How to Build Your Life

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, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all the crowd sought to touch him, for power came out from him and healed them all.

Luke 6:17-

Blessings and Woes

Luke 6:20–26 ESV

And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. “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! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. “But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. “Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. “Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.

Blessed - Poor, Hungry, Weep, Hated

Warned - Rich, Filled, Laughing, Loved

The Contrast is describing prophets and false prophets.

Teachings of Love, Perspective, and Righteousness.

Luke 6:27–38 ESV

“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 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. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 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. 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. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 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.”

All of this is directly tied into the prophets and false prophets. Those who are false are loved, but they hate others! They are preaching hate and are not willing to forgive the lowly who turn back to God.

Love is in the place of judgment. It’s easy to criticize and it makes us feel a sense of release of our anger, but God is calling for us to love those who hate us and treat them with mercy and compassion.

Love in the place of judgment. It’s easy to criticize and it makes us feel a sense of release of our anger, but God is calling for us to love those who hate us and treat them with mercy and compassion.

3 Parables

All have one point - Choose your teacher wisely and be like your teacher.

Blind Leading Blind

Luke 6:39–42 ESV

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

Luke 6:39-42

It is in this context that Jesus goes on to say that the guy with the log in his eye is trying to get the splinter out of the other guys’ eye. Both are blind and will fail.

The point is that we must all turn to someone with nothing in their eye for help and then we can see clearly to help others. Jesus is the only one who could heal anyone’s eye.

The goal isn’t to be able to judge our brother. It is not to condemn our brother. It is to create gratitude that results in mercy.

Bad Trees Bear Bad Fruit

Luke 6:43–45 ESV

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

43-

This parable helps us to see that we can’t look to the false teachers to get the good fruit. Those who are rich, filled, happy, and loved by men, but at the same time have shown themselves to be hateful, false, and unloving hypocrites must be recognized as bad trees who bear bad fruit.

Their spawn is not good. Their is no production of good from them because their heart won’t allow it to be truly good for God’s glory.

The good person loves mercifully and compassionately. They are self critical, but willing to help those who they can.

Houses Without Foundations

Luke 6:46–49 ESV

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

Foundations are the most important part of the house. Without the foundation, there is no stability. The foundation is where you must begin if you want a house to endure the test of time. Houses without a solid foundation won’t sell because no one wants a house that could collapse. Insurance companies don’t cover collapse.

Most Foundations

Most of our foundations are not dug down to rock. We tend to dig down a couple of feet and pour our own rock that we call concrete. Unfortunately that isn’t always enough. Man’s solution of concrete does not ensure that your foundation will not fall.

Our Sinking House

Our house was 40 years old when we bought it. We had a structural engineer look under the house to make sure that it was in good shape and that it’s bones were well constructed. He looked at all of the major problem areas for most houses and said, “They did this house right. I don’t think you would go wrong here.” The footings all looked good for the outer wall and the inner pillars.

Unfortunately, 3 years later, half of our house has sunk 3 inches. So, we paid to have people come and dig new steel pillars all the way down to bedrock and put half of the house on stilts. That foundation isn’t going anywhere unless someone wanted to remove those.

I can’t even imagine saying, “lets take these studs and just set them straight on the ground. They should hold up for the rest of our lives. It is comical. That wood floats. Have you ever seen those houses that are floating away in a flood?

This House

It is interesting that Jesus decided to compare listening to what He just said to building a foundation.

Jesus uses this illustration to say, “if you listen to my words, you are digging down deep and anchoring yourself on something that will not be moved. You may be tempted to think that the ground isn’t moving, but it is and it definitely will when the floods come. Don’t be fooled into thinking that the ways of the false prophets work and will provide you with life.

You have life to look forward to if you can do what is difficult. Be the poor, hungry, weeping, and hated. Be the one who loves, is merciful, and compassionate. Don’t judge those around you so as to condemn them. They don’t need that. They need someone to love them. They need someone to point them to Jesus so they can get the log or splinter out of their own eye.

My House?

Your words and your teachings could be leading to a pit. Trust God’s teachings and His word… Jesus the Messiah.

If our motives are in any way self serving, we have to evaluate our hearts.

His House!

Ezekiel 13:1–7 ESV

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel, who are prophesying, and say to those who prophesy from their own hearts: ‘Hear the word of the Lord!’ Thus says the Lord God, Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing! Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel. You have not gone up into the breaches, or built up a wall for the house of Israel, that it might stand in battle in the day of the Lord. They have seen false visions and lying divinations. They say, ‘Declares the Lord,’ when the Lord has not sent them, and yet they expect him to fulfill their word. Have you not seen a false vision and uttered a lying divination, whenever you have said, ‘Declares the Lord,’ although I have not spoken?”

Ezekiel 13:10 ESV

Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash,

Concise Oxford English Dictionary Whitewash

a deliberate concealment of someone’s mistakes or faults.

Ezekiel 13:10–16 ESV

Precisely because they have misled my people, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and because, when the people build a wall, these prophets smear it with whitewash, say to those who smear it with whitewash that it shall fall! There will be a deluge of rain, and you, O great hailstones, will fall, and a stormy wind break out. And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the coating with which you smeared it?’ Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will make a stormy wind break out in my wrath, and there shall be a deluge of rain in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to make a full end. And I will break down the wall that you have smeared with whitewash, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be laid bare. When it falls, you shall perish in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Thus will I spend my wrath upon the wall and upon those who have smeared it with whitewash, and I will say to you, The wall is no more, nor those who smeared it, the prophets of Israel who prophesied concerning Jerusalem and saw visions of peace for her, when there was no peace, declares the Lord God.

It doesn’t do anyone any good to ignore problems and ignore the faults when they are open and exposed to God. Either we start digging to find the truth of where we need to change and what we must do to follow Jesus or we might as well bulldoze everything down.

God says to Israel, I will tear it all down. If it’s not built right, don’t build it at all! You are just a blind man about to fall into a pit and bring people down with you! Stop!

Build a Foundation of Love

Following the ways of Jesus essentially tells us to become more loving and compassionate people who are seeking to glorify our Lord and Savior.

We care about the truth, but we also care about the souls of those who need it most.

This is foundational. If we get this part of our time here wrong, we will need to dig down deep to bedrock and support the true life that Jesus has us live.

Don’t whitewash over the foundation. Do it right!

We have to spend our time here focused on the truth that has come from God and that is able to set men free. We aren’t here to say “Peace!” when there is no peace and we aren’t here to say “Judgement!” when it is God’s place to do so and He could just as easily say it toward me.

1 Corinthians 3:10–15 ESV

According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

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