The Lordship Of Jesus
The Lordship of Jesus
John 15: 14: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
There have been soldiers who have gone forward into battle under orders with such fear
that they would not have gone, unless they had been ordered.
All of us need an authority.
The freer we are, the greater the need for discipline.
The discovery of an authority that is not tyrannical is an authority that can and must make
righteous commands.
An authority that can issue benevolent promises with ability and the will to fulfill them is one
of the greatest needs of our world.
That authority may be discovered in Jesus Christ!
The Lordship of Jesus is an introduction to His friendship.
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
We discover the Lordship Jesus in simple choices.
Simple choices are placed in our minds by our parents, society, the church, with Jesus
standing on one side.
Do you not see this as an indication of the dominance of Christ that He has so influenced
the common life that we can feel His demand?
Simple choices are made all through life which lead to an experience of His Lordship.
Joseph Addington Richards said:
"One day there passed along the silent shore,
While I my net was casting in the sea
A Man, who spoke as never man before;
I followed Him – new life began in me.
Mine was the boat
But His voice
And His the call,
Yet mine the choice."
We discover the Lordship of Jesus in critical choices.
We think of such a choice as that of vocation.
The word, "vocation," comes from the Latin root, voco, "I call."
It suggests that a person making his daily work and answer to a word previously spoken by God Himself.
The Old Testament is so eloquent as its leading characters are reviewed.
Notice those who made their career and answer to God, and by that discovered His Lordship
in a deep and fundamental way.
There were those such as Abraham, Gideon, Samuel, Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Amos.
In critical choices acknowledging the Lordship of Christ many outstanding careers have been put aside.
-
Albert Schweitzer gave up the careers of scholar and physician to become a missionary doctor
in equatorial Africa.
He chose to be under the Lordship Christ in one location by laying aside another.
- Robertson of Brighton could not be both soldier and minister.
He laid aside being a soldier and became a minister.
Another critical choice comes when a loved one dies and Christ stands by the bereaved person
waiting for a choice between bitterness and the resolve to transmute the bereavement
into something noble and useful.
We discover the Lordship Jesus by persistent choices.
Of course, we cannot go through life weighing every occasion and event.
We often make what becomes a persistent choice by the acceptance of a principle of life.
A woman said of her husband, "You know Al's been superintendent of the Sunday school for 37 years,
and he's been clerk of the City School Board for 38."
His pastor thought to himself, "There stood Al. I had never realized his bigness until then.
He had achieved little by little, by persistently choosing the only kind of greatness that was
possible for him to achieve.
He would never have held a high position in state government, but by persistently choosing
the place of quiet service, he had found the Lordship Christ, and Christ had highly exalted him."
A principle is no substitute for the Person.
But accepting a principle, often leads a person to acknowledge Him and accept His authority.
"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
This is what Joshua said, and many others have said it since.
Something was done, once and for all, as Joshua asserted his decision.
By the principle of honesty, "swearing to one's own hurt and changing not,"
men have discovered the mastery of Christ.
By the acceptance of the principle of stewardship, many have made Christ dominant in their lives.
The principles of benevolence, purity, and temperance have opened doors into inner rooms
where people have learned to know the Master.
At a testimony meeting in Keswick a man gave his testimony that blessed everyone.
He stood up to say that he had been greatly blessed during the meetings.
He was asked, "What can you say about your blessings?"
"Well," he replied, "I can say this: I was a Christian before I came to Keswick.
Christ was my King, but I am afraid He was a constitutional sovereign and I was prime minister.
Now He is absolute Lord, and that has made the difference in my life and blessed me more
than I could ever express."
That makes all the difference in the world!
Make Jesus King!
Crown Him Lord of all, and you will know the liberty of the glory of the sons of God.
Sermon by Dr. Harold L. White
