Kingship and Lordship | Submission to The King
The past few decades have seen an emphasis on Christ as our close friend. One of the notably focuses came from the vita, spoke word video by Jefferson Bethke entitled Why I Hate Reigion, But Love Jesus. This video sparked a fair amount of debate during its time shirking the traditional understanding of church and following Jesus as being more about the relationship. While we could easily delve into the finer details of this seven year old video, for now, it will suffice to say that a valid perspective was brought up that there is more to the faith than simple rote behavior. Too many people have understood Christianity to be merely an expression of right behaviors. Bethke helped Christians to understand the relations aspects of Christianity that are vital to our understanding of Christ’s immanence (His closeness to us from the throne room of heaven). Yet, it is possible we did so at the expense of understanding the relationship with have with God as our Lord and King.
In truth, Christianity balances two relationships simultaneously that both must be upheld. We cannot downplay either the relational aspect of the Christian with God nor we can downplay God as our King and Lord. We have been too quick to abandon our understanding of Kingship and Lordship for the sake of understanding the friendship with God. Rather than performing rote actions, we have abandoned all kinds of proper submission before the will of God chalking it up to “religion.” In Paul’s letter to the Roman church, he writes “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9, ESV). Faith in Christ involves the submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all areas of our life, even as we are working it out. Yet, it also balances with the relationship as child of God the Father and one with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit within us.
The Foundation of Kingship
From the beginning of time, before creation came into being, God existed and ruled. Then, out of His goodness and for His glory, God spoke the world into creation over six days, resting on the seventh. His prized creation, made in His image, mankind was created on the sixth day and given the intended design of creation and how they can honor God with their actions for their fullest enjoyment. Yet, mankind rebelled against the Kingship and Lordship of God, choosing their own path instead. Due to mankind sinful rebellion and rejection of the Kingship and Lordship of God, they cut themselves off from the source of life and could only be rescued and redeemed by the grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ. In submitting our lives to Christ in faith, we confess openly to the world that Jesus is Lord of our lives.
The idea behind this confession is not to simply provide lip service to Jesus Christ as Lord, but as a public display of our devotion and submissions to God. Lordship involves submitting willingly to the rule and reign of God in our lives. It bows before God, willing to follow where He leads and do what He says. It lays our hearts bare before God in total submission to the King who is seated on the throne. Too often, we have come to Christ with the posture of “buddy Jesus” in neglect of the divinity of sovereignty of Jesus Christ. He will one day be seated on the throne and rule for all eternity. Proclaiming “Jesus is Lord” demonstrates the posture of our submission to Jesus Christ as the Lord and ruler of our lives. He directs our lives, preferences, and behaviors to be more like Him as we become one with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection.
Our Relationship with the Lord
The King did not stop being the King when we became His children, instead, we became children of the King, adopted into the family of royalty. Where others would fear standing in the presence of the King, we “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV) The King still reigns sovereign over all creation doing as He pleases, but we have the rights of children. We approach the King with the loving adoration that comes from a child to a loving father while still submitting to the Kingship of our Father. We must not overemphasis the friendship with Jesus Christ to strip Him of all aspects of His sovereign divinity but rather blend the two together just as Christ does.
In short, we are friends of God and the bride of Christ. Through faith in Jesus Christ, by grace, we have received a different status than others who rest in their rebellion. But we must not think we get to define the rules and terms of our connection with Jesus Christ nor what we should and should not do. Submitting to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior means we submit to a loving, benevolent King who looks out for our good just as a good father looks out for His children. Thus, true faith and true relationship with Jesus Christ involves the acknowledgement of His divinity and a submission to His will, not because we agree (because our flesh certainly does not) but because He is good and sovereign. Jesus told His disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:15-17, ESV) Submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ finds its foundation in our relationship with Jesus Christ. By wholly knowing Him intimately and being known by Him, we encounter a God willing to lay down His life for His people. We find a God who saves according to His grace and a God worth bowing before as our King and Lord.
