The Lord Our God

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?"

--Luke 6:46

According to an article in April 22^nd, 2007 edition of the Arizona Star, referring to Christ as Lord is quickly becoming a thing of the past.

Why? According to the article;

"Lord" has become a loaded word conveying hierarchical power over things, "which in what we have recorded in our sacred texts, is not who Jesus understood himself to be," St. Philip's associate rector Susan Anderson-Smith said.

"The way our service reads, the theology is that God is love, period," St. Philip's deacon Thomas Lindell added. "Our service has done everything it can to get rid of power imagery. We do not pray as though we expect the big guy in the sky to come and fix everything."

St. Philip's isn't the only local church to re-examine its language. Other local religious leaders already are eschewing the use of "Lord" for similar reasons. The First Congregational United Church of Christ in Midtown even has a different name for The Lord's Prayer. They call it "The Prayer of Our Creator."

While it is good not to look upon God as a some sort of genie in a bottle that awaits to fulfill our every wish; and it is also true that “The Lord’s Prayer” is somewhat of a misnomer (John 17 is truly the Lord’s prayer), it is a huge mistake to refrain from calling Christ ‘Lord’ – unless, of course, as Luke 6:46 points out, you are a Christian in name only and are not living in loving obedience to all that Christ taught and exemplified.

Applying the ESV English-Greek Reverse Interlinear New Testament to Luke 6:46, we learn the following about the word “Lord.”

2962 κύριος [kurios /koo·ree·os/] n m. From kuros (supremacy); TDNT 3:1039; TDNTA 486; GK 3261; 748 occurrences; AV translates as “Lord” 667 times, “lord” 54 times, “master” 11 times, “sir” six times, “Sir” six times, and translated miscellaneously four times.

1 he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord. 1a the possessor and disposer of a thing. 1a1 the owner; one who has control of the person, the master. 1a2 in the state: the sovereign, prince, chief, the Roman emperor. 1b is a title of honor expressive of respect and reverence, with which servants salute their master. 1c this title is given to: God, the Messiah.

Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible  : Showing Every Word of the Test of the Common English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurrence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed. Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G2962

This is the title given to the Messiah. Yeshua, that is ‘Jesus’, IS the Messiah, the Savior of ALL mankind.

"There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them.”

--Acts 4:12

"In the beginning the Word already existed. He was with God, and he was God. He was in the beginning with God. He created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make. Life itself was in him, and this life gives light to everyone. The light shines through the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it."

--John 1:1-5

Refusal to acknowledge Christ as ‘Lord’, is to deny His deity, it is to deny His very existence. To deny Christ is to blaspheme (that is, to go against, the Holy Spirit), as it is the Spirit that convicts us of our sin and makes known to us the things of God. (See 1 Corinthians 2)

"Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit."

1 Corinthians 12:3

As the New Bible Dictionary points out;

The mark of the Spirit is both the recognition of Jesus’ present status (1 Cor. 12:3; 1 Jn. 5:6–12) and the reproduction of the character of his sonship and resurrection life in the believer (Rom. 8:11, 14–16, 23; 1 Cor. 15:45–49; 2 Cor. 3:18; Gal. 4:6f.; 1 Jn. 3:2).

The roots of subsequent Trinitarian theology are perhaps evident in Paul’s recognition that the believer experiences through the Spirit a twofold relation, to God as father (Rom. 8:15f.; Gal. 4:6) and to Jesus as Lord (1 Cor. 12:3).

Wood, D. R. W.: New Bible Dictionary. InterVarsity Press, 1996, c1982, c1962, S. 1129

Clearly, then, it is obvious to this writer that those who have qualms about calling Jesus ‘Lord’, have no experiential knowledge of Christ. They do not abide in Christ nor does He abide in them. Beware of false teachers and wolves in sheep’s clothing!

What God Has Done Through Christ

¹³God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the
kingdom of his Son, whom he loves. ¹⁴His Son paid the price to free us, which
means that our sins are forgiven.

¹⁵ He is the image of the invisible God,

the firstborn of all creation.

¹⁶ He created all things in heaven and on earth,

visible and invisible.

Whether they are kings or lords,

rulers or powers—

everything has been created through him and for him.

¹⁷ He existed before everything

and holds everything together.

¹⁸ He is also the head of the church, which is his body.

He is the beginning,

the first to come back to life

so that he would have first place in everything.

¹⁹God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ. ²⁰God was also
pleased to bring everything on earth and in heaven back to himself through
Christ. He did this by making peace through Christ’s blood sacrificed on the
cross.

²¹Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your
hostile attitude. ²²But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his
physical body. He did this so that you could come into God’s presence without
sin, fault, or blame. ²³This is on the condition that you continue in faith without
being moved from the solid foundation of the hope that the Good News contains.
You’ve heard this Good News of which I, Paul, became a servant. It has been
spread throughout all creation under heaven.

1 Corinthians 1:13-23

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
--Philippians 2:1-13