Sermon Central
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What Does Lordship Require Pt 3 (Sermon 7) Series
Contributed by Blake Inscore on Sep 26, 2009 (message contributor)
Summary: Within the context of addressing how Christians are supposed to behave, and specifically how they are to relate in a "Christ-like" manner with one another, Paul says, it’s all about submitting to the Lord.
essons In Lordship Part 7
What Does Lordship Require of Me? (Pt 3)
Introduction: Today we are going to finish up our study on the Lordship of Christ. While this series of sermons may conclude, I can assure you, the topic of Lordship is going to be something we face every day. So far in our look at the practical implication of Lordship we have looked at the following questions:
1. What Am I Holding On To? Is there anything that is keeping me from being totally sold-out for Jesus?
2. Who Am I Hanging Out With? Is there anything or anybody that is coming between me and Jesus?
3. Where Am I Headed? What direction is your life headed? Is that direction being driven by the Lord, or are you setting the course for your life?
Today we are going to look at the implications of Lordship through two final practical application questions. Before we do, let me remind you first of all of the over-arching principle that is guiding our study:
The Lordship of Christ is a Daily Exercise
As I have mentioned previously, accepting Jesus as your Savior is a one-time, specific event, but acknowledging His Lordship is a daily exercise, it is a choice that we must make throughout every day as faithful followers of Jesus Christ. With that in mind here’s our next question:
The Lordship of Jesus Christ demands that we ask...
4. How Am I Going to Live?
I see this is a motivation issue--what is it that drives your decisions? What is at the very core of who you are and how you live on a day-to-day basis? Turn with me to Romans 14. The first thing that I want is to do is to see clearly that the Lord has authority over our daily decisions in life. While it may be nostalgic to think about Frank Sinatra’s famous song, "My Way," if doing it my way doesn’t line up with doing it God’s way then my doing will always leave me wanting, and wondering what I missed.
Look at what Paul says beginning in verse 8:
Romans 14:8-12 (HCSB)
8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 9Christ died and came to life for this: that He might rule over both the dead and the living. 10But you, why do you criticize your brother? Or you, why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God. 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Within the context of addressing how Christians are supposed to behave, and specifically how they are to relate in a Christ-like manner with one another, Paul says, it’s all about submitting to the Lord. There is almost a hint of humor here from my perspective. What I hear Paul saying is: "You all ought to start getting along now, ‘cause you are going to be spending eternity together."
Jesus is the Lord of the living and the dead which means that His authority over our lives is just as valid in the here-and-now as it will be in the hereafter. It also means that He expects us to treat one another here like we would there. We are called to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ in our lives today to prepare us for tomorrow and eventually for heaven.
One of the easiest ways to see whether we are really living for Jesus--if He is the Lord of our lives--is to examine how we get along as fellow believers. If you really took to heart the fact that scripture says that you are going to give an account to the Lord for how you treat other people within the Church would you still say, do, or think some of the things you do?
If our lives are filled with criticism and looking down on others that is a clear sign that we have a problem with the Lordship of Christ. You might say, "It’s not Jesus I have a problem with, it’s people!" I say you’re wrong! If you can’t relate properly to other believers, and they can’t relate properly to you, that your fault not the Lord’s!
A lack of unity within the Body of Christ is always symptomatic of a failure to submit to the Lordship of Christ. We will never have the kind of relationships within the Church that we could have until we have the relationship with Jesus that we should have. And that means He gets to call the shots.
