Pleasant Run Baptist Church
I read a statement by Charles Stanley the other day, “Many accept Jesus as their Savior but avoid making Him Lord over every area of their life.” I started thinking about what he said. Many people want Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord, so my questions are these: “Can Jesus be our Savior only and not Lord?” “What does it mean to be under the Lordship of Jesus Christ?” Finally, “What is the evidence that Jesus is Lord of someone’s life?”
What is the Lordship of Christ or what does it mean when we call Him Lord? It is to acknowledge Him as Supreme authority and that He holds complete dominion over His kingdom. A lord rules his kingdom and all parts of the kingdom must yield to His Lordship. Here’s the problem -- many are content to be a part of the kingdom, but they do not yield themselves to the complete authority of the Lord.
Why is this a issue? After all, isn’t it enough just to be in the kingdom? Let’s use the example of a marriage. When a person marries another, they promise to be faithful to that person for life. When a person who is married has an affair, they are technically still married but their relationship is a hoax. Their marriage is in name only. When a person professes Jesus Christ and does not serve Him as Lord, then they are Christian in name only. You may ask, “Isn’t that works based salvation?” No, works are evidence of salvation, not conditions for salvation. Can a marriage be fixed? Yes, thank God, it can. Can a person fully serve Jesus as Lord? Yes, thank God, they can. Here in 2 Peter we see how that is accomplished. There are several parables in Scripture in which Jesus blasts the unfaithful or lazy servant. It also has a spiritual meaning. “Not everyone 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." (Matt 7:21) This is a faithful servant.
How do I know if Jesus is Lord or not of my life? Good question! Jesus answers this in Matthew 7:21. God has a plan for everything in His creation, and that included you and me. His plan involves His will for our lives. Remember, if Jesus is Lord and we are His servants then we will yield ourselves to His authority or His will. If He wants us to preach, we preach. If He wants us to evangelize, we evangelize. If He wants us to quit this job so we can go to another one, then we go. If He wants us to sell the house to move into a smaller, more affordable one, then we sell and move. It’s not up to negotiations; it’s being obedient to His will for our lives. “But I don’t know if I can trust God’s will. ” Then you are in the wrong crowd, my friend. If you can’t trust God to lead your life, then you have not trusted Him to save your soul.
"Then can I be truly saved if I am not faithfully serving Jesus as Lord?" According to Matt 7:21, the answer is "No." Walking with God is not a buffet line; you don’t get to pick and chose what part you want and skip the stuff you don’t want. It’s all or nothing. When we asked Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and forgive our sins and save our souls it was not just to escape hell. It was to have Him become Lord of our lives, in every aspect of our lives, too. He wants to be Lord over our wealth, health and our "stuff."
How can I know for sure that Jesus is Lord of my life? Now we are ready to preach.
2 Peter 1:1 -- Simon Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, begins by saluting the “strangers” scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. These were the New Testament believers living throughout the Roman Empire (now modern day Turkey). They were scattered because of the persecution of Christians by the Roman government. (Side note: The Romans, by scattering the Jewish believers, only spread the Gospel message to the entire Empire; their actions backfired!) The purpose of 2 Peter is to warn the early church about false teachers and to exhort them to grow in their faith and knowledge of Jesus Christ (the Life Application Study Bible introduction to 2 Peter).
Verse 4 tells of the great and precious promises that have been given to us and that through these promises we can be partakers of His divine nature and escape the corruption of this lust filled world. In other words, Peter tells about the power to which we have access that enables the believer to live the victorious life. Perhaps a better way to say this is it tells us how to live a servant's life for Christ. What is the power that makes all this possible? The Holy Spirit. 1 Peter 1:22-23 -- Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever. Here comes the Savior/Lord dilemma; too many are content to escape the penalty of hell, a "get-out-of-hell-free" card. Yet, that by itself is only part of what God wants to do for us, He wants to make us partakers of His divine nature and to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, that comes by I Peter 1:5-10 -- Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
It begins with faith, it does not end with faith. We stress faith so much that too many people believe that’s all they need to please God (Heb 11:6), but faith is merely the first step in God’s master plan for our lives. “Give all diligence” means to actively strive for or seek after. Faith gets us in the door, but it doesn’t stop there.
7 steps to walking in God’s will under the Lordship of Christ:
Add to your faith virtue. II Peter 1:5 What is virtue? Moral excellence! Aren’t you tired of all the professors that claim to be saved but their lives are moral rot. The greatest indictment against the modern church is that there is so much moral corruption and decay, but people say they are on their way to heaven?!? Faith is not enough friend; the demons have faith that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. There needs to be virtue. “Why virtue?” Because it is the will of God (II Peter 1:3) God hath called us to virtue. But let me interject something here -- moral excellence cannot be manmade, Jesus told the disciples that virtue left His body and entered into the woman with the issue of blood. Virtue then is of the power of God, a working of the Holy Spirit.
Add to virtue knowledge e. II Peter 1: 5 If virtue is moral excellence, then knowledge is moral understanding. God has given us the wisdom of the ages in His Word and the teacher of all the universe in His Spirit, and yet we may be the most Biblical illiterate people of all time. God’s people need to be fed from God’s word. When we read or hear the Bible read, the Holy Spirit energizes it and it strengthens our walk with God as we follow it’s principles. How much of God’s word do you absorb in a average day?
Add to knowledge temperance. II Peter 1:6 The word "temperance" means self-control. A Christian ought to have self-control. What is the one thing we struggle to control that no one else can control for us -- our emotions. I have seen church people fly off the handle and excuse their actions as only being human; where’s the self control? Uncontrolled anger is very ugly; retaliation is devilish, and greed is sinful. I can hear some of you right now, “Jesus got mad and over threw the money changers' tables in the Temple.” Jesus' anger was a controlled anger. The national economic problem we are seeing now resulted from a uncontrolled spending frenzy -- easy credit and hard payments. We aren’t satisfied with God’s will for our life. Paul said he learned to be content; we need to be content, too.
Add to temperance patience. II Peter 1:6 Why is patience included in this list? The Greek word means endurance. There is no place to quit in this Christian race. The writer of Hebrews 12:1 says “Let us run with patience (endurance) the race that is set before us.” Paul’s greatest fear in the ministry is that he might fail to finish well, and be considered a castaway. (1 Cor. 9:27) He wanted to finish strong and he did so with endurance. So many have “fallen by the wayside” -- preachers, teachers, evangelists, deacons, strong members of the church. It cast a bad light on the entire body of Christ! Start well, run well and finish well!
Add to patience godliness. II Peter 1:6 If virtue is moral excellence, then godliness is spiritual excellence. “Same thing?” Apparently not, since they are listed separately. Titus 2:12 combines ungodliness and worldly lust together, and living godly with soberness (sound mind) and righteousness. Living godly is living in reverence of God and His word and will.
Add to godliness brotherly kindness. II Peter 1:7 The Greek meaning for this word is “Philadelphia.” This the name of the church Jesus mentioned in Revelation 3:7, the loyal church, the only church that did not get rebuked by the Lord for any flaw unlike the other six churches. It means love for the brethren. One of the greatest things you’ll ever see in a church is unity and harmony; that comes only when there is brotherly love in the congregation. On the flip side, one of the worst things you’ll ever see is anger and division. Jesus said in Mark 3:25 “a house divided against itself cannot stand.” If you allow division in a church, it will suffer greatly while the devil laughs at it. I know that where people are involved, ideas and points of view clash; our opinions of someone else may not measure up to what we think is best, but can’t we try to love people in spite of their past or if they disagree with us or if they get more attention than we do in serving the Lord?
Finally, add to brotherly kindness charity (love). II Peter 1:7 The word "love" has many different meaning in the Greek tongue. It can mean the love between a man and woman, a intimate love, or the love between two friends, brotherly love, or, as in the case with the word charity, it can mean the love that God has for His creation. It is called agape love. The person who is walking in God’s will or under the Lordship of His Son will have agape love. “What’s the difference between brotherly kindness and charity?” Brotherly kindness is the love we have for other believers; charity is the love we have for those who are not. Just as God loved us before we ever called upon His name for our salvation, we must and ought to have a similar love for people, regardless of their past, present, skin color, differences in politics or nationality.
These are seven steps or keys to determine if we are what God wants us to be. Now for the hard part, how are we doing? Honestly, is there anything we are lacking? If there is, then we aren’t measuring up. What is another way to gauge ourselves? II Peter 1:8 says that if these things abound, then we shall be blessed and fruitful in His service for the Lord. Also in verse 9 if we lack these things we are spiritually blind and living in a backslidden condition (he hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins).
Therefore, make sure you are who you say you are in Christ, test yourself against these seven steps or keys.
God Bless