“THE LORDSHIP CONTROVERSY – PART 1”
SELECTED SCRIPTURES

I. Introduction
It’s good to know what you believe. But it’s better to know why you believe it. And it’s better still to be ready, willing, and able to pass that belief onto others.

The founders of this church were committed to belief in Jesus Christ. That is the starting point. Without a commitment to that starting point, nothing else of eternal value can ever happen. It is because of their personal commitment to Christ, that the founders were equally committed to His written Word, the Bible.

The Bible is where we find the good news of the gospel – and not only the good news of the gospel, but everything we need to know about it in all of its glorious details. It is the Bible that tells what the gospel is, how to define it, how to preach it, how to teach it, and how to spread it throughout our homes, our cities, our nation, and around the world. Jesus gave us the Great Commission wherein He directs His people to do those things.
*Matthew 28:18-20
18 (Jesus said to them)…“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,
20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Biblical evangelism has its roots in Jesus’ command right here in these closing words of Matthew’s gospel. For two thousand years the church has grown because God’s people, led by the Holy Spirit, have been willing to obey His command, often at the risk of their own lives and those of their families and loved ones as well. They have understood that their faith in and obedience to the Scriptures is literally more important than life itself.

Every true Christian understands that. Therefore, what could possibly be more important than knowing what the Scriptures say?
2 Timothy 2:15
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth.

This verse, commonly know as “the AWANA verse,” and the Great Commission drive us here at LBC. From the beginning our motto has been “To Know God’s Word – To Do God’s Will.” The point is: You cannot do God’s will if you do not know God’s Word. God’s will for us, His church, is summarized in the Great Commission. We’re to go, make disciples, baptize them in Christ, and teach them to do all that He has taught us.
Then “the AWANA verse” (2 Timothy 2:15) tells us how we’re to prepare ourselves to do it.
We’re to study the Scriptures and learn them. Only then will we be able to go, make dis-ciples, immerse them in Christ, and teach them the truth. Those two things – knowing God’s Word and doing God’s will – go together. They are inseparable. The one cannot succeed without the other. So when a false, inaccurate, or incomplete gospel goes out under the guise of the Great Commission, it ultimately does more harm than good.

Doesn’t every genuine Christian believe that? But today there is a vast gulf separating one group of Christian theologians from the other. At the heart of this gulf is one of the words Jesus used in the Great Commission. Listen, and see if you can spot it. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you…”

The word is “disciple.” The word itself is easy enough to define. It is “mathētēs,” and it simply means “learner.” In common NT usage mathētēs refers to anyone who follows the teaching of another. In Matthew 9:14 those who followed the teaching of John the Baptist were called his disciples. In Matthew 22:16 those who followed the teaching of the Pharisees were called their disciples. So, in the generic sense, it doesn’t matter whose teaching you follow, you are their disciple. A disciple and a follower are the same thing.

But the lordship controversy isn’t about the identity of the teacher. All agree the teacher is Christ. The controversy is about the identity of the disciple. Who is a disciple? Is everyone who believes in Christ a disciple, or are only those who have saving faith disciples? And can such a distinction between belief and saving faith even be made?

So the question underlying all of it is this: What is the relationship between disciple-ship and faith? That is, is it possible to have a faith that saves your soul and yet not
be a disciple at all, or does the faith that saves your soul literally make you a disciple?

At first glance someone may ask, “Why is that important? Isn’t that just splitting hairs? Either you’re saved or you’re not.” The answer is that it’s important because our under-standing of the issue determines both how we view the gospel and how we preach and teach it. And the fact of the matter is that this issue – the nature of the relationship be-tween discipleship and faith – is one of the most divisive issues in the church today.

It has become so heated that some on either side have gone so far as to question the salva-tion of those on the other. On one side are those who adhere to what could be called “free grace.” On the other are those who adhere to what has come to be called “lord-ship salvation.” The gulf between them has become so wide and so deep that many on one side accuse those on the other side of preaching and teaching “another gospel.”

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the churches he had founded in the Galatian region of Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), spoke uncompromisingly about another gospel.
*Galatians 1:8-10
8 …even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant (slave) of Christ.

If that doesn’t cause us to be careful about our understanding of the gospel, our preaching and teaching of it, and our desire to get it right, I don’t know what does. So today and next Sunday as well, we’re going to look into the issue of discipleship and its relationship to saving faith. We’ll do so by hearing from some of the great theologians and preachers of today as well as those of the last four hundred years and, of course, as always, we’ll delve into the Scriptures. We will strive to “rightly divide the Word of truth.”
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II. Text
If you’re wondering why we’re doing this now, it’s because our ongoing study in the Gospel of Luke has brought us this point. Luke 14 concludes with Jesus telling the crowds who are traveling along with Him… “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple…So therefore, no one of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions (vv. 26-27, 33).”

We learned that the word “hate,” when used as Jesus did in Luke 14, actually meant to “love less.” He was saying He expected those who would follow Him to love Him so much that their love for everything else in this world – their possessions, their families, and even their own lives – would look like hate when compared to their love for Him.

So was Jesus saying that such devotion was only for a small minority of Christians while the vast majority would not face that requirement? Were all of those people Jesus spoke to in Luke 14 already Christians whom He was merely challenging to “move up” to a higher level of devotion? That is, had the multitudes already accepted Him as Savior? Were they already believers, but had not yet made Him Lord of their lives? (York)

Was Jesus encouraging Christians to graduate to a higher level of commitment? That is the position taken by the advocates of “free grace.” They would argue that Jesus is calling for so-called “carnal Christians” to become “spiritual Christians.” That may seem plausible until we remember why Jesus came to earth in the first place. He said…
Luke 5:32; 19:10
32 “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance”
19:10 “(I have) come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

By the time the church was born the word “disciple” was synonymous with the word “Christian.” Acts uses the word “disciple” in precisely that way at least thirty times.
In Luke 14 Jesus tells those who would commit themselves to Him to count the cost, because there will be one. He wants people to understand that a false faith, a temporary repentance, and an emotional commitment, will profit them nothing. Those efforts are nothing more than human works, and no human works, regardless of how sincere they may be, have any power to save.

Salvation is by faith alone! No works of the flesh have ever saved anyone. Let there be no mistake or confusion about that. But having said that, one of the clearest ways saving faith is manifested is by the works it produces.

Good works do not accomplish saving faith because they can’t! But good works do accompany saving faith because they must! (repeat)

That’s what the Lord’s brother is talking about in James 2 where he talks about genuine and false faith.
*James 2:14-18
14 What use is it, my brethren, if a man says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him? (rhetorical question – his faith is not genuine)
15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? (another rhetorical question)
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself. (empty – worthless – accompanied by nothing)

A dead faith is no faith. It is not, as some would argue, a weak or faltering faith. Dead is dead. Dead faith is not in a coma, any more than dead Lazarus was in a coma, when Jesus stood outside his tomb and resurrected him. But the next verse, James 2:18, has been a source of confusion for many. Let me read it to you from the Amplified Bible.
18 …someone will say (to you then), “You (say you) have faith, and I have (good) works. Now you show me your (alleged) faith apart from any (good) works (if you can), and I by (my good) works (of obedience) will show you my faith.”

The point of v. 18 is this: The only way you can demonstrate your faith is by works.
*James 2:19-26
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

Here is the distinction between a professed belief that produces nothing of eternal value, and the saving faith that necessarily produces good works. The fact that demons acknow-ledge God’s existence, and therefore, “believe” in Him, can no more be equated with saving faith than the so-called faith without works that many people to claim to possess.
20 But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar?

Offering Isaac did not save Abraham. Abraham was saved thirty years earlier when he was justified by faith. But offering Isaac did display Abraham’s faith because it was a work of obedience to the God in whom Abraham had placed his faith.
22 You see that faith was working with his (Abraham’s) works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected.

Perfected means completed. Abraham’s obedience and resultant good works brought his faith to full fruition. Your obedience, and mine, will result in good works and bring our faith to full fruition too. That is a living faith. Can you see why a so-called faith that has no corroborating works is dead – no faith at all?
23 and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God.
24 You see that a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone.
25 And in the same way was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works, when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Verses 24-25 must not be taken out of context because when they are, they will appear to teach a salvation of works. But it is obvious, that when they are left in their context, they teach the exact opposite. James is again saying what he has been saying all along. A man’s justification is made manifest by his righteous deeds. Simply saying he has faith proves nothing. As we have already seen, such a faith is dead.
26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also (a so-called) faith without works is dead.

Yet there are those who would say that lifeless faith is still saving faith, and dead faith still saves souls. But that cannot be so. Those who profess faith, but fail to produce the works of faith, expose the truth about themselves. They reveal a heart that has not been regenerated by the new birth and a life that has not been transformed by the Holy Spirit.
True salvation, which is the result of true faith, will always be seen in the life of a new person. Why? Because a new person has experienced a new birth and is a new creation.
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away (died); behold, new things (new life; new attitudes; new thinking; new works; new everything) have come.

When someone claims to be a believer, but they remain unchanged – their life, their atti-tudes, their thinking, and what they produce remains the same as it always was – there is no reason for you to believe they’re saved. Jesus tells us to be wary of such people. We will know and recognize them by their fruits (works), not by their profession of faith.
*Matthew 7:15-20
15 “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
16 “You will know them by their fruits. (not their words – their works) Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?
17 “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18 “A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19 “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
20 “So then, you will know them by their fruits.”

Look again at vv. 17-18. Just as the genuine faith of true believers is seen by their good works, the disingenuous faith of professing but false believers is seen by their works as well. True believers cannot help but produce good fruit for Christ because their faith is genuine. It is a living and saving faith. Such is the faith of true believers, true disciples.

But false believers cannot produce any good fruit for Christ at all, because their faith is not genuine. It is a dead faith that has no power to save. Such is the faith of false con-verts, false disciples. Matthew 7:20 says we’ll know these false converts by their work. In other words, we will be able to discern the difference between work that is done for Christ and work that is done for someone or some thing else.

Now look once more at v. 19. It doesn’t matter what the tree may “say” about its ability to produce good fruit. It doesn’t matter how nice the tree may appear to the casual on-looker or passerby. None of that matters. What matters is this: Does the tree produce good fruit? If it does, it proves itself to be a good tree. Conversely, if it does not produce good fruit, it doesn’t matter how much potential it may have or how good it may look, because it proves itself to be a bad tree, and it will be disposed of in the fire.

Could it be any clearer than that? Dead faith has no more power to save a soul than a dead tree has power to produce fruit. Both the dead tree and the dead faith are thrown away. Jesus has already connected saving faith to good works. Now He will connect saving faith to obedience.
*Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.
22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”
In v. 21 we see the results of a false faith that disobeys God’s will. Jesus has just used the analogy of fruit-bearing trees where good trees “obey” their creator by producing good fruit, and bad trees “disobey” their creator by producing only bad fruit. In v. 22 the bad trees protest. They looked good and the shade they provided was very nice. But they never fulfilled their God-given purpose. They never produced the fruit that they were created to produce. As a result, they were worthless, and they were thrown into the fire.

The good trees were not created as a reward because they had already produced enough good fruit to please God. That would bring glory to themselves. On the contrary, they were created for the purpose of producing good fruit that would bring glory to God.

So good works do not produce salvation; good works reveal a salvation that has already been produced. That’s exactly what one of the more familiar passages in the NT says.
*Ephesians 2:8-10
8 For by grace you have been saved (been born again, regenerated, made a new creation) through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (you didn’t work for your gift or it would be wages, not a gift);
9 not as a result of works, that no one should boast. (good works cannot save)
10 For we are His workmanship, created (born again) in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

True Christians have not been created or born again by good works. Rather we have been created or born again for the purpose of doing them. We obey Christ and do them because we are His followers, His disciples. He is the Savior of our souls, but He is more than that, much more. He is the Lord of our lives.

That brings us to the lordship controversy. Many in the “free grace” camp say that Jesus will save anyone whether or not the one being saved will ever acknowledge Him as Lord. They say that He’ll save anyone who believes in Him. He’ll be your friend and compan-ion and you can decide later if you want to “make Him Lord of your life.”

Isn’t it interesting that of the original twelve disciples only Judas wanted to be Jesus’ friend without submitting to His authority as Lord and Master? But “Jesus as Lord,” is the whole point of salvation. Has there ever been a gospel tract that doesn’t tell its read-ers how to be saved, that doesn’t include what is often called the “Romans Road”?

• “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:23)
• “For the wages of sin is death.” (6:23)
• “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (5:8)
• “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.” (10:9)

So there you have it – a simple direct and straightforward presentation of the gospel.
According to many modern evangelists all you need to do is say that Jesus is Savior and believe God resurrected Him from the dead. That’s easy enough. Churches are filled with people who say and believe just that. They’re called Christians. So what’s the prob-lem? The problem is that the word “Savior” isn’t found in Romans 10. As a matter of fact, it isn’t found in Romans at all.
*Romans 10:9-10, 13
9 …if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved;
10 for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation.
13 …for “Whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be saved.”

Paul is quoting the Prophet Joel. In v. 13 “LORD” is translated from the Hebrew word Yahweh. It means “I AM WHO I AM.” Listen, Jesus IS Lord! Whoever will call upon Him is calling upon God. Jesus is Lord. He is, always has been, and will always be Lord. Calling on His name means that you understand and agree with God that Jesus is God’s own Son, the Lord of creation, and that only He can save your soul. Romans 10:9 is calling us to confess Jesus as Lord.

You don’t make Jesus Lord of anything because He IS Lord of everything! It is only when a sinner acknowledges “Jesus as Lord,” as Romans 10:9 instructs us, that then, and only then will He become your Savior. The idea that the Lord Jesus Christ will be your Savior and, whenever you feel like it, or if you ever feel like, then you can decide if and when you might let Him be Lord, that idea is mot only foolish, it is arrogant.

But that’s the gospel that’s working out there today. At least it’s filling modern churches. It says something like this: “Just believe in Jesus and He will be your Savior. You can always step up to the ‘next level’ and be a disciple if you want to someday, but that isn’t really necessary now. Just believe.” That’s the message of “free grace.” It says your salvation is free and it won’t cost you a thing. Add to that short, relevant, non-judgmen-tal sermons, upbeat music, all manner and form of entertainment, and free coffee and doughnuts and you can easily why so many young people flock to the modern church.

And it isn’t just young people. This modern gospel that minimizes or ignores the lord-ship of Christ has infected people of all ages and backgrounds. Joel Osteen preaches to over 40,000 people of all ages on Sunday mornings. But in a recent CNN interview he couldn’t (or wouldn’t) clearly enunciate or explain the gospel. But he was able to write a book entitled “Your Best Life Now” and see it become a New York Times best-seller.

And why not? The modern gospel tells us that, “Heaven can be had right here on earth. Just believe in Jesus.” But someone asks, “Is that all? What about the cost? What about potential hardships? What about the possible loss of family and friends? What about the persecutions?”
After all, in John 15:20, Jesus did say, “Remember the word that I said to you. ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…”
And in 2 Timothy 3:12, Paul did say, “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

What about those passages as well as others like them? Well, the purveyors of the modern “no lordship” gospel say, “Oh, that’s only for people who want to make Jesus Lord of their lives. That’s not for all believers. That’s for disciples. Remember, Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. There’s no requirement for personal holiness or sacrifice, no requirement for separating yourself from the world and its cor-rupt systems, no requirement for committing your life to Him. Just believe.”

How did the preaching of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ come to this? How was the plain teaching of Scripture softened, minimized, and corrupted to such a degree? We’ll look into the history and development of this modern gospel next time. And we’ll hear from some of the greatest theologians and preachers of the last four hundred years.
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III. Conclusion
When I was beginning to understand the degree to which the gospel was being softened, minimized, and cheapened, even by prominent Christians leaders who were commanding a great deal of respect and loyalty, I went to one of those leaders, a former seminary pro-fessor, a PhD in Biblical Studies, who was preaching a “no lordship” gospel. I asked him about the rich young ruler we read about in Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18. The young man goes to Jesus and asks, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus tells him to turn his back on his wealth (his former life), “…and follow Me.” That is to say, Jesus calls for discipleship. The young man must acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

I asked this respected man how that was not a clear call for a gospel that emphasizes the lordship of Jesus. His answer was that Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler was, and I quote, “…just an isolated incident.” He said that following Jesus was only for a relatively small number of people who needed to divest themselves of some of their wealth. The rest could simply “believe” in Him.

That’s what too many preach and believe today. There’s no need for commitment or sac-rifice and no need to turn your life over to Christ – just believe. But consider this: We know that the church – the true church – is the bride of Christ. Do you remember what Ephesians 5 teaches about the husband-wife – Christ-church relationship? It’s basically this: The husband is to love his wife enough to die for her. In exchange for that commit-ment and sacrifice, the wife is to love her husband enough to live for him.

So ask yourself this: If the Lord Jesus Christ is so committed to you that He willingly died for you, is it unreasonable for the Lord to expect you to follow Him, be His disciple, and live for Him? What do you think? ~ Pray ~