The Basics Of Lordship

This is an article by Eric Swanson, a staff member with Campus Crusade for Christ:

 It has been said that the Christian life is this:  “All that I am is available to all that He is.  All that He is, is available to all that I am.”  Unless I have yielded all that I am to Him, all that He is will not be available to me.  Yielding our lives to Christ is the logical response to who God is and what He has done for us.  Jesus is Lord – whether we acknowledge Him as so or not.  In order to experience His power in our lives we need to acknowledge and respond to His lordship.  Recognizing Jesus as Lord means that everything I know about myself is yielded to everything I know about Him.  It signifies that He has all of me and all that I am is consciously yielded to Him.

I.  Understanding what it means to yield our lives to Christ:

           

            What is meant by the Lordship of Christ?

                       

Luke 6:46                                         2 Corinthians 5:15

                       Colossians 1:15-18                         2 Corinthians 5:10

Romans 12:1-2 [Note:  The word “present” or “yield” signifies a “one time action”.   It implies a point in time when we say to the Lord that we are willing to live under His lordship – to be what He wants us to be and to do what He wants us to do.  The word “reasonable service” or “spiritual service” means “logical” – to give ourselves wholly to Him is the only logical thing to do.]

                         

Romans 6:13 [Note:  The word “present” or “yield” denotes a regular or continuous action.  It signifies that daily we present ourselves to the Lord to be used in any way He chooses.] 

Even though Christ died for us, has forgiven us from all our sins, has promised never to leave us, and has promised to take us to heaven, why do you think most Christians don’t make Jesus Lord of their lives by yielding their lives to Him?

Before any person would completely yield his life to Christ he would have to be convinced of at least two things: 

            1) that Christ has his best interests at heart, and

            2) that He has the ability and power to carry out those best 

                 interests.

If we really don’t trust Jesus Christ, we’ll never really yield our lives to Him.

What do the following verses say about God’s love and power?

            Romans 8:32                            Jeremiah 31:3

            1 John 4:10                               Jeremiah 32:17

II. How we can make Jesus Lord of our lives:

Deciding to live under the Lordship of Jesus Christ is both a one-time action (Romans 12:1) and a progressive and conscious yielding to Him as God discloses areas of our lives that He wants control of.  In his booklet, “My heart, Christ’s home”, Robert Munger explains what it means to yield our lives to Jesus Christ in this way:  “When we receive Christ it is as if we invite Him into our home – to be a guest in our living room.  After a while He says, ‘I want to go into the kitchen.’  Soon He asks to take over the family room, the den, the bedroom, the closets, attic and basement… everywhere.”  The Lordship of Christ begins when we tell the Lord that He has free access into every area of our lives.  Little by little the Holy Spirit reveals to us those areas that He wants to reign over.  Our part is to simply relinquish those areas to Christ as He discloses them to us.  This is a normal part of Christian growth.

The following is a list of some of the areas that Jesus wants to be Lord in:

My time My habits My finances My family

My hobbies My job/school My friends My thoughts

My future My possessions My life partner My sexuality

My plans My health My words My life goals

The major issue to be settled is not just getting our act together in these areas.  Rather it is determining who will reign supreme in my life – the Lord Jesus Christ or me? 

The following is a suggested prayer that may reflect your desire to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life:

“Lord Jesus, I thank You that You love me so much that You died on the cross for me.  Because of Your love and all You have done for me, I completely yield my life to You – everything I am and everything I have.  I’m willing to receive what You give, lack what You withhold, desire what You desire, do what You want me to do, and be what You want me to be.  Amen.”

[A couple of extra notes:  the word “Lord” means:  master, owner; the one who has disposal of everything; the one to whom service is due on any ground; the one who has absolute ownership and uncontrolled and unmanipulatable power.

[Going back to the definition of ‘Lordship” – can a person really say, No, Lord”?]