As soon as we know Jesus Christ as our Saviour and Redeemer, we are also taught that He is our Lord. His lordship is universal and has reference to all men, though He primarily sustains this relationship towards believers. The Apostle Peter declared this truth on the day of Pentecost. “Therefore,” he said, “let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). The Lord Jesus Himself, after His resurrection, says, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and earth” (Matt. 28:18). Then again, Peter, dealing with another aspect of this truth, tells us of false teachers “who ... shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them” (2 Peter 2:1).
We have, then, two things: first, that God has made Christ Lord on the ground of redemption, giving Him this place of universal supremacy in answer to His appreciation of the work which Christ wrought by His death, and, second, that Christ has acquired lordship over all by purchase. This thought we find in one of the parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field” (Matt. 13:44). The consequence is that He is Lord of all, having “power [authority] over all flesh” by the appointment of God (John 17:2; Acts 10:36; Rom. 14:9).
However, when we as believers speak of Christ as “our” Lord, we express another thought, because then we bring in the idea of relationship — the relationship of servants. It is the same lordship, but we, by the grace of God, have been brought to own it, to bow before Him in this character, to accept His authority and rule, and to take the place of subjection. This was one of the objects of His death, as Paul tells us: “He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:15). See also Romans 14:7-9. We therefore recognize, through the grace of our God, not only that Christ is Lord of all, but also that He is in a more intimate way our Lord. He is our Lord, not only in virtue of His appointment as such, as the rejected Christ and now glorified Man, but also because He has acquired this place over us through redemption. It is therefore our joy to confess Him as Lord, and how solemn to remember that all, even those who reject Him in this day of grace, will one day be constrained by power — power capable of their destruction — to own Him also as Lord (Phil. 2:10-11). It is the more incumbent upon us who are believers to recognize, declare and be subject to His authority, that we may in some measure be witnesses for Him in this day of His rejection.
Seeing that Christ holds this place, what are our privileges and responsibilities with reference to Him in this character?
Worship
The first thing to be named is worship, for it is before Him as Lord that we often fall down in adoration. This is taught, in principle, in one of the psalms. “He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him” (Psa. 45:11). So also in the passage already cited from the Philippians — every knee is to bow and every tongue confess that He is “Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Theologians take pains to argue that Christ is to be worshipped equally with the Father, inasmuch as He is God as well as man. This is true, but at the same time, it misses the scriptural teaching concerning His present position and the worship due to Him in it. He is God, but the wonder and the characteristic of His present place is that He occupies it as man. It was the same Jesus whom the Jews crucified who is now made both Lord and Christ; He as man has taken up the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. It is a great mistake to suppose that He was man down here and God in heaven, as if the two natures could thus be divided. The truth is, if we may draw the distinction, He was truly man while down here, and He was the presentation of God to us, whereas now, while He never loses His essential divinity, He sits at the right hand of God as man. Thus, though it is perfectly true that we worship Him as God, for all the adoration which ascends up to God of necessity is offered to Him — inasmuch as the term God includes all the persons of the Godhead — it is rather as the man who is in the glory of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, that we bow before Him in praise and worship.
Prayer
Just as we worship Him, so also we pray to Him as Lord. There are two striking examples of this principle recorded in the Scriptures. When Stephen was martyred by the infuriated Jews, it is said, “They stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). Paul too, speaking of the thorn in the flesh, says, “For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). Now it is evident that it was Christ he addressed as Lord, for he adds, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me.” These instances afford most important instruction as to the character in which Christ is to be addressed in prayer. It is as Lord — not as “Jesus” or “Christ,” as is sometimes unhappily heard. A moment’s consideration will show us the fitness of this. For us to address His name in our prayers as simply “Jesus” or with the term “Christ,” when bowing before Him, is surely to forget our place as suppliants, as well as His place as Lord. It savors of undue familiarity and irreverence, though it is freely admitted that it may be done without the slightest feeling of the kind. Be this as it may, we should never forget His exaltation and dignity, when approaching Him in prayer or supplication. The spiritual instincts of a child of God will suffice to teach each one that He always should be addressed with the title of Lord. It becomes Him to receive this title and for us to render it. The angel used it, when calming the fear of the women at the sepulchre on the resurrection morn, and in a most significant manner. He said, “Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, the crucified one. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the LORD lay” (Matt. 28:5-6). He thus reminded them that Jesus, whom they sought, was the Lord. Let us, then, be always careful to remember what is due to the One before whom we bow and from whom we seek grace and blessing.
We Are His Servants
The correlative of “Lord” is “servant.” We are therefore specially reminded by the term “our Lord” that we are His servants. We are His servants because He has bought us with His own blood, and we are therefore absolutely His property. Thus Paul delights to call himself a servant [a slave] of Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1).
This being the case, it will at once be observed that the Lord’s will is our only law. It is indeed the characteristic of the Christian that he has no will; the moment his will is active, the flesh appears. Thus he has (that is, he should have) absolutely no will. He can say with the Apostle, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 2:20). The Lord has shown us also this path. “I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me” (John 6:38). Hence it is actually said that “He took upon Him the form of a servant [a slave]” (Phil. 2:7). Just as He had no will, but every thought, word and deed was governed by the will of the Father, so we in all things should have respect to His will.
Our responsibility, then, as servants is obedience. As the Lord said to certain professors, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46), or, as He said to His disciples, “Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet” (John 13:13-14). As soon, therefore, as Christ is revealed to us as our Saviour and we acknowledge Him as our Lord, we should take the attitude of Saul when he said, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” (Acts 9:6; 22:10). From that moment we must accept the place of obedience to His will, and not only accept it, but find our joy in it, even as He Himself said that it was His meat to do His Father’s will and to finish His work (John 4:34).
His Universal Lordship
We have a further responsibility connected with the lordship of Christ. As we have already pointed out, He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36). Not only have we, therefore, as believers, to take the position of obedience, but we have also to acknowledge His authority over all connected with us — over our families and our households. It is a question of increasing importance, whether the doctrine of the universal lordship of Christ has not been too much overlooked. The state of the families of many believers demands that it should be imperatively considered. It is a fatal mistake, into which many fall, to suppose that the unconverted members of our families have no relationship to Christ. He is Lord of all, and they are under the responsibility of owning, as believers are under the obligation of upholding, that lordship. The rule of Christ has to be maintained throughout the whole circle of the responsibility of the saints. It is in this that the families of saints should present an entire contrast with those of the world and thus be a living testimony to the authority of a rejected and an absent Christ — Christ our Lord.
His Claims Over the Lost
Again, if we remembered that He who is our Lord is also universal Lord, it would give us far greater power to deal with souls. When charging upon them the sin of rejecting Christ, how often do they evade the issue by saying that they had nothing to do with the act of the Jews and Romans nearly 2000 years ago. In such cases, the fact of the present lordship of Christ must be pressed upon them. Do they acknowledge the place which has been given to Him by God? Do they confess and submit to His authority? Then they stand convicted of refusing and rejecting now the One who has been made both Lord and Christ. This weapon, if skillfully used in the power of the Spirit, may reach many a conscience and bring souls to repentance before God. Along with this truth, they should be told that if they persist in refusing to own Christ now, in the day of grace, they must own Him before the great white throne, to their everlasting destruction. Man’s responsibility must never be overlooked, for his conscience needs to be reached. Nor must we forget to present the grace, the mercy and the love of God, for surely every presentation of the gospel should be the expression of His own heart. While recognizing and insisting on these things, it may yet be asked whether we sufficiently press the claims of Christ as Lord. Man is everywhere owned, and Christ disowned. But if man remains indifferent to and rejects His claims, he must finally bow the knee before Him, when Christ shall be seated as the Judge on the great white throne. How much better to be reconciled to Him now and to confess and to worship Him as Lord.
E. Dennett, adapted