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Sermon Transcript

Introduction: Good morning, let’s pray. As a reminder, this year at Citylight we are focusing on discipleship. Basically, we are spending the year focusing on what it looks like to follow and help others follow Jesus. And so to help us with this focus, last December, we started our series going verse-verse through the book of Luke. And our text this morning is so important because it is specifically focusing on discipleship or following Jesus. It reminds me of an episode of Pawn Stars. It is a show about a family-owned pawn shop and in one episode, people come to trade in a newspaper from the day the Titanic sunk; it was worth a lot of money. But what is so amazing about the show is how the owners can tell if is something is authentically rare or “knock-off.” The owners knew it wasn’t authentic because paper from the 1900’s would have yellow-aging spots. And it didn’t! You see, the Holy Spirit wants to use our text as microscope that will show us the difference between authentic, biblical discipleship and shallow, unbiblical discipleship. It wants to show you the difference between real and knock-off discipleship.

Look back at the text with me. This text is the conclusion to Jesus’s most famous sermon, “The Sermon on the Mount.” And as He ends the sermon, do you see the main difference between real and shallow discipleship? It is in vs. 46, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and don’t do the things I say?” The difference between biblical and shallow discipleship is applying Jesus’s word to your life; obedience to Jesus’ word. And when we talk about obedience, we aren’t referring to perfection or never messing up. You could define obedience the way Jesus defines it in vs. 47, “I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them.” Obedience is simply this: committing to come to, hear, an act on Jesus’s word. Family, this text wants to save you from wasting your life on shallow discipleship and ignoring the fact that every command Jesus has given us is not to hold you back but because He wants what is best for you. And it encourages you to experience the blessing of putting into practice all Jesus has told us to do in the Bible; biblical discipleship! Our big idea this morning is: “Disciples of Jesus obey His Word.” And the text is going to show us “why?” Disciples obey because:

  • Obedience is essential for discipleship
  • Obeying Jesus Word is wise
  • Ignoring Jesus Word is dangerous

Body:

  1. Obedience is essential for discipleship (6:46-47)
  2. First, obedience is essential for discipleship. Jesus opens the text with a question: Why do you call me “Lord” and not do what I say? Jesus uses this question to begin to show the difference between “shallow” and biblical discipleship. Consider shallow discipleship. Jesus mentions that shallow disciples call him “Lord” the word for Yahweh/God from the OT. Basically, they intellectually agree with what the Bible says about Jesus being the promised Messiah; Son of God who came to save sinners. But 1 John 5:3 says, “For this is what love for God is: to keep his commands. And his commands are not a burden…” Jesus points out that their words are empty because they don’t apply all that theological knowledge to their everyday lives. This is like writing a bad check. You can write a check for a billion dollars, but if you don’t have that money in the bank; it is worthless. Family, knowledge about Jesus and agreeing with what He says is good, but it is all empty if there is not a commitment to do what he says, its all empty. One bible scholar says, “In our obedience we demonstrate our love for him, we prove ourselves to be friends with him, and his love and the Father’s love rest on us.” Shallow discipleship is so dangerous because it says that you can follow Jesus without loving Him. You can define shallow discipleship as: “Admiring Jesus but not committing to him.”
  3. But Jesus describes biblical discipleship as a commitment to obeying Jesus word. And remember how we defined obedience from vs. 47. Someone who comes to Jesus. The word describes how the crowds use to draw near to Jesus to hear Him. The text is describing a commitment draw near to Jesus; to seek what He to say about everything in your life. One of the ways we od this is by gathering every Sunday to preach, sing, and pray God’s Word. He also says, “” Pastor Phillip Ryken describes “hearing” as, “Paying careful attention to the things what Jesus says, meditatively concentrating on the meaning of his words, and pray-fully considering their implications for our lives.” To hear is not like listening to a podcast for fun, it is to say, “how does Jesus’s words change the way I think and live?” Lastly, Jesus says, “acts.” The word refers to responding to something. Biblical discipleship is saturated with, this awareness that all of Jesus’s teaching and commands; His Word, demand a response. It is an understanding that to follow Jesus means to apply the Scriptures to every area of your life. Basically, it is to hear what Jesus says in Scripture and to ask, “What is my next step in apply this passage to my life?” Family, biblical discipleship commits to call Jesus “Lord” and do what He says.
  4. Implication: And the goal of these opening verses are to push us to evaluate our lives and ask: “Where are you tempted to be a shallow disciple?” Where are you tempted to like Jesus’s word but not apply it? And if you want to answer that question, you can create evaluation questions from those 3 words from vs. 47. Ask yourself: Where in your life do you feel no need to run to Jesus for help? 2. What area of your life do you see no need to listen to Jesus’s word? 3. Where do you think that Jesus’s commands are optional? Family, shallow discipleship misses this theological truth: Jesus wants what is best for His disciples. Committing to do what Jesus says leads to transformation in our lives. Obedience is essential for discipleship.
  5. Obeying Jesus word is wise (6:48)
  6. Next, obeying Jesus’s word is wise. Jesus finishes the text mentioning the idea of a house surviving storm-flooding that was common in the Middle Easter. It survives because it is dug deep in rock/firm foundation. This is like a house known as the “Sand Palace” that survived Hurricane Michael in Florida in 2018. It stood strong because the owners spent more time and over $30,000 to use reinforced-steel pilings in the foundation and designing a roof where wind would blow over it. You see, there is a temptation to hear this text and believe that all discipleship is just incorporating a bunch of rules into your life. Yes, being a disciple of Jesus means doing what Jesus has said to do/not to do, but there is a purpose behind it. Jesus is saying that obedience is not a burden, but it is the main way His disciples root their lives into the “rock”; himself! Because did you notice that Jesus didn’t say, “if a flood comes.” He says that when the flood comes, the house stands firm. Family, in this world broken by sin, trouble, hardship, and discouragement are coming for everyone. You are either heading into a storm, in the middle of a storm, or coming out of a storm. And what matters most is what is the foundation of your life? Are you rooted in the rock?
  7. And please don’t ignore that Jesus uses “digging” example for discipleship! In the Middle East, digging into rock/foundation took a lot of hard work; removing mud and sand. This means that discipleship is hard work! But let’s be honest, lazy discipleship sounds so much easier. It feels like a model of following Jesus where we don’t have to sacrifice or change is easier to enjoy and apply to our lives. But I remember playing sports, our coaches said that the most important part of the year was not the actual season, but the summer workouts and training sessions. They would say don’t expect to see any success during the season if you skipped the workouts in June and July. Family, lazy discipleship creates weak-rooted disciples that can’t handle the storms of life. But once again, Pastor Ryken says, “It takes discipline to work at understanding the scriptures. It takes patience to persevere in prayer. It takes courage to put sinful desires to death. It takes dedication to grow in new areas of obedience. It takes sacrifice to serve others instead of ourselves.” The truth is that you don’t wake up one day as a faithful disciple deeply rooted in Jesus; it takes hard work to uproot your life from the non-Christ foundations it is built on and to build your life on the rock!
  8. And Jesus says that those who root themselves in Him, will stand when the floods come. Listen to how Matt. 7:25 describes this text: “The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock.” Family, the storms of betrayal, confusion, mistrust, loss, struggle with sin and so much more are coming. And you are going to do the hard work of digging your life into some sort of foundation. Why not do the hard work to dig your life in the Savior understands what it is to be betrayed, abandoned, misunderstood, losing a loved one, and suffering. To the savior who promises: to give rest to all who come to Him (Matt. 11:28), give peace (John 14:27), give eternal life (John 5:24), never abandon you (Matt. 28:20), give you His Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17), and that He is making all things new (Rev. 21:50). Being a disciple of Jesus is hard work, but it is completely worth it!
  9. Implication: And the challenge/application of this verse is to be more intentional with our discipleship. To ask how we can grow in my obedience to Jesus this week? You can use vs.47: Maybe you might need to commit to the Sunday Gathering, where we come to Jesus together. Maybe you might need to already commit to join our GG for next semester, so you can open God’s word with your church family and listen to Jesus. Or maybe you might need to confess to someone here how you have not obeyed Jesus, and ask for accountability in obeying Him! And an easy step for all of us today is if you are not in a Citygroup, come find me after service and would love to connect you with a group that would work for you! Community is where you can process how to be obedient to God but also dig deeper into the rock together! You are not alone! Family, obeying Jesus word’s is wise!
  • Ignoring Jesus’s word is dangerous (6:49)
  1. The text ends with warning us that ignoring Jesus’s word is dangerous. Listen to how Matt. 7:27 describes vs. 49, “The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash.” Last week, we anchored Joanna’s bookshelf into the wall. It looked great, but I pulled and shook it to make sure. I needed to know if it could survive the storm of my daughter’s play time. Family, you may feel like shallow discipleship is going well and it is better to embrace an “easy” version of Christianity. But Jesus is teaching that it is only a matter of time. It is only a matter of time before the storm of an easy life hits you, and you are tempted to forget how much you need Christ. It is only a matter of time before the storm of loss and death hit your life. It is only a matter of time before the flood of disappointment and betrayal wash over you. It is only a matter of time before the hurricane of your sin and failure beat against the walls of your life and hurt those who you love the most. When those days come, a life that is not built upon the rock of Christ will collapse and the destruction will be great!
  2. And the warning Jesus is giving at the end of his most famous sermon goes beyond just the storms that you will face in your daily life. 3:23 tells us that for all have fallen short of the glory of God/sinned. You see, because of all our disobeying, ignoring, loving everything else over God, our sin separates us from Him and places us under the curse and judgment of sin/death. Naturally, we are all heading for the storm of God’s holiness and His judgment against sin. And on the day we stand before Him and answer for how we have lived our lives; the only thing that will matter is if our lives are built upon the rock or not; that is it. But Pastor David Ritchie points out how Jesus is preaching the gospel here: “He [Jesus] is the judge who humbly stepped into the place of the condemned and was judged in our place so we could be forgiven; the righteous one who died and rose again so that our dead hearts could beat again by the power of the Spirit; the one who took the floods of our justice, so that his righteousness could be the rock of our hope and obedience.” Family, Jesus ends his most famous sermon telling people that He is the rock that endures God’s judgment so His people can pursue obedience with no fear of judgement!
  3. And please hear me. The main challenge of this text and sermon is not: go try harder. If you leave church this morning thinking that all you must do is try harder; you will fail miserably. Jesus is not interested merely in behavioral modification. The text wants strip away any idea that you can obey God solely through willpower or strategy. It wants you to adore Jesus. Think about everything Jesus has said in the “Sermon on the Mount.” Jesus is the only who perfectly lived out this sermon. He loved his enemies, didn’t judge but gave mercy, and showed the fruit of perfect obedience the Father. The only way to embrace biblical, obedience filled discipleship, is by first surrendering to Jesus; submitting to Him. If your relationship with Jesus is based upon a partnership/ shallow discipleship; obey Him for the first time today by confessing how you have failed God and believe that Jesus lived the life you could never live, died the death you deserved and resurrected to make you right with God. Believe that Jesus is the only who could save you and help you live for Him! If that is you, we would love to pray with you!
  4. Implication: And before we finish, I know that for many of this text feels heavy. You might feel extremely discouraged because all you can think about right now is how you fail Jesus; you feel like a horrible Christian. Gal. 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body,[l]I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Apply these verses by listening to what I am saying: Jesus isn’t tired of you. He hasn’t run out of grace for you. He doesn’t regret saving you! You don’t have to wake up tomorrow and earn Jesus’s love. You can wake up tomorrow saying, “I am going to fight to obey repent of my sin, love my enemy, serve others, and obey Jesus because I know that He lives in me and loves me. Nothing will stop his love for me and the Spirit from giving me the strength to live for Him.” We obey Jesus not to earn His love but because we already have it. Family, ignoring Jesus words are dangerous; don’t miss out Jesus’s love.

Conclusion:

To finish, let me ask you: Do you see the difference between shallow and biblical discipleship? My prayer is that you would see that following Jesus goes beyond just adding Jesus to your life. It is saying that you lay your life down and pick up a life that is filled with going to, listening to, and acting on what Jesus has said. I pray we see that obedience is hard but it is worth it because you are following a savior who is worth it! Family, let’s be a church that loves discipleship. Let’s be a church that obeys Jesus’s Word!