Jesus Is Savior & Lord
I grew up in the middle of nowhere Tennessee. In my hometown there’s a buffet option at what feels like every restaurant. Chinese, Italian (used to be the Dairy Queen), Mexican, Country, we had it all. Buffets are great. You can go pick and choose whatever you want and how much you want and get more or less or whatever you’d like that day.
Unfortunately, we sometimes treat our relationship with Jesus as a spiritual buffet depending on the season of life we are in or deciding what areas we really want God “involved” in. This must be a mindset that changes in our faith as we see who Jesus really is.
We have been walking through this series to discover, Who is Jesus?
The title of today's message: Jesus is Savior and Lord
Here is the big idea: You can’t have Jesus as Savior without submitting to Jesus as Lord.
Today we are going to look in the Gospels at 2 examples of Jesus being Savior and Lord. What we are going to look at in these texts shows us that He is in fact both; it is undeniable based on what He taught and did. Then based on what we see in these texts and know about Jesus’ claims, we have to decide if we are willing to first submit and surrender to Him as the Lord of our lives so He can then save us from sin and death. Whether skeptic or believer, we face this question. My hope is if you are a skeptic that you see in these texts Jesus and His vast love for you to be your Lord and Savior. If you are a believer here today I hope this stands as a reminder and refocusing time.
We all have things we hold onto that we want to remain lord over. Instead, we need to See Jesus for who He is and trust Him fully as Lord of your life.
Mark 4:35-41
v. 35-41
35 On that day, when evening had come, He told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” 36 So they left the crowd and took Him along since He was already in the boat. And other boats were with Him. 37 A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then He said to them, “Why are you fearful? Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
Jesus’ ministry is in full swing as He is teaching and healing as He and the disciples travel around. Jesus has the idea to get on a boat and cross over the lake. While out there a mighty storm arises and starts to beat and batter the boat as they were on the lake. Jesus goes and takes a nap while on the boat; remember He was fully human and fully God. He had been traveling and teaching. He was tired. He was feeling His humanity in this moment. In a panic, the disciples wake Him to get Him to do something so Jesus gets up and commands the storm to be still. At this moment the disciples see not just “good teacher, healer” but only the “Creator God” could command creation like that.
John opens his gospel reminding us of Jesus’ role as God the Creator. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.” (John 1:1-3)
First thing I want to point out here is that it’s Jesus’ idea to go out on the boat. Why is that significant? If He is Lord (Creator) then He is aware that a storm is brewing. He knows that this storm is coming and that He will command it. He isn’t surprised or caught off guard. Church, we don’t serve merely a prepared God who has backup plans and contingencies mapped out. We serve an omniscient, omnipotent God; He doesn’t have to react because His knowledge and power are infinite. We react to things happening in our lives but God is never caught off guard. The disciples did the right and only thing to do. Run with childlike hope to Jesus and trust that He’ll save and show Himself Lord
1.Will you turn the storms in your life over to Jesus?
Guys we are all facing something. We live in a world that is broken, fallen, and sinful. Bad things happen and life is hard. We go through seasons of turbulence and getting tossed around by the storm….Divorce, division in your family…Depression, mental health, anger…Maybe you have a prodigal child that you just want to come back…Death: it wasn’t meant to be part of the equation until we let sin in. Storms come in all shapes and sizes. We can turn to things of the world to cope and make us feel better…for a time…Alcohol, what your phone is telling you, sports, the list goes on. These are temporary fixes and only leave us empty wanting and needing more. Or we can turn to Jesus who is mighty, able, and present. Jesus doesn’t only save you from the storm, but calms the storm. You can’t accept one without the other; Jesus is Savior and Lord. If we seek to pick and choose what part of Jesus we allow into our lives we will end up right back hopelessly in the storm. This points me to one of my favorite Psalms…Psalm 46, specifically verses 1-3
“God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble. Therefore we will not be afraid, though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the seas, though its water roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil.” (Psalm 46:1-3)
These 3 words are critical so don’t miss them
Therefore: that means that everything the follows in this verse is as a result of what came before “therefore” And what comes before is that God is our refuge and strength, who is always found (not sometimes but always)
Though x2: it doesn’t say “if” these difficult things happen but “though” implies these things will happen. And when the mountains topple, earth quakes, or the storms of life come we know Therefore that our God is our refuge and strength, our Lord and Savior. So, will you turn the storms in your life over to Jesus?
Luke 5:17-20
V. 17-19
17 On one of those days while He was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. And the Lord’s power to heal was in Him. 18 Just then some men came, carrying on a mat a man who was paralyzed. They tried to bring him in and set him down before Him. 19 Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the mat through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.
Jesus is teaching and healing and word is spreading. Everywhere He went the crowds were growing and literally busting at the seams. He is in this house and it might be the first example of “standing room only” ever recorded. This house is overflowing with people just trying to get a listen to what Jesus is saying and see what He is doing. Then you’ve got these guys with a friend who can’t walk and they just know they have to get to Jesus so their friend can be healed. Church, there are friends and then there are absolute bros. These guys see that they can’t get to Jesus through the door because of the crowd, so they’re like “drop him through the roof boys”. This is like will you take me to the airport, help me move, watch my kids, and cook dinner all wrapped into one act. Find brothers and sisters like that to surround yourself with. Their faith was so honest and child-like that it didn’t matter what obstacles were in their way, they were getting their bro to Jesus even if it meant tearing down the house. We need people like that in our corner. God puts people in our lives to point us to Him and for us to point them to Him as well. These guys knew the most important thing they could do was get their friend to Jesus. The closest people around you don’t have to be large in number…quality over quantity. Do they live out their faith? I know the importance of brothers and sisters in your corner. Just ask Robbie and Savannah and me destroying my knee in Haiti. Haitian hospitals are not the same as American hospitals. God has put good people in my corner to draw me closer to Him and He’s done the same for you. It’s no accident that you’re sitting in a room this morning with a ton people at the ready to point you to Jesus. The people we surround ourselves with can either strengthen our faith or weaken it.
v. 20 Jesus’ Forgiveness is Enough
20 Seeing their faith He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.
So now this guy is lowered through the roof right into the living room where Jesus is. They’ve obviously heard news of this Jesus guys healing the sick and doing amazing things (hence the roof destruction). It says in verse 20 that He saw their faith. Jesus was in the midst of all the religious leaders and teachers, but these men’s faith is what He saw. “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” Jesus does what only He (God) can do, forgives sins. If this is all that Jesus did for this man, it would’ve been enough. Yeah his legs didn’t work but he was more broken spiritually with sin than broken physically with his legs
2. Is Jesus’ forgiveness enough for you?
Whether skeptic or believer, we all have a sin problem and we all can’t figure out how to solve it on our own. Jesus is both savior from sin and Lord over the new life given apart from sin. Is that enough for you to accept?. We turn down so many different avenues to find that missing piece in our lives. All the while Jesus is standing there with arms wide open offering forgiveness. We see these guys who understand that running to Jesus is the answer even if they don’t have all the details of how He’s gonna do it. They take their friend there just on pure hope and faith that Jesus is who they heard He was. And guess what? He was more. He was able to forgive sins because He is God, He is Lord and Savior. He is that for you. He is able to forgive you of the awful things you’ve done. Those things that Satan is trying to tell you disqualify you from even being forgiven. Spit in that liar Satan’s face and run to Jesus. If Jesus’ forgiveness isn’t enough for you, then you’ll keep hopelessly searching without finding the answer. But if His forgiveness is enough for you you’ll find purpose, meaning, and life in Him.
Luke 5:21-26
V. 21
21 Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to think: “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?
We don’t get to see the reaction of the men who fought through all this to get their friend to Jesus but we do see the religious leaders’ reaction. They are shrouded in doubt and skepticism of Jesus being able to forgive sinsIt is hard for them to accept Jesus as Lord or Savior.
V. 22-24
22 But perceiving their thoughts, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you thinking this in your hearts? 23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 But so you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—He told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, pick up your mat, and go home.” Jesus knew their doubts and skepticism so used His authority to command sin and sickness. Remember if He only washed the man’s sins away, that would’ve been enough. Jesus knew that there were even bigger things at hand to show these people. In verse 24 He puts His authority as God out there for those stuffed in the house to see. Since the religious leaders reasoned that only God could forgive sins, Jesus did an additional thing that only God can do by healing the man. He tells the lame man to get up with his stretcher and go home. Just like He had power over the wind and waves, He also has power over sickness and sin.
V. 25-26
25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today!
When Jesus commands the man to get up, he does just that. Jesus wanted to use this man’s life and faith to mighty things for the kingdom of God. It’s important to see that the man did as Jesus directed all the while praising God. Then through this we see the people around now amazed and giving glory to God.
3. Will you allow God to do mighty things in your life?
God has not called us as the church and given us His Spirit for us to remain comfortable and dormant. Satan’s best weapon is a group of Holy Spirit filled believers that sit on their hands and do nothing. Complacency is the friend of the enemy. The religious leaders in these verses were so focused on their religious preconceived notions that they were missing the might of God Himself working before them. The friends and the lame man didn’t care about the religious things as much as just getting to Jesus. Once they got there, Jesus did mighty things and used them for mighty things. When He told the man to walk, he did just that. He picked up his stretcher and walked away. Don’t get so bogged down in keeping your religious scorecard full and submit to real relationship with Jesus as the Lord and Savior of your life. Church attendance, reading your Bible, saying some prayers mean nothing if you are doing it just for making sure you check the “Christian boxes”. I tell my players what is the point of running all the sprints and learning all the plays (putting all this work in) if come game day we just slack off and have our heads in the sand. It would be easier if we just didn’t do the work than waste our time. Same thing with our faith. If we are just going to go through the motions of checking boxes but never really fully submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior then why go through all the trouble? Don’t go through the motions but use these resources and tools God has given to draw near in relationship with our Creator. Jesus desires our hearts and from that life changing act of giving Him our hearts, we get to use His Word, prayer, fellowship with believers as an opportunity to draw near to Him. God wants to use you for mighty things in His kingdom. He wants to have you disciple to next generation (shameless recruiting plug for student ministry volunteers). He wants to use you as light in your workplace, homes, gym, etc. We have to decide between being the skeptical religious leaders or the simple man with faith to be dropped through a hole in the roof. The first option is comfort that leads to nowhere. The second option is discomfort that leads to mighty kingdom things.
You can’t have Jesus as Savior without submitting to Jesus as Lord. Some people just want the saving part but can’t give up the lordship of their life. Jesus doesn’t want part of you or only care about the certain aspects we think are important in our life. He created every detail about you, saved all of your sin, and wants guide all of your life. We had an epic basketball game earlier this season. We had taken our lumps but in this game we stormed back from 12 down to win on a buzzer beater 3. After the game we celebrated. I told one of my basketball players after a game: God cares about basketball because he cares about you. Church He cares about you so much that He not only saved you from your sin, but then sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in you. The power of God working through you. He’s given you each gifts, abilities, talents, and treasures. Let Him be Lord of your life and guide you in using these. As you go into your week wrestle with these 3 questions.
Will you turn the storms of your life over to Jesus?
Is Jesus’ forgiveness enough for you?
Will you allow God to do mighty things in your life?
Take them before God in prayer and open yourself up to His leading.