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Is Jesus Lord? (1 Corinthians 12:3)
From earliest times the Christian Church, in its practices
and worship as well as in its witness and defence before the world, has
expressed her faith in creeds and formulae that encapsulate essential,
non-negotiable truths. The most fundamental of these is the simple yet
profound statement, "Jesus is Lord." John the Baptist referred to Jesus
in this way when he said:
I am the voice of one calling in the desert, 'Make
straight the way for the Lord (Jn.1:23)
Jesus said of himself, the Son of Man is
Lord of the Sabbath (Mt.12:8)
When Peter stood and preached at Pentecost he declared:
Let all Israel be assured of this: God
has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36)
The apostle Paul reminded the Christians in Rome that true confession
of Jesus as Lord is the very key and portal of salvation:
If you confess with your mouth, "Jesus
is Lord", and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved (Ro.10:9)
And as Christians stood arraigned before magistrates and governors challenged
to declare and attest to their loyalties their reply was invariably, "Jesus
is Lord", indicating that the Christ who bought them with his blood and
not any prelate, king, or emperor had their first allegiance. Whatever
the world and its powers demanded of them they tested against the demands
of their Lord, Jesus and when conflicts ensued it was Jesus they obeyed.
When Peter and john stood before the Sanhedrin charged to stop preaching
Christ:
Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves
whether it is right in God' sight to obey you rather than God. For we
cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20)
This is not to say that Christians should look for confrontation and controversy,
for the Bible teaches:
Make every effort to live at peace with
all men and to be holy (Heb.12:14)
But when men tempt and urge us to sin against the Lord who saved us we
must, with Peter, John and all true Christians confess, "Jesus is Lord"
and that our decisions, thoughts, conversation and conduct are subject
to him alone.
Is Jesus Lord?
It was disturbing therefore to read recently that the House of Deputies
of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church (the Anglican Church
in America) has now refused to affirm Jesus Christ as Lord. The excuse
of the liberal denomination is that they have done it in the past and
so there is no need to do it again. The article from VirtueOnline
reports:
The Rev. McDowell of the Diocese of North Carolina
told VirtueOnline after the floor vote, "In the Episcopal Church we don't
do up and down votes on Jesus Christ as Lord, and to do so is potentially
a mean-spirited approach, to ask questions that aren't meant to be questions."
McDowell explained that how one lives his life is the more important issue
than whether one affirms Jesus as Lord. To place a statement of belief
over actions is the essence of "self-righteousness," he said. "Actions
speak louder than proclamations...What Jesus calls us to do is to live
our lives." But, of course, this puts the Episcopalian Church in the position
of tacitly agreeing with the worldly view that a Christian is a 'good
person' rather than a sinner who trusts in Jesus Christ as Saviour. The
report goes on to say:
But the message was clear to the Rev. Donald
Perschall, rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Centralia, Illinois,
as he left the convention hall Tuesday, shocked by the events of the day.
"On top of leaving the Anglican Communion, we've decided to leave Jesus
Christ behind as well."
Dr. Michael Howell of the Diocese of Southwestern Florida is quoted:
"If we cannot affirm the unique salvific power
of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we are no longer a Christian church."
Switching to a sarcastic tone, Howell declared, "We have no need for a
Creed. Why do again what we did in the past?"
I understand what he means. It's
a bit like telling your wife that of course you love her, you told her
on your wedding day and don't need to say it again. In fact, if you applied
the same reasoning to marriage vows that the Episcopalians have now applied
to issue of Jesus' Lordship our marriage partners might be forgiven for
thinking that we were playing around. And of course the Episcopalian Church
is playing around, denying the Lordship of Jesus in their pursuit of a
liberal agenda, and presenting an 'apologetic' for their policies that
speaks of 'equality', 'felt needs', 'progress', and failing to cite Scripture,
or mention Jesus. No wonder they "Don't want this man for our king"!
We shouldn't be surprised, when a church's starting point is 'my lifestyle,
my philosophy', that that church departs from Scripture, truth and Jesus
Christ. Yet it is no less shocking for all that and we need to pray for
the greater traditional Anglican Communion that seems determined to hold
fast to Scripture and all it teaches.
But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly in introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Soveregin Lord who bought them - bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping...The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgement, while continuing their punishment. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority (2 Peter 2:1-10)
Of course, Spurgeon once famously said:
You can sin in company, you can go to hell
in company, but you will face judgement alone
It will be no good standing before the judgement seat of God and excusing
your denying him on the decisions made in the councils of your denomination,
or passed on to you by your leaders. It is true that leaders are doubly
accountable for what they teach but that does not absolve us of responsibility.
Each one of us will be help to account for our lives and our loyalties.
Do you examine and test yourself to see whether you are in the faith
regardless of how councils vote?