this past weekend was my church’s college ministry retreat. i was asked to do a seminar on worship, but last minute i switched it over to a seminar about lordship. in my one-day prep for this seminar i came across a fantastic quote… and because i haven’t heard it before nor does it show up with a quoted google search, i’m putting it here. it summarizes the main idea of my seminar very well:
In my view, it is defective teaching to divorce the Saviorhood of Christ from his lordship. Salvation is not merely believing certain doctrinal facts; it is trusting in and embracing the divine Person who is Lord of the universe and who atoned for our sins.
To suggest that a person can exercise saving faith in Christ while knowingly rejecting His right to lordship over his life, seems a monstrous suggestion. In salvation we are not accepting Christ in His separate offices. To deliberately say, “I will receive Him as Savior, but I will leave the matter of lordship until later, and then decide whether or not I will bow to His will,” seems an impossible position and cannot be sustained by Scripture.
Having said that, I would concede that many have genuinely believed in Christ who, through inadequate teaching, were never confronted with Christ’s claim to lordship, and therefore they have not knowingly rejected it. The proof of the reality of their regeneration would be that as soon as they learn of Christ’s claim, they submit to His mastery.
Spiritual Discipleship, J. Oswald Sanders