Monday, November 17, 2008
Jesus IS Lord!
Joe Carter is fond of noting that John Mark Reynolds famously said at the first GodBlogCon that God is a monarchist. In this truly wonderful post JMR continues on that theme by describing what it means when he says, "Jesus is Lord." His summary sentence is:
I reflect on how often we want Jesus to be something - anything - other than Lord, Master, Creator, King. We want Him to be friend, intimate, buddy, helper, maybe even lover, but we never seem to want Him to be LORD.
We fear that word "lord" for in it we think we hear oppression and diminution. And in a sense we are right, for anyone other than Jesus Christ who assumes that role will express it in exactly that way. Churches try to be dukes in the lord's name and then they oppress and suppress and take advantage of. Preachers claim lordly authority and they embezzle and provide false hope. Governments assume the old feudal role of lord and make us grist for the mill.
Only God, only Christ is worthy of the title and the role. Our distrust to ask Christ to be Lord is buried in pretty good root causes - BUT - Christ is up to the task. He does not bring oppression or suppression to the job, He brings freedom.
Sometime in your life I bet you have used a knife for a screwdriver. I am sure the job got done, but it probably involved more effort than it should have and the knife probably got a little mangled in the process. However, if as "lord" of the house I decree that knives may only function in knifely roles, have I oppressed the knife or have I freed it to do and be what it best does and is? I think the knife is probably happy with me lordly decree.
There are two essential lessons we need to learn. First we need to learn ourselves. We're like the knife - we are not created to be screwdrivers, or lords. Secondly we need to know our God - He will never ask us to be other than what we were created to be. We will find happiness in His decrees, if we will but abide by them.
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Jesus Christ is real, present, speaking, and worthy of my obedience.Although I must note that such a summary while accurate is inadequate to convey the wonderful prose that proceeds it. I recommend you read the whole thing. I cannot do it justice by pull quotes, and I lack the writing skill to describe it without seriously diminishing its impact.
I reflect on how often we want Jesus to be something - anything - other than Lord, Master, Creator, King. We want Him to be friend, intimate, buddy, helper, maybe even lover, but we never seem to want Him to be LORD.
We fear that word "lord" for in it we think we hear oppression and diminution. And in a sense we are right, for anyone other than Jesus Christ who assumes that role will express it in exactly that way. Churches try to be dukes in the lord's name and then they oppress and suppress and take advantage of. Preachers claim lordly authority and they embezzle and provide false hope. Governments assume the old feudal role of lord and make us grist for the mill.
Only God, only Christ is worthy of the title and the role. Our distrust to ask Christ to be Lord is buried in pretty good root causes - BUT - Christ is up to the task. He does not bring oppression or suppression to the job, He brings freedom.
Sometime in your life I bet you have used a knife for a screwdriver. I am sure the job got done, but it probably involved more effort than it should have and the knife probably got a little mangled in the process. However, if as "lord" of the house I decree that knives may only function in knifely roles, have I oppressed the knife or have I freed it to do and be what it best does and is? I think the knife is probably happy with me lordly decree.
There are two essential lessons we need to learn. First we need to learn ourselves. We're like the knife - we are not created to be screwdrivers, or lords. Secondly we need to know our God - He will never ask us to be other than what we were created to be. We will find happiness in His decrees, if we will but abide by them.
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