Luke 6:46-49 – “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
THEME OF THE DAY. IT IS BY KNOWING AND DOING. There is a scripture penned by James that is one of those causing us to pause, read it again, then ask, “Lord is it I”? It is found toward the end of chapter one and reads, “But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). When one takes time to meditate on this truth, it goes deep into the soul. We are called to be guarded against the deception of our times. Jesus warns of this in His Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24). We know we are to be alert to the deceptions of false teachers and the devil, yet, James points us to another form of deception, and is the most dangerous of all; self-deception. And this is one so easy to fall prey to. All we have do is nothing. All we have to do is read the Bible, hear sermons, and read good Christian books and never make any conscious effort to put into practice what we heard and read. Spiritual self-deception flourishes in a heart of spiritual passivity. Just do nothing and we are there; self-deceived.
In today’s scripture, Jesus also brings us to a ‘pause point” in our reading of His Word. When Jesus, as the All-Knowing God, asks a question of us, it is penetrating because He knows the answer already. You may ask me a question, like on a Sunday morning, “Hi, Pastor Jim, how are you today?” and I can either be brutally honest and say, “I have had a miserable week and am so discouraged” or be really spiritual and say, “Praise the Lord, I am fighting the good fight. Amen.” Regardless, we can mask real answers to questions we ask of one another and I think out of fear of people, rejection by people, and just ugly pride, we often do give “half-truths” or mask answers to probing questions. Not so with the Lord and today’s opening question is one of spiritual heart surgery. Let’s make His question personal . . .
“(Your name), I know you profess me as Lord. I know you make a public statement of being a Christian, but I must ask, “Does your profession consistently match your practice of obeying my Word? Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’”, and yet don’t strive to daily do what I have commanded of you in my Word?” Before we go further, I am not accusing anyone of willfully disobeying the Lord. I judge no one, but who of us can say that we are consistently and sacrificially obeying the Lord with purpose? That is why we need great mercy and grace because we don’t. And let me test that statement. We are commanded to “encourage one another daily while it is today” (Hebrews 10:23-25). It is Wednesday. Since Sunday, could you give me a list of Christians that have been the glad recipients of your obedience to that command? How about this one, “Go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15)? It is very easy to call Jesus “Lord, Lord” but another story to affirm as “Lord, Lord” by our obedience to His commands.
As I close today’s nugget, Jesus’ words and mine are not to discourage us, but encourage us to be daily aware of the treachery of being self-deceived; and to make it a daily effort, motivated by love, to give evidence Jesus is Lord of our lives; obedience to His Word. Remember, we don’t grow in Christ by knowing His Word. We grow in Christ by knowing AND doing His Word.
PRAYER: “Lord, protect me from the self-deception of knowing truth but not doing truth.”
QUOTE: “It isn’t the knowing Christian who grows in Christ. It is the knowing and doing Christian who grows in Christ.”