Jesus Christ is our Lord, head over all things to the church - Christ in us, the hope of glory:
Colossians 3:23
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
Who is our Lord? God or Jesus Christ? Get it clear in your mind. In
this case, we don't have to guess about it, because the next verse
spells it out.
Colossians 3:24
Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
God is our father and supplies all our need, while Jesus Christ is responsible for all things concerning the church.
Philippians 4:6
Be
careful [full of care, worried] for nothing; but in every thing by
prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made
known unto God.
God is our father, and it is God we pray to
and it is God who supplies all our need. Jesus Christ is our Lord, the
head over all things to the church. We must keep these distinctions
clear in our minds.
Philippians 4:19
But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
If
we think we do absolutely everything heartily only to God, we're not
rightly dividing the bible. In fact, we're not even reading it
correctly. God made Christ our Lord and it's him we serve heartily in
all matters relating to the church of God. Think of it in terms of
your earthly job. You leave home and go to work where you submit
yourself to your boss. You work heartily for him and do whatever he
tells you and in return you get paid. God is our father, and we live
with him in fellowship, but when we go to work to do the things of the
ministry, Jesus Christ is our boss. We work heartily to him because
he's the one with the responsibility to run the church.
Acts 2:32,33,36
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost [holy spirit], he hath shed
forth this, which ye now see and hear.
Therefore let all
the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Who
made Jesus Christ our Lord? God did, therefore we are to submit to
Jesus Christ as our Lord, our boss, the head over all things to the
church. That is what God expects of us. The word of God is the will of
God, remember?
Acts 2:37,38
Now when they heard this,
they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest
of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then
Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in
the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive [lambanō] the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Lambanō (Greek) means to receive something objectively, through to using it for that which it was intended.
How we are born again isn't by confessing God as anything, it is by
confessing Jesus Christ as our Lord and believing God raised him from
the dead. Being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ is to receive the
gift of holy spirit, at which time we are spiritually washed and
receive the righteousness of God. To lambanō the gift of holy spirit
is to manifest the power of God, which starts with speaking in
tongues.
Colossians 1:27
To whom God would make known what
is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles;
which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Ephesians 1:22,23
And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.
1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
The point is, Jesus Christ isn't just sitting up there watching
everything, he has a job to do, he has a responsibility to carry out.
His job isn't the ministry of reconciliation, that's our job, his job
is being head over all things to the church. He is our Lord, our boss,
he is the one who gives the commands, he is our head. How Jesus
Christ is head over all things to the church is through the Christ in
us, the gift of holy spirit. As we walk by the spirit rather than by
the senses, then Christ is our head and we're taking our orders from
him.
Listen, God is not our Lord, Jesus Christ is our Lord. God is not Jesus Christ anymore than Jesus Christ is God.
