Title: Why do you call me Lord?
Text: Luke 6:46-49
Date: 7/13/2008
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist church
Introduction: If Bobby Knight calls time out with 10 seconds on the clock and sets up a play for his star player to take the last second shot, but the guy who is supposed to pass him the ball decides that he wants to be the hero and takes the shot and misses, then I guarantee you he’s going to be running wind sprints and doing push ups the rest of the night.
If your boss gives you an important assignment on Monday morning and tells you to have it done by the end of the day Friday and you decide that it’s not worth the time and effort then there’s a good chance you won’t have a job come Friday afternoon.
If a soldier deliberately disobeys a commanding officer’s order that results in his platoon suffering major casualties that soldier can and should be brought up on charges and court-martialed.
We don’t have any trouble understanding that the consequences of each of these actions were deserved. But when those of us who are serving in the Lord’s Army choose to ignore or blatantly disobey His commands we wonder why God disciplines us. We wonder why the storms of life come crashing down on us.
I want to use one verse of Scripture to expose what I believe is one of the main problems confronting Christianity today. Turn in your Bibles to Luke 6:46, Jesus said, “WHY DO YOU CALL ME ‘LORD, LORD AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
Let me ask you a question this morning? Who do you think Jesus was talking to when he asked that question? We would like to think He was talking to the Pharisees or the Chief Priests but He wasn’t. He was talking to His Apostles as well as His disciples. The people who had been following him from village to village listening to him teach and watching him heal the sick and open the eyes of the Blind.
Okay, so we know who the question was addressed to but have you ever wondered why Jesus asked the question in the first place. Why would he have to ask the people who were following him all around Galilee why they called Him Lord but didn’t do what He said?
Jesus was the son of God and He knew their hearts were not pure. He knew that they were just curious onlookers, pretending to be His disciples. So He looked at them and bluntly said, “WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
In other words Jesus was saying, “You call me Lord, and you claim to be my disciples but yet you refuse to submit to my authority and refuse to do what I tell you to do?
Which brings me to my next question or next point.
3. What had Jesus told them to do that they hadn’t done yet?
I don’t know for sure by I suspect a lot of things. Jesus had just finished what we call the Sermon on the Mount. In that Sermon he told them that they should be doing several things that they weren’t doing and that they should stop doing several things that they were doing.
For instance: In Matthew 5;13-14, He tells them that they are the Salt of the Earth, and the Light of the World. Which meant that they were to make a difference in their society, and that they were to do good deeds so others would see their good deeds and glorify the Father.
But they weren’t doing it any more than you and I are? Their society was just as spiritually dead as ours is. The cold hard truth was that the majority of them were good for nothing, they were completely useless when it came to the Kingdom of God, and unfortunately things haven’t changed much in our day and time.
Illustration: a group of college students were having a Bible study one night where they were discussing this passage of Scripture. More specifically they were discussing how we as Christians are supposed to be the Salt of the Earth. During the discussion they mentioned several of the uses and benefits of salt. Such as it adds flavor to food. Someone else mentioned that salt is a preserving agent and keep food from decaying. Then one young lady spoke up and said, “Salt makes you thirsty.” They all got quiet and the Holy Spirit began to convict each one of them because they knew it had been a long time since any of them had made anyone thirsty for Jesus.”
How long has it been since you made a difference in our society? How long has it been since you made someone thirsty for Jesus?
Jesus said, “WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
A Second thing Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount was that He had not come to Abolish the Law of Moses but to fulfill it and that we should be obeying all of the Commandments not just picking and choosing the ones we want to obey.
Jesus took it a step farther and told his disciples that not only should they not commit murder but that they shouldn’t get angry with one another? Are you mad at a Brother or sister in Christ today?
Jesus taught His disciples to do everything they could to be reconciled with those who they were having problems with. ( Matthew 5:23-24)
MT 5:23 "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
MT 5:24 leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.
Yet week after week, month after month we harbor a grudge against a brother or sister in Christ over something that doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.
“WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
In Matthew 5:44, Jesus told them to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them.”
Can any of you honestly say you love Osama Bin Ladin or Mohamad Achmajenadad today? I doubt if there is a person here this morning that got out of bed and got down on their knees and prayed for the ACLU or for that person who just loves to give you the what for.
In Matthew 6:14-15 Jesus told his disciples that they should be quick to forgive one another so in turn the Father will forgive them of their sins.”
Yet most of us are quick to judge and slow to forgive.
Several years ago a rich business man was kidnapped and held for ransom. The ransom was never paid so the kidnapper killed the man and left his body laying on a remote hillside. The killer was later identified and sent to prison. The rich man’s son was 15 years old when His father was killed. At the age of 30, 15 years after his father’s death the son became a Christian. He knew he needed to forgive the man but it was difficult for him to let go of the hatred that had consumed him for the past 15 years. So he went to the maximum security prison to talk with the man, but the inmate refused to meet with him. The young man left him a Bible with the following inscription on it: “I’m here to see you today, and I’m sorry that we couldn’t meet. As a Christian I am summoned by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to forgive. I do forgive you, and I ask you to forgive me for the hatred I’ve held in my heart for you.” Later the son said, “I have a love for that man that only Jesus Christ could have put into my heart.”
“WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
Jesus told his disciples not to store up treasures on earth but to instead store up treasures in Heaven that do not rust and cannot be stolen.
Yet the majority of Americans (Christians included) have become so materialistic that all we ever think about is money and the things that money can buy. Which reminds me of what Jesus said in verse 24 which says, “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
In other words we can’t play both sides of the fence. If Jesus is really the Lord of our lives then we need to be devoted to Him and stop being so materialistic.
In his book “Jesus Lord of Your personality’ Bob Russell points out that having a lot doesn’t tend to produce a grateful spirit. The point he makes in the book is that when we’ve had a taste of the best the world has to over then it’s a lot harder to be satisfied with the basics. For instance he says, “when you’ve eaten a steak from the Stockyards in Nashville it’s a little more difficult to be thankful for your meal at the Golden Coral or Ponderosa.” Or when you’ve ridden in a Cadillac or Mercedes then it’s a lot more difficult to be content driving a Volkswagen or Chevrolet. He says, “Generally speaking the more we have the less grateful we are. It should be the opposite; the more we have the more thankful we should be.”
“WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
In (Matthew 6:25-34) Jesus told His disciples to Make the Kingdom of God their top priority in life and to stop worrying about what they were going eat or what they were going to drink, or what they were going to wear. He goes on to remind them that their Heavenly Father loves them and knows what they need and therefore all they need to do is simply trust Him to provide it for them.
The Apostle Paul certainly understood this. In Philippians 4:19 He says,
PHP 4:19 And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Jesus also talks about the futility of worrying, yet most of us spend countless hours worrying about this or that?
“WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD, AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY?”
In chapter 7 Jesus told His disciples not to judge others and to be more concerned about their own sins and shortcomings than they were about the sins of others.
Undoubtedly they were just as quick to point out the weaknesses and sins of others as we are.
“A small town prosecuting attorney called his first witness to the stand in a trial (she was an elderly ‘grandmotherly type of person). He approached her and asked, “Mrs Jones do you know me? She responded by saying, “Why, yes I do know you, Mr. Willaims. I’ve known you since you were a young boy. And frankly, you’ve been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you’re a rising big shot when you haven’t the brains to realize you will never amount to anything more than a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you.”
The lawyer was stunned. Not knowing what to do he pointed across the room and asked, “Mrs. Williams do you know the defense attorney” She replied ‘Why yes I do, I’ve know Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster. I used to baby-sit him for his parents. And he, too, has been a real disappointment to me. He’s lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. The man can’t build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the shoddiest in the entire state.”
At this point the judge rapped his gavel on the bench and called the courtroom to order then he looked at both attorneys and said, “If either one of you asks her if she knows me I’ll have you thrown in jail for contempt!”
“WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY.”
He also taught his Disciples what we call the golden rule. In Matthew 7:12 He said, “MT 7:12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Someone once said, “The Golden rule may be old, but it hasn’t been used enough to look worn.” Unfortunately there’s a lot of truth in that statement.
“Why do you call me lord, lord and do not do what I say.”
In Matthew 16:24, Jesus said “If anyone would be my disciple he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
Most of us don’t find it difficult to deny ourselves a piece of cake or an order of French fries. Self-denial and self-sacrifice aren’t very popular in our day and time.
And Yet Jesus would say, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say.”
Finally Jesus taught his disciples the importance of Loving one another.
JN 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
JN 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
John Trent, The co-author of “The Hidden value of a man.” tells the story of when he was actively involved in a Young Life group. He said he always did his best to round up kids who really needed to hear the gospel when we went to summer camp. A young man named Mark was one of those kids.
Bob Mitchell, whose nickname was “Mitch” was the main speaker that particular week, and he called most of the shots--including when the meals would be served. So "Mitch" was always talking with the cook.
The cook loved her work, but it was exhausting. She always looked tired. Whenever she talked to Mitch, he got up and gave her his chair—to give her just a few moments to get off of her feet while they discussed meal plans.
Trent said, none of us noticed this except Mark.
Mark hadn’t come to camp to hear about Jesus. But when he saw the love of Christ lived out in that simple act of kindness by the camp speaker, he began to listen to his messages. Later that week, Mark invited Christ into His life.
Later Mark gave his testimony and said that he hadn’t given his life to Christ because of the messages that he had heard each night at camp. Instead he said it was because of the love He saw Mitch display to a tired cook. Mark said, "If that’s what it means to be a Christian then I want to be one."
“WHY DO YOU CALL ME LORD, LORD AND DO NOT DO WHAT I SAY.”
Conclusion: The people of Israel were following Jesus around but they had not yet become His disciples. They had not yet embraced His teachings. In John 8:31 Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said“MT 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Someone once said, “Either Jesus is Lord of All, or He isn’t Lord at all.”
Can you honestly say that Jesus Is the Lord of your life today? If not you need to confess your sins to him and renew your relationship with him? If He is then start keeping His commandments!
