Jesus Is Lord?

This “stay-at-home” order has me out of my normal groove… So here I am at my home office and I went to look for some notes (that are probably at the church office) and stumbled across some notes I took while listening to another preacher give a sermon at Cherry Run Camp Meeting back in 2016. John Oswalt is one of my favorite preachers to listen to… He is an actual Bible scholar and helped to translate the Old Testament in both the New International Version (NIV) and years later, the New Living Translation (NLT). I love hearing him preach!

Back to today… I came across my notes that I had jotted down while listening that summer day almost four years ago. Based on 1 Corinthians 12:1-3, I’m going to give you a rundown of what the Lord was speaking to me this morning through those notes from then.

FIRST CORINTHIANS 12:1-3

¹ “Now, dear brothers and sisters, regarding your question about the special abilities the Spirit gives us. I don’t want you to misunderstand this. ² You know that when you were still pagans, you were led astray and swept along in worshiping speechless idols. ³ So I want you to know that no one speaking by the Spirit of God will curse Jesus, and no one can say Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit.” –NLT

Picking up on that verse three phrase “… Jesus is Lord …” Oswalt explained that anyone of the Jewish background, whether in the city of Corinth or somewhere else in the Roman Empire, were inheritors of the tradition that came down from Moses himself (based on Exodus 3) where the name of God, in transcribed Hebrew, was “YHWH.” This was God’s personal name, and the English translation says it meant “I am that I am” (or “I was that I was” or “I will be that I will be” … there is no tense with God’s name… that’s why we so often in Christian liturgy talk about the God who “was and is and is to come”).

Oswalt explained that every time a good, faithful Jew of Jesus’ day wen to read that passage, or any passage with the “YHWH” they IMMEDIATELY said “LORD” instead… to ensure they never “took the name of the Lord in vain.”

So when we read about people like these Corinthians saying “Jesus is Lord” it truly freaks out the faithful Jews! Because the phrase “Jesus is Lord” is equal to saying “Jesus is God!!!!”

That piece of explanation helps explain why “Jesus is Lord” was such a bombshell in Bible times… but it also presents a new thing for us in our day and age to be thinking and praying about: If Jesus IS our Lord (and God!), then shouldn’t that mean He is Lord of all of our life?

I don’t remember how he preached this next section, but in my notes, I made a table of sorts…

If Jesus IS our Lord, then He should also be Lord of…

• OUR LIPS – Is He Lord of all that comes from our mouths? If so, there should be no foulness or filth or cruelty coming through our lips.
• OUR BODIES – Do our actions show that He is Lord of our bodies? Our sexuality? Our modesty? Our eating? The fitness of our body?
• OUR ENTERTAINMENT – Does our watching, listening, and reading show that He is Lord of what entertains us? Murders, destruction, hatred, immorality, sexual fornication… What is the focus of our TV? Our movies? Our books? Our music? Our video games? Our online time?
• OUR HOME – If He is Lord of our home, then there should be godly behavior even between family members. Gratitude, respect, kindness, patience, our conversations, …
• OUR BUSINESS – Is He Lord of our money? Is our business and work known by the godly behaviors Jesus taught such as integrity, compassion, and stewardship?
• OUR PLANS – We used to use the Latin phrase “D.V.” or “Deo volente” when talking about the future. That phrase means “God willing…” A recognition that we need to set our priorities after learning what God’s priorities are. Nowadays, in our families, our businesses, and even in our churches, we too often set our plans and then ask God to bless them.
• OUR FEARS – If He IS our Lord, then we go to Him when faced with the fear of what could happen or the fear of our loss of control, our health, or even world events…

As we continue to walk through (or stay-at-home through) these troubling times of fear and worry, ARE WE STILL DEMONSTRATING THAT JESUS IS LORD?