Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore, let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For we have no continuing city here, but we seek one to come.
Select a thought to read by choosing a collection, the month, and then the day:
During a road trip, my attention was caught by a billboard along the highway containing these puzzling words:
I believe that the people who paid for that billboard had the very best of intentions. I believe that they were trying to do a good thing, wanting to serve Jesus and to help people. And I believe that God has probably blessed them for what they intended to do. At the same time, when I read the billboard they put up, my spirit was grieved, for I knew that their billboard would not serve its intended purpose. I knew that I was seeing another of example of us who serve the Lord trying to do something right but doing something wrong instead because of a lack of knowledge. The words on the billboard made no Biblical, rational, or theological sense whatsoever.
First, it makes no Biblical sense because there is no account in the Bible of anyone "making Jesus Lord" except the Father, who highly exalted Jesus and "made him both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36). Then, it makes no rational sense because it is impossible that any of us mortals, or anyone else but the Father, should have power to "make" Jesus anything. Whatever Jesus can be, he already is, and no creature can add anything to him. And lastly, that phrase makes no theological sense because if Jesus really is "Lord of all", then he is already everybody's Lord, whether they know it or not. In short, by saying "make Jesus your Lord", the billboard is exhorting us to do something impossible for anyone to do.
Many, many times, we have heard Christian evangelists or pastors plead with sinners to "make Jesus your personal Lord and Savior." But how can sinners do that? The Bible never tells sinners or saints to make Jesus their "personal Lord and Savior", much less does it offer advice on how to go about doing it. What directions would you give, my friend, to a person who was trying to make Jesus Lord? If you say "repent", then I would suggest that merely because we repent doesn't mean we have made Jesus anything. It means that he is about to make us something: children of God.
If Jesus is Lord of all, then he is Lord of all. The word "all" must mean "everything, everybody, everywhere, all the time", and that means that Jesus is Lord even over demons. That is, in fact, precisely why demons tremble when they think of him (Jas. 2:19). They know that their Lord is greatly displeased with them and that he will shortly cast them into the Lake of Fire. Moreover, if Jesus is Lord of all, then Jesus is Satan's Lord, too. After all, wasn't it because Satan rebelled against his Lord that he was cast out of heaven? Satan knows that his Lord will soon cast him into that burning Lake of eternal torment, along with all who are like him, and the Bible tells us that he is bitter and angry because of that knowledge (Rev. 12:12). Jesus, his Lord, holds the keys of both death and hell (Rev. 1:18).
As for us humans, whether or not we acknowledge that Jesus is our "personal Lord and Savior" and obey him, Jesus is our "personal Lord and Savior" because God made him everybody's personal Lord and Savior a long time ago. That is the very thing that makes sinners, sinners. They are sinners because they are disobeying their personal Lord and Savior. If Jesus were not the Lord of sinners, then they would not be sinning when they disobey his commandments. What is sin, but disobedience to the Lord of all? Where there is no Lord, there can be no sin. Sin is sin because Jesus is already everybody's "personal Lord and Savior".
So, how can we poor humans make Jesus our Lord, when "Lord of all" is what he already is? What truth is really in that billboard message? As I said, I believe that the sponsors of that billboard message had the best of intentions, and I applaud their zeal for God. But if what we are saying did not originate in the heart of God, we may find ourselves feeding the souls of men poison from Satan instead of manna from heaven. What we all need is to have God answer for us the prayer David prayed that "the meditations of my heart and the words of my mouth be acceptable to you, O God."
Who was the person who invented the phrase, "make Jesus Lord of your life"? Where did it come from? I do not know who the first person was who used that strange phrase. It has been in use for so long now that it is doubtful that anyone living knows. But I do know that it is misinformation about God, and from that fact, we can safely conclude that it originated in the heart of the prince of darkness in order to accomplish some evil purpose.
Thinking that we have the power to make Jesus be something puffs us up, just as Satan once became proud and exalted himself against Christ. We must watch and pray! When we receive any doctrine into our heart, we will be shaped by it to become like the maker of that doctrine. When we welcome the truth of Christ into our heart, we are made a little more like God, "the Father of light", by doing so. But if we receive a lie into our heart, we are made a little more like Satan, the "father of lies". Our souls are shaped by what we believe. Remember, Solomon warned his son, "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
When the truth is preached and believed, it creates humility in a person's heart, for it reveals to sinners that they are in danger of the wrath of their Lord. It destroys pride because it reveals to men that God is great and that they are not. The truth reveals to sinners that God loves them and that they have not loved Him. It creates fear of God in men because it reveals to men that God has power either to destroy them or to make them live forever and that they have no power whatsoever to make Him do or be anything. The truth exalts God; it does not mislead us and puff us up.
"Make Jesus Lord of your life"? Who do we think we are? Jesus has always been Lord of our lives, and always will be. Before we heard and understood the truth and repented of our evil doing, we were sinners because we were not keeping the commandments of our Lord. When we repented and submitted to his will, we did not "make him Lord"; we merely acknowledged that our Lord is who Jesus already is. Now that we have obeyed him, we are acceptable to God, and we can rejoice because "in the king's favor is life."
The truth about the New Birth is so important to the unity of the saints that Satan will stop at nothing to keep the children of God from it. He knows that if the children of God around the world ever learn the truth about the New Birth, they will at long last come out of Christianity and begin to be healed and united. And if we ever are united in the faith, Satan will no longer be able to hide among us, manipulating our hearts, shaping our spirits, and influencing our conduct with doctrines that are not true. God's truth is the saints' hope of harmony, and without that harmony, that fellowship in the light, believers will never be free from evil influence and prepared for the Lord's return.
Without knowledge of who is born again and who is not, we cannot know who is in the body of Christ and who is not. And if we don't even know who is a brother and who is not, how can we ever be united in Christ? Satan's real purpose for the phrase, "make Jesus your Lord", and other phrases like it, is to prevent the Children of God from knowing the truth about the New Birth. His call to "make Jesus Lord of your life" is not inspired by God. It is only one of the devil's many alternatives to the New Birth: Jesus' baptism of regeneration, the baptism of the holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking with other tongues. Satan's cleverly devised phrases sound good; that is why they attract us. But their effect is to confuse everybody and to make people think they are right with God without receiving Jesus' holy Ghost baptism.
My dear friend, don't even try to "make Jesus Lord of your life". You can't do it. The best you can do is to confess that he already is Lord of your life-and everyone else's, and then just do whatever he says for you to do. If you do that, he will fill you with his Spirit, and the Spirit will then guide you through this bewildering earthly existence. The Spirit is life; stay full of it. We need the Spirit's help. I know how it feels to be fooled, to think something is of God when it is not. None of us has the wisdom to figure it all out, but the Spirit is never wrong.
The phrase, "make Jesus your personal Lord and Savior", is not of God. It is actually meaningless. It is much like a vain promise, which is all that Satan has to offer to us. Jesus offers everlasting life, the Spirit of eternal life that comes from the Father. His offer is not "in word, but in power", and all wise men choose that good life rather than words that sound good but have no eternal substance.