“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 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. 49 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.”
Luke 6:46-49

Introduction

Let me share with you a few stories. The first is of Pastor Terry Stauffer. He’s a pastor from Calgary whose daughter Emily was murdered this past fall. It seems they have found a suspect and have charged him with first degree murder. I can’t imagine the excruciating pain Terry must have felt. He gave a funeral address for Emily and he had these words to say:

When Emily’s death was confirmed on Saturday night, I was shocked and bewildered. All I could pray was, “O Lord, Help! Help! Help!” As I was on my knees, a thought came to me: “If all my talk about the Gospel and God’s goodness is not true now, then it was never true. That was a great comfort, for I know this great good news is true. I stand with my wife and family in a long line of Christians who have suffered loss yet look ahead to a “city not made with hands” and the fulfillment of God’s promise of eternal life to those who trust Christ.

The second story is that of Rev. Duane Willis of Parkwood Baptist Church in Chicago. He and his wife and six of his nine kids were driving in their minivan when the van ran over metal scrap that had fallen off the truck in front of them. The metal put a hole in the gas tank and ignited a spark that led to an explosion. Five of the kids were killed instantly, and the sixth was burned badly. Duane and Janet his wife weren’t seriously injured. Can you imagine what must have been running through their minds as they followed the ambulances that carried the charred bodies of their children? Well, I’ll tell you what they were thinking. As the Willises were praying in their own hospital bed for their sixth child to recover, they found out he died the next morning. But even after hearing the news, they continued to praise God. Duane Willis, several months later, recounted,

What happened to us wasn’t an accident. God is never taken by surprise. God had a purpose for it, probably many purposes. We don’t understand God’s agenda—as Isaiah says, ‘His ways are not our ways.’ We asked him for safety, and it didn’t turn out that way, but it’s in the way God answers our prayers that we come to understand what God’s will is. (Bruce Ware, Their God Is Too Small, 60)

The third story is a generic story. It’s a montage. It’s the story of the single Christian woman who, though has opportunities to marry, decides not to because the guys interested in her are non-Christians. And so she would rather forgo marriage then marry someone who is non-Christian. It’s the story of the married woman whose husband has checked out of the marriage. He is distant, unfeeling, and indifferent toward her and the kids. And yet, she continues to remain faithful to him, and actually does the work of caring for the children’s spiritual and physical needs all by herself. It’s the story of the man who is placed into a position at work where he decides not to be like all the other guys. He doesn’t go out and get smashed after work. He doesn’t ogle around the computer cracking dirty jokes at the porn videos. He doesn’t gossip about the boss and complain and grumble all day. And because of this, he’s alienated.

These, and so many like stories, are stories of doing when the doing is so hard, sometimes excruciatingly difficult. But these are Christian stories, normal stories about disciples, followers of Jesus. These are not superheroes of faith. They are people who simply take Jesus at His Word. They actually believe Him when He says that He is the way, the truth, and the life. They believe Him when the Bible says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. They believe Him when He says He will make all things new and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. These are the stories of true Christians, true disciples.

In Luke 6:46-49, Jesus makes the distinction between true disciples and false disciples. And though the road to true discipleship might seem arduous and tenuous, there is nothing more joyous and more exhilarating than to see our trust in Him actually produce such effect in our lives. And so we must first know this distinction to understand the costs and benefits of being a true or false disciple of Christ.

The False Disciple: Calling Without Doing (v. 46, 49)

So what does a false disciple look like? Jesus tells us immediately in verse 46: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” In other words, first, a false disciple can sound like a Christian. Such a person can use the right terminology, can speak words that you would expect to hear from a Christian. The repeat of the name, “Lord,” emphasizes this person’s external devotion. This person is passionate about Jesus and calling Him “Lord” seems to indicate some level of reverence and intimacy. Second, a false disciple hears Jesus’ words. We see this in verse 49 when Jesus describes the false disciple: “But the one who hears and does not do them [obey His commands].” So again, we’re talking about someone who has been exposed to Jesus’ teachings with some regularity. This is not someone on the outside, but instead someone who talks like a follower of Christ and has been exposed to His words enough. Third, a false disciple does not do what Jesus says. So here is where the rubber meets the road. Many of us in this room have sounded like a Christian, have heard Jesus’ words, but what distinguishes those who love Christ and know Him and those who do not know Him, is one’s desire to obey the words he hears and knows.

Now this is where we really need to be careful. It’s easy to look at ourselves and think, “Gee, I obey Jesus’ words. I don’t get drunk. I’m not sleeping around. I’m a decent person. I pay my taxes. I don’t have a foul mouth. I serve the church. What more could He want from me?” Well, that doesn’t sound too different from someone else who thought the same way. Remember the rich young man who Jesus encountered in Mark 10:17ff. Look at the account:

And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” 20 And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.”

Look at his posture. He ran. This was obviously a very zealous passionate man. People must have been watching him. He didn’t care. He wanted to show his devotion. He also knelt. What humility! Here was this rich guy in his Armani tunic and Prada sandals going to his knees on this dirt road bowing to this peasant, homeless young rabbi. Surely, this was a humble man, a holy man, a man Jesus would obviously have much to praise. And then look at what he says about the commandments, “All these I have kept from my youth.” Do you think that’s true? In his mind, absolutely yes. But only if he had heard Jesus speak about murder as anger and adultery as lust. But even then, in his own self-deception, maybe he still would have believed he had kept them all since his youth. Surely, this young man was very much the person who Jesus had in mind in Luke 6 who says, “Lord, Lord.” Because once Jesus asked him to give up what He loved the most, his money which was ultimately his sense of his control over his own life, Mark records in verse 22: “Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

Remember, false disciples hear Jesus’ words, and say the right things, but don’t do what He says. The false disciple can sing songs that speak of his devotion and love to Jesus, but then when asked to forgive his neighbor or hurts or pains, he refuses to do so because ‘if we only realized just how bad he hurt me.’ The false disciple says that he trusts Jesus implicitly but when tragedy strikes, and a loved one is struck with a deadly disease, he calls God unfaithful and refuses to receive both the bad as well as the good. The false disciple can attend church faithfully, even study the Bible rigorously, and yet fail to love his own wife and children by his angry demeanor and critical spirit towards them.

Fourth, a false disciple will not stand firm during all trials of faith. Jesus compares this disciple to a house that crumbles in verse 49: “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.” There are many trials of faith that every person who hears Christ will encounter. It’s the reality of living in a sinful world, as a sinner with a world of sinners. There some pretty terrible trials that could occur in life, suffering through disease, murder, miscarriages, adultery, etc. There are also those trials that though it might not affect many in this room, they certainly affect many Christians around the world, persecution, war, starvation, natural disasters, etc.

But there are also the small trials of each day: you got a flat tire on the Bay Bridge and you forgot your cell phone at home, you tripped and fell down the stairs and broke your ankle, your child who just got his license got into a car accident (hello skyrocketing premiums), the airline lost your luggage and claim it’s your fault, a tree fell on top of your house and insurance doesn’t cover it, and so many more. I like what Jerry Bridges observes about such times:

It is true that such mundane events are only temporary and pale into insignificance alongside the truly tragic events of life. Yet for most of us, life is filled with such little events, little frustrations, little anxieties, and little disappointments that tempt to fret, fume, and worry. One author has aptly captured the flavor of how such little frustrations can cause us to doubt God in a devotional book for high schoolers entitled, If God Loves Me, Why Can’t I Get My Locker Open?. We may smile a little at the scene such a title brings to our imagination, but the fact is, this is the plane of adversity on which many of us live each day. And it is in the crucible of even this minor level of adversity that we are tempted to wonder, “Can I trust God?” (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, 15)

The reason the man’s house blows away in Jesus’ analogy is because even though he has heard Jesus’ words, he has sounded like a Christian especially when things were going well, in his heart of hearts he progressively responds with the doubting question to each trial in life, “Can I trust God?” And the answer to the question, as brought about by the little and eventually big trials is, “No.” Storms never go from complete peace to complete chaos. You can see the storm clouds gathering. The winds slowly begin to pick up steam. In the same way, how one responds to the small trials of life and his or her trust in the Lord to use such times for our ultimate good is an indicator what our faith will be like during the great storms of life. The false disciple continually finds it difficult to trust God in the small trials, which lead one to think that when the great trials come, the house will completely blow over.

The True Disciple: Well Built (vv. 47-48)

So if that’s a picture of the false disciple, then what does the true disciple look like? Well, we see in verse 47, the true disciple comes to Jesus. This is really no different than the false disciple, but one can’t be either a true of false disciple if one doesn’t come at all. There needs to be an initial desire to want to know who Jesus is. And of course, all of you have at least a small desire or you would not be in church at 2pm, especially when the Giants are playing the Eagles right now. Also, the true disciple hears Jesus’ words. He has had opportunities to know exactly what Jesus is saying in His Word. But here is where true and false disciples diverge: A true disciple acts upon Jesus’ words. He actually does them! Look again at verse 47: “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them.” Now the question that I have is this, “How does one go from coming and hearing, which the false disciple does, to actually doing and acting upon Jesus’ words?”

1. Hearing to Doing by Grace

First and foremost, we must always remember that a person ultimately can only know God only by His grace. Only God can open the ears of people so that they trust in Jesus and want to obey Him. Paul makes this clear in 2 Cor 4:6: “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

2. Hearing Through Christ

Reading the Bible and listening to sermons will never be the same once you begin to realize that the Bible is about Jesus and must be read and understood in this way. The disciples hearts burned with understanding regarding the Old Testament only after Jesus showed them that Scripture needed to be interpreted in light of Himself (Luke 24:27). Listen to what Paul says how we receive faith according to Romans 10:17: “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” This might come as no surprise to you. But sadly, so many Christians do not read the Bible this way, that every story, every sermon, every note of theology should have as its ultimate goal, the knowledge of God through His Son Jesus Christ. That means that Genesis, Numbers, 2 Chronicles, Lamentations, Acts, Revelation should lead us to see the value of the person and work of Jesus Christ. And Paul notes that in doing so, we will actually grow in our faith in Christ. So learn to be a listener to the preaching and teaching of God’s Word in view of the person and work of Jesus Christ. In doing so, you will learn to love to hear about Jesus spoken of and learn to love the study of Christ. And you will actually WANT to do what Jesus says. You won’t simply sit back and listen.

3. Reading the Word of God as If They Are Truly God’s Words

Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs comments: “When you come to hear the Word…you must possess your souls with what it is you are going to hear. That is, what you are going to hear is the Word of God…Therefore, you find that the apostle, writing to the Thessalonians (1 Thess 2:13), gives them reason why the Word did them so much good as it did; it was because they did hear it as the Word of God.” (Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 27) If we read/hear the Word of God in sermons, in personal devotions, in conversation, and we read it only as literature or as some hackneyed saying, then surely we will have a very difficult time doing what Jesus tells us to do in them. We need to have a reverence in our reading simply because we believe they are truly God’s Words for us.

4. Reading His Word with Regularity

Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Train yourself for godliness.” In other words, how does one actually be a believer of God? Though we know it is the work of the Spirit, God uses our desires to grow in our love for Him through our discipline. And one way we do this is by making sure that we do not live by bread alone but instead by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). There needs to be a regular pattern in our reading of His Word. Without such reading, we will not even hear God’s Word and without the hearing, how could we ever know who Jesus truly is? Then surely, this would at the very least put into question whether we would truly trust Him during times of trial.

5. Hiding His Word in Our Hearts

Psalm 119:11 says, “I have stored up your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” And this is exactly what the true believer does after listening to God’s Word regularly. The Word is meant to keep us from sin. It is meant to affect us in a way that drives us towards Jesus and away from the worship of ourselves. It is meant to protect us from a slow drift away from our Lord. This is why Paul describes it as a sword in Ephesians 6:17. And so the true disciple is constantly affected by God’s Word. He hears Matthew 18:35 when Jesus says: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart,” and he cannot in his conscience hold onto anger and bitterness. He cannot read the sermon on the Mount and not be struck by his own sinfulness. He reads texts like James 4:6 where he says God opposes the proud and not be utterly struck by his own pride and desire to humble himself before the Lord and others. The true disciple remembers these words because they’re hidden in his heart when he is tempted to neglect the words of Christ. And the true disciple acts upon them. Thus, the true disciple of Christ never merely reads God’s words and listens to sermons. The God-breathed words of Scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit will not allow the true disciple to let go of such words.

Finally, the true disciple not only acts upon the words of Christ, he stands firm and perseveres. He lasts. Jesus described the true disciple this way in verses 48-49: “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. 49 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.” Remember the stories of Terry Stauffer and Duane Willis? Talk about storms and floods. I don’t know if there are greater hurricanes than those.

I’d like to read to you what Terry Stauffer wrote on his blog:

John Piper (and others) stress the need for Christians to build a foundation in good theology in preparation for suffering, for suffering will indeed come. Juanita and I have lived an easy life in so many ways – blessed with healthy children, a great church and a sweet marriage. God was good then, and God is good now.

Death is the last enemy. We are still living in a fallen world. We do not grieve as those who have no hope, but we still grieve. The funeral for Emily will not be a celebration of her life, though she will be appropriately honoured. We desire this service to be Gospel-saturated and glorifying to Christ our Redeemer. I can honestly say that’s the way Emily would have wanted it.

One of Duane Willis’ surviving children, Toby, had this to say after his dad’s press conference:

My dad had already stated that he knew “God had reasons…and that God was good.” Indeed the Bible tells us that all things work together for good to those who love God (Romans 8:28). It also gives examples of people of the past, showing how God changed what appeared to be tragedy into good…Understanding how God views us, and the punishment we deserve, my dad correctly remarked to that reporter that ‘the question should really be changed to, why do good things happen to bad people.’ (Bruce Ware, Their God Is Too Small, 62)

Do you hear the commonality between these two quotes by two people struck by the fiercest of storms? What keeps them loving God and delighting in Him when anyone else would have been swamped over with depression and anger at God? What keeps them is what Terry Stauffer called ‘the foundation of good theology.’ It’s not only listening to the Word, but seeing it in view of a great Savior who understands the pain of evil far better than anyone else who has ever lived. And in light of this perspective, running under the protection of God’s Word which was so deeply hidden in their hearts, that they had hope when all else would deem it to be utterly hopeless. True disciples withstand the test of the most furious of storms and not only remain standing, but remain rock solid secure.

Conclusion

In John 6:66, John records, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” What happened that DISCIPLES (false) walked away? Remember, these were people who had heard Jesus, who had followed Jesus, who were probably passionate at one point for Jesus. And yet, what stopped them cold was their lack of desire to follow Jesus when it actually took faith to do so. Jesus questioned their logic and sensibilities. For every person, Jesus calls people to give up that which they cling to the most. For the rich young ruler, it was money. For these false disciples, it was perhaps their expectations on him for what they believed would give them a ‘better life.’ But for the true disciple, they know that there is only one place they can turn for the truest life of joy. This is why the story continues in John 6:67ff: “So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”

True disciples believe with all of their heart that Jesus Christ has demonstrated a love that knows no bounds. Only Jesus has the words of eternal life. In fact, Paul describes this love this way in Romans 8:37ff:

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is no truth more objective, more true, more foundational than the truth that God so loved you that He gave His one and only Son that if you believe in Him, you will not perish, but have everlasting life. And so Tim Keller rightfully summarizes:

And here is the source of true kindness. The salvation of Jesus humbles us profoundly – we are so lost that he had to die for us. But it exalts and assures us mightily — we are so valued that he was glad to die for us. Because we are sinners totally accepted by grace, we have both the humility and the boldness necessary to serve others for their sake, not ours.

Isn’t this grace and love reason enough not only to hear the words of Jesus, but to actually do them? May you never hear the Savior ask you, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” Instead, may you hear your Savior say to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” (Matthew 25:23).