0:0 - Our text this morning is Luke 6.
0:3 - We're wrapping up Luke 6, which is where Jesus has been giving lots of words.
0:10 - He's been preaching, he's been teaching to the people.
0:13 - And we are in the last section of that.
0:17 - And we're gonna read verses 43-49, which wraps up the chapter.
0:23 - Now, when I started this week, I had started with verses 46.
0:28 - And for the last message, I included, so there's this piece in there about a good tree and a bad tree, a tree and its fruit.
0:36 - And I had included that with last week because I felt like it fit with last week.
0:39 - But as I was preparing for this week, it also fits with this week.
0:42 - So we're gonna read those words.
0:44 - This is the thing with trying to take the words of Jesus, like a small bite-sized piece.
0:48 - It's hard to do that without reading the whole narrative.
0:51 - So we're gonna read verses 43 to the end of the chapter.
0:56 - All right, Will, you can pull that out.
1:1 - Starting in verse 43.
1:3 - These are the words of Jesus as he's sharing with the people.
1:7 - No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
1:14 - Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.
1:18 - People do not pick figs from thorn bushes or grapes from briars.
1:23 - A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart.
1:28 - And an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.
1:34 - For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
1:40 - Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?
1:47 - As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.
1:56 - They are like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.
2:2 - When a flood came, the torrent struck and the house, or struck that house, but could not shake it because it was well built.
2:11 - But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation.
2:20 - The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.
2:28 - These are the words of Jesus.
2:35 - All right, Jesus talks about what we do.
2:41 - We saw that a little bit in the text that we studied last week as well.
2:45 - And so I wanna start with a common doctrine or idea or understanding inside the church that we hold to.
2:56 - Some churches would see things differently.
2:59 - And so this is like anything, right?
3:2 - When two people see things a little bit differently, we hold with conviction to what we think or what we believe because it's something that we've studied or worked hard to understand.
3:12 - So this idea is works righteousness, works righteousness.
3:21 - Let me explain what that is, okay?
3:23 - Works righteousness is the idea that we are in right relationship with God.
3:30 - We are restored to proper unity with Christ.
3:37 - We earn that through the things that we do.
3:41 - The idea is if we work hard enough, we can earn God rescuing us.
3:48 - We can earn being chosen by him.
3:50 - We can earn being called righteous and redeemed and restored.
3:57 - And as a church, this church, this community, we would say, we don't really see it that way.
4:3 - In fact, we don't see it that way at all.
4:7 - We would emphatically say, you cannot earn salvation.
4:12 - You cannot do anything to put you in right step with God.
4:21 - Your works are not a way of earning God's favor.
4:25 - That is not how it works.
4:28 - And we hold to that very strongly because what is grace if it's earned?
4:35 - If you have to earn God's favor, then is it really a gift from him?
4:39 - No, then it's a transaction.
4:40 - You just earned it, but we cannot do that.
4:45 - We can't earn it.
4:47 - This is true.
4:48 - You cannot earn God's favor or salvation or righteousness.
4:54 - That is a true statement.
4:59 - But sometimes with this thought or this idea, we carry it a little bit further than that.
5:6 - And what I've heard said at times is this, what we do doesn't matter.
5:16 - What we do doesn't matter.
5:18 - We're saved, God rescues us, we're redeemed, we are righteous in his eyes, so what we do doesn't matter.
5:27 - It doesn't make a difference.
5:33 - Well, of course, this is not true.
5:39 - And we see in our text this morning, as Jesus talks, he's talking about this.
5:43 - He says like, a good tree produces good, and a bad tree produces bad, full stop.
5:51 - Very clearly, that is what is being said.
5:58 - So what we do matters to Jesus.
6:5 - Okay.
6:6 - I think we're comfortable with that.
6:9 - And we have to remember that this text falls inside the same theme as the last week, which was introspection.
6:14 - It's having a look at ourselves, looking internally and saying, how are we doing?
6:18 - What's going on?
6:19 - How are we doing?
6:20 - And Jesus says, the things that you do matter.
6:26 - Okay, fine.
6:28 - What we do matters.
6:29 - But we would say, what we do doesn't matter for salvation.
6:34 - Okay, what we do matters.
6:35 - It makes a difference if we do good in the world, but it doesn't matter for being saved or being rescued or being in right relationship with God.
6:46 - Now, I'd like to press on that a little bit.
6:50 - I'd like to share with you a quote from Romans 10 verses 9-10.
6:55 - Okay, this is Paul and he's kind of breaking out a theology of the entire church.
6:58 - And he says, if you declare with your mouth Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
7:7 - For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified.
7:11 - And it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
7:17 - You profess with your mouth and believe in your hearts, okay?
7:22 - So for right relationship with God, we would say belief is important.
7:27 - Belief matters.
7:29 - What you believe about God matters.
7:32 - Now, if we look at what Jesus is saying, he's saying what the mouth speaks the heart is full of.
7:42 - Therefore, a good tree produces good fruit.
7:45 - What is the fruit?
7:46 - It's the works.
7:48 - So good works come from a good tree.
7:52 - And if we're being introspective, we would say, okay, our works, our deeds, the things that we say and do give witness, give evidence, our testimony to what we believe.
8:11 - So if we live poorly or if we act poorly or if we do inappropriate things or if we live out of pride or hate or judgment, we are giving some evidence to what we actually believe.
8:30 - So if what we do is evidence of what we believe and what we believe is important for right relationship with God, and we're being called to be introspective here, Jesus is saying, I want you to analyze and look at your lives and look at the way that you live, look at the choices that you make, look at the behaviors that you have, and I want you to really think about this.
8:58 - And for you, what is this giving evidence of that exists in your heart?
9:5 - What is your belief?
9:7 - Let me give this to you really tangibly or practically.
9:11 - If you are in conflict with someone that you're close to, and you refuse to own your side of it or to work through it, if you refuse to do the hard work, if you refuse to live like Jesus in that relationship, what does that say about what you believe?
9:32 - If are you saying, I believe that Jesus Christ has restored and redeemed all things, and he has called me to live the same, and therefore I refuse to forgive, refuse to let go, refuse to work hard at doing the right thing, refuse to love selflessly.
9:55 - Remember, Jesus knows your heart.
9:57 - Okay, your behavior is not so that Jesus sees your heart.
10:1 - Jesus in this text is saying, take a look at your behavior because it's gonna help you to understand your own hearts.
10:10 - This is another call to introspection.
10:13 - Take a look, a long hard look in the mirror, look at the way you live your life, and ask yourself, is this in line with the gospel that I profess to be true?
10:29 - Now, I think if we all do that, we sit here, we can think of some examples of maybe some good things we do, and we can think of some examples where we have seriously dropped the ball.
10:46 - Instances today, maybe this morning, yesterday, this week for sure, where we're like, yeah, I messed that up.
10:56 - Jesus is saying, what does that say about what you believe?
11:2 - What does that say about our right relationship with Christ?
11:9 - As we wrestle with this and think about this, these words of Jesus, how do you feel?
11:16 - I don't know, I don't feel too great about all of that.
11:20 - I don't feel super comfortable and confident that I'm in this wonderful place if I actually start looking at the decisions I make and the choices I make and the way I act and the way I treat others and my own pride and arrogance and the things I don't do, if those are evidence to what I believe.
11:41 - Oh, man.
11:44 - I might start to wonder, well, what separates me from anyone else?
11:51 - How am I any different than anyone else?
11:54 - I have these struggles that I'm facing and I mess up from time to time.
12:2 - I fall and I fail recklessly.
12:6 - And Jesus is saying, that's evidence of what you believe.
12:13 - So now what?
12:15 - Where's the good news in that?
12:19 - Where do we get the hope, the encouragement?
12:22 - Like if anything, that doesn't feel so good.
12:28 - This is where, this is a good place to arrive at, because it's real and it's true.
12:35 - Our behavior and our belief is not as separate as we would like to think at times.
12:43 - And we are invited to look to Jesus and to see what he says in this situation.
12:49 - We've arrived at this place where we're aware of the fact that our belief is not perfect, let alone our actions.
12:55 - It's both, we're fallen in both areas.
12:58 - And when we look to Jesus, we see examples of how he interacts with exactly situations like this.
13:6 - Last week, we talked about the woman who was condemned by the religious leaders for sin, said she's sinful.
13:13 - And he said, all right, well, the one who is without sin can cast the first stone.
13:18 - And slowly they leave, the wisest leave first.
13:22 - Of course, the wisest leave first.
13:24 - And slowly they all leave.
13:27 - And Jesus is left with this woman, and he says to her, this woman who's, you know, sinful, who's fallen short, whose belief and practice are both broken.
13:37 - And he says, is no one here to condemn you?
13:40 - And then he says, neither do I condemn you, leave your life of sin.
13:45 - The only one who is perfect and righteous and qualified to cast a stone doesn't, holds her to account with her sin and asks her to change her life.
13:56 - Last week, we also talked about the thief on the cross, who's there and defends Jesus for who he sees him to be.
14:3 - And Jesus says, today, you will be with me in paradise.
14:8 - And Christ on the cross, who lived an entire life selflessly, loving others, went to a death that he didn't deserve, that was completely unjust for the crimes that he did not commit.
14:21 - And while he was there suffering, he said these words, Father, forgive them, they don't know.
14:32 - They don't know.
14:36 - I think sometimes in the church, we have this feeling like, oh yeah, we mess up, we make mistakes, like we have bad behavior at times, but at least we think properly.
14:45 - At least we understand the truth, and we kind of have that box neatly tied up.
14:52 - Yes, our behavior falls short, but Jesus in our text this morning is saying, no, your actions and your behavior are evidence of your heart.
15:1 - Your belief is broken, and so is your lived experience.
15:7 - Jesus says, I meet you here, and you're forgiven not because you know it perfectly, even though you fall short.
15:16 - No, you're forgiven even when you don't know.
15:22 - This expands the understanding of the gospel as Jesus often does.
15:27 - It takes a concept that we sometimes break and misunderstand, and he makes it more difficult to understand in some ways, but when you grasp it, you realize that grace is greater.
15:41 - Because it's not just forgiveness for bad behavior, it's forgiveness for wrong thinking, it's forgiveness for wrong belief, for wrong understanding.
15:52 - That's the expanse of the cross.
15:54 - That's the expanse of Jesus.
15:56 - And this is all set as we're invited to introspection to gain a posture of wisdom.
16:5 - Well, what is wisdom?
16:6 - Wisdom is knowledge in practice.
16:8 - Wisdom is when we take these ideas and we live them out.
16:13 - So it's right belief and right practice.
16:17 - And if we really understand what Jesus is saying here, we are invited to a posture of humility.
16:25 - There's less that separates people in the pews of the church than those outside of it, than we often like to think.
16:34 - We hold our right belief on this high pedestal, but if we're honest and if we're real with ourselves, we have to see that there's breaking inside of that as well.
16:46 - This invites us to a posture of humility, which invites us to a posture of grace for ourselves, for each other, and to receive that grace and that gift from God.
16:59 - There's a really great example of this in practice from the Apostle Paul as he writes a letter to Timothy.
17:4 - And I'd like to share it with you as kind of like an illustration of what we're talking about here.
17:9 - So 1st Timothy 1 verses 12 to 19.
17:11 - Paul's writing this short letter to the Apostle Timothy and he says this, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.
17:28 - Even though I was once a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.
17:40 - The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Jesus Christ.
17:48 - Here's a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.
17:52 - Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.
18:0 - But for that very reason, I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.
18:16 - Now to the king, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, the honor and glory forever and ever.
18:25 - We have things that we think we believe.
18:27 - In fact, we're quite proud about them, but we get challenged and they get put to the test.
18:31 - And Jesus says, look at your life and you will see that this is not, you don't have it all figured out and yet Christ meets us here.
18:42 - This is how good the gospel and good news of Jesus Christ is.
18:47 - Let's pray.
18:50 - Lord God, you always have words for us that challenge the church even 2000 years after you said them.
18:59 - As we have different faith communities that are trying to understand the priority of work, some churches have a low understanding of good deeds and some hold it very highly.
19:12 - And we wrestle with these things.
19:16 - And Lord God, I don't think any one church has it totally right.
19:22 - And you meet us all where we are.
19:25 - God, your church is a body of believers that are broken and fallen and bruised and hurt.
19:32 - And we make mistakes.
19:34 - And God, we just ask that your Holy Spirit come and fill us and give us a greater understanding and awareness of who you are.
19:42 - That's the only way we can grow in knowledge.
19:45 - And it's the only way we can grow in behavior.
19:49 - So God, we invite your sanctifying presence in our lives through your Holy Spirit.
19:55 - Amen.