kindness, given for the purpose of godliness, that has been trashed, that we understand, that we haven't seen the end of the story, that there's something bigger, there's something greater, that there's a promise more transcendent, that there's authority that will work itself out in the life of the church, and that he knows how to break those hard hearts. He knows how to get his will accomplished, that he's not up there going, man, I just don't know that we can do this with these kids. They wrote some vile things in my... They're unsavable. Let's just go on to the next one and see if they're a little softer. That's not the heart of Christ. That's not one that has authority. That's not the rule and reign of Christ that created the cosmos with the breath of His nostril that sustains all things by the Word of His power. The Christ that we serve is able to break those granite hearts, to give them hearts of flesh, and to do it in an instant. We must get our thinking straight and trust Him and march the pulpit and march that person with love and grace and faithful commitment to the gospel of Christ and to preach in the power of the Spirit and trust the one that is the head of the church that has all supreme rule and authority and power that transcends every authority and every name that is named, even that devil, little d. How dare we capitalize his D, right? There's only one that has deity and authority, and that is Christ, and that is Christ. I want you to note the object of his administration. Look at it with me, verse 22. All right, is everybody okay? And y'all are thinking, well, that 19-hour thing on the screen's probably right. He's probably gonna go 19 hours. Well, I promise you, if I go 19 hours, I'll order pizza and pay for it. And then we'll sell you a bottle of water for the cause of missions. Look at verse 22, and he gave him as head over some things, ho, ho, ho, ho, all things to who? Those called out people. Those assembled, redeemed, Holy Ghost sealed believers. to the church. Listen, the headship of Jesus Christ is unlimited in its authority. Would you agree? But he administrates his headship in a certain way, with a certain respect, and that's to, verse 22, the church. The church is central to the purpose of God and grace. God has always viewed His Son as the head of the church, even before there was a world. He's the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, that He's always been the Lamb of God. He's always had an affection for the church. Jeremiah 31, 33, I've loved you with an everlasting love. He loved you before you were born. He loved you before you were even a twinkle in your mama's eye. He loved you with an everlasting love. He knows all things past, present, and future, but he has a special eye upon those that belong to him. In fact, he said to Zachariah, the people of God are the very apple of my eye, and he who touches them touches me. The church is the pillar and the buttress of the truth, 1 Timothy 3, 15, but he's also, the church is the bride of Christ. Grace to God, please hear me out. The mission of Jesus on earth was very specific. He came to rescue his bride. He came to pay the bride price for her. The cross work, Acts 20, 28, was exclusive to the purchase of the church, Ephesians 5, 25. He loved the church and so much he gave himself up for her. He laid his life down for the sheep, John chapter 10. So the universal authority of Jesus finds a special interest and a special activity in the church. Englishman John Stott wrote, for he whom Christ gave to the church to be its head was already the head of the universe. Therefore both the universe and the church have in Jesus Christ the same head." I don't want us to fail in our understanding what Paul's saying. He's going to go on to say that the church is the fullness of Him. The church is the fullness of him. We are his temple on earth. We're his dwelling place. And the idea of fullness is dominant in the mind of the Apostle Paul that the church fills his church with fullness, that he is the fullness in the church. Listen, the church doesn't falter because the church lacks resources. The church falters because it fails to recognize who we possess, that we hold the head! The church is led by the one that is seated in all power and authority, that the life and power of the Lord Jesus Christ belong to us as much as the life and the energy of a biological head belongs to the body. The power that causes my arm to go up or my leg to lift up for you to see my cowboy boots. It's been delegated by my head and that's the very metaphor the Apostle Paul uses that his universal headship has a particular application and it's to his church. The church is central to the redemptive purpose of God. She's described in Revelation 21 as a bride that's been adorned for her husband. What's adorned the church? Listen to me, listen to me. The fullness of Christ. That's what's adorned us. Three truths. I want you to note the objective here. Not only the object, but the objective. The objective of this glorious administration of Christ, that He is the body, which is the body of Christ, which is the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The object of the church being filled is critically important. The idea or the metaphor of a head and a body is important. The head directs the movements of the body. It tells the body what the body has to do. The body carries out the designs of the head, the thoughts of the head, and that's just how things work biologically. But it also works this way spiritually. Listen, without the head, all functions cease. But as it receives direction from the head, it carries them out. A few truths about this objective, first of all, we're filled for conformity. The body doesn't inform the head, the head informs the body. The body is subject to the head, that is that we are directed in every way by the will of the Lord. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 37, 23 that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord or Yahweh, and He delights in His way. Meaning that the Lord has absolute rights over his church, meaning that he's brought us with a price. First Corinthians chapter 6 verse 19 and 20. We're subordinates to the authority of Jesus Christ, submissive to his commands, the very hands and feet of Jesus on earth, as you've done it unto the least of one of these, my dear brethren, you've done it unto me. Matthew chapter 25, verse 45. So he has the authority to tell us what to do, guided and led by the head of the church. So we see conformity, but we also see charismata. Charismata, and that is the Greek word for spiritual gifts. Don't worry, I'm not gonna say anything. I don't go goofy. Listen, the Charismatics have hijacked this word. It's a Bible word. You go and look up Romans 12 about the gifts of administration, the gifts of teaching, and it's the same word in the Greek, charismata. It literally means that we've been gifted, but the Bible says all these things come from him. Romans 11, 36, for from him, through him, and to him are all things. But these gifts are for the good of the church. And the reason I use this word is because it is the right word to use. Romans chapter 12 verses 5 and 6, it says that we are many but we are one body in Christ, individually members of one another but having gifts that differ according to the grace given. You could skip a few chapters and go to 1 Corinthians 12, where it speaks about divine giftings. Paul says in verse 7 of 1 Corinthians 12, they're for the good of the church, they're to profit with all, the King James says. For the good of all, in other translations, meaning that God has given gifts for preaching, gifts for edification, organization, instruction, edification. And the point is this, that we are filled by Him, that we're given distinct and powerful gifts for the good of the church and the advancement of our mission. It's not a mistake that the gifts precede the body coming together, that God gives every member gifts. We see the body being assembled in 1 Corinthians 12, the last half, and he says to us, even the weaker members are necessary because God gives members and organizes it all together for the good of the church, for the advancement of the mission. If you've been saved, you've been gifted. The gifts that you have might look different than the gifts that I have, but they're equally as valuable and possibly more valuable. Listen, a biblically healthy church has a membership that use their gifts selflessly and faithfully. Amen. Brother Andrew, amen. Sister Sarah, use your gifts as you all do. Thank God, but it's for the good of the church, it's for the advance of the mission, it's from the authority of Christ, and the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. You don't know a thing about these gifts. We don't pick them, God picks them. God arranges the membership in the body in a way that suits God, in a way that causes the church to flourish. But mind you this, there are no unimportant members in the body. The weaker members are more necessary, Paul says. We've been gifted according to God's sovereign grace. He gives gifts by his own sovereign will, but they function in the life of the church. The church has the fullness of Christ, pleroma, meaning abundance, the overflow of Jesus Christ. Of him, we have received his fullness, grace upon grace, John 1 16 tells us. And then lastly, we're filled by him for commission, commission. That means that God has given us an assignment. That means that the union that we have, this vital, living, organic union between our living head and between the church, which is his body, has a corporate aspect to it. Yes, we're individually sealed. Yes, we're individually redeemed. But we are formed into a body. The body is connected to the head. The church then has been tasked with this glorious and divine mission. It says in our text that it is the church that has been filled with the fullness of Him. It talks about the church that has been granted powerful gifts that equip us for the mission at hand. Colossians 2.9 once again and 10, for in Christ the fullness of deity dwells bodily and in him you have been filled who is the head over all rule and all authority. This is important when it comes to mission. That authority and ability are critical to the church. The task that we've been given is a monumental task. The audience we've been sent to are dead in their sins and trespasses, by the way, hostile to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And without the authority and the presence of Christ, the mission is hopeless. But here's the promise, you're not alone in the task. You're not dependent upon your own strength. John 15, 5, Jesus tells the church, I am the vine, you, the church, are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. This vital union, this organic unity between the head and the body, that the authority is divested in the interest of the church for the accomplishment of the mission for the glory and renown of Christ, that God might sum up all things in Christ, Ephesians 1.11. So the authority that we have is from our head. We see this, by the way, in the early churches. It's not something that is distant. We just oftentimes skip over it, haze over it, even though it's a very critical and important truth. The mission of the early church was coupled with the divine power and authority of the Lord. The church in its origin understood something of the power and authority of Christ. They understood something about the union that they had with the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't go out into their mission field with the crippled, hazy view of Jesus, who is their living head. In Mark 16, verse 19 and 20, listen to this. I'm about done. But I want this to be driven home. because it's critical to Grace Life Church. It's faithful to the text. It's critical to our vitality as a body. I'm not concerned about a church growing numerically if we're just bloated. I want us to be healthy, vibrant, faithful, committed, energized by the Holy Spirit of God, set to mission, that the, listen, that the Great Commission is not only great for the Mandula Bayways, or the Max's over in Poland, or the Brother Steve's in Austria, or wherever it might be, or in Peru in the Andes Mountains. It's for each one of us. cause each one of us are organically connected one to another, then upward into Christ. The mission has been entrusted to us. We're so prone to think we'll entrust that to the big guns, but look at me, there are no big guns. There are only faithful assemblies with faithful members that understand something of the organic unity with their living head and the authority that he divests in the church. Now, this will make sense of Mark 16, verse 19 and 20. So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, the Great Commission, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God, that's Ephesians 1, you with me? Listen to this. And they went out and preached everywhere while the Lord worked with them. Everywhere they went, the living head went with them. And then the word was confirmed by signs that followed. Jesus went up into heaven, He commissioned them, He's caught up, He's seated at the right hand of God, He dispatches them to go. They went, oh by the way, they went to an upper room and they prayed and they trusted God and power came down from on high. They were filled with the Holy Spirit of God and mighty power. And they went out and they, listen, it says, and the Lord went with them. Wherever the body went, the head went. The head was directing them. The head is leading them. The head is authoritating and empowering them. And the mission is being accomplished through them. Nothing's changed. The pattern is for now. The pattern is for now. So we're not to labor for Him independently of Him because the promise is that He will go with us as we labor for His name. Listen, the authority of Jesus has not ceased. The power of the Lord has not waned. The union of His church has never been severed. The head of the church is with us. We've been given the fullness of Christ. We see the church of the fullness of Him who fills all in all. The greatness of the cause is accomplished by the greatness of Christ, the greatness of his authority, and the size of our mission should not overwhelm us into inactivity. Right? But to allow the awareness of the power, the promise, and the presence of Christ as we go to strengthen us and to be faithful even to the end. Colossians 2.19 says, not holding fast to the head from whom the entire body being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments grows a growth that is from God. I want to end with a quote from Charles Hodge who was a Puritan Princeton, theologian, and then I'll pray, and then Pastor Tommy will come. Listen to these words. The union, therefore, which the church sustains and which is the source of its life and blessedness is not with a mere creature, but with Christ, God revealed in the flesh. who pervades and governs all things by His omnipresent power, the source of life therefore for the church is inexhaustible and immortal." Once again, the union therefore which the church sustains and which is the source of its life and blessedness is not with a mere creature but with Christ, God revealed in the flesh, who pervades and governs all things by His omnipresent power, the source of life, therefore, for the church is inexhaustible and immortal." Why? Not only in this age, but the one that is to come.