What Does It All Mean?

²¹ “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

"You keep using that word.  I do not think it means what you think it means" (Diego Montoya "The Princess Bride")

  You may have recognized the quote from above.  I'm hoping for sure you are familiar with the Bible passage, but if not, that's OK we are going to get to it in a few moments.  But for now, I'm referring to the quote from "The Princess Bride". It is, in a move full of quotable quotes, one of my favorites.  It's comes as the villainous leader of a small group is constantly frustrated  in his attempts to thwart the good guy from pursuing them. No matter what he does it's overcome.  And when he realizes it he shouts (altogether now) Inconceivable!  Finally Montoya looks at him and utters the line above.

   It's a funny line but it's all pretty stereotypical of human nature. At least  human nature as I see it in the church. We use words all the time that do not mean what we think they mean. Or at least we don't mean the same thing when we say them.

  For instance when we say "I'll pray for you" it doesn't necessarily mean we are going to pray for that person. Often it's our Christian way of saying, Good bye.  Or good luck.  Now if that seems harsh I want you to take a moment and think about the times you have said "I'll pray for you." but didn't.  Or the times you did pray and the other person is shocked.

  We say "God Bless you" but do we honestly mean "God bless this person right now pour out all you hold in heaven upon them"? No, we mean have a nice day.  In all honestly I can have a nice day all on my own.  I don't need you to tell em to have a nice day.  It's not as if when you say that I think "Wow a nice day. hadn't thought of doing that. What a great suggestion."  What I do need is people who are on their knees asking that God will bless me with His presence.

   And perhaps we can be gracious about these. It's not as if we are lying when we say them. We mean them sort of. We at the very least have good intentions when we say them. We might not mean exactly what we are saying but we do mean something nice. 

  But Jesus doesn't give us leeway about the word Lord.  In the Scripture above Jesus clearly says there will be many in the church who call me Lord, but who never made me Lord of their lives. They will say it, but they won't mean it. And the consequences of calling Jesus Lord, but not making Him Lord are, well, not optimal to say the least.  Please hear that. Your soul might very well depend on it. One day Jesus is going to look on those who called Him Lord, but did not make Him Lord and he is going to to say "Away from me. I never knew you".

  We call Jesus Lord in prayer.  We read the words in the Bible.  We sing of His Lordship. We might even believe it. But does that word mean what you think it means? Or are you saying a word for which there is no evidence in your life?

  What does it mean to make Jesus Lord of our lives? It means more than just believing the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.  James reminds us even Satan knows that.  Lordship is nothing less than a complete total passionate abandonment of your life to Jesus.  It's having that Abraham and Isaac moment where you are willing to give God everything  if He would ask.  It means having Him be Lord of not just what you do in church on Sunday morning but when you go out in the real world on Monday. It may mean not doing certain unethical things even if your job demands them simply because Jesus says no. It means giving Jesus your love life, even your (gasp) your wallet.

  I don't pretend I've made Jesus Lord of everything in my life. I've given Him more than I have in the past so I take some comfort there.  But there are still parts of my life where he and I still play tug of war. Hopefully He's winning more and more of those. I'm a work in progress living on His Grace. But I want Him to be Lord. Because I've discovered the more of myself I can give Him the more of Himself he gives me.  And it is a treasure beyond measure or comparison.

  So what about you. Do you call Jesus Lord? And what do you mean by it?

In Christ,
Rev. Dr. Brian Jones <><