Luke 6:46-49 Build on the Rock Parkdale Grace Fellowship Sunday AM, November 2, 2014 Introduction Luke 6:46, "But why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say?" The word Lord means Master; the one who owns me, as in a slave owner. To repeat the word twice, Lord, Lord, is to make the statement more emphatic it expresses an intimacy with God. So Jesus is NOT addressing what we would call nominal Christians, but those who emphatically identify Jesus as their Lord but it is a hypocritical pretense because they do not do what He says. This is important to notice. In this message Jesus is describing those who confidently identify themselves as Christ followers. They were regularly in the crowd, attending all the meetings, listening to all His sermons, excited about what He was teaching, and calling themselves disciples of Jesus calling Him their Lord they were identifying themselves with Him. But they were not putting into practice the things He taught. They were mere spectators, not true followers. Our actions need to confirm our words. If our words say one thing but our actions say something else, Jesus says that it is our actions not our words that reveal more accurately the true condition of our heart. In this sermon Jesus began preaching at Luke 6:20-49 and He is addressing those whom He is recruiting to be participants with Him in His ministry. He is training them to be led by Him in carrying out what will later be known as the Great Commission. Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed;" Up to this point they have merely been spectators of His ministry, but now Jesus is urgently calling these spectators to come down out of the bleachers and to become participants together with Him in His mission. Luke 6:47, "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like:" There are two different types of people being described in these verses. The first type of people in verse 46 give the Lord fervent lip service but they do not obey the things which Jesus says. The second type of people in verse 47 act on what they hear they trust and obey the message of Jesus.
2 John 14:21, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him. " I concluded the message last Sunday with these questions: Which of these two types of Christian best describes you? Are you the participant in verse 47 who joined the team? Have you listened to the call of the Master and stepped forward in faith and obedience to let Jesus carry you across that tightrope onto the field and into the carrying out the great commission? You may be making some fumbles and mistakes, but are you in the game and running the Great Commission plays that Jesus calls us to do? Or are you only a fan like that described in verse 46 who likes to spectate and cheer on the successes of the team, but you don t really have any active participation in the ministry of Christ? Sure you follow the team around, you attend the events, and cheer for Jesus, you pay your money when the collection is taken up to support the Great Commission, but you are not a player, you are a fan. You hear the sermons and you read your Bible, but then you set it aside and carry on with your own version of religious living and never seriously respond to the call to come follow Jesus in spreading the Gospel to the poor and setting captives free. Does that describe you? The next two verses illustrate the difference between a player and a spectator and they are a strong warning against being just a spectator a spectator is in danger of destruction. Jesus begins first by illustrating the player in the game the one who puts into practice what he hears He does what Jesus says; He practices what Jesus preaches: Luke 6:48, "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." Next Jesus illustrated the second type of person he professes to be a follower of Christ and affectionately calls Jesus his Lord, but he does not follow Jesus teaching he lives life his own way. Luke 6:49, "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. " The building of a house represents building our life all of us are builders. The act of building illustrates the choices we make in living out our life. It describes the priorities we establish for how we will live our life, the activities we participate in; how we spend our time and our money, etc. The first man in verse 48 has chosen that his method of building his life would be to trust and follow everything Jesus says. In a construction project if you have no experience at building a house and no idea of what you are doing but are faithfully following the step by step instructions of an expert builder who is right there with you all the way, you can build a house. In reality though it is the expert builder, in this case Jesus, who is building the house. Psalm 127:1 says, Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.
3 The first man is following the Lord s leading in his life, and he is digging down deep into the ground, removing the soil because that is what the Master is telling him to do. The importance of digging deep to remove all the loose soil and building your house on solid rock is to give strength and stability to the house. Unlike dirt or sand, rock doesn t erode, doesn t swell or shrink, and it will support the weight of the house without shifting or breaking. In this parable a flood came (picture the bow river overflowing its banks and rushing full force against the house) and the house with a good foundation that was anchored to the solid rock was undamaged. But the very soil supporting the house with no foundation would be washed out from under it and the house would collapse and be washed away. It takes a lot of time and hard work to excavate and lay a foundation. In fact in Bible days when they had to dig by hand with a pick and shovel it could take longer to dig and lay the foundation than to build the rest of the house. Digging deep implies that there is a lot of unstable soil to remove, this is not easy, it is time consuming and it is costly. The digging and laying a foundation is symbolic of hearing and obeying the direction of Jesus. What then is the rock that the foundation is established upon? It is symbolic of Jesus Christ Himself. 2 Samuel 22:32, 47 "For who is God, except the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God?... 47 The Lord lives! Blessed be my Rock! Let God be exalted, The Rock of my salvation!" 1 Corinthians 3:11, "For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." We can say that Jesus Christ is the foundation on which our life is built all we want but if we are not obeying His instruction it simply is not true. Now if we look at verse 49 we see that this follower of Christ s teaching is not the only one building a house: Luke 6:49, "But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, Imagine for a minute that these two men are building side by side. One is digging down deeper and deeper, because that is what Jesus told him to do, while the other says, forget that nonsense, I m here to build up a house, not dig down a hole. And we all know from experience that the vast majority of people are not building their lives according to the direction of the Lord. So in the scenario of the builders there are a multitude of people ignoring the Lord s instruction and building up their houses on the earth without digging down to lay a foundation. The man digging in the hole looks around and sees everyone else making progress, putting up rafters, hanging doors and installing windows, some are already done and relaxing on their deck, enjoying their new home. Meanwhile this man who is trusting and obeying the Lord s instruction is still digging himself right out of sight as he keeps going deeper.
4 Following the way of the Lord will seem like foolishness to the natural mind and there will be many who will mock you and reject you for following the words of Jesus. What is this a picture of? Luke 9:23 26, "Then [Jesus] said to them all, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me [that is digging your hole in order to build your house on the Rock]. 24 For whoever desires to save his life [that is to avoid the pain and trouble of digging a hole just build on the sand] will lose it [when the storm and the flood hit], but whoever loses his life [that is whoever digs a deep hole] for My sake will save it [when the storm hits]. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world [builds up an enormous mansion without a foundation on Christ], and is himself destroyed or lost? [His house fell and was ruined] 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words [that is the one who is embarrassed to follow Jesus instruction to dig a deep hole when everyone else is getting on with building up their lives without any digging], of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father s, and of the holy angels." To deny yourself and take up your cross daily is to renounce your own flesh, to renounce your own way of doing things; it is to say to God, Not my will but Your will be done in every area of my life. Compare verses 48 and 49 to see what is it that this Christ-follower is digging through? He is removing the soft earth, and the sand he is removing the very substance of this world that all the others are building their houses upon. What is the insecure foundation that the masses in our land are building their lives on? What is the security and foundation for their lives? They are building their lives upon the pursuit of all those things that seem good in their own eyes they are building upon the desires and cravings of their flesh. They are building upon their own independence to be able to take care of themselves and to do whatever they want; a great paying career with a bright future; financial security; a nice house in a quiet neighborhood; lots of possessions; nice clothes; expensive toys; exotic vacations; sexual indulgence; entertainment and recreation; etc. The stuff that the man who will not listen to Christ s words is building his house upon is everything that stands between his house and Christ the solid rock. Jesus says to His followers, deny yourself, humble yourself, become the servant of all, do not lay up for yourself treasure on earth but give it away to the poor and so on. To follow these instructions is to dig out and remove the very unstable things the rest of the world builds their lives upon. Let s quickly review some of the things Jesus has been saying that require digging, stripping away and removal of things from our lives so that we can build our lives on Christ. Luke 6:20 23, "Then He lifted up His eyes toward His disciples, and said: Blessed are you poor [poor because you have been following Jesus instruction to give you ve been giving away while the world has been accumulating and hoarding for themselves], For yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now [you hunger because you have been sensitive to the Lord s leading and doing without so that you could give to those in need], For you shall be filled. Blessed are you who
5 weep now [there is hardship and suffering, there is persecution and rejection when you follow Christ s instruction], For you shall laugh. 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil [they will revile you because you are going the opposite direction that they are going you are digging down while they are exalting themselves upward; denying yourself when the rest of the world is indulging themselves, and taking God s word seriously when the masses around you are ignoring God s instruction will bring rejection and persecution], For the Son of Man s sake. Many Christians are trying to build a split-level house they will dig out some things but they want to keep some of the world s sandy foundation. They are willing to remove some of the easy stuff, like drinking, drugs, swearing, and smoking but those things really have little to do with being disciples who are carrying out the Great Commission. Look at the context and see what has Jesus actually been saying to His disciples that they (and we) are required to follow? Digging deep to lay a foundation on Christ involves hearing and obeying difficult instructions like these of Christ: Luke 6:27 30, "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. It s much easier to just live a clean life of no drinking, smoking or swearing. You don t even have to be saved to live a good clean life lots of unbelievers do that. Loving your enemies requires denying self, humbling self, drawing our sense of identity from what God says about us and not what others say. Love for our enemies includes sharing with them the Gospel so that they might be saved. And because they are enemies what can we expect to occasionally happen when we share with them the gospel? 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. This requires receiving and embracing suffering, and hardship but continuing to go back to reach out to them with the love of Christ. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back." This requires renouncing our rights to our possessions and relinquishing control over those things we tend to grip tightly. Digging deep is removing everything that is not Jesus in our lives. It is the process of denying ourselves, letting our own ways and the world s ways be stripped away until all that is left is the solid rock Jesus Christ. A true follower of Jesus Christ who is not merely a fan of Christ, will be increasingly acting like Jesus, and serving others like Jesus.
6 In the Great Commission a disciple of Christ is not merely someone who believes but who also does the things Jesus teaches. There is only one foundation on which you can build a life that will stand Christ the solid rock. How important is this? Take a moment to look at the flood that struck these houses The flood in this parable describes the pressures and trials of this life and the spiritual attack of demonic powers, but it climaxes in the final Day of Judgment. Look at what happened to the man in verse 48 who followed Jesus teaching and stripped away the things of the world and the flesh to build his house on Christ the solid rock. Luke 6:48, " And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock." Everyone mocked and scoffed him for going the opposite direction the world was going; everyone thought he was a fool for letting go of everything the world valued and pursued, giving it all to the cause of the gospel, and what a fool for spending his own life and time for the sake of the Gospel. But when the flood came it could not shake his life. Now compare that with the man in verse 48 who ignored Christ s words and built his house the way he wanted to build it. The houses may have looked quite similar in many ways. Remember both men profess to be followers of Christ, and both confess Him as Lord, but the flood exposed what they were truly built upon. Luke 6:49, " the stream beat vehemently [against his house]; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great. " Everything this man truly treasured and had built his life pursuing had been washed away and when it was taken from him his whole life fell to pieces. Both houses/lives faced the same flood, the same storm, the same trial but the impact those forces had on their houses was radically different. If the storms of life are shattering your life and devastating you and shaking your faith in Christ this is an urgent warning sign that your life is not truly anchored on Christ. If you don t make certain of your relationship with the Lord now you are in grave danger of being totally devastated by the coming flood of God s judgment. Matthew 7:21 23, "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! "
7 Copyright 2014 by Parkdale Grace Fellowship Permission: You are permitted to reproduce and distribute this material in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.