Second Look

This week we started a new sermon series titled, "We are Nazarene."

Over the next several weeks we're going to look deeply at the three core values of the Church of the Nazarene: We are a Christian People, We are a Holiness People, We are a Missional People. 

This week we looked at the first statement - We are a Christian People. Here's a portion of our core value statements: "As members of the Church Universal, we are united with all believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Christ."

But, why is this important? Why is it part of what makes us Nazarene?

THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST IS OUR DEFINING BELIEF:

For those who call themselves Christians, to declare The Lordship of Christ is what separates us from all other religions in the world. What are we saying when we declare Jesus is Lord? We are saying that Jesus Christ is the ruler of the world, the ruler of our hearts – it is declaring that we believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God – that all power and authority, glory and honor belong to Jesus Christ and Him alone! And these are not just words – Jesus Christ IS Lord – whether people acknowledge that fact or not. Jesus is more than the Messiah, He is more than our Savior, He is more than our friend, He IS Lord. And we know that one day, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that fact – JESUS IS LORD!

THE LORDSHIP OF CHRIST MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE:

To declare Jesus is Lord is to declare that Jesus is Lord RIGHT NOW – not just some day; when He returns, but Jesus is Lord in the very moment in time. And so we celebrate – we celebrate Christ’s coming and we look forward to the day when Christ will come again – to declare Jesus is Lord is to declare that God is not finished yet; that God is still at work; that Jesus Christ is still working to bring about the Kingdom of God right here and right now…and that makes ALL the difference in our lives and in our world! For Jesus to be Lord means He was the Lord yesterday, will be the Lord tomorrow, and is STILL THE LORD RIGHT NOW and this is Good News!!

THE LORSHIP OF CHRIST SHOULD BE OUR ANTHEM CRY:

For most of you this morning, I am not preaching about anything that you don’t already know, but God has given us this message today to remind us of what we already know and encourage us to be the voice crying in the wilderness – God is giving us this word this morning to remind us that just because the world around us is seeking to drown out our voices, we should never stop declaring, that JESUS IS LORD!

Paul quotes Isaiah when he says, in Romans 10, "how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news." The feet of good news – Paul is talking about you and me!! But – let’s be honest for a moment. We do sometimes allow the world to drown out our voice. We are sometimes timid is declaring our allegiance to Christ. Yet, for us who declare to be followers of Jesus our only anthem should be, “JESUS IS LORD!” That should be our anthem cry. JESUS IS LORD is where our allegiance should lie. Our anthem cry should be Jesus is Lord of our lives, Jesus is Lord of our families, Jesus is Lord of our career, Jesus is Lord of our future, Jesus is Lord of our country, Jesus is Lord of our world…How are we doing at this? Is Jesus Christ really Lord of my life??

Here are some further questions to ponder:

Are you allowing Jesus to be Lord of ALL of you - your life, your family, your future?

Are you allowing Jesus to be Lord of the Church, our country, the world?

How is your life declaring Jesus is Lord? 

How is your life being a faithful witness of the Lordship of Christ?