A Journey with Jesus: Hear

02/20/22

Dominant Thought: Disciples respond to Jesus when we hear His words. Objectives:

I want my listeners to read through Luke looking for the scenes where hearing or listening occurs.

I want my listeners to choose between deep discipleship or shallow discipleship.

I want my listeners to identify one way to dig a deep foundation with Jesus this week.

At Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado, you can meet the Park Service Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division. Scientists set up audio equipment for 30 days to capture the sounds of the National Park. Many people think about the sights we see at the park, in nature we also encounter sounds. Scientist Kurt Fristrup says Great Sand Dunes is “Noticeably quieter than the quietest recording studio you’ve ever been in.” Great Sand Dunes boasts some of the best acoustics in the country. Some people have observed hearing plans several hundred miles in the distance. I have not traveled to the Great Sand Dunes National Park, but the quiet atmosphere it boast calls my attention.

We live in a sound saturated world. And yet with all the sound around us, how do we respond? For many people, we just tune it at. For those of us who live near the train tracks, we almost forget trains come through town even during the night.

As we Journey with Jesus through Luke, I want us to zero in on this theme of hearing the words of Jesus. You may recall from Luke 5.1 the crowds gathered around Jesus “listening to the word of God.” Listening or hearing occurs 65 times in Luke’s gospel. The firs time, in Luke 1.41, Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. Both women are pregnant. Mary greets Elizabeth and Elizabeth felt her baby leap in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The next chapter, the shepherds share about that baby born in Bethlehem. “All who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2.18). “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told” (Luke 2.20). I hope these samplings will whet your appetite to look for hearing and listening in Luke’s gospel.

If you encounter Jesus, then you will hear some amazing things. These amazing truths can change your life if your respond or in Luke’s record, “do” something. I want to anchor our attention in the final verses of Luke 6. Luke 6.46-49. These verse conclude a section of teaching that Luke records Jesus teaching on a level place. Let’s pick up the reading in Luke 6.17-19.

You will notice in Luke 6.17-18, a great crowd from the south—Jerusalem and Judea to the seaport cities of Tyre and Sidon in the north, “to hear Jesus and be healed of their diseases.” The people want to touch Jesus because “power was coming from him and healing them all” (Luke 6.19). I wonder what that would have looked like? I wonder what that would have sounded like?

Jesus teaches his disciples with some words that sound similar to Matthews account on the Sermon on the Mount, but in a more condensed form. Jesus blesses those who are poor, hungry, weeping and insulted (Luke 6.20-22). The He calls out woes to the rich, well fed, those who laugh, and those when everyone speaks well of them (Luke 6.24-26). Jesus challenges His disciples to love their enemies and do good to them, be kind to them.

Luke 6:35 NIV

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

He commands people not to judge, to give generously, and take the plank out of your own eye before you try to remove the speck from your brothers eye. He shares that good trees don’t bear bad fruit nor do bad trees bear good fruit (Luke 6.43).

And then, he comes to the final words of this section of teaching, Luke 6.46-49. In these verses: Jesus asks a question, Jesus shows us a positive example followed by a warning for those who don’t respond to his words. A question, an example, and a warning.

First, the question, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6.46)

In our house, we phrase it this way, “Why do you say you’re sorry, but you don’t change your actions?” Yes, we love you. Yes, we forgive you. However, if you were truly sorry, then your actions would match your words.

When you call Jesus, “Lord,” then you are saying that He is your King. If He is your King, then He rules your life. He sits on the throne. That’s what it means to call Jesus Lord. Jesus says that it is not enough to just say the words. We must respond to His words.

Joel Green shares, “In this instance, “Lord” is a term of great respect; those who use it would thus be designating Jesus as their patron, the one to whom they owe allegiance. How can they speak of allegiance and not grant it?” (Green, J. B. (1997). The Gospel of Luke (p. 280). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.).

Jesus just spent a few words on our speech in the preceding verse Luke 6.45. “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”

I must admit that we are all works in progress when it comes to the question Jesus asks in Luke 6.46. Why do you call Jesus Lord and not do what He says? Here’s some of my reasons: I’m afraid of what people will think of me. Peer pressure still captures me at times. Sometimes it’s the hurried pace of life. I choose not to slow down enough to listen and respond to the words of Jesus. Other times I think I’m just lazy. It’s hard work following Jesus. And other times, I think it’s ignorance. We simply don’t know the words of Jesus to respond correctly.

Jesus moves from the question to an example. Some people call it a parable. It’s a short one, but I think it can be called a parable. A story tossed alongside a real life example.

Second, Jesus gives an example of what hearing His Words and doing them (Luke 6.47-48).

Jesus tells a story to show what hearing his words and putting them into practice looks like. It is not enough to hear the words of Jesus, we must do them. Michael reminded me of the word “hear” in the Hebrew Bible included action. Hearing and doing was combined in the minds of the Hebrews.

God’s people would recite the words of Deuteronomy 6 each day that illustrates the connection between hearing and doing or hearing and loving.

Deuteronomy 6:4–6 NIV

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.

This is now the second time we’ve seen the connection with heart, Luke 6.45 and Deuteronomy 6.6.

Jesus gives the story of a house builder building a house with three decisive actions: he dug, he dug deep, he laid the foundation on the rock. Pay attention to the progression: dig, deep, foundation on rock. Following Jesus is hard work.

We buried our dear brother Tom Ealey yesterday. One of my memories of Tom occurred when we built this building. The building was up. The sidewalks poured. The gutters installed. We planned to connect the downspouts of the gutters to a field tile to keep the water away from the building. I was given the project of digging the connection for the downspout west of the fellowship hall doors. Problem. The tile from the downspout needed to go under the sidewalk that was already poured and cured. I was frustrated and said, “Why didn’t we dig the tile in the ground first, then pour the concrete?” I started digging. Have you ever tried to dig a hole under four feet of concrete. I worked on it for 20 minutes and thought to myself, “This isn’t happening. I’m not doing this. It’s impossible.” Remember those Automatic Negative Thoughts? Tom came by and I cried my woes to him. Tom didn’t say much. He picked up a shovel and started digging. I went on to another project. I came back after lunch and guess what I found? Tom had finished digging that hole and was able to connect that downspout to the field tile that still works to this day. To knew what it took to dig and dig deep.

He also knew what it was like to build a foundation on a rock. He had a daily habit of time in God’s Word. Even to his final days, he continued to stay in God’s Word. Jesus highlighted the value of God’s Word in a good heart when He shared another parable about a sower and seeds.

Luke 8:15 NIV

But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.

Luke 8:21 ESV

But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Tom shined as an example of a good heart that produced fruit. A good home builder who founded his house on the rock. Jesus continued his story with the good house dug deep founded on the rock. The flood came against the house, but could not overcome the house because it was “well built.”

Could I challenge you to read over the words of Jesus from Luke 6 this week and choose a line from Jesus to dig, down deep, and lay a foundation for your life on that bedrock of truth?

Third, Jesus offers the consequences for ignoring His Words (Luke 6.49).

Both home builders hear the words of Jesus. They have equal opportunity to the truth. Both are building homes. Both will experience a flood that will strike their homes. However, the second chooses not to practice the words of Jesus. This builder chooses to place his house directly on the ground without a foundation. This second builder has no foundation. The river comes. It’s the same word for the second half of our word hippopotamus. When the “potamos” comes, it immediately falls together and came the break up of the house that was great—mega. It was a mega break up of a house.

A thirteen story condo collapsed in Surfside, Florida, near Miami, on June 24, 2021. Engineers call it a progressive collapse. They also identified that the problem came not from the top, but at the bottom. (See, “Why Did This Florida Condo Building Collapse? Experts Explain.” - The New York Times (nytimes.com).

There were warning signs and reports given a few years ago identifying problems in the parking garage underground. Those warnings were not headed and nearly 100 people died. Some speculate that flooding and salt water may have weakened the foundation. (See, “Surfside collapse exposes an overlooked threat: Saltwater rising from underground” (yahoo.com)

Can you imagine the sounds of that collapse? Think about the sound when a life is wrecked by a poor foundation. A little compromise here and a compromise there. Before you know it, you are so far away from a healthy relationship with your Father and your family. While the collapse happens in a moment, immediately, the process of wearing away integrity may have been months or years in the making.

I invite you to heed the warnings of Jesus, my friends. Dig deep and build your life on the solid rock of Christ.

The key idea today could be summarized this way, “Disciples respond to Jesus when we hear His words.” The key to responding to Jesus when we hear His words centers at our heart. Have you noticed the connection between hear and heart? Look at the words. At the root of our word for heart is the word, “hear.” If you add a “t” to hear, then you have the word, “heart.” The letter “t” also functions as an important reminder for Christians because the “t” is a form of a cross. May the cross of Christ impress on our hearts to hear Christ’s words and respond in a way to brings life instead of death.