What the Bible says about light and seed

The True Light "In him, (the Lord Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world,…the world didn’t recognize him." John 1:4,9.

The Good Seed and the Weeds “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seeds in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”Matthew 13:24,25.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

The Lordship of Jesus Christ

Jesus is Lord. No one who believes the Bible denies that. But what does that mean and how does Christ's lordship apply to our salvation and our Christian life?

The Meaning of Lord

The word usually translated Lord in the New Testament is the Greek word Kyrios. It is sometimes used as a title of respect, much as we would call someone sir. We see this in Acts 16:30 when the Philippian jailor addresses Paul and Silas as "Sirs" (the plural, kyrioi).Lord
is also commonly used as a title with the name Jesus Christ. As a
title, it not only shows respect, but also reflects who Jesus is. He is
the Lord. When the Hebrew Bible was translated into the Greek Septuagint, the Hebrew name for God, YHWH, was usually translated Kyrios, or Lord. YHWH
conveyed first of all deity, but implied all the other aspects unique
to deity such as Creator, Owner, Ruler, Judge, Redeemer, and Savior.

The Lordship of Christ in Salvation

The
Lordship, or deity of Jesus Christ, is essential to our salvation.
Consider some of the things that Jesus did for our salvation only
because He is the Lord God:

He became the perfect sacrifice for our sins, without spot or blemish.

He gave His life as a sacrifice for all mankind—past, present, and future.

He rose from the dead to live and offer us eternal life.

He promises, provides, and secures the eternal life of all who believe in Him.

It is only because Jesus is in the position of Lord God that He
can save us and gives us eternal life. While Lord speaks of His position
of deity, the name Jesus speaks of His humanity and role of Savior,
because Jesus means Savior. In the name Jesus Christ, Christ means Messiah, the One anointed or chosen by God to be the Savior and King.

So
Lord is a title that primarily conveys Jesus' deity. What this means
for salvation is that Jesus has the power and authority to save sinners
because He is God. What this does not mean is that sinners can only be
saved if they submit to Him as the Ruler of their lives. Ruler is only
one subset of deity, and it is arbitrary to make that one divine
function and position into a subjective demand. As the word implies,
salvation requires a Savior. Jesus came to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15; 4:10) and He can because He is God. Sinners need a divine Savior.

It
is one thing to say that to be saved a sinner must acknowledge the
divine authority that Jesus has as God or as the Son of God. It is quite
another thing to say that to be saved a sinner must submit to Jesus as
the Ruler of his life. The first acknowledges Jesus' objective position
and power as God, the second demands a person's subjective response to
Him as Ruler. The Bible has examples of unsaved sinners who addressed
Jesus as Lord without submitting to Him (e. g., John 4:11, 15, 19; 9:36).

To further illustrate, we could say that during World War II General Douglas MacArthur
saved the Philippines. He was able to save them because he had the
position and power of a four star general of the United States Army. To
the people of the Philippines, however, MacArthur was not their general,
nor were they required to submit to him as their general. They only
needed to accept the "salvation" that he offered them.

The View Called Lordship Salvation

There
is a view that teaches a sinner must submit to Jesus as Ruler of his
life in order to be saved. Proponents of this view call it Lordship Salvation,
though it should be called Commitment Salvation or Submission Salvation
since it emphasizes the unbeliever's subjective response to Jesus
Christ as Ruler. Lordship Salvation confuses the objective position of
Jesus as Lord with the subjective response to one aspect of His
lordship—rulership. Not only does this view reflect poor theological
method—soteriology should not be built merely on titles, but it
contradicts the Bible's teaching of salvation by grace through faith.

The grace that saves us is the free, unmerited, unconditional gift of
God. Making a sinner's submission to Jesus as the Ruler of his life a
condition for salvation destroys the grace of God which makes salvation a
free gift that can only be received through faith (Rom. 4:4-5; 11:6; Eph. 2:8-9).

Lordship
Salvation is also arbitrary because it only emphasizes rulership in the
divine title Lord Jesus Christ. To be consistent, they should require
sinners to accept Jesus as the Creator, Sustainer, Judge, Prophet,
Priest, and King, because all these and more are aspects of His deity.
Furthermore, they should demand acceptance of all that the name Jesus
means, and all that the title Christ means.

Teachers of Lordship
Salvation often derogatorily refer to those who believe in the freeness
of grace in salvation as no-lordship, or non-lordship. Of course, this
is incorrect and deliberately misleading. Their error comes from
confusing the objective position of Jesus as the Lord with one's
subjective response to Jesus as their Lord and making it a requirement
for salvation.

Those who believe
in the freeness of grace believe that Jesus must be the Lord (God) to
be Savior. The response required of an unbeliever is simply to believe
the gospel—who Jesus is, what He has done for our salvation, and what He
promises us. There is no lexical or biblical basis for defining believe
as submit. Believe simply means to be convinced of something or
persuaded that it is true. There are even biblical examples of those who
had submitted to Jesus as their Ruler but were not saved (Matt. 7:21-23), and those who were saved when not submitted to Jesus as their Ruler (Acts 5:1-10; 19:18-19).

We
are not saying a person who comes to Jesus as Savior deliberately
rejects the rulership of Jesus Christ. We are saying that to demand a
sinner to submit to Him as Master is simply not the issue in salvation,
much less is it reasonable to demand this of one who is spiritually
dead.

The Lordship of Christ and Sanctification

While we
reject Lordship Salvation and its requirement that sinners must submit
to Jesus as the Ruler of their lives, we enthusiastically embrace the
term Lordship Sanctification or Lordship Discipleship because submitting to Jesus as our Ruler is what the Christian life is all about. Once we know Jesus as Savior, we must learn to relate to Him as our new Master.Many passages admonish us who have believed in Jesus as Savior to now relate and submit to Him as Lord.

The point of Romans 6 is that now that we have a new Master in Jesus Christ, we should submit ourselves to Him. Romans 12:1 urges us to present ourselves as "living sacrifices." We live and die to the Lord (Rom. 14:8-9). As believers we are told to "sanctify the Lord God" in our hearts (1 Peter 3:15) and to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18). Such admonitions would not be needed if we had already done all that in order to be saved.

Conclusion

We
cannot make Jesus Lord; He is the Lord! We can only submit to Him as
servants. As our divine Savior He saves us; as our divine Master He
sanctifies us. To keep the grace of the gospel free we must not confuse
the faith required of an unbeliever for justification with the many
aspects of submission required of believers for sanctification.

A Christmas Reflection from the Light Seed

This is a Christmas message that I repost every year because of its timelessness. I hope that it will bless you and that the seeds of love, truth, hope and joy planted in your heart by the Lord will flourish as Aaron´s almond rod of authority and service and nourish the hungry and thirsty around us.

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Copyright. Droits d'Auteurs. Rediffusion. Direitos Autorais

I claim no right as an author. I didn't create the mind, my brain, my hands, nor any of my senses through which I perceive the world around me. Therefore, I invite anybody if you see any benefit or blessing in the posts, to print, reproduce or distribute the contents of this blog I wrote personally. Jesus said: "Freely you have received, freely give". John the Baptist said: "One can receive only what has been given him from above". I would suggest you ask for spiritual discernment with checking in the Word of God what is right, true, noble, pure, lovely, beneficial as coming from God. I am just offering and sharing free of any restrictions the things that I deem worthy of passing on to any one willing to spend a little time and walk with me along life's highway so we can learn and grow together. Give thanks to and Praise God for the wonderful things he has done.

The Joshua Tree - An original parable/allegory by this blogger.

Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God (Genesis 21:33). Here is old Abraham just planting a tree and living by his well. Why are we told this? It is symbolic of what is taking place in his heart and life. The tree immediately brings to mind Psalm 1, which says the man of God will be like a tree planted by rivers of living water, bringing forth its fruit in season. Here is a life that is fruitful, that is concerned about those immediately around and is pouring out blessing into their lives and hearts. Excerpts from Ray Stedman´s devotion: "This Thirsty World" https://www.raystedman.org/daily-devotions/genesis-12to25/this-thirsty-world

Original Love Poems by this Blogger

Excellent Free Bible Software

Now you can download an excellent Bible software on your PC and/or your USB flash drive. It contains easy to navigate and efficient interface, free add-ons modules, Bibles in English, foreign languages, Dictionaries, Commentaries, everything you need to help you study the Bible.

Testimony/Sermon of an Abortion Survivor

SUICIDE WATCH

I am sure most of you have known at some time in your life a person who wanted or attempted to end their life or succeeded in doing so. Personally, I have known a number of such people. I, myself had such an episode as an adolescent.

More and more I am reading and hearing about people young, old, male, female, gender and age don´t matter that add their lives to this problem of epidemic proportion in our society. Whatever the cause, we can all do something however small to save lives.

No need to have a psych. degree or to be licensed. An understanding heart, a listening ear is sometimes all that it takes to help weaker, more sensitive people overcome the hopelessness that drives fellow human beings to discard the gift of human life.

Please, take a few minutes to read below the few examples and testimonies about suicide. And please pass it on, if that´s all you feel inclined to do. Thank you.

HE INVITES SUICIDE JUMPERS FOR A CUP OF TEA

Don Ritchie moved to a house outside Sydney, Australia, for the clifftop view. But soon he was stopping suicides by inviting potential jumpers inside for a cup of tea.

Don Ritchie has been awarded a medal for bravery and an Order of Australia (the nation’s second highest honor) for averting hundreds of would-be suicides by approaching people and offering them a cup of tea. ‘I used to sell kitchen scales and bacon cutters,’ he says. Now, ‘I’m trying to sell people life.’