If We Are The Body

²⁰ Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

²¹ Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

Notice again here that it’s the Father who did the work in Christ. Christ didn’t pull this off by Himself. He had the help of the Father and the Holy Spirit when he was raised from the dead, and He was set in the highest place of authority, on the right hand of God. That places Jesus in the position of the highest authority in heaven, except for God. And we know that in heaven, Jesus is our mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). When a prayer rises up as incense before God (Rev 8:4) Jesus takes them to the Father as a mediator, and they talk about an answer to our prayer.  I can’t imagine hearing the conversations while millions and billions of prayers are going up and they’re deciding which ones to answer now, which to delay the answer,and which to say not now! They are definitely on a different timetable than we are.

This places Jesus in a position far above anything on this earth and any name on this earth.  Nothing in this world today or in the world that is to come, which is heaven. The only one He’s not above is God. That means that eventually every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Phil2:10). God The Father’s Son will be exalted, even by those He who do not exalt Him now. That is why we praise Him on this Earth. That is why we give Him glory and honor everyday of our lives, even when the bad times come.  Our circumstances should never dictate our  praise. He deserves our praise no matter what is going on in our lives. I hope you will learn that lesson and practice it well

 

²² And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

²³ Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all

God has placed all things under Jesus feet. That means you, me, all of our friends, and all of our enemies. Jesus is authority over all of them. He has the ability to stomp them out anytime He wants to. And have you noticed that usually He doesn’t? Do you ever wonder why? Could it be perhaps that He’s put them there to teach you a lesson, to change you? To bring your attitude in line with what the Father would like to accomplish in your life? And I believe that’s true. He hasn’t removed an enemy, and by enemy I mean somebody who abuses you either physically or emotionally or spiritually, then perhaps He’s using that enemy to make a change in your life. Now I’m not condoning anybody stay in a relationship that is physically abusive.  Never should you stay in that relationship. That’s the devil at his worst. But we do need to do all we can in a workplace environment or church or someplace else, if somebody is emotionally attacking us, seek the Lord to see if we should be changing. Is our attitude towards them correct?  Do we love them as we should?  Pray for them?  It is something to consider.

Jesus is also the head over the church. God is giving him that authority is well. And the church is His body. What kind of a body are we? I like the song by Casting Crowns and I’m putting the YouTube video link of that song at the end of this post.  “If we are the body why aren’t His arms reaching,  why aren’t  His hands healing, why aren’t His words teaching?” The church if His fullness.  It is what He came to do. Not only to save the world but to establish that church. The church is Jesus Legacy you might say. We need to keep it alive. The church needs to rise up and fulfill its mission. We have talked about this before in the previoes Philippians study and I’m sure we’ll talk about it more. God help us if we don’t rise up as a church and start to love the way we’re supposed to love.  Put aside our foolish pride and humble ourselves. God hates pride and He wants us to love all people. Christ loved all people and we are supposed to be an extension of Him as His church. Do you know that even if you’re not attending a church, you are still a part of the church? The church consists of all the saved, and we all need to fulfill this mission that he has given us because that is what fulfills Christ’s mission. Let’s just do it, Church!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SExJ9od-0zQ