Savior and/or Lord?

I love teaching our new member’s class at church because people come from all different religious backgrounds and stages of spiritual growth.

I start the class by talking about salvation. We play a little game called I’m Dying In 15 Minutes:

I’m dying in the next few minutes - tell me what must I do, believe, feel, have, say, be in order to enter heaven, gain salvation, become a Christian, or whatever you want to call it. Remember, I don’t have much time, so don’t load me up with opinions or extra steps - just give me the straight antidote for sin.

Do I HAVE to know and believe that Jesus was virgin born? That all 66 books are the inspired Word of God? That God created the earth?

Needless to say, the answers get interesting. Several “right” answers start emerging from the class - “Repent of sin”, “Believe Jesus died on the cross for you”, etc. And the last two classes someone has raised their hand and said “And you have to make Jesus the Lord of your life.” Silence. Puzzled looks from other class members.

Do I have to make Jesus my Lord in order to have Him as my Savior? It’s an old debate, one I remember dusting up during my college years in the 1980s. We were debating “Lordship Salvation” versus “Easy Believism.”

So what do you say? Look at these four models. Which one identifies your belief?

a = conversion and discipleship don’t have to be related at all. You can have salvation without having to follow Jesus.

b = you must know about discipleship and be ready to follow Christ as you are taking the step of conversion. They cannot be separated.

c = you must learn and work in discipleship before you are ready to truly accept Jesus as Savior

d = accepting Christ as Savior is the first step to God’s intended plan of discipleship for you.

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