Jesus is LORD; Caesar is Not

“Whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two… But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."

—Mt. 5:39-45

“These men [Paul and Silas] who have upset the world have come here also … and they all act contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

—Acts 17:6-7, NASB

When we are confronted in church for reading Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount, asking where we got those “liberal talking points,” or telling us that Jesus’ approach based in love doesn’t work today because it is weak, it is our most basic Christian confession, the oldest confession we have, that is being challenged: our confession that Jesus is LORD.  We know that to call him LORD is simultaneously to proclaim him to be the true and only Son of God.  

In New Testament times wherever the good news of Jesus was announced, the Caesars were also proclaimed to be sons of god, saviors who brought their version of good news of peace and justice — the euaggelion or gospel of Caesar.  They were worshiped, prayed to, and offered sacrifices.

In our time when false lords and Caesar-wannabes are seeking to dethrone the One LORD of our lives, we must hold fast to our confession that only Jesus is LORD, a confession that the Spirit alone can lead us to truly say.

But when political allegiance trumps the Lordship of the Messiah, the Anointed One, in our lives, we are in spiritual danger; we have lost our way.  We are no longer lights shining in the darkness, and we trip and fall and become stumbling blocks to others.

We must call upon the Spirit to keep us centered in the Messiah so we can live out His Lordship in every aspect of our lives and become again His witnesses in our neighborhoods, our states, our nation, and to the uttermost parts of the Earth.

This includes how we exercise our gift of citizenship and our right to vote.  Because God loved us first and created all of us in His image to freely love Him back, because Jesus defeated the powers that be through the power of love, freedom and love are the hallmarks of our participation in our democracy.

And we know that we are only truly free to the extent that our loving Savior is our LORD.  Only then can the power of Christ’s love live within us and through us so we can treat everyone as someone God loves and Jesus died to save — and not someone to dominate, coerce, and control.  Our political participation cannot be separated from Christ’s love and Lordship.  The only way for us to exercise the power of our vote is through the power of our Savior’s love.

We cannot have two Lords.  There can be only One.  Thank God!