Ol’ School
On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther began the process of casting off human doctrines that had grown within the church. These teachings had grown from traditions and errors to become intrusive ideas that were interfering with orthodox teachings of the bible. In fact, the accusation was raised by Luther and others that the doctrine of the church had become adversarial to the gospel. That the church as a whole was teaching a different gospel than the one in the bible. Salvation is by faith in Jesus through his death and resurrection. But the process of getting rid of the things that our flesh tries to add to the gospel is never over. There are still teachers and preachers that attack the simplicity of the gospel. Always trying to fix it, add to it or replace it.
Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Ac 2:38)
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. (Ac 16:31).
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, He was buried, and He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor 15:3).
The Reformation Will Not Be Televised
The problem is a three-word phrase: “Lord Jesus Christ”. If we can wrap our heads around what this simple phrase means then we are sure to stumble over it. We are sure to not like it at some point. We will spend our lives trying to fight our own desire to rebel against some aspect of this phrase. But the good news is that there is hope in these three words too.
- LORD: It means leader, boss, a person you are committed to obeying.
- We, in our flesh, hate this. We want to be our own boss. Especially about personal decisions. But being a Christian means that Jesus gets to tell you what to do. He gets to tell you what is best for you. You may not like it and he is ok with that. He gets to decide if homosexuality is right or wrong. Not your pastor, not your government, and not you. That’s what Lord means. If we do not submit to him in the things we disagree with him on then he is not Lord. All the new ism try to give us something we want and attempt to “free” us from something God has already instructed. This is a lie. It is just man-made philosophy trying to enslave us again to old sin (Col 2:8).
- JESUS: The name literally means “God is our salvation”.
- That means your plan, your works, your morality, your preferences, your perspective cannot save you. Jesus made it clear that HE is the only way of salvation. No other name (Acts 4:12). If you want to be saved from the wrath and judgment of God then you need to be covered in the blood of Jesus. That means you need to accept Him as your Lord (see previous). It also means that he is God. Jesus plainly stated that he was God many times. And never implied he was less than diety. Very many false teachings attack this understanding. “Jesus did all His miracles as a man in right relationship with God.” Is a malicious and direct attack on Jesus’ deity. Jesus plainly stated that he performed his miracles to fulfill prophesy and so that we would know he was God. (Lk 7:22, Isa 35:5, Mk 2:5, Jn 5:25, Jn 8:58).
- CHRIST: Means “the anointed one”.
- Jesus is the Messiah that was promised. Throughout the old testament, the Messiah was promised by God. He promised one would come that had the anointing of a King and Saviour. To be anointed signifies authority. So not only is Jesus “Lord” but he is also anointed by God to be King even without your committing to serve him. He is King or Christ whether he is your Lord or not.
We are sure to not like one of these aspects at some point. And maybe all of them at times. We will spend our Christian lives trying to fight our own desire to rebel against some aspect of this phrase. But the good news is that there is peace when and where we submit to it. There is comfort in resting in these three words. We are most at peace when understand and submit to Him as Lord and rest in Him as Salvation, and understand him as Christ.
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