Introduction to the series

          For the next five weeks, our theme will be stewardship, by which I mean our life of giving and serving, and our behavior. The Crown financial study begins with the insight that stewardship is based on understanding the Lordship of Jesus Christ. So we will take these five weeks to talk about the meaning of the word "Lord" and then ask "What does it mean for Jesus Christ to be Lord of my life?"

         Colossians is a helpful letter to read as a background to that question, because the identity of Jesus was very much at the heart of what that church needed to discover and live.

         Colosse at the time of Paul was a small and insignificant town in the Lycus valley, abut a hundred miles inland from Ephesus, in Asia Minor. It is unlikely that Paul ever visited there. Epaphras brought the Gospel to them, and Philemon hosted the church in his home.

         The church was pressured by false teachers, who brought a kind of mixture of religions to them. They taught that there was a basic conflict between the material world, which was evil, and the spiritual world. So, to win full salvation, one must harshly treat the physical body and deny it any pleasure. Since God could not communicate directly with human beings in their weak and evil physical state, it was necessary to communicate with angels, who were the mediators. Salvation came through submission to their messages. Jesus Christ was seen as one among many angelic powers, and was accepted for forgiveness from sin, but the idea was to go beyond Christ through special knowledge and spiritual revelation and power.

         So, when Paul wrote to them, he began by establishing the true identity of Christ as the one in whom the fullness of God dwells, the beloved Son. Through Christ the world is created and sustained, and in him is the fullness of redemption. He has won a complete victory over the powers of evil.

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the Kingdom of light." -- Colossians 1:10-12

         In Matthew, Jesus asks the first question of stewardship, "Who do you say that I am?" That follows his question about "who do people say that I am?" As long as we stick with some form of the answer people were giving -- that is, you are John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or another prophet -- then our stewardship will be half-hearted, compromised, and vulnerable to other pressing commitments that call for our money and our service, and that shape our behavior. Those voices will make sense to us.

         If the people in the church at Colosse listened to those around them, they would be told that Jesus was one of many angelic voices, a messenger from God, but not necessarily one of the more exciting or profound ones. Their response to such a being would be polite, respectful, but lukewarm. They would believe in Jesus, but not necessarily follow him. Their stewardship or behavior would follow other voices.

         But Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?" To answer that, you must stop listening to the culture, to the people around you, and you must quit taking your behavior cues from what others are doing and find an answer in your heart. Then you may come to say, with Peter; "You are the Christ, the son of the living God." Then your giving and your serving and your behavior takes an entirely different direction.

         What did Peter mean by that answer? In his commentary on Matthew, R.T. France explains that in the time of Jesus, the word "Christ" was a loaded term. It meant,for most Jews, a coming king in the line of David who would restore his people to national independence. To use such a term openly would draw the immediate attention of the Romans. Not only that, but for most Jews, the term "Christ" did not include suffering and death for the forgiveness of sins. It was only after the death and resurrection of Jesus that the term could be used by his followers without fear of misunderstanding. So "Christ" is not just a term for a Davidic King, it means the king who forgives sin by his death, and who defeats the powers of evil by his resurrection. Peter puts together the term "Christ" with the term "Son of the Living God." This begins to fill in the meaning of the word "Lord" for us.

         This is where Colossians is very helpful. The word "Lord" had a wide range of meaning in the ancient world. A servant could call the one he served "lord." A student could refer to the one who taught him as "lord." Or it was the word used to refer to God, the creator and redeemer. Rather than speak the divine name and risk using it in vain, people simply said "Lord." So, when we use the word "Lord" to refer to Jesus, we are including all of his identity. Lord Jesus then, is the one we serve, the one who teaches us, the one who has redeemed us, the son of God, the King.

Paul gives us some helpful direction in Colossians, because he is writing to people who are struggling with the identity of Jesus. Some of the descriptions he gives of Christ are: the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, all things were created by him and for him, he is the head of the body, the church; he is the firstborn from among the dead, the fullness of God dwells in him, he is the reconciler, the one who brings peace through his blood.

         When we put all the descriptions of Jesus Christ together, we begin to grasp the meaning of Lordship. The Lordship of Jesus has an impact on the Colossians.

David Garland summarizes, "God has made the Colossians fit for a share in an inheritance for which they did not previously qualify as Gentiles. God has rescued them from the dominion of darkness and brought them in a new Exodus to the Kingdom of God's beloved Son. God has redeemed them and forgiven their sins and has reconciled them through Christ to present them holy, without blemish, and free from accusation."

         So Paul is saying to them, "This is who Jesus Christ really is, and this is the difference that makes in your life." When we call Christ "Lord" we are confessing who he is, and entering a new life, where his Lordship makes a difference in who we are and how we live.

         The Greeks had two words that can be translated by the word "Lord." The first was despotes (despot) which meant originally "master of the house." It referred to an owner, a person who ruled without condition, a person who did whatever he pleased, someone harsh and arbitrary.

         The other word was kyrios, which meant an acknowledged authority, someone who was responsible, whose authority was legal. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament, it was the word chosen to replace the Hebrew name of God, for God alone is Lord of the community that belongs to him. When it refers to God, it means creator and Lord of the whole universe, Lord of people, of life and death. The God who saved his people from Egypt and chose them as his possession is the legitimate Lord of Israel.

         This is the name that is given to Jesus, and becomes the basis of the oldest Christian Creed "Jesus is Lord." God has raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him as Lord, giving him the name that is above every name. One day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

         But understanding the Lordship of Jesus not only leads us to worship and to a confession of faith, it also leads us to live in a new way, to "live a life worthy of the Lord." When we come to confess that Jesus is Lord, then we begin to live as stewards of the life he has given to us.

         When do we find ourselves living in a way that we feel is worthy of the Lord? The day at ShareFest felt like worthy living to me. Oftentimes an evening at PADS will feel like worthy living. The times I have gone to Mexico with a group to serve and learn have felt like worthy living. Whenever we find ourselves doing what Jesus did, we experience living that is worthy.

         Paul goes on to pray that they might bear fruit in every good work. Our stewaardship celebration this year is going to have the feel of a county fair. At a county fair people bring the fruit of their labor to be seen by others. I never really understood that, being a city boy. But when we lived in a farming community I came to value the fair. Farmers work a great deal of the time alone. They produce their crops on land that is away from the centers of population. When they bring the fruit of their labor to a public place, to the county fair, where it can be seen, admired, even judged, something happens in the community. There is an affirmation of their good work. There is a connection for those who do not live on a farm, in which they understand the meaning of the food they eat, the true value it has. There is a celebration of a common life, when it is brought together.

         So often our labor in the Lord is not seen. The Sunday school teacher, the nursery volunteer, is largely out of sight. Those who truly make a difference in the lives of people who are poor or oppressed work largely unnoticed. But when the fruit of every good work in Christ is brought together and celebrated there is affirmation of this life of serving the Lord, there is understanding of the value of spiritual ministry; there is celebration of a common life or fellowship in Christ. When we serve the Lord we bear fruit in every good work, and that is cause for celebration in the body.

         Paul prays that these people who confess Christ as Lord will grow in the knowledge of God. A recent study of Covenant pastors found that those who were able to sustain a vital ministry for full career of about 35 years, usually experienced three major, transforming educational experiences during that time. I think the same would be true for all Christians. If we try to live our whole lives for Christ on the basis of what we learned in Confirmation, we may run out of vitality. We need to be learning more of God, and giving ourselves to deeper study and experiences of renewal. Then we will be able to serve the Lord in a consistent, lifelong manner.

         Finally Paul prays for the experience of being strengthened with all power to give us endurance and patience and joyful thanks.

         When are you strengthened in your life in Christ? I sensed it happened in Miami among the men who went on the roofing Mission. I see it happen in the lives of our children and young people when they come home from Covenant Harbor and Covenant Point. They come home strengthened in the Lord.

         But this does not just happen automatically. Spiritual strengthening is intentional, and often a guided experience, just as physical strengthening is. We need to design some experiences of spiritual growth retreats, days of prayer and times of serving Christ together, so that we will experience strengthening in the Lord.

         This is biblical stewardship. When we come to understand what it means that Jesus Christ is Lord, and then surrender our lives to that Lordship, we become stewards of all he has given us. We become stewards of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, stewards of the Great commission, stewards of a moral life, stewards of money and possessions, stewards of time, stewards of his call on our lives. So we live worthy of the Lord, we bear fruit in every good work, we grow in the knowledge of God, we are strengthened with all power.

         It all begins with a question that Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?"

         You answer that question in your heart, you confess that answer in worship, you live that answer in service.

         Amen.