First Place in Everything

GROWTH IN GODLINESS

The value that we should place upon Jesus Christ is to value His Word more than our personal opinions about His Word.

Following the martyrdom of the Apostles, the ekklesia was left with only scattered letters by them. It was not until late in the 300's that the letters were organized into the New Testament. The first and most devastating problem for believers was the corrupt interpretive means of understanding the scriptures—mysticism, allegories, spiritualizing the text rather than taking a literal approach.

Secondly, an attempt to meet the world where it was headed in education and philosophy rather than allow the world to see wisdom on display in ordinary people gives God no glory.

Thirdly, a significant transformation occurred in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The priesthood of all believers morphed into a hierarchical institution. This shift in structure, from a universal priesthood to a system of well-educated and ordained ministers, was a significant change in the church's history. It was not until 1,000 years later that a literal interpretation returned to the church, the Gospel.

Jesus Christ is to Have First Place in Everything

As we examine Paul's writingfs, we find the priority of a mature ekklesia (Gathering of beleivers) to place Christ first in everything. I understand that some men in history have been humble and transparent about their sins and shortcomings, but obedience is still our only correct response to God's commands.

God has chosen in His sovereignty to use sinful men to build His Ekklesia, and by so doing, He would get all the glory. Therefore, when Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth, he was not writing to the leadership but to the entire body. Paul thanked God because "in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift..." (1:5-7). Nevertheless, his words should pierce us all, "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you ...each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul," and "I of Apollos," and "I of Cephas," and "I of Christ." Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1:12-13). Let us understand that Paul was not taking divisions lightly, but He pierces us all in his remarks to believers in every age.

The regenerate cannot control how a worldly church of unregenerate people behave, and what they teach. However, Holy Spirit filled believers can repent, turn from their wicked ways, and become obedient to God.

Jesus Christ ALONE is to Have First Place in Everything

Therefore, in the 3rd and 4th Centuries, they were not humble when believers thought it necessary to appoint bishops to rule groups of gatherings and then archbishop to rule the bishops. Why do I say that?

Who has the right and authority to rule over another's faith? The church leader will immediately go to Hebrews 13:3 and misinterpret the word " hēgéomai "to lead the way, " and "what goes before." As believers, we are to take all of God's Word in the context of Christ and not the world. We have kings, princes, knights, generals, captains, and peasants in the world. In the Ekklesia, we have Christ and the brethren. We have those who have come before and made disciples by evangelism and teaching the word as those who came before in time, not in rank.

When writing to a sinful church that he first rebuked in love, and after they repented, the Apostle (A special calling of only 12) said, "But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm" 2 Corinthians 1:23-24.

Jesus Christ has First Place in Everything, According to Scripture

Why? Well, who else can be said of him what God has said about what His Son Jesus Christ has done for us, and for these reasons, He alone has first place in everything, according to Ephesians 1?

"...bless us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ..."

"...just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him."

"In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ..."

"...to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved."

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses..."

"He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him..."

"...the summing up of all things in Christ..."

"In Him also we have obtained an inheritance..."

"having been predestined according to His purpose ...that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory."

"In Him, ...having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise ...to the praise of His glory."

In Conclusion:

Let us try to answer the nagging question: How do preachers, pastors, Professors, and Denominational heads take away from the preeminence of Jesus Christ? If these men are trying to exalt Christ, what does it matter their positions in the church?

In reply,

1. Seeing through a colored lens colors everything we see. Therefore, centuries of traditions make it difficult to view scripture as it was written and, for this reason, can distort our understanding of God's perfect will.

2. God gave gifts to men to build the church where men of prayer are filled with the Holy Spirit and proceed by faith in the leading of God.

3. Institutions are organized by human authorities. They set goals, use human reason, and seem very beneficial, but they do not pray because they see themselves as self-sufficient and leave Christ out.

4. Most importantly, divisions are sinful, undesignated church authorities are idolatrous, and personal interpretations minimize the authority of God's Word and, by defacto, replace God's will and way.