For the Benefit of the Church

This morning I started reading Ephesians. It’s a book I often go back to, because it’s so rich in encouraging truths. Paul writes passionately about our standing as children of God and the new freedom we have because of Jesus. He also writes about the importance of the Church both for us who are part of it and in terms of how the Church fits in with God’s big plan for the world.

I’m sure that like me you sometimes come at a familiar passage of Scripture and discover something brand new in it that you’ve never seen before. That’s what happened to me today. I was reading Ephesians 1, in which Paul gushes about the great blessings we have in Jesus and gives us one of my favourite verses in the entire Bible (1:5, particularly in the NLT – “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do and it gave him great pleasure.”) Today I was grabbed by a verse towards the end.

“God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church.”

Ephesians 1:22, emphasis mine

The concept of Jesus being above all things and having authority over all things is not a new one for me. I often remind myself of it in my prayers, that I am praying to the One who is seated on the Throne of Heaven and who has ultimate authority over everything. It’s the last bit that struck me today – that Jesus has been given that authority for the benefit of the church!

Paul goes on to remind us that the Church is Jesus’ body and is made full and complete by Him. That’s one way that Jesus’ authority is for our benefit as the Church – we are made full and complete by Him. He is the head of the church, but more than that; He is the head of the whole cosmos. That is the Jesus we worship. He is supreme over all things, and that is for our benefit.

Perhaps, like me, you are struck with wonder today at that concept of Jesus being the head over all things – the entire cosmos and all it contains – and that being for our benefit as the Church, His body. Why not take a moment to marvel at that today, and consider how incredibly powerful and significant it is to be a part of Jesus’ church?