Headship and God’s Spirit Given to the Church

This blog is part two of a ten-part series on the church.  We are exploring the church, the believers that make up the church, and how the local body should function biblically.

Have you ever wondered if God’s spirit is given to all believers, no matter their gender or position in the church? Or maybe, if we are equal, why did God still institute headship?

The  Need to Understand Headship

As we mentioned in part one, we must understand that every member of the church is equal in worth and salvation. Also, every believer is promised God’s spirit when they obey and are baptized. (Acts 2:38) But even so, God still instituted headship. We see in Scripture that He did this for the care and well-being of His people. It was meant for good, not to be a problem.

Unfortunately, with the fall and continued selfishness and sin, this role is often misunderstood and abused. But that does not mean that headship in the church and home should be thrown out. It just means that Christians should desire to understand it better and practice it as God intended it to be, whether as a parent, husband, or elder.

The Curse

Before we dig in, we must remember the curse given to women in Genesis 3:16. This seems to be the beginning of many of the problems we have today. Not only will she have pain in childbearing, but she will want to control her husband, yet he will dominate her. Dominating any individual is not part of God’s plan, and especially not a part of his plan for marriage.

This verse seems to say that prior to the curse, the woman would not have pain in childbearing and her husband would not dominate or rule over her. Men and women were created to work side by side (which is probably why God took Adam’s rib rather than his heel). Each one should complement the other, even if man was created first and given extra responsibilities. (And by the way, that is really what it is, not less for women, but it is more work and responsibility for men. There is a difference!)

The curse implied that the husband would now abuse his authority and take advantage of his wife, rather than tenderly care for her and serve his family. Unfortunately, we see this in the church as well.

A Call to Christian Men

Christian men, you were created and ordained to love your wives and care for your families, to meet their needs, and to fulfill their desires. Just like Christ, you are called to lay down your desires for your wife’s desires, and your life for hers. You are called to sacrifice! If you are the head, the relationship begins with you! You are the captain of the team, and a captain plays right alongside the rest of the team, always thinking about what is best for each team member and the team as a whole.

Teamwork

If we consider sports teams, they have coaches and captains. These people are not better than the others, they just have added responsibility and serve the team for the team’s best interest, for the well-being of each athlete, and with the goal to win the games. If the coaches or captains didn’t have players, there wouldn’t be a team, and if the team didn’t have coaches or captains, it would probably become disorderly and have much fighting and bickering. The team would become weak and most likely, with time, cease to exist.

If the whole team thought they had to plan the practices, set up games, pay the refs, get the gear out, schedule the bus, order the uniforms, and line the field, everything could get out of order pretty quickly, not to mention, not be very efficient. Actually, focusing on practicing and becoming better for the team and focusing on playing and winning, would slip away.

God’s Same Spirit Given to All the Church

Our foundation as believers is that God’s spirit is given to all who will believe, men and women.  “Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of holy spirit.  For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.” (Acts 2:38-39)

All believers are given the same spirit, but there are different manifestations of God’s spirit working in and through us. As it says, what body would function well if all were feet or all were a mouth?!

If we lived alone in the woods there wouldn’t really be a need for leadership.  But since we interact and meet together, God has established positions in the local churches and family to help them function best for all people, to protect and to make sure everyone’s needs are met.

Headship and God’s Spirit Given to the Church Make it Stronger

When you come together, each one (men and women) has a song, has a lesson, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all these things be done for the strengthening of the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:26)

When the early church followed this guidance and did these things, the Lord made the church grow! If we want church growth, we ought to look at this example!  Every person is important and each one has gifts and ministries to encourage and make the body stronger.

The Living Church

It says that they were “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Reverential awe came over everyone, and many wonders and miraculous signs came about by the apostles. All who believed were together and held everything in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and distributing the proceeds to everyone, as anyone had need.  Every day they continued to gather together by common consent in the temple courts, breaking bread from house to house, sharing their food with glad and humble hearts, praising God, and having the goodwill of all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number every day those who were being saved (Acts 2:42- 47).

This was not a liturgical service. They were coming together to fellowship with one another, to worship, and to study. They met outside of the homes and at people’s houses where they had meals together. They were a living organism thriving as each one did his part. They were a family!

Needs Met

As the church grew, deacons were put in positions of leadership to care for the physical needs of the body and make sure the elderly and those who had physical needs were getting those needs met. Just like a family, the church had a responsibility to make sure everyone’s spiritual and physical needs were met. (On a side note: it says that the deacons were added as a result of needs not being met because there were so many people. These roles are for each individual’s benefit, not to have someone lord over people. They were added to the leadership team so that the elders and overseers could focus on their appointed service to the body.)

We will continue to take a deeper look at these roles later on in the series.

In part three we will explore the gifts and ministries that are given to all believers, compared to certain roles given to only some, to those who hold an office.