Teaching about applying the word of God. Luke 6:39-49. It is easy to magnify the little faults of others, but it is easier yet to overlook our own big faults and failures. The teachers and leaders we follow can take us no farther than they have gone themselves. We need to look for leaders who will instruct us in our faith by demonstrating faith themselves. Then, the guidance they pass on to us is trustworthy. To help others and guide them in the right way, we must pay attention to our own lives and walk. Our failures in discernment may lead us to excuse ourselves for what is a big and obvious problem in us and instead focus on some little things in another person.
Pointing out a little fault in another person is easy to do if we don’t look into the mirror of our own lives and see the greatness of our failures. The fear of making mistakes is no excuse for hiding our faith and doing what we know is right. Weakness is not hypocrisy, but putting on religious behavior to gain attention and claim authority is hypocrisy. Our speech and actions reveal what we believe, our attitudes, and what motivates us. Good impressions do not last if we are deceptive and critical. A true leader/teacher is one whom we should follow. Christian teaching and profession are validated by Christian living.
What we have stored up of the good fruit of the word of God is what will come out to bless others. If we spend time storing evil things, that is what will come out. To say, “Lord, Lord,” indicates we are saying we submit to the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. Authority demands obedience. It is assumed that we will obey when we submit to an authority. Jesus is Lord, and His authority is the authority of God. Those who do what His word says and make that the practice of life is like a man who builds his house on the rock.
A couple of reasons a person would not build on a good foundation would be to avoid hard work and to be able to join their friends in something more pleasurable. Such people are shortsighted and don’t believe a storm will ever happen to them. The flimsy house without foundation cannot stand against the difficulties and hard things normal to human life. The sobering thought is that their life, like a house without a solid foundation, is a total loss.
The Lord ended His sermon with the serious thought that life and death are at stake. Being a disciple is not an option if one is to be safe in the time of judgment. If a person is not built on the solid foundation of divine unchanging truth, that person will be forever lost.
LUKE 7 GOD’S GRACE IS UNIVERSAL