“Leap of Faith”
Luke 6:46 – 7:10
A sermon for 6/13/21
Pastor John Bright - Harmony & Swansonville UMC
Luke 6 “46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
I have heard these verses my whole life. I was taught the song at VBS and in Sunday School – with all the hand movements (the rains came down and the floods came up – DEMO)
In Matthew 7, we get this same parable. It calls the two men – wise and foolish – just like in the kid’s song I learned over 50 years ago. I have been trying to figure out if anybody ever explained what those men or those houses symbolized. The only thing I remember is being told that Jesus is the ROCK and we build on Him… but that is NOT the message here. Somewhere along the line I learned that God is ok if we just try to do what we read in the Bible and He won’t blame us if we can’t live up to His standards. Did you get that same thing coming up in the United Methodist Church?
Only now do I realize it was all a big lie – God gave us His Word to show us THE WAY, not a list of options. What do I tell you all the time? This Bible is what’s best for you and me. We can do that or not do that – it’s your choice and it’s my choice.
Those choices will have eternal consequences so we better choose wisely.
Do you call Him, Lord Lord?
“46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”
This is how Matthew shares Jesus words of warning – Matthew 7 “21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
All the Believers I know want to get to heaven and hear these words – “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” from Matthew 25. That’s what you want, right? These other words – “I never knew you, depart from me” should be the scariest phrase in the whole of God’s Word!
Last week I talked about two things that can’t both be true if they come out of your mouth. Now we are presented with two more. If you tell me Jesus is your Lord and Savior then you tell me you free to do whatever you want to do… which one is true because they can’t both be true. If you call Him Lord, you must be following the Bible’s teachings. If you do whatever you want, you are not saved.
So, how do you feel about being warned? It really IS NOT the same as being told what to do, but folks usually look at a warning the same way.
I would be letting everyone of you down if all I ever do is stand up in the pulpit and tell you how to be in peace. That has become the main message of the modern-day evangelist – you can have peace if you let God fill the hole in your heart. Then there is never any instruction in righteousness and the need for repentance. Listen to how Pastor Ray Comfort describes this:
“We have a blind man who’s tapping his way toward a 1,000-foot cliff. It’s about 20 feet in front of him. He’s unwittingly heading for destruction. Modern evangelism slides alongside him and says, “Hey, blind man, I got something for you. It’s real peace.” He says, “What do you mean?” He says, “Put these earphones on.” He hears a 10,000-voice choir singing “Amazing Grace.” The blind man smiles as he listens. He says, “Oh, that is giving me such peace. Thank you, modern evangelism.” Modern evangelism says, “God bless you, blind man,” and leaves him still heading for the path of destruction, still heading for a 1,000-foot cliff."
"Now, what he’s done is tremendous disservice to the blind man because, one, he has given him false assurance, false peace, and two, he has now deafened his ears to any further warnings. There are many walking the streets and even sitting in the pews of false peace who are strangers to biblical repentance. They’ve been given peace by a zealous modern evangelist, zeal without knowledge, when there’s no peace without biblical repentance. That is a turning away from the cliff of eternal wrath. Which is worse? Having a sinner come under the searchlight of God’s Law and having him squirm under the torments of an awakened conscience, or having him cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity?”
Jesus’ warning is there for each of us this morning. Can you imagine He is looking right at you and says, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” How would you answer Him?
Doing what God says is faith
“47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.”
Obedience to God’s Word was the first problem humanity ever had. This was the simple instruction given to Adam – Genesis 2 “16…Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Of course, we know what happened next – Lucifer, the great dragon, made them doubt God’s Word. At the most basic level – this is being repeated today. It happens millions of times every day. This is a picture of the Believer today who hears the Word and then goes down the road of doubt and denial by building his house on the shifting sands of a culture that I like to call the “Looking Glass World.” It’s a reference to Lewis Carrol’s book that has Alice wondering what it would be like on the other side of the mirror. We are living on the other side – what was right is now wrong. What was wrong is now embraced by the culture and you are not allowed to speak one single word against it… or else!
Yet, Jesus is calling us to “hear and do.” This is not a new teaching. In the Old Testament, God calls a family to obedience and they called Him the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They obeyed God because He would lead and guide them just as He promised. Then God delivered the children of Jacob/Israel from slavery in Egypt and gave them the law to follow in the wilderness. What did they do? They disobeyed and suffered decades of wandering. In the Promised Land, they chose not to follow Almighty God over and over. When they repent – God sent them a Judge to deliver them. Later it will be a king that leads them astray and the Prophets will call them back, but they would also warn of the destruction coming for their disobedience. Maybe this was why the people responded to the call of John the Baptizer – Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” This is also the first message of Jesus – Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Listen to how the New Testament Believers were given the message of obedience being faith:
James 2 “14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17 Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” Faith that is all about doing what we are told in God’s Word is a LIVING FAITH. Living is hearing and doing.
2 John “4 I rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. 5 And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another. 6 This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.”
You might accuse me of not preaching love this morning – then I would point you to that verse I just read – “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”
Look I understand why this is a hard word – we are all part of the Great Experiment. (Not again, PJ) If we don’t wake up and realize this is the biggest lie in the 2,000 years of Christianity than I’m not sure what will become of Christianity. The big lie – the Great Experiment – you can claim to be a Christian while you say and do and think and believe whatever you want.
Jesus shows us a leap of faith
Luke 7 “1 Now when He concluded all His sayings in the hearing of the people, He entered Capernaum. 2 And a certain centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die. 3 So when he heard about Jesus, he sent elders of the Jews to Him, pleading with Him to come and heal his servant. 4 And when they came to Jesus, they begged Him earnestly, saying that the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 5 “for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.”
6 Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
9 When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” 10 And those who were sent, returning to the house, found the servant well who had been sick.”
This Roman Soldier had faith that Jesus could do what He was sent from God to do – heal people. We have seen this over and over in Luke so folks must have heard about it all around. Let me clear up one little issue – the servant was not healed because of the Centurion’s faith. The servant was healed because God willed it and God has the power to do it! Period! Jesus commends the great faith of one who understands what I am trying to get across to you this morning - And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
In John 14, Jesus is with His disciples in the Upper Room. He has humbled Himself and washed their feet. Then He speaks these words to them – “21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.”
Was that a word of warning? Can you claim to love God and keep doing what you want to do? Is God okay with that? If you think He is… show me in God’s Word.
We recently celebrated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost as recorded for us in Acts 2. That chapter ends with 3,000 new Believers. After Peter’s sermon they ask, “What must we do?” and Peter responds – “REPENT.”
I would say the same to you today if you are calling Jesus your Lord and Savior, yet still doing what you want in clear opposition to the Word of God – repent. It’s what Jesus told the Churches in the Book of Revelation – repent.
So… what shall we do?
Start with praying this scripture day after day – many times every day – put it on cards or sticky notes to put in the car and around the house:
Psalm 139
“23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
And resolve to do what God says do and stop what God says stop.
Start a prayer notebook and start writing what He shows you. I have my notebook with the ADMIT section and the first one that I wrote down – “The Sin of Prayerlessness.” How did I repent of that sin? Let’s think really hard. I began the habit of a daily prayer time – duh! (Becky Tirabassi – “Let Prayer Change Your Life” is all about developing a daily one hour prayer time.)
As you make the choice to change – living a life of holiness and integrity will matter more than the things we lay aside on the journey along the Narrow Way.
That way is a way of Sanctification. I want God to sanctify my mouth and my mind. I want God to sanctify my desires and my dreams. Most of all – we need God to sanctify our priorities.
Is making disciples our #1 priority here? It should be for we have been commanded to make that our mission.
Where does this leave us? With a choice – to be obedient to the Word of God or be disobedient and continue doing what I want.
What will you choose?
Amen.
