Hey there
Yesterday I mentioned Jesus’ challenge from the religious leaders of the day. I was wrong. He was in the temple, but it was the ordinary people who were questioning him. Please forgive my incorrect background information.
At church yesterday, we had the right hand of fellowship extended to a new member. The pastor invited him to share his testimony and I was struck by his introduction. He openly declared that he hoped his testimony would lead his son to accept Jesus as Lord! Much else was shared, but that confession stuck with me as I reflected on today’s Holy Nougat
“If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
Romans 10:9 NLT
These days I think many of us are a bit iffy about open declarations of faith. Although we are not in times of tribulation, the way some Christians behave (on either end and in the middle of the confessional spectrum) causes many of us to pause, lest folks who know us think we’re like them. And, to some extent that is understandable. It is not right (and usually means we’re judging ‘them’) but that does not mean we don’t do it.
The irony is, we’ve got our roles confused. Because the call is for confession of faith in Jesus. Not the behaviors of others, just a recognition that Jesus is Lord. And that’s the biggy right there – confessing the Lordship of Jesus. Because recognizing Jesus as Supreme authority (which is the context of ‘Lord’ in the nougat), is admittedly a willingness to
a) place everything under Him in importance and value
b) be intentional about submitting to His values and way of being
Confessing Jesus as our Lord to others thus means that we pledge allegiance to Jesus and Jesus ONLY! Erm, that’s a very tall order for many of us.
In a mixed Roman society of enslaved, freed people, merchants and bourgeoisie (aka hoi polloi); and where Caesar was god; to make such a declaration was not necessarily a safe thing to do. It could cost one one’s life or freedom. For it meant that one no longer saw Caesar’s authority as final. And since Jesus’ kingdom did not have the same class structure as the Roman Empire, it also meant that they had to see all members of Jesus’ kingdom as equals!
In our current contexts, that includes the folks who confess Jesus as Lord but live a faith that is counter to the values of Christianity that we hold dear. Because, even if they are NOT in Christ, it isn’t ours to worry about. We ought to be preoccupied with determining our Supreme Authority’s will for us, and to ensuring that we are obeying.
When we confess Jesus as Lord, are we truly yielding total authority to God all the time, some authority all the time, or some authority some of the time? Are there some Caesars that need to be toppled in our lives? In critical or even casual decisions, whose opinion matters most – ours, peers/family, authority figure’s, or Christ’s? I pray that we can confess Jesus as our Lord at all times.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
