PRACTICING THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST
A. The Bible says, "Whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16).
B. Shortly after conversion, one should be baptized (Matthew 28:19,20; Acts 2:38,41; 8:26-39; Romans 6:3-5).
C. To one who is born again, and baptized, the Bible has much to say about walking in newness of life (Romans 6:4), which is somewhat of a synonym for practicing the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ in his life.
D. Since LORDSHIP has no ceiling, the knowledge or practice of "maximum Lordship" so to speak WASN'T REQUIRED in the New Testament before water baptism was administered to a new believer. Otherwise, there would never have been any baptisms.
NOTE: This is why the practice of water baptism could be administered to believers VERY SOON after their profession of faith in Christ for salvation. The evidence for water baptism was primarily their Spiritual life in Christ, not how much Spiritual light (Bible knowledge) they had.
E. Logically, the teaching of LORDSHIP should soon follow the experience of water baptism to teach the new Christian how to more fully walk in newness of life. Recall Romans 7:21-8:4, "Walking after the Spirit."
F. The objective of this lecture is to help us more fully understand LORDSHIP, and provide motivation toward a higher degree of it in our lives.
A. The "mercies of God" create the motivation to present our bodies unto God.
1. The "mercies of God" refer to the things Christians have already received from Him, some of which are justification (3:21-5:21), sanctification (6:1-8:29), positional glorification (8:31), and the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:14).
NOTE: We could keep adding to this list but time and space forbid it.
2. When a Christian contemplates the uniqueness of the person of Christ, the completeness of His work on the cross, and what it all means to him, he shouldn't do less than love Him with all his heart, live as Godly as he can, and serve Him with all of his might until he breathes his last breath. When one is doing these things, he will likely find himself growing in the Lordship of Christ.
3. While salvation is free, LORDSHIP is giving all to Jesus Christ.
B. It might be helpful to know that when one understands the meaning of, and regularly participates in, the Lord's Supper in the way in which it is scripturally intended he will quickly discover that it contains, among other things, the three factors just mentioned.
NOTE: This is not intended to suggest that frequent participation in the Lord's Supper is all that maximum LORDSHIP requires, but it sure helps.
A. The Premise For Lordship.
1. Before salvation we were all slaves to sin and free from righteousness (Romans 6:20).
2. When we obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which we were committed (Romans 6:17) we became born again.
3. We were at that moment made free from sin and slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:18).
C. The Practice Of Lordship.
1. "Know" that the "old man" has been crucified (verses 3,6,9,16).
2. "Reckon" (count on it, rely upon it) (verse 11).
3. "Yield (once and for all) unto God" (verses 13).
4. "Obey" (verse 16).
D. The Probability For Lordship.
A. As one understands and practices these components, the LORDSHIP OF CHRIST increases in his life.
A. He will more clearly know the will of God.
B. When a Christian once and for all yields his body unto God (verse 1), consistently lives a life separated from the sins of the world, the flesh and the devil (verses 1 and 2), and maintains a renewed mind by thinking the way God thinks as revealed in the Bible (verse 2), the will of God will be seen to be first good, then acceptable, and finally perfect.
B. Because of his obedience to Christ, he will sense a greater revealing of the presence of Christ in his life (John 14:21) in unique ways.
A. What have we learned?
1. When a Christian participates in water baptism it usually stirs desire to walk in newness of life as well as interest in the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ in his life.
2. We've seen the motivation for, steps to, and blessings of LORDSHIP in one's life.
B. One seldom advances very far in Spiritual maturity without a healthy quality and quantity of the LORDSHIP of Jesus Christ in his life.
Bob Bruton