Such People Do Not Hold Fast To Christ As The Head, And From Whom True Divine Nourishment Comes Series

12/12/18

Tom Lowe

Lesson: IVC2 - SUCH PEOPLE DO NOT HOLD FAST TO CHRIST AS THE HEAD, AND FROM WHOM TRUE DIVINE NOURISHMENT COMES (Colossians 2:19)

Introduction:

The focus of verse 19 is “How a Church lives and grows.” In this verse, Paul definitely declares that Jesus is the head of all things. He is the beginning of the creation of God? "By him were all things created.” He is the head of the Church and the Savior of mankind (and He is my Savior too). The first part of the verse refers to Christ as head of His Church (Eph. 1:22; Col. 1:18{3]). The teachers of error did not hold to this fundamental doctrine. And the very fact of the gross error they taught was the result of their rejecting Jesus as very God in flesh and head of the New Testament Church.

Lesson IVC2

(2:19) They have lost connection with the head{2], from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

All people like this, Paul says, are disloyal to the Head of the body. They lose effective contact with Christ?”And,” he implies, “anyone knows what chance of growth a body has which is severed from its head!” Notice, that here “the head” represents the source of vitality rather than the seat of control. Verse 19 shows Paul employing anatomical terms to describe the body’s functioning?“the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews.” If that verse had occurred in Luke’s Gospel or Acts, we should have said at once, “There is Doctor Luke talking professionally.” Is it possible that one of his medical friend’s phrases lingered in Paul’s memory? At any rate, his point is that the heretical tendencies in Colossae were disrupting Christian fellowship, making it impossible for Christ’s body to grow as God meant it to grow.

Christ is the great Head of the Church. He is the center of its unity, the original source of its life, authority and influence. He founded the Church and gave it shape, symmetry, and durability. He alone is supreme? the Alpha and Omega?the living and only head.

The Church is vitally and essentially united to Christ.?“from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments (joints, bones) and sinews (bands, muscle),” grows as God causes it to grow. Just as the members of the human body are joined to the head, and derive life, motion, and sensation from it by means of arteries, veins, nerves, and other attachments, so the spiritual members of Christ are knit to Him by invisible joints and bands, and depend upon Him for sustenance, character and influence. Every member of Christ’s body is important to the health and growth of the body. No matter what your gift may be, you are important to the church. In fact, some people who may not have spectacular public ministries are probably just as important behind the scenes as those out in public.

The vital union of the Church with Christ is the condition of spiritual growth? “grows as God causes it to grow.” Christ is the divine source of growth, and the church can grow only as it receives nourishment from Him. But if a believer does not draw on the spiritual nourishment that comes from Christ and other Christians, he becomes weak. It is through worship, prayer, and the Word that we draw on the spiritual resources of Christ. The false teachers were not holding to the Head, and therefore they were spiritually undernourished, but they thought they were spiritual experts. Imagine thinking you are a giant when in reality you are a pigmy.

Did you know it is possible to belong to a local church and not draw on the Head and the nourishment of the spiritual body? The false teachers in Colossae sought to introduce their teachings into the local assembly; and if they succeeded, they would have caused the spiritual nourishment to decrease instead of increase. Unless the members of the local assembly abide in Christ, yield to the Spirit, and obey the Word, they cannot experience the life of the Head, Jesus Christ.

The growth of His Church corresponds with its nature? it is divine; it increases with the increase of God. There may be a morbid increase, just as there may be an unnatural enlargement of some part of the human body; but it is only the excessive inflation of worldly splendor and ecclesiastical pretense. Like Jonah’s gourd, such growth may disappear as rapidly as it came. The true increase is that which comes from God, of which He is the source, and active, sustaining influence, and which advances in harmony with His will and purpose. Such an increase can be secured only by vital union with Christ{1].