The Lordship Of Christ
The term Lord in its proper context means a master having full rights to exercise absolute ownership of what he is master of. In Greek, the term lord is kyrios and has its origin in another Greek word “kuros” which means authority. Lordship is associated with authority.
In the genuine sense of the word, a lord is a master with absolute authority over subordinates. Submitting to this kind of lord means giving up oneself to the ownership of someone else. From history, we learn that having a lord over you meant you were no longer your own. You belonged to your lord or master, who then set the standards by which you lived.
Over time, the term lord became devoid of the significance it used to carry. In modern terms, people rarely use the term lord to refer to a person exercising absolute ownership rights over another, but to show reverence to someone in an expression of honor and respect or to acknowledge someone's position.
People in many court systems around the world use “my lord” as a sign of honor when addressing a judge. A few surviving ceremonial monarchs still refer to members of royal families as “lords” out of respect. If you rent a place to live, you have a landlord; a position given to the person who owns the property.
Far more than any other people, Christians use the term Lord to refer to their redeemer; Jesus Christ. In fact, to become a follower of Christ, one must confess that He is Lord.
Romans 10:9
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Confessing
To Christians, calling Jesus Lord differs from the common use of the word because it involves a confession made from a convicted heart. One doesn't need a conviction of the heart to call the person they pay rent to their landlord. You just say it. Confession is different from saying. Jesus himself taught that not everyone who says to him, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord involves a conviction of the heart that leads to the:
acknowledgement of one’s sins,
a whole-hearted repentance of those sins,
the total abandon of oneself to Christ.
This is the confession that precedes salvation. Saying is easy, confessing is hard. By confessing that Jesus is Lord:
you acknowledge you are a sinner,
you agree to turn away from your sins, and
proclaim Jesus as master of everything that's within you and everything you have.
Christ’s Qualification To Be The Lord?
Previously, it was noted that genuine lordship involves having authority and ownership. No one can claim lordship without authority, and a lord cannot have authority without ownership. The lords of monarchs or kings own land and have authority over subjects of their kingdoms. Judges and magistrates are lords in their courtrooms and have authority over court proceedings. Landlords own houses and have some authority over their tenants. These lords possess something and wield authority, albeit with limitations. What does Christ possess and what authority does He hold as Lord?
In the scriptures, we are told that God possesses all things.
Deuteronomy 10:14
Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.
In Psalm 24:1, a psalm of David, he says:
Psalm 24:1
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, Heaven and earth and all those who live there are God’s.
While talking to his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus said that all authority had been given to him.
Matthew 28:18
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
In some translations, the term authority here is also rendered as power. The King James Version translation reads, “All power” has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
It is essential for Jesus to possess both authority and power. An Institution can have authority but lack power. Alternatively, power can exist without authority.
Jesus received authority and power over things from God the Father. Jesus is now the rightful owner of heaven, the heaven of heavens, the earth and all those who dwell therein; dead and alive. Jesus is the Lord because He owns heaven and earth and all people and He has all authority and power over everything. Jesus is Lord is Lord of all.
Christ’s Authority Displayed
How does Christ display His authority? The landlord has authority to issue an eviction notice to his tenant, while a judge in court has authority to give a sentence. Let’s see how Jesus displayed his Lordship authority.
In Matthew 8, Jesus and the disciples were on a boat and the seas turned tempestuous. Amidst all this, Jesus was taking a nap. His distraught disciples woke him up saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing” and he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. The disciples marveled and said, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
In Mark 11, Jesus was hungry and seeing a fig tree, he went to see if he could find fruit on it. When he found nothing but leaves, He said to the tree “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” As they passed by the next morning, Peter saw the tree and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
In these two examples, Jesus exercised his authority on nature.
Again, in Matthew 8, when Jesus encountered two demon-possessed men, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?” They said this before He cast them out to the herd of pigs.
Here, Jesus showed his power over the spirit world.
In Luke 5, Jesus told a paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven, and some scribes questioned within themselves, "Who is this person speaking blasphemy?" Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
In Luke 7, Jesus forgave a woman's sins, leading those at the table with him to wonder, "Who is this that forgives sins?"”
People in Jesus’ time had never seen this kind of Lord walk among them. They were used to their earthly masters and kings, but not this kind. The Lord that could command nature (the winds and sea obeyed Him, fig tree withered), forgave sins, a kind of Lord that was acknowledged by the spiritual world. Christ’s authority is over everything. Jesus showed himself as the absolute Lord. He is Lord of all; He is God.
On the topic of Jesus forgiving people’s sins, C.S Lewis writes this in Mere Christianity:
“We can all understand how a man forgives offenses against himself. You step on my toes and I forgive you; you steal my money and I forgive you. But what should we make of a man, himself unrobbed and untrodden, who announced that he forgave you for stepping on other men’s toes and stealing other men’s money?
Yet, this is what Jesus did. He told people that their sins were forgiven and never waited to consult all the other people who were offended by the sins. He unhesitatingly behaved as if He was the one chiefly concerned, the person chiefly offended in all offenses. This makes sense only if He really was the God whose laws are broken and whose love is wounded in every sin.
You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”
Nowhere To Hide
Christ's territorial boundaries are nowhere because everywhere you could think of is His. Now what if you dislike living under Christ’s lordship? What do you do?
In the context of earthly lordships and kingdoms, individuals who held disdain towards their lord or king had a few avenues to explore.
They could leave the kingdom and live somewhere outside its boundaries. This would place them beyond the jurisdiction of the disliked king or lord.
They could stay in the kingdom, while secretly hating and despising the king or lord in their hearts, all the while paying him lip service.
They also had the option to stay in the kingdom where they would revolt against the authorities. Throughout history, there have been numerous instances of people rising up in rebellion to overthrow kings and princes. The authorities also tackled rebellions with fierce determination.
However, what options do you have if you don't like to submit to the lordship of Christ under whose authority we all live? They are not good, but you have a couple available to you;
You can rebel against Christ,
You can pretend to love Jesus and pay him lip service but really hate Him in your heart,
But the one option that is absolutely not available to you is to leave. Where would you go? Can you find a place where Jesus is not Lord? To answer this question, David writes says in;
Psalm 139:7-12
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
The domain of Christ’s lordship is everywhere, and the boundaries of his kingdom are nowhere. There is no place to run. The psalmist said if you go to the heavens, there he is, if you go to death, there he is, if you go to the depths of the sea, there still you will find the Lord Jesus. There is no place where Jesus is not Lord.
Every time you run from the presence of God, you are still in the presence of God.
Jonah learned this the hard way. He tried to run from the Lord and ended up praying to Him in the belly of a fish deep down in the sea. There is nowhere to run. The only rational thing for man to do is to bow down on his knees and confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and God.
If you are in the group that is rebelling against the lordship of Jesus, just know that one day, the rebellion will face consequences, and the Lord Jesus will prevail as the ultimate victor.
1 Corinthians 15:24–25
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (ESV)
And if you are part of those only paying lip service to the Lord, He knows people's true intentions. For man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).
What Does The Lord Jesus Require Of His Followers?
Our Lord requires us to observe all he taught. Confessing Jesus as Lord means committing to obeying all that he commanded. The Lord Jesus requires obedience from His followers. Jesus doesn’t give recommendations or “strong” suggestions, He gives commands.
Here is where many Christians face difficulties. We do not understand our responsibility under the Lordship of Christ. Many Christians want Jesus as a provider, as a healer, a miracle worker. And even as a savior, but not as Lord. We don’t want Him to tell us how to live our lives. This could be because of several reasons:
Rebellion. We are hesitant to give full control to Christ over every aspect of our lives.
Ignorance. We are unsure about what is expected of us.
No Bible owning Christian should be ignorant of the Lord's commands for us. The problem is we do not study them.
Jesus is more than a provider. He is more than an outstanding teacher; He is more than a miracle worker and more than all the other good things about Him. Jesus is Lord.
Many Christians today live in democratic societies and this makes it hard for us to imagine a life where someone else has absolute rights to our lives. A life where another instructs us on what we ought to do, how we ought to think, how we ought to treat others, how we ought to react to things; everything. It's a hard life for us to envision.
Yet, this is the life we must live under Christ's lordship. Under the lordship of Christ, we are to live by every term that proceeds from the mouth of our Master. Jesus says something, the Christian does it.
Lord As Reverence But Not As Master
Because our societies are devoid of any semblance of true lordship, many people who confess Jesus to be Lord do not actually understand what they are doing. Nowadays, some individuals are embracing Christianity, not to fully surrender to Christ's authority and serve Him, but to use the many good things he offers to improve life and societal relations.
For example, many have realized that Christianity, the foundation of western civilization, is being sidelined, causing a decline in moral standards. Therefore, to combat the decline, they have turned to "Christian values", not to the Lord, hoping to save society from its decline. This is called cultural Christianity. In other terms, they want the appearance of godliness in our societies, while denying the Lord’s power and authority over everything (2 Timothy 3:5).
Others refer to Jesus as lord only out of reverence as a title of honor or as an expression of respect, but not as the King. Calling Jesus Lord out of reverence for his attributes without obeying him as Master and King is still rebellion. Lip service can not fool Jesus. Jesus called scribes and pharisees hypocrites and rebuked them in Matthew chapter 15 verse 8:
Matthew 15:8
8 These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
The heart is the source of everything we do in life. Our outward appearances impress people, but God looks into our hearts. Obedience is a matter of the heart. As someone who professes to be a follower of Christ, are you living in obedience to Him as Lord?
Jesus says in:
Matthew 7:21
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
Submitting to the lordship of Christ means doing the will of God. And again Jesus says in:
Luke 6:46
46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
Surrendering to Christ's lordship involves doing the things Jesus commands, not what you want Him to say or what your favorite preacher interprets Him as saying. The things that Jesus says are written in the Word of God.
The best way to check if you are submitting to Christ's authority is by NOT:
By remembering the date you said “the prayer and accepted Christ in your heart,” or
By the amount of ministries you serve in, or charities you donate too, or
By counting how many Christian friends and influence you’ve surrounded yourself with,
It is by examining your life to see whether you do the things which Jesus says. When the Lord says:
Deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow him. Do we do that? (Luke 9:23)
Forgive those who wrong you. Do we do that?
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Do we do that? (Luke 6:27-28)
Cast your burdens unto him. Do we do that? (Psalm 55:22)
Why then do we call Jesus Lord, Lord and not do the things which he says?
Commanded to Make Disciples
Our obedience to the Lord should be evident in the way we do discipleship. Christians must teach everything Jesus commanded.
Matthew 28:18-20
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
How To Do Discipleship
Go to all
As a landlord, I cannot ask my son to collect rent from tenants of another landlord. I can only send my son to tenants in my buildings. The imperialist empires of the past sought to extend their authority and influence to territories outside their own.. The Babylonian empire, the Persian empire, the Grecian empire, the Roman empire, etc. all had expansionist desires. But they all failed on their mission to reach the entire world because the world wasn’t theirs.
But King Jesus doesn’t have that problem. The entire world is His. Therefore, when Jesus tells his followers to go, he tells them to go to people and places he owns, places where He has authority and power. He tells them to go and make disciples of all the nations because all the earth is His and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1).
Teach all things
All, not some. We do not have the luxury of leaving out some teachings of Christ just because contemporary culture deems them controversial, unpopular or outdated. Teaching all things is our responsibility.
Teach His commands
The Lord Jesus sent us out to teach others to observe what He commands, but sadly, some of Christians have turned His commands into suggestions and recommendations and that's what we offer to nonbelievers.
When dealing with an unfamiliar subject, it's advisable to inform the nonbeliever that you need to do some research. Then study the Word of the Lord, maybe with another believer, and then communicate to the nonbeliever the Lord's command rather than your opinions. Stay on script.
Discipleship needed
The Lord has tasked us with teaching all peoples to follow His commands, beyond simply having them recite a prayer or inviting them to church. But to teach them to observe all things that He has commanded us. Sometimes, during evangelism, we present the gospel as a form of a fire insurance plan. We say, if you believe in Jesus, you will not go to hell. Although accurate, presenting the gospel as the good news about a rightful King, under whose dominion everyone lives, is the preferable way. This King, Jesus, commands all people to repent and obey Him.
Acts 17:30 (ESV) The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
Be prepared
You cannot teach others to observe things you yourself don’t know. Make it intentional to learn what the Lord has commanded you.
In the future, the entire world will acknowledge Jesus as the ultimate Lord, leading to every knee bending and every tongue confessing His lordship as foretold in scriptures. On that day, everyone, including those who rejected Christ's authority, will kneel and recognize Him as their Lord and God.
Scripture says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Following this, you begin a new life by doing what He instructs. When you hear these words, do not harden your heart.
Amen.
References
Lewis, C. S. (2001). Mere Christianity. Zondervan.
