Apostles’ Creed: Jesus

I believe in … Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord.

We now come to the part of the Creed that talks about Jesus. And it begins by telling us who He is.

So, who is He?

• Jesus: That’s His name. There’s much significance to the name, but it is still just His name.

• Christ: This is a word that about being set apart for something. The Father has set Jesus apart for a task.

• His only Son: This covers a lot of territory including the deity of Jesus. 

• Our Lord: This is where I’d like to spend my time for this post.

What are you confessing when you say that Jesus is your Lord? Basically, it means that He gets to run your life. That covers all sorts of things.

It covers

 your marriage:

Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.

your attitude to other people:

Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.

your opinion of God’s commands:

Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.

your perspective on enjoying yourself:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

your priorities:

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

and lots more.

And Jesus is clear that He means what He says about these things because He will evaluate your life when it’s all over. You’ll either hear:

Well done, good and faithful servant. 

or you’ll hear:

Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. 

And Jesus will not be fooled when it comes to evaluation time.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus as Lord gets to tell you how to live. And by your confessing the Creed you are saying that you are acknowledging that fact and submitting to it.

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Scripture references: Mark 10:11; Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:19; Mark 8:34; Matthew 10:37; Matthew 25:23,30; Matthew 7:21