How Do You “Do” Jesus’ Words?

Luke 6:46-49

INTRODUCTION

One time in a Bible study Charlotte spoke of a time before she was a Christian. One man in the study was puzzled. He said, “Before you were a Christian, what were you?”

I think he thought that if she wasn’t a Christian, she must have been a heathen.

Most people, in the United States, unless they belong to one of the other religions just assume that if they are good people they are “Christians.”

Whether people do anything about their faith or not, they generally consider themselves Christians.

In Jesus’s time, people who believed in him called him “the Lord,” or “the Lord Jesus.”

When people said they were followers of Jesus, they were owning him as the “Lord of their life,” the one whom they were committed to obey and on whom all their hopes rested.

St. Paul wrote in Romans 10:9: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

In our church we say the Apostles Creed every Sunday: “I believe in God the Father, Maker of Heaven and earth. And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, Our Lord…”

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But the earliest creed—the one that goes back to the very beginning of the New Testament was much shorter. It was just three words: “Jesus is Lord.”

To say that and to mean it was enough to assert one’s faith in and commitment to Jesus.

But Jesus noticed that people were calling him “Lord” who didn’t really mean it.

In Luke 6 we read these words that Jesus said to some who considered themselves to be his followers:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and not do what I tell you?

Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them,

I will show you what he is like:

he is like a man building a house, who dug deep,

and laid the foundation upon rock;

and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house,

and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

But he who hears and does not do them

is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation;

against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell,

and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:46-49).

It’s a serious thing to say, “Jesus is Lord.”

And it would be very silly to say, “Jesus is Lord” and not do what he tells us.

And that’s why Jesus told the little story about the two house builders.

I. So let’s consider the parable.

The first builder dug deep and set the foundation on rock.

In Iowa, a good foundation is especially important because the frost will heave the ground up and down and the house will move up and down.

In Jesus’s story, the houses were built in a place prone to flooding, so it was even more important to dig deep and set the foundation on bedrock.

So the first builder built wisely and when the flood and the river broke against his house, the house stood firm.

The other builder just built his house on the ground, without a foundation, and when the rains came, the river broke against the house and immediately it fell, and Jesus adds, “and the ruin of that house was great.”

II. Now let’s consider what Jesus is telling us with this simple story.

A. Some of us have “heard” the words of Jesus since we were little children.

We went to Sunday school and learned the stories of Jesus.

In our house we read the Bible after supper at the table.

We went to church and listened to sermons.

I figure that in my lifetime I have heard over 5000 sermons.

Some of you were “confirmed” when you were in your early teens and made a commitment to church membership.

In other churches—such as the one in which I was raised—we made a profession of faith in Christ later in life and were baptized to testify to our commitment to Jesus.

We read our Bibles. We read our devotional booklets. We say our prayers. We go to church.

I commend you for coming to our service. Most of the residents in this facility don’t bother.

Coming to worship indicates a more than average interest in your faith.

But Jesus seems to be saying that there’s something more.

I have a prayer I use often that goes like this:

“Lord, give me grace

not only to be a hearer of the word, but also a doer of it;

not only to love, but to live the gospel;

not only to profess, but also to practice thy blessed commandments,

to the honor of thy holy name. Amen.”

B. Jesus says it’s no use to just say “Lord, “Lord,” but we must “do” the his words.

We not only hear what Jesus says, we must set ourselves to do what he says.

What difference does it make in your life, that you have heard the words of Jesus?

What difference does it make in our talk?

Is our speech characterized by gracious words, by gratitude, by encouragement?

Or do we fall into the habit of criticizing…or complaining…or belittling other people?

Do we hold grudges? Can we forgive? Can we apologize? Can we acknowledge our faults?

Do we confess our sins?—or do we just excuse them? and say, “Well, nobody’s perfect.”

Do we pray and give thanks?

Do we pray for our enemies? To we love those who hate us?

If we don’t have any enemies, do we pray for the people who irritate us?

The Bible says to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 5:15). Sometimes we tell the truth, but we don’t tell the truth in love. Love and truth must go together in our talk.

Are we generous? If we have no money, we can still be generous. We can be generous with our judgments, generous with our compliments, generous in excusing the faults of others, generous with our time when someone needs a listening ear to hear their troubles.

How are you a different person than you would be if you were not a follower of Jesus?

This story comes from Scotland.

An old farm woman said to her pastor: “What was a grand sermon you preached last Lord’s Day at the kirk!”

Seeking to test her sincerity he asked, “And what was the text?”

“Ah, meenister!” she replied. “I dinna ken the text or the words. But I came home and took the false bottom out o’ my peck measure.”

Long ago a man named Ignatius was a soldier in the Spanish army of Ferdinand and Isabella in 1521. He was severely wounded in a battle, he spent many months convalescing in a castle at a town called “Loyola.”

To help pass the time he asked for some adventure stories. None were available, so he was given the lives of Christ and the saints.

He got interested in the lives of these holy men and women.

And when he recovered he decided to devote his life to the service of his God.

We know him as St. Ignatius Loyola.

He wrote a prayer that I often use because it reminds me of what we have been talking about:

“Lord, take to yourself all my freedom: take my memories,

my thoughts, my plans, my desires.

Whatever I have, you have given me.

I give it all back to you,

and entrust it to the guidance of your will.

Only give me your love and your grace and I am rich enough:

I ask for nothing more.”

C.  So what difference does it make?

For us the storms of life are already here. The river is breaking against the house of our life.

We’ve experienced loss of loved ones. We’ve experienced loss of health.

Some of us live in constant pain. We’ve had disappointments and setbacks.

People have disappointed us. We have regrets. Some of us have struggled with doubts.

Jesus says that the way to remain faithful, even through the storms of life is to “do” his words—to live our life in obedience, faithful to the end.

CONCLUSION

This is not to say that we are saved by doing good works.

We are saved by faith, and we can never be good enough to earn God’s forgiveness.

This is just to say that faith includes obedience.

St. Paul wrote, “By grace are you saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

And then he goes on, “For we are his workmanship, created for good works, which God has prepared that we should walk in them.”

Salvation is a road, a road that we walk with Jesus, a road of obedience—because Jesus is not only our Savior, he is also our Lord.