How many times have we (as Christ followers) said “Lord” or “Lord Jesus”?  Or the ever popular “Jesus is Lord”?  The problem is that we say it, but we don’t really understand it, and too much of the time we certainly don’t live it.  Paul said that he was a “slave” to the Lord.  A slave.  Meaning, Christ was Lord, Paul was a slave.  No questions, no misunderstanding the hierarchy.  And when the Lord said “go”, Paul went.  Even when it cost him, even when he was beaten and left for dead, even when he know he was going to die.  Because a slave simply obeys.  A slave doesn’t have the right to ask questions.  A slave doesn’t own anything.  Everything a slave has is wrapped up in his master.

Which is exactly what Christ asks of his followers.  When Christ spoke, he didn’t sugar coat the commitment.  He said, it will cost you everything, you must love me so much more than anyone else, you will suffer, you have a mission to go and make disciples, and many other words that fall well short of encouragement.  Christ wanted to be very clear, if you love me, you will obey me.  If you chose Me, then I am Lord and you follow.

So in our own wisdom, we have watered down Christ’s words, and instead of Him being Lord, he our Trusted Advisor.  When Christ is our Trusted Advisor, we get to claim a close relationship with Him, we ensure an association as a follower, and yet, we still retain the ultimate decision making ability.  So we can decide that tithing is a priority only after paying all the bills, we can decide that we should keep the impressive job that is killing our family, and of course, we retain the right to expect life to be the way we want it.  We retain the right to tell the Trusted Advisor no, because He’s just the advisor, we are the ultimate decision maker.  It seems like such a great set up, when we get in trouble, we go to our advisor for help, and of course we expect him to bail us out.  And when life is good, well, that’s the way we expect it to be, and we’ll check in with our advisor when we get around to it.

Here’s the problem.  Christ as Trusted Advisor doesn’t work.  Christ has made it clear that He is the only way, and His authority is the ultimate authority.  One day there will be “many” people who Christ turns away from heaven saying “depart from Me, I never knew you”.  And these “many” people will be stunned and talk about all the work they did for Christ.  And none of it matters because unless the work is done under His direction, it’s in vain.  When we work as anything other than a slave, when we retain the right to make decisions, choose priorities, and be our own boss, all the good works in the world will be burned up on that day.  Only those who willingly give up everything, only those who willingly give up their rights, only those who willingly give up ownership of self, will be welcomed into heaven.  Only those who make no demands on how life is supposed to be will end up winning the prize.  Hard words, and not words we often hear in today’s church.

Grace and peace