Jesus, Both Lord and Christ

What comes to mind when you hear the word "Savior"? What comes to mind when you hear the word "Lord"?


Acts 2:36

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Peter says that God has made the risen Jesus "Both Lord and Christ" (or savior). Why do you think Peter made this point? There are many possible reasons. One to think about tonight is this: Peter had seen many people who wanted Jesus to be their savior, but not their Lord. For example...


Mark 10:17-23

As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "Why do you call me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good--except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' " "Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!"


Luke 14:25-33

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, 'This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.' "Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.
(also Luke 9:23)


Luke 16:13

"No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."
In the case of the Rich Young Ruler, his love for money got in the way of his love for God. What are some other things in our society that might compete with our love for God?
  • Success
  • School
  • Popularity
  • Fame
  • Sex
  • Fun
  • Career
  • Relationships
  • Materialism

Jesus teaches that we must give up everything we have, lose our lives as we know them, and follow Him. We must humbly surrender our whole hearts, our wills, our entire identity to Him. He is Lord, and we must allow Him to be Lord of all of these things in our lives.

"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."
-- Psalm 51:17
A horse has a will of its own, but a broken horse has surrendered its will to the will of the rider. If the rider pulls right, the horse turns right. etc.
"Yet not my will, but yours be done."
-- Jesus Christ (Luke 22:42)
(Jesus already has a surrendered will. We do not.) We must go through the process of surrendering our will to His. There is a word for this surrender process: Repentance. When we repent, we turn our lives, our hearts, our minds, our wills, over to God. They are His now, and He may do with them as He pleases. Not because He took them by force, but because we surrendered them.


I Peter 2:21-24

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. "He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
Repentance is more than just being sorry for your sins, it is a commitment to a lifestyle that avoids sin, and pursues righteousness. It is a commitment to follow in His steps, to become like Him.

Going back to our original scripture, repentance is commanded as part of our response to the Gospel:


Acts 2:36-38

"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We must turn from our "life of sin" (John 8:11) and begin a life of repentance. We must put aside our rebellious, sinful heart, (Mark 10:23) and obtain a surrendered, repentant heart (Rom 6). But how?


Prov 3:5-6

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
Just as adults understand things differently than three year olds, God has understanding that we don't have. We must look to Him for direction in every aspect of life.

People will often get their "own understanding" of what it means to be a Christian by observing the habits and behavior of other Christians, and modifying their own behavior to be in conformity with what they observe. They will pray in church services and before meals because "that's what Christians do." They will bring guests to church services and bible talks like this one, they will smile a lot, study their bible, and do all the right things. They will avoid all the wrong things, they will not drink, smoke, curse, or be sexually immoral. Yet through all of this, they may never actually surrender their hearts to God. They may practice their religion to the letter of the law, but never cultivate a personal relationship with God. They are "leaning on their own understanding" of what it means to be a Christian.

If you look at the lives of people who are surrendered to God, and the lives of those who are committed only to behavior conformity, it may be very difficult to tell the difference! It's a matter of the heart.

Ask yourself this question: Am I trusting in the Lord with ALL of my heart? Or am I leaning on my own understanding based on what I have observed in other Christians?

Jesus calls us to make Him the LORD of our lives! We are called to a life of repentance!

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me."
-- Luke 9:23
"In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple."
-- Luke 14:33
Just as with the Rich Young Ruler, Jesus WILL NOT be our savior UNLESS He is our LORD! The Rich Young Ruler was leaning on His own understanding of what it takes to be saved. He was looking to Jesus for validation of his beliefs, instead of surrendering his life to Jesus and letting Him be Lord. (also Matt 7:21-23) Jesus is "both Lord and Christ", not just one or the other.

Decisions:
If you are allowing Jesus to be the Lord of your life, there are many decisions you will never have to make:

Close with prayer.
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