Jesus means Saviour, he came to save. By virtue of his death, burial, and resurrection, God has made that same Jesus both Lord and king.
Emphasis was laid that the same process that made him Christ also made him Lord. Christ is the whole conversation from Genesis to revelation and a generation has come to lay serious emphasis on Christ as our focus, our message.
We don’t just want to pay attention to him being Christ, we also want to submit to him. Knowing him as Christ will end as knowledge, we must not neglect the aspect of his Lordship. Learning and submission goes together.
God is looking for a submitted people, not just a learning people or even a praying church. There can be a praying church and all the prayers can be done in rebellion. There can’t be a submitted church and it won’t be prayerful. We delved into seeing Jesus as a patterned son and Isaac as a patterned son. Isaac was a template of the Jesus to come, he submitted to the will of his father. The same mount Isaac was to be sacrificed is the same place Golgotha is.
We can’t end this conversation without bringing these things into our daily lives.
Ephesians 5:1-3, 21- 26
“As Christ “ is an important phrase to note. Every usage of it is pointing in the same direction.
The word fear connotes reverence for God. The reason why you will submit to someone is because of the fear of God.
Colossians 3:16-24
The focus of each relationship has nothing to do with who you are in a relationship with but the context is as fitting to the Lord.
Romans 12:10, 1 Peter 2:13-15
“Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God, that with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men”
This scripture says that we should submit to systems, structure put together by men, not because you like the face of the people in power, but for the sake of the lord. If we understand these things and we are ready to walk in it, it is an implication for you. The importance of this is that there is no ordinance, system, structure that is put in place by men that God is not interested in.
1 Peter 5:1-5
In every relationship, we need to be humble because if we take away relationships from our life, nothing will remain. Whether it is career, business, education, a ministry, government, everything you can be is built around relationships.
Even in marriage, the day a man and a woman gets married, the lord steps in. And from that moment, your dealings are not about who you are married to, it is about who is the Lord. That is why as a believer, you can’t just marry anybody, you have to marry someone who understands this principle that we have someone who is in charge over our life. Not being unequally yoked does not have anything to do with religion, because even as a Christians, you can get married to a fellow Christian that doesn’t understand this principle. Understand that God is Lord in your marriage.
You must be well yoked so that you don’t become a yoke. It’s the reality of life. If you are not properly yoked with a person who understands the Lordship of Jesus, you will become a yoke.
In every relationship as seen in the above Scripture, Ephesians 1:21, 1 Peter 9, we are admonished to submit to one another. Even Pastors are not meant to Lord it over their congregation. There is a shepherd and a chief shepherd. The shepherd is in subjection to the chief shepherd.
We are all under submission to the Lord even as leaders in the church. We find out that in all the scriptures we read earlier, there is a common phrase, “husbands love your wives as Christ loved the Church, wives submit to your husband even as the Church submitted to Christ, children obey your parents as it’s pleasing to the Lord, servants serve in sincerity.”
(Romans 12:10 TPT)
My emphasis is for us not to only learn Christ but be ready to submit to his Lordship. Do not do selective obedience because the moment you have come under the Lordship of Christ, you lost that right of selective obedience. It’s not just enough to be a Christian but we should submit. He must be Lord of all. Primarily speaking it’s not your spouse that deserves your first loyalty, but God. While we were yet sinners Christ died, so also we love our spouses, despite their shortcomings. It’s an implication. Knowing this makes us implicated. There are husbands that are difficult to submit to and there are wives that are difficult to love, but being submitted to Christ helps one to overcome, by letting the love of Christ flow through us.
There are people that have been endangered by so many hazards as a result of the words they have heard from their partner. We must come to a place where we live in submission to Christ.
When we come into marriage it is about two parties. We should not wait for another party to do any domestic chores. We must be careful of our words to our partners. Let us be tolerant. Let us be patient. There are women and men who are self centered. Marriage is not for them. They will definitely make the life of their partners miserable. There are women that are not submissive to men and there are men that are self centered. They should rather be single, and adopt children if they care to.
Paul also speaks to children in the book of Ephesians that they should obey their parents. It is not about who hurts you but for the Lord’s sake. We can also submit in our work place, it is not about any colleague or boss.
Concerning rulers and kings, we must always understand that regardless of our opinions we must remain submitted to them. This is why a believer must not be out of order when speaking about them. We can express ourselves concerning bad policy but we should not be found destroying government properties.
Regardless of the fact we may have bosses, the scripture says we should not be found being hypocritical with them. The Bible says we must serve and obey them as it is pleasing unto the Lord. Are we in our work place as men pleasers? We must submit to one another.
The Bible instructs that fathers should not provoke children by the words of their mouth. They must never hurt children by the words of their mouth. They must keep saying good things to them. To achieve this is not by learning the Bible alone but also by learning Christ; by learning Christ we must choose to submit to His Word and His Lordship.
Christian couples must always agree there must not be any action taken outside their respective agreements and beliefs. We must wait on God for alignment when it relates to marriage.
We must conclude that Jesus is the King of our homes too. This is why before rushing down to our leaders we must be found in alignment in our homes first. It is an aberration for a woman not to accord the same respect she gives to her pastors to her husband.
We are expected to ensure that if our commitment in the local church demands a major part of our time we should not be found neglecting important aspects of our homes ranging from cooking, cleaning and even loyalty to family members. It will be a height of hypocrisy to be very subservient to our leaders in church and then we treat family members with disdain.
A commitment to the things of God and even being a minister doesn’t override you being polite to those younger than you. That you hold a position and you’re being served, it is not out of place to appreciate people’s service. There is a premium placed on the need to exalt Christ in our everyday life.