Intro: A doctor goes to a party one night and sees one of his patients out on the dance floor with a beautiful woman. The doctor goes up to his patient and asks, “What are you doing?” The patient responded, “I’m just following your advice!” “What advice?,” the doctor replied. “You told me to find a hot mama and be cheerful.” The doctor responded in disbelief, “That’s not what I said. What I said to you was that you had a heart murmur and you need to be careful.” (Paul W. Powell, "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Retirment)
I want us to make sure that we have our ears open this morning and listen to the challenge God has for us.
Read Luke 8:19-21
In order to understand these three verses you have to take them in light of the entire chapter of Luke 8. In the first 15 verses Jesus teaches a parable. A parable was a story that had a spiritual meaning to it. It was a story about seed being sown on different kinds of soil. In verses 16-18 Jesus talks about a lamp and how a lamp is not supposed to be covered up or slid under a bed. Rather, it is to be put on a stand so that those who come in may see the light. In both of these instances the see and the lamp represent God’s word. The thrust of the Parable is found in verse 15: “But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.” The thrust of the quick story of the lamp is found in verse 18: “Therefore, consider carefully how you listen.” Understanding that background helps us put verses 19-21 in perspective.
Can you imagine how Jesus’ mother and brothers felt when they heard what Jesus had said. Here they waiting to get in to see their son and brother. There is a great crowd outside the place they are at. Jesus shocks them by the statement, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” Jesus wasn’t being mean he was communicating a very important truth.
Both the gospel of Mark and Matthew give a similar account of this story. In Marks gospel 3:20-21 it says, “Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind!” Mark 3:34 goes on to say, “Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” If you put Luke and Mark’s accounts together you don’t see a contradiction simply their twist on the account: Hearing God’s word and putting it into practice is God’s will!
I. Those closest to Jesus are those that hear God’s word AND put it into practice.
You would have thought that Jesus should have stopped what he was doing to see what his family wanted. Of course, Jesus knew their hearts. The Message Translation says, “Obedience is thicker than blood.” Just because they grew up with Jesus and were related by blood did not assure they were in proper relationship with him spiritually. Many people have embraced that kind of mentality. Now, I don’t think there are very many people around today that claim “I’m a great, great, great, ….cousin of Jesus. But some people are convinced that just because they’ve done certain church requirements or they have done what their preachers or parents said to do makes them in good standing with God. Many people believe that just because they have been baptized they are in proper relationship with Jesus. Or because their parent is a pastor or leader in a church. “Must mean, I’m right with God” I’ll just hang on to their coat tail.” This is not true. Being baptized, being confirmed, being related to a leader in a church is all good but if we are not hearing God’s word and putting it into practice we are simply standing outside to see Jesus.
Now when we talk about God’s word what do we mean? It means God’s word spoken to man. God spoke specifically to man and a lot of those encounters are recorded in the Bible. God’s word also means his speaking to you and I directly today. I believe that God speaks to people today. Of course there are a lot of people who think God has spoken to them but it wasn’t God—it was bad pizza. God’s word also means the Bible. Although it is not all a direct quote by God himself we call it God’s word to us. It is a collection of all kinds of divinely inspired writings that make up the Bible.
God’s word is important for some basic reasons. Number one, it teaches us the truth about God. Secondly, it teaches the truth about man. It also teaches us what God’s purpose is for our lives. It teaches us what God expects of us (Micah 6:8). It teaches us what we can expect from God. It also explains how a person’s life can be revolutionized!
Romans 10:11-13, “Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this—heart and soul—will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, “Help, God!’ gets help.”
10:17, “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.”
God did not leave us in the dark about how to come to him. It’s found in the Bible. He’s made it clear! If this is true then doesn’t it make sense that our arch-enemy, Satan, wants to keep people from allowing the word to get into them? Go back to Luke 8:12 in the parable of the seed. Look at what it says, “Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.”
2 Corinthians 4:4, “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” Therefore, we need to pray for our seeker friends. Keep inviting them. Keep praying for them. Keep your lamp on the stand.
IF God’s word teaches us to know God’s purpose in life and to know what he wants of us and what we can expect of him then it is important that we don’t just have a casual interest in God’s word. You see, there is a fundamental difference between getting into the word and allowing the word to get into us! That difference is in the doing. Failing to apply God’s word is like watching an exercise video on the couch with a quart of Blue Bell Ice Cream. Failing to apply God’s word is like going to a doctor and refusing to fill the prescription he gives you. Failing to apply God’s word is like getting married and refusing to kiss the bride or groom. God’s word means nothing unless we apply it to our lives.
We can read, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and if we continue to hold a grudge with someone, the word has not gotten a hold of us. We can read “you are to be sexually pure” and continue to live in sexual sin, the word has not gotten a hold of us.” We can read about being content in all circumstances and yet continue to complain about everything, the word has not gotten a hold of us. Until we practice what God calls us to do, God can’t shape us. God can’t steer us if we’re stuck in park.
One of the primary barriers that keep people from getting into God’s word (in order to apply it you’ve got to first read it!) is the Time Factor. I just don’t have time. Let me say a few words about that. I believe it’s your most important appointment of the day. I understand much of our dilemmas. I understand the time crunch that many of you are in. But I am living proof that you can be in school full time have a full time job and be married at the same time and still have time to be with Jesus. I believe that if we are running out of hours in the day and we feel we don’t have time to cultivate a relationship with Jesus then we are saying Yes to the wrong things and saying no to the right things. We live boundary less lives! Let me encourage you to make it a priority in your life. But it is going to mean you’ll have to say no to some good things.
I want to provide you an opportunity to get your hands on a tool that will help you get God’s word into your life. I have been in contact with a non-profit ministry called, “Faith Comes by Hearing.” They are a ministry that provides the Bible on tape or c.d. I am inviting you to join me in listening to the New Testament. You’ll have an opportunity this week and next week to order tapes or c.d.s of the N.T. IF you’ll look in your bulletin and pull out the card we’ve provided for you. Let me give you a quick example of what the dramatized version sounds like: Track 18 I would encourage you to get the NIV, NRSV, or the CEV. This is the perfect tool to listen to the N.T. while traveling, commuting or for a family Bible time at home.
Now that is the challenge to hear God’s word. But I want to take it a step further. Read Luke 8:18 and vs. 21. I realize that for many of you, reading the Bible is new. You might be intimidated, you don’t know where to start. Let me just challenge you to read or listen until you understand something! Don’t give up. Here are some great questions to ask while you are reading. Please write these down: (These questions were taken from Saddleback Church’s Class 201) Is there a...
Sin to confess Promise to claim Attitude to change Command to obey Example to follow Prayer to pray Error to avoid Truth to believe Something to thank God for?
CLOSING ILLUSTRATION: During Superbowl XXXVII, FedEx ran a commercial that spoofed the movie Castaway, in which Tom Hanks played a FedEx worker whose company plane went down, stranding him on a desert island for years. Looking like the bedraggled Hanks in the movie, the FedEx employee in the commercial goes up to the door of a suburban home, package in hand. When the lady comes to the door, he explains that he survived five years on a deserted island, and during that whole time he kept this package in order to deliver it to her. She gives a simple, "Thank you." But he is curious about what is in the package that he has been protecting for years. He says, "If I may ask, what was in that package after all?" She opens it and shows him the contents, saying, "Oh, nothing really. Just a satellite telephone, a global positioning device, a compass, a water purifier, and some seeds." (taken from www.sermoncentral.com)
The key to knowing Christ is found in God’s word. We only need to open it up, read it and do what it says. That is what it means to be related to him.
