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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/eugene-higgins/lordship/
I'd rather take a moment now than at the Gospel tonight to just thank you for your kindness. I deeply appreciate being invited here for the meetings and hope that the things we have considered have been of some encouragement.
Thank the believers for their hospitality, special thanks to Paul and Jeanne who have had to put up with me almost every day, and to all of the believers for their care. Psalm 12 and verse 3. The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things, who have said, With our tongue will we prevail, our lips are our own, who is Lord over us.
Now, it is remarkable that they should pick up this idea in contesting lordship, that we can talk any way we want. No one controls our speech because we have no Lord but ourselves. So here is the idea of lordship reaching even down to our words, our conversation, who is Lord over us.
The New Testament, please, Philippians. Familiar passage in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 10. That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things in earth and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Final reading, please, in the book of Acts chapter 10. Acts chapter 10 and verse 36. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. I would like to consider with you this afternoon the lordship of Christ, and we have read these three statements.
One is a question that the world asks. Its godless attitude is expressed in this question. Who? Who is Lord over us? Notice, please, that the answer given, the Father's glorious announcement, he is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And then we expand that. Here is the believer's, the saint's glad omission. He is Lord of all. Who is Lord? He is Lord. He is Lord of all. So notice with me, first of all, the exalted name that belongs to the Lord Jesus.
His is a name without a peer. He is Lord of all. Interesting to note that the words in Philippians 2, highly exalted, has roots to the idea that the Lord Jesus so often spoke about, that he would be lifted up, referring to his death.
So that you can actually say in Philippians 2, God has highly lifted him up. What a contrast. That the world lifted him up on a cross, but God has highly lifted him up. It is a very simple principle to note in the Bible, that whenever God speaks in an ascending order, the Lord Jesus is primal.
When he speaks in an assembling order, the Lord Jesus is central. So wherever you have a hierarchy, and God is moving up the scale, the Lord Jesus has the first place. He is primal. He is number one. He is Lord of all.
When he gives us pictures of assembling and centers and people being gathered, the Lord Jesus is always central. He is the attraction for his people throughout all ages. So that whether you are speaking about earth or heaven, the Lord Jesus is unique and supreme.
Psalm 45 says, as far as earth is concerned, he is fairer far than the children of men. Grace is poured into his lips. God has blessed them forever. The psalmist turned his attention toward heaven and said, who in heaven can be compared unto the Lord?
Who among the sons of the mighty is like unto the Lord? His is a name, a name without a peer. This is a truth for every sphere of the Christian life. For instance, in our personal life, in your personal life, here is what the Bible says.
Walk worthy of the Lord. Of the Lord. We are to conduct our lives in a way consistent with his being my Lord. Walk worthy of the Lord. Imagine that even when it comes to marriage, the apostle exhorts the believers that marriage was to be in the Lord.
That is the choices in life. All of that is to be regulated by the fact that I have a Lord over me, that he is Lord of all in my life. What about the business world? Think about labor and management. When it comes to labor, Paul writes to slaves and he says, you serve the Lord Christ.
And he speaks about, first of all, singleness of heart as unto Christ and sincerity of purpose. He says, not with eye service, as men pleases. And he speaks about a sweetness of disposition with goodwill, doing service as to the Lord.
And that is remarkable because he is writing to slaves. Men that have no free time. People whose life is circumscribed by responsibilities dictated by somebody else. And he says, you serve the Lord. I wonder how many of the Lord's servants are here today.
I wonder how many full-time servants of the Lord are here today. They say, well, full-time, that is the thing they say. I have to go to work in the morning. You guys got it easy. You can sleep until noon if you want.
You can believe that if you wish. And you just kind of move around into warm climates and preach. But I have a family and a job. Explain this to me. That when the king comes to the mouth of the lion's den and calls in to this public servant now, this court official who has been thrown in the night before, what does he say?
O Daniel, servant of the kingdom of Medo-Persia? No. O Daniel, servant of the Most High God. Part-time servant, right? Like it's hard to be a full-time servant because he had his job at court. What does the king say?
Is thy God whom thou servest on weekends? No. Is thy God whom thou servest continually able to deliver thee? Continually. So that in the midst of his everyday duties, he worked as unto the Lord. So that means that tomorrow morning, if you're pushing papers, or you're at the terminal entering information, or you're teaching, or you're packing the lunches for the children, or you're off to work, sitting at the desk doing something else, you can take those moments that the world views as downtime.
They hold their breath until the weekend, until they can do what they want. You can take those moments and so use them that you turn them into the currency of heaven. That you mint them into moments that will be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ if you do it as unto the Lord.
What about management? Paul speaks to the masters and he says, Masters, this is interesting because it's a play on words, he says, Masters, you have a master. Literally, he is saying, Lords, you have a lord.
So remember in your treatment of others, remember that you have a lord over you. You have a boss over you. You have a master over you. And so in their treatment of others, they were, it's the golden rule, operating in corporate offices.
They were to run a business on the principles of the kingdom of God. I don't know if they are here. I haven't actually noticed enough to see if Chick-fil-A has made it to Arizona. But it is big in the southeast and it has come up into our area.
And I had the privilege of being able to preach the gospel at a corporate supper for the opening of a new Chick-fil-A establishment. And so I thought, you know, I better do my homework. So I read his book, Truett Cathy, the founder.
I read his book. He is a believer, a Christian. There are some wonderful incidences in that life book. One of them was this. Only had one restaurant at the time. Came to the restaurant in the morning and one of the hired workers, one of the cooks actually, was on his break.
And he was out in the hallway and he was smoking. And Mr. Cathy, Truett, by the way, named after George Truett, the preacher. And his first name is Samuel, I believe, after Samuel in the Bible. Mr. Truett said to the young man, listen, that is an awful habit for you to get in.
He said, not only is that a filthy habit, but he said, it will harm your health. You ought to stop that. And then he said, I noticed that the man was leaning on the cigarette machine in my restaurant.
And I thought to myself, how consistent is that? Out went the funds that would come from it. Out went the revenue that would come in from it. And in none of those stores would there be cigarette machines.
Why? Inconsistent, he felt, with the fact that he had a Lord over him. And by the way, don't try to go to a Chick-fil-A on Sunday. They're closed because he believes in the Lord's Day. So none of them anywhere are ever open.
What's that? That is a master realizing he has a master. So when it comes to our personal life, when it comes to our business life, what about the assembly? How does Paul beseech believers? He says, we beseech you by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Our Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of chapter 14 in 1 Corinthians, what does he say? These are the commandments of the Lord. These are the commandments of the Lord. And you remember that you have two passages in our Bible where the word Lord appears in an unmistakably concentrated fashion.
Romans 14, which has to do with the devotion of the believer. Whether we live, we live unto the Lord. Whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord. You remember on and on it goes about Lordship and its claims on my life.
But then 1 Corinthians chapter 1. When he's about to deal with all those problems, again and again he deals with the Lord, the Lord, the Lord, the Lord. Why? Because an assembly is not a salad bar where we pick and choose what we like, how we want to do this.
We'll decide how we want to dress, how we want to conduct our meetings. An assembly is a place where someone is supreme and his name is the Lord. And Paul says, if any have any contentions over these points, he said, we have no such custom.
These are the commandments of the Lord. Personal life, business life, assembly life. How about in the home? Children, obey your parents in the Lord. In the Lord. Parents, in fact, pardon me, it's not a word to parents.
Let me just speak to the men here today. It is a word to fathers. It seems, I would infer this, it seems that there is a peculiar danger to harshness on the part of the father, not the mother. And therefore it is to fathers, to the males, that Paul writes and he says about bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
Maybe there's something about the male ego that faces it as a challenge, that I will break this boy's spirit. He will learn to listen to me. And there is a danger, you see, of harshness in that case. And so we are reminded, he is reminded, he is reminding us to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
That I am conscious that there is a Lord watching me. And that I want them to be conscious that the Lord is Lord in this family. There was a ball player a number of years ago when I was a boy growing up.
A muscular man named Harmon Killebrew who played for the Minnesota Twins. And on one occasion, I read this instance once, he was just a boy out in the backyard playing. And his dad was playing ball with him.
And the mother, Harmon's mother, leaned out and kind of said, How are we going to grow anything back there, playing like that? He said, I never forgot what my father said. He said, Dear, we're not raising grass, we're raising kids.
We're not raising grass, we're raising kids. And you know the old adage about how a company can forget what it's really in business for and go off on a tangent and go bankrupt because it forgot that it's really not in the business of selling telephones but it's rather in the larger business of communication, therefore adapts to the need.
I can forget, you see, I can forget that I'm not in the business making my children behave so everybody thinks I'm a good dad. I'm in the business of trying. You are, we are, in the business of trying with the help and by the grace of God to raise God-fearing children who eventually will become saved and useful to God in his assembly.
And so to the fathers comes the reminder about the Lordship of Christ. There is this truth for every sphere. But I want you to notice the exclusive claim that that Lordship has on us. How about worship?
Listen to this statement. He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him. He has an exclusive claim to my worship. Forget thine own people and thy father's house, so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty. For he is thy Lord, and worship thou Him.
He has an exclusive claim to my obedience. He says, why call ye me Lord? Lord, and do not the things that I say. Inconsistent, inconsistent that I should be disobedient and yet tell you that he is Lord in my life.
He has an exclusive claim on my service. And again, I think there is something of a play on words which you would get if you were looking at the original when the Lord Jesus sends the disciples to get the colt that's tied by a place where two ways meet.
He says to them now, if any say to you, why loose ye the colt? And in one account it says, if the owners, if the masters of the colt say, what do ye loose in the colt? You tell them that the Lord hath need of them.
And straightway he'll send them back. But the thing is that the Lord Jesus in both usages uses the same word. So that loosely you could say, if the lords of the colt say to you, what are you doing loosing our colt?
You tell them that the Lord has need of him. A Lord above those lords. A master above those masters. An owner with a prior claim that takes precedence over those masters, owners, and lords. And the same is true in our life.
He has an exclusive claim to our service. You can find in the book of Acts, he has the right to direct where we will preach, to whom we will preach, when we will preach. You can see that as you move through Acts 9, Acts 12, and Acts 16.
Notice, please, he has an exclusive claim to our consecration. We have often had it pointed out to us that there is something amazingly and significantly important about Paul's statement in Acts 9. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Now I find it interesting that in the next chapter, Peter should say, not so, Lord. And of course, preachers have often reminded us that Paul's first question is, who art thou, Lord? And then when he realizes who it is, he moves Lord to the front and he says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
So now how significant, right? How portentous, if I can put it that way, that Peter's response is, not so, Lord. Remember, he sees this sheep, let down. And he says, I've never eaten anything unclean.
I've never come in contact with that. And so he says, not so, Lord. So isn't it worrisome that while a young convert on the first day of his conversion recognizes, admits, and acknowledges, I have a Lord over me, that a veteran, Peter, should make the mistake of saying to the Lord, Lord, you're wrong.
Lord, that can't be, not so, Lord. I hope we will not make that mistake. But we will realize he has an exclusive claim to our consecration. I thought that maybe I could just show you that claim stretched out over our lives.
If I just grabbed, in the moments that remain, if I just grabbed instances in the Bible where we have people taking this place, acknowledging that he was Lord. And so there are not all that many who use this personal pronoun and say, my Lord.
But let me give you some of them and the lessons that go along with it. Joshua chapter 5, Joshua says, what saith my Lord unto his servant? What saith my Lord unto his servant? I want you to think about submission linked with lordship.
He's the captain, Joshua. He's probably gone out to think over how he's going to arrange the battle, where he will put his soldiers in array, how best he can conquer Jericho when suddenly he sees an armed warrior in front of him.
Remember his question, for us or for our enemies? And the cryptic answer comes back, nay. What does that mean? He says, are you for us or against us? And the answer is not, I'm for you or I'm against you.
But no, no. Because, of course, as we've often been told, he hadn't come to take sides. He had come to take charge. Now, Joshua realizes immediately, this captain is over me. This is the captain of the Lord's host.
So almost surrender, like almost drawing your sword and handing it to a superior general. He says, what saith my Lord unto his servant? If the Lord Jesus Christ is my Lord, then submission should mark me in my life.
It was James Hudson Taylor, the founder, this is what makes it significant to me, the founder of the China Inland Mission, who said that the greatest mission is submission. The greatest mission is submission, learning to bow.
You'll recall that the wise man said in the Proverbs that victory is of the Lord. Salvation is of the Lord is actually victory is of the Lord. Victory over the flesh? Victory over a world around me that wants to draw me away?
Victory over the enemy who wants to divert me and defile me and lead me away from the Lord Jesus? How do I enter into that victory? Not by my strength, but by submission to the Lord in my life. What saith my Lord unto his servant?
What about Elizabeth in Luke chapter 1? When Mary comes to visit Elizabeth and Zacharias, she says, whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come unto me? I want you to think about appreciation, the appreciation for a fellow believer.
Don't you see something of the humility of Elizabeth? That although she is the older woman, yet listen to the humble place she takes. She's saying, in effect, what a privilege this is that the mother of my Lord should come and visit me.
Now how would it affect our dealings with each other here today if I really viewed you as better than I am? Somebody said there's two kinds of people in the world. And the funny thing is I could call up right now into my mind's eye an example of both of these kinds.
Two kinds of people in the world. There's a person who walks into a room and says, here I am, here I am. And there's a person who walks into a room and says, oh, there you are, there you are. You know those kind of people?
The kind of people who walk into a room and they take over. Everything's got to center around them. The conversation, the questions, the answers, everything. I'm sure you were just waiting for me to come.
Now I'm here and I'll dispense my wisdom to you because you've just been breathlessly waiting for my arrival. Here I am. And then there are people and it just seems all they're interested in is you. How are you doing?
How's the family? How are the children? How's your wife? How's your husband? You had the operation. How are you feeling? And without our realizing it, we open up to people like that, don't we? Now Mary comes to visit Elizabeth and Elizabeth doesn't say, I guess you'd like to know how it happened, about the angel that appeared to my husband.
Sure, sit down and I'll tell you all about us. No, no. She says, in effect, I can't believe it that someone like you would come to visit someone like me. Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should visit me?
I just ask again, would it change how we treat one another if that was our attitude toward fellow believers? I want you to think about Mary Magdalene in John chapter 20 when she says, speaking to the Lord Jesus, although she doesn't even know that's to whom she's speaking, she says, they have taken away my Lord and I know not where they have laid him.
And I want you to think about devotion. Devotion. They have taken away my Lord. Angels had very little appeal to her, didn't they? Now, come on, be honest. If on the way here to meeting this morning, you had seen two angels and they had chatted with you, when the meeting was done this morning, would you have kept that to yourself?
Or just would you happen to have mentioned it while you were standing in line? I had a visit this morning. You know, that's what I saw. There's angels there. Isn't that what you said, angels? It really reminds me again of the psalmist's question, Whom have I in heaven but thee?
There is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. What does she want? I just want my Lord. Where is he? Oh, and Mary, there's angels. Why don't you talk to them about heaven? Why don't you, maybe they could talk to you about some relatives of yours who have died.
My Lord. You probably know from your reading of the Gospel of John that, I was going to say one of the major themes, but it actually may be the major theme of the Gospel of John, is that the Lord Jesus is displacing all the things that came under the law.
The key, of course, is in chapter one. The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. So whether it is the tabernacle light, the candlestick, he's the light of the world. Whether it is the manna coming down, he is the bread of God.
Whether it is the water from the rock, he is the one who has the living water. Again and again, he's displacing everything that was under Judaism. Right? The fold will give way to the flock, and he will be the shepherd.
So notice, please, that in chapter one, the question is, what seekest thou? What seekest thou? Because Jews were after things eight times. What seekest thou? But after he has presented himself in that Gospel, as the displacer of all those things.
The question is different at the end of the Gospel, isn't it? It's not what seekest thou, but the Lord Jesus says to Mary, because he knew her heart. He saw through her tears. He knew what she really wanted, and he says, whom seekest thou?
Who is it that you're after, Mary? I don't want angels. I don't want heavenly visitors. I just want him. They've taken away my Lord. I don't know where they've laid him. All he needs to do is speak her name, and in a moment's time, she's at his feet.
Right? Devotion. Devotion. My Lord. I want you to think of Paul in Philippians chapter 3, and the idea of attraction. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.
There was an excelling person in his life that drew him, that won him. And Paul wanted to know all he could about this person. The excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. There was an expelling power at work in his life.
Because of him, I counted whatever regained, I counted them lost. Everything I want is linked with this. I want to know more about my Lord. I want to win. My Lord. I want to please. My Lord. It was W .T .P. Walston who described it as the expulsive power of a new and nobler affection.
The expulsive power of a new and nobler affection. I don't know if this analogy holds true here in Arizona. But like when new life comes and the sap begins to flow. You don't have to go and make sure all the old leaves are off the tree.
New life pushes the dead leaves out. You see, new life is sprouting, it's budding, it's flowing. That's what you see when somebody becomes saved, don't you? If they've really been reached by the gospel.
You don't have to hand them a textbook of rules and say, Number one, do this. Number two, do that. Number three, do that. But new life, the expulsive power of a new and nobler affection, begins to knock the leaves off.
And the smoking stops. And the drug habit falls off. And the immorality ceases. And the cursing stops. And what has happened? There's a new attraction in the life. And I hope that in some measure we will all be attracted, as Paul was, to the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.
Psalm 110, now very quickly. Think about the idea of expectation. David says, The Lord said unto my Lord, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.
Now, the interesting thing is that David told us what was all his desire. He told us, in other words, if it were possible to just look into your heart and say, What's the one thing you want more than anything else?
It may be that we each have one thing that we want more than anything else. When you looked into David's heart, there was one thing he wanted more than anything else. Do you know what it was? This is all my desire, he said.
And he said it at the end of that long psalm, 72, about the coming King, the monarchy of the Messiah, the reign of Christ. The one thing I want, he said, is to see my Lord on the throne. What would that do for David?
Put him out of a job. Take the crown off his head. But what he wanted more than anything else, all my salvation and all my desire was to see the Lord Jesus reigning. I wonder if I'm able to say this in a way that will communicate it properly.
Do you ever hear a preacher say something like this? I can't wait for the Lord to come. Now, I'm opening my heart to you. I guess I'm telling you how carnal I am in some ways. There are times I think about those in my family that are still not saved.
And there's just a part of me that says, I don't know if I can say that. And then there's another thing that kicks me like a mule. I think, okay, fine, so now if all of your family were saved, it doesn't matter to you about somebody else's family?
You would then be happy to say? And so I get in a vicious circle that never gets resolved, but I break out of it this way. I can tell you. I can tell you. That I would love to see the Lord Jesus exalted in this world.
I'd love to see him have his rightful place. I'm not going to talk to you about the rapture. I'm not going to talk to you about who goes and who stays. I'm just going to tell you this. I'll be glad when he comes back to take his throne.
That is really the blessed hope that Paul talks about in Titus. It's not the rapture. The blessed hope is the appearing and glory of our great Savior and God, Jesus Christ. And I think we can all say like David in some degree, this is our expectation.
This is what we love. The day of his appearing. Just one more very quickly. How about Thomas? John chapter 20. Looks at the wounds. Never touches. Looks at the wounds and says, My Lord and my God. My Lord and my God.
My Lord, he deserves the throne of my heart. My God, he deserves the throne of the universe. We've all been reminded that the post resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus. Give us a picture of his ministry now for us.
When you see him restoring Peter, doesn't he still restore as the great high priest? When you see him saying, cast the net on the right side of the ship and you shall find. Doesn't he still direct his work?
When you see him comforting Mary at the sepulcher. How many widows here could tell you how near he drew to them when they were standing beside the coffin of their beloved husband? A relationship of half a century, perhaps broken by death.
And they would tell you the Lord was right by their side. He still. Those post resurrection appearances help us understand how he functions now. He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. But he is.
He is a Melchizedek priest with an Aaronic heart. Still moved by compassion for his people. But if that's the case. I sometimes thought that those post resurrection exclamations. On the part of God's people may mirror.
What you will say. When you first see the Lord. So if Thomas. Who missed the first meeting. Suddenly sees the Lord Jesus standing in the midst of that upper room. And catches his first sight of the wounds.
And says these sublime words. My Lord. My God. I wonder if that's what you'll say. I wonder if that's some of the language we'll use. When we first catch a glimpse of him in the air. When we get our first sight of those wounds.
And he escorts us into heaven. Now the time has gone. I want to notice with you the eternal fame. The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 10 that he is God of gods. And Lord of lords. Daniel chapter 2 says he is God of gods.
And Lord of kings. Now the New Testament takes that Old Testament phraseology. And it expresses it in two different ways. Actually one way. But just reverses it, doesn't it? Chapter 17 of the book of Revelation.
When the Lord Jesus is in heaven. Dealing with the kingdom of the beast. The Lord from heaven. Dealing with the reign of that wicked man. Then the emphasis is on his lordship. Because he's in heaven. And we are told in Revelation 17.
He is Lord of lords. And King of kings. Revelation chapter 19. When the Lord from heaven is now coming into this world. To claim his monarchy. The phrase is reversed. Because the king has come. And John sees him coming and says his name is King of kings.
And Lord of lords. I think that's the word to use for upper landscape. Philadelphia. You'll no longer see this. For a number of years. The bylaw in the books was that no building in Philadelphia. Could be taller than the brim of William Penn's hat.
He's a Quaker. Statue is on top of city hall. So it's a large old edifice city hall. And at the top there was William Penn. Large statue. Quaker outfit. Large hat. That was the ceiling for the city. So skyscrapers went just that tall.
Finally they scrapped that bylaw. And now you can hardly see city hall. For some of the larger skyscrapers. But the idea originally was this. That wherever you were in the city. You ought to be able to see the center.
And at the center you'd see city hall with this figure on top. Ephesians chapter 1. The apostle Paul tells us. That in those coming ages. God is going to head up everything. In Christ. I don't want to mix the imagery of lordship and headship.
But here is the idea. That no matter where in that whole coming redeemed universe you are. The apex. The acme. The zenith of all that glory. Will be the man. Who is your lord. God help us then to increasingly.
And with a deeper appreciation. Understand what it means that he is my lord. Father we thank you for thy word. We ask thy blessing as the Sunday school teachers have been teaching the children. That they have been given help from God.
To simply and clearly present the gospel to the minds of these young men and women. And boys and girls. And we ask thy blessing on what we have discussed. Praying to be taken to our homes in safety. And asking in thy grace for thy blessing in the gospel tonight.
In the name of our lord Jesus Christ.