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Mar 01, 2025 06:00am

Lord and Savior

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I find it interesting that Jesus’ earthly life was thirty-three years. What surprises me even more so is that His earthly ministry only lasted for three years.

He certainly lived intentionally doing all the Father had for Him to do within those years.

We are fortunate to have the gospels that give us an account of His earthly ministry. Important to note, we only have a partial account.

Within the first year and a half of His ministry:

Jesus had turned water to wine. (John 2:1-12)
Jesus had spoken to Nicodemus, the religious leader, alone in the night and informed him that his greatest need was to be “born again” to die to his sin and himself in order to experience the eternal life Jesus has to offer. (John 3)
Jesus had ministered to the Samaritan Woman at the well offering her living water. (John 4:1-42)
Jesus had healed an official’s son with His word. (John 4:43-54)

Let’s not forget, Jesus had also invited Peter, Andrew, Phillip, and Nathaniel along for the ride to “come and see” who He was.

Quickly reading the highlight reel of Jesus’ first year and a half of ministry we can note that Jesus is the one who: came to seek and save the lost, offers abundant life, cares about the needs of others, and has the power to heal.

May I mention, the account we have of Jesus’ earthly ministry we read in the gospels does contain all Jesus did and taught (John 21:25.)

Cue a gasp of amazement followed by a surprised, “Wow!”

This reaction is much like the people of Jesus’ day who, “marveled at the gracious words coming out of his mouth…” in Luke 4:22.

At a year and a half into Jesus’ earthly ministry several transitions take place.

Transition One: Jesus moves His hometown from Nazareth to Capernaum (Matt.4:13-16)

I suppose you would move, too, if your hometown tried pushing you off of a cliff to your death. If you do not recall this account or doubt me, read Luke 4:16-30. Thankfully, the account doesn’t end on a cliffhanger.

Transition Two: The forerunner, John the Baptist, has been arrested. The torch has been passed to Jesus. (Matt. 4:17)

Transition Three: Jesus begins to speak of who He is in relationship to His father and His authority; it is at this point the Jews begin to deny their amazement as they realize that Jesus is who He says He is which means He alone has the authority.

A prime example of this is John chapter five.

The passage begins with Jesus having compassion on an invalid who’s been laying beside a pool said to have “healing powers” that he could not get into on his own due to his inability to walk.

Jesus asks the man if he wants to be healed and proceeds to tell him to, “get up and walk!”

Surely this would have been an amazing site to all who were witnesses and especially to this man who’d been suffering for thirty-eight years.

Outside of physical healing, Jesus had a deeper healing purpose to this miracle; salvation (i.e., the healing of this sinful man’s soul.) We know this because Jesus tells him in verse fourteen, “see that he is well and go and sin no more.”

Not only was this miracle meant to lead to the salvation of this man, but it was meant to be a testament to the authority of Jesus over all sin, life, death, and judgement.

Immediately following this miracle the Jews had two problems with Jesus.

Problem One: Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath. A day that was clearly set aside within the Jewish law, as established by God in Genesis chapter one, to be set apart and holy to the Lord; a day no work was to be done and no burden was to be carried.

Problem Two: Jesus doing this miracle demonstrated that He was equal with God. Jesus’ sermon following this miracle spoke of His equality with God meaning these people were faced with the conviction to submit.

This is the primary problem the Jews continually have with Jesus. Who He is speaks of His authority; His authority requires submission.

This passage serves as a warning for us.

If you think about it, not much has changed. In the words of Solomon, “there’s nothing new under the sun.” We too, like the Jews, are amazed at the things Jesus does and has done for us.

We’re amazed at the miracles he does in the lives of those around us.

We love that Jesus is our Savior! We proclaim this loudly. We wear bracelets, t-shirts, and all sorts of merchandise sporting the message.

The problem is, as my friend says, “many want a Savior, few want a Lord.”

We want the blessings of God without walking in the commands and ways of God.

We want to be saved from the fires of hell, but we do not wish to turn from our sinful nature and the spiritual death it causes us while on earth.

We want the good and abundant life Jesus has to offer until we realize it requires surrender of and death to our fleshly desires on a daily basis.

We all love the idea of a good rescue or saving story, but very few of us want a master to whom we must submit.

The truth —> Jesus is both: Savior and Lord.

This leaves us with two choices: surrender and submit or resist and reject.

Jesus puts it this way in Matthew 12:30, “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”

This message is hard. This message is uncomfortable, but it is the truth.

Like the Jews, if we choose to resist and reject his Lordship in this life, we kill the gospel message in this life. Which means he will say, “depart from me you worker of iniquity I never knew you” in the next.