Discipleship: Following Jesus

46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. Luke 6:46-47

Jesus asks a “serious” question. 46 “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?

The great issue that Jesus confronts us with here is HIS LORDSHIP in our lives.

Jesus has just finished delivering the greatest sermon in history - His famous “Sermon on the Mount”. He is very aware of those in His audience who are “onlookers” - “observers”. Oh, they nodded their heads in agreement, they even said “Amen!” in appropriate places - if you asked them what they believed they would most likely answer “We follow the great Rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth”. But for many of them, Jesus teaching (which they enjoyed) had no radical impact on their lives.

Jesus knows the frustration that many preachers experience most Sundays ... looking out on a group of nodding believers who say “Amen!”, and thank him at the door, but then never do anything with the truths they’ve been presented.Jesus knows that frustration not only on Sundays, but every day of the week in fact, as Christians open their Bibles out of duty and read the portion suggested by their daily reading guide, say “Thank you Lord”, close their Bibles and head off to work - forgetting all that they’ve read by the time they reach the front gate.

And so, as Jesus ends His great sermon, He closes with “the appeal” ... “why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?”

If Jesus is Lord of our lives, there must be obedience to what He has to say!

Matthew records Jesus’ words this way ... 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ Matthew 7:21-23

Three things immediately stand out about these poor people who are going to stand bewildered before Christ - found wanting in the Day of Judgment:

A) They cry ‘Lord, Lord’. These are obviously ones who thought they were alright. They know the “lingo”. They’ve called themselves His followers.

B) There are ‘many’ of them. Jesus says: “many will say to Me”.

C) This is frightening! Note their claims: We’ve prophesied in Your Name! We’ve cast out demons in Your Name! We’ve done wonders in Your Name!

These are all good things - but they are “side issues”, every one! (Jesus says the real and central issue is: “I never knew you!”)

So many in the Church today are becoming taken up with “side issues” - giving them more priority than the Scriptures do. And of all the side issues stealing the limelight in the Church today, these three that Jesus mentions figure very prominently in some churches and TV ministries today!

We need to be careful not to put so great an emphasis on one part of Scripture that we become all involved with some side issue that takes our attention away from simply following Jesus.

Don’t be deceived; we need to watch our lives and what we believe closely.So, there will be many who will cry “Lord, Lord”. But His reply to them will be, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’

What a tragedy for any person to have in their hands the teaching of Jesus - the living Word of God - but then to lay aside it’s instruction to follow after side issues ... focusing to much on “minor” issues ... and neglect the basics of growing in a relationship with Jesus. Following Him.

Can that really happen? Oh, yes! It does happen.In verse 47, Jesus calls for decisive action.Here we read of the kind of action that Jesus is calling for from each of us who would own Him as Lord. “…when someone comes to me,..”

Here is the first step. But it’s something we have to keep doing. Every person must come to Him for themselves; but then we have to keep coming back to Him every day. Keeping Him as our focus; trusting in Him alone as Savior and Lord.

Not coming to every voice taking the airwaves at the moment - the latest Christian “guru” video or cd - not the latest book doing the rounds! But coming to Him!

Often we will hear someone saying: “I heard this preacher on video say such and such”, or “I read in this book so and so, AND IT DOESN’T SOUND RIGHT!” This is good because it’s exactly what Jesus said ... “They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” John 10:5

Unfortunately Christians DO still get deceived; believers get side-tracked. We’ve got to be on our guard at all times. Which of the sheep in the flock gets picked off by prowling enemies ... wolves? It’s the ones on the fringes. The ones furthest from the Shepherd. So the answer is – stay as close to Jesus as possible. Get right in by His side; get in the center of the flock (the local church) as much and as often as you can; and get to know His voice clearly.

“…when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching….”

We must be listening what Jesus has to say. Where do we find His teachings? In the Word of God!

The Scriptures are absolutely primary and fundamental. We need to be constantly in the Word of God.

Be careful not to be just reading what others have written about the Scriptures. Our main reading as a Christian ought to be the Bible! Everything else must be secondary. It is the number one way God will minister into our life. In fact we can probably say that much or most of what God will say to us will be out of His Word!

If you’re not in the Word you won’t hear His voice, because He will not substitute His Word with something else for the benefit of the busy! Part of the reason for the phenomenal growth of the Christian book industry over the past 15-20 years has been because of the times in which we live - A fast food generation who don’t have time to find answers in the Word for themselves and so they say “Summarize it for us ... give us five steps to effective prayer ... show us ten steps to improve our relationships.”

It is also not good to just sit around and wait for God to speak to us. God has been so gracious to put His Word in our hands; why would we feel we need anything else? Get into His Word.

“someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.”

There must be a response to Jesus’ words. Obedience. What is the key requirement of Christian discipleship; knowledge? ability? ministry gifting? vision? anointing? NO! None of these very good things. Absolutely central is OBEDIENCE. All these other things flow when we are being obedient!

All the talk, and all the good intentions, in the world are no substitute for one moment of OBEDIENCE. Great knowledge is no substitute. So-called “spirituality” is no substitute. In fact, there IS no true spirituality without simple obedience. Living the life that Jesus laid down for us to live; following His footsteps and obeying His commands.

Jesus says, “I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it”.