CHRIST JESUS THE LORD

CHRIST JESUS THE LORD

" As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him." (Col 2:6)

HOW SHOULD A PERSON LIVE once they have "received Christ Jesus the Lord"? It is not unusual to find a glaring absence of this kind of language among churched people, i.e., "received Christ Jesus the Lord." People are often not hesitant to mention when they "became a Christian," or "joined the church," or were "baptized." There certainly is nothing INHERENTLY wrong with those statements. There did come a point in time when the saved became followers of Christ ("Christians"). There also was a point where they "joined" themselves to the followers of Jesus, as in Acts 9:26. And the day we were "baptized into Christ" (Gal 3:27) was certainly an epoch. However, the phrase "received Christ Jesus the Lord" is a fuller expression, with a wider circumference, including the other matters that have been mentioned, without diminishing them.

IN THE LAST ANALYSIS, receiving Christ distinguishes the saved from the lost. As it is written, "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power [or right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:11-13).

BEING SAVED INVOLVES RECEIVING BENEFITS, but more fully it involves receiving Christ Himself. Although it is fashionable for men to speak of receiving Jesus as your Savior, our text says He is received as "Christ Jesus THE LORD." The suggestion that you can receive Christ as your Savior, and later receive Him as your Lord is religious folklore. It simply is not possible to receive Christ Jesus outside of recognizing He is, in fact, Your Lord.

RECEIVING HIM AS "THE LORD" settles any issue about obedience. No matter how seemingly small the required obedience may appear, when Jesus is received as "the Lord," hearty submission to His demands will be found. That is precisely why it is said of early converts, "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized" (Acts 2:42). They had just heard the powerful proclamation of Jesus Christ. So far as the Scriptural record of the day of Pentecost is concerned, Peter made no reference to Christ as a "Savior." He did make five direct references to Him as "Lord" (Acts 2:20,21,25, 34,36), and that is the capacity in which they received Him.

HOW IS IT THAT WE "receive Christ Jesus the Lord?" Preeminently, it is by believing on His name (John 1:12). It is by trusting Him to be exactly what the Gospel presents Him to be. Even though our sins may have been sweeping like floods over our souls, we believed He could take them away, making them "white as snow" (Isa 1:18), and freeing us from oppressing guilt. We acknowledged we had nothing to offer, and were clothed in filthy rags, even when the very best of our persons was seen (Isa 64:6). We knew if Jesus did not lift us from the quagmire of sin, there was no hope of us ever getting out of it. It only remained for us to know what to do, and we gladly acquiesced to the doing of it – just like those of Scriptural record (Acts 2:37; 8:36; 9:6; 16:30). We received Him as Lord. Those who call Jesus "Lord," yet do not say what He commands do not know what they have said, and are really none of His (Lk 6:46).

NOW THAT WE HAVE "RECEIVED HIM," we do not walk by a principle that differs from receiving Him as Lord. Our lives are still lived out in reliance upon the Christ of the Gospel – the One declared in the good news of salvation. We still rely upon Him as our Lord. We still ask Him what we are to do. We still acknowledge that in us, that is in our flesh, "dwelleth no good thing" (Rom 7:18).

LIFE IN CHRIST IS TO BE ADDRESSED as fervently and energetically as we sought for the remission of our sins! Our obedience as Christians is to be as unrelenting as it was when we sought the purging of our conscience. "What wilt thou have me to do?" is not to disappear from our vocabulary when we come into Christ.

JESUS ONCE SAID, "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him" (John 14:21). That is not only a blessing of induction into Christ, it is the manner of life in Him.

WALK YE IN HIM. Contemporary versions read "continue to live your lives in Him." I like the word "walk." It confirms that living in Christ requires effort. It also shows that we are headed in a specific direction, not just wandering in the wilderness of doubt and confusion. It also indicates progress, even though opposition and hardship are regularly confronted, and weaknesses are experienced.

SO HOW DO WE MAKE IT THROUGH these trials? How is progress to be made toward the homeland? Precisely the same way in which we "received Christ Jesus the Lord!" We trust Him to be precisely what the Gospel declares Him to be. We ask Him what we should do, and call upon His name for deliverance and guidance. We acknowledge we need Him, and believe He will not cast us away if we come to Him. How marvelously simple, yet profound!

– Given O. Blakely