Job One is to practice the lordship of Christ over our lives and to abide in Him. What does this entail? We must walk even as He walked in constant fellowship and union with Him in obedience and confession with our motto being, "Thy will be done! We must rearrange our priorities and change our lifestyle to please Him Jesus doesn't just have an important place in our lives, but the predominant and preeminent place. Everything else is secondary! This involves seeing things in a new light as God sees them, not as the world sees them, for we are no longer of the world. The centrality of Christianity is Christ! All else is peripheral or circumference.
Furthermore, we must put our whole heart into following Christ with as much gusto as we can muster, as "Mr. Hustle" himself, Pete Rose did when he put his whole heart into his game. God wants the same kind of attitude of us: "And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered" (2 Chronicles 31:21, NKJV). God found men who "wholly followed the Lord."
Furthermore, we must put our whole heart into following Christ with as much gusto as we can muster, as "Mr. Hustle" himself, Pete Rose did when he put his whole heart into his game. God wants the same kind of attitude of us: "And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment, to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered" (2 Chronicles 31:21, NKJV). God found men who "wholly followed the Lord."
This means a commitment to Christ through thick and thin and living by His agenda. It means a "great commitment to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment!" We "crown Him Lord of all," as the hymn goes, but this must be from the heart, not just the lips. Joshua and Caleb are two examples: "... for they followed the LORD wholeheartedly" (cf. Numbers 32:11).
What is lordship mean? "...You are not your own; for you were bought with a price (cf. 1 Cor. 6:20, ESV). "As you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in him" (Col. 4:6)--we didn't receive Him as best bud, sidekick, or colleague, but as our Lord! The only legitimate salvation is "lordship salvation" (once quite a controversy), which means we must accept Him with all the authority over us, dedicating our wills to Him all our lives, as living sacrifices. There is no such thing as a class of disobedient Christians who have accepted the lordship of Christ.
What is lordship mean? "...You are not your own; for you were bought with a price (cf. 1 Cor. 6:20, ESV). "As you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk ye in him" (Col. 4:6)--we didn't receive Him as best bud, sidekick, or colleague, but as our Lord! The only legitimate salvation is "lordship salvation" (once quite a controversy), which means we must accept Him with all the authority over us, dedicating our wills to Him all our lives, as living sacrifices. There is no such thing as a class of disobedient Christians who have accepted the lordship of Christ.
Obedience is the test and the relationship is expressed by obedience. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only those who believe are obedient; only those who are obedient believe." We are either obedient or not, with no middle ground--this has no degree of fulfillment and obedience. We must bow to His lordship and I don't mean just lip service. A. W. Tozer said, "The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command." If we don't accept His lordship, we haven't accepted Him and this is nothing less than easy-believism or "cheap grace," as Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed it.
We abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit in fellowship with God, as we are led by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit for every good work that He has ordained for us. Let it be said of us what God said of Joshua: "He wholly followed the Lord!" We live in a trusting and obedient life: "Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!"
We abide in Christ and walk in the Spirit in fellowship with God, as we are led by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit for every good work that He has ordained for us. Let it be said of us what God said of Joshua: "He wholly followed the Lord!" We live in a trusting and obedient life: "Trust and obey, for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey!"
Jesus said that if you love Him you will obey Him (cf. John 14:21). Believing and obedience are equated in Heb. 3:18-19 and in John 3:36 (ESV) as: "He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." Hebrews 5:9 (ESV) says, "And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him." Soli Deo Gloria!
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