11 minute read
Born Again
Jesus Is More Than Your Savior
By David Mathis
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“I want to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ . . .”
If those are the first words out of an athlete’s mouth after a big win, we’re pretty sure we have an evangelical on our hands. As unnatural as those moments feel at times, many of us appreciate the heart behind it. Even if we cringe, we want to simultaneously celebrate that good instinct for a Christian to acknowledge Jesus not only as rescuer but also master.
“Lord and Savior” became a kind of evangelical calling card in the last generation, and for good reason. The phrase comes out of the 1980s battles on “lordship salvation” (even with its roots planted firmly in 2 Peter 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18). Could a truly born-again person receive Jesus as Savior, but not as Lord? Can you pray a prayer, walk an aisle, sign a card, and receive Jesus’s saving, but not His lordship?
The most compelling voices in the controversy stood with their feet steadied on the rock of God’s own words and argued that to receive Jesus savingly is to receive him as all that he is — “Jesus is Lord.” You cannot reject His lordship and still have Him as your getout-of-hell-free Savior. No one knows all that His lordship means when we first believe, but as we learn more about the real Christ, we receive Him as all that He is.
Is ‘Lord and Savior’ Enough?
I’m thankful for those who fought for Christ’s Lordship a generation ago and continue to proclaim it today. And in the days and context in which I pastor, I’m finding “Lord and Savior” to be both essential and inadequate.
More needs to be said about who
Jesus is for us.
When we stand over the Lord’s
Table at our church each Sunday morning, and as we teach our children at home and in Sunday
School, we don’t stop at identifying Jesus as “Lord and Savior.”
We’re finding it’s all the more helpful to add a third title to this well-worn evangelical phrase — to help clarify what kind of Lord, and what kind of Savior, we embrace Jesus to be.
What Kind of Lord?
What kind of Lord is Jesus?
The kind who not only deserves our obedience but wins our admiration. He is the kind of King we not only acknowledge with our taxes and military service, but with our adoration and delight.
He is not a selfish lord, but a selfsacrificing lord. He’s not a mean lord, but a kind one. He is not the insecure, cowardly Prince John who opposed Robin Hood, but the winsome, magnanimous King Richard, a king for whose return his subjects longed. He is not a lord like Scar, but like Mufasa. Not Denethor, but Aragorn. Not the White Witch, but Aslan.
“He is not a selfish lord but a self-sacrificing lord.”
He is the kind of Lord who is also our greatest treasure — a lord so good that we would sell all that we have to be His glad servants giving ourselves to the treasure He is (Matthew 13:44). He is our Pearl of Greatest Price (Matthew 13:45–46). Not only have we seen that He is powerful, but we “have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:3). He is not a lord we disdain, but one we admire. He is a giving lord, not an exacting lord (Matthew 18:27). He is “the Lord Jesus Christ himself . . . who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace” (2 Thessalonians 2:16).
He is not just “Lord,” but also “Treasure.” He is the kind of lord in whom we delight.
What Kind of Savior?
And what kind of Savior is Jesus? The kind who not only deserves our gratitude but wins our love. He is the kind of rescuer who plucks us from fire, and who is Himself the waters of life.
He is not like a lifeguard who saves us from the undertow to hand us off to our family, but like our own father who rescues us from the riptide for Himself to give us the longest, sweetest, and most memorable hug we ever had. His rescue is not like that of a paramedic, fireman, police officer, or soldier honorably “just doing my job,” but in His rescue, He demonstrates His personal, covenantal, eternal love for us. Our salvation doesn’t show His commitment to His work as much as His commitment to His child.
He is not just “Savior,” but also “Treasure.” He is the kind of Savior who is also “a treasure in the heavens that does not fail” (Luke 12:33).
What Kind of Treasure?
And just as Jesus being our “Treasure” flavors what it means to receive Him as Lord and Savior, so also His lordship and His deliverance inform and enrich the enjoyment of our Pearl of Great Price. What kind of treasure is He? Not a thing we buy and hide and rule over, but a person we gladly obey and to whom we happily give our allegiance. This is the kind of LordTreasure He is.
“Our salvation doesn’t show God’s commitment to His work as much as His commitment to His child.”
And Jesus not only stands above us and receives our worship, but He is the one who stooped so low for us and got beneath us to serve us. He is the kind of Treasure who did not regard equality with God to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking our form and being born in our likeness. And as human, He humbled Himself to the point of death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:6–8). This is the kind of SaviorTreasure He is. This is the kind of Savior for whom we would “count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).
God has highly exalted Him and given Him the name above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9–11). He is the kind of Treasure who gladly saves us and whom we gladly call our Lord. Jesus is our “Lord, Savior, and Treasure.” ©2021 Desiring God Foundation. Website: www.desiringGod. org. Email: mail@desiringGod. org. Toll Free: 888-346-4700 >
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People Who Committed Their Lives To Christ
By Billy Sunday
Dear Friend:
You have by this act of coming forward publicly acknowledged your faith in Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. No one could possibly be more rejoiced that you have done this, or be more anxious for you to succeed and get the most joy out of the Christian life, than I. Therefore, I ask you to carefully read this little tract. Paste it in your bible and read it frequently.
What it means to be a Christian
"A Christian is any man, woman or child who comes to God as a lost sinner, accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, surrenders to Him as their Lord and Master, confesses Him as such before the world, and strives to please Him in everything day by day."
Have you come to God realizing that you are a lost sinner? Have you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior; that is, do you believe with all your heart that God laid all your iniquity on Him? (Isa. 53.5-6) and that He bore the penalty of your sins (I Peter 2:24), and that your sins are forgiven because Jesus died in your stead?
Have you surrendered to Him as your Lord and Master? That is, are you willing to do His will even when it conflicts with your desire?
Have you confessed to Him as your Savior and Master before the world?
Is it your purpose to strive to please Him in everything day by day?
If you can sincerely answer "YES" to the foregoing questions, then you may know on the authority of God's Word that you are NOW a child of God (John 1:12), that you have NOW eternal life (John 3:36); that is to say, if you have done your part (i.e., believe that Christ died in your place, and receive Him as your Savior and Master) God has done HIS part and imparted to you His own nature (II Peter 1:4).
How to Make a Success of the Christian Life
Now that you are a child of God your growth depends upon yourself.
It is impossible for you to become a useful Christian unless you are willing to do the things which are essential to your spiritual growth. To this end the following suggestions will be found to be of vital importance: 1. STUDY THE BIBLE: Set aside at least fifteen minutes a day for Bible Study. Let God talk to you fifteen minutes a day through His Word. Talk to God fifteen minutes a day in prayer. Talk for God fifteen minutes a day. "As new-born babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may grow thereby." - (I Peter 2:2).
The word of God is food for the soul.
Commit to memory one verse of Scripture each day. Join a Bible class. (Psa. 119:11) 2. PRAY MUCH: Praying is talking to God. Talk to Him about everything -- your perplexities, joys, sorrows, sins, mistakes, friends, enemies. "Be careful about nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." (Phil 4:6.)
3. WIN SOMEONE FOR
CHRIST: For spiritual growth you need not only food (Bible study) but exercise. Work for Christ. The only work Christ ever set for Christians is to win others. "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." (Mark 16:15.) "When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die; and thou give him not warning, nor speaks to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." - (Ezek. 3:18.)
4. SHUN EVIL COMPAN-
IONS: Avoid bad people, bad books, bad thoughts. Read the First Psalm. "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness, and what communion hath light with darkness - what part hath he that believeth with an infidel - wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord." - (II Corinthians 6:14-17).
Try to win the wicked for God, but do not choose them for your companions. 5. JOIN SOME CHURCH: Be faithful in your attendance at the Sabbath and mid-week services. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." - (Heb. 10:25.)
Co-operate with your pastor. God has appointed the pastor to be a shepherd over the church and you should give him due reverence and seek to assist him in his plans for the welfare of the church. 6. GIVE TO THE SUPPORT OF THE LORD'S WORK: Give as the Lord hath prospered you. - (I Cor.
16:2.)
"Give not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver." - (I Cor. 9:7.) 7. DO NOT BECOME DISCOURAGED: Expect temptations, discouragement, and persecution; the Christian life is warfare. "Yea and all who will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." -
(II Tim. 3:12.)
The eternal God is thy refuge. We have the promises that all things, even strange and hard unaccountable obstacles, work together for our good. Many of God's brightest saints were once as weak as you are, passed through dark tunBest Wishes from
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nels and the hottest fire, and yet their lives were enriched by their experiences, and the world made better because of their having lived in it.
Often read the following passages of Scripture: (Romans 8:18; James 1:12; I Corinthians 10:13). © 2022 oChristian.com. All Rights Reserved >
