Have you made the transition?
It’s one we all have to make. If we’re ever going to mature in our faith we have to make this shift in the nature of our relationship with Jesus.
When we first come to Christ we typically meet Him as our Saviour. He is saving us from our sins. We are trading our rags for His riches; our death for His life; our brokenness for His wholeness; our wounds for His healing; our weakness for His strength; our failures for His victory; our sorrow for His joy; our sin for His forgiveness; our loneliness for His family; our guilt and shame for His love and delight.
Classic evangelism is about “salvation” – getting people “saved”. This has to do with meeting and receiving Jesus as Saviour.
We all need to be saved. We are all lost without Jesus. Salvation is the beginning. However, we cannot stay there…
I believe Jesus wants us to know Him as both Saviour AND Lord.
Salvation is the gift of God – it is free because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Our salvation transitions us from being citizens of the Kingdom of Darkness to becoming citizens of the Kingdom of Light. Our citizenship is changed: we become children of the Father in the family of God.
Once saved, we have to choose to live differently. We have to choose to surrender to Jesus as Lord. He said if we love Him we will obey His commands. Our prayer becomes, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Knowing and walking with Jesus as Lord is choosing God’s will, God’s way. Surrender and obedience to God marks the life of someone who knows Jesus as Lord.
Salvation is free, but the Kingdom costs us our life. In order for us to appropriate the Kingdom – the Government of God – we must surrender to God. We must get off the throne of our lives and ask Jesus to take His place as Lord. We are no longer Lord, He is.
If we only know Jesus as Saviour our faith can be very selfish – what can Jesus do for me? When we grow to know Him as Lord our faith becomes very selfless – how can I serve Jesus? Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commands. He then said that He commands us to love one another.
The hallmark of a follower of Jesus who knows Him as Lord is a tangible, selfless love for others.
Men who only know Jesus as Saviour are always asking Him to take away the difficulties of life. Men who know Jesus as Lord invite Jesus into the difficulties. “Lord, I would love you to take this away, but not my will, yours be done. What is your will for me and for others through me in this situation?”
Men who have chosen to surrender to Jesus as Lord seek to know God’s will so they can walk with Him in that. Men who only know Jesus as Saviour communicate their will to God and ask Him to provide for their needs.
There is certainly no issue with asking the Lord to provide for our needs, but if that is all we are doing we are missing more of what God wants to do in us and through us to others.
The process of making Jesus Lord always involves difficulty, because He wants to know if you are willing to surrender your will to His. Are you willing to bring your hopes, dreams and expectations to the cross and lay them at Jesus’ feet? Or, are you simply willing to bring your troubles, trials, and failures to the cross so Jesus can take them away?
When we let Him know that we want to make Him Lord he invites us to join Him at the cross and surrender our “rights” to Him. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said,
“When Christ calls a man He bids him come and die.”
We can only truly experience the life of Christ when we have died to ourselves.
Do you know Jesus as Lord, or do you simply know Him as Saviour? True life is found only when we know Him as both Saviour AND Lord.
Ephesians 2:8, 9
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Acts 4:12
“And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
John 14:15
“If you love me, keep my commands.”
John 13:34
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.”
Matthew 16:24
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’”