God’s Purpose for the Church is to Head up All Things in Christ Through the Church

The church as the mystery hidden in God’s heart is the most precious thing to Him.

As seen in the New Testament, God’s purpose for the church is threefold: positively, the church has the sonship and expresses God in full to the universe; negatively, the church deals with God’s enemy and makes known the multifarious wisdom of God to the rulers and authorities; and thirdly, God desires that through the church He would head up all things in Christ.

God has made Christ as Head over all things to the church (Eph. 1:22), and now the church is under the continual transmission of all that Christ has, is, and has accomplished. All the believers in Christ as part of the church need to take Christ as their Head, enthroning Him in the center of their being, so that they would take the lead to be headed up in Christ.

All creation – including man – is under corruption, darkness, decay, and death. The whole universe is in a heap of collapse, being affected by the rebellion of Satan against God and by man standing with Satan. In the church today God has a beachhead, a place where He can head up all things in Christ.

The way Christ heads all things in Himself in our being and our living is by working Himself into us as life so that we may be full of light (Eph. 1:10, 22-23). He first transferred us out of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (Col. 1:13), and now He is working Himself into us to be our life and fill us with light.

Wherever light is, there is order, and darkness and death flee away. We need to let Christ work Himself into us in our fellowship with Him and through our experience of Him, and we will be persons full of light. As we become persons of light, we are being headed up in Christ and any rebellion, darkness, decay, corruption, and disorder is being eliminated.

In the fullness of the times, in eternity and forever, God will have Christ as the Head over all things through the church. In the New Jerusalem God and Christ will be on the throne, and the church will be enlarged and consummated to become the holy city to express God in full, represent Him with His authority, and bring the whole universe under Christ as the Head.

God’s Purpose for the Church: to Head up All Things in Christ Through the Church!

Eph. 1:10 Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.

In Ephesians 1 we see that Paul prays for us to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God, having the eyes of our heart enlightened to see what is the surpassing greatness of God’s power. We need to see and access the surpassing power of God, the divine energy which is God Himself.

This power raised Christ from the dead, seated Him at the right hand of God in the heavenlies, made Him transcendent above all rulers and authorities, and subjected all things under His feet. This amazing fourfold power is to give Christ to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of the One who fills all and in all (Eph. 1:22-23).

All that Christ is, has, and has accomplished is to the church, that is, He is transmitting everything to the church, His Body, so that He may be Head over all things.

Man today is in a universal heap of collapse, and the entire creation is under darkness, corruption, and decay. God’s purpose is to head up all things in Christ through the church, and for this all the believers in Christ as part of the church need to take the lead to be headed up in Christ. Where there is heading up, everything is placed under absolute order: no more confusion, collapse, or disorder.

The whole creation today is in a situation of vanity because of the fall of man, the head of all creation (Rom. 8:20). The creation is groaning for the release into glory of the sons of God. What will deliver this universe from vanity, bondage, corruption, disorder, rebellion, darkness, and death is only when Christ heads up everything through the church.

In the church life, we are now in the process of being headed up in Christ; by taking the lead to be headed up in Christ today we contribute to the heading up of all things in Christ through the church. The heading up of all things begins in the church of God.

The throne of God must be preeminent in us, and we need to allow Christ to work Himself into us as our life and everything so that we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head (Eph. 4:15-16). We need to grow in the divine life by growing into the Head, Christ, and when the church is fully grown, God is able to subject all things to the authority of Christ.

As we spend personal time with the Lord and enjoy Him, pray-read His word, call on His name, pray to touch Him, and converse with Him, He works Himself into us. As we experience Christ day by day in our living, He is being wrought into us and we grow in life.

As Christ is working Himself into us as our life, we become full of light – Christ is the light of life in us (John 1:4). This divine light shines in us and through us to eliminate any darkness, any work of the devil, and any corruption and vanity, and we are being headed up in Christ.

As we are being built up in Christ in the church with all the saints by experiencing Christ as life, we are in the divine light and we’re being headed up in Christ. God’s economy is to work Himself into us and be our life so that we may be persons of light, the church headed up in Christ.

We need to let Christ head us up through our experience of Him as life and through being built up in the church. The final act, the New Jerusalem, will be in the fullness of the times, the fullness of the ages, in eternity future; then, all things will be headed up in Christ, and Christ will head up everything in the universe!

Today we have the privilege and responsibility to take the lead to be headed up in Christ so that through the church God would head up all things in Christ.

Lord Jesus, we take You as the Head. We enthrone You in the center of our being. Work Yourself into us to be our life and to make us persons full of light. Rule in us by life and by light. Lord, eliminate any darkness and corruption in our being. We open to Your infusion, saturation, and permeation. We want to grow in the divine life every day. Bring us fully under Your headship. Cause the church to grow, be built up, and grow up into the Head, Christ. Lord Jesus, head up all things in the church. Head up all things through the church!

Being Captured by the Vision of the Church and Paying the Price to be Governed by this Vision

We need to be captured by the vision of the church and pay the price to be governed by this vision and live according to it

In the “modern world” today nobody is absolute for anything, but rather people “believe in” things, feelings, entertainment, gossip, gadgets, and all kinds of outward things. But we as believers in Christ have been regenerated by God with His divine life, and we need to seek to have a governing and controlling vision of the church.

There’s something about the church that made Christ to give Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25). He sold everything He had and gave all He was for the church to be redeemed and brought back to Him. And now He is working constantly to cleanse us, wash us, sanctify us, save us organically, renew us, transform us, sanctify us, and eventually glorify us as the church so that we may match Him as His counterpart for eternity.

When God has mercy on us and we see a vision of the church we will be captured, forever wrecked, good for nothing else except the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. If we still have a fire escape and we can still change our mind, we have not seen the vision.

When we see the vision of the church, we burn all the bridges, we refuse anything else, and we treasure only what God treasures: the church.

A sign of being captured by the vision of the church is paying the price to be governed by this vision. The church is not “something spiritual and up in the heavens, which at one point will be revealed”; rather, the church is both universal as the Body of Christ and local as the local expressions of the church.

There is one Body in this universe – there is only one church, the church of God (1 Cor. 10:32). Locally, the one unique church is expressed in many localities on earth, and in each locality there is only one local church.

If we see the vision of the church, we will leave all opinions, desires, interests, and purposes aside, and we will pay the price to meet with the saints, minister Christ to one another, pray for one another, and grow together into the Head, Christ, for the building up of the church.

How we need to be captured by the vision of the church and pay the price to be governed by this vision and live according to this vision (Acts 26:18a; Rom. 12:2)!

Lord Jesus, show us how precious is the church in Your eyes. You died for the church and today You are doing one thing only: You’re building up the church. Lord, grant us a vision of the church that will capture us and wreck us. May many brothers and sisters be captured by the vision of the church and pay the price to be governed by this vision and live according to it! Build up Your church. Gain Your precious, priceless, and pure built-up church.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minor Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, God’s Purpose for the Church (pp. 20-34), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Heavenly Vision, week 3 / msg 3, The Vision of the Church – the Body of Christ.
• Further reading: recommending msgs 8-10 and 96 in, Life-Study of Ephesians (by Witness Lee).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # In His Christ to head up all things / Is our God’s economy; / Taking Christ as Head and Center, / All is one in harmony. (Hymns #981)
  # But holding to truth in love / We may grow up in all things / Into Him who is the Head / Christ is the Head / Out from Whom all the Body / Being joined together and / Being knit together through / Ev’ry joint of the rich supply / And through the operation / In the measure of each one part / of each one part / Causes the growth of the Body unto the / building up of itself in love, / in love, in love.  (Song on Eph. 4:15-16)
  # The New Jerusalem will consummate / With Christ, as Head, over all things to be / The Lamb enthroned—its unique centerpiece / Ruling and reigning for eternity. (Song on the New Jerusalem)