Jesus is Lord

There are two types of people in this world: those who accept Jesus as Lord and those who do not. At first glance, we might be tempted to think that Christians belong to the first group and non-Christians, the second. Sadly, however, this is not necessarily true.Do you know, brothers and sisters, that you can be a Christian and yet not accept Jesus as Lord. Becoming a Christian and accepting Jesus as Lord are two different things. Brothers and sisters, I have been a Christian for more than forty years now. I was born a Christian and grew up as one. Yet for most part of my life, I had no idea at all what it meant to accept Jesus as Lord. I thought Jesus was supposed to be there to help me achieve all the goals in my life. Secretly, I wanted so many things in life: to be rich, to be famous, to have this and that. And I thought the role of Jesus was to help me to get them all. And only after I have owned all these things, would I consider myself a successful Christian. That was my brand of Christianity. The idea of following Jesus was very alien to me. I thought only consecrated people like priests and nuns do that. As a lay person, I thought, as long as I didnt miss Mass, as long as I read the Bible, as long as I said my prayers and not fall into big sins,I was doing fine as a Christian. I never bothered to find out whether this was what God wanted of me. And so I went to Mass because I felt obligated, I said my prayers only when I needed something and I read the Bible only when the mood came. The whole idea of Christianity was suited to my needs. It was a marriage of convenience where I was truly the Lord of my life. I did not realize that as a Christian, I had to follow Jesus and made him the Lord of my life, whether I am a religious or a lay person. It was only after attending the Life in the Spirit Seminar that my eyes were finally opened. For the first time, I was able to see what Christianity really meant. I finally came to this realization that in Christianity, the most important person is Jesus, not me, and I ought to follow him. Christianity is all about following Jesus and enjoying the fruits of his redemption the joy of God, the peace of God and the love of God which you cannot find in this world. And unless I accept Jesus as Lord, I will never be able to experience the true beauty of Christianity. Now what does it mean to accept Jesus as Lord? Does it mean now we have to add the word Lord every time we pray? That if previously we prayed, Jesus, please help me, now we pray, Lord Jesus, please help me? No! Then does it mean that we now have to make extra effort to be holy like going to church more, praying more or even putting on a more serious holy-holy looks? Again the answer is a no-no!Look,I am not saying that doing all these things are no good but accepting Jesus means much more than these, much more than giving a larger piece of our cake to him.

Accepting Jesus as Lord, brothers and sisters, means that we have to give the whole piece of our cake to Jesus, not just the larger piece. Everything. It means Jesus has to be the Lord of all aspects of our lives, not just the spiritual aspect. Not just when we go to Mass or a prayer meet, like what we are doing now. When you study, when you work, when you play, when you deal with people, is Jesus Lord in this area too? Do you allow Jesus to tell you what to do in these areas too? And so accepting Jesus as Lord would mean when you study, you must study as Jesus wants you to study, study diligently. When you work, you got to be like Jesus too. You got to work well, with honesty and responsibility. When you play, it is the same. You play your best and with a high level of discipline. And when you deal with people, it also got to be done the Jesus way, respecting and loving them as they are, not what you want them to be. In short, whatever you do,the name of Jesus must be glorified, as in the words of St Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:3, Then whether you eat, or drink or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. Jesus becomes the reason we live and our aim in life now is to have the heart of Jesus, the mind of Jesus and the ways of Jesus. So we too like St Paul will be able to say with conviction, It is not I who live but Christ who live in me.(Galatians 2:20). Until that happens, until we make Jesus the Lord of our lives,we will not be able to understand what Christianity means. Christianity will look like any other religion and Jesus like any other prophet. Your own life will be like those who are non-believers, full of sins and meaningless, despite going to church, attending prayer meet or saying your prayers. You will not be able to claim the great and precious promises that Jesus made in the Bible. Therefore,as Christians, it is extremely important that you make Jesus the Lord of your life. To do that, you must repent. Repentance here is not the same as saying, I am sorry! Neither does it mean feeling bad for your sins. It is much much more. Repentance here is having to change your lifestyle radically. That you give up your old life of sins and put on a new life in Christ. There must be a genuine desire to lead a life of godliness. Once you have done that,you will experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Jesus who is the Lord of your life, having seen how much you want him, will pour down the Holy Spirit unto you. And this Holy Spirit will empower you to lead the life that God wants you to live. Your whole life will be changed. If before, you went to church only because you felt you had to go, now you will want to go. If before, you felt lazy to open the Bible, now you will want to read it. The Word of God becomes alive when the Spirit

touches it. Your prayer life will change too. You will experience this longing for prayer as the Spirit leads you. Life becomes very meaningful and exciting as you allow Jesus to be your Lord. You will also find that you are now able to do many things that you once thought were impossible, like overcoming your most difficult sin, doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you and praying for those who mistreat you. Do you wish to have such power? To be able to forgive those who have hurt you badly? Can you do that when you are angry? Only the Holy Spirit can help you do that! Because the Holy Spirit that Jesus wants to give you is the same Spirit that came down on Mary during the Annunciation, the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, the same Spirit that made Peter and the disciples such fearless men on Pentecost. This very same Spirit will be give to you if you made Jesus the Lord of your life. As I have said earlier,it is important that as Christians, we make Jesus the Lord of our lives. However, I must admit that making Jesus Lord is not something easy, at least in the beginning. The ways of Jesus are different from the ways of the world. There will be many oppositions, many temptations that make you want to give up. Accepting Jesus may call for big sacrifices in life. Jesus may ask you to give up the very thing you are clinging on or looking for. What are you going to do? I do not know how you are going to take it but my years of walking with the Lord tells me that it is absolutely worth the try. I always believe that if Jesus wants us to give up something, it is only because he has something better to offer. The rewards that He promises us in the Bible is far better then the sacrifices we will make. Because our sacrifices are non-lasting, His rewards, everlasting. Ours temporal, His eternal. As Romans 8:18 puts it, What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will give us later. It is my intention, brothers and sisters, to invite you this evening to take a closer look at your life and ask yourself this question: Is Jesus controlling my life or am I still controlling it? Does He has the final say in whatever I am doing? Is Jesus Lord? If He is not and if your life is still sinful and sorrowful, empty and meaningless, then the time is ripe now for you to open wide the door of your heart and invite Him to come in as the Lord of your life. For Jesus is indeed Lord.