A Relationship with Jesus? (Part 3)

THE BOSS
I enjoy working for my boss. I know a lot of guys who can’t stand the person or people they work for. But I’ll be quite honest; my boss is a neat guy. We have a relationship that allows us to joke with each other and have fun when it’s appropriate to do so. But I know that when it’s time to handle business, I better be on the ball. If my boss says to me, “I want you to go see this customer today and tell him that his price for this product is going up”, I better go that day and take care of what he’s asked. My boss knows me well enough to know that when he wants something handled, I’ll go out and take care of it. And I believe this is why we have a great working relationship with a growing minor in personal matters.

Likewise, if I decided one day to just stop doing what it was I was supposed to do; If I just lost my mind for a week and decided I wasn’t going to handle my responsibilities, it wouldn’t take long for my boss to find out about it. He’d have every customer on the north side of Houston calling him directly to find out what was going on. On that day, my boss would know exactly who to get a hold of to find out what the problem was. He would not hesitate to speed-dial me and set me straight.

As his employee, I am an extension of who he is. If I look bad, he looks bad. And if he looks really bad, I look really unemployed! I know my place and I know my relationship with my boss. It’s business first and then a personal relationship second. He is the much needed authority in my life as far as my career is concerned. If I don’t appropriate my relationship with him, I’m out of a job. Fortunately for the both of us, I continue to work hard and remain faithful, accessible, and teachable to him. I have a profound respect for my boss’ authority in my life.

Matthew 7:21-23 says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

There are going to be many on that day who will honestly believe that they had a close and personal relationship with Jesus. There will be those who think because they simply acknowledged him as “Lord” that Jesus knows who they are. There will be those who prophesied in His very name and will still get blank stares. There will be those who on Earth, had faith enough to cast out demons and perform miracles just like Jesus did and his name and Jesus will scratch his head as if to say, “…awkarrrrd…” And then He’ll say, “I’m really sorry. I don’t believe we’ve ever met. I wish we had. I’m sorry.” How can this be possible? I believe the answer lies in submission to God’s will…or lack thereof.

You see my boss knows me. If someone were to ask him if he knew Abel Villarreal, I have no doubt that he would say he knew me well. Without a willingness to submit to my boss’ authority and my taking up of the responsibilities associated with my position under him, I mean nothing to his department. I’m just some overpaid warm body on the company’s payroll. If on the day my boss calls me into his office and tells me that it’s time for a review and I’ve done nothing to merit my position with the company, my attempts to not get fired are going to sound a lot like Matthew 7:21-23.

And my boss will warn me before the review begins, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Manager, manager' will keep their employment status, but only he who does what is expected by the owner and CEO of the company. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Manager, manager’ did we not hype-up the products to prospective buyers, and for the sake of the company sell cases of products and bring new customers?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you unemployed!'”

Dr. Edwin Louis Cole wrote, “You cannot compensate by sacrifice what you lose through disobedience.” There will be many who try old tricks on the Day of Judgment. They’ll try to bargain through sacrifice to avoid the flames. “How about if I give myself to the flames of Hell for half a millennia and then come to be with you for the other half Lord?” I’m just being silly, but believe me there will be those who are going to plea for their souls and sadly, it will be too late. If my boss were to fire me for not doing my job, do you suppose I could get it back if I swore to work 80 hours a week rather than 40? I don’t think so. God takes disobedience seriously.

If God says to do a thing, you better do it. If He has instructed you to not do a thing, don’t do it. If He says not to hang around certain people, you’d better stay away. As the immediate authority in my son’s life, I teach him the importance of obedience on a daily basis it seems. I explain it very simply as, “obedience brings blessings, disobedience brings curses.” He understands blessings as rewards and protection from Mommy and Daddy. He feels curses in the form of taking away of privileges and the reddening of his backside. I feel that more importantly than any other lesson in life, he must understand this principle – obedience to authority is God’s way of protecting his people. It’s also the way to ensure that on the day we meet our Jesus face-to-face, rather than turn us away to eternal damnation, He’ll embrace us and lovingly say, “well done good and faithful servant!”

When we are committed to live completely submitted to the truth that it is no longer we that live but Christ who lives in us, we will seek to do that which Jesus did – the will of His Heavenly Father. Christ did not struggle with disobedience to authority. He took pleasure in his relationship of submission to God. He could not have lived the life that He lived without a complete dependence on God as his master and direct authority. When we live submitted to Christ, we don’t need to worry about the latest Christian catch-phrase bringing others into understanding the call to live for God. When people see that we no longer live our lives for ourselves they will take notice of the difference in us. And when they ask, “what is that?”, we can readily say, “let me show you a Bible scripture that forever changed my life.” On that day we can proudly show them Jesus.