This is frustrating, but we must guard against the temptation to ‘front-load’ the gospel with works of submission up front, and ‘backload’ is by attaching various works as the means for achieving the final aim of faith. The principle is that salvation is FREE (Rev. 21:6), but discipleship is COSTLY and it often requires time for the Spirit of God to prepare people and bring them to this point.

I think Paul’s experience with the Corinthians and his statements to them in 1 Cor. 3:1-6 illustrate this as does Heb. 5:11f as well. Isn’t it interesting that Paul, though he dealt with the gospel of salvation by faith early on in Romans (1-4), did not really deal with surrender or dedication or the Lordship issue as we see it today until Romans 6, and then it was primarily in connection with victory over sin and its reign. For service Paul waited until chapter 12. It also seems evident that in all the discipleship passages in the gospels where the Lord deals with this issue, His immediate subjects are those who had already believed in Him as is evident in Matthew 16, for instance.

I would suggest Joseph Dillow’s book, The Reign of the Servant Kings. While I do not agree with his position on some passages, I do think the overall thrust and explanations of the book are outstanding as they deal with the issue of free grace and Lordship.