Grace Baptist Church, Nokomis, IL.

Text:

Well, here we are again! We’ve come here to shake some hands, sing some songs, and hear a sermon. Then we’ll go home, come back again next week, and do it all again. Sound good? I know sometimes it can be a struggle just do that much, right?

I heard a story about a mom who knocked on her son’s door on Sunday morning and said, “Come out, it’s time to go to church!” And he shouted back, “I’m not going!” So she she said, “Why not?” He replied, “I’ll give you two reasons. They don’t like me, and I don’t like them!” To that, his mom replied, “I’ll give you two reasons why you WILL go to church. You’re 47 years old, and you’re the pastor!”

Sometimes just getting here can be a struggle, right? But you have come. And you’ve come to hear God’s Word. And you plan on coming again next week.

But what are you going to do in between? How will what we do here today change what you do tomorrow? Will you change your habits? Will you change how you work, and why you work? Will you have more love? More faith? More hope?

I haven’t told many people about this, because it’s not the time of my life that I’m most proud of, but at one point in my life, I was a complete mess. I laid in bed all day long, I didn’t take care of myself. I would burst out crying for apparently no reason at all, I would lie in bed in my own filth, because I wouldn’t even get up to go to the bathroom. I was unable to be reasoned with, and hardly anyone could comfort me. I relied on others to feed me, and change me, and burp me. But, fortunately, no one thought less of me, because I was a newborn baby.

And that’s how we all are when we’re born. And we expect that kind of helplessness from newborns.

But somehow we expect it to be different when we’re born again. We try to act like we have it all together, like we’re the rock, because it seems like others expect us to have it all together. But we’re newborns, and newborns definitely do not have it all together. We need encouragement, and help, and to be taught everything anew, because it is new, and we need to grow.

And the truth is, we usually continually need this. We’d like to think that we mature and grow past needing the basics, but the reality is that we don’t. We still need the gospel. We still need simply to cling to Christ and receive His grace. Because no matter how long you’ve been a Christian, Jesus is still the solid rock. And having Jesus as your solid rock drastically changes how you live throughout the week. When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.

Read Luke 6:46-49

“Why do you call me ‘Lord,’ and do not do what I tell you?” What a convicting verse! Because every single one of us who calls Jesus our Lord, does not do what He tells us to. At least not all the time. We try really hard, and we get it right sometimes, but we still fail so often.

But how much obedience is enough obedience? And how good do we need to be in order for Jesus to tell us, “Welcome home, my good and faithful servant”?

Remember, Jesus was preaching this sermon to His disciples. He was preaching to those who had ears to hear. That is, they were the ones who wanted to obey. And He’s telling them, “why don’t you do what I tell you?”

So it sure sounds like Jesus is condemning all of us, doesn’t it?

I mean, if Jesus requires us to be obedient in order for us to call Him ‘Lord,’ and if only those who truly have Jesus as Lord will be saved, not just those who call Him Lord, but who do the will of the Father, if that’s what it takes, then we’re all doomed!

Then Jesus says this in verse 47 (v. 47). This sounds a lot like us, doesn’t it? After all, we’ve come. We’ve come to Jesus. We’ve come to church. We’re here! And we’ve come to hear the word of God.

But wait a minute, who really comes to Jesus? The Bible says that no one seeks after God (Romans 3:11). And the Bible says there’s a way that seems to right to man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12). So, left to ourselves, we don’t seek God, we go the way that seems right to us, which is not the path to life. So who comes to Jesus? No one!

And who really hears the words of Jesus and does them? Not just once in awhile, but consistently and perfectly does what Jesus tells them to do? The Bible says that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And the Bible says that we are all dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1). So who does the will of God? No one!

And yet, we like it that way. We like being the one in charge of our own lives. We like being seen as strong, determined, like a rock. “Like a rock, I was strong as I could be. Like a rock, nothin’ ever got to me. Like a rock, I was something to see. Like a rock.”

And so we’re so stubborn, like a rock, that not one of us comes to Jesus, and not one of us does the will of Jesus.

No one comes to Jesus, unless the Father draws him (John 6:44).

And no one does the will of God, unless he believes in Jesus, because that is the will of God for you (John 6:40).

So don’t make your Christian life about your obedience, because it’s not, it’s based on God graciously drawing you to Himself and simply believing in Jesus, so that you’re saved.

Jesus illustrated this truth through a parable about two men. One built his house on the rock, the other did not. And then when a flood came, the house built on the rock stood firm, but the house not built on the rock immediately fell. It was washed away by the stream, and its ruin was great. And this is a great picture of the difference between a believer and an unbeliever. Someone rooted in Christ, and someone not rooted in Christ. Because when the storms come, and when the end comes, those who have Christ as their foundation will stand firm, and those who do not have Christ will fall. And their fall will be great.

But I want you to notice something that’s crucial to this parable (v. 47-48a).

So are we like the house, or like the man building the house? Because a lot of times when we read this passage, we imagine that we are like this house, that’s unshakable, that won’t be ruined by the flood waters, because we’re built strong on the rock. And I think we like that interpretation because it makes us sound so strong. And we like the idea of being strong. Like a rock.

But that’s not actually what the text is saying.

We’re not like the house, we’re like the man building the house.

The word translated “building” in verse 48 is in the present tense, which means that this person is in transition. His house isn’t done, it’s not perfect, but he’s building it on the rock, so therefore, when the flood comes, it’s going to stand firm. Our job isn’t to be this perfect house, but to make sure everything we do is built on the rock, which is Christ.

In other words, maybe our obeying Jesus shouldn’t be the focus. Maybe Jesus will do that through us. Maybe we should continue to realize just how helpless we are, like newborn babies, to get it right on our own. Maybe when Jesus said, “It is finished,” He meant not only His work, but our work. So maybe the answer to the question, “How much obedience is enough?” is that only perfect obedience is enough, and that Jesus perfectly obeyed for us. And maybe the answer to the question, “How good do we have to be?” is that we must be perfectly good, and that Jesus was perfectly good for us. So when God looks at our works and our goodness, He doesn’t see our feeble attempts, but He sees the perfect work and perfect goodness of Christ on our behalf.

So even though we want to obey God, because He loves us and we love Him, we can’t build the perfect house, and it’s not up to us to build the perfect house, but it is up to us to make sure that we’re building on Jesus Christ. That He’s our rock. That our foundation rests on Him.

Contrast all this with the other man, who did not build on the rock. The word “built” in verse 49 is in the past tense. This is a person who thinks he’s got it made. He thinks his work is good enough. He thinks he is the rock. But when the flood comes, all his work will be washed away. He’s wasted his life, and he is lost when entering eternity.

So why do so many call Jesus ‘Lord’ and yet not do what he tells them? Because Jesus isn’t really their Lord! Because Jesus isn’t their rock. So many acknowledge Jesus with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. And that’s really the key to this whole thing.

Where is your heart in relation to Jesus? Do you love Him? Do you know that He loves you? Do you know that He doesn’t command anything of you that isn’t what’s the very best for you? And if you know these things, then shouldn’t you want to do what He tells you?

You know, we often treat our new Christian lives like a prison. We have freedom in Christ, but we’d rather lock ourselves up. But living this way just doesn’t make any sense. Jesus died to set us free from the law that we couldn’t live up to, but then we treat His commands as the new law, and forget that we can’t live up them either. Now, does that mean we should sin as much as we want, because our sin has already been paid for? Absolutely not. Because if you love Jesus with all your heart, you’ll want to love Him with your strength as well.

I used to love butterfinger candy bars. Nobody better a lay a finger on my butterfinger! So whenever we’d get a bunch of candy on Easter or Halloween, I’d go through my stash and take out all the butterfinger bars so that I could eat them all first, so nobody else would get them. I’d hoard them for myself.

I used to hate salad. I mean, it was so boring. And it didn’t seem to have any flavor, at least not any flavor that I wanted to eat.

But somewhere along the line, my tastes changed. I’m not a big butterfinger fan anymore, and I actually love salad. Especially when you throw bell peppers, and cheese, and bacon bits on top.

But here’s the point: when it comes to obeying Christ, it’s not that we stop sinning and get better at obeying, it’s just that our tastes have changed. When we come to know Christ, sin doesn’t taste as good, and righteousness tastes so much better. The Holy Spirit continually changes our affections so that we hate the things we used to love, and love the things we didn’t even know existed.

So by all means, obey Jesus, having Him as your Savior and Lord, but not as a means to earn anything, and not as a means to build yourself up, but out of love, because Jesus is your rock.

Well, that’s my sermon! You came. You heard it. But now what? Will what you heard today have any affect on how you live tomorrow? Will you not only hear, but do the words of Jesus? In other words, what are building your house on? Are you building it on your reputation? Are you building it on your family? Or are you just going with the flow and hoping it gets built? Maybe you’re just struggling to build anything at all, or maybe, looking back on your life, you don’t feel like you’ve built anything, or accomplished anything.

There’s good news. The most important thing isn’t the house you’ve built, but the foundation you’ve built on. And it’s never too late for you to get that part right. Turn to Christ, make Him your rock, your solid foundation.