Luke 6.12-49

Today’s passage is a tricky one. Jesus is walking around healing people and making pretty outrageous claims about himself, and we see in v. 12 that he is beginning to structure his ministry more fully.

V. 12:

12 In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles: 14 Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, 15 and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Okay, so now he has a group of men who are officially his disciples—those who have joined Jesus in full-time ministry, to learn from him. And they’re doing it—v. 17:

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

17 And he came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. 19 And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Now, here’s where we get to the tricky part. Jesus starts teaching here, and Luke’s recording of what he says seems to be a kind of abridgement of the Sermon on the Mount, the famous sermon (or collection of teachings) we see in —indeed, much of the same content is present here.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

It seems to be a kind of abridgement of the Sermon on the Mount, the famous sermon (or collection of teachings) we see in —indeed, much of the same content is present here. And the same thing applies here: this is either one mini-sermon Jesus preached at this time, or a collection of teachings that Luke has put together. Whatever the case may be, I always find it tricky to read or think about or preach on the teachings of Jesus.

Here’s why it’s tricky. The teachings of Jesus are almost universally accepted—particularly what you could call the moral teachings of Jesus. Nearly everyone who reads these things approves of them, from Christians to atheists.

And here’s why (we actually saw a little bit of the reason last week). The teachings of Jesus are almost universally accepted—particularly what you could call the moral teachings of Jesus. Nearly everyone who reads these things approves of them, from Christians to atheists. But nearly every time an unbeliever approves of the teachings of Jesus, they divorce those teachings from the man himself.

The problem is that if you actually pay attention to what Jesus says, you find that many of his commandments are impossible to obey on our own. He asks things of us that we can aspire to, but that we can never actually do. We like the idea of his teachings, but in order to actually do them, we’ll always need something else: something from ourside ourselves, enabling us to do them.

The teachings of Jesus are almost universally accepted—particularly what you could call the moral teachings of Jesus. Nearly everyone who reads these things approves of them, from Christians to atheists. But nearly every time an unbeliever approves of the teachings of Jesus, they divorce those teachings from the man himself.

And as we saw last week, while Jesus’s teachings are “acceptable” to most, what Jesus said about himself definitely is not—Jesus claimed to be God himself. If Jesus said these things, then he is either insane (like a normal guy who claims he is Napoleon), or he really is God. In either case, the way we hear what he says changes dramatically when we don’t take his teachings in isolation from the rest.

So here’s our challenge today: we want to try to take the moral teachings of Jesus seriously, because they are indeed profoundly important for us. But we must not divorce those teachings from who Jesus is. We believe that Jesus was not insane, that he really is who he claims to be, and so our question will be, “How are we to understand his teachings in the light of the fact that they are coming from God?”

And in our passage, Jesus helps us do this—that’s why we’re going to look at this whole passage rather than breaking it up piece by piece and going slowly, over the course of several weeks. Because as we’ll see, Jesus starts somewhat simply, with the kinds of things most unbelievers would agree with too, but as he progresses he goes deeper and deeper toward the heart of our question. So let’s jump in.

He starts rather simply—with the kinds of things Jesus is known for saying, the kinds of things most unbelievers would agree with too (though the Beatitudes may be a bit of a head-scratcher), but as he progresses he goes deeper and deeper toward the real subject.

You probably know where I’m going with this, so let’s jump right in. The first thing we see is that Jesus separates people into two categories: those who are “blessed”, and those who are not.

First, a bit of context.

1) Blessings and woes (v. 20-26)

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20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

21 “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

22 “Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! 23 Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.

24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

25 “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

“Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

26 “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

So at first glance, it seems that Jesus is simply encouraging those he has in front of him. There are people in the crowd who are poor, who are in need, who are suffering, and he wants to encourage them that just because their situation seems dire, all is not lost. At the same time, he has people who are rich, who are happy (and perhaps just curious)—so he seems to be encouraging them to not count on their riches for their security or happiness, because those things can be lost.

That’s all true, and most people would stop there. But there’s more going on here than we see at first glance.

These “blessings” we see are not requirements for entering into the kingdom of God. A lot of people have heard Jesus say, “Blessed are the poor; blessed are the hungry; blessed are those who weep,” and so on, and they say, “Okay… So I’ll get rid of all my money, I’ll go on fasts to feel hungry, I’ll be generally sad all the time, and then I might be a really spiritual person.” This is part of the reason Christians are seen as a generally joyless bunch.

Blessings: not requirements for entering the kingdom; blessings for those already in the kingdom (cf. v. 20: for yours is the kingdom of heaven, v. 22: persecuted on account of the Son of Man).

That’s not what he says—these blessings are not requirements for entering the kingdom; they are affirmations that those who are already in the kingdom are blessed.

V. 20: Blessed are you who are poor, for yours IS the kingdom of God. Not “will be”—“IS.”

V. 22: Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man [on account of Jesus]! The only people who are hated on account of Jesus are those who belong to Jesus and live for him.

The reason he’s addressing these issues here is because in Israel in the first century, if you were a follower of Christ, there was a good chance your life would become drastically more difficult than before. People would reject you; you’d lose business; you wouldn’t be able to pay bills. You might even be killed. Very often, in many places in the world still today, to be Christian was to be poor and hungry and suffering and persecuted.

So he’s reminding his followers that it’s worth it: if you’re poor, remember that the whole kingdom is yours! If you’re hungry, remember that a day’s coming when you will be satisfied. If you’re weeping now, remember that a day’s coming when you will laugh. If you’re persecuted now, remember that God is holding for you a reward that is invaluable—because you belong to him.

Now, this isn’t generally the situation for most Christians today. It’s hard to be a Christian in France, but not that hard. No one’s killing us because we’re Christians; our suffering is pretty slim in comparison. We have more tendency to be relatively well-off; to have enough to eat every night; to be mostly happy (which is easy when you’ve eaten well and have a roof over your head); to have a good reputation with others.

While being rich or full or happy or well-reputed is not bad in itself, there is a contrast with the blessings he’s just pronounced. Those who are “blessed” are those who belong to God—theirs is the kingdom of God. But it’s very tempting for those who have all these other things—riches and fullness and happiness and reputation—to count on those things for their satisfaction.

already in the kingdom (cf. v. 20: for yours is the kingdom of heaven, v. 22: persecuted on account of the Son of Man).

Woes: being rich or full or happy or well-reputed is not bad in itself; the contrast is with the blessings. Riches and fullness and happiness and reputation are fickle and temporary—so they make very poor gods.

And the problem is that they are all fickle and temporary. These things change. Bad things happen. You make a bad investment and lose your money; you get sick or lose certain things and you go from happy to sad; or heaven forbid, someone finds out you’re a Christian and your reputation changes drastically. The point is that because all of these things are temporary, they make very poor gods. They will always disappoint.

The mark of a Christian is being satisfied enough in God that if all those things are taken away—if you suddenly find yourself poor or hungry or weeping or persecuted—you realize that you haven’t lost a single real blessing: because you know what’s coming next.

2) Love your enemies (v. 27-36)

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27 “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. 31 And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.

32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Again, people approve of this stuff…or at least they do in theory. They hear “Love your enemies,” and they see the kind of universal acceptance, the tolerance of those who oppose our worldview, that they hope they have. But in reality, it’s not so easy.

Enemies fight against you. They abuse you. They take from you. A few months ago the lock on our front door broke, and we called a locksmith to come do an emergency repair. And we got swindled—he charged us more than double what he should have.

The natural reaction at that point is not to say, “I love him!” The natural reaction is to be angry—“How dare this man swindle me like that!” We can like the idea of “Love your enemies,” but in practice it rarely happens: hating your enemies is much more natural.

But Jesus says what motivates the Christian’s love, and we always conveniently skip over it. V. 35: 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

What motivates our love is the reality that the love we are called to give to others is the love we have first received from God. Love received produces love given.

Love received produces love given. v. 36: even as your Father is merciful.

John says in :

In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

God showed us his love by sending Jesus to take our sin on himself and to be punished for that sin in our place. We love our enemies because God loved us. We are kind to those who do us wrong because God is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. We are merciful because our Father is merciful. If we know how God has loved us, we will want to show love to others.

10 In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

3) Horizontal relationships (v. 37-42)

The next part is similar, but it goes in the other direction. V. 37:

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

This is just the natural way of things, isn’t it? If we are quick to judge others, we’ll be known for that, and suddenly we’ll find people making snap judgments about us. If we constantly condemn others, we’ll be condemned for that. And on the other hand, if we are known for forgiving others when they wrong us, they’ll be more apt to forgive us when we sin against them. Righteous behavior tends to be contagious—if you see someone selflessly toward others, it’s much easier to act selflessly toward him when the opportunity presents itself. That is God blessing those who share his own character.

So he gives an example of this—of what it looks like to not judge others.

39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 41 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? 42 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.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

There are Christians who have a kind of built-in radar for things they see as sinful. I had a guy in the church who came to me once and said, “You know I heard so-and-so say a bad word? In church?”

I said, “Okay…?”

So he paused and said, “What are you going to do about it?”

4) What you give, give yourself first (v. 39-42)

As the discussion went on I actually wanted me to get up and call this person out from the pulpit. And this wasn’t an isolated incident. As time went on, every week he’d come to me with some complaint or another about someone in the church doing something he thought of as sinful. So I reassured him that I was handling it, and at the same time tried to help him turn that critical eye on himself—to ask himself why, if he saw a brother or sister sinning, he didn’t lovingly come to them and invest in them to try to help them, but rather got angry at them for their unrighteous ways.

There are Christians like this all over the place. They have a sixth sense for spotting iniquity in others, and yet they rarely if ever point that critical eye at themselves.

What you give, you will receive (v. 37-38).

What you point at others, point at yourself first (v. 39-42).

But the gospel tells us that we are all sinners; we all need our brothers’ and sisters’ help to notice sin in our own lives, and we all need help to put those sins to death. If we are going to help our brothers and sisters to become holy, we must be just as determined to become holy ourselves—because we all have the same illness, and we all benefit from the common solution: the cross of Christ.

Intermission: Impossible

V. 43:

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 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.

This is where it all shifts. This is where all of Christ’s teaching in this passage starts to come to a head. Because I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as we’ve talked about what this looks like—what it looks like to be happy in suffering, to love our enemies, to not judge others—there is one very important fact that we haven’t seen yet: almost all of these things are impossible.

At least speaking from a natural point of view, every one of these things is something we cannot do. No one can choose to love someone you don’t naturally love—you can choose to be kind to your enemy, to not retaliate against someone who has hurt you. But you can’t choose to love your enemy, because love isn’t just something you do, it’s something you feel.

No one can choose to not judge others. We can choose to not act on our judgments, we can choose to disregard our feelings toward someone else, but the natural aversion we feel toward certain people, for whatever reason, comes all on its own, doesn’t it? It’s not something we decide, it’s something that comes to us.

We said earlier that even atheists approve of Jesus’s teachings—and that has always shocked me, because Jesus essentially tells people over and over again, “Don’t be who you are—be something else. Don’t feel what you feel—feel something else.” And at least naturally, we have no power over who we are or what we feel. If we are to be or feel something different, then we’ll need something to happen inside of us. Behavior modification simply won’t cut it.

because judging others is something that happens spontaneously. It’s not all in our heads: it’s a gut reaction towards someone else.

And this is what we see in the next section, v. 43-45: if the fruit is bad, the problem is not with the fruit, but with the root.

4) Good fruit from good trees (v. 43-45)

Now in v. 43-45 Jesus gives a kind of counterbalance to the critical, judgmental eye Jesus condemned before. When he says, “Judge not,” he doesn’t mean “Act as if everything’s okay even if it’s not.” Because a good tree bears good fruit.

V. 43:

43 “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. 45 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.

It’s a sobering reality, brothers and sisters: whatever is really in you will come out. We may be fooling everyone for a time, but eventually our ruse will show itself to be a ruse.

out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Whatever is really in you will come out. We are fooling no one. The fruit we bear is the proof of the heart we nurture.

But he’s not just telling us this to scare us and drive us to authenticity. He’s not just saying, “Bear good fruit; produce good.”

He’s saying, “BE good.” And we can’t.

None of us are “good,” at least in the biblical sense of the word. True “goodness,” as the Bible defines it, is goodness which reflects the character of God, who is good, and which is done because we love God and want to glorify him as God.

Now part of the problem is that we misunderstand the word “good” here. When we think of “doing good,” we think of things like kindness to others; acceptance; peace; patience; love. And that’s not wrong. But anyone can do these things. You don’t have to be a Christian to “do good,” in that sense.

And none of us are naturally “good,” because naturally, we don’t like the character of God; naturally, we don’t love God; naturally, we don’t want to glorify God.

But that’s not what the Bible means when it talks about good. The problem is that all of the “good” we can do on our own is mixed up with wrong, because we’re sinful people with sinful hearts. When the Bible talks about “good,” it means all of those things—kindness, acceptance, peace, patience, love, etc.—done in response to the God who is kind, and accepting, and patient, and loving, toward us.

True “goodness,” as the Bible defines it, is goodness which reflects the character of God, who is good, and which is done because we love God and want to glorify him as God.

And this is why Jesus phrases it the way he does in v. 45: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil.

all of those things—kindness, acceptance, peace, patience, love, etc.—done out of a desire to be like God and glorify him.

Look at the way he phrases v. 45: The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil.

45 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.

Now we need to

In other words, whatever is inside of us will eventually come out. If we want to live right lives, we must have the right treasure. What is most important is not the things that we do, but rather the things that we love. Whatever we love will determine who we really are, and who we are will determine what we do. It's not the other way around.

None of us can naturally do good, because none of us naturally

If we want to live right lives, we must have the right treasure. What is most important is not the things that we do, but rather the things that we love. Whatever we love will determine who we really are, and who we are will determine what we do. It's not the other way around.

If you want a tree to produce good fruit, you don’t go to work on the fruit itself; you go to work on the roots of the tree. You plant it in the right soil; you give it the right nourishment; you expose it to the right amount of sunlight. Only if you do these things will good fruit come out in the end.

Jesus isn’t going after the fruit, he’s going after the root. Or, to use “normal” language, if you’re not used to those terms: Jesus is less concerned with your behavior as he is with your heart. Jesus doesn’t just want you to do what you should do; he wants you to love what is lovely. He wants you to desire what is desireable. He wants you to delight in what is delightful. And the most ultimately lovely, desireable, delightful being in the universe is God himself, who loved us and gave himself for us.

It’s not a bad question—it’s an important one. If God tells us to do something, we must do it. But here’s the problem: because commandments are relatively easy to measure, because you can look at what you’re doing and see whether it lines up with what the Bible says, we latch onto them. We focus nearly all of our attention on them.

instinct is going to be to say, “What do I need to change?”

The fruit we bear is the proof of the heart we nurture.

But Jesus doesn’t just want you to do what you should do; he wants you to love what is lovely. He wants you to desire what is desireable. He wants you to delight in what is delightful. And the most ultimately lovely, desireable, delightful being in the universe is God himself, who loved us and gave himself for us.

But because we latch so hard onto the commandments, we tend to forget all the other things God tells us in the Bible. The Bible isn’t mainly a book of commandments; it’s not mainly a manual on how to live. The Bible is a collection of books in which God tells us about himself. It’s not about us, but about him. And if we pay close attention, over and above all the commandments we see two great realities play themselves out:

What we do is vitally important, yes—but it comes after. It is out of the good treasure of our heart that we produce good. It is only when we love what is truly good that we are able to do that which is truly good.

God is wise, and worthy of following.

God is good, and worthy of loving.

The reason that’s a paradox i

And we cannot love what is truly good on our own. This is

5) The house built on a rock (v. 46-49)

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46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 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. 49 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.”

It’s a simple lesson, even a child can understand it. We are all building something with our lives: we all invest ourselves in something, and we build our lives on that. So Jesus likens the lives we live to a house we build. He doesn’t get into what kind of house it is—whether it’s big or small or made of brick or wood. Jesus is concerned with the foundation.

And there are only two choices offered to us: we can build our house on solid rock, or we can build on sand. If we come to Jesus, and hear what he says, and do what he says, we’ll build our lives on a solid foundation: the only solid foundation. If we don’t, then at one point or another, everything’s going to crumble underneath us.

If we

Jesus doesn’t ever claim to be a good teacher; he claims to be Lord. He claims to be God himself.

The entire Christian life in three user-friendly steps: come to Christ, hear his words, obey them (v. 47).

nly two choices offered to us: build on the rock or build on the sand. Building a house requires investment and work, and we all do it. The question is, will we build something that will last, or something that will crumble when the storm comes?

Now, how can Jesus make such an assertion? How can he be so arrogant as to claim that his way is the only way, and if you don’t do things his way, eventually everything you’ve built is going to collapse?

Jesus can make such claims because he doesn’t ever claim to be a good teacher; he claims to be Lord. He claims to be God himself. So as God, as the Creator of all things and all people, whatever way he says to live is the best way. So he calls us to build our lives on what he says, and not on whatever we may feel is right.

The Paradox

Now I’m sure you’ve noticed the problem, but just in case I’ll spell it out. The first few sections of this passage contain what we call “moral teachings:” love your enemies, do not judge, etc.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but as we’ve talked about what this looks like—what it looks like to be happy in suffering, to love our enemies, to not judge others—there is one very important fact that we haven’t seen yet: almost all of these things are impossible.

At least speaking from a natural point of view, every one of these things is something we cannot do, because they’re not behavioral issues, they’re heart issues. They are not just about what we do, but also about what we love and how we feel…and we can’t change those things. At least not on our own. We can’t choose to treasure God above all, because naturally we feel nothing but animosity towards him. So if we do not treasure what is good, we will not do what is good.

This is the paradox—Jesus commands us to have new hearts which produce godly behavior…and yet we cannot produce these new hearts on our own.

And this is where the rest of the Bible is helpful—the teachings of Christ cannot be divorced from the larger testimony of the Bible.

There is a passage we’ve often read in our church—but it comes up as often as it does because it speaks so clearly to this particular paradox. -17:

. No one can choose to love someone you don’t naturally love—you can choose to be kind to your enemy, to not retaliate against someone who has hurt you. But you can’t choose to love your enemy, because love isn’t just something you do, it’s something you feel.

No one can choose to not judge others. We can choose to not act on our judgments, we can choose to disregard our feelings toward someone else, but the natural aversion we feel toward certain people, for whatever reason, comes all on its own, doesn’t it? It’s not something we decide, it’s something that comes to us.

26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

We said earlier that even atheists approve of Jesus’s teachings—and that has always shocked me, because Jesus essentially tells people over and over again, “Don’t be who you are—be something else. Don’t feel what you feel—feel something else.” And at least naturally, we have no power over who we are or what we feel. If we are to be or feel something different, then we’ll need something to happen inside of us. Behavior modification simply won’t cut it.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

On our own, because we are born in sin, the only things we naturally desire are sinful—even if they seem good, they do not come from a desire to glorify God. And so rather than forcing us to solve that problem for ourselves (because we can’t), God solves that problem for us. He comes in, and completely independent of our own desires or impulses, he gives us a new heart. He puts his Spirit in us, and causes us to obey his rules—he causes us to love what he loves, to desire what he desires, to treasure what he treasures.

And that’s exactly what he’s saying v. 43-45: behavior modification won’t cut it. If you want to bear good fruit, you need to have good roots. If you want to act as God commands, you must treasure what God commands.

He gives us a new heart; he gives us a new treasure; and out of the good treasure of our heart we are finally able to really and truly do good.

The logic of obedience: likening the lives we live to a house we build. Only two choices offered to us: build on the rock or build on the sand. Building a house requires investment and work, and we all do it. The question is, will we build something that will last, or something that will crumble when the storm comes?

On our own, we are unable to love our enemies; we are unable to not judge; we are unable to consider ourselves blessed when we suffer. But now that we have new hearts, new desires, new treasures, we are actually able to do these things. He changes the root, so that we might produce good fruit.

And we cannot do this on our own.

And so when we look at this text, there are two things we need to hear God saying to us loud and clear:

So Jesus calls us to do certain things: to build our lives on the solid foundation of his teaching; to love our enemies; to not see them as less than ourselves. And at the same time, he is very clear that no bad tree bears good fruit: the good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good.

1. Trust the Spirit’s power to change your heart.

45 The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good.

A lot of you beat yourselves up by how little you love others; by how easily and quickly you judge others. It’s not bad to be disappointed by these things; but I almost want to ask, “What else did you expect?”

So how can we hear his words and do them if our hearts do not naturally treasure God above all else?

You can’t do this on your own. And the good news is that you don’t have to.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

Only a good tree bears good fruit. Only out of the good treasure of our hearts can we produce good. And if you have faith in Christ, then he has given you a new heart. You would not believe in Christ without that new heart.

So even if it’s hard to believe, trust the Spirit’s power to keep nurturing that heart. If he started this work in you, he will complete it.

That’s the first thing: trust God to do in you what needs to be done.

So even if it’s hard to believe, trust the Spirit’s power to change your heart.

But don’t stop there. So many people who believe these things say, “Okay, God will do in me what needs to be done,” and they just wait. But Jesus gives us commands here. He commands us to do certain things, to live a certain way. So:

2. Do what he tells you to do.

Any mature Christian will tell you that this is their experience: in the moment, when they are faced with a choice to obey God’s commands or to disobey his commands, it feels as if they are the ones doing the work. This is the way human experience works—no one feels as if someone else is making them do anything. But when they look back some time later, they realize all the various ways, great and small, in which God was at work in them to bring about that obedience.

Think of it like a play. The author of the play writes the dialogue; he writes the stage direction; he writes the set descriptions.

Here’s the mystery of holiness, brothers and sisters: what God told us in , that he will give us a new heart and cause us to obey him—that takes place through the call. The promise of is accomplished through his commands.

So here’s the deal: he promises to do his part, and he absolutely will. And he calls us to do ours. If you have faith in Christ, if you have placed your trust in him for your salvation, then do what he tells you to do. Obey his commandments. Hear his words and do them. Build your house on the rock. And when the flood rises, the stream will break against that house and be unable to shake it, because it will have been well built.

And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Anon, 2016. The Holy Bible: English Standard Version, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

God created us to function a certain way. So as we do what he tells us, we are building our lives on the only solid foundation—life as we were created to live it.

Only two choices:

Jesus’s way is the best way—the only way.

So as we do what he tells us, we are building our lives on the only solid foundation—life as we were created to live it.

The grace of teaching

Well, once again—if he’s just a man, then he’s crazy. But Jesus isn’t just a man; he is God. And this changes everything.

Now when you become a Christian, you’re faced with a bit of a predicament. These teachings are not suggestions, but commandments— when God tells you to do something, it’s not a suggestion but a command. So you know that in the Bible, God gives commands, and so you’re going to want to go straight to the commands and say, “What do I need to change?”

When you become a Christian, you’re faced with a bit of a predicament. You know that in the Bible there are lots of commandments—things God tells us to do, ways Jesus tells us to live. So when you meet Christ, you’re going to want to go straight to his teachings, to his commands, to ask yourself, “What do I need to change?”

When you become a Christian, you’re faced with a bit of a predicament. These teachings are not suggestions, but commandments— when God tells you to do something, it’s not a suggestion but a command. So you know that in the Bible, God gives commands, and so you’re going to want to go straight to the commands and say, “What do I need to change?”

It’s not a bad question—it’s an important one. If God tells us to do something, we must do it. But here’s the problem: because commandments are relatively easy to measure, because you can look at what you’re doing and see whether it lines up with what the Bible says, we latch onto them. We focus nearly all of our attention on them. We make our lists, and we check the box, so at the end of the day we can look at it all and say, “Job well done.”

But because we latch so hard onto the commandments, we tend to forget all the other things God tells us in the Bible. The Bible isn’t mainly a book of commandments; it’s not mainly a manual on how to live. The Bible is a collection of books in which God tells us about himself. It’s not about us, but about him. And if we pay close attention, over and above all the commandments we see God telling us two great truths:

God is wise, and worthy of following.

God knows everything; he always chooses the best goals, and knows the best way to bring them about. So when God created us, he created us with a clear intention in mind, and he knows best how to bring that plan about. So given that reality, there is no one better suited to say these things. His foundation—his way of living—is the only way to live as we were meant to live, so it is the only way to build something that will last.

And he created us to function a certain way. So given that reality, there is no one better suited to say these things. His foundation—his way of living—is the only way to live as we were meant to live, so it is the only way to build something that will last.

God is good, and worthy of loving.

Many of us will bristle at someone else telling us the way we should live. We want to think we have it all together, and know enough about ourselves and our world to make the best decisions for ourselves.

But think about it for a moment. It would have been easy for God to say, “I gave you a brain; I gave you reason—so figure out how you’re meant to live.” Many of us would actually prefer he do this; but in reality, that would be the very definition of cruelty.

It would have been easy for God to say, “I gave you a brain; I gave you reason—figure out how you’re meant to live.” And many of us would actually prefer he do this; but in reality, that would be the very definition of cruelty.

A baby is born—we do not say “figure it out.” We dress it and feed it, and then when it’s able to start doing some things—walking on its own, eating on its own—we teach it how to do these things: we teach that baby how to live.

That still w

Our struggle is that we want to imagine that we are adults—after all, we know how to live in the world. We have jobs, we pay bills.

But none of us naturally knows how to live as we were created to live—like children, we have to be taught these things. So God, in his grace, teaches us. But we reject his teaching; we reject him. So again, in his grace, he sends his Son to be our sacrifice, that we might finally be drawn to him and reconciled to him, that we might see that he is as good and trustworthy as he says he is.

And once we realize this, then again, in his grace, God begins to teach us again; and it is only at this point—only once we start to listen to our Master—that we begin to live our lives as he created us to live them.

You see God is wise, and so is perfectly suited to teach us how he created us to live. But he is also good—because he loves us, he came down to us and told us how he made us.

He is good, and worthy of our love. Worthy of being our treasure. Worthy to be followed, and obeyed, and enjoyed forever.