THE Christian message is really timeless, but that very fact gives it a relevance to every age. It is at once not just for to-day and just for today. What, then, has Christianity to say to this age and in our present situation? What shall be the message of the church? It appears that there are three demands or needs--challenge, guidance, hope. In keeping with these there are three assertions that we should make: Christ Is Lord, Christ is Saviour, Christ is the key to life.

      This assertion is as old as Christianity. On the day of Pentecost Peter said: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." When Paul and Silas were asked by the Philippian jailor what he must do to be saved, they answered: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." In writing to the Romans Paul declared: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that G hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." We may well ask, "What is the doctrinal meaning of this assertion?"

1. The Doctrinal Meaning of the Assertion

      In answering this question we can turn to the New Testament only. We may know Christ by experience, but we must first know of him in order to know him, and we can know of him only by the witness of those who walked with him. Our only authoritative knowledge of Christ is in the New Testament. There we have Christ's claims concerning himself and the conclusions of those who met him face to face. It is more than likely that when the disciples began to follow Jesus they saw him as a man--an extraordinary man, no doubt--but as time passed they were impressed with the fact that here was one who was more than man. This conclusion was confirmed by the resurrection.

      There are two New Testament doctrines which sum up the doctrinal meaning of his lordship.

(a) The Doctrine of the Incarnate Word

      This doctrine appears first in the New Testament in the epistles of Paul. It is strikingly expressed in the letter to the Philippians: "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God; but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in, the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross."

      In the epistles of John it is declared that the denial that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh, is of the spirit of antichrist. The gospel of John provided a definite answer to any who at that time were denying the incarnation. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," or "the Logos was divine," as translated by Dr. Moffatt. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."

      Christianity is the religion of the incarnation.

(b) The Doctrine Of the Unique Son

      Some may argue that we are all sons of God. That is true, but Jesus is presented as the unique Son in the book of authority. He himself said: "No man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son." John in particular frequently speaks of him as the only begotten of the Father. Paul writes in the Galatian letter: "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts." New Testament terminology leads us to speak of him as the Son of God.

      Unless a doctrine has a moral counterpart or expression, it is valueless, so we turn to

2. The Ethical Meaning of the Assertion

      Ethical expression is the only real test of whether we believe and whether our belief is adequate. "We believe a thing when we act as if it were true!" Ethically, the lordship of Christ means absolute authority, new life and new structures.

(a) Absolute Authority

      To be absolute, authority must be supreme and universal; his word must be final in religious, moral, individual, social, economic, political and national life. Wheresoever a moral issue arises the light of Christ must shine and be the final guide. No authority, whether it be of a person, an institution, a government or state, shall limit the conscience in its response to the authority of Christ. Every other obedience shall be determined or limited by the understanding of Christ's will.

      It is important to recognise that obedience can only be according to one's understanding of his will. I can only obey Christ according to my understanding of his will, and you can only obey him according to your understanding of his will. One should never de-christianise another for obeying Christ according to his different understanding of the will of Christ. An understanding of this point brings into clear relief the principle of liberty, so dear to the hearts of members of the Restoration Movement, and saves us from heresy hunting and division. We can unite in obedience to the lordship of Christ while differing in that obedience. Lordship and liberty give us unity with diversity. No other kind of unity is possible for people of thought and initiative.

(b) New Life

      Every doctrine, like every sermon, should have an earth wire; it ought to come to earth somewhere in a practical application. The doctrine of the lordship of Christ comes to earth in an ethically new life. None can read the New Testament without being impressed with the conclusion that Christianity is essentially a new way of life. "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." "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." As the Spirit of Christ is the guarantee of the spirit of Christ, the latter is the seal of a new life. We can truly say that, if a man has not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

(c) New Structures

      Man is at once a cause and an effect of his environment. He is essentially a social being, and his new life must find expression in new relationships. The lordship of Christ must find ethical expression in new structures--social, economic, political, national and international--in harmony with the principles enunciated by the Lord of life.

      The Christian message must declare Christ as the Lord of the whole of life.

      This assertion, too, is as old as Christianity. Christ and his apostles did not hesitate to declare that man is a sinner and needs a Saviour. This is a message for every generation. The humanists of last century may have talked with superficial optimism about man's inevitable progress to perfection. They may have dismissed sin as a mistake, and argued that given time and experience, man would pull himself up by his own shoe-straps without any Saviour beyond himself. There may still be some echoes of that doctrine, but this generation has been forced to face the fact of sin. Two world wars have been sufficient to disillusion most people and shatter the optimism of humanism. Man is a sinner and needs, a Saviour.

      As with the assertion that Christ is Lord, so for this one we turn to the doctrinal and ethical meaning.

1. The Doctrinal Meaning of the Assertion

      A study of the New Testament brings to light two main conclusions.

(a) Christ is the Saviour

      He is not merely a Saviour, one among others; but just as he is the unique Son of God so is he the unique Saviour. One utterance is typical enough to suffice as a witness to this conclusion. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

(b) Christ was More than a Martyr

      His death was the death of the Son of God. The fact is plainly stated. "Christ died for our sins . . . and rose for our justification God commendeth his love towards us, that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." "God was in Christ, reconciling world unto himself." In him there is forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption from sin, fear, frustration and death.

      It is important to observe that through all the changing theories of how Christ saves, the abiding thing has been the thought and experience of Christ as Saviour. Had we lived in the fifth century, and had we been orthodox, we should have held one theory of the atonement; had we lived In the eleventh century we should have held another orthodoxy; had we lived in the sixteenth century we should have held yet another orthodox theory, and so on throughout changing ages of thought and theory. But whatever our age and theory, we should have thought of Christ as Saviour, and should have found him a Saviour in whom we experienced forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption. Christ cannot be confined to a theory; he saves us in spite of our theories. It is for us to present the fact of Christ as Saviour, and the fact of atonement will be experienced.

2. The Ethical Meaning of the Assertion

      Again, the doctrine is valueless without an ethical expression. The ethical meaning of Christ's Saviourhood, is found in new life by the grace of God. So Paul was able to say, "I can do all things through Christ, that strengtheneth me." "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." As Saviour he enables us to live up to his demands as Lord.

      We can never separate our message of Christ as Lord and Saviour. Some may present a moral Lord and preach an ethical gospel; others may preach a doctrinal Saviour and be styled evangelists. Both are wrong for both preach a partial message. The full message lies in neither extreme, but in the message of Christ as doctrinal and ethical Lord and as doctrinal and ethical Saviour. Just as we cannot have the concave side of an are without the convex side, neither can we have the doctrinal without the ethical nor the lordship without the saviourhood. The Christian message is ever the declaration of Christ as fully Lord and Saviour.

      He is not a way, a truth, a life and a light among others, but is the way, the truth, the life and the light. "I am the way, the truth and the life." "I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."

1. The Cross is the Way of Life

      While it is true that Jesus bore the cross in a unique way, he called all his followers to be cross-bearers. "Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple." "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." That the cross is the way to life is declared in such statements as: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it"; "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Life is found by the discovery of and devotion to something beyond and greater than ourselves. Individuals churches, nations must learn to walk in the way of self-abnegation rather than cling to pride's way of self-assertion. The cross as the way to life gives man his responsibility.

2. The Last Word is with God

      This is man's hope.

(a) God is in History

      This is one of the great truths of the incarnation. The prophets of old enjoyed and shared the vision of God in history, but when the Word became flesh God stepped into the stream of history in an unparalleled way. God in history means that there is an eternal purpose which cannot and will not be thwarted. Professor MacMurray in his book, "The Clue to History," has given an illuminating and heartening treatment of the central thesis that whatever is contrary to the will of God cannot survive. This is revealed to us by the cross and the resurrection.

(b) The Cross was Only the Prelude to the Resurrection

      Man determined to destroy Christ and his cause by crucifying him; but they did not destroy him--they only established him. As Mr. H. G. Wells says in a strange criticism: "He came forth more enhaloed and whiter than ever as a postscript to his own tragedy." The cross and the resurrection provide a prophecy and guarantee for all time.

(c) The Cause of Christ Prevails

      History has proved the truth of Gamaliel's philosophy of history as expressed in those memorable words: "If this counsel, or this work be of men, it will come: to nought but if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it."

      Anti-God forces may lift their heads and hands against the cause of Christ; there may be a cross and dark days, but there will always be the third or ultimate day of resurrection and victory. Christianity can only be destroyed by inner apostasy, never by outer forces. The mighty Roman Empire set out to destroy the minority Christian cause, but it was the empire that perished not Christianity. Christianity never has depended and never will depend on empires; it is in spite of empires. The last word is with God.