5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death? even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Phillipians 2:5-11, NRSV
The statement “Jesus Christ is Lord” is one of the simplest and earliest Christian confessions of faith. St. Paul wrote “... if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.” (Romans 10.9f) I believe that when we confess “Jesus Christ is Lord” we are confessing that he is Lord of three things.
First, Jesus Christ is Lord of the Universe. He is Lord of all creation, “for in him all things were created.” (Col. 1.16) The evangelist John wrote that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.” As one who was present at creation, indeed as one who was creating, Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Creation or of the Universe.
Second, Jesus Christ is the Lord of Life. When St. Peter is preaching about the resurrection of Jesus Christ he says “Therefore know assuredly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2.36) Also writing of the passion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, St. Paul writes “that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2.10f) It is Jesus' defeat of death and his resurrection that make him the Lord of Life — “I am the resurrection and the life....” (Jn. 11.25). By his victory over the cross, Jesus Christ is the Lord of Life.
Third, Jesus Christ is the Lord of “me.” The Christian understanding of salvation is that Jesus is not only the Lord of the Universe and the Lord of Life, the first sounding transcendental and the second sounding pantheistic, but he is the Lord of each of us individually. John Wesley writes, “I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” (John Wesley, Journal, May 24, 1738, emphasis Wesley's). Because he is the Lord of the Universe; because he is the Lord of Life; Jesus Christ is the rightful Lord of Me.
Lord,
We thank you for loving us so much
that you come into our lives.
Help us to welcome you and make you
Lord of our lives.
Amen.