On Sunday, I made the case that either Jesus is Lord, or he isn’t really the Savior. I know that goes against the grain of popular Christian teaching today, but does it go against what Jesus himself teaches?
Jesus, quoting Isaiah in Matthew 15:7-9 NLT
You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
Does accepting Jesus as Savior also mean submitting to Him as Lord? Can someone reject His lordship and still be saved?
Paul, describing his preaching in Acts 26:20 NLT
I preached first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that all must repent of their sins and turn to God—and prove they have changed by the good things they do.
Jesus, speaking to the crowd in Luke 13:3 NLT
And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.
What role does repentance play in salvation? Can someone be saved without a transformed heart?
Romans 6:24 NLT
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 2:8–10 NLT
God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. 10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
So how can we reconcile these verses about grace with the idea of submitting to his authority and “proving they have changed by the good things they do?” (Acts 26:20)
What does Jesus say about the necessity of bearing fruit? Can a person truly be saved if there is no evidence of spiritual growth?
Jesus in Matthew 7:16-20 NLT
You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
Jesus in John 15:5-8 NLT
“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.
These are some tough questions… Your group may need to chew on them for a little while.