God Doesn’t Share His Lordship

Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. – Matthew 26:49

Today’s devotional is shorter, but I loved the story at the beginning which sets us up for what follows. (There’s an artist’s depiction of the event if you click on the title which follows.)

Last year at this time we introduced you to Hope who writes at Patiently Hopeful. Clicking the individual post titles like the one below sends the writers traffic, which in turn sends encouragement.

Crowning Himself King

“As the pope approached Napoleon with the crown, Napoleon took the crown and placed it on his own head. Napoleon did not want to answer to anyone.” Ray Notgrass, Exploring World History part 2, 2014, p. 580

He crowned himself king.

As arrogant as this action speaks to us of the pride of Napoleon, we dare not pass it off as merely one man’s error.

For arrogance is simply the offspring of self being allowed to rule within one’s heart.

We might fool ourselves or others, as to the extent we allow self to rule.

But God is never fooled.

Not only is He always aware of the complete standing of one’s heart, He is also seeking to teach us what is there as well.

Our teachability comes from who sits upon the throne of our heart.

“While Judas called Jesus ‘Rabbi’ (Matt. 26:49), there is no record that he used the term ‘Lord’. It has always been possible to claim allegiance to God without ever handling over the soul’s title deed…How many attend church regularly and give Jesus intellectual assent, but not their hearts? How many call Him King, only to assume their own thrones?” – Charles Stanley, The Life Principles Bible, Nelson Bibles, 2005, page 1257

Have I crowned myself king?

Or do I allow God to rule my heart?

The Lord knows the truth and we should be honest within ourselves as to that truth as well.

Because God doesn’t share lordship.

Either we grant Him the place He deserves our we don’t, it’s never a partial thing.

Luke 16:13 KJV — No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

“That faith alone is true which rests on God alone, that confidence which relies but partly on the Lord is vain confidence.” C. H. Spurgeon

Dear Lord Jesus,

Thank You for Your faithfulness. Thank You for Your Word. Lord, please continue to show me my heart and the motivations there. Lord, I want You to rule and reign. I want my life to bring You glory. I want my actions, attitudes, and words to be honorable before You. Lord, I know You have everything in Your hands. Your ways are perfect and blessing comes from You. Please continue to teach me how to walk in today letting You be King, for You are the King of all kings. I love You, Jesus. Amen.

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Second Helping:

In another piece of writing, Hope weaved together some scripture passages concerning the arrest of Jesus. It contained this quotation from David Guzik for your consideration:

“A sinless Man in an appointed garden was about to do battle with Satan’s representative (Luke 22:3). The first time this happened, the sinless man failed. The Second Adam would not fail.”

Click to read, When Surrender Was Victory.

Jesus Doesn’t Want to Be In Your Top 5, He Wants Top Spot

Back in May, 2021, as part of a double-feature, we introduced you to Kevin Carson, a pastor in Ozark, Missouri. This devotional isn’t long, but it’s a call for self-examination that’s vital for each of us. Even the title should give us pause for thought. To read this where it first appeared, click the title which follows.

Significant or Preeminent? Incredible Question!

Last night at the annual September meeting of the Baptist Bible Fellowship International, Timothy Ateek made a statement that made me stop and ponder. He basically asked the question, Is Jesus Christ significant or preeminent in your life? I would suggest this is an incredible question! Today, take just a moment to think through it with me.

Significant or Preeminent?

The Apostle Paul uses this language in Colossians. Speaking of Jesus, Paul writes,

And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence (Colossians 1:18).

In this text, the Apostle Paul writes all about Jesus. Paul describes Him as the Eternal, Creator, Savior Jesus Christ to Whom we owe everything. The greater passage is beautifully written and helps lift our hearts in worship to Him (read Colossians 1:9-23).

In this context, Paul mentions that in all things Jesus may have the preeminence. What does this mean?

Preeminence

Preeminence is a high dollar word. Most of us do not use this term every day. In fact, you may have a hard time even defining it at first. What is Paul talking about when he describes the preeminence of Jesus Christ?

Essentially, Jesus Christ having preeminence means that Jesus is superior to everyone and everything.

Of course, in God’s plan and in God’s perspective, Jesus is completely preeminent. God knows exactly the place of Jesus in eternity past and eternity future. Ultimately, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Yet future, the certainty of this event is sure. All of creation past and present will know and understand that Jesus is superior to everyone and everything. Related to God, Jesus stands as the preeminent One of all creation.

What about You? Preeminent or Merely Significant?

The question remains. What about you? In your life, is Jesus preeminent? Is Jesus superior to everyone and everything? Or, in your life, is Jesus merely significant? (Let’s be honest, for some of us who engage this article, Jesus occupying the role of significant in life would be an upgrade.)

Jesus as significant means that Jesus occupies an important part of your life. You may go to church, pray, let people know that you follow Jesus, allow Jesus’ priorities to influence yours, and give money to your church. All of these things are “good” things. However, Jesus as preeminent in your life is much different than Jesus merely as significant.

What does it mean then for Jesus to be preeminent in your life? It means that loving, following, and honoring Jesus Christ rules your life. You love Jesus supremely. All of your life flows out of your relationship with Him. As you interact with your world, you interact with it through your worship of Jesus. He is your everything. In fact, you could think of it this way… As you enjoy your world immensely and interact with your world thoroughly, you do so through Jesus. The people in your life, things in your life, and nature around you all pop because of your walk with Jesus. Colors are brighter. Deep breaths are fresher. Significant relationship are sweeter. Significant events are fuller.

Why? Because you engage your life in and through Jesus Christ. When Jesus is superior to everyone and everything, then you enjoy everyone and everything from the absolute best perspective. Yes, people, things, and events remain significant and emotionally impact us – sometimes incredibly so. However, you engage all those people, things, and events through your walk with Jesus Christ. Everything fits under the blessing of walking with our Savior, seeking to recognize His preeminence in our lives as it is already in heaven.

Leadership Videos from Verge Network

Many of you are involved in leadership in your local assemblies. Have you ever had experiences in ministry which seem to take away all your joy?  Sometimes the enemy of our souls has ways of creating intense frustration and discouragement.  Francis Chan looks at this at one of a number of videos at Verge Network’s YouTube channel.

Matthew 7:21 (NLT)

²¹ “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

Here’s another message from the same channel. David Platt looks at the variety of beliefs — some of them somewhat wacky — belonging to people who identify as Christians. Can they really be Christ followers? I know some of you don’t have internet connections which allow you to watch videos, so some of the text is printed below.

David Platt says,

“We live in a day where is means almost nothing to be a Christian. According to research almost 4 out of every 5 Americans identify themselves as Christians…But in this group of self proclaimed Christians, less than half of them are involved in church on a weekly basis. Less than half of them believe the Bible is true. An overwhelming majority of them don’t have a biblical view of the world around them. So researchers went even deeper then to distinguish men and women who are ‘born again Christians,’ as if there’s any other kind of Christian. But these are people who say they’ve made a personal commitment to Jesus, they believe they’ll go to heaven, because they’ve accepted Jesus as their savior. And according to research nearly half of Americans are ‘born again Christians.’

But you look at this group of ‘born again Christians’ and researchers found that their beliefs and lifestyles and virtually indistinguishable from the world around them. Many ‘born again Christians’ believe their works can earn them a place in heaven. Others think that Christians and Muslims worship the same god. Some believe that Jesus sinned while He was on Earth. And an ever increasing number of ‘born again Christians’ just describe themselves as marginally committed to Jesus. So people you can use data like this to conclude that Christians are really not that different from the rest of the world. But I don’t think that interpretation of that research is accurate. I think the one thing that’s abundantly clear from those statistics is that there are a whole lot of people in our country who think that they are Christians, but they are not. There are scores of people—here and around the world who culturally distinguish themselves as Christians and biblically are not followers of Christ.”

Slave: A Bible Word Study

Lots of text today, but you need to click through to read it. This is from the blog of Clay Gentry where it appeared under the title Slave: The Christian’s Identity in Christ. Note the difference between the way the word was understood then as compared with today.

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I recently presented a lesson to a small group on the slave metaphor used in the New Testament that describes Christians as Slaves of Christ. Below is my PowerPoint outline from that presentation. I did not intend for this to be an exhaustive study. Rather I hope that it will wet ones apatite to study this rich metaphor even further.

Several Metaphors Used to Describe Christians:

• Sheep,
• Soldiers,
• Athletes,
• Brothers, and
• Workers.
• However, Slaves is the most common…

Two Primary Greek Words Establish Christians as Slaves:

(1) kyrios: “master and Lord.” To confess Jesus as your “Lord” is to say He is your “master” and “owner” and you are His slave.

(2) doulos: “slave.” The Primary word used in the NT to describe Christians as slaves of Christ (124x). For the most part it is missing from the pages KJV and to a certain extent the NKJV, ESV, NASB and HCSB. Often times doulos, or its congugents is simply translated servant, or serve. In this lesson well jump around between various translations to show slave language.

American Verses Roman Slavery:

(1) Roman Slavery:

• Non Racially Based,
• Encompassed All Professions,
• Everywhere in the Empire,
• Hope of Freedom

 (2) American Slavery:

• Race Based,
• Primarily Agrarian in Nature,
• Geographically Limited to the South,
• Little/No Hope of Freedom

(3) Similarities Between the Two

• Exclusive Ownership by the Master,
• Complete Submission to the Master,
• Total Dependence on the Master.
• These are true of physical and/or spiritual slaves

Slaves of God in the Old Testament

• Egyptian Slavery as a Type for Christian Slavery (cf. Romans 6:1-14 ESV):
• Foretold (Genesis 15:13 NASB, cf. Acts 7:6)
• Realized (Exodus 1:13-15)
• Broken (Exodus 7-14)
• Freed from Egyptian Slavery to be Slaves of God or “God’s Possession” – (Exodus 19:5-6; Leviticus 25:55 HCSB; cf. 1 Peter 2:9 ESV)
• To say one was an Israelite was to say one was a “slave of God.”
  • Abraham (Genesis 26:24)* H5650 – BDB, “slave”
  • Moses (Exodus 14:31)*
  • David (Psalm 132:10)*
  • Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:6)*
  • Mary (Luke 1:38, 48 NASB)

Slaves in Jesus’ Teaching:

(1) An Element in 13 Parables (Here’s a sampling):

• Unforgiving Slave (Matthew 18:23 NASB)
• Tenants (Matthew 21:35 NASB)
• Talents (Matthew 25:14 NASB)
• Waiting Slaves (Luke 12:37 NASB)
• Unworthy Slave (Luke 17:7, 9 NASB)
• To accept these lessons is to accept we are slaves of Christ.

 (2) An Aspect of His Commands:

• A Slave is Not Above His Master (Matthew 10:24 (NASB)
• We Are to Slave for One Another (Matthew 20:25-28 ESV; 1 Corinthians 9:19 NASB)
• Love the “Master” our God With Your All (Mark 12:30)
• One Cannot Slave for Two Masters (Luke 16:13 NASB)

Slaves of Christ in the Epistles:

(1) Self Descriptions:

• The Apostles, Believers (Acts 4:29 HCSB)
• Paul (Romans 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Titus 1:1 HCSB)
• Timothy (Philippians 1:1 HCSB)
• Epaphras (Colossians 1:7; 4:12 HCSB)
• James (James 1:1 HCSB)
• Peter (2 Peter 1:1 HCSB)
• Jude (Jude 1 HCSB)

(2) Teachings Concerning Slavery:

• Instructions to Slaves/Masters (Ephesians 6:5-9; Colossians 3:22-4:1; 1 Timothy 6:1-2; NASB); (1 Peter 2:18-25 HCSB)
• Kidnapping People and Enslaving Them was Contrary to Sound Doctrine (1 Timothy 1:8-11 ESV)

(3) Various Verses:

• From Slave of Sin to Slave of Christ (Romans 6:15-23 ESV)
• We are God’s Possession (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9)
• Don’t Judge One of God’s Slaves (Romans 14:4 HCSB)
• We Live/Die Per the “Master’s” Will (Romans 14:8; James 4:13-15)

Slaves of Christ in Revelation:

• Written for Christ’s slaves (Revelation 1:1, 22:6 HCSB)
• Jezebel was leading away Christ’s slaves (Revelation 2:20 HCSB)
• The Martyrs are Called His Slaves (Revelation 6:11, 19:2 HCSB)
• The 144,000 Were Marked Slaves (Revelation 7:3, 9:4 HCSB; cf. Galatians 6:17 NASB)
• Angels are Fellow-Slaves (Revelation 19:10, 22:9 HCSB

Suggested Reading:

• A top-notch book on this subject is Murry J. Harris’ work: Slave of Christ: A New Testament Metaphor for Total Devotion to Christ
• A notch book is John MacArthur’s book: Slave: The Hidden Truth About Your Identity in Christ. I found the first few chapters really good, the last few were terrible.
• I’ve also benefitted from: Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, edited by Leland Ryken.

Bowing Knees, Confessing Tongues

Today’s post is from Carley Evans’ blog Grace Partakers, where it appeared under the title, Every Tongue, Every Knee.

¹¹ It is written:    “‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord, ‘every knee will bow before me;
   every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

Jesus tells us the truth. One day — “as He lives” — every individual who ever existed will bow to Him and give God praise. Now I can see every person kneeling in humility before God, but imagining every one praising God is not as easy. I’ve heard such vile, foul statements made against Him in my time here on earth that imagining those same persons speaking words of praise is difficult.

Think of Hitler or Stalin or Manson speaking words of praise to God, and you may have some appreciation for what I am saying. Praises from such men are incongruous with their personalities.

So, what happens? What changes? Do their hearts change at the judgment? Do they become like Job who said to the Lord, “I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withheld from Thee. Who is he who hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have uttered that which I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech Thee, and I will speak; I will demand of Thee, and declare Thou unto me. I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:2-6, KJV)

Will persons such as Kim Jong-il and Saddam Hussein suddenly recognize God and “abhor” themselves? Will they see God and “repent in dust and ashes?” As they bend their knees and fall on their faces, will their mouths open in songs of praise?

Amazing!

~Carley Evans