For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord… 2 Corinthians 4:5

Last week I wrote about the foundational declaration of the Old Testament- The LORD is our God, the LORD is one (Deuteronomy 6:4). In the ancient world where there were so many angry and vindictive gods, the concept of One God who lovingly shepherded his people was truly revolutionary. The Jewish people were a unique and shining light in a very dark culture.

By the time the New Testament church came along, not much had changed. The world was still polytheistic, but the names of the gods had changed from the Canaanite ones (Baal, Ashteroth & Molech) to the Roman ones (Zeus, Venus & Diana, etc.). And in a brilliant political move, the Roman emperors had consolidated and unified all of the many religions of the vast Roman empire into one by teaching that Caesar was the physical manifestation of the gods. Every people-group was welcome to continue worshipping their many gods, they just had to acknowledge that Caesar was Lord over them all. To demonstrate your loyalty to the emperor, everyone must publicly declare that “Caesar is Lord.”

It was precisely at this point where the early church got into trouble. You see, this small community of believers followed a miracle working carpenter from Nazareth and had the audacity to claim that “Jesus is Lord!” (“Jesus is Lord” or Lord Jesus” is found 105x in the New Testament) To the Roman government this was nothing less than treason- how dare anyone undermine the authority of the empire! Consequently, most of the apostles were martyred and terrible persecutions followed the church for the first 300 years of her existence.

“Jesus is Lord” got the church in trouble with Judaism too. Remember the Shema? “The LORD is our God…” The early church said “Jesus is Lord” in the exact same way. If God is the LORD (Old Testament) and Jesus is the Lord (New Testament) and there is only one God… that means that Jesus is God! In fact, throughout their writings the early church systematically ascribed to Jesus everything that Judaism said about God… He is creator, he is Lord, he is life, he is eternal, he is our shepherd, etc.

In our day Jesus is still the defining issue of Christianity. It is what makes us Christ-ian. Jesus is the one we follow personally and he is the head of the church. There is no sphere of our life that remains untouched from his rule. The gods of pleasure, independence, wealth and power press hard upon us, but we serve one God. As citizens of his kingdom, we really do “march to the beat of a different drummer.”

From 12 disciples two thousand years ago to 1 billion followers today, the revolution continues one heart at a time. Jesus is Lord and he lives in me. Believe it, Live it, proclaim it!