Who's The Boss? Series

HoHum:

“Who’s the Boss?” was a TV show that ran in the 80’s. A widower and former pro baseball player, Tony Micelli takes a job as a housekeeper from a high powered divorced executive, Angela Bower, and her son. Tony and his daughter, Samantha, move into the Bower home, where Tony’s laid back personality contrasts with Angela’s type A behavior. This leads to the shows title, “Who’s the Boss?” Tony or Angela. Who’s the boss in our lives? Who is lord?

WBTU:

An important message of the Bible is that “Jesus Christ is Lord.” The fact that He is Lord demands that we submit ourselves to Him. All of history is moving towards the moment when all of God’s creation will declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

The bible often uses the word Lord. What does that mean? The word “Lord” is kurios in the Greek. It is the equivalent of the Hebrew word Adonai, which means Lord and carries with it the idea of a master servant relationship in which the servant wants to please his master. Not familiar today, probably closest is the scenes of Downton Abbey, TV show on PBS.

Christians have a Lord and He is Jesus Christ. Difference is, no matter our background or social standing, our riches or our poverty; as Christians, Jesus is our Lord.

Thesis: As Christians, we must submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Why?

For instances:

I. Because He is the Boss

These points come from Romans 14:7-12 so let’s turn there. I’ll be using the Christian Standard Bible by Holman Bible Publishers- the version that is the Bible bowl text this year for my sons Zach and Zane- follow along the best we can, normally I use NIV but humor me

Let me read the whole section first- “For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and returned to life for this: that he might be Lord over both the dead and the living. But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will give praise to God. So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.”

As Christians, Jesus Christ is the boss. In verses 7, 8 we are confronted with the fact that Christ is the Lord (The Boss) whether we live or whether we die. “For none of us lives for himself, and no one dies for himself.” The point is that we are to submit to the Lord in everything.

The idea of Lordship is the fact that Jesus, on the basis of who He is and what He has done, has power and authority over every area of our lives.

1. First, He is the Lord of life- vs. 8- If we live, we live for the Lord

One of the greatest problems in Christianity today is irresponsible living. As long as I’m saved (believe, repent, confess and baptized) I can live anyway I want to. I am forgiven of my sins and therefore I a free person. Peter Forsythe said, “The first duty of every soul is to find not it freedom but its Master.” Only by having Jesus Christ as our Boss can we find real freedom!

Let me address this with some other words of Paul in Romans 6: “What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? (When did we die?) Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (We died to ourselves when we were baptized) Vs. 7- Since a person who has died is freed from sin (We are free from sin but this does not mean we can live anyway we like; why?) Vs. 17- But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, vs. 18- and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. (What does it mean to be enslaved to righteousness?) Vs. 22- You have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God (Jesus Christ is God so we are slaves to Christ)

Galatians 2:20- I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. A. W. Tozer says that people who are crucified with Christ have three distinct marks.