THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST

The Greek word "ARKAGOS," translated LORD, means the One in supreme authority, the Head, Chief, Prince, King, Master, Ruler, Governor or Owner.

Much medieval religion was pure paganism -- founded on superstition and fear; its motive in seeking the church was benefit to self. How far are we removed in much of our modern religion? Erasmus wrote: "One worships a certain Rochus, and why? For what benefit? Because he fancies he will drive away the plague from his body. Another murmurs prayers to Barbara or George, lest he fall into the hands of his enemy. This man fasts to Appolonia to prevent toothache. That man gazes on an image of the Divine Job, that he may be free from the itch. In short whatever our fears and our desires, we get so many gods over them and these are different in different nations.

"This is not far removed from those who used to vow tithes to Hercules in order to get rich (or now give them to God to be prospered); or a cock to Aesculapius to recover from illness; or a slain bull to Neptune for a favorable voyage. The names are changed but the objects are the same."

The twentieth century can equal all of this: a prominent business man told the writer that it was a paying investment to belong to the church, with the ruling that its members should buy from and sell to one another, because it made business for him. Religious for business reasons! A devil could be religious for the same motive! Business men are not slow to see the advantage even of a popular evangelistic campaign, commercializing the talents of the evangelist, advertising a revival as a community affair, adding volume to business, an asset to the value of real estate. How our motives need searching!

Submission to the Lordship of Jesus will end all wrong motives in uniting with the Church for business and social reasons, for personal benefit, and give the larger, better motive of the glory of God.

Instead of trying to placate some false deity through devotion and tithe payment, we often try to make a false deity out of the One and only true God.

"And that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost." -- I Corinthians 12:3 (last clause).

Calling Jesus truthfully Lord, is a matter so momentous that no man can do it unless the Holy Ghost has worked the miracle in his heart. Weymouth's translation reads: "No man is able to call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost."

The context shows that Paul has specifically in mind His Lordship of the distribution of the nine supernatural gifts which are outside the realm of saving grace. The Lord divides these "Severally as He wills." This is important to note because there are many who claim that all may have all the gifts. But all do not speak with tongues, all do not have the gift of healing, all do not have the gift of faith for working works of power outside the realm of salvation, as did Mueller, as evidenced in his care of thousands of orphans.

I recall one man who publicly boasted that he would have the gift of tongues in spite of the people who were trying to show him that it was not for all. He spent many nights in prayer, sold all and moved to California, where the Tongues' Movement is strong, and continued his seeking, yet never, to our knowledge did he speak in tongues. His wife, who did not seek this particular gift, broke out spontaneously, speaking in tongues. Thus God divides the gifts severally as, and to whom, He will. He is Lord of their distribution and we should not dictate to Him as to which gifts we will have.

As a parent, I know the appropriate gifts for my children; I would not present the boys with dolls, nor the girls with baseballs; neither would I give candy to one of the little girls if I knew it would hurt her, while I might give the other girls some, who could eat it without harm. Likewise, our Heavenly Father can be trusted to give to each child, the appropriate gift.

There is an undue magnifying of gifts. Let them have their proper place, and covet earnestly the best gifts, yet there is a more excellent way -- the way of love. Let us not be deceived by the thought that we are guarded from falling because of our gifts. The Adversary does not care so much about the gift, nor where it was received, nor the time, but he does fear who bestows the gift, He does fear the One who works in and through us; he fears when he sees Jesus!

Suppose that the writer has an enemy (a supposition not altogether improbable) who seeks to injure his loved ones, and that, thinking to out, wit him, he takes valuable presents for all and then leaves home with a sense of elation in the assurance that the enemy has been baffled by the gifts and cannot harm his dear ones. What folly! The enemy says: "Here is a fool; I am not afraid of all the presents in the universe he might leave his loved ones, but I have heard that he has a terrible punch in his right arm and a record for great physical strength. I am afraid of him."

Oh, beloved, see in this homely illustration the truth that God does not preserve us from our terrible foe by any, or all of the supernatural gifts which He may bestow upon us, He preserves us by Himself. "Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength."

Let us find the scriptural basis for the subject; in Luke 2:11 there is the angelic proclamation or annunciation of His Lordship the good tidings of great joy which shall be to all the people -- "For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." He is more than Saviour, He is also Lord. In our emphasis of His saving and sanctifying work, we have overlooked His relation to us as Lord. Every true case of salvation and sanctification implies submission to His Lordship, and yet it is a submission whose full content we may not know only as it is discovered in the Word of God. It is easy to say, "I am all the Lord's" in glittering generalities, but it is more difficult to be "all the Lord's" in specific enumerations. It is easier to say -- "Here am I, Lord, " than to follow it with the clause -- "Send me."

Our motives in seeking the benefits of the atonement need searching, lest they be found to be selfish. We seek pardon, purity, happiness, healing, heaven, rather than the One supremely worthy, and who is worthy of all for His own sake!

Unquestionably there is a looking to the Church for material benefit. A few examples: A merchant said that he found that it paid to belong to the Methodist church as the members patronized him because he was one of the flock. Another was eager for a mighty revival in her community, as her farm adjoined the church and she was eager to sell it at a handsome profit and the revival would gender interest in her farm!

Preaching in Boston, we invited a Jewish tailor to the services. "Oh, sure, I come to the service -- the pastor is my customer!"

Ofttimes the church is joined for social reasons and for the sake of reputation -- it is the proper thing to do; the best people of the community belong, -- so why not? And there are those who find it a fine place to exhibit their costumes, particularly their Easter toggery.

The writer is ashamed to tell it, but as a young man in a strange city, he sought out a church and joined it from mixed motives; he wanted to go to heaven, to go to hell would be disastrous, and he was anxious to remain in the most respectable society, ad infinitum. If there were no other sins, these selfish motives alone, would be sufficient to shut heaven against us.

Sometimes religious societies are joined for jobs, and beds and food. These are the loaves-and-fishes-followers; rice-Christians they are called in China; or perhaps by joining, is gained the good graces of some attractive young lady. Politicians are not unmindful of the benefits of Churchianity. God search and purify our motives in uniting with any church organization or movement. Praise God that so far as the true Church is concerned, we are assured that the Lord adds daily to the Church such as are being saved, and that it is upon the Rock Christ Jesus that He is building His Church, "and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."

Do we often seek our own, and not the things of Christ? Are we thrill-seekers-ecstasy hunters, living too much in our emotions? Let us remember that the joy set before Christ was secured through suffering -- His were the spiked hands, the spear-pierced side -- the thorn.crowned brow and anguished mind, and all for our sake, He never sought joy for His own sake.

To a large extent we ignore the sacrificial phase of Christianity, and are more familiar with the promises which tell of blessing and benefit, than we are with those passages which speak of suffering, submission and surrender. Precious Promise Testaments have a prodigious sale. Let us issue a red-letter Testament with marked passages which speak of fellowship with His sufferings.

In Matthew 2:6 we read: "Out of thee (Judah) shall come forth a Governor that shall rule my people Israel." The Rulership, Governorship, Lordship of His people Israel -- this was the purpose of His coming to them, but Israel as a nation rejected Him. Are we not committing the same sin, when we refuse Him as Lord of our individual lives, since, we find Paul saying to the Church in Romans 14:9 that the object of His death and resurrection was that He might be Lord?

We condemn the Jews for rejecting Christ as King and saying -- "We have no king but Caesar." "Away with Him -- let Him be crucified!" We need to heed lest we repeat their sin. It is true, as has been said, "We do not crown Him Lord at all, unless we crown Him Lord of all." He came as Prophet, Priest and King. We accept the Prophet Who forth-tells coming events, and the Priest Who intercedes for us at the Throne of Grace, but the idea of a King and His Rulership is often not so pleasant; it carries with it the thought of the levying of tribute, the call for sacrifice and service, and the leaving of home and loved ones to go forth to battle and often to death!

It is so much easier to hold theories of salvation, of sanctification and of victory, than to consent to the complete dethronement of self and the enthronement of Jesus as Lord. There are tens of thousands holding the theory of complete surrender who know no more of it experimentally and actually, than the Hottentot. The man who fully surrenders to Jesus as Lord, places no more value on anything he may possess, than its relation to the extension of the kingdom of heaven. To be as devoted to the Lord's interest as we are to our own, is to approximate the consecration outlined in the New Testament. When we more readily do for self than we do for Him, our love for and consecration to Him is questionable.

"But his citizens hated him and sent a message (an ambassage) after Him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us." -- Luke 19:14. To reign over us! It is literally true that the carnal mind is enmity against God -- it is enmity against the Lordship of Christ -- it does not oppose doctrine, or experience or emotion so much, but it is up in arms at the thought of self being dethroned and the enthronement of Jesus Christ.

A General delivers his country from the iron ring of foes; he is feted, honored, banqueted; the city is gaily decorated; speeches and eulogisms are forthcoming! The throne happens to be vacant and someone suggests that the great deliverer be made King, but there is a storm of protest. "He has done very well to rescue us from our foes, to save us from our enemies, but we will not have this man to be king over us."

How similar, often, is our attitude toward the Lord Jesus. We accept His death, His atonement, our deliverance from sin and our citizenship in heaven, our escape from hell, but when it comes to making Him Lord of all, we cry with the Jews -- "We will not have this man to reign over us. -- We have no king but -- self, money, pleasure."

"How often will a great part of the church lie cold and dead, till a revival commences! Then you will see them bustling about, and they get engaged, as they call it, in religion, and renew their efforts and multiply their prayers for a season; and this is what they call getting revived. But it is only the same kind of religion they had before. Such religion lasts no longer than the public excitement. As soon as the church as a whole, begins to diminish their efforts for the conversion of souls, these individuals relapse into their former worldliness and get as near to what they were before their supposed conversion, as their pride and fear of the church will let them. When a revival comes again, they renew the same round; and so they live along by spasms, over and over again, revived and backslidden, alternately as long as they live. The truth is that they were deluded at the first by a spurious conversion, in which selfishness was never broken down; and the more they multiply such kind of efforts the more sure they are to be lost.

"It is very common for such professors, after a sea. son of anxiety and self examination, to settle down on the old foundation. The reason is, their habits of mind have become fixed in that channel, and therefore, by the laws of the mind it is difficult to break into a new course. It is indispensable, therefore, if you ever mean to get right, that you should see clearly that you have hitherto been WHOLLY WRONG, so that you need not multiply any more the kind of efforts that have deceived you heretofore. Your selfish hearts were unbroken. This is the source of your delusion, if you are deceived. If your selfishness was subdued, you are not deceived in your hope. If it was not, all your religion is vain, and your hope is vain."

Here we have the thought vividly put that our motives in joining the church and seeking religion and religious experiences were selfish; that we thought of our own aggrandizement and good rather than the glory of God; the idea of submission to His Lordship did not dawn on our minds. Like the ten lepers we wanted and got the healing without thought of regulation by the Healer. The conscience of only one smote him and he returns to follow Jesus as Lord of His life. The distinction between His Saviourship and His Lordship is easily seen. One is drowning I throw to him the life line and rescue him. I am only his rescuer, his deliverer, his saviour, I am not his lord.

The exaltation of Christ's Lordship was the climax of Peter's Sermon on the Day of Pentecost.

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

"Now when they heard this they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and the rest of the apostles: Men and brethren, what shall we do?" Peter's answer telling them to repent and be baptized; his encouragement that the promise was to them and their children; his other words of exhortation and the sequel of three thousand souls added to the believers, followed by their steadfastness in doctrine, fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayers, their community of goods, their continued unity, their spirit of praise and influence over the people, are known to all. When we speak of definiteness in Pentecostal preaching, let us not overlook the acknowledgement of His Lordship as necessary to receiving the fulness of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:36.

There are heathen gods many and lords many but we never read that they are the life of their worshippers. Jesus is the Lord of life. He came that we might have more abundant life; we are to live because He lives; Christ who is our life; those who eat Him (by faith appropriate the merits of His atonement)shall live by Him. He is called the Prince of life.

"And killed the Prince of life whom God has raised from the dead." Acts 3:15.

"Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour; for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5:31. Prince and Saviour! As Saviour He saves and sanctifies us, as Prince He is Lord of those whom He saves, owning, ruling, regulating, directing, as He wills.

I might rescue one from drowning and he might appreciate it and thank me for the deliverance and then go out from my presence; or he might say that his appreciation for the rescue was so great that he wanted me to be the director of his life henceforth. Just so, we might appropriate the Lord's saving, rescue work, and yet not seriously think of submitting ourselves to His Lordship or Rulership. To try to be our own boss spiritually, is fatal, and is the spirit of the Lawless one.

This was the note Peter had been preaching to Cornelius' household when the Spirit fell on all them that believed: "The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (He is Lord of all) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judea" Acts. 10:36 "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the Word." -- Acts 19:44.

This should be the normal order of Gospel preaching in the power of the Holy Ghost, the hearers receiving deliverance during the ministration of the Word. "Receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to save your soul." The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. "He sent forth His Word and healed them." The writer is coming more and more to discard all other methods of doing God's work, save in ministering the "faithful Word." "We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word, " if practiced today by preachers, would solve every Church and spiritual difficulty, and many of the world's problems. "Thy Word is a light unto my feet and a light unto my path." The Lord worked with the disciples, confirming THE WORD with signs following! Note too that the knowledge of and assent to His Lordship, precedes the filling with the Holy Ghost.

"Ye are my witnesses that I am God" (Isaiah). We would not minimize any of His works but we are also to confess His Lordship as a condition of salvation: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (the Revised Version reads -- "Jesus as Lord") and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." -- Romans 10:9.

The greater includes the lesser and the whole includes the parts and the general includes the particular and the confession of Jesus as undisputed Lord includes all of His benefits: with Him all things are freely given. John Inskip saw this truth when seeking to be sanctified and finally entered in by the confession "I am, wholly and forever the Lord's;" that included all. The confession of the Lordship of Christ if not voluntarily given will ultimately be compelled from every tongue: "That at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father:" Philippians 2-10:11.

The Objective of His incarnation, birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension was that He might be Lord: This was the end He had in view: not merely to save us or sanctify us or heal us or any of the benefits He might confer upon us not to give us theories or institutions of ordinances, but that He might ascend the throne of our hearts and wield the scepter of power there bringing every thought and deed into captivity to His Sovereign will; that He might be Lord over us for our direction as well as our protection. Not arbitrarily but for our good: submission to His lordship involves our highest happiness and usefulness. This was the purpose of His coming. Christ is the End of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Once after preaching on the purpose of His coming, His Lordship, a dear old lady who magnified more what He did than what He was in His own Person wrote to us and expressed a wish that if we returned to that camp meeting another year we would preach the whole gospel. We were perplexed to know how one could preach beyond the Lordship of Jesus. See Romans 14:9.

A perplexed soul said to a preacher who had spoken on "The Lordship of Jesus, " "But where does sanctification come in?" The apt reply was "By making Him Lord." There is no Bible sanctification without assent to the Lordship of Christ before its reception and continuously for its retention. Sanctification is by the indwelling of God: "And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." Sanctification by the indwelling of a Person, the Lord God. Not a blessing though that is included, but God Himself sanctified in them as He said: "I will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Me and before all the people I will be glorified." The word heathen is nations, in the Revised Version, who hold God in reproach and derision. This will be God's way of removing the reproach of His brethren. What a revelation will come to the world of His Eternal power and God, Head when Christ shall be sanctified in His chosen people Israel. Of the Church it is said: "But of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us (that is Christ is made unto us) wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: now why? That, according as it is written, he that glorifieth, let him glory in the Lord." First Corinthians. 1-30:31. But we have been glorying in the benefits enumerated rather than in the Lord. One final passage: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts." First Peter 3:15. This is definite enough that sanctification is by the indwelling of the personal God by whose indwelling it is effected and by whose indwelling it is perpetuated, but the Revised Version is more vivid, linking sanctification with the Lordship of Christ: "But sanctify Christ in your hearts as Lord" and thus there is a basis for an ever ready testimony concerning our hope, for our hope is Christ in us, the hope of Glory.

Constant assent to the ever unfolding subject of the Lordship of Christ is also the objective for the growth of those who have sanctified Him in their hearts as Lord: "But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." He is Lord as well as Saviour.

All other ties of brotherhood among men are insufficient; ropes of sand which fail in the crucial testing time: "One is your Master even Christ and all ye (who submit to His Mastership) are brethren" with the brotherly helpful spirit serving each other according to capacity without any other impelling motive than His Mastership. "For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; (the Revised Version says as Lord), and ourselves your servants for Jesus sake." Second Corinthians 4:5. Our service to our fellowmen is an expression of our love to Jesus; in His Name, Equity in Wage: "Masters, give your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven." Pay according to your ability, as you would like to be paid. Give the seamstress, washer-woman, ditch-digger, and carpenter and house girl a living wage. People can not understand our theories but they can comprehend fair treatment. I think of one dear old man who was saved by fair pay for a little puttering job. As the tears unbidden gushed forth and he reached for the old tattered red bandanna handkerchief, he sobbed out in broken voice, "I tell you I have worked a good many years for men and nobody ever gave me anything before; I tell you brother, I believe you are a Christian." Before he died he sent us word that he was saved. What is the attitude towards the old and feeble and slow? We cannot afford to hire them? What saith the Scripture? "Ye that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak."

There is an annual custom in London where the Lord Mayor drives to different parts of the city and reads a proclamation about the bounds of the city limits, crying: "The bounds of the city limits of London extend to here." Moving about from section to section he repeats the same words. The limits of the Lord's authority over our lives need to be determined. His authority extends over all our lives and every department of them. We are often like the man who told his friend to make himself at home; to roam all over the house if he would. Taking the host at his word, he started on a tour of inspection, going to the kitchen first: but the scowl on the face of the cook told him plainly that no mere man was wanted there when she was preparing dinner. From thence he went into the drawing-room where the young lady of the house and her beau were sitting; one look from them was sufficient, Disappointed at the outcome, he returned to the library where the man of the house, also a man of letters, was busy preparing an essay. He spoke not a word and the friend was uncomfortably aware that his entrance was regarded as an intrusion. Is it not so in our wholesale invitations: to the Lord to come into our hearts? we surrender all; invite Him to make Himself at home; give Him the keys, tell Him we yield to Him our whole being; and when He takes us at our word it is not long before He notices the tell-tale wince as He probes the secret chambers of our hearts and is pained that our lips show the love our hearts do not contain; that we love in word and tongue and not in deed and truth.

"Ye are not your own; therefore glorify God in your bodies and spirits which are God's." The body is for the Lord. He has chosen it as a temple of the Holy Ghost; as the instrument through which to manifest the life of His Son; we must abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the spirit whatsoever we do whether we eat or drink we are to do all to the glory of God, eating only that kind and amount of food; and drinking that kind and amount of drink which does not harm the temple of the Holy Ghost; using all of its functions in moderation, avoiding excess. It takes a deep degree of consecration to hold all the powers of our bodies sacred to the Lordship of Jesus, a deeper degree than many suppose.

He is Lord of our minds: the realm of the thought life where Hie would cast down every high and lofty thought which would exalt itself against the knowledge of God; He commands the wicked to forsake his ways and the unrighteous man to forsake his thoughts and commands the sinner to cleanse his hands and the double minded man to purify his heart. Our thought life is the index of our characters: "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." The thought and look of lust as much need cleansing as the act of adultery. It is in the realm of the mind that Satan works as the god of this world, blinding the minds of those who obey not the gospel, vainly puffing up the fleshly mind in defiance of God, whom, when they know Him as God, they glorify Him not but worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever.

He is Lord of all our means: "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath he can not be my disciple." He is not Lord of a fractional one-tenth. "He is Lord of All." Acts 10:44. Everything is held subservient to His ownership. Whatsoever He saith unto us we do it. We keep not back even a part of the price. We give as He prospers us (First Corinthians 16:2): The earth is the Lord's not the landlord's; the cattle are His and unless we be cattle-thieves we do not place our brand on His cattle; the fowls of the heavens are His; the beasts of the field are His and the wealth in the earth; we consent to His ownership of all. And yet we do not live in fear of His ownership. He no more takes advantage of His surrendered children than the right parent would oppress submissive children. Whatever He demands is a joy. Those who refuse His Lordship of means are saving for the Man of Sin!

He is the Lord of our Talents and Sphere of Life Service: If He claims us for Missions we do not choose the law or business or the lecture platform or any profession; if evangelism afield, we will not settle down in the pastorate; if preaching we will not take the financial agency.

Christ is the Head of the Church as the husband is the head of the wife -- at least it used to be so with the old-fashioned woman. Times have changed and the modern woman aspires to be head of the state, the husband, home, and all else. But it is the reversal of God's order, who imposed submission to the husband on the part of the wife. Man is the type of Christ and woman the type of the Church; when she takes the lead, and usurps the headship, she is out of Divine order, and becomes the type of the Head, or Christ, of which, scripturally, man is the type. We speak here of believers. So far as the unsaved are concerned, the curse of the fall is still upon the woman in that her desire shall be to her husband and he shall rule over her. In this connection let us not overlook the admonition of the Scriptures -- "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself for it." Christ's love for the Church is a great, overwhelming love, unfathomable in its tender, watchful, loyalty.

One of the flagrant signs of the approaching end of the age is the fulfilling of the prophecy that in the last days women will usurp authority over the man. Surely, in the light of this prophecy alone, we see plainly that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

In connection with this subject we are reminded of the story of the man who drove up to a house and asked a wizened little man -- "How is everybody?" The little man piped back -- "Oh, she's alright."

Finally there is a fearful penalty for the rejection of Jesus as Lord.

"But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign (rule) over them, bring hither, and stay them before Me." Luke 19:27.