A Reality That Bites
With continued news of oppression, earthquakes, tsunamis and radiation leaks, we must reflect again on whether 'Jesus, Lord of All' has become for us a pietistic slogan more easily stated, or perhaps sung, than lived. Has this truth become fragile enough for us that its veracity is sustained only by reports of small miracles: a discovered baby, a man discovered alive floating miles out to sea?
That Christ is Lord of All is not sustained by willpower but a reality shaping and shaking truth.
However we begin our Christian journeys, it soon becomes clear that our ongoing life of discipleship is characterised by a need to learn how to see the world again under the lordship of Jesus.
This is illustrated by a conversation my colleague, Neil Hudson, had not so long ago with a group of students at a university Christian Union, with whom he had been discussing the lordship of Christ:
Neil: 'Who is the Lord of all things?'
Students (Without missing a beat): 'Jesus'
Neil: 'Who is the Lord of the university?'
Students (Again in unison): 'The Chancellor.'
Neil (Becoming somewhat more emphatic): 'OK, one more time. Who is the Lord of all things?'
Students: 'Jesus'
Neil: 'Right, so who is the Lord of the university?'
Students: 'The Chancellor'
At which point we leave Neil to reflect on the current state of university education and his own teaching techniques...
Many of us, like those students, fail to perceive the difference that the declaration 'Jesus is Lord' makes to the world in which we live. Perhaps the central challenge that the church faces today is to understand that the lordship of Christ is not an abstract, ethereal matter, to which we give our intellectual assent, but a truth to be made real and evident in our day to day experience.
Maybe I am 'preaching to the choir', and if you've been receiving these emails for a while you'll know the conviction of LICC on this, but we must remain urgently convinced that our assent to the lordship of Christ must go beyond a ceremonial title, occasional truth or statement to be defended. As Dutch theologian, Hendrik Kraemer, phrased it over 50 years ago in his passionate, provocative and essentially pastoral call to the church to discover the meaning of the lordship of Christ over all:
Everything in the church and in the world revolves around the so-called 'ordinary member of the church'. For in them must become somehow visible that the lordship of Christ over the church and over the world is not a fairy-tale or a gratuitous assertion, but a reality which 'bites'.
Ben Care
Comments
"... a truth to be made real and evident in our day to day experience" - yes indeed. And how is this to come about? Only by submitting ourSELVES to Christ as Lord. We cannot make others submit. So the Neil Hudson anecdote is humorously misleading. Granted, ultimately Christ is Lord, and all will bow the knee and be called to account. But in this age humanity is at liberty to reject the Lordship of Christ. That mystery, remembered alongside God's ultimate sovereignty, saves us from a lot of mental gymnastics and Christian double-think. Perhaps we need to remember that for the time being the God/ruler of this world, according to both Paul and Jesus himself, is .... Satan. It suddenly explains an awful lot of painful reality. Maybe a little more honesty and realism about that would be helpful, for the straightjacket of simplistic "sovereignty of God" theology is the road, for some, to "madness of the brain and despair of the heart" [George Macdonald].
I have to admit to being disappointed by this article. I was waiting for the punchline but it never came. Having started with oppression, earthquakes, tsunamis and radiation leaks, I was expecting the author to refer back to them at the end to conclude the argument. But as it is I am still lacking an explanation of what the 'lordship of Christ over all' means in practice, in the face of such events. Is it a belief that holds merit for the believer, to cope better with these events or be more compassionate? Or is it a fact that causes events to happen differently from the way they would if it were not true and, if so, in what way would things be worse without it being true? I'm afraid that without a clear understanding of this, it is these events themselves that form the true 'reality that bites'.
Thank you, Ben, for this very timely reminder of what has often been referred to as the sovereignty of God. The Dutch theologian is spot on. Jesus is Lord of our home and office, our leisure and work, our thoughts and aspirations, our money and possessions, and so on. Help me, Holy Spirit, with LICC input, to live as if that were the truth. I have just been in Cyprus with the Arabic, Farsi and Turkish producers of SAT-7's programmes to the MENA. They are a wonderful sign of His Lordship.
Thank you Ben for reminding us that the Lordship of Christ is a reality that bites, whether or not we perceive it to be so. The trouble is alot of Christians who give lip service to the sovereignty of God belief actually don't believe it to be so in reality, nor do they live their lives accordingly. Nor do they understand their responsibility and stewardship upon the earth. God's promise of deliverance and protection is almost always associated with righteousness and obedience. The God of the Universe is one to be feared (revered) because He is Powerful and He does do what He says He will do. The Israelites' enemies feared them because of the fame of their God and His power over all the earth. They exclaimed that the Israelites’ God was a God of Heaven AND a God of earth - meaning that He was not just some abstract, ethereal concept but a God who could demonstrate His power and will upon the earth. God however handed His people over to their enemies when they disobeyed Him and gave their allegiance to idols. He later redeems them, delivers them and showers them with His love. A sober lesson for us indeed. So what do all these natural disasters reveal to us about God’s sovereignty? These are pressing questions for us …… I sympathise with Julian in his comment about a lack of punch line in your article regarding these things. It seems you assume we all know how this Sovereignty / Lordship works itself out in the affairs of men. We don’t always know. Does it remind us that God’s Word is a surety and His law unbreakable? That sin and death is natural to the old order and that repentance and faith is needed to enter into a new kingdom? That the whole of creation groans and yearns for the revealing of the sons of God and the ultimate deliverance from the curse at the beginning? That humankind has a God-given responsibility to act righteously in the affairs of man? I think perhaps you’ve raised more questions than answers …... not that that is a bad thing.
Date:
2011-03-19 02:51:38
Author:
Sandra Godde