Read 1 John 5:1-12
We continue our exploration of faith, so let’s review the defining verse from the King James Version.
Today we take counsel from the Apostle John. John’s letters give us a mix of truth and love, challenge and support, warnings against false teachings and encouragement for what is genuine. This is the place where we hear that God is love.
That said, today’s message could be a might prickly.
Let’s start with a question or two or more.
Who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Who believes that he really came to this world in the flesh, died for us, and was raised from the dead? Who believes that he lives now? Who believes that he is at the right hand of the Father?
Who believes that Jesus is your Savior? Who believes that Jesus saved you from sin and death? Who believes that when Jesus said, “It is finished,” his atoning sacrifice was complete?
So, you say that Jesus is your Savior. Is he your Lord? Is he your Master? Are you his disciple?
When Jesus says, follow me, will you go? Or do we have to see if we can work that in? Do I have time for that? Do I even want to do that?
What we are asking is have we taken on the yoke of Jesus?
So many wrestle with being able to proclaim Jesus as Savior—we love that part—and Jesus as Lord. Think about Paul’s words for a moment. He says that if we profess, declare, publicly state that JESUS IS LORD, and believe in our hearts that God raised him from the dead, then we will be saved.
We don’t profess that Jesus is Savior. He is Savior and Redeemer and so much more, but what Paul commends us to do is profess Jesus as Lord. If we profess him as Lord, we will be saved.
It’s one of those really great deals. It’s cool beans. Jesus did everything needed for me to be saved. I receive this fantastic gift in professing him as Lord. JESUS IS LORD!
But, do we know what we have professed. Lord and Savior are not synonymous. There is some overlap, but to be Lord is to govern, to rule, to lead, to own, to command, to be sovereign.
Is Jesus sovereign in our lives? How would I know?
We would do what he has taught us and it would not be a burden. We respond to what Jesus calls us to do by doing it and not considering it as him asking too much. It’s what we do now.
We listen to his words. We know that he is the Son of God. That is to know him as God and his words are our commands and we enjoy this relationship. It’s not like, one day I’m going to have his job. No, this relationship is eternal, and we are good with that.
It’s not like, when I get to be Lord, we are going to do things differently. No. That dog don’t hunt. Jesus is our Lord and that’s eternal.
He may give us more gifts and talents and charge over many things, but he is and always will be Lord; and we are just fine with that.
Jesus is sovereign in our lives. What he says goes. We desire to put his words into practice. We want to please him and our lives are aligned in such a way that we do please him.
Can we honestly say that?
God himself testifies that Jesus is his Son and that Jesus is the name above all names and that Jesus came from heaven to earth to live in the flesh, die in the flesh, and take away our sin.
Here’s the thing. We can’t believe that and not receive Jesus as Lord. We can’t just say, “I’ll take the salvation part. You can keep this Lord and Master stuff and sell it to someone else.”
When we do that, we are trying to make God out to be a liar. We are contesting that which cannot be contested—the word and witness of God himself.
I can’t draw fresh water and salt water from the same well. I am not going to harvest tomatoes from a thorn bush. I can’t claim the salvation of God through Jesus Christ and deny him as Lord.
Well, I can do that but when I do, I am calling God a liar. That’s not something that I want to do.
And so, we come to faith. Once again, we come to this intangible thing called faith.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
We are called to walk by faith and not by sight. Now, we find that the Apostle John reveals more truth about faith. We respond to the love and salvation and grace and favor of the Lord by living his way. When we walk by faith we are walking in his ways, putting his words into practice, and doing this as our new way of life not as an obligation or duty or something that seems like a burden.
Obeying our Master is our new nature.
Following the ways of our Lord is just what we do now.
Living as a disciple of Jesus Christ is our new identity. I am a Christian. I follow my Lord. Christ rules in my life.
I don’t feel like I am going against the grain when I do things God’s way. I am going against the grain of the world, but I am perfectly in sync with what my Lord has called me to do.
Sometimes, the ways of the world tempt me, but they do not overcome me. I am an overcomer in Christ Jesus!
For me to live any other way is to deny that Christ lives in me. God’s Spirit lives in me as a good deposit on what is to come.
God himself has embraced me as his own. I am his.
How could I not want to please him in every way? How could I do less than seek his Kingdom every day? How could anything that he has called me to do be a burden?
But how many poor, poor pitiful me Christians do we see day to day and week to week? How many Christians seem burdened by what God has called them to do?
We will have trouble in the world. We know that, but the one who has God living inside him or inside her knows that Christ Jesus has overcome the world. He who is in me is greater than he who is in the world.
We might even be persecuted, but we know that we are in good company when the world doesn’t like us because we look too much like Jesus.
We know that we live in an age where so many want to hear entertaining and reassuring words at the expense of truth, but we know that the truth sets us free.
If we claim salvation in the blood of Jesus but don’t want him as Lord, then we are making God out to be a liar.
We know Jesus is the Son of God and died for our sins. Our profession is not Jesus is Savior, but JESUS IS LORD! He is Savior but our profession is that he is Lord.
To receive Jesus as Savior and reject him as Lord is the ultimate contradiction. That dog don’t hunt!
Are there Christians in this boat? Yes, far too many. And they wonder why they don’t have peace. Why do they not feel favored? Where are all of these blessings that I was told came with the Christianity package? And these people should not expect much improvement so long as they keep calling God a liar.
To know that Jesus is the Son of God and know that God raised him from the dead is the beginning of our salvation. Salvation in its fulness demands discipleship.
If we follow Jesus out of compulsion or only a sense of duty, we leave out the most essential component—faith.
It is faith that takes what we know and turns it into what we do so naturally. Faith takes us from our human nature to God’s divine nature.
Putting God’s words into practice out of faith is not a burden. It is essential to our growth. It is our new nature.
If we truly are a new creation, then we must embrace this new nature where Jesus is Lord and we do things his way because we have faith in him.
This new creature that we have become in Christ Jesus desires to do things his way because our faith tells us that this is the best way—he is the way. God has good things in store for us.
To receive salvation through grace and reject the Lordship of Christ Jesus is to make God out to be a liar. I have mentioned before that there are some words that I don’t want to hear from Jesus. Woe unto you being at the top of the list. Nothing that follows those words can be anything I want to hear.
You wicked, lazy servant ranks right up there as well, but I also don’t want to be caught calling God a liar. Would I ever say those words out loud? Of course not, and I do not want the way I live my life to say them either.
We must take what we believe—know for sure that it is true—and act in faith to live as if Jesus is the Lord of our lives, for that is exactly the relationship prescribed.
It is faith not sight that leads us to obey the commands of our Master and they are not burdensome.
It is faith that assures us that God’s way is better.
It is faith that takes us from salvation to discipleship.
It is faith that brings the words JESUS IS LORD from our hearts to our lips and into our response to his great love.
Jesus is Lord. He is our Master. We are his disciples. There is no middle ground.
Amen!
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