Luke 6:46-49

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. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

After Jesus very direct and difficult question in verse 46 in the very next verse we see His call for:

2. Decisive Action

Obedience isn’t just an attitude it also involves action. It is here that we read about the kind of action that Jesus is calling for from those who would call Him Lord. The first action step that we see is:

• “Comes to Me”

This is not just the first step this is a continual and daily step. Coming to Him involves leaving everything else; it means dismissing all other distractions and making the decision to chase only Christ. You will always follow what you focus on. Coming to Jesus involves keeping Him as our focus; trusting in Him alone as Savior and Lord. In John 10:4-5 we see a powerful picture of us coming to Christ and continuing to chase after Him: “4 After he has gathered his own flock, he walks ahead of them, and they follow him because they know his voice. 5 They won’t follow a stranger; they will run from him because they don’t know his voice.” The sheep not only hear the shepherd but they heed and follow Him. The sheep that get picked off by the wolves are the ones on the fringes, the ones furthest from the Shepherd, not those that are faithfully following. Our greatest prescription for the prowling wolves, who want wound and lay waste to us, is to live in the center of the flock, His church. How close to Christ are you, are you staying or straying? This leads us to the second action Jesus calls us to take, comes to Me and:

• “Listens to my teaching”

Second we must listen to the Lord. How do you listen to the Lord? Well let me ask you where do you find His sayings? In scripture, we need to base our life on the Bible, God’s Word. This means that we don’t just read the Word of God we rely on it. Is scripture your steering wheel? Is scripture your source and sounding board? Now it’s great that you read this blog, but don’t just read what others have written about the scriptures read scripture. Your primary reading must be the Bible, everything else is secondary to scripture. Look this is a blog its not the bible and if you are not in the Word you may miss hearing His voice. God is not going to substitute scripture with something else just for the benefit of the busy. Our biggest problem today is that we are trying to substitute real food for fast food. We have become an instant on demand generation that would rather turn to google than God, we would rather seeking answers from Siri than the scriptures. We have convinced ourselves that we don’t have time to find answers from scripture so we turn to those who will summarize it for us. If you want to seek success then study the scriptures. Jesus said, comes to Me, listens to my teaching and:

• “Follows it”

Jesus makes it clear that there must be a response to His Word. The only reasonable and right response is one of OBEDIENCE. Let me ask you what is the key requirement of Christian discipleship? Is it knowledge, or talent, ability, gifting, or vision? No, these are good things but they are not the greatest. Our central calling is obedience, for only when we are obedience do all these other things flow freely. There is no true spirituality without simple obedience. Living the life that the Lord called you to means faithfully following in His footsteps, and obeying ALL of His commands. All the talk in the world does us no good if we never walk out the Word. Good intentions are no substitute for simple Obedience. The call of Jesus is to come to Him, listen to His teaching and follow them. To help us put His direct question into decisive action Jesus now gives us a:

3. Dramatic illustration

It is here that Jesus paints a powerful and practical picture for us. He contrasts the foundations of two houses by fast forwarding to the future and showing us the results of both obedience and disobedience.  Notice that the focus is on the foundation not the buildings. Jesus challenges His followers to build their lives only upon the solid bedrock foundation of His word. “If you come to ME, and listen to MY teaching and then put them into practice, then you will be like a man building a house upon the deeply dug foundation of solid rock. Laying a concrete foundation is not always the most exciting part of construction but it is the most crucial. Everything stands and falls on the foundation. We can’t afford to skimp when it comes to the foundation, so let me ask you are skimping on scripture? Are you trying to substitute scripture or make it second? So many get sidetracked with secondary side streets, where they end up majoring on the minors. We have to come back to the fundamentals, Holiness, prayer, witnessing, the Word just to name a few. Let me ask you, do you have the basics of your Christian walk down to the point where you have arrived and there is no more need for growth? No, then why would you go searching the side streets, focusing on the fringes, when there’s so much work to be done on the fundamentals? It is the foundation that determines whether the house will stand against the storm. These houses may seem the same but it is the storm that reveals the difference. The one with the solid foundation stood firm in the storm but the one build on the sand could not stand against the storm. In this life we will face many storms, like the storm of persecution for preaching and sharing Jesus. If your foundation is faulty it will fail and we will fall. But it’s not just the storms of this life that we need to consider, there is also coming a time when Christians will stand before Christ to give an account for their lives. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15 says: “11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. 14 If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. 15 But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.” In this storm at the Judgment Seat of Christ some big buildings will come crashing down. Are you walking according to the Word, are you building your life on the bible? Are you living a wise life built on the Word or are you resting on a fools foundation?