The Lordship of Christ
Mar. 25, 2001

Discipleship is a response to the recognition of some degree of authority. This is even true in situations far removed from anything we are considering here. There have been men in every generation and all over the world that have attracted a following for one reason or another. Some of them have been good men with good causes; others tyrants or gang leaders. But whatever the case, their charisma has attracted disciples. Someone saw in them an authority figure.

Who Jesus Christ is

The discipleship we are discussing is based on the recognition of who Jesus Christ is: His absolute authority in heaven and earth. He is more than a heroic historical figure, more than a great teacher or admired revolutionary. He is the incarnate Word of God, the creator of all things. John1: 1-3 The Bible says He is both Lord and Christ. Acts 2:36

Jesus is called our Savior twenty five times in the New Testament. That we have a Savior is a marvelous fact. If there were any way that we could have elevated ourselves above the condemnation under which Adam's entire race finds itself, we would not have needed a Savior. Knowing human nature, though, even if it had been possible, few of us would have made an appropriate effort to overcome the condemnation. Heaven would be a sparsely populated place indeed.

Who We Are

But there was no hope, no possibility of our overcoming the fallen nature we inherited from Adam. It rendered us dead in trespasses and sin and consigned our eternal souls to everlasting destruction––separation from God forever. We needed a Savior; and the whole New Testament is the declaration of His saving work

It is understandable that Jesus as our Savior preoccupies the thinking of believers. If we had not been saved the alternative is unbearable to contemplate. But whereas Jesus is depicted as our Savior twenty five times in the New Testament, He is spoken of as our Lord one hundred and fifty three times. In the pre-creation "period" when nothing existed except God, Jesus was there in the bosom of the Father. He was the Word, the creator of everything that was to be made. John 1: 1-3

His Undeniable Authority

His authority, then, is beyond question. But it was He, the maker of all things that laid aside His prerogatives to act as God and took upon himself the form and frailty of humanity to submit his body to the cruel demands of the cross. In so doing He was our Savior. Can we forget, however, that before He was our Savior he was our creator? That very fact qualifies Him as our Lord.

As hard to believe as it may seem there are some professing believers who resist what the Scriptures say about the Lordship of Jesus Christ as it relates to our salvation. An incident stands out in my mind that illustrates this resistance.

I was a speaker at a men's retreat in South Texas. Two texts were before us: one was Romans 10:9, the other I Timothy 4:10. I explained that as a young believer I had been puzzled about the verse in Timothy, which reads in part, "…we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, specially of those that believe."

With my limited understanding at that time, my quandary was, does this mean all people are saved, but some are more saved than others? Obviously not! It means that Christ died for all, and therefore is every person's Savior. Consequently every lost person will perish because of unbelief in spite of the fact that he or she had a Savior. But those that believe will experience His salvation.

I then pointed out in the Romans verse what we are to believe and what we are to confess. "If thou shalt confess with they mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

The conclusion, from the information in these two texts was that Jesus is the Savior of all. But it is those who confess Him as Lord and believe that God has raised Him from the dead that will be saved.

I was surprised that there was an immediate negative reaction. The objection was that I was teaching something called "Lordship salvation", a premise not acceptable to those present. There has been an apparent misunderstanding about what the Lordship of Christ really means. Interpretation is everything. The objection that was voiced by those antagonists might be shared by some that are reading this.

What we are to confess is about Him, not about us

The apostle Paul stated very clearly that if we confess with our mouth the Lord Jesus… (He is telling us that we are to recognize Jesus as the Lord. That's who He is, and we are to confess that we believe that's who He is) He is the Savior of all men. But to us He is Lord.

The controversy swirled around their understanding me to have implied that salvation could not be appropriated until we have mastered submission and have achieved perfect obedience to Him. Only then could we confess that Jesus is Lord. "This," they said, "would be salvation by works."

To this they added a distorted version of grace which amounted to an academic belief in the fact that Jesus was God and that He died on the cross to save us from the consequence of our sins from which we were not required to repent. Their version of the gospel consisted of a revision of Romans 10:9 which would have read, If thou shalt confess with your mouth Jesus as savior, and believe in your heart that He died on the cross ye shall be saved.

It seems there are those who cannot accept a gospel that suggests salvation includes obedience, while feeling perfectly comfortable with a gospel that preaches a salvation that doesn't oppose disobedience.

All of that aside, the facts are that what we are to believe and what we are to confess is not about us, it is about Him. We are not told to confess our righteousness, our success, our submission; we are to recognize and confess who He is––He is Lord. And we are to believe not only that He died on the cross, but also that God has raised Him from the dead.

It is not extreme to confess that Jesus is Lord

Extremes are not what the Christian life is about, "grace" that becomes license on the one hand, and "obedience" that becomes legalism on the other. The apostles had an understanding of what they wanted us to know.

There is a requirement to recognize not only that Jesus is Lord, but that He is the living Lord. As a dead savior He could not have fulfilled His mission and we would still be in our sins in spite of His death on the cross. But as the living Lord He has conquered death and the grave and has all power in heaven and in earth. That authority extends to every principality and power. Every demon, every tyrant, every nation knows––or should know–– that He is Lord, and will one day confess it. Our turn is now. But if we do not feel the need to acknowledge His Lordship, it is very unlikely we will soon feel a need to submit to it.

It is probably safe to say that most true believers desire to do the will of God. If not, their relationship to the Lord would be in question. But understanding the Lordship of Jesus is key to being motivated to do the will of God. If we think of Him only as Savior we may be motivated to thank Him, or appreciate Him, or even brag about Him. But until we see Him as Lord we are not motivated to prostrate ourselves before Him and worship Him with our obedience. That's why Jesus told us of those who will say, "Lord, Lord," but will not do His bidding. "Lord" is more than a word, more than a name, more than a title. It is the personification of absolute authority.

The Response to Lordship is Submission

When there is a heartfelt conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord, and there is an understanding of what Lord means, the response can only be submission. It was this recognition of Christ as Lord that determined the lives, the commitments and the destiny of the apostles.

Jesus had called them from their occupations and caused them to forsake all––their fortunes, their homes, their futures and their families––for what? For the loss of all things, for scorn, for scoffing and for martyrdom. When Jesus departed to return to heaven He left them with the commission to make disciples in all nations, and they did.

John, because of his faithfulness to his Lord refused to curb his witness of him until he was banished to solitary confinement on the island of Patmos. Even there he faithfully worshiped Jesus because of which God gave him the Revelation, which to this day continues to instruct and edify the saints of God throughout the whole world.

Philip, because of his total commitment to the authority of Jesus went to Samaria and preached the gospel. At the bidding of the Spirit he left a fruitful ministry to go to an isolated spot in Gaza to meet an Ethiopian who would carry the Gospel to his homeland. We have no authoritative record of his death other than that he was martyred.

Thomas, who after the resurrection refused to believe it until he could see the wounds in Jesus' body, but when he did, cried out, "My Lord and my God," we understand from history went to India and made disciples causing churches to blossom on the sub-continent. They still bear witness there among the dark religions of Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam that Jesus Christ lives as Lord of all.

Peter, after denying his Lord three times, went, at last, to honor him by proclaiming that "He is Lord of all." Acts 10: 36. That was Peter's message, "Jesus raised from the dead and He is Lord of all." In fact that was the message of all the apostles. It is the message of the Bible. There is no way to preach the gospel without proclaiming the Lordship of Christ. It is that message that we are to preach and to which the sinner is to submit.

The Rabbi, Saul, raging against the gospel and hailing believers, both men and women, and committing them to prison and to death, was arrested by Jesus on the road to Damascus as he went there to murder the saints. He heard the voice of Jesus say, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?"

Saul responded, "Who art thou, Lord?"

"I am Jesus whom thou persecutest."

And Saul trembling and astonished said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?"

Saul, who became the apostle Paul, recognized from the beginning that Jesus Christ is Lord. It was that recognition that motivated him, as it did those before him and multitudes since, to yield their lives and their ultimate destinies in continuing obedience to Christ.