Why Don't You Do What I Say?

Oh, good morning, church. It's good to see you. It is good to be here. I wasn't planning on preaching this service, but I'm glad I am. And let me tell you why. Um, I actually was heading into the summer thinking I was not going to speak for almost eight weeks. and uh a lot going on on our campus, a lot of things I'm involved in and and uh I I just thought this would be great. Our church can hear uh so much more of our team and and enjoy it.

And frankly, it's been absolutely wonderful. I've enjoyed every message. Uh I'm sure you have too. I'd enjoyed Wes. I I enjoyed uh Karen and Adrien and Danny and uh um and and even Shaven online and uh Domingo's going to be next weekend. it it's just you have a clear picture uh of our teaching team and how strong it is and I just believe that we've been very intentional about that and I believe that matters a whole lot and Shaven was supposed to be here in person.

We already had the tickets and everything. Uh he he did a a whole uh seminar and in Singapore came back from S Singapore and ended up getting a triple bypass. So he uh he obviously was not not here. He is doing amazing. Surgery went well. His recovery is doing so so well. And and I know what that's like. I tell you, he's just doing so well. U we'll we'll have him back here again soon in person. But uh that's the reason I'm speaking this morning. And a number of weeks ago, you heard Karen share uh our team that came back from uh the orphanage.

In scripture, by the way, not only Jesus, but even through the Old Testament, the scripture is very clear, challenging us, the body of Christ, challenging us, the church, a and telling us, he gives us two categories that he says, make sure you take care of these, and that is the widows and the orphans. out of all all the groups and all the categories that are were in their lives and have been for thousands of years down to our current, those are the two that scripture mentions and even Jesus mentioned.

Make sure that you take care of the widows and the orphans. And Karen stood here months ago before our church family and said, "Listen, we're going to the orphanage. It's an orphanage that we we know well. We know the leadership well. It's an orphanage that we trust. It's an orphanage that that is taking kids in from the street and taking kids out of incredibly abusive situations and bringing them into this orphanage and raising them in a way that not only educates them and clothes them and feeds them and builds community and family there and teaches them the gospel of Jesus Christ from a young age all the way up.

so successful that that even one of their one of their kids is now serving at the orphanage. And Karen said, "Will you go?" Jesus says, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you do not do what I say?" And and and she stood before our group. And 11 of you said, "Yes, I'll do that." 11 of you listened to basically listen to what Jesus said. Take care of the widows and the orphans. and and not not only said yes, I'll do that, but but paid their own way to go and do that.

The church is a big deal. It's life transformation. It's it's one one of the things that we are just so glad to be doing. And and I and I you can you can be a part of things like that. And um I encourage you on on our school drive. Listen, here here's what we're doing, church. We're dealing with families, many families who cannot afford to buy school supplies for their kids. We are intentional about reaching out to families who are at that hurting at that level, living life at that level.

And so when you go out and grab whatever the whatever whichever thing you grab and or you go and you buy a shirt for for a kid, you are doing more than you realize. We are we are helping families who are at a place where they just really need it. So hats off to Camelback. We kill it all the time with this kind of stuff. And so Lord bless you as you do that. We're in this series. Good question. I I the subject that Karen opened up.

I I just I just wanted to pick it up and keep on going with it. And that's this question. Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you do not do what I say? Wh why why do you do that? You see, we ask questions because we want information. We we want to know about about the universe. We want to know is there a God? We we want to know about our bodies. We we want to know all kinds of things. And so we ask questions.

Jesus doesn't do that. Jesus asks questions because he knows that we need information. And that's why we're walking through this series. That's why all through your scripture, Jesus stopped and would often ask a question when he was asked a question. It's almost like with this passage, Jesus is saying, "Look, if you believe that I am, if you believe in me, if you believe that I am who I am, why don't you do what I say? If if you believe that I am God, scripture refers to him as the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end.

Everything all everything happened because of him. Everything was created because of him. He was tent intentional in the beginning to create everything because he knew he was creating us and he was building a family that was going to last for eternity. We ask questions but he asks questions so that answers that we need we will get. But instead instead what we do is we tend to treat him just like he's other things in our lives. We live we live our lives and and and we take apart of the culture and and we take apart of social media and we we take our relationships and and and and we take our finances and and we we take our our past and and our hopes for the future and and then we take God and we we put it all together in this kind of a group and and we live our lives in light of all of that.

And Jesus is saying, you know, there are so many things that I know that you don't know, but you can take advantage of the fact that I know and it will transform your life. As a matter of fact, Jesus says, you will live life more abundantly. And and one translation says, you will live life to the full. And somehow we just settle for less than that. We treat Jesus almost the same way we treat our taxes or our diet or our exercising. We we we sometimes do it and we sometimes don't.

Or we we treat him the way we the way we treat our giving. We treat him the way we make promises to people that are the closest to us and and don't quite fulfill. See, it's almost like we have this attitude not of how well can I obey him. We kind of have this attitude of how little can I do and still call myself faithful? H how much can I get away? It's it's for examples there's this we all kind of know a part of this in our lives.

We can we can look at this figurative person and and recognize most of the traits that really have been us at some point. We tithe, but not really. We pray before meals, but only when we're with certain groups. We tell the truth unless the truth costs us something. We call Jesus Lord on Sunday, but we kind of negotiate with him through the rest of the week. what's the least that I can do here and still be considered faithful? And some sometimes that not not intate not intentionally going there but we find ourselves drifting there.

As a matter of fact, there's a phrase that we use [cough and clears throat] as followers of Christ as as Christians we we refer to Jesus as our Lord and our Savior. Jesus is and and and that the the heart of God wants to be our Lord and our Savior. And we say those two words together kind of like they're one phrase. We we don't you know we but the reality is they're two totally different things. They're not the same. They're very different. Matter of fact, savior means I'm forgiven.

I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I've accepted Jesus as my savior. So my believing on him and accepting him as my savior places me in his family. I'm his child because of what he did on Calvary, paying the price for my sins. When when I leave this planet, and by the way, we all do. You may be under some illusion that you're going to live a long time. That long time gets short quickly. We all are going to leave this planet. The word is die. Might not want to hear it.

Word is die. And and when I do because of what Jesus did, the Bible says to be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. And and I believe that. So he is my savior. But this word Lord I it means something else entirely. It it actually means that he's in charge. He's He's my Lord, so he's in charge. It actually means that his word outranks my preference. It means that when God's word says something and I kind of want to do something else, guess who's right?

Guess who's wrong? We choose right or we choose wrong. it that that's what this word Lord means. And we're real comfortable with Savior, not real comfortable with that Lord thing because we love making our own decisions. And God, creator of the universe, knows everything about everything all the time, every there's nothing he doesn't know and can't do. And yet when he says something somehow it's a difficult choice for us to say yes okay and do it. And so often we live in this land of doing what we want to do.

So here's the question. You see we're so confident about this savior part but are we confident about this lord part? Because if Jesus is only our savior and he's not our Lord, then what you and I have is a rescue plan, not a relationship. And Jesus died so that you and I could have a relationship with God. God sent his son in human form in a way that in every way we could relate to him. 100% God, 100% man. Only God could do this. There is not another religion on the planet that steps in front of your face and in front of my face and says, "Here it is." And it's truth.

And he gives us his word. And he puts his Holy Spirit inside of us as we accept him to work in our heart and in our lives to take this and apply it in our lives and transform our lives. And he does it over and over and over again. And as slow as we are in complying, he comes right along with us. And as fast as we are in complying, he comes right along with us. He actually always works at his pace, understanding our pace, never missing a beat.

And we can walk through life, not go very far in our relationship with him, or we can walk through life and make strides in our relationship with him and make a difference. that staggers even ourselves. It is what the heart of God wants to do. See, we we we we kind of want that get out of hell freak card. We don't we struggle with the rest. And all of us somewhere in our lives have a [snorts] place where we have carefully read the rule and we've kind of found a gap and we've decided that that gap is permission and and we take that gap on as permission.

It shows up in ways like maybe you talk to someone and maybe the way you talk to someone the moment or talk about someone the moment they leave the room or or maybe for you you talk to people and you talk down to them or you talk to them as as if they were they don't meet up to your standards. One of the things I noticed Karen does, I've noticed a while ago when we go out to eat, uh, she will begin to talk to the server.

And if the server has a name tag, she will refer to them with their name and and just engage in conversation. And then if they don't have a name tag, she will ask them their name. And then she will she will begin conversation as if she were talking to someone who was right at her level. The conversation is is never never demanding or or never asking or or never. It's it's always as if the other person was at the same level that she is in every way and in every sense.

And and it's noticeable. It's so different than than than the way so many of of us treat our waiters or waitresses or someone who serves us. it. The communication level was encouraging and it was building up and it was healthy and it was as if it was the way Jesus would have done it being intentional and and Jesus says Jesus says why do you call me Lord Lord but you don't do the things I say treating someone just the way you would want to be treated is is what he asks us saying yes to go to an orphanage not real close to where we are is doing what he says.

Or maybe for you it's a version of of honesty that you practice at work where you you never tell a lie but but when it's kind of best you leave some stuff out. Or maybe it's what you watch when nobody's watching. Or maybe it's how you treat your spouse in private, which is very different than you treat your spouse in public. Or maybe you're in school and you've been incredibly genius as to how you were able to hide a piece of paper with some answers on it when you're taking a test.

Or maybe you just don't listen when Jesus says you should do this or you should do this. See, Jesus said this. He had just finished the longest sermon ever, the sermon on the mount. And he talked about all kinds of things. He talked about marriage. He talked about divorce. He talked about um loving our enemies. He he he covered a gamut of subjects that covered just about everything and he talked about not judging and he talked about a tree bearing fruit and he talked about us bearing fruit and he t he covered it all and he comes he after talking about all of that Jesus makes this statement he says why don't you call me Lord Lord why do you call me Lord Lord and you don't do what I say.

And then he goes on a little bit further. He he says this, "Anyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, let me show you what they're like." And then Jesus not only gives us this information, he he knows people. He He knew people of his day. He knew that what he was going to tell them was going to be put in his word. And for thousands of years, people were going to hear with such clarity the difference between these two.

And everybody, everybody from the moment he spoke it all the way down through the staircase of time and eternity, even to where you and I are today, every one of us are just going to very clearly understand what he says. So, so let me read to you what he says. He he says this. They are like a man building a house, not hard. You can follow. Who dug down deep and laid the foundation on the rock and when the flood came, the turret struck that house, but it could not shake it because it was well built.

Do you want your life well built? Simple. nothing hard about this. Makes it so clear. And he doesn't stop there. He says, ' Okay, but if you don't do that, if you choose not to do that, if you choose not to do the things I say, he said, 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 turret struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete, complete, gone, done, there no more.

The Arabian horse, Arabian horses, they've they've been around for thousands of years. And Arabian horses are the result of training at a level that would probably bother some of us. See, Arabian horses are intelligent. They're spirited. They're affectionate. They're highly trainable. And and they actually bond well with humans. And Arabian horses are trained for endurance. And they're trained through a very specific method. and and and the method is they're deprived of water for an extended period of time and then they're released near the source of water.

And as the horse approaches the water, right at the edge, right before drinking, the trainer actually blows a whistle. And that horse, if it's properly trained, turns around and walks back to the trainer, even if its thirst has not been quenched. And then the trainer rewards the horse in full. [snorts] Obedience. Obedience isn't tested in easy moments. I I I want you to see this. Well, you might even want to grab your phone and take a picture of this because because this this matters. Obedience is not tested in the easy moments.

It is tested exactly at the point where disobedience is easiest to justify the the place that you come to where where disobedience is an easier choice to make. And when Jesus said this, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and you don't do the things that I say? He totally understood this. And this is where he's pointing us because that's the place where you and I find ourselves in all sorts of subjects and issues and he knows it. My first point this morning is title means nothing unless the life follows it.

Why do you call me Lord Lord? Interesting in the original language when someone used the title or a name twice it it actually meant uh it actually meant a passionate conviction. It was it was it wasn't just saying a title or a name. It's it's saying it as if you're saying that's who you are to me. When someone said it twice, it was Lord, Lord, meaning that you are my Lord. See, there's one thing to call him Lord, and it's another thing to just refer to him as your savior or it's one thing to call him Savior and then Lord, but then not really allow him to be your Lord.

I want to look at another passage of scripture with you because for years people have there's a question that I've been asked for years and early on in in getting this question my answer was different than it is now. I I can't tell you how many times people have asked me is Judas in heaven or in hell and we could take a survey. You could raise your hands but but then some of you would be wrong and I don't want you to feel bad. So I we'll just go on and not do that.

Okay. Is he in heaven or is he in hell? And early on I would say, you know what, only the Lord knows. When the truth of the matter is, we know, we absolutely know where Judah is. I want to look at a passage of scripture with you for two reasons. And this this is in uh uh John chapter 26. And this is right at the point where Jesus is having communion with the 12 the night before he's betrayed. And and it says, "While they were eating, he said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me." They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely you don't mean me, Lord." All 11, one after the other, "Surely you don't mean me, Lord." And then Judas uh Jesus says the one Jesus replied the one who has dipped his hand in the bowl with me will betray me the son of man who will go just as it is written about him.

In other words, all of this is going to happen, but I'm going to do what I have to do. Nothing is going to deter me from doing what I need to do. I I'm going to the cross there. Nothing's going to deter that. He said, "But woe to the man who betrays the son of man." And look what Jesus says. He says, "It would be better for him if he had never been born." And then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely you don't mean me, Rabbi." See, Judas doesn't call him Lord.

Judas calls him Rabbi. Rabbi, see Jesus in in John 17 refers to Judas as the son of predition, which means the son of destruction or doomed to eternal life. That's why Jesus said it would have been better for him if he had never been born. So, we know where Judas is. But all 12 refer to Jesus as Lord. He's my savior and he is my lord. Which means you are God. You are my savior. You have all authority and and I have my faith in you.

Judas says rabbi. He says rabbi which means teacher. You see Judas is saying teacher. He's saying, "Jesus, you're you're cool. Jesus, you're very smart. I I I love being in your entourage, Jesus." You see, church, if if just because we think that Jesus is cool or that he's smart or that he can do something for us, that does not mean that you and I are converted. When we believe in Jesus and we accept him as our savior and and and and we we we make the decision to follow him, we turn from the direction we were going and we follow him and we're on this path of following Jesus.

That is a whole other story. That's salvation. And then comes this whole story of Lord. That's what makes this question so important. Why do you call me Lord? Lord, do you know why? You know why it's important? Because Jesus here, he's not talking to his enemies. He He's not even talking to people who have rejected him. He's talking to people who have called him Lord. They're saying Lord, Lord. and and and actually then they go on and live their lives as if he never said anything.

Those are the people he's talking to. So title only matters if the way you live flows from that title. The second thing I notice is foundation words are not home improvement words. Two totally different. See, curb appeal doesn't mean a hill of beans if a house does not have a foundation. You can buy a house and start remodeling it and and and you're going to put in a new kitchen or you're going to put in a and then and then while you're digging through you f you find out that oh there's we have problems with our foundation or we have we have problems with our structures or we have termites or we we have see two two totally different areas.

And Jesus doesn't leave this passage of scripture with just a warning. He he gives the warning, but then he goes on. He He's so good with this. He He goes on to give two pictures that nobody can misunderstand. He He makes this so clear that you can't screw this up. You You can't not understand this. Let me just read part of this in the Message Bible, the same passage of scripture. And then I'll pick it up. You can pick it up on the screen in in a little bit.

But but as it starts it out, he says, "Why are you so polite with me?" Always saying, "Yes, sir. That's right, sir." But never doing a thing I tell you. These words that I speak, these words I speak to you, they're not mere additions to your life. They're not homeowner improvements to your standard of living. We can take Jesus into our life because we think that we're going to benefit from Jesus and and he'll get us this or he'll get us that. He goes on and he paints such a clear picture.

You can follow this on the screen. It's it's their foundation words. Words to build a life on. If you work the words into your life, you're like a smart carpenter who dug deep and laid a foundation of his house on bedrock. And when the river burst its banks, it crashed into the house. Nothing could shake it because it was built to last. You can This is so clear. You can't miss this. He's saying this if if you'll do this, this is what it will do. If if you hear my words and you just say yes and you apply them in your life, this is what it will do.

But and he paints us the other picture to make things even more clear. This is so simple. I I want to make sure it's hard to mess this up, but I want to make sure we don't mess it up. Look what he says here. He says, "But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a dumb Yeah, put that word in there. Like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation when the swollen river came crashing in.

It collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss, leaving nothing to the imagination. If you hear my words and do them, this is the result. If you hear my words and you don't do them, this is the result. And Jesus paints that picture after he says to you, "Why do you call me Lord, Lord?" and you don't do the things I say. See, his words are not additions. [snorts] They're foundation. The foundation's not optional. It's it's just And just because you can't see the foundation from the street doesn't mean it doesn't matter.

It matters because the storm comes and the house is gone. Here's a question for you and a question for me. Where is the edge of water right now in your life? When when the Arabian horse is at the water's edge and the trainer blows the whistle, it's like Jesus saying, "This is what I want you to do." And we turn and we do it. And the horse hears the whistle and he turns and he goes, "This is not a question for the person next to you.

It's a question for the room. It's a question for you and it's a question for me." And I could have put a list together here. I could have put a list together as to what this is. But but here's what I know. When when God sent his son, paid the price for our sins, we accepted him as our savior. And Jesus left to go to heaven. He turned and he said, "Listen, it's good for you that I go. It It's the best for you that I go because my spirit my spirit is going to live inside of you." And that means every one of you only God could do this.

And and so Jesus leaves and he sends his holy spirit bless you to live inside of each of us at work inside of each of us. And and I could have put a list together, but here's what I know. I don't need to because what I know about God and the heart of God and the work of his Holy Spirit in our lives, whatever the issues are for you, whatever we're talking about here in your life, he will just raise to the level that it comes to your thought process almost instantly.

So, so I don't I don't need to put a list together, but where have you stood at the wat's edge? You see, we have gotten remarkably skilled as I read this passage of scripture. We've gotten so skilled at finding our own version of obedience and calling it faithfulness. And when Jesus asks us to do things, we we find the loophole and and we don't do it. You see two builders, same sermon, same words, same storm. One of them dug deep and built their house on the rock.

And you know what the other one did? He just built the house on the surface because digging was hard. And the surface was right there. And he becomes our savior when we allow him to be our lord. He begins to ask us things and and point things out in our lives and says, "You'll be better off without that. Your life will be better if you did do this." and we can walk through his word and and fellowship together and and spend Sundays together [clears throat] and allow him to train us and teach us and grow his family and and grow us in ways that that that that would even amaze us.

Both called him Lord, but only one meant it. And the storm, it's not a question of if, it's a question of when. And and on the day of the storm, and the the storms will come. They will always come on that day. It won't even matter what title you use. The only thing that's going to matter is the foundation. Did you and did I? When Jesus said, "Why don't why don't you begin to do this?" And we said, "Yes, the foundation was being built." when when when we said no I think I'd better that well the foundation was not be he see he doesn't ask questions because he wants information he asks questions but because you and I need the answer why do you call me Lord and you do not do what I say and Jesus is always the answer he's our savior and he's our lord and you and I get to choose choose.

Am I going to really allow him to be my Lord? It takes a decision. It takes you and I saying yes. And then step by step when his Holy Spirit and some all around this room, there's an issue that has risen clearly in your thought process. Do you know why? Because the Holy Spirit can be depended on. And just like he can be depended on to rise that issue to your level of consciousness, Jesus is saying, "Okay, what are you going to do about it?" And we make the decision to say, "I'm going to say yes." And that same Holy Spirit, which has the p the same Holy Spirit that had the power to raise Jesus from the dead, will take that issue in your life and put it in your past.

If you'll commit to saying yes and you'll be obedient to Jesus, the issues are all over the place. All kinds of areas in your life and in my life. The heart of God, the work of the Holy Spirit in your life and in my life, taking us and making us more like Jesus. The goal isn't to know all of the Bible. The goal is to become like Jesus. And we we all see the areas all the time that we recognize that we're not becoming like Jesus because they will pop up all over the place.

And this gracious, loving, caring, wonderful God with a heart of compassion for you so deep and so rich and a love for you so rich that he laid Jesus laid his life down for your sins and for my sins. Don't believe the enemy that will say to you, "Yeah, but." And whatever that yeah but is but you're not good enough. But but you have to wait till now. The heart of God is all in on his love for you. Every single one of us. Stand with me.

Here's a question I have for you. on Sundays after the message as you slip out into the cafe, you enjoy your hot dog and [snorts] all the stuff that we always do because we care about you because we want you to enjoy church. When you leave here, is your thought process, well, that that was that was an interesting message or or that was good or is your heart at a place where you're willing to say, you know what, whatever the issue is that that God is dealing with you and dealing with me, I I really want this fixed because otherwise you end up leaving here and a year later you you have the same issue, only things are worse.

And a year has gone by and and we can let that happen over and over again. And and we can hear God challenge us Sunday by Sunday and walk out and and and I almost want to start each Sunday morning by saying, "What did you do with last week's message? What did I do with last week's message? I preached it. Do I remember what it was? But can we walk out of here with the seriousness of Lord, I want you to fix this in my life?

He has put his Holy Spirit inside of you. He can do it. You and I need to decide. Whatever that issue is for you, we're going to fix it. Let me pray with you. Lord, I I am just so grateful that you are my God. I'm so thankful that God himself loved me enough to bring me into his family and did whatever it would take to make that happen and that I live in the benefit of that. And Lord, you know clearly. You know my weaknesses and my failures.

I pray Father, not just for me, but every one of us here that issue that your Holy Spirit just lifted to the surface. I pray each one in this room, God, I pray for a touch from you. Each one in this room, whatever the issue is, you'd give them the courage, give us the courage, give us the strength, and give us the wisdom to say yes to you, understanding that you are God and this is what you want to fix. Do it. We ask in your name we pray.

Church, would you say amen with me?