The founder and senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, TX discusses why the Christian life cannot be hidden but must be plainly apparent to the public.
Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship senior pastor Dr. Tony Evans, also the founder and president of The Urban Alternative, recently preached from Romans 10:8-13.
First, he defined the historical-grammatical importance of the term "Lord" in connection to Jesus, as well as the relevance of the three tenses of redemption for Christians, namely "past, present, and future."
"What is missing today in the church among Christians is to recognize and raise themselves under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. To recognize His comprehensive supremacy over all of life. There is no part of life that sits outside of the Lordship of Jesus Christ," he said.
Dr. Evans emphasized the need of confessing and publicly acknowledging one's affiliation with Jesus Christ in order "to be delivered in history." He illustrated this by making a contrast between the prevailing attitudes of the secularists and the religious.
"We live in a day where there's no shame," he said. "People will confess illegitimate allegiances. They want to be recognized in illegitimate relationships. They want you to accept what is unacceptable to a Holy God and they will let you know, 'This is who I am. I'm not hiding. This is who I am. Get used to it because this is me.'"
"Well now, if they can confess that in public with no shame, then you and I could make it clear, appropriately clear, and absolutely clear, 'I am a follower of Jesus Christ.'"
Thus, not being able "to be delivered in history," according to him, means that God's involvement on behalf of his people is not taking place in both time and space.
To further support his statement, he also quoted Rev. 12:11, which describes people who defeated Satan through the blood of Jesus and their confessions.
"If you are ashamed of public association, that is a denial of the relationship," he stated, adding that one of the reasons there are so few deliverances is due to a lack of confessions of public affiliation with Jesus Christ and submission to his authority.
He then said that God the Father arranged things in this manner because it pleased him to see His Son honored.
"He wants you to confess that 'Jesus is Lord.' Why? To the glory of the Father, which means He gets excited when he sees you acknowledge Jesus Christ's Lordship.He gets discouraged when He sees us as believers deny the Lordship, the Rulership, and fail to confess the Ownership of Jesus Christ. But when we do that, we begin to honor and glorify the Father, which gives Him our undivided attention.
Dr. Evans ended his talk with a story about a little boy in Africa who is about to be devoured by a lion. The boy was rescued when a passing missionary spotted what was happening and killed the lion. After he took the boy to his tribe for treatment, he went back to his house. The boy and his tribe returned to the missionary's residence a few weeks later, bringing a number of his belongings.
Perplexed, the missionary asked the boy, who said that it the law of the jungle dictates that when someone rescues someone, the rescuer owns them. Even though the missionary told him he didn't have to, the boy insisted as the law of the jungle binds him to be grateful by serving him for the rest of his life.
Contrasting the law of the jungle with the law of the Kingdom, Dr. Evans said that's how it should be with Christians today, to be unapologetically associated with Jesus.
