Turn your eye of Jesus ... (Luke 6:46-49)

I hope like me, you have found these words very challenging. Granted, I have had more time to meditate on them, but, boy don’t they just cut straight to the heart? Read it again…

Luke 6:46 “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?”

At school, I am called, ‘sir!’ by every student, whether I teach them or not. Whether they are good or naughty, they call me, ‘sir!’ It’s a sign of respect. They are not taught to say that. They are not sat down in year 7 and told you must call male members of staff, “sir” and female members of staff, “miss.” It’s a type of respect acknowledging me as a member of the teaching staff, but for many, that is the where the respect ends. You see for some students when I give them an instruction, 9 times out of 10 they choose not to follow that instruction. Yet, they still call me, ‘sir!’ There was one boy just this week who refused to follow the simple instruction of facing the front. I persisted with my characteristic calm approach, repeating the request and even threw in a few pleases to show I was not getting ratty. Eventually, he exploded, “Oh Sir!” and presently turned his body and followed the instruction. I do wonder sometimes, why they call me sir, why show me respect like that and yet choose not to follow my instructions.

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?”

This comes at the end of a very powerful and life-changing sermon starting with the Beatitudes from verse 20. Christ Jesus wants his listeners, who we can assume are his disciples in verse 20 to understand that what they believe to be the truth is a very skewed image of the real truth. You see, society then and indeed now wants us to believe that the strongest will survive. Charles Darwin called it the Survival of the Fittest or Natural Selection. Only those suitable to survive in a given environment will survive. This means the weak, those that mourn, the widow, the orphan, they, according to society, are not as likely to makes ends meet, so to speak. Christ came to abolish that idea and reset our focus on what really matters in life.

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?”

With what Jesus has just taught, this question is powerful enough to split open even the tightest of cover-ups. He is speaking to those who want the surface feelings to mean something but want nothing to do with the deep-rooted emotions that mean everything. Christ wants us to turn our beliefs on their heads and start looking at things from a different angle – a completely upside down view. No longer can we get away with just saying what people what to hear or what the others are saying. No more will Christ allow the shallow lip service we offer him on a Sunday but ignore him from Monday. No more!

“Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?”

Why do we do that? Why do we think, we can get away with it? Sing the songs, pray the prayers, read the passages, praise God and when Monday morning comes we revert back to what people want of us. We fall back into the enslavement of our sin. We forget what was preached on Sunday. We forget to offer some time up to God during our day. We live like a non-believer heading for Hell!

Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death! It can’t be much clearer than that!

For the wages of sin is death … but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!

Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?

Brothers and Sisters, Christ is giving us three clear instructions here:

1: for everyone who comes to me – we must come to him. We must face him. In so doing, we confront our sin. Because Christ took our sin upon himself on the cross.

In Numbers 21:8-9, we read about the Israelites grumbling and being punished by God with poisonous serpents. When many died, they cried to the Lord God, and so, through God’s mercy, he provided a bronze serpent on a pole for them just to look at and be healed. In so doing, they confronted their sin on a pole and were healed.

In Mark 10 (p1014), we hear about a rich man who runs to Jesus and falls at his feet to ask the question, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” let’s pick this up at v17.

Do you see how this man, when he came to Christ had to confront his sin before he could be healed? It’s not an easy task of us. With the pleasures of our lives vying for our affection and attention. It is difficult for us to be humble enough to come to Christ. Yet, that is exactly what Christ commands us to do in Luke 6:47

2: and hears my words – not only must we come to Christ, we must hear his words. Notice, this is not, “Hear my voice!” but “Hear my words!” We must hear God’s Word. Holy Scriptures.

How do we hear God’s words? Psalm 1:2 tells us that we should meditate on God’s word day and night. Now, if you are like me, you have to do a variety of different things during the day – I would love to be able to hold a pocket bible in class and meditate on God’s word every day whilst teaching the intricacies of Particle Physics and Algebra, but it is not practical to do so. So, how can we meditate on God’s word if we don’t have the Word physically in front of us?

The simple answer is to memorise it and mutter it to ourselves when we are able to. Now, if you are like me, memorising the entire Bible is a major feat and would likely take years to do. So the next best thing is to choose verses or short passages to memorise.

Here’s the thing, we cannot meditate on God’s Word continually if we have not memorised it and likewise we cannot memorise God’s Word unless we meditate upon it. Slowly murmuring the Word of God whenever we can engage the eyes, the ears and the mouth, not to mention focuses the mind on Godly things. This is exactly what Colossians 3:2 tells us, ‘Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.’ This is what’s fantastic about internalising God’s Word like this - the more we do it, the more we chisel away at our corrupt heart which in turn maximises internalisation and our devotion to God. We will start to think differently. We will start to feel differently. And yes, there will be times when we struggle with sin, but continually meditating on God’s Word not only revives the soul according to Psalm 19:7 but it will increase our faith as well (Romans 10:17).

It’s all about the renewing of our mind as Romans 12:2 says. Now, this does take discipline and faith, but completely relying on God and murmuring his Word daily when temptation strikes or when our mind wanders or when it is not preoccupied, can and most certainly does help us when we struggle with sin.

Why not start tonight, if you haven’t already.

Here’s a good one to start with, Philippians 3:10-11

I want to know him and the power of his resurrection, to join in his suffering and to become like him in his death that by any means possible, attain the resurrection from the dead.

Or what about, 2 Timothy 2:22?

Flea from evil desires of your youth,
Pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace
together with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.

So, come to Christ and hear his words.

3:…and puts them into practice.

What is the point if we come to Christ and hear his words and then forget them or worse, choose to ignore them? Are we likely to gain the benefit of being connected to God in Christ? Do we not become those who give only lip service to God?

I remember hearing a story about a soldier who thought he knew everything about being in the army. He had grown up building models, reading and researching about battles, weaknesses and strengths of various armies. He learnt about the weaponry used by the various armed forces of the world. When he came of age, he enlisted and soon got a reputation for being a fast learner. When he had finally finished his training, he was posted to the front line of the raging war on terrorism. The soldier came to his commanding officer who had been in the battle for years. He knew the terrain and the enemy and so he gave his orders. Upon hearing the orders, the soldier was eager to get started. He was ready. He had been training for this moment all his life. He checked his gun and started moving. Within a few yards of his position, he fell under heavy enemy fire and was killed. His first ever mission. He had come to his experienced CO and heard his orders, but yet did not do what he was told.

We, too, are at risk of suffering the same fate if we do not do what Christ has commanded us to do. We must put God’s word into practice. Luke 6:27-42 are clear instructions about what we are to do. If we come to Christ, listen to his word and yet do not do what his word tells us, within a few feet of leaving this very service, Satan, our enemy will attack and we will succumb. But don’t just take my word for it.

If we come to Christ, meditate on Christ’s words and put it into practice, we will stand on solid ground. You know the song, On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand? There is no other ground we can rely on to keep us afloat, to prevent us from slipping back into the miry clay. If we have a firm foundation in Christ Jesus by internalising God’s word and meditating on it daily, then just like Christ did in the wilderness when Satan tempted him, we, too will have the necessary verse in our minds to strengthen us when temptations and trials strike. I firmly believe and have experienced what 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us, “…God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”

If we just pay Christ lip service, we listen to the sermons on Sunday and on Monday we revert to our natural way, then, Christ says we are like the man who did not dig a foundation. Without God’s word in our hearts and minds, we are weak. We are frail. We are not secure against the torrent of lies and temptations.

Brothers and sisters, this happens all too often. Sometimes it is without our thinking about. Something major comes that grabs our attention and focus and God’s word slips from our mind. This is why I have memorised some verses and why I choose to continue to memorise some verses from Scripture.

Remember what Romans 12:2 said, it is about the renewing of our mind?

I have suffered defeat at the hands of Satan. I have felt what it is like to feel far from God. I know what it feels like to have a gaping hole that earthly things cannot fill. I know what it is like to have my life crushed against torrent after torrent after torrent. All because I had no foundation, no scriptural safety net. I paid God lip service. I would call myself a Christian, I would go to Salvation Army meetings, sing in the Salvation Army Songsters and play in the band. I would have the audacity to stand and give a testimony I had just made up a few seconds before linked very loosely to some spiritual topic. But it was all for show. It meant nothing because I did not have a firm foundation on which to build my Christian life. I did not have that safety net to catch me when I fell. I am not saying that God did not catch me when I fell, I am saying I ignored him and his words.

And when I finally came face to face with opposition in my first year of university, living with a devout Muslim whose sole purpose, it would seem was to target weak Christians and demoralise them, destroy their entire faith – I crumbled. I collapsed and my destruction as it says in v49 was complete. Satan had broken me. I drifted away from the church, I stopped praying and I certainly didn’t the Bible for a long while.

But praise God, he has never forgotten me or left me. And one night in my room, I fell to my knees because the gaping hole in my life was so prominent and John 3:16 popped into my head, leaving me with peace and reassurance. It took many years before I understood what a firm and deep foundation in Christ meant, experiencing numerous times of darkness and despair, having fallen time and time again. Each time, choosing to ignore the words of God and not putting them into practice, opening my mind and body to sin.

Have you experienced that? Do you find, like me that whatever you try to do to resist, you end up doing the very thing you are trying not to do? We tell ourselves we can resist. We tell ourselves we have the strength and determination to resist and isn’t it all to do with mind-over-matter, anyway?

Christ says, “No! You must come to me, you must hear my words and you must put them into practice, otherwise, when the torrent comes, the life you have created without the foundation in me will be completely destroyed and you will be left in despair.”

I find Psalm 51 to be of immense comfort these days.

Vv3-5

For I know my transgressions, my sin is ever before me
Against you and you only, I have sinned and done evil in your eyes
You are right in your verdict and justified in your punishment.

Vv10-12

Create in me a new heart, O Lord and restore a right spirit within me
cast me not from thy present and take not they holy spirit from me
restore in me the joy your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

My friends, if you do not yet know Christ and the power of his resurrection, then now is the time to dig deep to lay that foundation in Christ the solid rock.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,

Look full into his wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

In the light of his glory and grace.[1]

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[1] © Helen Howarth Lemmel (1863-1961)