“Jesus’ Followers Are Different: Part Four”
Certain of Jesus: The Gospel of Luke
December 13, 2009
Luke 6:43-49
I’ll bet you can’t guess the title of this message!
Jesus’ Followers Are...Different! How did you know?
Maybe because this is part #4, the last message studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain in Luke chapter 6.
We’ve divided Jesus’ sermon up into 4 messages so that we can study it deeply, but Jesus delivered it as a whole.
He gave this whole thing in one message standing on a level place and preaching to a big crowd, but especially–His disciples. His followers.
Verse 20 says that Jesus specifically was looking at His disciples as He gave them these teachings.
This isn’t a message, so much for the world, as it is for us – for Jesus’ Followers.
And if we had to sum it all up, we would say that Jesus demands that His followers be different from the rest of the world.
Jesus’ Followers Are Different.
They act differently.
They believe differently.
They value things differently than others do.
They do different things.
Jesus’ followers belong to a different kingdom. His kingdom.
And His kingdom is different from the kingdom of this world.
Jesus’ followers should be and must be different.
In verses 43 through 49, Jesus begins to wrap up His sermon. This is the application section, the “so-what” section where He draws the threads of the message together and applies them to His followers.
It’s the culmination of the whole sermon and calls for action on our part.
Let’s start today with this question.
We’ve been ending with this question for the last four weeks.
Are you different?
Or let’s personalize it.
Am I different?
Do I stand out?
Do I stand out as a follower of Jesus?
Am I different?
Now, by that, I don’t mean am I weird.
We all know the answer to that one.
I am weird. I admit it.
But am I different from the world?
Am I like Jesus?
Can someone look at my life, at your life, at our lives, and say, “That person is different. They are like Jesus.”
Not, “Oooh, that person is perfect like Jesus was.”
Or worse, “Who does that person think they are? Jesus?!”
Of course, that’s the not worst thing someone could say about us.
The worst they could say is, “He’s a Christ-follower? I don’t believe it. Doesn’t seem like it to me. She is no different from anybody I know.”
Are you different?
Here’s why I ask.
Jesus says that His followers are different.
And #1. THEY CAN BE RECOGNIZED BY HOW THEY LIVE.
That’s what Jesus is talking about when he talks about trees and fruit in verses 43-45.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Do you see what’s being compared here?
As usual Jesus, the Master Teacher, uses a masterful set of images.
Trees and Fruit.
Fruit is the particular product of a particular kind of tree.
Each kind of fruit is intrinsically tied to a particular kind of tree.
That’s what Jesus is saying in verse 44, “People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.”
Can’t do it. That’s not how it works.
Apples from apple trees.
Pears from pear trees.
Money from money trees–I wish!
But you don’t get figs from thornbushes.
Or grapes from briers.
Now, Jesus isn’t talking about trees.
What are the trees in Jesus’ illustration?
Trees are people’s hearts.
And what is the fruit?
The fruit is the actions and words that come out of people’s hearts. V.45
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Jesus’ teaching here is incredibly easy to grasp and yet deeply profound.
Where do bad actions and bad words come from?
From bad hearts, right?
Like bad fruit from a bad tree.
Where do good actions and good words come from?
From good hearts like a good tree.
Our Adult Sunday School Class right called is called “Overflow” from verse 45, and we’ve has been talking about how we live out of hearts–either the good stored up in them or the bad stored up in them.
We can’t blame our bad words (lying, flattering, slamming, gossiping) on anything else than ourselves–our hearts.
And if we use good words – words that build up and not tear down– those come from transformed hearts. Good hearts made good by the Lord Himself.
If you’ve been around church the last five years or so, you’ve seen pictures like this one: a heart (or root) producing a life (or fruit) like this. We’ve learned a lot from the folks at CCEF about how we live out of hearts.
They get it from Jesus here in Luke 6.
And Jesus’ main point here is that you can recognize what kind of a tree you are looking at by look at the fruit. V.44 again.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
Jesus is saying that His disciples can be recognized, known, picked out by their lives–their actions and their words.
He’s not saying that they run around proclaiming, “I follow Jesus!” Thought that’s not always a bad thing.
He’s saying that the quality of their actions and the quality of their words show what kind of a heart they truly have.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
Are you different?
One of my friends is dying right now.
I got word this week that one my friends from college, a young lady named Valerie Yarbro is in hospice care right now for a deadly cancer that she’s been fighting for the last year and a half.
Valerie and her husband Ben were the first couple that I married. I got to officiate at their wedding back when I was still a youth pastor.
In May of 2008, Valerie found out that she had fast moving cancer in an advanced stage and there wasn’t anything the doctors could do.
What do you think Valerie has done with herself in these last 18 months?
What would you do if you knew that your time was very short?
Valerie has been living for God.
She created a website that has her last words on it.
She created a presentation called Words for the Journey of things she wants people to know before she goes and after she goes.
She has continued to try to serve her husband, Ben, and be a light to others.
She has produced good fruit.
And it’s recognizable.
Jesus’ followers can be recognized by how they live.
The fruit speaks.
What does your fruit say about you?
You may not be dying of cancer right now.
But you are living right now. What kind of fruit is popping off on your tree?
Can people tell that Jesus has invaded your life?
Real Christians have had their hearts changed by Jesus Christ.
He died on the Cross to pay for our sin and came back to life to give us a new kind of life. New hearts, good hearts that good things come from.
Now, Jesus knows that from the best of hearts right now still flow some badness.
There is still a wicked heart hanging around inside of all transformed hearts.
But He’s a good wisdom teacher, and He divides everything into two black and white categories so that we can see in stark contrast the two options that lay before us.
Good and bad.
Good trees and bad trees.
Good fruit and bad fruit.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
Are you different?
Jesus’ Followers Are Different.
#2. THEY DO WHAT THEIR LORD SAYS TO DO. V.46
“Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?”
He just got done saying that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
Now, he turns to those who speak–they say that Jesus is “Lord.”
They repeat themselves, “Lord, Lord.”
But they don’t do what their supposed Lord says to do.
They are hypocrites.
They say one thing (Lord) and do another (disobedience).
Christ-followers are not hypocrites.
They do what their Lord says to do.
In Matthew, where Jesus uses very similar words, He says that if people say, “Lord, Lord” but don’t do what He says, then His words for them are, “I never knew you. Depart from me.”
Those are some of the scariest words in the Bible!
Jesus’ followers do what their Lord says to do.
Jesus illustrates this with one of the greatest simple illustrations in history.
The story of the two builders. V.47
“I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
How do you like my picture up there of a house built upon the sand without a foundation?
This story tells itself.
What I want to point out is two things.
First, Jesus’ insistence that we build our lives on His words.
Notice how many times in one story He repeats, “My words.”
“I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock [What’s the rock? His words!]. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation [What’s the missing foundation? “His words!”]. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Jesus insists that His disciples build their lives upon His words and do them.
Putting His words into practice.
In context, what words are those?
It’s the whole sermon.
It’s the blessings of the beatitudes and the woes of verses 20-26.
It’s the command to love your enemies, loving them like you love yourself in verses 27-36.
It’s the command to be magnanimous and not condemnatory, gracious, discerning, and humble in verses 37-42.
These are the words of our Lord.
And we are His disciples if we practice them.
You aren’t a Christian just because you go to church.
You aren’t a Christian just because you tithe.
You aren’t a Christian just because you say you are.
You are a Christ follower if you live out Christ’s words.
You are Jesus’ follower if you do what your Lord says to do.
Jesus insists on it.
How are we doing with that?
Do we want to claim the name of Jesus but not obey the words of Jesus?
Are we different?
The second thing that we have to see is that storms will come.
Let me ask you: Which house did the flood strike?
The one with no foundation or the one on the rock?
Which house did the flood strike?
Both houses, right?
I can’t trick you.
Storms will come.
There is no question about that.
We are often surprised when they do, but we shouldn’t be.
Storms will come. Torrents of rain. Floods.
Problem. Trials. Difficulties. Hard things. Suffering.
The question is not whether or not the storms will come, but whether or not our lives will weather the storms.
Because of the foundation upon which we build.
Jesus’ words...or anything else.
When Valerie Yarbro got word of her cancer, I’m sure it was devastating to her.
It’s taking her life and her husband has to watch the life ebb out of her.
I’ve seen pictures.
She has terrible Job-like sores all over her body.
The storm has come.
But her house stands.
The torrent struck but could not shake her because she has built her life on the words of her Lord.
Not just His promises.
But His commands.
Not just “I will be with you.”
But “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
I think that Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain is some of the strangest and hardest teaching in the world.
But if we take it to heart and build our lives on it...we will stand.
Some of you know that last week, I was successful at deer hunting for the first time.
John Kristofits took us out to what’s called Tark Hollow out off of Huckleberry Road.
And we went down past a little quarry there to hunt. Some of you know where I’m talking about.
They tell me that that quarry is called “House Rocks.”
Because the rocks there were as a big as houses. The State quarried those huge rocks out of there to lay as the foundation for Interstate 80.
Because of that, I-80 is solid and isn’t going anywhere.
Jesus’ words are bigger rocks than house rocks.
They are LIFE ROCKS, and we can build our lives on them.
By faith, let’s do what Jesus says.
Messages So Far in Certain of Jesus:
Certain of Jesus
The Back-Story of Jesus
The Birth of Jesus
Jesus - A Very Special Child
Preparing the Way for Jesus
Jesus Is the Son of God
Jesus in Galilee
Jesus and the Sinners
Jesus Brings Real Joy and Rest
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part One
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Two
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Three
Certain of Jesus: The Gospel of Luke
December 13, 2009
Luke 6:43-49
I’ll bet you can’t guess the title of this message!
Jesus’ Followers Are...Different! How did you know?
Maybe because this is part #4, the last message studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain in Luke chapter 6.
We’ve divided Jesus’ sermon up into 4 messages so that we can study it deeply, but Jesus delivered it as a whole.
He gave this whole thing in one message standing on a level place and preaching to a big crowd, but especially–His disciples. His followers.
Verse 20 says that Jesus specifically was looking at His disciples as He gave them these teachings.
This isn’t a message, so much for the world, as it is for us – for Jesus’ Followers.
And if we had to sum it all up, we would say that Jesus demands that His followers be different from the rest of the world.
Jesus’ Followers Are Different.
They act differently.
They believe differently.
They value things differently than others do.
They do different things.
Jesus’ followers belong to a different kingdom. His kingdom.
And His kingdom is different from the kingdom of this world.
Jesus’ followers should be and must be different.
In verses 43 through 49, Jesus begins to wrap up His sermon. This is the application section, the “so-what” section where He draws the threads of the message together and applies them to His followers.
It’s the culmination of the whole sermon and calls for action on our part.
Let’s start today with this question.
We’ve been ending with this question for the last four weeks.
Are you different?
Or let’s personalize it.
Am I different?
Do I stand out?
Do I stand out as a follower of Jesus?
Am I different?
Now, by that, I don’t mean am I weird.
We all know the answer to that one.
I am weird. I admit it.
But am I different from the world?
Am I like Jesus?
Can someone look at my life, at your life, at our lives, and say, “That person is different. They are like Jesus.”
Not, “Oooh, that person is perfect like Jesus was.”
Or worse, “Who does that person think they are? Jesus?!”
Of course, that’s the not worst thing someone could say about us.
The worst they could say is, “He’s a Christ-follower? I don’t believe it. Doesn’t seem like it to me. She is no different from anybody I know.”
Are you different?
Here’s why I ask.
Jesus says that His followers are different.
And #1. THEY CAN BE RECOGNIZED BY HOW THEY LIVE.
That’s what Jesus is talking about when he talks about trees and fruit in verses 43-45.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Do you see what’s being compared here?
As usual Jesus, the Master Teacher, uses a masterful set of images.
Trees and Fruit.
Fruit is the particular product of a particular kind of tree.
Each kind of fruit is intrinsically tied to a particular kind of tree.
That’s what Jesus is saying in verse 44, “People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.”
Can’t do it. That’s not how it works.
Apples from apple trees.
Pears from pear trees.
Money from money trees–I wish!
But you don’t get figs from thornbushes.
Or grapes from briers.
Now, Jesus isn’t talking about trees.
What are the trees in Jesus’ illustration?
Trees are people’s hearts.
And what is the fruit?
The fruit is the actions and words that come out of people’s hearts. V.45
“The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”
Jesus’ teaching here is incredibly easy to grasp and yet deeply profound.
Where do bad actions and bad words come from?
From bad hearts, right?
Like bad fruit from a bad tree.
Where do good actions and good words come from?
From good hearts like a good tree.
Our Adult Sunday School Class right called is called “Overflow” from verse 45, and we’ve has been talking about how we live out of hearts–either the good stored up in them or the bad stored up in them.
We can’t blame our bad words (lying, flattering, slamming, gossiping) on anything else than ourselves–our hearts.
And if we use good words – words that build up and not tear down– those come from transformed hearts. Good hearts made good by the Lord Himself.
If you’ve been around church the last five years or so, you’ve seen pictures like this one: a heart (or root) producing a life (or fruit) like this. We’ve learned a lot from the folks at CCEF about how we live out of hearts.
They get it from Jesus here in Luke 6.
And Jesus’ main point here is that you can recognize what kind of a tree you are looking at by look at the fruit. V.44 again.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
Jesus is saying that His disciples can be recognized, known, picked out by their lives–their actions and their words.
He’s not saying that they run around proclaiming, “I follow Jesus!” Thought that’s not always a bad thing.
He’s saying that the quality of their actions and the quality of their words show what kind of a heart they truly have.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
Are you different?
One of my friends is dying right now.
Valerie and her husband Ben were the first couple that I married. I got to officiate at their wedding back when I was still a youth pastor.
In May of 2008, Valerie found out that she had fast moving cancer in an advanced stage and there wasn’t anything the doctors could do.
What do you think Valerie has done with herself in these last 18 months?
What would you do if you knew that your time was very short?
Valerie has been living for God.
She created a website that has her last words on it.
She created a presentation called Words for the Journey of things she wants people to know before she goes and after she goes.
She has continued to try to serve her husband, Ben, and be a light to others.
She has produced good fruit.
And it’s recognizable.
Jesus’ followers can be recognized by how they live.
The fruit speaks.
What does your fruit say about you?
You may not be dying of cancer right now.
But you are living right now. What kind of fruit is popping off on your tree?
Can people tell that Jesus has invaded your life?
Real Christians have had their hearts changed by Jesus Christ.
He died on the Cross to pay for our sin and came back to life to give us a new kind of life. New hearts, good hearts that good things come from.
Now, Jesus knows that from the best of hearts right now still flow some badness.
There is still a wicked heart hanging around inside of all transformed hearts.
But He’s a good wisdom teacher, and He divides everything into two black and white categories so that we can see in stark contrast the two options that lay before us.
Good and bad.
Good trees and bad trees.
Good fruit and bad fruit.
“Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.”
Are you different?
Jesus’ Followers Are Different.
#2. THEY DO WHAT THEIR LORD SAYS TO DO. V.46
“Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?”
He just got done saying that out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
Now, he turns to those who speak–they say that Jesus is “Lord.”
They repeat themselves, “Lord, Lord.”
But they don’t do what their supposed Lord says to do.
They are hypocrites.
They say one thing (Lord) and do another (disobedience).
Christ-followers are not hypocrites.
They do what their Lord says to do.
In Matthew, where Jesus uses very similar words, He says that if people say, “Lord, Lord” but don’t do what He says, then His words for them are, “I never knew you. Depart from me.”
Those are some of the scariest words in the Bible!
Jesus’ followers do what their Lord says to do.
Jesus illustrates this with one of the greatest simple illustrations in history.
The story of the two builders. V.47
“I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
This story tells itself.
What I want to point out is two things.
First, Jesus’ insistence that we build our lives on His words.
Notice how many times in one story He repeats, “My words.”
“I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock [What’s the rock? His words!]. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation [What’s the missing foundation? “His words!”]. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
Jesus insists that His disciples build their lives upon His words and do them.
Putting His words into practice.
In context, what words are those?
It’s the whole sermon.
It’s the blessings of the beatitudes and the woes of verses 20-26.
It’s the command to love your enemies, loving them like you love yourself in verses 27-36.
It’s the command to be magnanimous and not condemnatory, gracious, discerning, and humble in verses 37-42.
These are the words of our Lord.
And we are His disciples if we practice them.
You aren’t a Christian just because you go to church.
You aren’t a Christian just because you tithe.
You aren’t a Christian just because you say you are.
You are a Christ follower if you live out Christ’s words.
You are Jesus’ follower if you do what your Lord says to do.
Jesus insists on it.
How are we doing with that?
Do we want to claim the name of Jesus but not obey the words of Jesus?
Are we different?
The second thing that we have to see is that storms will come.
Let me ask you: Which house did the flood strike?
The one with no foundation or the one on the rock?
Which house did the flood strike?
Both houses, right?
I can’t trick you.
Storms will come.
There is no question about that.
We are often surprised when they do, but we shouldn’t be.
Storms will come. Torrents of rain. Floods.
Problem. Trials. Difficulties. Hard things. Suffering.
The question is not whether or not the storms will come, but whether or not our lives will weather the storms.
Because of the foundation upon which we build.
Jesus’ words...or anything else.
When Valerie Yarbro got word of her cancer, I’m sure it was devastating to her.
It’s taking her life and her husband has to watch the life ebb out of her.
I’ve seen pictures.
She has terrible Job-like sores all over her body.
The storm has come.
But her house stands.
The torrent struck but could not shake her because she has built her life on the words of her Lord.
Not just His promises.
But His commands.
Not just “I will be with you.”
But “Do to others as you would have them do to you.”
I think that Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain is some of the strangest and hardest teaching in the world.
But if we take it to heart and build our lives on it...we will stand.
Some of you know that last week, I was successful at deer hunting for the first time.
John Kristofits took us out to what’s called Tark Hollow out off of Huckleberry Road.
And we went down past a little quarry there to hunt. Some of you know where I’m talking about.
They tell me that that quarry is called “House Rocks.”
Because the rocks there were as a big as houses. The State quarried those huge rocks out of there to lay as the foundation for Interstate 80.
Because of that, I-80 is solid and isn’t going anywhere.
Jesus’ words are bigger rocks than house rocks.
They are LIFE ROCKS, and we can build our lives on them.
By faith, let’s do what Jesus says.
Messages So Far in Certain of Jesus:
Certain of Jesus
The Back-Story of Jesus
The Birth of Jesus
Jesus - A Very Special Child
Preparing the Way for Jesus
Jesus Is the Son of God
Jesus in Galilee
Jesus and the Sinners
Jesus Brings Real Joy and Rest
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part One
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Two
Jesus' Followers Are Different: Part Three
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