Submitting to Christ as Lord - Evangelical Caucus/Devotional

“God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name . . . that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:9, 11).

Is Jesus Lord? According to the declaration of the Father, He is. We cannot know Him any other way than as Lord. That’s why the first creed in the history of the church, given in Philippians 2:11, says, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Every Christian must acknowledge that. It is the foundation of the Christian faith, the very substance of what we believe. We don’t make Him Lord after salvation. Every time I hear someone say, “You need to make Jesus Lord,” it is as repellent to me as hearing fingernails scraped down a blackboard. We never make Jesus Lord—God has already done that.

Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior, and those who would receive Him must take Him for who He really is. Puritan John Flavel put it this way: “The gospel offer of Christ includes all his offices, and gospel faith just so receives him; to submit to him, as well as to be redeemed by him; to imitate him in the holiness of his life, as well as to reap the purchases and fruits of his death. It must be an entire receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

In a similar vein, A.W. Tozer said, “To urge men and women to believe in a divided Christ is bad teaching, for no one can receive half of Christ, or a third of Christ, or a quarter of the Person of Christ! We are not saved by believing in an office nor in a work.” Jesus is Lord, and if you refuse Him as Lord, you cannot call Him Savior. If you have truly received Him, your life will be characterized by submission to His authority.

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“Jesus is Lord, and if you refuse Him as Lord, you cannot call Him Savior.”

Years ago I had a conversation with someone at church who was fairly knowledgeable about the Bible. And he criticized MacArthur for what the man called “Lordship salvation”.

I was taken aback as I’d never heard such a criticism. Turns out there are quite a few Evangelicals who have taken “not by works” salvation to such an extreme that almost everything becomes an unnecessary work for salvation. This includes baptism and submitting to Christ as Lord.

This is unthinkable. Of course, getting dipped in water does not save a person’s soul, it just gets them wet. But it is an act of obedience in response to the Gospel. And obedience is required.

And this is infinitely true of Christ’s Lordship. The idea that He could be our Savior and not be our Lord is beyond ridiculous. It would be the ultimate evil for salvation to be only about taking away the penalty of sin without taking away sin. The heart of repentance is accepting Jesus as Lord. It is His rightful place to have the ultimate authority over our lives. He is God, the Creator, and the ultimate arbiter of justice and mercy.

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