Is Jesus really “Lord” of your life ?

ASIDEFEBRUARY 22, 2017LEAVE A COMMENT

I understand this is an unpopular question to ask is our “post-modern” “non-judgmental” culture. In a culture that can impose their own standards, whilst disregarding God’s standard. And all along the way affirming there are no “objective standards”, which is impossible as “truth” can ONLY be absolute. Sadly this type of “post-modernism” has crept into the Church.

So often we can assume someone is Christian, because they “said a prayer” professing Christ many years ago. This is often labelled as the “sinner’s prayer” a practice which isn’t supported by Holy Scripture at all. The idea that someone can just become a Christian by a magic instant noodles formula is not found in the Bible.

In fact Jesus said nothing of the kind. Jesus in fact says in Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it”.

Not everyone that professes Christ possesses Christ.

I can profess I am an American all day long it doesn’t make me an American as I’m British. Or I can profess I’m a chicken however I am a human contrary to what some may say… ‘ahemm’…

One of the first instructions that Jesus commands of everyone in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark is “repent”. In Matthew 4:17 for example it says “From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it”.

Immediately after beginning his preaching ministry Jesus encouraged people to repent from their sins. Repent doesn’t just mean saying sorry, or acknowledging you’ve done wrong. It means turning 180 degrees in the opposite direction.

Becoming a Christian isn’t easy, it requires denial. It requires strength. It requires saying “no” to the things you used to love, and “yes” to the things you used to hate. It means cutting off relationships that may harm your faith. It also means building relationships that can build you up in the faith.

The Apostle Paul says in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”.

Paul wasn’t living for himself, he was done to living for himself. Also he continually recognized the love Christ showed in suffering and dying on the cross for him.

As Christians we aren’t better than anybody. But we are saved, by God’s amazing grace. We are saved from Hell. Yes Hell. Why? Because Hell is what we deserved.

We deserved Hell because we sinned against our creator. Every time we looked with lust we committed adultery with that person, every time we got angry with someone we committed murder towards that person. BUT. The Bible says in Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

And Ephesians 2:8 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God..”

We walk in these truths not because we are good, but because God is good and we love him.

However I am greatly grieved. I am grieved that there a professing Christians that use God’s grace as a licence for indulging in their sin. For continuing in their sin. For wilfully sinning against their creator who sent his one and only Son Jesus to die for their sins.

They profess in worship songs during a Church service: “Lord take my life let it be EVERYTHING all of me, here I am living for your glory”. Yet the next day commit fornication with a non-believer, and totally trampling on the blood of our Savior the Lord Jesus.

So how can we conclude that Christians living in willful ongoing sin ever repented and trusted in Christ in the first place ? Often many that profess Christ are no different to the world, and yet to justify their behavior they would say they behave this way so that they can “connect to the world”. However the Bible says we are to be in the world but not of it (John 15:9).

We are to be distinguishable from the World. And we are called to shine a light in the darkness not indulge with it, or fellowship with it. It saddens me when I hear of Christians feeding and indulging their “feelings” rather than striving to be obedient to God’s Word. A common practice I hear of is “Missionary dating”. The idea that a Christian can date or marry a non-believer in order to convert them to Christ.

Often when ones argue that this can be a good idea, they would say that maybe God put their non-believing partner in their lives in order to lead them to Christ. But this is a much simplified justification to the sin, as nowhere in scripture can this practice be condoled.

The Bible teaches against this. Paul says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14). The idea here is that intimate association with unbelievers can likely lead to a compromised faith.

“Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Cor 15:33)

Furthermore becoming romantically attached with an unbeliever is playing with fire. “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

The real reason missionary dating is condoled by those who indulge in it, is because they are swept away by their romantic feelings to the point of going against God’s Word.

I’ve made many mistakes believing my emotions, what’s worse is I was so clouded by my emotions that I felt I was making the right decision and that God was happy with me making those decisions. The reality however was that I was in rebellion to God and his Word.

It wasn’t good enough for me to have justified my actions by my emotions because our emotions can and do deceive us. They cloud our judgment, make us do things we wouldn’t normally do, reject objective discernment etc. So we can’t measure our decisions by our emotions, we must measure it with God’s Word.

It’s often said that “Actions speak louder than words” this saying certainly rings true for how we are to measure ourselves in our Christian walk.

In John 15:5-6 Jesus says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned”.

We must let go of our sin and rebellion from God, and strive to bear fruit in line with repentance.

So what fruit are you bearing in your life ? Please understand my heart in this blog. I love God and I love people and so the most loving thing I can instruct someone in, is the truth.

Often we have a tendency in Christian circles to adopt the “don’t judge unless ye be judged” mentality. This of course is a twisting of what Jesus says in Matthew 7:1. However when we read on in this passage Jesus encourages us not to hypocritically judge.

Jesus encourages us to first examine ourselves before we can lead others out of sin. 

Often we can go through life without taking a step back and examine the way we conduct ourselves. I have done this many times. I have said and done things in my life that I look back on with absolute embarrassment with.

But when we do walk in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24) we can lovingly speak the truth to those who are willfully walking in sin. Sadly scripture affirms that there will be many in Church that on the Day of Judgment many will think they are saved when in fact they are not.

John 15:5 – Jesus says “I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit…”

I think the scariest scripture in the Bible is when Jesus says in Matthew 7:22-23 “many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers”!

Because the sad fact that scares me is there are many false converts in the Church that would rather pleasure in their sins then glorify their Savior. But we must remember tomorrow is never guaranteed.
So the question again has to be asked “Is Jesus really the Lord of your Life” ?

I ask this question not thinking for one second I cannot examine myself everyday, as my Bible says otherwise. The Apostle Paul in instructing the Church in Corinth to “test themselves” he says in 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you–unless, of course, you fail the test”?

So what hope do we have ?

1 – Put simply our hope is Christ. He is the atonement for our sins. Not religious works. Not our charity. Not our goodness. Not our own merits. Christ. We can stand on God’s promises found in his Word.

We must repent from our sins and put our faith in Christ.

1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness”.

2 – We must grow in our relationship with God. We must cultivate daily prayer and Bible reading in order that we can become mature in the faith and discern Biblically.
If we don’t it can be dangerous. It’s like going into battle without our our armour and weapons.

Paul says in Ephesians 6:10-11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

It’s true the saying I saw once on a Church noticeboard “7 days without prayer makes 1 week”. If you’re not growing your sinking you must be active. Matthew 6:33*

3 – Repent and strive to glorify God

There may be relationships that you need to sever. There may be programs that you need to stop watching. You may need to stop going on the internet late at night and falling into temptation.

You might need to stop getting angry at someone, even if you’ve felt they’ve wronged you. This can feel like a huge weight off your shoulder and you won’t regret it.

In Matthew 16:24 Jesus gives us a clear directive: “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me”.

It’s not just repenting and turning completely away from those things, but we must then turn to Christ. Turn our complete attention to him daily.
We cannot live this life in our own strength, because we will fail.

Proverbs 3:-5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths”.
4 – Bear good fruit and disciple others

This can be done through various means. You could: invite friend’s from Church over, you can phone someone and encourage them with a Bible passage, you can text someone, email them. You could volunteer once a week in the Church office to help with admin. Buy gifts for your senior leaders. Encourage your leaders.

Also encourage perhaps those in your Church that are struggling in the Faith. When we get our eyes off ourselves and onto people in need it can be liberating and also encourage us.

There are people right now in your Church that would love for you to walk along side them in their faith. Most Christians wanting help don’t ask for it, maybe out of embarrassment.
I loved it when people offered to walk alongside me and encourage me each week. So get inviting!

We can so often assume it’s just our Pastors role to do these things. However the Church is one body and all of us can play an active role.

Philippians 2:4 says “Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others” and Galatians 6:2 says Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

My prayer is that you would grow in your love for the Lord Jesus Christ, hate the things he hates and loves the things he loves.

God bless…

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all –  2 Corinthians 13:14