Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.”
Matthew 7:21 KJV
LORD ~ 2962 kýrios – properly, a person exercising absolute ownership rights; lord (Lord).
[In the papyri, 2962 (kýrios) likewise denotes an owner (master) exercising full rights.]
2962 (kyrios) is used supremely of Christ the Lord, the sovereign over all creation who is the Creator (cf. Jn 1:3; Col 1:16,17). 2962/kýrios ("Lord") in the NT is also applied to the triune God (Yahweh).
The Gospels use 2962 (kýrios) of the tri-personal Godhead, and for Christ in particular – the God-man, supremely manifesting the Godhead. See Mt 1:20,22; 2:13; cf. also Mt 3:3; 7:21; 8:2.
Helps Word Studies.
I don’t know that we have all come to terms with the concept and demand of lordship. David uses the phrase “cultural christianity” to express the idea of theory without the personal fellowship with Lord God Almighty, our Heavenly Father, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and the HOLY Spirit. We find a good explanation of this from Paul’s writings to Timothy regarding the difficulties facing the church in the last days. Paul’s summation.....
“They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly”.
2 Timothy 3:5 NLT
“They profess to know God, but they deny him, by their works...” Titus 1:16 ESV
Salvation is unto the one who “shall confess with their mouth the ‘Lord’ Jesus”. It is those who call upon the name of the “Lord” that are saved. Having been set free from sin we have become servants to God, we now have the fruit of our lives displaying holiness, with the end being everlasting life.
If we can come to terms with these huge thoughts today ~
You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
“...Every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour”
1 Thessalonians 4:3
..we just might begin to see some worldly things lose their allure and pull.
It doesn’t help to live in a culture that continually feeds and encourages the development of self. Every social institution promotes the right to be uniquely YOU and actively works to sell you ways of becoming a better you. It is certainly right to be uniquely you BECAUSE in GOD, we are each fearfully and wonderfully made, created individually to fit His purpose.
The guarantee of adapting to the world to find our expression of self, is the temptation it brings to not submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The Christian identity is found only IN CHRIST. It is in the conforming to HIM as we grow in the knowledge of HIM, continually beholding him, that brings transformation of all parts of our being, spirit, soul and body.
The world, it’s practices and beliefs, grows darker daily and a love for the world simply holds the appetites and desires found within all worldly systems. BUT as Christians we are not “of the world”, in it, but not of it. It’s not how close we can live to the edge without falling in, it’s how close will I live in communion with Him, that I might be “as He is”, now in this world.
Jesus’ prayer for his disciples from John chapter seventeen ~
“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.”
May we always live with the awareness that the assurance we have before the Father in these last days, is our ability to acknowledge our complete surrender to His rule and reign as our sovereign, affirming that allegiance daily.