Lord and Christ

“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”-Acts 2:30

Jesus must be both in our lives. We cannot have Jesus as Lord or Savior. He is Lord and Savior or He is neither. Here are the pitfalls of lessening the nature of Jesus to just one of these:

Jesus as just Savior-I preached on the book of Jude a couple of weeks ago, and this is the heresy that he is fighting against. People were claiming the grace of Jesus, and then using this as a license for whatever they wanted to do. They still lived in and pursued a sinful lifestyle. They did not let Jesus transform their lives and they had no moral center. They fell into the trap of liberalism, where anything goes as long as you proclaim a love for Jesus, with no life change needed. They accepted forgiveness without repentance, and lived in the chains of sin. It views God as an “anything goes” parent who will not discipline His children and in doing so leaves His children with no direction or sense of purpose.

Jesus as just Lord-This is what the Pharisees wished the Messiah to be. They wanted Jesus to lift them up as great law keepers and condemn the “wicked.” There was no room for mercy. Following God meant following His law, and that is what would bring salvation. They fell into the trap of legalism, where salvation is based on what we can do for ourselves to keep the law of God. There is no room for mess ups, misunderstandings, or struggle. Yet as Philip Yancey said, “Legalism fails in the one thing it is supposed to do, encourage obedience.” Legalists cannot fathom forgiveness, and are perfectionists who can only find frustration at their own inability to live up to the standard they have set for themselves, and it usually comes out as frustration and condemnation at others who are in the same sinful boat. It views God as a cop just waiting for a mess up so He can slap the law on us and bring punishment. It removes all sense of a Father, child relationship.

Jesus must be both. We cannot save ourselves, and we must trust in the grace and leading of Jesus. We must fight sin, because it is in this that we have freedom to be who God has created us to be. We must trust in the grace of Jesus to sustain us when we fail, and we must trust in the lordship of Jesus to give our lives spiritual fruit and freedom from the chaos of living in a directionless and cold hearted world. It is not a balance between the two, it is both/and. And it is in viewing Jesus as Savior and Lord that we are able to truly love ourselves, love others, and find joy in God. When we view Jesus as Lord and Savior, it invites Him to do what He does, save us and lead us. We are in desperate need of both.