Yield

Making our way down Jesus Road, we had a great Sunday where we considered the yield sign in our U-Turns Allowed series. “Yield” is the perfect topic to consider after last week’s message, Merge. Let’s be honest, yielding can be challenging for us at times, because our human nature often wants to compete for the top spot. Yielding, however, requires us to be alert and aware of our surroundings – whether we’re in a rush, a bad mood, or just oblivious – and acknowledge who really is in charge…Jesus!

In Matthew 28:18, we read where Jesus said that all authority in haven and on earth was given to Him. In other words, it’s not our job to be in charge. When we yield the authority to Jesus, we are freed from having to worry about certain details so we can do our work of making disciples by leading and welcoming people onto Jesus Road, and then traveling with them along the way.

Developing an understanding of what it means to call Jesus, Lord, is critically important. In Romans 10:9, we read, “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” When Paul called Jesus, Lord, he used a very specific word (kurios in Greek) that would resonate greatly with his various audiences. Kurios, has four specific uses: (1) as a title of respect, as in sir or madam; (2) as a generic title for Roman emperors (who were believed to be gods); (3) as a generic title for the Greek gods (who were believed to be given dominion over the elements and other natural phenomena); (4) the Greek word for Jehovah, the Hebrew name of God, which means God exists, is eternal, and unchangeable, and keeps His promises. So to put it all together, Paul is saying that Jesus deserves our respect; is greater than any Roman emperor or Greek God; and is the fulfilled promise of the eternal God!

Right after the Great Commission, where Jesus told his disciples that their job was to go into the world and share the Good News, he reminded them that he is with them to the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). This echoes the promise that God gave the Israelites as they made their way into the Promised Land, telling them not to fear who, or what, lies ahead, but to be bold and courageous, because God was with them (Deuteronomy 31:6).

To put it simply, we are to yield our natural desire to be in charge or to be top dog, allowing Jesus to do what he does, so we can focus on what we are created and called to do. While we travel along Jesus Road, two things happen: (1) God reveals to us the fullness of the beauty of salvation that we cannot see from any other vantage point; and (2) we develop a burden for helping Jesus in the task of changing the world. Consider these words from Ephesians 2:11-13, “Now God has us where he wants us [on Jesus Road], with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start [U-Turn!] to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing [Yield!]! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.”

We have work to do and we are set free by Jesus to get it done in his name. After all, Jesus is the name of the one who in time will cause every knee to bow and tongue confess that he is Lord over all (Philippians 2:10-11). But why wait until then? Yield today! Believe that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the grave, and confess that to others as you travel down Jesus Road. Do this and you will be saved! And not only you, because you can play a part in helping introduce others to Jesus and see that they, too, can experience the hope of salvation in Jesus Christ. This is the work we had better be doing, so let’s yield to the Lordship of Jesus, see who and what is coming, and ease on down the road!