Built to Last: The Foundation of True Faith Luke 6:43-49
Notes
Transcript
Handout
FCF: The dangerous human tendency to mistake agreeing with Jesus for submitting to Him—believing we are safe because we are "near" the truth, even though we haven't built our lives upon it.
Reflection Question:
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
Reflection Question: What fruit is Jesus talking about? How am I bearing fruit?
Sermon Opening:
"I want you to think about the last time you used the GPS on your phone—Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Waze. You type in the destination, the little blue line appears, and you start driving.
But then, it happens. The voice says, 'In one quarter-mile, turn right.' You look at the turn, and you think, 'No. I know a shortcut.’
Think about the logic of that moment. You trust the app enough to turn it on. You trust it enough to tell you when you will arrive. You agree that it has the map. But the moment its instructions conflict with your intuition or your preference, you overrule it.
We treat the GPS as a consultant, not a commander. We want the comfort of knowing the blue line is there, but we reserve the right to steer.
There is nothing wrong with overruling your GPS.
If we are honest, this is exactly how many of us treat Jesus.
There is something wrong with that.
We come to church, we read the Bible, we nod our heads at His teaching. We agree that He is good. We agree that He knows the way to life. But the moment He points to a difficult turn—'Forgive that person,' 'Give away that money,' 'Confess that secret'—we grip the steering wheel tighter and say, 'No, Lord. I know a shortcut.'
And into that tension, Jesus asks the haunting question we find in our text today: 'Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do what I tell you?'"
Text Opening:
Today we conclude the sermon on the plain in the Gospel of Luke. We will be looking at Luke 6:43-49.
This is Jesus first sermon that Luke writes down for us. It’s a sermon telling the disciples how they will live in the upside-down kingdom of God.
Point 1: Fruit Reflects Faith
“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. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Explain:
Jesus here continues the sermon on the plain. He’s talked about forgiveness and love.
He is talking to his disciples. This is directed at the disciples. For us today, we have to remember this is a teaching for us as believers. This is only about unbelievers as long as we understand it’s about us first.
Jesus tells his disciples, his believers that a tree is known by it’s fruit. A person is known by what they produce.
I want to begin by saying, I think we have a tendency to soften this verse.
We have a tendency in our American thinking to believe it’s on the inside that counts. That’s not quite right.
When it comes to matters of faith, like love and forgiveness, it’s what you produce that matters.
It’s not what’s on the inside, it’s what you produce that matters.
Jesus says this in multiple ways
He says a tree is known by it’s fruit. We call it an apple tree because it produces apples.
Jesus likely isn’t speaking about the family tree in the backyard. He’s likely speaking about an orchard.
Consider if a farmer had a whole field of olive trees. Right in the middle was a tree that never produced any olives.
Would the farmer say to the tree, well your an olive tree on the inside and that’s what counts.
No, his livelihood, his health, depends on the olive tree producing olives, so - He’d cut the tree down and plant a new one.
Jesus has just been talking about being loving and forgiving.
If we are only loving or forgiving on the inside, then we will have failed.
If our love and forgiveness never produces something on the outside - WE aren’t actually producing good fruit.
Jesus says, people from the good or bad treasure stored up inside them produce good or evil things from their mouths.
The olive tree that doesn’t produce olives probably has something wrong with it.
This is my first point
Point 1: Fruit Reflects Faith
We call it an olive tree because it produces olives.
The farmer’s livelihood and health depends on the production of the olive trees. If they are not producing, they are pulled down and burned.
Apply:
A healthy olive tree produces rich and full olives.
We are called Christians because we produce rich and full Christians.
The word Christian means little Christ. We have become little Christs. Then as Christians, we produce little Christs in others.
When we are healthy Christians we produce rich and full Christians.
The livelihood and health of the farmer is dependent on the olive tree producing olives.
The church is the orchard.
What (Instructional Specificity): We must stop measuring our church ministries by their "good intentions" and start measuring them by the "good fruit" they produce—are they actually making disciples who look like Jesus ?
Where (Situational Specificity): As we look at our church budget, our calendar, and our volunteer hours, we have to ask: Is this program an "olive tree" that is actually producing "olives," or is it just taking up space in the orchard ?
Why (Motivation): The health and livelihood of the "farmer"—the health of the church and the glory of God—depends on the church being a place where life is actually being produced, not just a place where traditions are being maintained.
The Individual in the Orchard (Secondary Focus):
An orchard is only as healthy as its individual trees.
The What: You are a "tree" in this community. Are you contributing to the "good fruit" of this church, or are you expecting the church to produce fruit for you while you remain barren?
From whatever is at the heart the fruit will flow.
This is a hard teaching. Remember that Jesus spoke this hard word first to his followers the disciples. He continues on with another hard word.
Point 2: Foundation of Obedience
“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
Explain:
Remember that Jesus is talking to believers here, not unbelievers. Unbelievers don’t call Jesus lord. So, he’s talking to us.
The word Lord, in Greek, Kyrios, is not just for God. The word lord means anybody with authority. A Lord says something and it happens.
So now, Jesus is saying why do you call me Lord. Why do you say I have authority over your life, and not do what I say.
Here Jesus begins to build this foundation of obedience.
Point 1: Fruit Reflects Faith
Point 2: Faith requires a Foundation of Obedience
Jesus asks his disciples, the people following him and learning to be like him, why do you call me Lord and do not do what I say?
Discipleship, comes from the Greek mathatase, it means to learn.
If you are a disciple of Jesus, you are learning to live like Jesus.
Discipleship is a lifelong process of learning to live like Jesus.
When we are good disciples and good disciple makers then we will become good trees that produce good fruit.
There is a dangerous human tendency to mistake agreeing with Jesus for submitting to Him
Believing we are safe because we are "near" Jesus, even though we haven't built our lives upon him.
Being a Christian begins with calling Jesus “Lord,” but then quickly becomes about living like Jesus.
True discipleship is about more than lip-service calling Jesus Lord, and goes deeper to having your actions match his teaching.
Illustrate:
Consider a child who insists they love broccoli because they've heard it's healthy. They cheer on the idea, yet every time dinner rolls around, they push the green florets away.
Similarly, we can get pretty excited about Jesus but when he says, be like me - forgive those who harm you. Give up some of the things you love to be fruitful for me.
Jesus says these things and lots of people push him away like broccoli.
Apply:
We must move from treating Jesus as a "spiritual consultant"—someone whose advice we weigh—to a "Commander" whose word is final.
Look at the "shortcuts" in your life this week: that relationship you know is unhealthy but you haven't ended, or the habit of "stretching the truth" at work to look better.
We do this because the title "Lord" is not a greeting; it is a confession of ownership that brings us under the safety of His grace and authority.
Today, identify the one area where you’ve said "Lord, Lord" but haven't actually done what He said. Take your "GPS" off mute: write that specific command down.
Point 3: False Faith Fails
I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, hears my words, and acts on them. That one is like a man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, immediately it fell, and great was the ruin of that house.”
Explain:
Now we Jesus taking a story about what happens when we push him away like broccoli.
Jesus tells this story of two people who build houses next to the river.
The first person is somebody who listens to Jesus and actually follows.
That person, Jesus says, is like somebody who lays a solid foundation.
The second person is the person who agrees with Jesus without submitting to Jesus.
Their faith, their house by the river, is not built on anything solid.
When storms come, then only one will still be standing.
This is my third point: False Faith Fails
Point 1: Fruit Reflects Faith
Point 2: Foundation of Obedience
Point 3: False Faith Fails
I see this happen all the time.
I see a person really struggling and they turn to Jesus for help. They actually pray and they seek God to help them.
But, often I find people who are unwilling to change while they want God to change their situation.
Their house is not build on Christ.
There is no such thing as ‘safe nearness’ to Jesus with ‘built-on’ obedience.
Jesus contrasts two builders to illustrate the difference between intellectual agreement and functional submission. The first builder "dug deep" to find the rock; obedience is hard work that goes beneath the surface of our public lives. The second builder isn't necessarily a "bad" person—he just builds "on the ground without a foundation". He wants the house (the benefits of faith) without the excavation (the digging up of your heart and the discipline of obedience). Jesus is warning that a faith consisting only of "hearing" provides no structural integrity when the "river bursts".
Illustrate:
In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in San Francisco, the most devastating damage occurred in the Marina District. Beautiful, multi-million dollar homes collapsed while others nearby stood firm. The reason was the ground: many of those homes were built on "liquefaction" soil—rubble and mud used to fill in the bay years earlier. It looked like solid ground, and the houses looked identical to those on the hills, but there was no foundation tied to the bedrock. When the "crisis" of the earthquake hit, the ground essentially turned to liquid.
Apply:
Where in your life are you building on "fill"—on the rubble of good intentions and the mud "church-goer" status—rather than the bedrock of doing what Jesus says?
The What: Identify one area where you agree with Jesus’ teaching but haven't acted on it (e.g., "I know I should forgive, but I haven't").
I know I should blank but I haven’t. So this week I will blank
The How: This week, "dig deep" by moving from agreement to action. If Jesus says "pray for your enemies," do not just nod; stop and pray for that specific person by name right now.
Closing:
To stand in the kingdom of God, we must remember:
Point 1: Fruit Reflects Faith
Point 2: Foundation of Obedience
Point 3: False Faith Fails
Fruit Reflects Faith: What we actually produce—our words, actions, and reactions—reveals the true state of our hearts.
It is not the inside alone that counts - what we produce matters.
As Christians, Jesus is calling us to be fruitful and make disciples, to make little Christ’s.
When we fail to be actually fruitful we produce disciples who call Jesus Lord, Lord, but they don’t obey him.
The Foundation of Obedience: Being a disciple isn't about lip service or calling Him "Lord"; it’s a lifelong process of learning to live like Him.
When we fail to make disciples that obey Jesus, then when the storm comes, their faith fails.
False Faith Fails: Merely standing "near" the truth won't save your house when the storms of life and judgment arrive; only a life built on active submission can withstand the flood.
Do you want to know why, I believe the church in America has suffered and struggled in the last two generations.
It’s because we keep producing shallow discipleship that is not build on stones but on easy faith.
When we fail to hold our ministries and our ministers to a high standard of discipleship, we set up our people to fail.
Closing Application:
Stop being a consultant to the Commander.. The fallen condition that we face is the deadly delusion that "nearness" to Jesus is the same as "oneness" with Him. Today, I am calling you to move the line of your life from your own intuition to His instructions.
The Verb: Submit..
Submit to the Lord.
Give him your fruitfulness. God wants you to be fruitful.
Give him your Foundation.
Give him your faith.
Recognize where you are building upon yourself.
For some of you it’s your ministries. You do things for God that he has stopped asking you to do and you can’t stop working long enough to hear his voice telling you that you’re producing shallow Christians.
For some of you it’s your anger. You are so angry that your anger fills your head and you can’t hear God calling you to forgive.
It’s my prayer that God will reveal to you the area of your life where you are calling him Lord, but not following his commands.
Take a moment and write down your blank.
