Confessing Jesus as Lord

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 1, 1987.

Sermon transcript

The first fifteen verses. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise.

Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

Let us pray together. Before You, our God, we bow. We know that Your Lordship is exerted over us, that we, with all proper humility and submission, might render unto You that obedience that is Yours. Encourage us, Father, by Your Word. May we push away from ourselves that which would stand between us and You. And, Lord, we pray that we might have that receptiveness, therefore, to accept from you all that you would say to us for our good, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

We have been talking about the titles of Christ understanding him in terms of his name and the names that he bears those titles which the Scriptures and the church have given to him. We have spoken about the name Jesus itself. We have talked about its significance on the background of our consideration of Old Testament the fact that the New Testament name, Jesus, is the equivalent to the Old Testament name, Joshua, and that those names mean salvation is of the Lord. We have also spoken about that title, Become Named. The title, Become Named, Christ itself, which means the Anointed One. Christ being the New Testament equivalent to the Old Testament title of Messiah.

This morning, we want to think about the most basic Christian confession of all. Not so much an acknowledgment of the significance of Jesus’ name, not even a consideration of what that title become name meant, the title name Christ. Rather, this morning, we want to consider Jesus as Lord.

It is believed by many that this simple confession was the basic confession, the most fundamental confession of the early church, and that this confession was reflected in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 3. You might recall that in that verse Paul says these words, Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed. And no one can say, and here comes the confession, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. It is this confession that stands at the heart of what Paul is saying in Romans 10, that ninth verse.

And I realize that that ninth verse is most likely a passage that you have memorized at one point or other in your Christian life, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. the focus then upon the confession that Jesus is Lord.

Nothing more basic than that. But what does it mean? What does it mean to call Jesus Lord? Or more pointedly, what does it mean for me to say, Jesus is my Lord? And we forget. the confrontation between Thomas and the Risen Christ there in John one and after the invitation by the Risen Christ, Thomas convicted it flies out my Lord and my God. The personal reference certainly unmistakable. So also for each of us. What does it mean for the church to say, Jesus is Lord? And what does it mean for you to say, Jesus is my Lord? So in understanding this title, we might think of the Greek word that We have translated the Lord from the New Testament.

That Greek word is Kyrios. You might be familiar with that word in another context. If you have listened to great works of music, if you’ve listened to Bach’s D Minor Mass, or if you have listened to some requiems, those Those pieces of music are filled full of references to the Lord under the title of the Kyrie or the Kyrie Eleison. Those words coming into the worship of the church from earliest time incorporated by the Roman Church in its liturgy and also used repeatedly in the mass. Kyrie eleison, the cross, the prayer, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

But understanding this word, Kyrios, takes us into a realm different from that which we considered when we took up the title name Christos, or Christ. For the title name Christ, Christos, took us into the religious realm and brought before us the anointing that took place so that someone may well be set aside for God, be set aside through ordination, through anointing. But we pass, as it were, from the religious realm in our consideration of the term Kyrios, We pass from the religious realm, per se, into the social, political, and economic realm, now taking up this title. The term kurios, the term war, arises from a social, political, economic background.

The root idea is that of a master. If we merely take stock of some of the parables of Jesus, we think of how he often speaks of a master who has servants, and he expects certain things from these servants, and he might go away into a far country, return, and when he returns, expect payment or obedience. or reception and welcome from his servants, the master-servant relationship, that being part of what lies at the root of the idea of the Lord. Politically, the idea is expanded from the domestic realm to the national or international realm. Politically, We must see the master then, we must see him in greater and more grandiose terms, not just simply having a household, but having a palace, not simply having servants and a parcel of ground, but a large expansive domain.

The Lord is King. He rules from his throne. He rules over his dominion, and all his subjects acknowledge his rule and reign, his authority. But in each instance, whether it is the domestic or the national, whether it’s master or king, the relationship between the Lord, the master, and those over whom he rules is precisely the same.

In each instance, that relationship can be described in no other way adequately than that of an owner to those and those things that he owns. Therefore, when we think of the term Lord, our mind ought to run immediately to consider the fact that to ascribe to Jesus Christ Lordship is to ascribe to him that position of owner and ownership and all that that entails. There is a beautiful example of this towards the end of Jesus’ life. It’s an event that occurs in each of the first three Gospels. You can read about it in Mark chapter eleven.

Jesus is approaching the city of Jerusalem, and he sends his disciples into a village to make requests, or I guess he doesn’t actually make requests, does he? He sends his disciples into a village to take a donkey for his use, and he gives them instruction if anyone interrupts, if anyone asks you a question as to what you are doing, you simply say, the Lord has need of it. Well, you see, what Jesus is doing in that instance is expounding for us the significance of his Lordship. Does he really own that donkey? Yes. The Lord has need of it. as if it were his sin. They go and take the donkey as if it belongs to Jesus.

His Lordship there beautifully expounded. Now you know me well enough to realize that I will ground all of this in the Old Testament. And that’s where a great deal of the power of it comes from. You see, the background of our ascription that Jesus is Lord comes to us from the Old Testament consideration of the person of God, Jehovah, in his treatment of his people, Israel. Yes, Jehovah is Lord.

He owns everything. All things are his possession. But you see, even though that is a fact, the earth is his, the heaven is his. Still, Jehovah becomes Lord in a special sense when he delivers is people from oppression. When the people have finally arrived at Sinai, the Lord rehearses for them there what has taken place, and he places before them the consideration. Yes, I own all things, but you have become my possession. You are a nation of three so royal priesthood of people of my own possession, he said in Exodus nineteen verse five.

So even though Jehovah is the Lord, he possesses all that he is created. He becomes Israel’s Lord in a special sense when he delivers his people from their oppressors. How wonderful this affirmation, this consideration is when we pair it up with our consideration of the person of Jesus. Jesus in the Gospels, even before he accomplishes his work of redemption, is acknowledged as Lord. He is recognized to be such. He is the one who owns everything. But he becomes his people lord in a special way when he accomplishes the work given him and his people by root of that work are delivered from all of their enemies from their oppressors. This is why you see when Peter preaches his sermon in Acts chapter two to the people in Jerusalem. He is able to conclude that message in the thirty-sixth verse with these words.

Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This Jesus, whom you crucify. So it is. Jesus, experiencing then that same pattern that we observed in Jehovah in the Old Testament. The one who possesses all things, he being God’s equal, the same as God, this one becomes Lord in a special sense when he is exalted and he puts to flight the enemy, the oppressors of God’s people.

Yes, when we consider the Lordship of Christ, and when we confess Jesus as Lord, we are acknowledging all of this. And how short-sighted, in fact, how sinful and how obstinate it is for those to arise who fail to see the parallel between the Old Testament consideration of Jehovah and what we observe in the person of Jesus. The match is perfect, so that all that is ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament is now ascribed to Jesus in the New. By saying that Jesus is Lord, we are saying Jesus is God. and as God and Lord my Lord and my God Jesus is my owner he owns me and I am his possession what a marvelous marvelous thing Do you need to consider that in depth, to think about it?

That we are the possession of God? That in our confession of Jesus as Lord, we are acknowledging that we belong to Him? What power is ours in this? Does not the power of the Lord who made all things come to our aid. Are we not strengthened with the might of the One who is greater than all, the One who by but a word creates everything, establishes what we see? More than power, what of comfort?

Jesus is my Lord. He is my owner. And how wonderful an owner he is. He is no cruel taskmaster. For he has delivered me from my oppressors, that I might delight as a servant in his house. And how wonderfully he cares for me. Is there any power? Is there any threat? that assails me that is beyond him? Can there be any power, any threat directed towards me that is greater and stronger than he? No. And now, what about me, empowered by this Lord, comforted by him? What of me?

Am I not, as Paul describes himself, a bond slave? A bond slave to him. He owns me. I am his possession. His will, mine. I have no life but that which I find in his house and before his throne. Jesus is Lord, my Lord and my God. Jesus is your Lord, your Lord and your God. You belong to Him. You are His bond slaves.

In light of all of this, we live as those who give praise unto Him and acknowledge His Lordship in all that we do, in all that we say, in all that we are. Let us pray. Father, discipline us with the knowledge that you are the Lord, as we have confessed. And Father, may we be mindful of the pattern of Lordship, that though all things are yours, you also become the Lord over your people by those things which you accomplish for them. breaking the chains of oppression, setting them free from the powers of sin and death, that truly they might be free indeed. Our God, now we, your bondservants, would serve you, acknowledging your ownership of us as we delight in pleasing you, our God.

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