Andrew S M Clark

Jesus, all for Jesus
All I am and have
And ever hope to be

All of my ambitions
Hopes and plans
I surrender these
Into your hands
For its only in
Your will that I am free

This was my anthem in 2010 in particular. Jesus, who had made himself known to me powerfully in 1996 was inviting me to refocus my gaze upon him alone, and give my allegiance to him alone. We need this reminder daily, but perhaps also at particular seasons, and 2010 was a significant year of transition for us.

But coming right up to the present, this reformation of the heart still takes place. Each and every day we are faced with the demands of the world and its narrative. Our allegiance is always being claimed by something or someone. We are increasingly aware in the 2020s of a demand to acquiesce (v. to accept something reluctantly, but without protest) to the philosophies of the day. These are Legion and often lies. I’m not going to get ranty about that, though. I refuse to allow the lies and deceptions of the world steal my peace in Christ or diminish my witness. I don’t really believe that any amount of arguing is going to persuade a deceived mind and heart to see reason.

I come back to Jesus. There was a powerful protest that the early church made. It was at one and the same time a proclamation, a praise, and a protest. It was the phrase, ‘Jesus is Lord.’ It was a proclamation because this was the announcing of the name of Jesus – the God who saves his people. It was a praise, because it was the lifting him up as King of kings and Lord of lords – a personal and public affirmation of who he was. It was a protest because saying that ‘Jesus is Lord’ flew directly in the face of the politic of the time which proclaimed ‘Ceasar is Lord.’ The early church had this sneezable phrase that could be passed on that packed a punch. It could, and would, also get you killed as ‘Ceasar’ lit up Christians like torches, and as countless Christians literally followed Jesus to the Roman cross for crucifixion.

What does it mean to live in the 21st century and proclaim Jesus is Lord?

1. We talk about Him. We extinguish darkness with the light of the world. We retell the stories about him. They are unknown stories by and large and yet they contain power. We find new, beautiful and creative ways to tell his story. But also, in ordinary, everyday speech, we name Him in our generation. We literally follow the great commission by ‘teaching them to obey everything I have commanded’ in the assurance of his faithful presence with us to the end of the age.
2. We worship Him. We worship him because he is worthy as part of our own devotional life. We worship Him publically because we’re teaching the nations to obey him. We worship Him because the extolling of his name changes the destiny of people and nations, and worship changes the atmosphere of our lives, our homes, our churches and our communities. Worship turns our lives in the direction of gratitude and joy – and ascribing worth to Jesus sets our priorities.
3. We pray to the Father through Him by the Spirit. We pray ‘Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.’ We’re calling down the Kingdom of God in the present, and in the future in all its fullness. This also involves the demolishing of every stronghold that sets its name up against Christ. We intercede and we see things change. This will inevitably turn the world upside down – the kingdom of God will advance, alongside the opposition to it, no doubt. Jesus wins, and prayer is the key battle!
4. We meet with His people. We’re turned away from ourselves and our own preferences towards Jesus and the people he has called to himself. We have brothers and sisters in Christ to whom we are significantly joined – coheirs with Christ as one family. And we are explicitly told that we belong in this body and that we have a part. Being with Jesus’ people is an absolute non-negotiable for his people. And we are to find ourselves in a place where we can know the richness of fellowship, teaching, breaking of bread, prayer, and the guidance of God in the body under hopefully godly leadership. God saves individuals, but he makes them a kingdom of priests, a holy nation under God, under the cross, and in the life of the resurrection to be a light on a hill for all to see.
5. We serve Him. We do this by loving one another in fellowship, by taking the basin and the towel and washing the feet of our brothers and sisters in whatever way we can. Matthew 25 and Luke 4 (from Isaiah 61) is also pretty specific that this following of Jesus has a very practical implication for the poor and the neglected…in actually serving the ‘least’ we honour and serve Jesus. This is a holy thing. By our love we will be known as his disciples.
6. We look for His coming. We live in the light of his death and resurrection in the glorious victory parade heading all the way to glory – not in an arrogant, triumphal way, but in the assurance that he who began a good work will continue it in us. We know that he is in the business of sanctifying us and making us holy. And we assuredly know he will be returning, having set all his enemies under his feet to banish satan once and for all and crush death forever. We look for his coming, and we live ridiculously hopeful as we cry our ‘Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus!’ We keep our lamps lit and our oil full – we’re waiting for Jesus to come.

These are simply general things off the top of my head as I write, but all these things combined with a great many other things are the means by which we bring our whole lives under the Lordship of Jesus.

It’s early days at Arran Baptist, but the Lord, and he alone, is doing a beautiful thing. Before I turn my mind inwards, or get preoccupied with stresses and all the challenges that can come with a growing church, it is SO important that JESUS is at the very centre. Our island needs Jesus and we will carry his name and his presence within us.