Is Jesus Your Teacher?
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Our Scripture text this morning is Luke 6:39-49:
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”
May God bless this, the reading of His holy and infallible Word.
In our text this morning, Jesus calls us to consider whether or not He is our teacher. Why is this question important?
Why This Question is Important
Why This Question is Important
Jesus gives us the reason in Luke 6:39:
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?
In the Bible, the term “parable” includes more than what we call parables. It also includes proverbial sayings. Jesus is citing a very familiar proverbial saying in the ancient world. However, in the context of all of Scripture, it has a greater significance than most people know.
Scripture reveals that there are two fates every person will face: Some will rise in glory and spend eternity in the New Heavens and New Earth. Others, will rise to be judged, and then cast down into the “Lake of Fire”, where they will suffer eternal torment.
Consequently, to choose to follow the wrong type of teachers has eternal, soul damning consequences!
The Apostle James teaches that there are only two types of wisdom:
This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
There is earthly wisdom, which has its ultimate source from Satan and his demonic host; and there is heavenly wisdom, that has its source in Christ. All teaching, that is not build upon the foundation of Scripture is demonic.
The biggest problem facing the church today, is that people have rejected the sufficiency of Scripture. All the doctrinal and practical problems plaguing the church today have at their root the addition of worldly wisdom to heavenly wisdom. People justify the use of worldly wisdom in the church by saying, “All truth is God’s truth.” However, the way this statement is being used highlights the problem—lies are always woven with threads of truth.
In one sense, “All truth is God’s truth”. Christ is the very embodiment of the truth. Jesus said, “I am the truth”. However, the threads of truth woven into false teaching are woven together with threads of falsehood. This is why the Reformers insisted that the only rule of faith and practice is Scripture, we cannot add to it tradition and the wisdom of men.
How to Answer This Question
How to Answer This Question
Now that we understand how weighty the question, “Is Jesus your teacher?” really is, how do we discern whether or not Jesus is indeed our teacher?
Jesus tells us:
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
In the children’s book, Are You My Mother, the baby bird found his mother because he was like her.
In our text, Jesus gives us three tests:
Am I Real, as Jesus is Real?
Am I Fruitful, as Jesus is Fruitful?
Am Is Submissive, as Jesus is Submissive?
Before I get into each of these tests, I do want to make one clarification. When Scripture speaks of us being like Jesus, it is speaking of us being like Him in His human nature, not like Him in is divine nature. Jesus, in His humanity is the perfect image of God. When we read in 1 John 3:2:
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.
We should not think that we will become divine as He is divine, rather we shall become perfectly human as He is human!
With this clarification, let us now look at each of these tests:
Am I Real, as Jesus is Real?
Am I Real, as Jesus is Real?
This test is found in Luke 6:41-42:
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
What Jesus is saying in this passage is we are not to be “play acting”. The word “hypocrite” has taken on a lot of baggage over the centuries. Unbelievers love to accuse Christians of being “hypocrites”. The word “hypocrite” simply means not to “play act”.
“Play acting” was one of the great faults of the Pharisees, everything they did was designed to make a good impression on others. They were what the Apostle Paul calls “people-pleasers”. In contrast, Jesus was anything but a “people-pleaser”. Jesus lived His life before an audience of One—everything He did was done to please His Heavenly Father; and this is the way we are to live our lives.
People accuse Christians of being “hypocrites” because they have sin in their lives, but as John reminds us, it is not the presence of sin in a person’s life that makes them a hypocrite, but rather the denial:
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
“Am I Fruitful, As Jesus is Fruitful?”
“Am I Fruitful, As Jesus is Fruitful?”
The second test is fruitfulness, we find this in Luke 6:43-45:
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
To be like Jesus means we are progressively transformed, from the inside out. This does not happen all at once, but it necessarily and progressively happens. In his first letter, the Apostle John speaks of this as well. At first it seems he is contradicting himself; we just saw that a true Christian is not perfect and should not claim to be. However, a true Christian must also progressively become more like Jesus in His moral perfection:
This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Notice that even as John is writing of our becoming more like Jesus in His holiness, he reminds us of Christ provision for our failures. A few verses later, He writes:
My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
Verse 3, points us to the third and final test question:
“Am I Submissive, As Jesus is Submissive?”
“Am I Submissive, As Jesus is Submissive?”
We find this third test in Luke 6:46:
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
In His divine nature, it is not proper to speak of Christ being “submissive” to the Father. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternal one and equal in every way. However, when the Son took on human flesh, in His humanity, He became submissive to the Father. Jesus, in His humanity is perfectly submissive to the Father, and we are to be perfectly submissive as well. In fact, we have a double obligation to be submissive to Jesus.
As the Son of God, we are to be submissive to Christ’s divine nature.
As the Son of David, we are to be submissive to Christ as the Messiah—the King of king and Lord of lords. Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalm 2. If every ruler of this world is obligated to be submissive to Jesus, we who call ourselves Christians are even more so!
We are saved by grace, not be works of obedience, but works of obedience are always the necessary fruit of true faith. We see this every clearly in Ephesians 2:8-10:
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So, is Jesus your Lord, not just in word, but in deed as well?
To put it a different way, “Is Jesus your teacher?”