22: Examine Yourself (Luke 6:43-7:10)

We are about to PRAY. But before we do I want to ask you to pray for the person to your right & left…Pray with me. (pray for people beside us)

Now I want you to pray for the person in this picture. This person is hard headed & much more likely to think about how today’s teaching applies to others than how it applies to them. In a moment we will pray that God would do a GREAT WORK in this person today.

Let me show you who I’m talking about.

MIRROR

I thought about having all of you take a ‘selfie,’ but then I thought I might not EVER get you back once all the laughter, silly faces, & falling out of seats began.

PRAY Father, we pray for ourselves…help us to examine our own lives today.

A man and his wife once pulled into a gas station to refuel their car.  As the tank was being refilled, the station attendant washed the windshield. When he finished, the driver of the car said, "The windshield is still dirty.  Wash it again."

"Yes, sir," the attendant answered. As he scrubbed the windshield a second time, he looked closely for any bugs or dirt he might have missed. When he finished, the man in the car became angry. "It's still dirty!" he yelled. "Don't you know how to wash a windshield?  Do it again!"

The attendant cleaned the windshield a third time, carefully looking for any place he might have missed, but could find no messy spots anywhere. By now, the driver was fuming. He screamed, "This windshield is still filthy! I'm going to talk to your boss to make sure you don't work here another day. You are the lousiest windshield washer I have ever seen!"

As he was about to get out of the car, his wife reached over and removed his glasses. She carefully wiped them with a tissue, then put them back on his face. The driver embarrassingly slumped down into his seat as he observed a spotless windshield.

As we talked about last week, we all have a tendency to blame another before we blame ourselves. We must remove the plank from our eye before we can see clearly how to remove the speck from the eyes of others.

Today God wants you to Examine Yourself.

You Examine Yourself everyday in front of a mirror. The problem is, what you see in the mirror can’t reveal the part of you that matters most, the part that reveals the TRUE U.

Luke 6:43-44 (NIV)

43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.

The quality of the fruit reveals the condition of tree it came from. Jesus told His Jewish audience you don’t get fat figs from a thorn bush or good grapes from briers. People in that day would have nodded in agreement. Then Jesus connects the metaphor to real life.

Just as a good tree produces good fruit & a bad tree produces bad fruit, so too…

Luke 6:45 (NIV)

45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart [good fruit], and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart [bad fruit]. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

Actions, Attitudes & Words are the fruits that reveal the condition of the heart.

The Bible is clear that mankind is NOT basically good, but is bent toward selfishness & pride. But rather than recognize a person has evil stored in his heart, we make excuses:

“Well I know he’s been arrested several times…but he’s a good guy.” No he’s not. He might show moments of kindness, but there’s a REASON why he disobeys authority. He is untrustworthy & won’t submit to God who gives us authorities.

“I know she fillets people with her words, but she really has a good heart.” No she doesn’t. Her heart is evil and just like the old saying goes, “What’s down in the well comes up in the bucket.”

“Well I know…” and we make excuses for sour attitudes, lies, sexual impurities, bad language, pride, & selfishness just to name a few.

Our ACTIONS, ATTITUDES, & WORDS demonstrate who we REALLY are. And outside of being surrendered & transformed by the power of Jesus, we all have some pretty nasty fruit.

Now before you start thinking of other people…you probably already have…Remember, the goal today is not to examine others, but to Examine Yourself. Just to drive this a little deeper, I want you to see something you might never forget.

Worry bout you-self!

As you ‘worry bout you-self’ - what kind of FRUIT do you see in YOUR LIFE?

Over the course of the last 3 teachings in Luke we have heard Jesus teaching on the Mountain:

How to be Blessed Are you Living on Earth with Eternity in Mind?

Love LOUD (Love your enemies) Do you Serve ‘em BEFORE they Deserve it?

Is it Ever Okay to JUDGE? Do you Judge WITH Mercy & WITHOUT Hypocrisy?

Luke 6:46 (NIV)

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

Lord can be the Gentile equivalent for ‘Rabbi’ or a Jewish term of respect like we might use ‘Reverend’ or ‘sir’.

Lord might also be used as a term for someone in authority over you.

Lord is also the Greek term that replaced the Hebrew YHWH.

When a Jew would Read YHWH in Hebrew he would then...

Replace with Adon or Adonai

Greek LXX translated from Hebrew Adon to Greek kurios

kurios translates to Our English Lord.

So Lord can be used as a term of 1) Respect 2) Authority, or 3) God Himself.

In this context, to say Lord, Lord is to passionately proclaim Jesus as your ultimate AUTHORITY. What HE says, you will DO. The problem is that many listening to Jesus…maybe many listening to me, proclaim Jesus is Lord with their lips, but not with their lives.

“1) I respect you…2) I trust you as my authority and 3) as followers came to understand - You are God with skin on…the ultimate authority in my life…but I refuse to DO what you SAY.”

But those who call Jesus Lord must:-2349500

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Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience

Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience

If you refuse to LIVE what Jesus says…then please…quit calling Him Lord.

You are fooling yourself & confusing others.

Then Jesus gives every person a way to Examine Yourself.

Luke 6:46–49 (NIV)

46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.48 They are 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. 49 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.”

Notice: they both built houses. One took the time to dig deep to find a foundational stone to build on; The other didn’t worry about all that extra work and quickly started to construct his house.

Notice that a flood came to both houses. What does this flood represent? Scholars seem to disagree.

Some say this is referring to tough times that come to all people (see Wiersbe).

Others say that Jesus is pointing to what will happen on Judgment Day (see Stein).

Whether both are intended, certainly both are true. All people WILL go through tough times. Followers of Jesus are NOT immune to difficulties. And bigger than that…ALL people WILL face judgment one day.

Finally, one house stood & the other collapsed. The difference? Whether or not they built their houses (representing their lives) on the words of Jesus or not.

This is HUGE! Can you imagine ME or some other pastor or teacher talking like THIS? “Whoever hears MY WORDS and puts them into practice…” Jesus was not just another Rabbi pointing to the words of a former rabbi. Jesus speaks of people BUILDING THEIR LIVES on His Words!

Examine Yourself: If judgment were to happen TODAY for you…would your LIFE stand…or COLLAPSE? Are you building your LIFE on the words of Jesus or not?

Do you Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience? Or are you just FOOLING yourself & CONFUSING others?

Luke 7:1 (NIV)

1 When Jesus had finished saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum.

Capernaum: As mentioned in the beginning of these teaching series, this is the town that Jesus made his home base. After spending time away teaching, Jesus returned home. No doubt the word of Jesus’ return reached people long before He got there. One person in particular, was anxiously awaiting His return.

Luke 7:2-3 (NIV)

2 There a centurion’s servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die.

3 The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant.

A centurion was a Roman officer in charge of 80 men, not 100 as often taught. These men were professional soldiers, “the backbone of the Roman military organization.” The centurion was under the authority of higher ranking officers. He would revive orders then he & his men would do the dirty work on the ground.

Since Jesus had done many miracles in Capernaum, the centurion had heard of Him and sent the Jewish elders - leaders of the local Jewish community - to ask Jesus to heal his servant. Why not go himself?

He is likely sitting by his bed of his highly valued servant who could pass at any moment.

As we will see in a minute, this leader of men felt unworthy to approach Jesus.

So WHY would Jews, who often considered the Roman military to be their enemies, go on behalf of this centurion? Were they afraid of him…or was it something different?

Luke 7:4-5 (NIV)

4 When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, “This man deserves to have you do this, 5 because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue.”

Often Roman soldiers would despise the local people as an inferior race, but this man didn’t. This man had loved his enemies by serving them - building them a synagogue, maybe the same one Jesus had taught in! Over time with consistency the centution's actions had proved his love and these people had to come respect & appreciate him in return.

Luke 7:6-7a (NIV)

6 So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you.

Here we get the answer to why the centurion sent others on his behalf to ask for Jesus’ help. He is a humble man, considering himself unworthy to approach Jesus.

The centurion calls Jesus Lord. As we have already learned, this word was used in several ways. Let’s continue to read and see what the centurion means by saying Lord.

Here's a strange twist to the story. The centurion had asked Jesus to come and heal his servant, but now he stops Jesus by saying “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof.”

Why have Him come this far & no further?

Commentator Richard Lenski points out that

The servant in the Gentile’s house is dying and couldn’t be moved to Jesus;

The centurion probably understood that Jesus was not supposed to enter a Gentile's house as it was considered ceremonially unclean.

This leaves us in quite the quandary. If Jesus goes no further & the servant can't be brought to Jesus…how’s this gonna work exactly? Let’s find out.

Luke 7:7b-8 (NIV)

But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

This man understands what it means to be in under authority & in authority. He has responded to many orders and given many orders - all of which were quickly obeyed.

This centurion believes Jesus has authority to heal his servant…without ever seeing him!

This man calls Jesus Lord, obviously meaning more than just ‘sir’ or ‘rabbi’.

He recognizes Jesus has ALL AUTHORITY - to say the word - and it is done.

When this man calls Jesus Lord, he sets an example for Jews & Gentiles…he sets an example for US…2000 years later!

And just look at how Jesus responds to this man’s faith.

Luke 7:9 (NIV)

9 When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel.”

Here is a 'unclean' Gentile who put more trust in Jesus than other Jews had.

Here is a Gentile man who was a living example of what it meant to build his house on the Rock by trusting Jesus at His word. Whatever Jesus said, he would do.-234950222672

Here is a man who has done more than just call Jesus Lord, he had decided to

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Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience

Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience

Luke 7:10 (NIV)

10 Then the men who had been sent returned to the house and found the servant well.

I bet that was a clincher for this Roman Centurion. He would never forget this healing. Every time his servant stood to serve…he was reminded of Jesus. And I just wonder, upon hearing that another Roman centurion was responsible for crucifying Jesus; upon hearing that the tomb that had been sealed and guarded by others in the Roman military; upon hearing His body was missing…I can’t help but think how this man led his household to-234950197661 call Jesus Lord Lord…to…

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Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience

Pledge Allegiance & Practice Obedience

Are you leading YOUR family that way?

Are YOU setting an example for your family & friends to follow in the future? How can you start or continue that spiritual journey?

Read the Scripture every day. 1 chapter a day 10 minutes. Read the Gospel of Luke.

Trust Jesus & Obey. You will be amazed at how you will grow when you put Feet2Faith.

Tell Someone about your Commitment to Jesus.

David Jeremiah "Most of us have never declared our allegiance in such a way as there is no turning back."

Will YOU stand with me as I pray? [James playing]

This is a place where it’s okay to not be okay. If God spoke to your heart today, and you need someone to pray WITH you or FOR you…I want you to grab a Christian friend & ask them to come with you. TJ & Kristy are here.

Heads bowed and eyes closed - pray this: “Jesus, what do YOU want me to do with what I just heard?” Hey believer…are you practicing obedience? Or is it time to surrender that sin & ask a brother or sister to help you?

Maybe you have never pledged allegiance to Jesus. Will you surrender to Him? Ask Him…right now…to forgive you…to come in and be your KING.

And just a moment I’m going to give you an opportunity. To pray. Go out the back door.