Preaching: The Lordship of Jesus Christ

 

The fundamental premise of our Christian faith is the lordship of Jesus Christ. It stands at the heart and core of Christianity. Everything in the Christian faith-becoming a Christian, living the Christian life, and the ultimate outcome of being a Christian-stands or falls on the lordship of Christ. 

 

The term “lord” occurs over 600 times in the New Testament. It is true that sometimes it is merely a term of address or respect or affection. However, at least 150 of these times it is used of God Himself, and nearly 250 times it is used to describe Jesus. In his excellent Christology of the New Testament, Oscar Cullmann concludes that the early church expressed its whole faith with the single word “kurios” (Lord). Dynamic Scottish preacher James S. Stewart’s evaluation is that “Paul’s most loved name of Jesus was not ‘Messiah’ but ‘Lord,‘ ” further noting that Luke represents Paul as using this title in the very first sentence he ever spoke to Jesus as he said, “Who art thou, Lord?” (Acts 9:5). Thereafter, no demand Jesus ever made of Paul was too great-nor will it be of us when He is truly our Lord. 

 

Three definitive New Testament passages address the implications of His Lordship and further point to our acceptance of others (Ephesians 4:4-6) and our evangelization of the world (2 Corinthians 4:5 and Romans 10:9). 

 

Ephesians 4:4-6 speaks of “one body, and one Spirit…one hope;….one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of us all…..” If we take the New Testament seriously it would seem that this seven-fold emphasis upon Christian unity) including the one on the lordship of Christ: would go a long way toward dissolving the fragmentation and polarization that have come to characterize mush of Christendom. 

 

The lordship of Jesus Christ speaks to our acceptance of other Christian traditions. I am grateful for my own Southern Baptist tradition-and I trust you are for yours. However, in our emphasis upon our heritage, our principles, and our distinctive, God forbid that we become ecclesiastical snobs! We do not have to be identical twins to be brothers and sisters in Christ. What a group believes about church polity is not nearly as important as what they believe about the person of Christ. If He is their Lord, then they are our brothers and sisters, and we must convey this acceptance to them. 

 

The lordship of Christ speaks to our acceptance of other races. Wherever in the world there are differences of color, there are problems. This is not a “southern” problem nor merely a “black/white” problem-it is a world problem. As people committed to the lordship of Christ we cannot and must not ignore seething social issues. Much healthy, intelligent, productive progress has been made in race relations. However, if anyone anywhere is denied a hearing of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ because of the pigmentation of his or her skin then our gospel is weakened and our efforts at world evangelization drastically decimated. We who are united under the lordship of Christ must convey to all other Christians, regardless of ethnic background, that we accept them as brothers and sisters in the Lord and that we take seriously the whosoever will” of the gospel. There is only one Lord and all who know Him are our brothers and sisters. Beyond our acceptation of others, the Bible also teaches that the Lordship of Christ has implications for our evangelization of the world-both in the message we proclaim and in the response we expect. As a preface to the giving of the Great Commission, Jesus states in Matthew 28:18, “All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Then He says, “Go ye therefore, and make disciples…..” Thus all evangelism is predicated upon His lordship. The lordship passage in 2 Corinthians 4:5 deals with the proclamation by the preacher (the message) and the one in Romans 10:9 deals with the affirmation by the believer (the response expected). 

 

In 2 Corinthians 4:5 Paul declares, “For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord; and ourselves your slaves for Jesus’ sake.” Here we have clear evidence that early New Testament preachers had one basic message. Once convinced of His lordship by His resurrection, they proclaimed Him as Lord to the whole Greco-Roman world. Their pattern for such preaching had already been set by the Lord Himself. The theme of Jesus’ preaching was the kingdom (or rule) of God. This phrase emphasizes His lordship. 

 

The examples of Christ and Paul set the pattern for us. Our task in proclamation is not to project ourselves or passing fads, but to confront people with the person and reality of our living Lord and His claims upon their lives. Concerning our preaching, Ian Macpherson says, “Every sentence should suggest Christ and every sermon should leave hearers at the feet of Christ. The chief art of preaching is to exalt Christ!”  

 

Christian laypersons must not exonerate themselves from responsibility at this point. Though they usually do not engage in the official act of public proclamation, the greatest proclaiming of the lordship of Christ done by any of us is demonstrating daily in concrete reality that He is Lord of our lives-Lord of my mind, Lord of my will, Lord of what I read, Lord of my moral standards, Lord of my pocketbook, Lord of my time, Lord of my home. It is true that in the past the resurrection of Christ irrefutably revealed Him to be Lord to His disciples, and it is true that in the future the Second Coming will reveal Him to be Lord to all creation. In the present it is committed Christians living daily under His lordship who reveal Him to be Lord to the modern world. When the unbeliever sees the translation of our proclamation into daily living, he or she will see the incontrovertible truth that Jesus Christ is Lord!

 

After the proclamation of the lordship of Christ by the preacher (whether by lip or life or both), there must be a response by the hearer to our message. As the Baptist pulpiteer E. V. Hill said, “For Him to be Prince of Peace in our lives, a coronation service must take place.” Thus we come to consider the affirmation by the believer. The definitive passage here is Romans 10:9 which says, “That if you will confess with your mouth ‘Jesus is Lord,” and will believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” Here we confront, according to all reputable Bible scholars, one of the most ancient Christian confessions of faith-two word in Greek: “Kurios Iesous”; three words in English: “Jesus is Lord.”

 

In the Greco-Roman world of the first century, the worship of Caesar was the order of the day. Many of those accused of being Christians were required to do three things: (1) to say “the emperor is Lord,” (2) to offer a sacrifice to the emperor, and (3) to curse Christ in order to prove their sacrifice was sincere. Failure to comply often resulted in forfeiture of life. The Roman state, with its multiple gods and goddesses, could not understand why Christians were so obstinate at this point. What harm is there in saying “Lord Caesar”? But may Christians died rather than say it, for to them the confession of Romans 10:9, “Kurios Iesous,” would no longer be valid if there were another Lord other than Jesus. 

 

Today there is an incipient danger creeping through much of modern Christianity. It almost suggests that there is a dichotomy between Jesus as “Savior” and Jesus as “Lord.” New Testament Christians never saw these two titles in conflict. The Bible does teach that Jesus is our Savior, but the primary emphasis is placed upon His lordship. There are sixteen times in the New Testament where Jesus is called “Savior.” The term occurs only once in Luke (2:11), once in John (4:42), twice in Acts (5:31, 13:23), six times in Paul’s letters, five times in 2 Peter and once in 1 John (4:14). All other references to His saving work are in connection with the verb “to save.” On the other hand, as indicated earlier, some 250 times Jesus is called “Lord.” The emphasis is obvious. On the basis of God’s grace and our faith, as we make Christ the Lord of our lives, one of the many glorious results is that He saves us from our sins. The lordship is primary; the being saved is derivative. According to Romans 10:9, the affirmation by the believer that “Jesus is Lord’ results in his “being saved.” For salvation to be experienced by the believer a full, complete commitment to Christ as Lord is mandatory. A proclamation of anything other than this, results in what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” and must be avoided at all costs.

 

This does not ignore the need for Christian growth, nor does it imply absolute perfection. However, a perfect (or full, complete) commitment must be made to Christ as Lord. We have no difficulty accepting such absolute exclusivism in Christian marriage.  In our performance as mates, none of us would be so audacious as to claim perfection. Yet certainly there should not be the remotest question about our attitude of total commitment and loyalty to each other. We have no difficulty requiring that our international missionaries insist that nationals abandon all pagan deities and surrender only to Christ for salvation. Many Romans of the first century and many moderns in the twenty-first century would be only too glad to add Christ as “just another niche” in their impressive array of deities. “Impossible!” we Christians scream-and rightly so. 

 

Only by distorted logic and flagrant inconsistency can modern church members make these demands on others yet hold on to their affluent gods of materialism, science, business, intellectualism, pleasure, et., and simultaneously claim to be committed to Christ as Lord. Let there be no question about it: to whatever or whomever we yield first allegiance and loyalty, this is our “lord.” In our proclamation and affirmation, this prime position must be given to Jesus Christ.