“Lord” – What It Means For The Believer

Feature 4 – December 2014 – Grace & Truth Magazine

“LORD” – What It Means For The Believer

A few days before His crucifixion our Lord Jesus Christ sent two of His disciples into the little village of Bethphage, near Bethany, to bring Him a colt that awaited there for His kingly ride into Jerusalem. He instructed them to untie the colt and bring it to Him. If anyone should ask why they were taking the colt, they were to say simply that “the Lord needs it.”

They went as directed and found the colt. Sure enough, as they were untying it “its owners said to them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’” The response, “The Lord has need of it,” seems to have satisfied them and the colt was brought to Jesus (Lk. 19:29-35 ESV).

The Extent Of Our Lord’s Lordship
It is instructive here that the word translated “owners” is the same word that is also translated “Lord.” The word means “owner” (“he to whom a person or thing belongs” and “the possessor and disposer of a thing, the owner; one who has control of the person, the master” – NET Bible notes). These legal owners of the colt had a legitimate right and a stewardship responsibility to question the disciples’ taking it. Yet they readily recognized and deferred to a superior ownership. This is a beautiful demonstration of our Savior’s lordship. He is the supreme owner, master and possessor of everything: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein” (Ps. 24:1).

I own property, but all that I own is part of the earth and its fullness, which first and finally belongs to the Lord, or the Lord, Jehovah, the Supreme One. Not only that, but I, too, belong to the Lord (or the LORD) as one of “those who dwell therein” – as an earth-born resident of the planet in the same way that every human being belongs to the Creator. What is more, as a redeemed child of God I also belong to Him through new birth, the purchase of God through redemption by Christ Jesus. This ought to help us get our “Lord” perspective right.

“Jesus Christ ... is Lord of all,” said Peter to the gathering in Cornelius’ house (Acts 10:36). This means that whatever possessions, occupations, responsibilities or influences we have, He is still Lord over them and over us. We are still subject and accountable to Him. If we lose this perspective we can find ourselves behaving in practical denial of the Lord’s authority and priority ownership in much the same way as the fool of Psalm 53:1 who was trying to convince himself that “there is no God.”

Our Lord Jesus further instructs our understanding of His title in Matthew 7:21: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” Luke phrases His statement thus: “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Lk. 6:46).

Our Lord, as Owner, has authority over us and we are to do His will and obey His commands. But His lordship is not a harsh or cruel domination as with many human lords, for He also says in another place, “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (Mk. 3:35). He introduced a deeper, more tender relationship than that of Master and slave. While the quality of our obedience to His Word and our response to His authority ought to be like that of slaves, our motivation is that of a dear family member, brother or sister or mother. The grace of God is amazing! Let us increasingly “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18)! He is both our Lord (Owner) and our Savior (Rescuer). As Savior He has rescued us from the power of death and hell – the ultimate consequences of our natural tendency to defy or disobey His lordship!

The Humility (And Exaltation) Of Our Supreme Lord
Consider the implications of Philippians 2:5-11. This exalted Lord is in fact truly God, who humbled Himself to come to earth, to take on Himself humanity and, further, to take on Himself a slave’s or bond-servant’s identity and character, ultimately humbling Himself yet more, “to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

This (sinless) descent into humanity ought to draw out our hearts in willing, even eager surrender and selfless submission to the glorious “bondage” to the one who so humbled and submitted Himself to God and thereby secured our ultimate liberation from slavery to sin.

“Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

It is important to note here that the above statement of the exaltation, the lordship of Jesus Christ, is the very exaltation, honor and glory claimed by Jehovah for Himself in Isaiah 45:23: “By Myself I have sworn ... ‘To Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’”

Our Savior is God and has always existed as God. His lordship is now confirmed and exalted by the decree of Almighty God who has always found total delight in His Son, and has now, in His self-humbling, found further reason to lift Him still higher! The Father is glorified in the worship and exaltation of His Son. The full significance of this is seen in the fact that in Isaiah 42:8 Jehovah declares: “I am the Lord; that is My name; My glory I give to no other.” Nevertheless God is glorified when Jesus Christ is given glory because He is not “another,” but one and the same identity with the Almighty, with Jehovah.

Sinners Exalt Self; Our Lord Humbled Himself
Human nature is always quick to exalt self. “I am number one” is the default setting of the human ego. That is the heart of the fool of Psalms 14:1 and 53:1. He is not so much arguing for atheism as he is defying God by promoting or elevating himself in the very spirit of the god, or prince, of this world, Satan himself (see Isaiah 14:12-14 and Ezekiel 28:12-17), who is the arch-enemy and rival of our supreme Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our sin nature is itself the very core of this rebellion and self-exaltation – this “me-first” spirit. Rather, our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth in human form to deal with this evil by emptying and humbling Himself, taking the form not of a lord and master but of a bond-servant, to take our sin on Himself and bear our penalty. Our submission to His lordship is the only appropriate response of a grateful heart.

Do we lightly call Him, “Lord, Lord,” yet not do what He says? Do we claim to love the Lord, or serve the Lord, or honor “the Lord Jesus Christ” with our lips but not with our heart and will bowed in submission and obedience?

The Gravity Of Our Lord’s Lordship
To speak of or name the person of our Lord Jesus Christ (or of any of the persons of the Godhead – the Trinity) is a most serious matter. In the law given to Moses, the third commandment states: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain” (Ex. 20:7). This means using God’s name lightly or carelessly, in foolishness or as a curse. This same word, here translated “vain,” refers to idolatry in Psalm 24:4. Idolatry is having another god before the Lord. He has “exalted above all things [His] name and [His] word” (Ps. 138:2). Leviticus 24:16 decrees: “Whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.”

In Bible times the dangerous possibility of misusing the name of the LORD was so fearfully real to God’s people that they simply did not speak the name at all. The word “LORD” was substituted for the four Hebrew letters (YHWH) of the name. Today we have very little sense of the awesome holiness of that name.

A Spiritual Exercise, Discipline
Our use of the title “Lord” is further informed and solemnized when we consider Paul’s instruction in 1 Corinthians 12:3: “I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says ‘Jesus is accursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit.”

The name of Jehovah (YHWH) is no less holy today than in Bible times, and the name “Jesus” is that same name, a combined form of the name, meaning “Jehovah-Savior,” or “Jehovah is salvation.” Recognizing Jesus’ lordship means bowing to and living under His authority, which does not come naturally to humans. It must be directed and energized by the Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit will never permit nor direct anyone to say “Jesus is accursed!” – forbid the thought! – and, as we have seen, it is dangerous even to say lightly “Jesus is Lord,” but only as under the authority and inspiration of the Spirit. As believers it is our calling, privilege and duty to “walk by the Spirit” – that is, in the Spirit’s energy and under His control – not in the energy or under the control of our sinful human flesh (Gal. 5:16-18,25). It is the Spirit’s work to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 16:14), that as we walk by the Spirit our flesh is overruled. To speak of Jesus as Lord loosely, casually or ritualistically (humanly) is dangerously close to actually taking His name in vain. As we live and move in the energy of the Holy Spirit we will be living in conscious submission under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, and His lordship will not be a matter of mere lip service but of truly honoring Him as Lord.

John further develops this important teaching when he writes that we should “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist” (1 Jn. 4:1-3). To confess Jesus Christ is to acknowledge both His deity and His humanity, and that He has come from God and indeed is God: “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 Jn. 4:15).

Confessing the Lord Jesus Christ is not merely a matter of saying it, but it is a matter of fully recognizing and bowing to His lordship. Many today who call themselves “Jehovah’s Witnesses” are quite ready to say that Jesus Christ is God, but theirs is not an honest confession because they reject His equality with God and His oneness with God (Phil. 2:6,9-11; Jn. 1:1, 10:30).

One Lord, One Body
Paul discusses one more dimension of this vitally important truth in 1 Corinthians 1:2-10. He speaks of the church in Corinth as “called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours” (v.2). In other words, the believers in Corinth who worship the Lord Jesus Christ are bound together with all believers everywhere under the one lordship of Jesus Christ. There is only one Lord, as Paul writes to the Ephesians in 4:4-6. Only pagans have “many lords” (1 Cor. 8:5).

Paul writes of and to believers in various places throughout the ancient world, always speaking of and exalting “our Lord Jesus Christ” – the same Lord acknowledged, worshiped and served unitedly by all true saints of God.

Paul names the Lord Jesus Christ seven times in these nine verses in 1 Corinthians 1. In verse 9 (“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord”) he emphasizes the highly privileged position of all who are called (invited) by God into the exclusive fellowship of this glorious Lord Jesus Christ, His beloved Son.

And in verse 10 he pleads “by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” He knew that there were many factions and divisions among the believers in Corinth (vv.11-12). If there is but one Lord, and we have all alike been called into that one fellowship, let us, as he urges in Ephesians, “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:3). Here is another way, by the Spirit, to practically call Jesus “Lord.”

By Bill Van Ryn