In today’s meeting, the word we would be meditating on together is something that we should go beyond what we hear, the letters, and understand the spirituality of our conversation. Because our focus is on the Father, we want to look at the Son, and we want to look at a disciple. So, we are looking at: God the Father, God the Son and a Disciple. So, we want to see the link between God, the Father, we want to see the link that connects God to the Son, and that also connects the Son with us, the disciples. And there is a Scripture I found and I want us to read it together in 1 Corinthians 11 from verse 2. The Bible says:
“Now I praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the traditions just as I delivered them to you. 3 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.”
This particular Scripture, has been read by many of us, especially when we want to deal with marriage, when we want to teach marriage, we’ve gone to this scripture to glean the truth about marriage from this same scripture. But we want to look at something that would help us as disciples, and as disciplers from this same verse 2 to verse 3 of the Book of 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Verse 3 says, “I want you to know…” So, it means the Lord is helping us to understand something that can set us free, if only we know it, which is the truth. The Lord is helping us to understand something that can set us free if only we know it.
It says: “I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ”. Whether you are a Russian or a Nigerian or an American, whether you are an Igbo man, or you are a Yoruba man, wherever you are, the head of that man is Christ. So, a man whose head is not Christ is a man who is behaving or living beyond, outside the scope of his life. Because one thing we must realize is that there is a life that God expects us to live. Now, if the life we live as a people is going to be as God has ordained it; this is what God has instituted: if you're a man, your head must be Christ; very soon, we will know the implication of that. And it says, “the head of a woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.”
Now, it began by saying, “the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is man”, but it concludes with, “the head of Christ is God.” So, our focus here without being gender insensitive is on “the head of every man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God”. And one thing I want you to also understand by that is, when we look at the word head, one meaning I want us to really draw from that head is what the Scripture explains in the Book of John chapter I:1-3 and then we will go to another verse in the same chapter. The Bible says:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him…” Can you see that word? “All things were made through…” So, he became the source of the things that are made. Now see it, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” So, nothing came into being that did not pass through Him. So, He became the channel for the existence, the emergence of a thing; for the development, for the birthing of a thing. And so, that makes Him the head of that thing. It says: “All things were made through him. And without him, nothing was made, that was made.”
Now, there is another verse I want us to see in verse 16, talking about Him and it says: “and of his fullness [His fullness, of his completeness of His wholeness], we have all received and grace for grace”. So, what that tells us is that what we all have is what we have received from Him. He is therefore the source of the things we have. Now the Bible mentioned in verse 3 “That nothing was made, that was not made by Him.” And you know, the emphasis here was on the Word. Now, eventually we realize that the Word is the Christ: Jesus. The Bible says “the Word became flesh”. When the word became flesh, it came as Jesus, the Christ. Jesus, the Word, the sent Word of God; the sent One of God, Jesus, the one that God begat, God gave birth to.
Now, the Bible says that Word was the one that every other thing came through. So, the Word is the head of every other thing. The Word is the source because one word that we want to connect head to mean is the source: where something comes from, where the authority or the essence of a thing is originated from, and so, that becomes the source of the thing. And so, the Bible says, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, all things were made through him”. And in verse 16, we understand that, “from His fullness, we all have received grace for grace.” So, whatever we have today is what we have received from him: “Of His fullness, we receive”.
When a man comes of age and he has a wife, then he becomes a father; because he is able from his fullness to birth a child, so the child comes from him, and then we say, He is the source of the child, or we can call him the father of the child, because we are looking the Father, His Son and a Disciple. In similar manner, if we look at what God has, and what God is, and we understand how God also sent of Himself His Son, Jesus, the Christ; and God also expects that through the Son, He can raise more sons unto Himself, who will become sons after the order of His Son or who will become His sons after the order of His Son, who is the firstborn among many brethren. And so, because the Son came from God, He is the Son of God, do we understand? And so, from the fullness of God the sons come.
The Son is expected, based on that; to be a reflection of the Father, the Son is expected to be — I don't want to use the word an imitation or a copy — an express image of the Father. So, when the Son comes to the fullness of His life, it should be the offshoot of the fullness of the Father. So, from the fullness of the Father, the Son draws. Now, there is a place in Colossians that I want us to see will show us more, in another, what we are talking about. Colossians 1:15, see what the Bible says:
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation [The Son] 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. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”
Now, the verse that we actually want to begin from is that verse 15 that says: “He is the image of the invisible God.” Haven been since He is the Son of God having God as His source, all He does is to show us the Father who sourced Him. So, every time you encounter the Son, you have an encounter with the Father: He reveals to us who the Father is, and it doesn't stop with Him, this is where it concerns us today. Jesus becoming the firstborn among many brethren; He also became the mold through which God gave birth to all of us; we are born onto God through Christ — Christ is our source — we are therefore expected to reflect Him; we are expected to be His image wherever we find ourselves.
So, as Christ is the image of God, we are the image of Christ; as Christ goes to places, revealing God to men; we are expected to go to places revealing Christ to men; that is the link between God the Father and the Son and us, the disciples. When Apostle John was speaking concerning the Lord Jesus in 1 John chapter 4 verse 17, He said, “as He is, so are we in this world”. Jesus, speaking concerning Himself says, “I am the salt of the earth; I'm the light of the world”. And there was a time He also said to the disciples, “you are the light of the world.” So, the things that Jesus became, He only became those things to show us what we should become.
Ultimately, everyone is expected to reflect the image of God. But the question is, how do you get to know the image of God? We get to know the image of God, by knowing the image of Christ. Every time a man reflects the image of Christ, that man is reflecting the image of God. In the Book of Hebrews chapter one, the Bible calls “Jesus the express image of the invisible God”. We have God who is the source of all things. In John chapter 1 from verse, it says, “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God”. So, there was God who had a Word, if there was no God, there would be no Word of God. We have Christ because there is God and there is the Word of God; Christ came out of God. And we are expected because we also came out of Christ, to follow the channel of divine order.
So, as God is the head of Christ, and Christ does not create crisis in the Godhead, we must understand that Christ is the head of us all; Christ is the head of the church; Christ is the head of man. Therefore, as a man, I have the responsibility to know what the will of my head is, to reflect His image, and to source my essence from Him.
The Bible says in John chapter 1 verse 16: “Of his fullness we have received grace upon grace”. If there's anything that I lack, as a person, as long as Christ has those things, I'm expected to have them; I'm expected to have access to the things that Christ has because He is my source. He is my Father; I was begotten onto God through Him. The Bible says, “Nothing was made [including myself] that was not made by Him”. And nothing can be made around my life, that would not be made by Him. So, he is the maker of my life; the builder of my life. And I'm expected to really have a relationship with Him, not the type of relationship that we have with our earthly fathers such that is subjected to circumstance; when they give us things, we are close to them; but when they don't give us things, we move away from them. The relationship we share or enjoy with Christ must be intimate — the relationship between God and us.
So, it’s also important that we understand that as much as God has so much in stock for His children, the channel through which we must connect to God's supply is Christ. Every time we connect with Christ, we have connected with God. That's why Jesus said, “I am the way, I am the truth, and the life no one can come to the Father except through me.” Now, if I have begotten you onto God, you cannot go to the Father outside of Me. You will be breaking the hedge; you'll be going outside the scope that God has ordained.
If we don't want to have a life full of regret, if we don't want to struggle in life, we must recognize what God has ordained. Apostle Paul said, “I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ.” No matter how high a man is, no matter how low A man is; the head of that man is Christ”. And if your head is not Christ, you must ask yourself the right question, who is my head? This is because if you have another one as your head, you are going to be reflecting that man or woman; the will of such you will do; where such an individual end up; that is where you will end. And this is the word that the Holy Spirit has laid in my heart. As a disciple, we must know.
There was a time when the disciples of Jesus while our Lord was still on the face of the earth bodily that the disciples wanted to do something else different from what their head required. James and John said, “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven like Elijah did?” Since Elijah was not their head, Jesus rebuked them saying, “You do not know the manner of Spirit that you are of”. Meaning the Spirit of God that is me in Christ Jesus does not follow that pattern. They must learn from Christ that they follow and so, the things that they do therefore, their choices must be after our Lord’s choices. That is why it is important we look at this matter, looking at the relationship between God, who is the source of all things. and He sourced all things through Christ. And if your life has been sourced unto God by Christ, you must reflect the image of God through Christ.
So, anytime you learn from Christ, you are learning from God; any time you are seeking to know the will of Christ, you are seeking to know the will of God. There are times we may not be able to see the next in command, but we can see the person that is in charge of us. Anytime you seek Christ, you are connected to God. That is the word that the Lord has laid in my heart and I really want us to meditate on it. The head of a man is Christ and the head of Christ is God. Jesus said: as I hear my Father, I judge, my judgment is true. So, the things Jesus said, the things Jesus did, were the things that Jesus saw. Every time Jesus saw something in God, He replicated it on the earth. And that is why when He was teaching the disciples how to pray, He said: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. your kingdom comes. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” How will it be done? Through us.
Jesus recognized the Lord as His Father. When He was on earth. And so, He was not in short supplies of the things the Father had because He was always in touched with His head, He was always acknowledging His head and He was always depending on his head. And so, that is the challenge that the Holy Spirit has for us today. Your head is Christ. You must not assume that you get anything from God outside of Christ. So, whatever you don’t get from God through Christ, you won’t get it at all from God.
There was this saying about John the Baptist by Jesus where He said the greatest of all from the beginning till now is John the Baptist. But the least in the kingdom that is born unto God though Christ is greater than him. Aside from Jesus being our mediator, He is the channel through which we get things from God, He is also our Father, our source. So, if you want to reflect God, reflect Christ. If you want to please God, know how Christ pleases the Father. For God said: this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And so, if God could say that more than once, it means God was pleased with Him, and if you and I must please God, we must know how Jesus did it.
I pray that the Lord will help us in Jesus’ name. And so, this what the Lord has laid in my heart, I have shared it and I believe you have learnt something from it. It is important we go to God now in prayer acknowledging the channel that God has put in place for us. Whatever you desire from God, go to Him through Christ Jesus. That is why we must understand that God has given Jesus the name that is higher than every other name and that through Jesus, we can be built up unto God an edifice, a building that God’s Spirit can tabernacle in.
Amen!
