It’s Actions that Count

Luke 6:46-49

INTRODUCTION

You’ve all heard the old proverb, “Actions speak louder than words.”

It’s also true that actions speak louder than feelings…or good intentions…or even good resolutions.

Jesus noticed that, and that is why he always challenged people to put their faith to work.

Because really, faith that is nothing more than believing facts is worse than useless.

I. In Luke, we read the record of a sermon Jesus preached to a great multitude of people (Luke 6:17-49). Some people call this the “Sermon on the Plain” because it has some of the same ideas as Matthew’s “Sermon on the Mount.”

A. In this message Jesus speaks of many important things: being kind to everyone, even loving our enemies,

blessing those who curse us, and praying for those who abuse us,

doing to others as we would like them to do to us,

not judging other people,

giving generously whether people appreciate it or not,

not trying to take the speck out of our neighbor’s eye while we forget to notice the log in our own eye.

I can imagine that his listeners were listening eagerly and nodding their heads.

And then Jesus said something that caught them up short: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?”

B. Jesus had built up quite a reputation. He was popular. People came from far away to listen to him.

Sometimes there were thousands in Jesus’s audience.

We read of a time when people followed Jesus for three days, listening to everything he had to say—evidently not even taking time out for meals. That day Jesus multiplied seven loaves to feed 4000 people (Mark 8:1-10).

Jesus must have been a very interesting speaker.

But Jesus wasn’t interested in being a popular speaker.

Jesus wasn’t interested in having a following.

Jesus wasn’t even interested in people calling him “Lord, Lord.”

People must have believed that Jesus was some kind of great person to call him “Lord, Lord.”

They must have thought they believed in him.

But Jesus wasn’t interested in that kind of faith.

C. In our culture it is hard to find people who would say they don’t believe in God.

It is hard to find anyone who doesn’t admit that Jesus was a great man.

If you ask 100 people you know, “Are you a Christian?” most of them will say “of course.” They might even be offended, as if you are accusing them of not being nice people.

Just as multitudes followed Jesus around listening intently to his teaching and not letting it make any difference in their lives, so many today go to church and listen to good preaching and live just as if they had never heard of God or Jesus.

If Jesus were to preach in our churches today, I think people might be offended if he got up and said to them: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I tell you?”

D. I’m glad you came to church today. I firmly believe that the fact that you came to our little service—when most of our friends don’t bother—indicates that you do love God, and you do want to live your life for him.

But we all need to heed Jesus’s warning. Because sometimes we forget that we need to act on what we believe.

E. Sometimes I fool myself.

I enjoy learning about the good life. I read good Christian books. I rejoice in the truth I find in them.

I determine to make some change in my life in obedience to what God has showed me—and I congratulate myself on my good intention, but I don’t always follow through by actually doing anything about it.

Sometimes I make a good resolve to do an act of kindness, or to break a bad habit, or to keep my mouth shut, or to be more generous with my money—but I don’t always make the change.

F. Recently I read a book called The Truth about Trust, by a psychologist named David DeSteno.

Dr. DeSteno has spent years studying how people trust some people and mistrust others—and the difference trust and mistrust makes in our lives.

But the most interesting chapter in the book for me was the next-to-the-last chapter: “Can You Trust Yourself? Why You May Not Know Yourself as Well as You Think You Do.”

The author explains why we often fail to follow through on our intentions, our resolves, our promises to ourselves.

We fail because all of us have an untrustworthy side. Most of us think we are more reliable than we are. There is something built into us that inclines us to make excuse our failures.

And that is why Jesus’s words about following up our faith with actions is so important.

That is why it is so important to confess our failures and to ask God to help us to live as we believe.

II. After Jesus said, “Why do you call me Lord! Lord! and do not do what I say?” Jesus told this parable, to drive the lesson home to his listeners—and to us.

 A. Everyone 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 whoever 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 6:47-49).

B. True faith will always influence behavior. If we listen to Jesus’s words and fail to act on them, we are really proving that we don’t believe—because real faith leads to action.

We talk about faith and obedience as if they were different things, and the words do have different meanings. But sometimes the Bible surprises us by interchanging the two words to show us that faith includes obedience and obedience includes faith.

For example: John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life…”

In this little parable about the house builders Jesus is telling about two kinds of hearers.

Both of these hearers go to church.

Both pay attention to the sermons.

Both read their Bibles.

But one hearer acts on what he hears: he is like to builder who dug a foundation for his house.

And the other hearer doesn’t act on what he hears: he is like the builder who neglects to dig deep and lay a foundation.

The house is your life.

The storms are coming. For many of us we’ve weathered many storms.

What kind of house you’ve built determines whether your faith will secure you until the end of your life.

So what difference does it make in the way you live your life that you are a person of faith?

Does it make a big difference in the way you spend your money?

Does your faith lead you to forgive those who have hurt you and refuse bear grudges?

Does it make you more forgiving and generous in your judgments?

Does it affect what you read, what you watch on TV?

Does your faith make you shut your mouth when you start to open it to complain or to criticize another person?

Does your faith impel you to perform acts of kindness, even when they are inconvenient?

I know I sound like a broken record because I keep saying these things. But they are important. And the reason I keep saying them is because I’m preaching to myself as well as to you. These are the things I need to think about and act on.

CONCLUSION

A missionary translator told of looking for a word for “obedience” in the language of the tribe among which he was working. He was stumped. That tribe’s language didn’t seem to have a word for the idea of obedience.

But one day as he went home from the village his dog stayed behind. He whistled and the dog came running after him at top speed.

An old man by the roadside said with admiration: “Your dog is all ear.”

That was the perfect word for obedience, so he used it in his Bible translation.

The most common Greek in the New Testament for “obey” is ὑπακούω (hupakuo), which is built on the word for “to hear.”

We all want more confidence, more faith, and hope, and assurance of eternal life.

The secret is to put our faith to work.

Every morning when you wake up, commit yourself anew to God.

Ask, “Lord, what would you have me to do today?”

Live every hour of every day to please Jesus.

Love those Jesus loves.

Love and obedience strengthen our hold on God and bring peace to our souls.