Thought from today’s Bible reading from Matthew 1:1-21; Mark 3; Luke 6.
There are many people today who would call Jesus their Lord. But are all of these people actually treating Him as Lord? Sadly, many are not. How are they failing to treat Jesus as Lord? Notice what Jesus said:
“Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).
Jesus’ point is clear: if one will not obey Him, it is meaningless for him to call Jesus “Lord.”
The fact that Jesus is our Lord shows that He has authority and the right to rule over us. Immediately before giving the apostles the Great Commission, Jesus declared, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18). His authority was the basis for everything that the apostles, and even faithful gospel preachers today, were to preach. Notice how Jesus summarizes what their message was to be:
“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…” (Matthew 28:19-20).
According to the Lord’s commission, those who would be taught by the apostles – and those who will be taught today – were to do certain things:
- Learn of Christ and His will. This is what a disciple does – he learns the truth (Matthew 11:29).
- Be baptized into Him. Baptism is the act which is preceded by belief (Mark 16:16), repentance (Acts 2:38), and confession (Acts 8:36-38). Baptism marks the entrance into Christ (Romans 6:3-4) and results in the forgiveness of sins (Acts 22:16).
- Faithfully obey Him. Jesus does not permit half-hearted obedience from His disciples. He expects all of us to “observe all that [He] commanded‘ (Matthew 28:20).
If we do not do these things, we have no right to call Jesus our Lord. Sadly, if we are not serving Him as Lord, we cannot expect to enjoy the deliverance He provides as Savior (Matthew 7:21-23; Hebrews 5:9).
Why do you call Jesus, “Lord”? Are you doing His will? If so, continue to faithfully obey Him. However, if “Lord” is just an empty title to you, repent and do what the Lord commands us to do in His word.
Tomorrow’s reading: Matthew 5-7
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
