I want to take a few moments and look at one of the most important aspects of our Walk With God; making Jesus Lord of All. Many come to Him seeking salvation but little realize that in so doing they, by definition, are agreeing to make Him Lord of All. By faith we receive Him as “Lord” and “Saviour” but for many the title of Lord is in name only.
It is somewhat like James’ thoughts concerning faith and works. He agrees with Paul that we are saved by faith through grace and not by our own works. On the other hand he says that if you have been saved then the evidence of that salvation is in your good works; the evidence being the fruit of the Spirit in your life. Now I am not trying to establish some new doctrine here, it simply follows that if you have made Him Saviour then your life should show evidence His Lordship or you may want to ask yourself some very pointed questions.
Acts 10:36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all)
This makes it pretty clear that Jesus is the Lord of both the Jews and the Gentiles. The word for Lord here is kurios (supreme authority) and carries with it the meaning “controller.” In this verse the meaning can actually be translated: The word which he sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, that word has authority over all. Or put another way, the Word (rhema or revealed word) itself has the supreme authority and the revealed Word is Jesus (John 1:1). If, then, we died with Him on the cross and rose with Him in His Glory, the fact that He is Lord over all that we are is inescapable (John 17:2; Matt 28:18).
As I reflect on this issue of Lordship I am reminded of a previous discussion I had with someone on servant hood. Remember the difference between a servant and a bondservant? The servant served because he had no choice; he was paid for and therefore bound to his master without recourse. But the bondservant, while also bought and paid for, had been given his unconditional release by his master. Nevertheless, rather than leaving he chose to stay with his entire family and serve his master of his own free will. That is where I believe many in the body of Christ miss the key to walking with Jesus. If we will take that step and become a bondservant our walk will move to a whole new level.
Jesus bought and paid for our redemption but many have not made the connection that it includes Lordship. We can’t have it both ways by claiming our salvation and rejecting the fact that He is our Lord. This issue, like so many others, is one of the heart, and at some point in our walk we must make the conscious decision to totally submit to Him. So many today hold back from that point of total submission because they feel that it will infringe on their new found freedom. What they don’t realize is that it will make them freer than they have ever been before. Just like the bond servant we will have an entirely new perspective. There is no better Lord in the universe than Jesus and no better station in life than to walk with Him in total submission.
How Do We Know He Is Lord?
Lordship is an all or nothing proposition. God will not share us with anyone else, especially ourselves. Strangely enough I think God is more jealous of that than anything else. Look at all the times He became angry with the Jews. It almost always involved them sharing their affections with someone or something other than God. My mind keeps coming back to that simple little phrase — if he isn’t Lord of all he isn’t Lord at all.
Luke 6:46-49 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
A good servant never disputes his master and is always focused on the work that has been given him. A good Christian is a faithful servant who is differentiated from the non-believer by what we see in verse 47. He hears and he does; the non-believer in verse 49 hears but does not. The 1st century church knew well the example Jesus was giving them. Palestine is a land of many hills and those who built their homes on a hill were in danger every time it rained and the stream became swollen and began to flow downhill. The very earth was torn out from under the houses, sending them into crashing ruin. It was very different for those who searched out a rock and built their house upon it. Each house was the same until the sudden appearance of the clouds and the coming of the rain; then the difference became apparent.
It’s the same for us today as the dark clouds and the rain are representative of the circumstances of this life. They can be sudden and violent or they can come up unnoticed and slowly erode our foundation. Either way the result will be the same; without our rock we cannot stand. So what is Jesus telling us in this story? He is telling us that to hear His principles and not to live by them is setting ourselves up for failure. To know your duty and to neglect it will end in great disappointment.
Matt 7:24-27 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
The first word in verse 24 is therefore (it is There For a reason) and it refers back to verses 21 – 23.
Matt 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Look to whom He is referring; those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven are those who “do” the will of the Father. If we are going to make this next move of God into a Holy and Pure church, a bride without spot or wrinkle, we absolutely must commit ourselves to a submitted lifestyle. We cannot tolerate compromise in our lives if we have any hope of becoming the pure vessels He desires. Thank God we have the Holy Spirit because without Him our chances of living the kind of life God intended are slim and none.
The gifts and callings of God are without repentance (Rom 11:29); He won’t take them back. But it doesn’t mean that we will walk in power in that calling or operate in those gifts. That is a direct function of our submitting to His Lordship. We won’t see the anointing operating out of impure vessels but we might see the counterfeit. We need to stop looking at the outside and start concentrating on the inside where the real issues reside. It all starts on the inside.
What a wondrous joy it is to know that all it takes to go right to the head of the line is asking for permission. He wants to move us there more than we want to get there. And what a wondrous place the head of the line is. It’s a place of total submission, total forgiveness, total love, total righteousness and total authority in the one who paid for it all; the Lord of All.
Is struggling with some of the same old things really worth it? Is that part of the world you want to hang onto really better than being at the head of the line? Are fear, anxiety and worry really that hard to let go of? Can anger and bitterness really be that good to hang onto? These are the things that tell us Jesus in not Lord of All. When we totally surrender to Him we really do gain actual victory over these enemies. Without that we are still battling them in our own strength.
The will of God (the front of the line) is really the only place to be, anything else is simply just second best. There was a saying hanging in the ready room when I went through Top Gun that we saw every time we went out for a flight that summed up air-to-air combat in five simple words:
No Points For Second Place
If you didn’t “do” what you were taught you were going to lose, and to lose meant not coming home. We need to have that kind of attitude where Jesus is concerned. He hasn’t passed on the instructions of the Father without reason. Our very foundations depend upon them and our heeding their instruction. We need to follow Him every day and trust Him to reveal that particular part of His will we require to get us through the day. If we will listen and “do” what He asks then we can be assured that He is Lord of All. We are more important to Him than we can ever imagine and our walk through this world hand-in-hand with Him is His number one priority for each of us.
What’s the Will of God for your life?
The will of God is not like a magic package let down from heaven by a string. The will of God is far more like a scroll that unrolls every day. The will of God is something to be discerned and to be lived out every day of our lives. It is not something to be grasped as a package once for all. Our call, therefore, is basically not to follow a plan or a blueprint, or to go to a place or take up a work, but rather to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul Little
Like I’ve always said … it’s day-by-day.