Teacher or Lord?

Influence is a powerful tool.  It can either be used to spurn one in a positive or negative direction and help form lifelong belief systems during impressionable stages in life.  We have all been influenced by someone while growing up which helped define the course we took as adults.  Perhaps it was a favorite teacher, a doctor or nurse, police officer or attorney, a pastor or missionary.

On the negative side influence can lead someone into a life of regret, bondage and hopelessness.

We have the opportunity every day to be an influence for good or bad in someone’s life.

I was thinking about this while reading Colossians 1:23; 2:6-8 and1Timothy 1:4 this morning.

But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News. The Good News has been preached all over the world, and I, Paul, have been appointed as God’s servant to proclaim it.

 And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God.

The Bible isn't just a historical keepsake but when paired with our belief in Jesus Christ it becomes the standard and source of how we live in the world around us.

I love teaching about the Teacher, but therein lays a hidden danger if a teacher is all I believe in.  To believe in Jesus as a teacher might bring change could even bring a positive influence in my life.  But until I believe Jesus was more than a cute baby in a manger or a teacher with a powerful life altering message transformation will not occur.

I believe this was the thought behind Paul’s admonition in the above with this key verse: 

“Just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him.”

You see it is easier teaching about the Teacher rather than submitting to him as Lord.

As follower of Jesus the teacher, however great a teacher I may think he is, I still have the choice to decide if I want to do or accomplish the tasks or follow the teachings he presents.  But to accept Jesus as Lord that means I surrender my whole being to him.  The Greek meaning of Lord literally means He becomes the possessor, owner, the one who has control of me.  This also means I give him respect and reverence such as when servants would greet their master in times past. 

Lordship is such a foreign concept to us today especially living in the United States.  No matter what you may think of government today, we have never been subjected to Kings, tyrannical reign or forced submission.  We have grown up with freedoms and choices others only dream about.  Freedom brings struggle in truly understanding and learning about submission to another especially to One we cannot see physically.  The disciples physically walked and lived with Jesus yet struggled with understanding him as Lord.

I recently read that Judas never addressed Jesus as Lord but only teacher.  It always amazed me that Judas witnessed the same miracles and teachings from Jesus the other disciples did but yet his outcome was so very different.

Jesus said, “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.” (Jo 13:13)

The influence Jesus has in our lives as teacher is important.  But the influence he has in our lives as Lord is crucial to living life in peace even in the midst of trouble and heartache; crucial to understanding trust in the midst of questions; crucial to understanding who you and I are and crucial to living our lives before and with others.

Who is Jesus to you today?  A great teacher or Teacher and Lord?