And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church … (Ephesians 1:22)

Often Christians don’t pay attention to the significance of Christ being the head of the church—that is, He is the ultimate authority of the church, not an ecclesiastical headquarters, bishop, pope or pastor. Not even the elders of the church are the head—for though elders are to shepherd God’s people (1 Peter 5:2) and are to guard the flock (Acts 20:28), Jesus is the Chief Shepherd (1 Peter 5:4). To say that the pope is Christ’s vicar or any human man is His representative is to go beyond Scriptural warrant. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. (1 Tim 2:5–6). Christ is our Priest, our one and only intercessor (see the entire book of Hebrews). To be sure, we are to obey our earthly leaders (Heb 13:17) and follow them insofar as they are following Christ (1 Cor 11:1), but our ultimate accountability is to the Head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have a problem with your local church leaders or elders? Your responsibility is to respect them and care for them, for they are Christ’s undershepherds. Pray for them. When they are in error, you have the prerogative to appeal to the Head of the church, through prayer. Do we not believe that the Chief Shepherd can override the faulty leadership of the undershepherds? Cannot the Head of the church bypass the prescribed body functioning of the church and directly provide nurture and help through other means? We can never expect to justify our harsh criticisms of church leaders without in some way impugning Christ Himself as the Head.

If we really believe that He is the Head, then we have two responsibilities. First, we are to be “speaking the truth in love” so that we “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Eph 4:15). Love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). Speaking truth is relatively easy; many fancy themselves experts at this. Some even boast having the gift of “prophecy,” but often that is a fleshly justification for being opinionated and critical. Aside from the difficulty of this faulty (and abusive) understanding of that spiritual gift, love is completely left out of the equation. To speak the truth in love is extremely difficult. Our motive should be one of genuine concern for people, not the self-satisfaction of “speaking my mind.”

Our second responsibility is to so live our lives in the church that Christ “Himself will come to have first place in everything” (Col 1:18).

Lord, I confess that too often I have acted like I want first place in the church!