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.”

When it comes to obedience here in Luke 6 we see Jesus asking a:

1. Direct and difficult question

After Jesus finishes what has become the most famous sermon in history, the “Sermon on the Mount” He confronts the crowd and all Christians with our greatest challenge, His LORDSHIP in our lives. After telling us about how to inherit the Kingdom of God and warning us about the weightiest matters of time and eternity He turns to the truth about obedience. Jesus is acutely aware that there are those in the audience who instead of obeying are content to just observe. Today there are many who may listen to Jesus but don’t live for Jesus. They are content to come to church and be part of the crowd but not to carry out His commands. The real question that we need to ask is not just are we reading God’s Word but is it radically changing our lives. There are many who dutifully do their devotions every day yet upon closing the Word walk away and never walk it out. They may be in the Word but the Word is not in them. Jesus makes it clear that it’s not just about acknowledging with our heads but actively engaging with our hearts. If Jesus is Lord of our lives, there must be obedience to what He has to say. In reality if to try and say “no Lord” is really an oxymoron, for if He truly is Lord then we are His subjects, and subjects say yes.  Matthew 7:21-23 is a parallel passage where we see Jesus talking about doing the Will of God, in it He says: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Now there are three things that strike me about those who will stand before Christ and claim Him as Lord only to be cast out. First they will call Him Lord, they may know the lingo but they don’t know the Lord. They claim to be followers yet they are far from the Father. They are like the 5 foolish virgins who returned from buying oil for their lamps only to find that they had missed the bridegroom’s arrival. Matthew 25: 11-12 says that they pounded upon the door and cried “Lord, Lord open the door for us, but he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.” They may have called Him Lord but they did not know Him as Lord. The second scary thought is that there will be MANY, this is the same Greek word used to describe the multitudes that flocked to hear Jesus. There will be many multitudes that will say ‘Lord, Lord’ but in reality never lived for Him. Are you part of the multitudes of many who claim Jesus yet don’t carry out His commands? Third not only will they claim Christ but notice what they will base their claims on, their works not His, “we prophesied in Your Name, cast demons out in Your Name, and have done wonders in Your name.” These may seem like impressive things but according to Jesus they are secondary because He says the critical and central issue is: “I never knew you!” The real issue is do you have a relationship with Jesus, because everything else is a secondary side issue. It is interesting to note that people have become sidetracked with these secondary issues, to the point that they have stolen center stage. We are a people who no longer chase after His commands but worship after works while refusing to walk out His word. Prophecy has become prominent, people who seek after a word from God but no longer seek after the sacred teaching of scripture. There seems to be more of a drive for deliverance ministries that focus on the physical healing while neglecting the soul. A hunger for physical healing over a heart healing that leads to holiness. There is a craving after signs and wonders more than the Savior and His Word.  Look as Christians we do not follow after signs and wonders we follow Jesus.  You can’t look to signs and wonders as proof that the person preaching is the real deal remember God used a wicked man named Balaam in Numbers 23, he even used Balaam’s donkey. Then there was Caiaphas the high priest who only cared about power and position yet God used him to prophesy that Jesus would die for all the people, John 11:51-52. It was the wicked magicians of Pharaoh’s court in Egypt who duplicated the miracles of Moses by using magic. Even the evil sons of Sceva in Acts 19 cast out demons. There will be many who cry out “Lord, Lord” but His reply to them will be, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice LAWLESSNESS” Instead of living for the Lord they will be living lawless lives. What a tragedy to have the truth of Jesus teaching in your hand but not in your heart, to have His living Word but not to walk out His word. There will be many who major on the minors and in reality reject a relationship with the Redeemer. Are you living your life for the Lord or lawlessness, are you following Him or foolishly faking it? There is no getting around Jesus direct question, “why do you call me Lord and do not obey?” To do what Jesus commanded will take all of your attention and energy, it will mean putting self aside so that you can say yes to the Savior. His commands will always be for our best but they may not always feel the best. In Jeremiah 6:16 we find a powerful and profound verse instructing us to follow His way: “This is what the Lord says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ The way we are to walk is according to His Will, it’s not some new trendy or glamorous way, it’s the ancient path, rugged and hard at times, but tried and true. A path that results in rest, where we can say this is what Jesus did in my life, not Lord I did this or I did that. Are you faithfully following Jesus or are you calling Him Lord with your words and living lawlessly in your walk? Where do you need to choice today to obey? Is there any part of your life where you are living lawlessly instead of living for the Lord?

1 Samuel 27:4-11

4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him. 5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” 6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. 7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months. 8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.) 9 Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish. 10 When Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say, “Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel” or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.” 11 He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory. 12 Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for life.”

What may seem surprising to many is that when David first steps through the door of disobedience he doesn’t experience immediate disaster. In fact David’s compromise appears too ushered in a period of temporary peace and prosperity. Verse 4 says that Saul stopped searching for David, verses 5-6 record that David received his own village to live in. I Chronicles 12 informs us that during this period a great many of Saul’s soldiers defected to David side and verse 12 says that Achish king of Gath was very pleased with David. If we based things solely on circumstances it would seem that David’s choice to compromise was the cure, that his decision to disobey was a wise one. Disobedience can often result in a temporary lessening of pressure and problems, remember Hebrews 11 speaks to the pleasures of sin for a season. The front end of sin often seems satisfying and while compromise may feel exciting it only led David into further sin. The truth is that discouragement led to desperation which led to the decision to defect, but it did not stop there, disobedience led to deceit and death. In verses 8-11 we discover that David led regular raiding parties while he lived in Ziklag. David would take his men and raid the villages to the south and southwest of Ziklag yet when Achish would ask him, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would answer, “I’ve been to the Negev of Judah,” which was south and east. David made it seem as if he had been raiding his own people Israel when in fact he had actually been going in the opposite direction. Disobedience led to a life of deception, David compromised his character because it seemed to serve the purpose of convincing Achish that he was truly loyal to him. David’s compromise was based on short term results which actually led to long term ruin. Now to many deception may not seem like that big of a deal but when you read on you come to verse 11 and you see what it really led to: “He did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.’” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory.” Deception ultimately led to death, David was caught in the terrible downward spiral of disobedience. When you first open the door of disobedience don’t be surprised if the Devil greets you with delight. Things may appear to go your way, but remember there is a lot more behind the door than you at first will see. Down the road you will discover deceit and death, and the father you step through the door of disobedience the more you will find that your delight is replaced by dreed. Just when everything seemed to be going great, and David may have even fooled himself into thinking that God was blessing him, we see the climax of his compromise. David is ordered to join with the enemy and fight against his own people. His ploy of deception is played out, what started as a convenient compromise now leads to him collaborating fully with the enemy. 1 Samuel 28:1 puts it this way: “In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, ‘You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.’” The chickens have come home to roost and to make matters worse David is named as the enemy king’s personal bodyguard. Which means that if the Philistines win David will be forced to do the one thing he has steadfastly refused to do, kill king Saul. David’s plan to solve his own problems has not only backfired but led to his backsliding. He never intended to get into this mess, I’m sure in his mind going to live with the Philistines was just a temporary maneuver to buy some time. But now he is faced with the foolish results of his compromise. Man’s attempts to solve his problems typically leads to sin not a solution. Look David’s plan didn’t lead to peace it led to more problems and unless God intervened, David would be forced to fight against his own people. When you open the door of disobedience it always leads to destruction, one seemingly small compromise opens a cavern of compromise and before long you find yourself in over your head. So now the scene is set, the Philistine army is gather at Aphek to war against Israel with David and his men bringing up the rear. But before the battle can begin Achish’s generals come and complain, they object to David’s presence so Achish sends them away. Once again David seems to be off the hook, living for self seems to bring success, but as David and his men are march back to Ziklag they smell smoke and suddenly realize that their village has been raided. While they were gone, the Amalekites came and took their wives, their children, and all their possessions, and burned the village to the ground. Nothing is left. Why did this happen, because the Amalekites were part of the villages David raided when he was playing that little game of pretending to attack Judah. David not only raided those villages but he also killed the people to keep them from talking. He used death as a way to deceive and now the Amalekites have returned the favor. What started as discouragement led to disaster, David’s departure from obedience led to the deaths of many and as David stands in the blackened, smoking ruins of his rebellion he finally comes to his senses. After 16 months of compromise and disobedience, David stopped running and returned to the Lord. The turning point comes so suddenly that may miss it, 1 Samuel 30:6 says that “David found strength in the LORD his God.” David finally stopped relying on his own strength and surrendered to the Lord’s. David’s biggest problem was turning and trusting in his own plan. The truth is that he needed those lonely times on the run to teach him not to rely on self but only in the strength of the Lord. As long as David leaned on the Lord he experienced success, but every time he leaned on his own strength he experienced disaster. Christians understand that compromise with the world never leads to winning. Don’t let discouragement drive you to the door of disobedience instead let it drive you to your knees. Let discouragement drive you closer to the Father not father away. If you have departed from God’s plan and taken the door of disobedience then repent and return to God. Confess your sin of striving in your own strength and close the door to disobedience.