The Supreme Authority of Christ

Let’s talk about the power ofGod.

When Christ rose from thegrave, something remarkable happened that benefits us today as a church. Notonly does it affect us here at Faith, but it has been benefiting churchesthroughout the world for the past two millennia. The problem is that we oftenfail to remember this benefit in our lives – or more specifically as a church.

The benefit I’m speaking of isthe power of God. That’s why Paul prayed that God would give the believers inEphesus a better understanding of the sheer awesomeness of God’s power that wasavailable to them and that was at work in their lives (Eph 1:15, 19).

This power is an interestingconcept because it has two aspects – ability and authority (or you could say ‘might’and ‘majesty’).

Paul emphasized the ability(“might”) aspect first by how God resurrected Christ from the grave (Eph 1:19-20). If Godcould resurrect him from the dead never to die again, he can do anything.That’s powerful and it’s a power that is at work in us who believe. The same powerthat raised Christ from the dead empowers us to live for him today.

God the Father raised upChrist not once, but twice.

We’re generally less aware ofthe second way that the Father raise up Christ. This way shows the secondaspect of his power – authority (”majesty”). He raised up Christ to theheavenly realm and placed him in the seat of power that is there.

This is important because Godplaced Christ in a position (or seat) of supreme authority over every principality,power, might, and dominion (Eph 1:21). These four words describe angelic – evendemonic – beings with very high rankings and very powerful abilities.

When Christ died on the crossand rose again to set in motion God’s plan for the church, he did it so thatthese powerful beings would see the greatness of his power and be amazed (Eph 3:10). Even so, thesepowerful beings continue to actively oppose whatever God is doing through us inthe church today (Eph 6:12).

No supernatural beings havemore authority than Christ.

This was important forEphesian Christians to know. One commentator says that Paul used terms “that inthe religious environment of his readers typically referred to the gods whowere thought to control the fate of human beings and the destiny of nations.Fear of such powers was common, as was the belief that honoring the deities whocontrolled the fates of nations could bring social and individual prosperity.”[1]

The force of what Paul issaying is clear. Whatever spiritual beings influence your life, crippling yourmind with fear and superstition, Christ has a position of greater authority.

In remotest Africa andelsewhere, these powers are raw and untamed – demonic forces in league withwitchdoctors and chieftains. In other places of the world, these beingsmasquerade as deceased relatives, haunt shrines and temples, and attempt tosuppress Christianity through oppressive governments and regimes.

In our Western culture, theyseek to overcome Christ’s mission through a humanistic agenda that includesevolutionary teaching, sexual immorality (pornography, LGBTQ, and theglamorization of sex), abortion, New Age philosophy, cults and false religions,alcohol and illicit drugs, the occult, materialism, the American Dream, andmore.

I don’t say this to frightenanyone of us, but to open our eyes to the spiritual realities and forces thatare at work in the world, hostile to Christ and the church.

Though the stakes are high, wemust not fear because of Christ’s exalted position.

Paul adds some details toensure we grasp the greatness of Christ’s exalted position.

• First, he is not just“above,” he is “far” above, meaning there is a great distance between him andany other powerful beings that exist.
• Second, he is far above“all” other authorities. No one is equal or comparable to him in authority.Paul underscores this even further by saying that there is no name(representing any personal beings which may be identified) that you can say ordiscover who has more authority than Christ.
• Third, he is not justexalted far above all other authorities and powers today, but he will continueto be that way in the future eternal kingdom. This makes it clear that Christ’sexalted position isn’t temporary. His authority has no term limits – it iseternal.
• Fourth, all otherpowerful beings – good and bad – are “under his feet.” This description doesnot, as you may imagine, portray Christ as standing on top of a massive pile ofpowerful beings. Instead, it portrays Christ as sitting on a high, majesticthrone with every other powerful being that exists bowing in submission downbelow.

This last description, placingall things “under Christ’s feet,” also means something more. To know aboutthis, you need to know some things about the Old Testament, especially thebooks of Genesis and Psalms.

In Genesis 1:26, God placed Adam and Eve(human beings) in a position of authority over “all things,” referring to theEarth and everything else that lives on it. He created us to carry out his perfectdesires for the world. Sadly, we failed to carry out his desires by committingsin and going our own way.

In Psalm 8:6, we are reminded once again ofour created purpose. This verse quotes from Genesis 1:26 but adds the phrase“under his feet,” referring to human beings in general. Apparently, Godcontinues to entrust us with the responsibility of exercising a gracious,kingly reign over his created world, even after the Fall. Yet we still fail.

In Ephesians 1:22, however, we see that Christsteps into this kingly position in our place. Just as he died for our sins androse from the dead in our place, accomplishing for us was we could never do forourselves, so he steps in to fulfill our created destiny as well.

Christ rules over far morethan the physical world.

However, as the Son of God,Christ does more than take an exalted position over the Earth. He takes anexalted position of a universal kind, ruling not just over fish, birds,animals, and people, but over all kinds of beings besides that, even in thespiritual realm.

So here’s the big question.Since Christ is ruling and reigning from the spiritual realm which we cannotsee and since he has taken our place in fulfilling our created purpose, thenhow is this relevant to our lives today?

Christ rules over all thingsfor the benefit of – the church.

That’s what Paul means when hesays that God “gave him [Christ] to be head over all things to the church” (Eph1:22). He placed Christ in this supreme, exalted position over all otherpowerful beings and created things for the express purpose of benefitingbelievers in the church. Isn’t that amazing?

When politicians run to bePresident, or Senators, or Representatives, they claim to seek a position ofhigh authority to benefit you. They promise that if you vote them into office,they’ll do a lot of things to help you out. They’ll lower your taxes and makeit easier to go to college, buy a home, pay medical bills, and retire. Thissounds good, but it rarely turns out to be true. We vote them in and then theyforget about us – or at least that’s what it feels like, right? Not so withChrist.

By the way, we didn’t voteChrist in. We did everything in our power to resist him, but God worked sopowerfully that he overcame our resistance and placed Christ into power anywayfor our benefit. That’s grace.

It’s here that Paul uses theword church for the first time in this letter. He will go on to use thisword 8 more times, which means it’s an important part of his message. The word churchis how we translate the Greek word ἐκκλησία.

Church meansan “assembly” of people called together for a reason.

Examples of this concept todayare when town council members get together to discuss city policies or whencollege students gather together for a riot or protest. Thankfully, the churchhas a more noble and peaceful purpose for gathering than these. We gather toworship God, serve one another, and spread the good news of Christ to theworld.

But here’s the problem. Whenwe worship God, serve one another, and spread the good news of Christ to theworld, we discover that the world is not usually in favor of what we’re doing.When we give the good news about Christ, we often get a bad reaction. Weexperience economic, social, religious, and political opposition – evenpersecution.

We should also know thatbehind this opposition there is a spiritual battle going on. Somehow oranother, the powerful, spiritual beings who have been defeated by Christ areinfluencing this opposition that we face (Eph 6:12). It’s not just human and wecall that spiritual warfare.

Paul’s ministry in Ephesus illustratesspiritual warfare and Christ’s superior authority for the church (Acts 19).

Consider what Paul experiencedwhen he lived in the city of Ephesus for 3 years.

• He arrived in Ephesusand met a small group of believers who wanted him to teach them more aboutChrist (Acts 19:1-7).
• For three months, hereceived permission to teach the gospel in a Jewish synagogue. Some peopleended up resisting his efforts, so he left the synagogue (Acts 19:8-9). Here’sa small instance of spiritual opposition.
• For two years hereceived permission to teach the gospel in a school instead. This approach wasso effective that everyone in the surrounding region learned about Jesus (Acts19:9-10, 20).
• During that time, Paulfaced some challenges from local exorcists who claimed to be able to cast outdemons. When they attempted to use the name of Jesus in their spells, thingsdidn’t turn out so well for them. The demons ended up tormenting them instead (Acts19:11-18). This was definitely some spiritual opposition.
• Many other people whohad practiced magic in their lives before Christ threw their magical books intoa massive burn pile. This was quite astounding since the value of these booksequaled 50,000 days of income, which is what you would make if you worked everyday for 137 years (Acts 19:19). Magic and supernatural practices apparentlyplayed a very big role in the Ephesian culture.
• Paul sent someco-workers to go teach the gospel in other places (Acts 19:21-22).

At the end of Paul’s time inEphesus, a major event happened on a large scale that illustrates the kind ofopposition that the church can experience (Acts 19:23-41). The church inEphesus (esp. Paul) had persuaded many people to start following Christ andstop worshiping the local false goddess, Diana. This shift was so significantthat it had disrupted business for the men who sold Diana trinkets andsouvenirs

As a result, these mengathered (like a labor union would gather today) and staged a riot. The riotwas so massive and chaotic that some of the people didn’t even know what theywere rioting about. Things looked very bad for the Christians. It seemed thateconomic, social, religious, and spiritual forces were swinging public opinionagainst them severely.

Was Christianity about toexperience a major setback? To everyone’s surprise, the city governor made apublic appearance. He ordered everyone to stop rioting and pointed out that theChristians had broken no laws. By passing this judgment, he not only protectedthe Christians in Ephesus but established a precedent for other Roman cities sothat Christians could continue spreading the good news about Christ throughoutthe Empire.

It is interesting to note thatat the end of Acts 19 the governor “dismissed the assembly” (Acts 19:41). Theword for assembly is ἐκκλησία and refers to the rioting crowd that was opposingthe church.

The assemblies of the worldare no match for the assembly of God.

Christ taught this to his disciplesbefore he ascended to heaven. “Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘Allauthority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and makedisciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and ofthe Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I havecommanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen”(Matt 28:18-20).

As the church, we are the“body” of Christ. He is the head who provides the authority, leadership, andpower we need to accomplish our mission in the world for God.

The last phrase in thischapter, “the fullness of him who fills all in all,” is difficult to interpret(Eph 1:23). Perhaps the best way to explain what it means is to look at asimilar statement in another letter, Colossians, which Paul wrote at the sametime to another church near the city of Ephesus.

In the opening chapter of thatletter, he said, “In him [Christ] dwells all the fullness of the Godheadbodily; and you are complete in him, who is the head of all principality andpower” (Col 2:9-10).

Here’s the idea. In Christ isfull and complete deity. He is fully and completely God and we – as his church– are in him, who happens to be in a place of authority and power over all otherpowerful beings that exist. Our relationship or connection with Christ is sointimate and close that it is as though he is the head and we are his body. Sowe share in this exalted position with him.

Christ’s authority over allthings should inspire confidence to do what he has called us to do.

As Faith Baptist Church, webelieve that we’ve been called to love God and make disciples. We explain ourmission this way: “to demonstrate our love for God in the Queens Borough,leading people of all ages to become joyful followers of Jesus.”

Though we know this to be trueand claim that we believe it for ourselves, how confident and obedient are wein actively achieving this mission for Christ?

In my nearly 6 years here as apastor, I can confirm that we have faced plenty of spiritual opposition. Thosewho have gone through these challenges together with me know what I mean. Havethere been moments when I’ve been afraid? Nervous? Worried? Unsure? Yes, therehave, and perhaps there have been moments like that for you as well.Furthermore, let me assure you that we’ll face many more challenges as well.

Yet Christ has been with usthrough it all and he will continue to be with us moving forward. Like thechurch at Ephesus, we are attempting to carry out our gospel mission for Christin a pagan, godless city. There are many forces that stand against us. What ifany of these things are holding you back or defeating you today? Are any suchinfluences or dynamics preventing you from being “all in” on reaching peoplefor Christ in Queens?

As we look at the year ahead,let me offer several ways that you can demonstrate your confidence in Christ’sexalted position. We can do this by committing ourselves to be a more faithfulwitness for the gospel in our community.

• Participate in our Saturday outreachministry. Join us 10-12 p.m. to pass out gospel tracts to people at majorintersections and various neighborhoods around our church.
• Participate in our street fair outreachministry. Join us when we pass out tracts and witness to people at street fairsin Woodside, Rego Park, etc. Stay tuned for the dates of these events.
• Pray about thepossibility of our church conducting abortion clinic intervention outreach and library Q&A outreach.We are actively researching these ideas and will let you know if they become areality.
• Carry Way to God gospel tracts with youat all times. Be prepared to give them to people you meet and speak withthroughout the week.

From 1^st century Ephesus to 21^st century Queens, justas Paul and the church in the city of Ephesus faced opposition to theiroutreach ministry, we should expect to experience some opposition, too, butthat’s okay. We can also expect that God will authorize and empower our effortsfor his glory. Let’s rally together around these things in prayer and personalparticipation so that “all who live in Queens will hear the Word of the Lord”(Acts 19:10) and “the name of the Lord will be magnified” (Acts 19:17).

For some, it may be the firsttime to do anything like this – but now is the time to begin. For others, wemay have done things like this in the past but have let other priorities get inthe way.

We should not be afraid but should step forward together in faith. We are all in one church, in one body, in Christ together for this very purpose. And we have Christ on our side authorizes and empowers all that we will do for his glory.

---

[1] Frank Thielman,Ephesians, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, Kindle ed. (GrandRapids :Baker Academic, 2010) 106.