City Life Starter

By Stefan Johnsson

Jesus is LORD.

Many of us use this phrase with frequency and we do not realize the implications of what we say. What does being Lord refer to?

Merriam-Webster defines lord as: “a ruler by hereditary right or preeminence to whom service and obedience are due.”

To whom service and obedience are due. This is an essential aspect of Christianity. It is a central theme in both the old and new testament, yet I will focus on the New Testament side only in this blog post. Below are just a few key verses that reflect on Jesus as Lord and having obedience to Him.

Luke 4:8 – And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”

Acts 10:36 – As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 10:9 – 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.

1 Corinthians 1:9 – God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 3:36 – Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

John 14:15 – “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

Believing that Jesus died for our sins is not enough. Romans 10:9, which is quoted above, shows that we have to confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. When we make Jesus our Lord, we give away our right to be the lord of our own lives. In essence, it’s giving God back the freedom to be the god of our own lives, which He gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they first sinned.

The famous quote from C.S. Lewis stated the following in his book, The Great Divorce, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it.

When Adam and Even believed they could “be like God” when they first ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God told them, “thy will be done”. When we accept Jesus into our lives as our Lord, we are essentially telling God that we do not want our will because this leads to death. Instead, we turn to God and tell him, “thy will be done”.

Jesus makes this clear in John 3:36 when he says, “whoever does not obey the son shall not see life”. We need to take the idea of Lordship very seriously. How can we call Jesus our savior and deny him the right to be our Lord? Aren’t we, in essence, telling God that we still think our way is best? I firmly believe that you cannot truly follow Jesus without understanding the idea of lordship. We need to be humble and willing to hear God’s voice. We have to let him take control and lead or we will miss the entire meaning of what being a Christian is. How can the Holy Spirit change you from the inside out if pride and control are still there?

I wrote about my own transformation from believing in God to understanding what lordship meant in my own blog. The blog title is, What Master do you Serve?:

I remember it clearly, the days leading up to my final year of undergraduate studies. I had come to my wits end, spending years fighting with God for the control of my life. My life until then was leading nowhere. I thought I knew what would make me happy and give me joy, but it was all empty in the end. Wasn’t my belief in Jesus enough? I did not understand why nothing could satisfy me, even though I had tried my best to fill my life with whatever I wanted to do. I fought with God for years and grew tired of the struggle.  It was time for Him to take control, to lead me where He wanted me to go. It was a hard decision at that time and I knew not the plans that God had for me. Though, anything was better compared to the meaningless life I was currently living.

It was shortly after I surrendered my life to God that things started to change. A month into school, God planted the passion on my heart for what His plans for me would be and the path for how I got to where I am today included many miracles. Then, the next month I was tested to respond to God’s calling in my life. He told me to go into ministry for a year(which turned into two) and I knew that I had to trust and obey Him. God was guiding me in life so quickly that it was almost as if He had been waiting impatiently for me to just follow Him.

I lived a shallow life prior to this. I lived in my own sin and desires, not wanting or thinking that God had a much greater plan for my life. I believed that Jesus died on the cross for my sins, but making him my master? Uff, that was the last thing I wanted to do. I thought I was living a good Christian life but had no idea what I was missing. Letting go and making God my master changed me and allowed God to finally lead me. I never look back and regret this decision, instead, I wish that I would’ve made the decision sooner.

What separates us as Christians are that, we not only follow God, we make Him our Lord. How else can we truly be in communion with our Father in heaven unless we do this? As James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  Believing is not enough!

When Jesus speaks in John 14:15 by saying that if we love him, we will keep his commandments, I believe is an essential part of understanding what lordship is and why obedience is so vital to our Christian lives. True transformation and growth can only come from obedience to our savior. We cannot have two master’s in our lives and if we serve money, we cannot serve God. If we serve ourselves, we cannot serve God. If we serve another idol, we cannot serve God. It is very simple, Jesus has to be Lord. There is no other option, no other way. God expects our obedience if we follow Him, he accepts nothing less. We were bought with a price, which is the blood of Christ.