But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?
Luke 6:46
This is Jesus’ version of “Talk is cheap.” Your outward expression means nothing unless founded upon heartfelt obedience. Jesus doesn’t want us to talk a good game; He wants to be the Lord of our life. We don’t have lords in our culture so we don’t understand what it means to have one. Lords owned their servants and soldiers by financial means, by having loyalty pledged to them in an oath, or because they had so much power/authority they could take ones life without consequences.
It is hard for us to imagine someone having that kind of authority over us. If we don’t like our boss we get a new job. If we don’t like our pastor we get a new church. If we don’t like our spouse we get a new marriage. In the culture Jesus grew up in you lived with what you were born with. Jesus isn’t being mean; He is explaining the ineffectiveness of saying without doing.
To illustrate the futility of saying that Jesus is the boss without doing what He says Jesus tells the parable contrasting the wise man who built his house soundly by digging and laying a foundation to support it with the foolish man who built his house right on top of the soil. Both seemed to be doing well until the big storm hit. The house on the foundation stood because it was connected to the solid rock, while the house built on the sand fell and ruined all that the man had.
We are all building something; investing our time and energy into a shelter for the storms of life. We all experience the storms of life. If we are wise we will be building a shelter that will last forever in the world to come. We do this by building according to Jesus’ instruction. If we are foolish we will build a house of cards that seems secure until the hard times in life knock our shelter down. Why do we deceive ourselves by claiming Jesus as Lord when we are not living His way?
Building On The Rock,
Pastor Jason
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