Lordship

… Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me. And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. (Matthew 21:2, 3)

And he sendeth forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go ye into the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of water: follow him. And wheresoever he shall go in, say ye to the goodman of the house, The Master saith, Where is the guestchamber, where I shall eat the passover with my disciples? And he will shew you a large upper room furnished and prepared: there make ready for us. (Mark 14:13 – 15)

Ever wondered why the world is looking down on us Christ’s church? Ever wondered why Islam is growing so fast? Ever wondered why animism (traditional religions) still flourish even with the advent of technology that can explain most of their mysteries? Ever wondered why marriage is becoming more and more a temporary union against all religious instruction for permanence of the same? Ever wondered why in communities where it is the girl’s parents who pay dowry girls are being aborted however stringent governments enforce laws against the same? Ever wondered why the prosperity ‘gospel’ still attracts even when its proponents know it as the pursuit of a mirage?

The key to all this is authority, or the lack of it.

The church lives as if it is not under anyone’s authority. We behave as if God is just a benevolent grandfather who cares the least whether we are behaved or not provided we show our ‘love’ for him. We are the epitome of what Christ said that we call Him Lord, Lord but do not care to know, leave alone do what He wants. We are like the people Isaiah talked about, so full of God in our mouths but our hearts are so far from Him. We pray more to receive goodies from Him instead of knowing His will for our lives. We love doctrines that promote self instead of those who elevate Christ.

Islam is a religion of submission. In fact the meaning of the word Islam is submission. And they live that conscientiously. They may fight over trifles but you will never see them arguing against the ‘truth’ they have received. They are more interested in arguing about the Bible than the Koran and the reason is that their book is complicated and not understandable so that it takes the experts in religion to explain it. What these experts say is the law. It is the duty of every Muslim to kill someone who has been condemned by them. A father will kill his son if he has been so condemned. This brings an order that attracts people who have been living in chaos due to the lack of such order who many times are people who have been given the wrong dosage of Christian doctrine that we are autonomous beings subject to nobody else, even God. Such doctrine has brought so much chaos and emptiness that they blame Christ for the wrong representation they got of Him.

Traditional religions are not different. In fact if truth be told Islam is really a tribal religion, only that the believers were not content to keep it in their tribe, thus making it appear universal contrary to the reality. And that is why one MUST learn it in the tribal language for it to be recognized as Islam. That is the reason nobody outside the tribesmen can really advance beyond a certain position of authority however devoted they became.

Anyway, tribal religions have an order that is not subject to debate. There are priests and other leaders whose word is law as we have seen with the probably greatest tribal religion, Islam. Things therefore go according to the order, order that few if any know where it originated. But such order is attractive to one whose independence has brought so much pain in their life.

Marriage has gone through the same. Lack of order has produced such pain that some think of marriage as the most painful union on earth. Yet we ought to blame ourselves instead of the union. We ought to seek to understand why the primitive end up with better marriages than the progressives and liberated. Though we know more about marriage that any other generation we have become the generation farthest from the enjoying the same.

Yet this did not start so long ago. I think it may have started with the Europeans bringing their own corruption of the Gospel of Christ. This elevated choice above the order we made the choice about. This elevated romance above order in marriage. They elevated personal above the communal. In short they made the individual the most important thing in human society. They then sought to rid the world of the backwardness that blocked progress but in the process rid the world of order and demolished social institutions that made the society what it was.

We therefore ended up with a blend of a society in dire need of any sort of order. We became a society that must look for the conclusive end of any case. That is why even a known thief or murderer must be given a lawyer to defend his innocence even if he has pleaded guilty because the law demands it before he is punished. No wonder in many societies, especially urban mob justice is the most admired avenue of dealing with crime, because the legal one is hopelessly longwinded. That is why the poor always loses to the rich even when he is wronged as he lacks the financial muscle to pursue after justice. This is what has made corruption feasible as many are scared of the time it takes to pursue justice. A rich man is envied though it is common knowledge that he got his wealth by crime or even drug peddling because society believe that money speaks and the more one has the louder that money shouts.

I am here exposing vices so that we can get to acknowledge that a society that lacks authority structures is its own worst enemy. This is because there is no clear source of knowledge or wisdom. The rich are listened to than their parents, especially if the parents are neglected. A young genius is given more deference than his teachers. A young singer who may not even be aware that his music is poison to society is given a higher seat than the elder whose life has demonstrated integrity for generations.

What happens to this society then? It will simply collapse for lack of foundations. Though money may speak, it really does not know any direction. It does not have a pulse and so does not feel anything. It is simply a machine that parrots what its master is saying – and we know that God is not that master. This is why most societies decline and die at their peak when mammon spoke the loudest. I am sure we can see that even in our generation.

And that is the reason I want us to look at Christ’s Lordship. Ever wondered why He never even once suggested or requested for something? Ever wondered why He appears most arrogant when He calls His disciples? Or like in the verses above does it not appear to your liberated ears as purely crude when He asks for the use of the ass or dining room?

Untie the colt, and if someone asks tell him the master needs it, full stop. And we know that was not even his neighborhood so probably the owner did not know Christ.

Zacchaeus, come down immediately, we will have lunch (more of a party because of the throngs) in your house today. Didn’t He think about how the hostess will feel?

Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Didn’t He consider the ageing fathers who must manage the business?

He told Matthew at his work place to follow Him, and did not even consider he could be jailed for deserting his duty station.

It was the same when He dealt with sickness and demons. He never even once negotiated with them.

‘I will show him how much he must suffer for my sake’ is what preceded Paul’s call. Wasn’t that cruel? Did that not infringe on his individual choice?

Yet that is the real meaning of lordship. A lord does not give options. A lord does not give choices. A lord does not plead.

A lord gives commands, commands which must be obeyed or punishment follows.  

But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. (Matthew 22:7)

All this because a king’s son is getting married and the prominent people refused to attend the wedding. Probably they fought the king’s servants because they were forcing them to attend as I see a word similar to compel in the narrative. You see the wedding of a prince must be well attended and that is why he even had clothes to be worn in the dinner. Failing to attend this invitation became a crime punishable by death. Yet like most of us each had decided to mind his business instead of attending a meaningless party.

What does this tell us about options as far as a lord is concerned? There are only two options, obedience and rebellion. We do not negotiate with a lord.

A lord literally owns his subjects. He either did so by buying or conquering them. We therefore must be aware that we do not have any free will when a lord comes into play.

Yet is this not what Christ did? Did He not buy us from the master we had sold ourselves to when we disobeyed God in Eden? We were not bought to be just free. We were bought into another servitude, yet a servitude that was better than even freedom from our former master.

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. (Romans 6: 16 – 18)

I therefore want us to look at the Christian life not just as a freedom but the release from one type of slavery to another. That is why the Bible talks of us as being rescued from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, from death to life. We are therefore safe to realize that we are not released from the lawful to the lawless as most tend to behave.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11: 28 – 30)

Again we see the same reality here. We are not released from the heave yoke to roam free; we are given a better yoke. I think this is because man is always looking for a yoke to serve under and there is one who thrives on giving yokes that will take us to destruction.

Our faith is therefore not just a freedom from something but even more important a freedom into something much better. We are slaves whichever way we look at it. The difference is in the lord we are serving.

I therefore want us to consider Christ’s dealings with people as He walked the earth. You will never see Him suggesting anything to anyone. He only orders. We never even see any regret when the order becomes hard to obey. Remember when the rich young ruler refuses to follow Him and leaves feeling very sad? We do not see Christ calling him back to lower His order reasoning like we like to do that his heart was in the right place, only the circumstances were tough.

Is that how we relate with Christ? Have we even considered that as the relationship with Him? Just look at this verse.

So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do. (Luke 17:10)

That really is our relationship with our Savior. He is our elder brother and friend but we ought to know that He remains the King of kings and therefore deserves not only reverence but also unquestioned obedience. Anything less than that demeans that relationship.

But of great importance is knowing what we are supposed to be obedient to. We cannot be obedient if we do not know what this King requires of us. We can not be held accountable if we have no idea what He wants. Those who rejected the king’s invitation were punished not because they did not go but because they defied the king’s invitation. We can only be accountable for the revelation we have received. This is because we will then have defied an order we have received.

Whose order is binding on us? Is it the Lord’s or that of His servants? How do we know the servants who are on the Lord’s errand from the ones who are running their own affairs? How do we recognize the ones who are so full of the Lord in their mouths while their hearts are elsewhere? How do we access the Lord’s voice? Does the Lord desire for us to hear His voice or is it limited to His servants? Is the desire to hear His voice legitimate or is it rebellion? I feel this is very pertinent for us to know as we live at a time where we have experts who appear privy to the Lord’s court proceedings meaning we can’t overlook them as it would offend the Lord. What does the Bible say?

And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. (Isaiah 30:21)

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)

This was God’s desire even in the Old Testament. He desired to have people who could hear from Him without needing intermediaries. Even in Eden we lost that voice when we fell. Remember this verse?

For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. (2Chronicles 16:9a)

God looks for a person He can have uninterrupted fellowship with. It is sin that like was with Adam makes us hide from that fellowship. Yet we are able to find Him drawing people who are craving that into His presence however far they might appear to us to be from Him. This He can do because He knows the depth of a man’s heart and really knows who is seeking after His knowledge. That is why one can connect in the depths of a drug stupor. That is why some connect in the intensity of their wrong worship as their hearts fit the standard God looks for. That was why Paul connected on his way to imprison and kill disciples. That is why some connect to Jesus in Mecca as they pursue ultimate Islamic observance.

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27)

The New Testament offers even better things. Through Christ’s sacrificial death He was able to release His Spirit to each of those who connect to Him through salvation. We therefore have no excuse for not being able to hear His voice as He Himself is resident in us through the Holy Spirit.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27)

We therefore have no excuse if we insist on using intermediaries to get instructions from the Lord. We should clearly hear to be able to consistently obey or choose disobedience.

What about the spiritual leaders and prophets? Aren’t they supposed to be the ones hearing for us? I will issue an emphatic NO. They hear for themselves. The only thing they do that we may not do is take responsibility over our growth, yet not substitute it. They are supposed to enrich our hearing of that voice by helping us ascertain whether it is the voice or otherwise. They are supposed to teach us to hear and relate well with that voice and especially to be obedient to it.

The same applies to the church assembly. It is the fellowship that gives me a context to not only hear but apply what I am hearing in an empowering and healthy relationship. Again it does not replace my responsibility to hear. It makes it even easier to do so.

Yet that is not what is happening in most of these relationships. Many pastors have replaced the need for each member of their congregation to hear clearly from God. The flock must attend and fund his excesses to be able to hear from God. Of course it is packaged very nicely as to appear like the ideal with enough verses given for good measure. But the reality is that the pastor must speak for God to have spoken. The teaching they pretend to teach is actually meant to show the hearers that they do not need to hear from God as he has heard it all and is revealing it.

I say that because very few (I am looking for even one) preaches things that will make you desire to connect with God except through your giving as it is the one thing he needs from you. Again sin is never a target of their preaching though we know that even the most holy amongst us has not conclusively dealt with sin. Even the few preaching against sin are looking for followers instead of seeking to build those who join him into disciples who can hear that voice for themselves. They are more intent on their word coming to pass instead of people connecting to God.

I MUST hear God’s voice for myself to really obey Him. Hearing through intermediaries is sweet because I can choose what I want to obey and feign ignorance of the things I am not ready to deal with. But then I really know that the Lord has not spoken to me as I cannot choose what I want to obey once I have heard him clearly.

Again I want to emphasize the fact that Christ never once borrowed anything from anyone. He took. He never requested someone to follow Him. He ordered. We are therefore not at liberty to choose what to do with His voice. And I think this is why many choose to walk in ignorance as the demands on hearing are not in the least easy.

But obedience has great rewards though one may have to go through severe persecution even from the experts of the voice, mainly because they feed from their ‘hearing’. The greatest of them is peace from God; a peace like Christ said not as the world gives a peace that passes understanding. Another great reward is fulfillment, and this is by the realization that you are where God wants doing what God demands. The sacrifices of hearing that voice cannot compare to the joy that you will experience when you choose to go the direction of the Lord.

Will we obey the Lord?

Will we seek to hear his voice so that we clearly obey His orders?