Jesus is Lord

The following was a series of Bible readings and reflections at the evening service on 7 September 2008.

First Reading: Luke 2:8-16

We probably read this passage every year at Christmas, but probably don’t think much about Jesus’ birth at other times of year. That’s a pity really, because the fact that Jesus came to earth, born as a human being, is something we should celebrate all year round. The verse I want us to focus on tonight is verse 11: “This very day in David's town your Saviour was born—Christ the Lord!”

He was Christ the Lord from his birth. Even as a baby lying in that manger, he was King of kings and Lord of lords. The wise men knew that Jesus’ birth was the birth of a king. After all when they travelled from the east and arrived in Palestine they went to Herod’s palace in Jerusalem and asked “Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2)

They may have originally been seeking the birth of a "just another" royal baby. But the message of the angels to the shepherds recorded by Luke means more than this. By telling them that the birth is of “your Saviour, Christ the Lord” this means not only that the people’s Saviour has come and he is God’s long promised anointed King, the Messiah, but he is the Lord. I believe that by calling him “Christ the Lord” the angels were saying that this baby is God, the LORD, of the Old Testament, now come to earth in flesh and blood.

You probably know that wherever the covenant name of God, Yahweh, appeared in the Old Testament, the Jews would not pronounce it, but substituted the word “Adonai” which means “Lord” each time the name “Yahweh” appears. When the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, the Septuagint used the Greek word “Kurios” which also means “Lord”. And this is also what you find in most English translations of the Old Testament. So we usually have “The LORD is my shepherd” rather than “Yahweh is my shepherd”. Anyway, the point is that when Luke wrote his gospel in Greek, he was well aware of the Greek Old Testament, and when he wrote: “Your Saviour is born, Christ the Kurios” – Christ the Lord – I believe he was saying that “the LORD” – Yahweh, the God of Israel – was born in Bethlehem.

That is what the apostles taught about this child when he grew up. That is what they believed and confessed before men. That this king – who lived as a humble carpenter’s son and became an itinerant rabbi – was no less than God, the Creator and ruler of the universe.

But they also taught that he was born as a servant – one who came to help and look after the needs of others. That is part of the glory and strangeness of the Christian gospel.

Jesus is Lord – Yahweh born on earth as a human baby, but born as a Servant to help people.

Second Reading: Matthew 27:11-14, 27-31

The King grew up, lived the life God called him to live as a teacher, a healer, a prophet, a royal Son obedient to his Father. But then it all seems to go wrong, doesn’t it? His words and actions challenge the religious leaders of Israel. His message of truth and love, salvation by grace through faith, and living a peaceful life of love and caring for others is radical and challenging to the hypocrisy and legalism of the religious leaders. So, the king is rejected by the people who should be loyal to him. He is put on trial by officials of an earthly empire with blasphemous emperors as its head who claimed to be gods. And he is put to death for crimes he did not commit. The crucifixion of Christ is no less than regicide – the murder of a king. The notice that the Roman soldiers put above his head was true though they didn’t know it: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews”.

The wonderful thing is that it is through his death, through the King laying down his life because he loves his people so much, that the salvation he proclaimed and the destruction of evil that he stood for are actually accomplished. The Lord sacrifices himself, he becomes the suffering servant portrayed in Isaiah 53 (reading from verses 3 to 10):

“We despised him and rejected him; he endured suffering and pain. No one would even look at him – we ignored him as if he were nothing. But he endured the suffering that should have been ours, the pain that we should have borne. All the while we thought that his suffering was punishment sent by God. But because of our sins he was wounded, beaten because of the evil we did. We are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received. All of us were like sheep that were lost, each of us going his own way. But the LORD made the punishment fall on him, the punishment all of us deserved. He was treated harshly, but endured it humbly; he never said a word. Like a lamb about to be slaughtered, like a sheep about to be sheared, he never said a word. He was arrested and sentenced and led off to die, and no one cared about his fate. He was put to death for the sins of our people. He was placed in a grave with those who are evil, he was buried with the rich, even though he had never committed a crime or ever told a lie. The LORD says, ‘It was my will that he should suffer; his death was a sacrifice to bring forgiveness. And so he will see his descendants; he will live a long life, and through him my purpose will succeed’."

Jesus is Lord – the Lord who became a sacrificial lamb to take away the sins of the world and saves his people through his death on the cross.

Third Reading: John 20:24-29

Sometimes I think that we glory so much in the cross of Christ that we are in danger of downplaying the importance of the resurrection. But the truth is that without the resurrection, the cross doesn’t have any good news in it. It is once Christ is risen that we can really know that his sacrifice was accepted by God the Father and our sins have been taken away.

And I think it is in the resurrection that Christ reveals more clearly than anywhere else that the claims that he is indeed the Son of God are true. Who else but God can rise from the dead? The disciples seem to have grasped this very quickly. Once they encounter the risen Christ, they are changed men. Before the crucifixion they ran away in fear and hid themselves. After the resurrection, they know absolutely in their hearts that Jesus is the Lord and so they preach him fearlessly and in public, facing persecution, imprisonment and martyrdom with courage. The risen Jesus changes people.

This is particularly true of the apostle Thomas in this passage we read. Thomas is a fascinating character. From what we read of him in the gospels he seems to be a bit of an enigma, he was a pessimistic man and a skeptic, but he was also one of the most loyal followers of Christ. When Christ decided to go to Jerusalem for the last time, Thomas showed both sides of his character in his remark to the other disciples: “Let us go along with the Teacher, so that we may die with him.”

But he is changed when he meets the risen Christ face-to-face. He changes from doubting the resurrection to confessing Christ as his Lord and his God.

Jesus is Lord – our King has conquered death and lives forever, able to change our lives and help us grow in faith, hope and love.

Fourth Reading: Philippians 2:5-11

Today, Christians all over the world proclaim that Jesus is Lord. But we’re the only ones who do – even though there are millions of us. But most people deny Jesus is Lord. Paul tells us in this passage that it will not always be so. One day, everyone will have to confess that Jesus is Lord, even those who have to acknowledge it only when he comes again to judge them.

The fact is that Jesus is Lord, whether we know it or not, whether we accept it or not, whether we like it or not. Jesus is Lord, and for two thousand years the world has hated, mocked and derided that proclamation. Christ is King, higher than any earthly monarch, higher than any spiritual teacher or religion, higher than Satan and the powers of evil.

This was the message that shook imperial Rome to its foundations. This is the message that godless dictators down through the years have tried to stamp out. Jesus is Lord and so no man or woman is Lord. No one else has the same authority. He is higher than anyone else.

He is Lord of all and that means as his followers, he is Lord of our lives. Lord of our time and money, Lord of our friendships and relationships, Lord of our work and leisure, Lord of our pleasures and dislikes. If we are to be faithful to our King, we must obey our King. And I know how hard that can be. I find it hard in my own life certainly. But I know in my heart that Jesus is Lord and deep down I want him to be in charge. I fail him, but I don’t reject him. I think that’s what living as a Christian is like.

Jesus is Lord – one day everyone will acknowledge him. Until then it is our duty and delight as Christians to follow him in faith and obedience.

Fifth Reading: Revelation 19:11-21

I have to admit that I find the Book of Revelation both to be one of the most difficult books of the Bible to understand and one of the most encouraging in the bits I do understand. And I think this passage in Revelation 19 falls into the latter category. It is a glorious picture of Christ as a warrior king, mighty in battle, defeating his enemies and securing victory for his kingdom and the children of his kingdom. He leads a mighty army of heaven’s angels in this vision, riding on a white horse. Everything about this vision says majesty, glory, power and victory for Christ, who is given various titles here that tell us about him.

He is called “Faithful and True” because he has always been faithful both to his Father and to his people. Never disappointing us, never leaving us or failing to do what we need him to do for us. And he is true because he only speaks the truth. He never lies or deceives. He is the greatest prophet who communicates God’s will to us in his teaching.

His eyes are like fire because he sees everything and knows everything. He wears many crowns because he is Lord of all things, all peoples and all times. His robe is covered in blood to show he is the sacrificial lamb, the Saviour of the world.

He is the Word of God. He is the divine Word through which God creates and sustains the universe.

And he is King of kings and Lord of lords. He is the overlord of every other earthly or heavenly or spiritual power. He is the supreme lord and master of all of creation.

And he is the victorious leader of the forces of righteousness which do battle with Satan and his forces and destroy them.

Jesus is Lord – he is Lord of all things, the King to whom everyone and everything else must bow down in worship and one day render total obedience. The amazing thing is that he is also our brother and our friend, the humble carpenter from Nazareth is no less than King of kings and Lord of lords forever.

Team Spirit

This was the magazine editorial in the parish magazine for September 2008.

Did you watch any of the Beijing Olympics? While I was watching some of it on the television I thought about how people from all the nations gather together in one place for the games. And I thought about how many different types of people you see among the competitors. Athletes are as different from each other as people can get. You have the height of the basketball players, the bulk and strength of the weightlifters, the speed of the sprinters, the endurance of the long distance runners and cyclists, the grace of the gymnasts, the skill of the archers and shooters. All very different and yet all coming together in one place for a specific purpose – in the name of sport.

I couldn’t help but think about the parallels between the Olympics and the Church. The Church is also made up of people from every nation and it includes all kinds of different people, different talents, different personalities, but different people who all come together with a common purpose: to proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord and to love and live for him in this world.

That’s both a comforting and a challenging thought isn’t it? The comfort is that no matter who you are or what you are like, Jesus is calling you to come and follow him as one of his disciples. No matter who you are, you can have a place in Christ’s royal family through faith in him. He said himself: “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” (John 6:37)

But there’s a huge challenge for us to consider too. The challenge is that Christ wants every member of his church to use their gifts and talents to play their part. There are no passengers on the ship of faith, only crew members. Problems start when some members don’t play the part Christ wants them to play and think the church is a cruise ship where they only need to be entertained as spectators. Actually the church is more like a warship in enemy waters and everyone should be at battle stations. Where some members don’t play their part in the life and witness of the church, this leads to other members doing more than they should or things that should be happening not getting done. That isn’t right and it isn’t healthy.

Paul describes the church as being like a body sometimes. In Romans 12:4-6 he says:

“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given
us.”

If parts of your body stop doing the job they should, you will either not be able to do all the things you could do if they were working, or you will get sick, or in the case of vital organs stopping working, you will die.

I honestly believe that the same dangers are facing our church now. I think we are all deeply concerned by the need for our church to grow. How many of us have looked forward ten years and wondered if things keep going as they are now, will there still be enough members to keep the church going? Today we have 96 members, most of whom are over 60 years of age and many of whom are over 70 years of age. Even if all are spared, how many will not be physically able to do the work that needs to be done over the next decade?

If we want to see our church grow we need to have a healthy body. We need everyone to play their part. And we need to do more to encourage more young adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s to come to church.

That is a huge and magnificent challenge. If we meet it, we all deserve gold medals. But that’s what God wants to give us:

“To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Corinthians 9:22-25).