Spiritual Headship — Colossians 1-2

0:01 Before we begin reading, I'd just like to have a word of prayer. Our God and our Father, as we think of the wondrous event that we've been singing about, that thou didst send thy son to come to be the savior of the world, for his suffering on the cross of Calvary, for the victory of the work of the cross, for the fact that he's risen from the dead. He's seated at the right hand in glory. Our father, as we look at the subject this morning of his headship, we realize how important it is to thee. His glory, his majesty is without compare.

0:55 As we open thy word, we pray that the spirit of God would hide the speaker that our Lord Jesus Christ might be exalted. Speak through thy word. May the spirit of God apply it to the hearts of each one of us, for we ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Colossians one and verse 14.

1:24 And Paul is writing. He says, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the Lord Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn, and that means the first in rank or position over all creation. For by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through him and for him.

2:02 And he is before all things, and in him all things consist or hold together. And he is the head of the body of the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the father, God the father, that in him, in Christ, all the fullness should dwell. And by him to reconcile all things to himself, by him whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Then just look in the next chapter for a couple verses.

2:47 Chapter two and verse nine. Again, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in him who is the head of all principality and power, and that's speaking of angelic beings. We've been singing so much this morning of the angels, of how they heralded the Lord's birth, how they rejoiced in it. The Lord Jesus Christ, the risen son of God, the victorious savior, the king of kings and lord of lords is head of angelic beings as well.

3:29 But as we look at chapter one, I believe that every message should include some gospel. And in verse 14 as we began reading, and again in verse 20 as we finished, it speaks about the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as the price of our redemption through whom we receive the forgiveness of sins and through whom we receive peace through the blood of his cross. Now as we looked at that section in between, we find that this one that became the savior, the one that shed his precious blood on the cross, is the eternal son of God. In verse 17, he is before all things. He is from eternal ages without beginning, co equal and co eternal with his father and the holy spirit in heaven.

5:34 He made peace through the blood of his cross. He gave us redemption. He paid the price. The penalty for our sins were laid upon him. He willingly, the perfect spotless lamb of God, the son of God, bore our sins in his own body on the tree, but it requires a response, a personal response.

6:00 It requires an acknowledgment of our sin on a personal basis and of receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal savior. But as we look at this one in verse 18, He is the head of the body of the church. This one that is the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, that in all things he might have the preeminence. Not to share, not to have part of, but in all things he might have and he will have the preeminence. But how does he receive it?

6:46 He's speaking here that he's the head of the universal church, the body of every true believer from Pentecost to the rapture. He is the head. He is over all. He receives worship. He has the preeminence.

7:04 In verse 19, it pleased the Father that in him all the fullness should dwell. Another rendering of that verse is, for in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell. In the Lord's earthly life, he was down here, but the Father was in him and he was still in the Father. And that's a mystery that only the infinite can comprehend. And the spirit was not given by any limited measure.

7:39 He had the full control. He had the full possession of the Holy Spirit in his walk down here. All the fullness should dwell. And as we read in chapter two verse nine, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. The wonderful mystery, not only of Christmas, but of his life and of the truth of his death and resurrection at Easter.

8:10 And it says, we are complete in him. I'm going to just refer to some verses from Ephesians one. I won't read them, but I'll just quote them. Ephesians one verses 20 through 23. It speaks about God raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age, but in that which is to come.

9:32 You know, you could ponder that for the next million years, and we will in eternity, but we'll never understand the full grasp of it. The wondrous fact that the infinite Son of God finds completion in his bride, the believers. The fact that those that he purchased with his own precious blood and presents us, as it says in Ephesians, without spots of the father. His bride, his church, the fullness of him that fills all in all for eternal ages. So we've looked at the fact of his headship over the universal church.

10:16 We've touched on the fact that he said over all the angelic beings, and I'll come and discuss that in more detail later. But I'd like you to look please at first Corinthians 15, just a few verses later than what Sam was reading this morning. First Corinthians 15 and verse 24. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what this as we break into this section, it's speaking about an event in time future. A time after the millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ is over.

11:04 And as we start into what is called the eternal state, in verse 24 it says, then comes the end when Christ delivers the kingdom to God the father. When he puts an end to all rule and authority and power. For Christ must reign till he has put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. And as we read these next two verses, there's a lot of he and his.

11:42 And they're referring both to God the Father and to Christ. And so I'm going to change it a little bit. Instead of saying he or his, I'm going to say either the father, for God the father, or Christ. Verse 27, For the father has put all things under Christ's feet. When the father says all things are put under Christ, it is evident that the father who put all things under Christ is accepted.

12:17 Now when all things are made subject to Christ, then the son himself will also be subject to the father who put all things under him that God may be all in all. And so for eternal ages without end, in the eternal state, all rebellion has been put down. Everything is subject first to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then at that time, he delivers it all to the Father. Father, this is yours.

12:57 Everything has been subjected. And for eternal ages, God, the trium of God, will be all in all. Believers will worship for eternal ages. And as it says in Ephesians two, there will be that constant unfolding, continued unfolding of the beauties of the Savior, of his work on the cross, of the benefits of the accomplishment of his salvation, of his eternal ages. And we find that forever and ever and ever there will be more to understand, more to understand out of the scriptures.

13:42 The scriptures are infinite. The Trinity is infinite. In our finite minds now we can't begin to do more than scratch the surface, no matter how much we study. But God will be all in all. At that point, we find the headship of Christ is over the universe, that which he has created, the angelic beings in heaven that he created.

14:53 We have to understand the vastness, the tremendous extent of his headship. Is far more than over the local assembly that we're going to look at next. But with that as a background, turn please to first Corinthians 11. First Corinthians 11 and verse two. And Paul was speaking here to the Corinthians.

15:28 He says, now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ. The head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered dishonors his head. But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for that is one in the same as if her head were shaved.

16:06 For if a woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is shameful for a woman to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. For man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. For man is not from woman, but woman from man. Neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man.

16:34 For this reason, the woman ought to have a symbol of authority, that's the head covering on her head, because of the angels. Nevertheless, neither is man independent of woman, nor woman independent of the man in the Lord. For as the woman came from the man, even so man also comes through woman, but all things are from God. Judge among yourselves, is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? Does not even nature itself teach you if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?

17:13 But if a woman has long hair, it is a glory to her, for her hair is given to her for a covering. But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God. Now, in this section, it gives, first of all, in verses two through seven, some spiritual principles of headship. In verses two and three, it has the fact of authority. Then in verses four through seven, it has the symbol of authority.

17:56 Then in verses eight through 12, it has the scriptural reasons for authority. And finally, it ends with the natural reasons for authority. Now in verse two, Paul says, remember me in all things and keep the traditions. Now you can say, well, traditions. Traditions.

18:20 Are they really important? How do we know they're right? Now, what Paul is speaking about is the apostolic traditions of the Word of God that he received through the Holy Spirit. It's not just what was done for the last thirty years before he wrote or twenty years. This was apostolic authority in the traditions.

18:47 It was not some ecclesiastical tradition that had existed. But as he comes to verse three, and verse three is the key to this whole section. Because in verse three, we find three aspects of headship. He says, the head of every man is Christ. That's inequality.

19:17 There's no way that we are equal with Christ. Inequality. But then he says the head of woman is man, and that is equality, but different in function. And the head of Christ is God. There is equality there, but there's submission.

20:21 But the other meaning for it is a position of authority. And that's what we have in verse three. The head of every man is Christ. He's in the position of authority. The head of the woman is the man, and even though there's equality, there is the position of authority.

20:49 The head of Christ is God. And even though there is total equality, yet there is the Son submitting to the will of God the Father. And so as we look at this section, I'm going to confess to you that I think this section is misunderstood by a number of people. I'm not talking about the assembly as much as in the evangelical world. There are those that teach that the head covering on the woman was just something cultural for Paul's day, that it doesn't apply to us today.

21:37 There are others that teach that the woman's hair is her covering. She does not need a second covering. Now actually, of those ideas, and that's exactly what they are, ideas. They're not from the scriptures. In fact, this section of the scriptures refutes both of those ideas.

22:03 It's not my word. I don't want you to focus on anything I say. Focus on what the word of God is saying because that's ultimately what we have to bow to. But we find that as Paul was dealing with this issue at Corinth, it seems like as the Corinthians had not had the word of God, they were just receiving it from Paul. But there seemed to have been the idea among the women that we're equal in Christ, and that's true.

22:41 They are. But different in function. And so the men were able to speak, they were able to pray and to prophecy. We should be able to, too. And then the men don't have their heads covered, we don't need to cover our heads too.

23:03 We're equal. And as Paul addresses those two issues, the first issue about the speaking of the women publicly, he deals with in chapter 14. But the fact that the women not having their head covered, he deals with in this section. There is, I want to stress, there's total equality of the men and the women in Christ. There is.

23:33 But there are difference in function and roles, both at the time of creation and in Christian service. And this is what Paul is focusing on now. God's principles are declared here. But we need to be aware that in our practice, it is possible for us to violate those principles. And there's three glories that are mentioned here.

24:11 And this is part of the key to this passage. Two of them are in verse seven. For the man is the image and the glory of God. And this is in God's position, not necessarily how we live, but man is the glory of God. Then later at the end of that verse, the woman is the glory of man.

24:41 And finally, in verse 15, the glory of women is their long hair. And this whole section is about glory. And this is so key for us to understand. Displayed glory versus covered glory. God's glory versus the glory of men and women.

25:09 If we don't understand that, we will not understand the principles that God is teaching here. Displayed glory versus covered glory, God's glory versus the glory of men and women. And so as we focus on this, what our attention should be on is what gives glory to God? How can we give God the glory? He is altogether worthy of it.

26:34 This is what this whole passage is teaching. The authority of Christ. If a woman refuses to cover her hair, basically she's denying two things, the headship of the man and she's proclaiming, I'm independent. I'm not in subjection. Now we said before that some people teach, well, this is just something cultural for Paul's day.

27:07 It doesn't apply to us today. There's no reason why it should. But Paul gives three reasons for the head covering in verses eight through 12. And all three reasons did not apply only to Paul's day. Two of the reasons began at creation, the creation of Adam.

27:32 And the third one applies to the angels that look on from heaven through the whole church age. And we're going be looking at that in detail. Angels are looking on and they're wondering. I'll get into that in just a few minutes. But the first reason he gives is the order, divine order in creation.

28:00 Adam was created in the image and glory of God, created out of the dust. And God breathed in him the breath of life, and he became a living soul. Eve was created from Adam, from Adam and for Adam. But Adam was created first and he was given headship by God in creation. Headship over the animal kingdom, then headship over the family when Eve was created and they had children.

28:39 The second reason was, and I've already referred to it, the woman, Eve, was created from Adam. Adam was created first and she was created to help him, a helper. But she was created to be in subjection to his headship. Now I realize that's not popular in some cases, in some sections of today's society, but this is what the scriptures teach. And if we want to be subjective to the scriptures.

29:21 But I want to put out a disclaimer here. To the brethren husbands, the wives are to be in subjection. They're to obey. But they're to obey a husband that is willing to be so sacrificial that he's willing to give himself and lay aside any of his interests. For Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

29:49 That's the standard that husbands are held to. And if a husband lives like that, I don't think it will be hard for the wife to be in subjection because he will consider her. His decisions will be made after they've discussed it together and he's had her input. But there is the responsibility of the wife to be subject to the husband and in the church, the women to be subject to the men. But then we find the third one in verse 10.

30:27 And I think this is a reason that so many of us really do not understand the full force of. Nevertheless, or for this reason rather, the woman is to have the sign of authority on her head because of the angels. Now I'd like to look at a few of the reasons why angels are looking on and observing assembly meetings. They've seen their Creator, the Lord Jesus Christ, is being head over the universal church. But what about the local assembly as they look on that?

31:37 They cover their feet. Angels cover themselves in the presence of God. But the angels too are responsible to carry out the will of God. They're guardians of divine order in their sphere of administration. The angels were present at creation.

32:00 They looked down as God created Adam out of the dust. They had seen all creation before that, but they saw Adam created with his position of authority and headship. They saw Eve created in her position of helper but in submission. Now we didn't read it, but in Ephesians three ten, it says that they are learning the manifold wisdom of God in the universal church. They're learning the manifold wisdom of God.

32:44 That God would take and allow his creatures to take his son, to torture him, to mock him, to ultimately put him to death on the cross. How can God allow this to the son of his love? And then they see the result. The resurrection of Christ. He's ascended.

33:13 He's seated at the right hand of God in majesty and honor and glory. But they see sinners of the deepest die, trusting Christ and turning to Him as Lord and Savior, and gathering in groups of assembly fellowship to be able to worship, to be able to carry out the Great Commission and the proclamation of the Gospel, to come together for prayer. Out of every nation and tribe and kindred and people worldwide, they see groups of believers meeting to give God and to give His Son the proper place of authority and glory in worship. But there's one other reason I'd like to mention. The angels looked on at the time that Lucifer, or Satan, lifted up with a sin of pride and rebellion, said I will be like the Most High, as Ezekiel describes it.

34:27 Concerning Satan, You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and beauty. This is before his fall. You were in Eden, the garden of God. You were the anointed cherub. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created till iniquity was found in you.

34:59 That's Ezekiel 28. Isaiah 14, five times concerning Lucifer or Satan's rebellion. I will, I will, I will, I will the final one. I will be like the Most High. I will be as God.

35:25 They've looked on and they've seen angels that fell with him. Those that are recorded, as Jude says in verse six of his very short epistle. They left their first estate. They were cast out of heaven, cast down in Tartarus to be kept until the ultimate judgment. They've seen rebellion.

36:19 Because their uncovered head says the glory of Christ is on display. Christ's glory is all that should be displayed in the meeting, so their heads are uncovered. But then as the ladies and the girls, anyone in the fellowship, if their head is uncovered, what they're saying is, My glory is on display. The man's glory is on display. This is what's on display.

36:54 My glory. Man's glory. How about Christ's glory? When she covers her head, her glory and the man's glory are covered. Christ's glory is totally on display, both in the men and in the women.

37:14 And I think that's such an important I don't think anyone would deliberately try to say the glory of Christ is not important. But sometimes as we take a look at this, we find that in verse 11, we talked before about equality but difference of roles. But in verse 11, he says, neither is the man independent of the woman, nor woman independent of the man in the Lord. And so we find a mutual dependence. Each one is necessary for the other.

37:55 Each one is important. But the men and the women have different roles. And so as we find that difference is not dictated by men, it's God's principle and God's ruling, not ruling, but God's principle from creation. It's what is taught in the scripture. And there's one other thing I want to just refer to and we talked about two misunderstandings before and I think there's a third one.

38:38 And I want to be very kind about this because I think it's a misunderstanding, I really do. But there are some that feel that the head covering is only required for the breaking of bread meeting. It's not required for other meetings of the assembly. The Bible hour, the prayer meeting, the women's missionary meeting. But you know, the head covering is not required because of what we do.

39:14 It's required because of the presence of God himself in the meeting. That's the reason. And Christ is present in the Bible hour. He's present in the prayer meeting. He's present at a ladies missionary meeting.

39:30 So it's not just at the breaking of bread, but the scriptures teach that it's for every meeting. As we gather in assembly fellowship, it is to display the glory of Christ and not the glory of human members. You know, as we each of us have to be cognizant of the fact that ultimately, our life after conversion will be reviewed in what we call the bema of Christ, the judgment seat of Christ. As we heard already this morning, it's not a time of being punished for sins. It's a time of reward, or sadly, sometimes the loss of reward.

40:30 But as Christ examines each of us, he will have the full report. And you know, each of us will have to answer for things possibly that we did in the flesh and did not follow the Word of God. I'm not sure he would do this. But if he was to say to each one of us, Why did you do that? Or Why did you not do that?

41:15 We won't have anything to say, but if we did and said, Oh Lord, I didn't think it was important. And he looks at us with tender, piercing eyes and said, I gave my blood for you. I gave my life for you. And you didn't think my glory was that important? And whatever aspect it's for.

41:47 John fourteen and fifteen, I'm just going to close with this verse. The Savior was talking to his disciples just before he was going to the cross. And he says to them, If you love me, keep my commandments. If you love me, keep my commandments. Obedience is a measure of our love for Christ.

42:21 And we need to kind of constantly remind ourselves of that. If you love me, keep, obey my commandments. Shall we pray? Our God and our Father, as we think of the love of the Savior for each one of us. He loved us when we were unlovable, when we were rebellious, when we had no desire for all his love or to return his love.

43:03 But through the spirit of God and his convicting us of our sin, convicting us of the Savior and his love and the accomplishment of the victory of the cross, We have been brought into a relationship as part of the Bride of Christ. We've been brought into local assembly fellowship. Our Father, we pray that each of us might totally reflect on how we can bring glory to him and hide our own glory. That his glory might be displayed, that our glory might be set aside. For this one that is all in all, the one that will put everything under his feet, the one that will rule until the eternal state and then turn everything over to thee.