This week we start a new series of messages with a football theme! I’m sure you probably watched some college football yesterday - and many of you are ready for the NFL season to start - so am I by the way...
Anyway, this morning we start with a very simple, but important concept. If you want to play football. If you want to be successful at it, really for any sport too - you have to listen to the coach!
One of the things that I have always taken pride in as an athlete is that I have always been considered coachable - that term means that I listen well, I take instruction. I try to do what the coach says... maybe it was the fact that I have a mother that was a high school coach, or maybe it was that I was never really any good - but I always knew that the coach was my friend. He was out to help me succeed and if I did what he asked, then I had a much better shot at winning!
Not every player though is coachable. We’ve heard of a few superstars, right? Guys that see themselves as beyond the need for criticism. Guys that think the team revolves around them?
How about you? Are you coachable? What about in matters of the spirit? Are you listening to the coach?
In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus makes a pretty bold statement (read text)
There’s a question that I have been tossing around in my own life lately - its related to the first part of this passage - “Who is Lord of you?”
Who is Lord of Charles Whitmire? You might insert your own name there. Who is Lord of You?
Lord means master - ruler - it means the person who is in charge of everything.
Dana and I went to watch the screening of a movie this weekend called Call + Response. Its a documentary that highlights the global problem of human trafficking. As I watched the movie, I sat in awe... One statistic alone scared me to death - Over 2.2 children are sold into the sex slave business every year. The movie will run in Austin on October 9th - and you will hear more about it...
But did you know that Slave and Lord go hand in hand. One of the Apostle Paul’s favorite terms was doulos chritos isos - Slave of Christ Jesus! Paul understood that when he gave his life to Christ - he gave up his freedom... Listen to what he says in 1 Cor. 16:19-20 “Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
But if we are honest we don’t act as anyone’s slave... We live and act as if we are in charge of ourselves. So maybe this thing that Jesus is saying is directed at us, huh? Why do you call me Lord and you you don’t do what I say?
Here’s something else I want you to think about - Knowledge without obedience will not lead to transformation.
For far too long, many of us have thought that if I listen to the preacher - if I come to Sunday school, if I study my lesson, then I will grow into what God wants me to be.... But listen to me - that is not accurate. You do not change, you do not transform by hearing - but rather by doing... Obedience leads to transformation.
Jesus gives us this great illustration - Those who listen are like people who build on a strong foundation - NO... Jesus says those who listen and follow - Those who obey. Those who hear my voice and adapt to it - that is how you build your life on him....
When you don’t obey, when you just listen, you build on something else - and that will never last... It will never sustain you. What you are really saying with your disobedience is “God - I know better than you.” “I believe that if I do it my way, I will succeed, so I am going to do it this way...”
Imagine if that happened on a football field. Imagine the receiver in the huddle getting the play from the quarterback. He is told to do a slant route over the middle - but he thinks to himself - You know, if I do that route, I am going to get hit by a defender. I really think that an out route would be better. So he lines up and does an out route instead of a slant. The quarterback throws the ball and he’s no where near it...
God tells us things too - all throughout scripture we find commands. Commands on giving, and holiness, and marriage, and forgiveness and a million things. On top of that we have a play caller in our life - the Holy Spirit. I fully believe that if you a believer that the spirit of God is speaking into your life. Encouraging you yo be more like Christ - but how many of us hear what the spirit says - and then decide, well, I’d really rather do this...
here’s the good news - It’s never too late to check your foundation. Its never too late to start obeying him. Its never too late to say, “You know, I am going to do what he says...”
I don’t know about you, but I know this - I don’t want to waste my life. I do not want my life to end up washed out and wasted... I am not smart enough, gifted enough, good looking enough - whatever - If I build my life on me it will fail.
So here is my confession... doulous christos isous. I am a slave of Christ Jesus. I do whatever he says.
