What is a “Lord”?
A Word From The Word: Lord
For Americans, the word “Lord” has come to be synonymous with Jesus. Since the rebellion against England, we don’t refer to other humans as “Lord”. Whatever the political advantages of this, it has come with the price that we no longer understand what the word actually means.
Jesus is Lord. Not chairman or leader or governor or even President. Not someone we follow so long as we agree with him or believe we will get what we want from her. Not someone we replace by voting in someone more favorable. He is Lord.
The word used in the New Testament for “Lord” is kurios. It means anything from boss to God. It refers to someone who has authority and/or power over others. It is not just an honorific, but a statement of reality. It is someone who is above us in the hierarchy of authority and power—and the one over that one, and the one over that one, etc., until it refers to the one person at the pinnacle of authority. The Lord of Lords. (1 Timothy 6:15)
The closest word in American usage would be “boss”. But when we refer to Jesus, we don’t refer to just any boss (or Lord), but to the highest boss. The one who has authority and power over everyone. That Jesus didn’t approach this role with the conceit and love of power that others have doesn’t change who He is. He owned the role when He told His disciples, “You call me teacher and Lord and you are right.” (John 13:13).
Why is it important for disciples of Jesus to understand this word? We live in a time when people call themselves Christian while distancing themselves from Jesus and His teaching (people have done this since Judas, but we see it much more openly today). I heard a well known and loved preacher refer to a command Jesus gave and say, “Let’s be honest, we aren’t going to do that.” I waited for his repentance and exhortation that we need to be obedient to the Lord. But it didn’t come. When he said “We aren’t going to do that”, he meant it—and he intended to continue that way.
This kind of “discipleship” leads us into every kind of problem we can imagine for the simple reason that we are, in reality, saying Jesus is NOT Lord–we are.
Disciples of Jesus strive to obey all of His commands (Matthew 28:20). If we are selective, If we pick and choose which we will obey, If we decide we know better than He does, He is no longer our Lord. We have become our own Lord again—with all the disastrous results that come when we are our own Lord. If we are to be faithful disciples we follow Jesus whether we want to or not (much as Jesus did in Gethsemane). This is when we realize the truth of a statement I heard years ago. When God and I disagree—He is right, because He is Lord!
Know Jesus, and Be Faithful!