EPHESIANS 5:21-23
October 29, 2006
New Covenant EPC
“HEADSHIP”
Body Life: The Book of Ephesians
I.Who is in charge here?
A. In America, we have a tremendous concern about our leaders and whether they are doing the right thing.
1. We are fixated on President Bush and the Congress.
2. We are comparing the Democrats and the Republicans as leaders of our country.
3. Poll after poll is being taken to determine who we think is the better leader.
B. In order to have a leader, you have to have one who is willing to follow, to listen, to trust the leader to lead.
II. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. (NIV)
A. The word “HEAD” in the Greek is “KEPHALE” meaning “the head both literally or figuratively”
1. Vines Dictionary says it means “taken in connection with the context, the word "authority" probably stands, by metonymy, for a sign of authority”
2. Headship - Basic definition
a. What does our head do?
b. It gives direction and the body responds.
3. Which is more important? Neither.
a. What would the head be without the body?
b. What would be the body without the head?
c. They are both necessary and essential to each other.
B. When the head no longer has control of the body, we call that abnormal.
1. We take all sorts of medical tests and often we find a disease which limits the effectiveness of the entire body.
2. Many times therapy is prescribed to help the head once again to have authority over the body.
C. Besides this passage, the figurative use of "Head" to mean "Headship" or leadership is found several times in Scripture
1. Ephesians 4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. (NIV)
2. Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (NIV)
3. 1 Corinthians 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (NIV)
III. Headship implies one leading and others submitting to that leading.
A. 21 Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
1. The word submit is not a very popular word today.
2. When is the last time you even heard the word?
3. The Greek word “SUBMIT” is “HUPOTASSO” which means “to be subordinate to obey”
4. It comes from two other Greek words - “HUPO” which means “UNDER” and “TASSO” meaning “ASSIGNED or ARRANGED”
5. But we in America don’t like boundaries, except maybe to keep illegal aliens out.
a. We pride ourselves as testing all limits.
b. We tested the speed of sound, the force of gravity, the strength of one another in contests of sports.
c. We are a people who to not like to submit to any limits.
6. And yet we live with limits all our lives.
a. We do not drive as fast as our cars can drive.
b. Otherwise we would get a ticket or be in an accident and die.
c. We live within the limits of a day of work.
d. We get up at a certain time, to get to work at a specific time, to end work at a distinct time.
7. Those limits create a certain order which we direct and protect our lives.
B. Submission is necessary part of salvation through Jesus Christ and a necessary part of living out our salvation.
1. Submission is key to repentance and restoration
a. Roman 8:7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. (NIV)
b. 2 Chronicles 30:8 Do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were; submit to the LORD. Come to the sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you. (NIV)
c. Job 22:21 "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. (NIV)
2. Salvation begins when we acknowledge our sinfulness and surrender to Christ’s Lordship and Salvation.
a. Roman 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (NIV)
C. Why submit to one another? Because they are better? No
1. Submit to one another because it is a tradition of long ago? No
2. Submit to one another so they can take the blame is something goes wrong? No
3. MacArthur’s New Testament Commentary: Ephesians
a. "Without a proper basis of authority for relationships, people grope for meaningful, harmonious, fulfilling relationships by whatever means and arrangements they can find or devise."
b. "Experimentation is their only resource, and disintegration of the family—and ultimately of society in general - is being disclosed as the inevitable consequence."
4. Submit to one another because we fear and reverence God who tells us to do this.
a. He created things with a certain order.
b. Following God means obeying Him and complying with His order.
c. When you create something, do you make it a hodgepodge extraneous pieces?
d. Or do we put things together with a certain sort of order and symmetry?
5. God created all that is with a perfect order.
a. Genesis tells us he made the land and the sea. He made a boundary, an order which they can not cross.
b. Prov 8:29 when he gave the sea its boundary so the waters would not overstep his command, and when he marked out the foundations of the earth. (NIV)
D. Biblical standard - God created order and in that order submissiveness
1. Christ was submissive to others Luke 2:51 Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. (NIV)
2. Christ is submissive with all the heavenly hosts to God the Father. 1 Pet 3:22who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand-- with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him. (NIV)
3. Creation submissive to God 1 Corinthians 15:27 For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. (NIV)
4. Church is submissive to Christ who is Head of the church Eph 1:22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, (NIV)
E. Jill Briscoe, "Hilarious Hupotasso," The basis of submission is submitting ourselves to one another, or "giving way" to one another.
1. Submission is giving way to somebody else.
2. Anne Atkins, in her excellent book Split Image, says,
a. "Before we can hope to be good husbands or wives, we must learn to be . . . Christians."
b. "We must all become self-sacrificial and submissive."
IV. Christ’s headship gives us a perfect example
A. Mark 10:42-45 42 Jesus called them together and said, "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 43 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."(NIV)
B. Warren Wiersbe, “Be Rich-Ephesians”
1. When Jesus washed their feet, He taught them that the greatest is the person who uses his authority to build up people and not, like the Pharisees, to build up his authority and make himself important.
2. Christ not only redeemed His body-the Church
3. He is our continuing Deliverer, Preserver, and Benefactor-our Head.
V. Headship is leadership which submits itself to give what is best for those they lead.
A. Kevin A. Miller, Marriage Partnership (Fall 96).
1. In the movie The Poseidon Adventure, the ocean liner S.S. Poseidon is on the open sea when it hits a huge storm.
a. A wall of water crashes through the ballroom chandelier.
b. Men in tuxes and women in evening gowns scream and run.
c. Lights go out, smoke pours into rooms and, amid all the confusion, the ship flips over.
2. Because of the air trapped inside the ocean liner, it floats upside down.
a. But in the confusion, the passengers can’t figure out what’s going on.
b. They scramble to get out, mostly by climbing the steps to the top deck.
c. The problem is, the top deck is now 100 feet under water.
d. In trying to get to the top of the ship, they drown.
3. The only survivors are the few who do what doesn’t make sense.
a. They do the opposite of what everyone else is doing and descend into the dark belly of the ship until they reach the hull.
b. By going down, they reach the ocean’s surface.
c. Rescuers hear them banging and cut them free.
4. Headship is leadership which has turned the ship over
a. The way to fulfill this leadership is not going up but going down
b. It is laying down our lives by serving, supporting, and sacrificing for those we lead..
B. Simple guidance for those called to Headship - Drew Conley is pastor of Hampton Park Baptist Church in Greenville, South Carolina.
1. First, we have to be drawing on the power of God’s Spirit that indwells every true believer. That means we need to be sure we are really born again.
2. Second, we must subject our concept of headship to what the Bible teaches leadership should be: selfless, loving, gentle, caring, humble-leading for the sake of those you lead rather than for yourself.
3. Third, leading means you’re walking a path others can imitate. "Follow me as I follow Christ."
4. Finally, be quick to ask forgiveness when you fail to lead like Christ.
