Preaching About The Son

Preaching About the Son

We are in a series on preaching on doctrine.  In the last post we saw that after introducing revelation, a good place to continue your series is to preach about the Father.  In this post we’ll explore what preaching about the Son can look like in your church.

Preaching About The Son Theme Source

As I introduced the last post, I noted that a simple practice for your series on doctrine is to follow the Apostles’ Creed or the Nicene Creed.  Here is the Apostles’ Creed again so that you can see the flow of thought in this ancient document.

I believe in God,
the Father almighty,
Creator of heaven and earth,
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
he descended into hell;
on the third day he rose again from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and life everlasting.

Amen.

Preaching the Son As Lord

The title Lord has a long history.  Preaching the Son means that we have to deal with what it means that he is Lord. The Wikipedia definition of this word is here.   I’ll summarize.  A Lord was someone who had authority over other people.  When you acknowledged someone as Lord, you were bound to obey and answer to the call of that person.

To say that Jesus as Lord means that we acknowledge him as the one who had authority over us.  We are committed to him as our Leader, our captain, our owner.  Yes, in ancient times the Lord even owned the people under his rule.

Think about that for your preaching the Son in your church.  Following Jesus is not a choice we make lightly, because the Bible reveals that He is Lord–he has authority and has power over us and over the world around us.

Jesus Identified Himself as Lord

Here is how Christianity.Com expresses this idea that Jesus is Lord

The declaration “Jesus is Lord” indicates that Jesus is God. Jesus holds “all authority in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). He is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Luke 6:5); “our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 1:4); and “the Lord of lords” (Revelation 17:14).

The World In Rebellion

When we say that Jesus is Lord, we have to confess that much of the world seems to be in rebellion against the Lordship of Jesus.  When we are preaching the Son as Lord, it will be important to point this out to your people.

I am writing this post in August, 2025.  The news at this time is full of stories of war, of starvation, of people’s greed, with fewer stories of people following Jesus into difficult places to provide food and medical care.  Those stories are there, to be sure, but they are far fewer.  Instead, we heard a couple of days ago that Israeli soldiers shot 85 people who were at a feeding station trying to get food.

In our preaching about the Son we need to be sure that we include the call to bow the knee to Jesus as our Lord.  Philippians 2 is an early hymn, historians believe, acknowledging Jesus as Lord.  The last part is a powerful statement of the Father’s actions as a result of Jesus’ obedience:

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
    and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father.