JESUS: His Questions                                                                 5-14-06

“Why do you call Me ‘Lord’?”     Audio

Luke 6:43-49 (46)

The question that Jesus asks in our Bible reading for this morning is one of the most important questions in life.  It is especially important for us who call ourselves Christians.  If you consider yourself a Christian this morning, please listen carefully to what Jesus says in the verses before us today.

Read Luke 6:43-49.

The setting is different than the setting in Matthew 5-7, where we have what is called “The Sermon on the Mount”.  But much of the content is very similar.  Jesus said the same things in different settings, and this parable of the two houses – one built on the rock and the other built on the sand – is also found at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.  And we will look more at that story when we go through that Sermon this fall.

Today what I want us to look at is the question in v.46: Why do you call me “Lord” and do not do what I say?

PRAY.

In God’s eyes, if what you say and what you do contradict each other, what you do reveals the real you, not what you say.  The world looks at the church and calls us hypocrites.  Why is that?  They see us saying one thing, and doing another.  And that’s what hypocrisy is.

The world does not look at those who are living out what the Bible teaches and call them hypocrites.  They might call them radicals.  They might call them fanatics.  They might call them Bible thumpers.  But those who are living out the teachings of the Bible in their everyday life are not called hypocrites. 

But if our actions do not match our words, the label “hypocrite” is correct.

Jesus begins in v.43 with some agricultural illustrations.  The fruit of a plant comes from the nature of the plant, not from its label.  I have a couple of tomato plants that are labeled “Early Girl” but I don’t think they are.  Their leaves and their growth pattern look much more like the Brandy Boy tomatoes I have growing.  Although I tried to be really careful, I think I have somehow mis-labeled them.

And Jesus is saying the same thing here.  If you call a bad tree “good”, it will not by that label produce good fruit.  If you call a thorn bush a fig tree, it will not by that label produce figs.  And if you call an evil man a good man, that will not cause him to live a holy life.  Our behavior reveals our true nature, reveals what is in our heart.

“So why do you claim I am your Lord when your behavior betrays you?” Jesus asks.  “You confess Me with your lips, but you deny Me with your daily living.”  Could Jesus be describing you here?

Did you ever as a child say: “Mother, I love you,” only to have your mother look at you wistfully and reply: “I wish you would show it a bit more by how you act”?  That’s exactly what Jesus is saying here.  There is a disconnect between your words and your actions.

That’s what much of the book of James is about.  Turn there.

James 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.

James 3:13 Who is wise & understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.

Read 2:14-26.

The Bible calls us in no uncertain terms to put our faith into action – to live it out in our everyday lives. The greatest need of the world today is to see Christians living in obedience to Jesus, not just calling Him “Lord”, but doing what He says.  And here is where we begin:

Jesus said: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matt. 22:37-40).

IS GOD YOUR GREATEST LOVE?  If not, why do you call Jesus “Lord” and do not do what He says?

What does it look like to love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind?

The word “love” here is “agapao” -- that’s the verb form.  The noun is “agape”. 

It’s the word used in John 3:16: God so loved the world that He gave…

It’s the word used in Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…

As you see how this word is used in the N.T. it carries the idea of giving, and sacrifice, and total commitment, and doing what is in the best interests of the one who is loved.  To love God with all my heart involves totally committing myself to Him.  It involves sacrifice for His sake.  It involves doing what is in His best interests rather than doing what is in my best interests.  Does that describe your love for God?

Let me ask you some questions here that maybe will clarify this a bit.

Do you love God enough to spend time daily reading His Word to you, discovering what it is that He wants you to do?  God has provided for us a book in which He reveals Himself to us: His heart, His mind, His will, His character.  In this book He tells us of His love for us, tells us how He sees us, who we can become as we walk with His Son, Jesus.

People sometimes ask: “How can I know the will of God?  How can I know what He wants me to do?  How can I get God to talk to me?”  Spend time thoughtfully reading His Word.  That’s the primary place He will talk with you.  You say you love Him.  Do you daily spend time reading His Word to you?

Do you love God enough to think of Him often during the day, considering what He would have you to do in your situation?  Even after nearly 42 years of marriage, I often think of Mary Ann during the day.  Why is that?  Because I still love her deeply. 

Do we love God deeply enough to think of Him during the day?  Or is Sunday your day for God?  If that’s the case, then you surely don’t love Him with all your heart and soul and mind.  He knows what’s best in every situation of life.  And the more you think of Him during the day, the more clearly you will know what He wants you to do in every situation of life.

Do you love God enough to worship Him even when the music is not exactly to your liking?  I say this to both our students and to our adults.  You may not be able to choose the songs we are going to sing, but you can choose whether or not you are going to worship God – despite your musical preferences.  You make the choice.

Worship is more than just singing.  Our staff has been meeting and talking about our mission of “Becoming healthier followers of Jesus Christ…together.”  We have been discussing what it means to be healthy as a follower of Jesus, and how this church can help each of us become more healthy.

Part of that discussion has centered on worship.  A healthy follower of Jesus worships God – and that is a heart thing, not just singing the right kind of songs.  God wants us to love Him so much that our hearts are worshipping Him every day of the week, not just for a few minutes when we sing together in this place.  

Do you love God enough to talk about Him to others in your daily conversation? God wants His kingdom to grow.  He wants others to come to know His love for them.  He wants to forgive people of their sin so they can have a relationship with Him and spend eternity in heaven with Him.  But if we don’t talk with them about Jesus, how will they know?

This certainly is part of our loving people as well as loving God, but in our evangelism, in our sharing our faith, people are not the center.  God is.  We are not doing this just because people need Jesus, but because God loves people.  God is not willing that any should perish, but that all would come to repentance.  (1 Peter 3:9)

God’s desire is that everyone would spend their eternity with Him.  And our loving Him involves doing all we can to see His desires fulfilled.

Do you love God enough to give Him 10% of your income?  The Bible calls it tithing.  Jesus blessed the practice of tithing.  In tithing I am recognizing God as the source of all that I have.  It’s not really mine; it’s all His.  He has loaned me some of what is His; and He asks me as a good steward of my material possessions to give back to Him 1/10 of all He has given to me.

It’s only hard to give the 10% when you see all you have as yours.  When you see it all as His, you rejoice that He lets you keep 90% of what He has given to you.  And His promise is that He will bless us spiritually and emotionally and materially when we love Him enough to give back to Him that 10%.

Do you love God enough to obey Him even when you don’t agree with Him, even when you don’t feel like obeying? That’s when it’s the hardest – when my will is in conflict with His will.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  “Why do you call me ‘Lord’ and do not do what I say?”

DO YOU LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF?  If not, why do you call Jesus “Lord” and do not do what He says?

What does it look like to love your neighbor as yourself?

Maybe you, like the religious leader who came to Jesus one day, would ask, “But who is my neighbor?”  We think of our neighbors as those who live close by us in our “neighborhood”.  But in the story that Jesus told to this religious leader with the question expanded the definition of neighbor.

The story that Jesus told has been called the story of the Good Samaritan.  And in it Jesus re-defines “neighbor” as those with whom we come in contact who have needs.  The Good Samaritan who helps the wounded man didn’t even know him.  He had never met him before.  He was of a different ethnic background and should have had contempt for the man with the need.  But he proved to be a neighbor by helping this wounded man.

This neighbor whom I am to love as I love myself may be a very familiar person to me, even my own family, or they may be a complete stranger to me.  Being a neighbor involves seeing their need, and doing what I can to help.

Loving my neighbor involves friendship.  “Friend” – that’s a wonderful word.  The religious leaders tried to put Jesus down by calling Him “a friend of tax collectors and sinners” (Mt. 11:19), but He took it as a compliment. 

The word in the N.T. that is most often translated friend is “philos” which is one of the Greek words for love.  Love is expressed through friendship.  And over and over we have Jesus calling people “friend”.  Even when Judas comes to Him in the Garden of Gethsemane to betray Him, Jesus says to him: “Friend, do what you came to do.”

Listen to these verses about friendship:

Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times,

and a brother is born for adversity.

Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin,

but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a friend can be trusted,

but an enemy multiplies kisses.

Proverbs 27:10 Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father,

and do not go to your brother’s house when disaster strikes you --better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one,

because they have a good return for their work:

If one falls down, his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Friendship!

Loving my neighbor involves sharing my resources.  1 John 3:16-18 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

My resources may be my material possessions that I share with someone in need, but they also may be my time.  I talked to Mary Nicholls this week.  She has just come home from the hospital from having a baby, and her husband died suddenly several months ago.  And I asked her: “is there anything we can do for you right now?”

Her answer was: “No, Tonya is coming today to take me shopping, and Sherry has been coming to help, and Mary, and Denise.  And my mom is here too.”  These people are loving Mary enough to share their time with her.

Loving my neighbor involves forgiveness.  When you are hurt, what do you do with that hurt?  God says we are to let it go. We are not to hang on to it, waiting for a chance to get even.  Since God has forgiven us, we are to forgive one another.  I cannot say “I love my neighbor” when I am harboring ill feelings toward them.

And remember, this includes our family, and those in our church.  If you have been wounded, let it go.  Don’t hold on to it.  It will hinder your ability to love your neighbor as you love yourself, as Jesus has commanded us.

Loving my neighbor involves encouragement.  Hebrews 10:25 says we are to “encourage” or “exhort” one another, depending on which translation you look at.  I did not know it until I looked it up this week, but the word used here is the same root word as when Jesus said the Father would send the Holy Spirit as another “comforter”.  It’s the same basic word.

The meaning is “one called alongside to help”.  That’s the ministry of the Holy Spirit, but it’s also to be our ministry to our neighbors.  One of the meanings of the word is “to console, to encourage and strengthen by consolation, to comfort.”

We live in a discouraging world, and almost anywhere we turn we can be discouraged.  We can be discouraged in our work, discouraged in school, discouraged in our family, even discouraged in our church.  But in our personal relationships with one another we are to be those who encourage and strengthen and lift one another up.  It’s one of the ways we love each other.

It may be a note you write.  It may be a phone call you make.  It may be a visit.  It will take some of your time, and it will take effort.  But the ministry of encouragement is a powerful way to love our neighbor.

Loving my neighbor involves sharing Jesus.  We talked this a bit ago as an expression of our love for God, and it is.  But it’s also an expression of our love for our neighbor, perhaps the greatest expression of love.

What people need more than anything else is Jesus.  And wouldn’t it be tragic if we developed relationships with our unsaved neighbors, if we did things with them, helped them in their time of need, yet never talked with them about Jesus?  If they stood before God one day and found out that they could not enter heaven because Jesus was not their Savior, and found out that you knew, but failed to tell them?

Share your life, yes.  Share your time, yes. But also share Jesus.

1 Corin. 13:4-8 gives us a summary of what agape love looks like.  This is how we are to relate to our neighbors: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails.

Jesus asked: “Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?”  Do you call Him Lord?  Do you do what He says?

You can sometimes deceive people by your words, but never God.  He sees your heart.  And even people eventually see through your words to your actions, and through your actions to your heart.

PRAY