SAVIOR AND LORD
Those who know Jesus best, love Jesus most. To know him is to love him. In your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you will find nothing that is unlovable. If you are honest with who this man is, you will not even find anything not to like. You will certainly respect him as the greatest man who ever lived. The secret of Christianity is that there is no secret. It is Jesus. Jesus all, Jesus only. And Jesus lives within his people. Paul said that Christ lives in us (Galatians 2:20).
When we speak and act as though we have any goodness of our own to claim, we minimize the importance of Jesus and what he has done for us. When we act as though we could ever figure things out enough, obey laws “good enough,” or be a part of the “right church,” we reveal our conviction that Jesus is not really necessary (Galatians 2:21). At the same time, when we have “Lord, Lord” on our lips with no real regard for his instructions or the way he wants us to live, we also reveal that we think we can do without him (Matthew 7:21).
Another serious mistake that is made by many religionists who claim that they love Jesus is minimizing or ignoring—or just flat out denying—the covenant sealed by his blood (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:15-17). Any desire to return to a law system, or the absolutely egregious and ridiculous idea that anyone today is or can be under the Law of Moses, is an affront to Christ, his cross and his gospel. If Jesus were enough for you, you would not be seeking God’s favor from a law that was nailed to the cross and has not been in operation for over twenty centuries.
If Jesus is our Savior, then he is also our Lord. This means that we will be greatly concerned about doing what he says. Obedience is not a bad word. One cannot be saved without it. Yes, the concept is grossly abused and misinterpreted by those who think that they can be saved by their own obedience, even to the New Testament (Galatians 3:21). But the message of the word of God is clear: only those who love Jesus enough to try to live the way he wants them to live—those who submit to him as Lord of their lives, in other words—are real believers and will be saved.
The verses that teach these truths are astounding in number (Col. 1:19-23; Rom. 5:8-10; Luke 7:50; John 1:12; 3:14-18; Acts 10:43; John 12:48; Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; John 14:23; 15:10-14; 1 John 2:17; 3:24). That is just a sample of the many directives in the New Testament that point us to the necessity of faithfulness to Jesus and his instructions. The message is clear. Love Jesus and trust only in him to save you. And always try to do what he says.
Dewayne Dunaway
