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Bible Reading - Obedience

Servant School

November 18, 2021

Introduction

Welcome to our “Reading the Bible” class

We are on a journey that I hope will lead you into a lifelong habit of reading your Bible every day.

Today I want to talk about the importance of obedience and how it relates to our Bible Reading.

We will be looking at a passage from Luke 6:46-49

(Luke 6:46–49 NKJV) —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.”

Luke 6:46-49 Two Foundations

:46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?

:46 Lord, Lord

Lord – kurios – he to whom a person or thing belongs, about which he has power of deciding; master, lord

We really don’t understand this title “Lord” as Americans.

We are the nation that was formed when we rebelled against the King of England.

We tend to live by the motto, “You ain’t the boss of me”.

And yet many of us claim that Jesus is now our Lord.

We need to be careful that we don’t use that term lightly, but that we think about what we’re saying.

To be honest, we all serve someone. We all have a “lord”.

For some of us, we live our lives according to what brings us pleasure.

For others of us, we live our lives based on what we are afraid of the most.

Jesus wants us to learn what life is like when He becomes the ultimate authority in our lives.

You can’t call Him “Lord” if you don’t do what He says.

: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.

:48 building – oikodomeo – to build a house, erect a building

:48 house – oikia – a house

:48 dug – skapto – to dig

This is a word used 3x in NT, all in Luke

:48 deep – bathuno – ‘the deep’ sea (the ‘high seas’); to make deep

:48 laid – tithemi – to set, put, place; to place or lay

:48 foundation – themelios – laid down as a foundation, the foundation (of a building, wall, city)

:48 rock – petra – a rock, cliff or ledge; a projecting rock, crag, rocky ground

:48 flood – plemmura – a flood, whether of sea or of a river

:48 beat vehemently against – prosregnumi – to break against, break by dashing against

:48 shake – saleuo – a motion produced by winds, storms, waves, etc; to agitate or shake; to cause to totter

:48 founded – themelioo – to lay the foundation, to found; to make stable, establish

: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.”

:49 ruin – rhegma – that which has been broken or rent asunder; fall, ruin

This is from the same root word as the word “beat vehemently”.

:48 laid the foundation on the rock

One way of looking at this parable of Jesus is to think of it in terms of the “storms” or “floods” that we will face in life.

Lesson

Storm Watch

The storms are indeed coming.

I’m not sure we have any actual weather storms in our near-term forecast, but there are other storms we face.

Last week was a difficult week for us.

My beloved father-in-law unexpectedly passed away on Sunday evening October 31. That alone was difficult. Deb and I were the first family members to make it to the house, and we were there as the paramedics, police, and coroner arrived.

On the following Tuesday morning we met with the mortuary and began to make funeral plans.

On Wednesday afternoon, I’m teaching my Bible College class in Thessalonians.

I made several statements during class along the lines of … “when we go through difficult times, people have a chance to see what we’re really like. People can see what it’s like to trust in Jesus.”

On that same Wednesday, I get a call from my dermatologist saying they want me to come in the next day and talk to the doctor about results from a biopsy.

So as I’m driving to the doctor on Thursday morning, I’m in my car, and a song starts to play –

Play Music Track.

It’s Mac Powell singing a song called “Flood Waters”.

The lyrics start with: “There’s a storm that’s a coming, I place my faith in you…”

This kind of stuff doesn’t always happen with me, but I had the sense as I’m driving that God was speaking to me. I needed to be ready for the storm that’s coming.

I walk into my doctor’s office and get the news that I’ve got melanoma and will need surgery the following Monday.

Later that day I received a call from a good friend that he’s been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer of the stomach and pancreas.

That evening we dive into the funeral events that last for the next couple days, and I’m the one leading them all.

On Monday I have surgery to remove the melanoma.

I’m not sharing this to get your sympathy, and I know that some of you are going through way worse storms than those I’ve faced recently.

I’m glad the Lord reminded me about the storms that were coming.

But I’d just like to report to you that my house is still standing.

Jesus is still Lord.

And we will make it through.

Jesus didn’t say “If a flood comes”, but “when the flood arose”.

We will all go through floods, through storms.

It could be the loss of your job.

It could be the loss of a loved one either by death or a broken relationship.

It could be the loss of your health.

Living well in this life is not a matter of avoiding the storms, but learning to survive them.

How you survive those difficult times is related to how you are building your life.

Illustration

Remember the old story of the “Three Little Pigs”? The first pig wanted to spend his time playing rather than building, so he built his house out of straw. The Big Bad Wolf came and huffed and puffed and… well you remember the story…

Video: Three Little Pigs

What a great story. If you don’t build your life with the right things, how are you going to survive when the wolf attacks?

Jesus wasn’t talking about pigs and wolves, but about storms and builders.

How you choose to build will affect how you will survive.

What could the “house” represent?

Your life – your goals in life, what you do with your life.

Your family – how you choose your spouse, how you handle your marriage, how you raise your kids.

Jesus has challenged His listeners to understand what it means to call Him “Lord”.

In Jesus’ story, the two builders both started off with the same potential.

They both “heard” the teaching of Jesus.

How the builders fared in the storm depended on what they did with that potential.

One person obeyed what Jesus said (like the man who built on the rock), while the other person didn’t obey (like the man who built on the sand).

Lesson

The benefits of Lordship

Don’t forget that our passage started with Jesus talking about “calling Him Lord”.

When it comes to discussing the “Lordship” of Jesus in our lives, some of us tend to groan a little inside.

All we can think of is how hard it is, or that all of our “fun” is going to go away.

The truth is, there are HUGE benefits in learning to live in obedience to Jesus.

It starts with believing in Jesus.

(John 6:28–29 NKJV) —28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

Jesus said,

(John 3:16 NKJV) For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Jesus came to this earth to be a sacrifice. He came to die for our sins. He came to pay the penalty for our sins.

The way you get His payment applied to your account is by believing in Him.

Open your heart to Jesus and believe. That’s the first step of “obedience” to Jesus.

What’s the benefit of believing?

Everlasting life.

It continues with obeying Him.

(James 1:21–25 NLT) —21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Believing in Jesus will get you into heaven, but we also need help in this life, on this planet, surviving the very real storms that are ahead of us.

That comes from obedience.

What’s the benefit of obedience?

God will bless you for it (Jam. 1:25)

There are good things that result from obedience … like even surviving a storm.

Jesus said,

(John 14:21 NKJV) 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.”

One of the blessings that comes from obeying God is greater intimacy with God.

Jesus will “manifest” or “reveal” Himself in a greater way.