Presented to Alberni Valley Ministerial Community Men’s Breakfast, 09 May 2026 and TSA AV Ministries, 10 May 2026 by Major Michael Ramsay
As almost everyone is aware now, we will be moving. The Salvation Army has posted us the Burnaby, BC. Our last Sunday here will be June 28th. I will miss everyone in this community. When I was able to speak at the recent Lenten services, I was chatted about some things that were near and dear to my heart – real social justice issues – so today I thought that I would just speak about who is Jesus? Can I have people just call out some of the titles and roles that we ascribe to Jesus? Today I want to chat about 3 or 4 of these a bit: Lord, Saviour, Son of God, and King (Messiah/Christ).
Jesus is our Lord
We call Jesus Lord. What does ‘lord’ mean? In today’s language, how do we use the word? We know the House of Lords? That is the senate in the UK. When the UK was a Superpower, the House of Lords had hereditary lords making decisions. Lords typically would be people who owned land. In our language today we still have landlords. When we call Jesus ‘lord’, we are drawing on this image; so, what is a landlord? A landlord owns the building you are in; you are expected to pay him rent and follow the rental agreement or he can evict you.
Jesus is our landlord. He owns the earth and everything in it and He has given us some very specific responsibilities as part of our rental agreements –or, as we call them in the Bible, covenants- that we are bound by. Jesus is our Lord. We need to live up to our rental agreement.
Jesus says, Matthew 7:21-23, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, [land]Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 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 in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
I find it interesting that according to Matthew, Jesus tells us that prophesying in Jesus’ Name, driving out demons in His Name, and performing Miracles in His Name is NOT proof of our salvation. People are doing these things today who may not have Jesus as their landlord. Matthew tells us what Jesus says is evidence of salvation later in book. Jesus is our Lord.
Jesus is the Son of God and Jesus is God
Jesus is God’s son and as part of that is God Himself. I like the way the Bible speaks of us as co-heirs with Christ. Just as Julius Caesar adopted Augustus Caesar and he inherited his kingdom; so, you and I have been adopted as co-heirs with Christ and will inherit the Kingdom of God (Romans 8:17).
Jesus however is the only sired, the only begotten Son of God (John 3:16); therefore he is the only ‘person’ who is actually God. He was born God – and, of course, He was God before He was even born (John 1:1).
Doctrines 2 and 3 of The Salvation Army affirm that:
2. ... there are three persons in the Godhead-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, undivided in essence and co-equal in power and glory.
3. .. in the person of Jesus Christ the Divine and human natures are united, so that He is truly and properly God and truly and properly man.
Jesus is our Saviour
What does/did/will Jesus save us from? Hell? Eternal separation from God? The eternal consequences of our sins? Anything else? Is being saved about more than simply going to heaven? The New Testament / Covenant / Residential Tenancy Act says, “yes, it is.” Jesus has not merely saved us from the consequences of sin; He has also saved us from the necessity of sin. Just like an alcoholic can be free from the reality of drinking even as the temptation may always be there; so too regarding Christians and sin. In the NT letters believers aren’t referred to as Christians. We are referred to as ‘saints’; The word for ‘saints’ literally means to be holy, to be like God. In a letter from Peter (1 Peter 1:16), we are reminded that God tells us to “be holy as I [God] am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Salvation means that we can be holy. Jesus is our Saviour. He died to save us from sin and that salvation/holiness we can experience this very day, and it will continue forever even into the new heaven and the new earth.
The Salvation Army, of which I am an Officer, affirms in its 7th through 10th doctrines, that...
7. repentance toward God, faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and regeneration by the Holy Spirit are necessary to salvation.
8. we are justified by grace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and that he that believeth hath the witness in himself.
9. continuance in a state of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith in Christ.
10. it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that their whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23,24)
Jesus is King / Christ / Messiah
Matthew, whom we quoted about Jesus as Lord, tells us in Chapter 7 what does not prove that we are Christ’s followers: prophecy, miracles, casting out demons in His Name; in Chapter 25, referring to Jesus as King, he tells us what does prove that we are saved:
25:34ff: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
The people who do this are rewarded but they are also saved; for those who call Jesus King but who do not do this, God says. Verse 41, “‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Jesus is our king; what is a king? Similar to the Landlord that we spoke about, the King (or the Crown) may own everything. They are responsible. In Canada, when you are charged in court, it is “the Crown versus so-and-so". In Canada, if a service is public (for the benefit of the people), rather than (private) to make money, it may be a ‘crown corporation.’ Kings of old, like some countries’ Presidents now, could even pardon people who were convicted of crimes. How much is that like Jesus? We are all guilty of sin, but Jesus offers us the pardon of salvation. The King historically is the boss; the person in charge; the person who has authority over us and power even over our very lives. The Monarch of Canada used to have a lot of power. Even before we were a country, the King permitted the HBC to manage all the lands flowing out of the Hudson Bay. That is much of the land that grew into our country. The ancestors of the King of Canada used to be absolute monarchs, responsible for our very lives. Now King Charles III is mostly just a figure head... my question for us is: Is Jesus still our absolute monarch or has he just become a figurehead in our lives? I am going to finish with a story about a king...
James V, the King of Scotland used to go around the country disguised as a common person. That is because he wanted to meet the everyday people of the country not just the rich and powerful. He wanted to see how the normal people lived.
One day he was dressed in very old clothes and was going by a place known as Cramond Brig, when he is attacked by robbers who don’t know who he is. There is a fierce struggle and he is nearly overcome when, at just the right moment, a poor farm worker - Jock Howieson - hears the commotion and comes to the disguised king’s aid.
Now Jock, the poor labourer, who works on this portion of the King’s land, Cramond Brig, unawares takes the undercover king home and gives him a dinner of broth and Jock - as the king is recouping – naturally asks the man who he is.
The King responds ‘I’m a good man of Edinburgh.’
‘And where do you live in that city and where do you work?’
‘Well,’ says James, ‘I live at the palace and I work there too.’
‘The palace, is it? I’d like to see the palace; if I could see the King, I’d tell him a thing or two…’
‘About what?’ asks the man.
‘I’d tell him that I should own this land that I am on. I work it every day and he never comes here & gets his hands dirty working this land.’
‘You’re right enough’, says the man. ‘You come tomorrow to the palace at Holy Rood and I’ll show you around. Come at two.’
So the next day at two o’clock, Jock Howieson, is washed, dressed and at the palace to meet his new friend at the back door. The good man, whom Jock had saved the day before, shows him around the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms – the whole palace. Then, at last, the two of them come to the great rooms of the State.
‘Do you want to see the King?’ the man asks Jock.
‘Oh yes indeed’, says Jock, ‘I do. I do want to see the King.’
So they enter the great hall and as they come in, men bow and ladies curtsey. It is really quite a thing to see. So Jock whispers to his friend, ‘How will I know who the king is?’
‘He’s the only one who keeps his hat on’
Jock says, ‘But… there’s only us two with our hats…’ and Jock immediately takes off his hat as he realises that James is indeed the King of Scotland.
And so it is with us today. Jesus is King (as He is God, Lord and Saviour). He is walking around with each of us showing us His domain here on earth and just waiting for us to take off our hats as we realise that indeed Jesus is King. If there are any of us here today who have not taken off our hats and laid them before the Lord, I invite us to do just that – acknowledge the truth that Jesus Christ is King. And as we realise that may always serve Him as the absolute monarch in our life and never just a figure head.
Let us pray.
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