23.1 Jesus as Lord
© 2016 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). – As You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give life eonian to as many as You have given Him (John 17:2). I know of few statements in the Bible less believed by Christians than these statements of Jesus.
And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:22). There is NO battle between light and darkness; there is NO contest for souls; there is NO question of “making Jesus Lord.” But if Jesus IS Lord, what kind of a Lord is He?
Servant of All
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:25-28).
In the Kingdom of God, the Lord is the Servant of all.
Upholding all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). – Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (Isaiah 53:4a). – According to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21b).
ALL Authority
Let’s list the assertions God makes in these verses.
1. Jesus possesses ALL authority over ALL persons and things in ALL heaven/earth right now.
2. Jesus possesses ALL authority over ALL flesh right now.
3. Jesus GIVES (absolutely) life eonian to ALL whom the Father has given Him.
4. Jesus IS Head over ALL things to the church, His body.
5. The Body of Christ is the fullness of all that Jesus IS, a Jesus who is ALL in ALL.
6. Jesus sustains all created things every moment by the Words that He speaks.
The King of All
7. Jesus subdues ALL things to Himself by a particular type of working (energia).
8. The authority and lordship exercised in this world is 100% upside down (not opposite, but upside down) to the authority and Lordship of Jesus.
9. Jesus, the King of all right now, is the Servant of all.
10. Jesus, the Head of His entire body right now, bears the sorrows and griefs of each individual one.
All interpretation we have ever heard of the authority of Jesus in this present age defined that authority by the definitions of earthly power and rule. And that is why most Christians are convinced absolutely that Jesus cannot be Lord.
What Is a Reigning Lord?
Look across the earth right now – and try not to vomit. Look across the church right now – and try not to weep. Every human indicator, based on the definition of “lordship” as “command and control,” says that Jesus is NOT Lord.
Yet God says He IS. Thus we must ask ourselves this question. Is a Reigning Lord an entirely different entity than the church has defined Him? What Is a Reigning Lord? If Jesus is Lord by His speaking commands external to us and our prompt obedience of those commands, then He is NOT and never has been Lord in all the history of the church.
The Fullness of Jesus
But then look at this claim of Paul in Ephesians 1. The church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. You and I, walking this earth together as Jesus’ physical body, ARE the fullness of Jesus, a Jesus who fills ALL parts of ALL who belong to Him with ALL that He is.
Jesus IS Lord; it’s time that we be convinced that He is. Those who are convinced that Jesus IS Lord are turned completely around. No thought of “going into” God or Jesus “coming someday” exists in their minds. Rather, every moment of their lives is now Jesus through them, revealing Himself as the Servant of all creation. They ARE the travail of God.
No “Control”
But what Jesus does not do is command and control. Human government consists entirely of dictating rules and then punishing with some kind of pain all those who disagree. God cannot do such a thing because God cannot sin. Yet most of our brethren are convinced that God sins in this manner forever, and thus they define the kingdom of God by the kingdoms of men. The working by which Jesus subdues all things to Himself is something entirely different. God does NOT “control” anyone or anything, but God, together with us, turns all actions intended for evil and makes them into the result of goodness.
Pro-Thesis
There is thus only one possible conclusion to which we must arrive. All things are set by the Pro-Thesis of God. God, having set forth His purpose, to be seen and known by all through a many-membered Christ, then causes all things to work towards the fulfillment of that Purpose.
Although God in no way ordains or “needs” human sin to accomplish His purposes, yet the sin of man is inevitable because of the nature and being of God. First, God makes man just like Himself, with all boldness and daring of heart, and then God cannot sin against His image by forcing Himself upon any human being.
A Carrying Father
As a father, I am the same as God. I see the fierce independence in my children, which they received from me, and I rejoice, for I know that no religious con-man will win control over them. Yet I am completely unable to force my own wisdom regarding life in this world upon them. Thus I must “rule” as my Father in heaven rules. I carry their griefs, and I bear their sorrows.
I carry my children upon the Mercy Seat of my heart, Jesus as Lord, all the way through death and into life. I lay down my life for them.
Father’s Heart
Sin or no sin is never the issue. Never. There is one issue only in all the universe – the revelation of Father’s heart. And that happens by Jesus proving all things that God speaks faithful and true.
The responsibility of ALL Salvation lies entirely upon Jesus’ shoulders. And He fulfills all authority by the Word that He speaks, entering into faith in the hearts of His own ones, entering into weakness, and there BELIEVED in the face of all opposition. Jesus IS Lord by every Word God speaks, and Jesus IS Lord through us.
The Centrality of Word
Upholding all things by the word of His power (Hebrews 1:3). The entire universe, both heaven and earth, is constructed entirely by words, and words maintain the existence of all things every moment.
There is in the minds of many an opposition of some sort between Word and Spirit. That idea is supreme foolishness. In writing about What Is God, I was challenged with the claim that God is known by Spirit, not Word. This impossible contradiction is formed as a reaction against those who claim that God is known only by Word with no knowledge of Spirit.
Word and Spirit Together
Anytime we see Spirit without Word or Word without Spirit, we know we are seeing something that God cannot be. Yet in the constant togetherness of Word and Spirit, we know this. Word always leads and Spirit always follows. Yet Spirit always goes before Word, to prepare hearts to receive it, and Spirit always follows after Word, to confirm and to establish that Word.
I have no regard for any placing of Spirit above Word, including and especially the words on the pages of the Bible. Those words in your Bible are not there for idle minds, but for the Holy Spirit to use to birth Christ in you. Spirit without Words or Spirit without Jesus cannot be Christ.
Words Rule
Here is what we MUST contend with. Words RULE. Jesus is speaking the words of His Father into us every moment of our lives and we live ONLY by those words.
The Word of His power. Power is very popular. So many are seeking it, power from on high. Yet, because they seek power in the wrong place, that is, from a “heaven” that is separate from their present selves, they miss-define “power” completely. They see it as power to CHANGE things, instead of power to be what we ALREADY are, the image and revelation of God.
There is no power outside of all three always together, Personal Spirit Word – His name is Jesus and He IS Lord.
Speak Christ
And if God-Is, then the desire to “change” things is a desire for not-God.
Please don’t think I’m saying we do not desire to bless and uplift other people or expect God to arise in all abundance; the dividing line is in the definition of the word, “change.” Most desire for “change” is the rebellion of Adam, hating what it means to be like God, convinced that Jesus is NOT Lord.
I find that I am taking you to a very specific place, a place to which I have brought my readers so many times. Speak Christ, put the “I am” of Jesus into your own mouth as your own story. “Word of Power” means nothing except His words be our only story.
Acknowledgement
That the sharing (fellowship) of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus (Philemon 1:6). To acknowledge is to take ownership. Silent agreement is not enough. You must speak with your own voice box. You must put Jesus, Personal Spirit Word, into your own mouth, that He might become, as Words and by Spirit, your entire human consciousness.
Put ON the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus can speak you out from Himself all He wants, but you cannot know it unless you yourself, with all the willingness of your heart, speak Christ as your only life.
Loaf-Giver
The English word, “Lord,” is from the Danish and means the loaf-giver. A Viking Lord provided food and wealth and protection to all those who gave him their loyalty. Jesus is Lord in a similar way. We have given Him our hearts in which He lives as our bread-giver, our Life-Giver.
Jesus is Lord by Word. Jesus is Lord as a Personal Spirit Word inside our hearts. Thus, we begin with Word, whether the core verses of the Covenant or words of right-living, which also describe Jesus.
That you might be filled with all the fullness of God. There the words sit, quietly on the page, not believed by most, words that ARE Jesus AS Lord.
Putting on the Old Man
You see, Augustine has already instructed all Christians exactly what to do with such a word, and all Christians obey. Augustine said that we are to measure that word, not by Christ, but by ourselves, as if Jesus’ authority as Lord is not absolute. We are to inspect ourselves (not Christ), and if we find anything in ourselves that can’t be God, then we are to leave that word alone, except as something we might wish for, and as something by which we reinforce a hatred of ourselves. Augustine taught all Christianity that if you entertain an evil thought in your mind, that is evidence that you cannot be filled with God, but rather, proof that you remain entirely IN evil.
Using Word to hate one’s self is putting on the old man.
Filled with All of God
So, to approach this word on the page of your Bible AS the LORD Jesus as your entire Life-Giver is to steal that word away from Augustine against the face of the entire church. And that can be a pretty scary thing to do. But let’s do it anyway. And let’s use Jesus’ instructions in order to do an end-run around Augustine (and all our brethren).
That you might be filled with all the fullness of God. First let’s pray this prayer; pray it out loud, if you would. Father, You say that I should be filled with all of Your fullness. I ask that You be all that You are entirely inside of me. In obedience to Jesus, I believe that I have what I ask. Therefore, I know that You fill me full in Person with ALL of Your fullness.
Speak to Father
Then speak, out loud, “I am filled with all the fullness of God.” Speak it because it is true, speak it until you KNOW that it is true, and then keep on speaking it, keep on EATING the Loaf. I am speaking of the Word of His Power, of Jesus AS Lord.
I speak this line to my Father in me and to myself; I speak it to my own heart all the time. Whenever I feel whatever, I look inside my heart and remind myself that You, Father, fill me full with all that You are. I can know such a thing only by the continuous miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. BUT, it is real to me only because I know that Jesus, my Life and my Lord, is Personal, real, and entirely Human, just like me.
We Know a Man
I never tire of telling Father in me that He fills me with all that He is. I never tire of reminding myself that Jesus, my life, is this LORD who carries me regardless of all my woeful lack, and upon whose breast I am always leaning my head. I am talking about the Sustaining Word of Power, about Jesus as Loaf-Giver.
You see, we can’t know God as “Spirit” alone, not really. It is a Man who lives in our hearts by the Spirit, and it is that Man who, as Lord, forms us every moment by Words. Because we know a Man who carries all that we are by every word that He speaks, we know that Jesus IS our Life.
Jesus is Lord, that is, Servant of all, through us.