Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
February 7, 2010 - W1006

I want to talk about what it means to make Jesus our Lord, but first I want to announce the great news that 167 people were baptized last weekend! Not only that but 121 received Christ last week! However, while it is essential to receive Him as your savior, I want you to also make Jesus your Lord. You see, making Him your savior is not the same as making Him your Lord. You need to understand both.

If you do not make Jesus your Lord, He becomes simply another way among others for you to succeed in your life and goals. You need to know what it means to serve the Lord. As the Bible says, "I want you to know that ... no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:3). We all remember repeating phrases like “Jesus is our Lord and Savior.” But some of us only emphasize the savior part. So what does it mean to have Jesus as your Lord?

A while back, when I was a pastor in Hilo, there was a man who received Christ and three weeks later he proudly asked me to see his prayer room. I had been a Christian for a while and even I did not have a prayer room so I was curious. When I got there I saw he had a shelf with a huge picture of Jesus on it. But next to Jesus was a picture of Buddha, Saint Christopher, Mother Mary and a bunch of others! He told me that Jesus was now number one! I told him that Jesus had to be not only number one but He has to be the ONLY ONE!

We have too many Lords in our lives. What if before I got married, I had told my fiancé, Anna that she was number one but Betty was number two and Susie was a very close number three? She would not have married me ofcourse! Jesus also cannot be only number one – He has to be the ONLY ONE!

As it is written, "You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath ..." (Ex. 20:3-4). Jesus has to be your only Lord. If you do not understand this, then it will not be long before you will give Lordship to the other things in your life.

Years ago, my wife Anna and I were late for dinner. I rushed down the stairs and yelled back at her to hurry up. She finally came out and so I slammed the door shut and heard all the locks click closed. I then asked her to give me the keys for the car. She said she did not have them. I told her she had to have them because she was the wife! But she did not have them! So I was so angry with her because we could not use the car without the keys and we could not get back into the house! I was so angry; I asked God, “Why did you give me this woman?” Anna came over to me and said, “Let’s pray.” I growled, “Don’t touch me!” Later that night she came to me but I snapped, “Don’t talk to me!” So who do you think was my Lord, then?

One week later, we visited my brother who lived near San Francisco. We spent the day in San Francisco and wanted to leave at 5pm to get to my brother’s barbecue by 6pm.  Wellllll … don’t ever try to leave San Francisco at 5pm because everybody and his dog are trying to leave at that time. We were gridlocked on the freeway and it was hot! The second thing you should never do is take the wrong exit because then you have to drive all the way to Tijuana to make it back to the right exit! I told Anna to look at the map for the right exit but we ended up taking the wrong one anyway. I was so mad at her!

Later, in my mind, God asked, “Wayne, who is your Lord?” I automatically replied, “You are.” But I then realized that that had not been true because you Lord is supposed to be the one who determines whether you feel your day is a success or not. Your Lord determines whether your countenance is up or down. Your Lord controls your disposition with your spouse. In my case, the lost key was my Lord. It determined how I felt about everything. Likewise, the wrong exit was also my Lord. It controlled me and determined my happiness and my relationship with my wife.

So who is changing your life now? Who is your Lord? Jesus has to be the ONLY Lord in your life because there will be plenty of lost keys and wrong exits. It might be a reckless driver that cuts you off that changes you into a maniac. It could be a lack of finances that becomes your Lord. If Jesus is not your only Lord then you will give Lordship to all those little gods. That is why Jesus not only is number one but He has to be the only one.

There was a boss who yelled at a husband so the husband yelled at his wife. The wife then slapped her son and so the son punched his sister. The sister kicked her dog and so the dog bit the head off her doll. So in counseling, when the husband gets yelled at, I just tell him to save everybody else by just biting the head of the doll!

So who is your Lord? It is the one that controls who you are. It is so easy and quick for us to give Lordship over to other things in our lives. We need to make sure that only Jesus determines our lives. So how can we do that?

1.   REMEMBER.

Learn to remember that Jesus is your only Lord. You have to find ways to remind yourself because it is so easy to forget.

There once was an 80 year old woman that gave birth. The reporters all gathered to interview her. They kept asking her to see the baby and she kept saying, “Not yet”. Finally, they asked why and she replied she had to wait until he cried. When the reporters asked why, she said so that she could remember where she put him!

You have to remember! You have to figure out ways to remember that Jesus is your only Lord. You will always have lost keys, insensitive bosses and missed exits but you have to remind yourself that those are not your Lords – only Jesus is.

I talk to myself to remind myself. It might sound neurotic but how many of you talk to yourselves? Well, David and Nehemiah talked to themselves. David asked himself, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God..." (Ps. 42:5). Remember; put your hope in God

Nehemiah said, "I consulted with myself..." (Neh. 5:7). That is something we all can do.

I fast forward the tape whenever I have a decision to make. When I am confronted with making a decision, I imagine in my mind the following steps resulting from that decision. I picture what would happen to my family and ministry in the future if I made that decision. And then I determine if those future results are what I want.

Learn the art of fast forwarding. What if you got revenge? What if you made that big purchase? The best chess players in the world think 7 moves ahead when they play chess. Nehemiah considered several steps ahead in his mind. God wants you to remind yourself who your Lord is. Job said, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him..." (Job 13:15). Job reminded himself that God was his only Lord.

You have to remind yourself because there will be times when everything will seem lost to you. The Devil cannot steal your salvation but he can steal your influence. There will be times when your whole world will seem to go dim and you will want to fight with God. But I advise you, do not fight with God. Instead …

2. SURRENDER.
   
   

You can fight with God or you can surrender. Humans only use 4% of their brain, why is it that we think we know better than God?

My brother Gary loved wrestling and he loved to wrestle with me. He would practice all sorts of painful holds on me and I would fight and fight and end up getting hurt and losing. So one day I punched him! Biiiiig mistake! He twisted me into the most agonizing pretzel I had ever been in. So the next time, I got smarter. As soon as he touched me I “tapped out” or surrendered each time. Soon my brother gave up wrestling me because it was no longer fun. So you see, you have to learn when to surrender. With God, I urge you to surrender quickly.

God told Jeremiah to get to the potter’s house. Jeremiah watched as the potter was making a clay vessel. The vessel was flawed so the potter smashed it down and remade it again. Once again the vessel was spoiled so the potter again smashed it down and reshaped it. God said, "O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand" (Jer. 18:6). We do not know all that God is doing. He is the potter and we are the clay. Sometimes he gives us setbacks to smash us down in order to rebuild us. We fight him and ask Him why. The best is not to fight Him but to surrender to His will or you will become bitter. If you make Jesus your Lord, not everything will be peaches and cream but everything will work out for the good. Remember, God never wastes a hurt. God knows that if there was another way to do it, He would have done it that way.

When I went through a season of turmoil and depression, I asked God why. He told me that I had to trust Him to be my Lord. We may not know why God does what He does now, but later we will. Sometimes we do not know that Jesus is all that we need until Jesus is all we have. Sometimes that is the only way that He lets us know that He is not only number one but He is the only one.

It is written, "... he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust" (Matt. 21:44). Jesus is the stone. He may break you but if you do not have Him as your Lord you will be destroyed when you fall. As the Bible says, "Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us" (Hos. 6:1).

I have grown the most in the depths of the valleys of my life – not at the peaks. We do not see the differences between the mature and immature person in the good times but we see the differences when the storms come. There are all kinds of transformations that occur in the depths of our lives. So remind yourself to stay true to your Lord Jesus. Another way to keep Jesus as your Lord is to …

3. SERVE.
   
   

Why? Many names were given to Christ but His most loved is when He calls Himself a servant. Jesus says that He loves those that serve. I know that I am never more like Jesus then when I am serving. When we serve, it helps us to remember that we are not in charge – Jesus is. As it is written,  "Jesus, knowing ... that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself... and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded" (John 13:3-5). Jesus humbled Himself by becoming a servant Himself.

I am never closer to Jesus the when I am serving. So be a people that understand what it means to serve and have Jesus as Lord as well as your Savior. Serving will open your heart to that.

I was once near the Sea of Galilee and that area is so full of life. It is full of fish, fishermen, restaurants and people. It is beautiful. But nearby is the Dead Sea. It is one of the richest seas in the world with minerals. But is has no fish. It is dead. The salt content is so high that there are stalagmites rising out of the sea. While the rest of the oceans are 4% salt, the Dead Sea is 22% salt. The reason it is dead is because there is no outlet for the water to drain. The only way water leaves is through evaporation. Because there is no outlet, everything the Dead Sea receives, it keeps. If we were to bring life to the Dead Sea it would be by opening an outlet for the water to drain.

One of the best ways to catch the heart of Jesus is to serve or in other words, have an outlet for your life. If you have no outlet, you may be rich but dead like the Dead Sea. In following Christ who is the servant, we need to give life away so that we can receive life.

Remember, Jesus is your only Lord. Sometimes He may break you to remind you of that. So make Jesus not only your Savior but your Lord as well.

Find ways to constantly remind yourself that Jesus is your only Lord. Surrender to Him quickly. Learn to serve because that is one way to remind yourself of His Lordship and will bring you closer to Him.

Study suggestions

1.   How will you remind yourself of Jesus’ Lordship over you?

2.   Why will you surrender yourself to Him?

3.   What happened when you fought God?

4.   Why should you serve?

5.   How will you serve better?

6.   What other things have been you lords and/or are still lords in your life?