Why Do You Call Me Lord, Lord And Do Not Do What I Say Series

Now looking back at our text this morning Jesus talks about negative of living our life apart from his commands. In verse 49 He says, “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. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” You see knowing Jesus’ teachings and commands aren’t the answer for what we need. But putting His words into action is. So another reason why “Lord” needs to be more than a word on our tongue is because knowing the Lord’s language and being able to speak it won’t keep you from a collapse. You see it’s plain and simple. When you live your life with God’s Word as your foundation for everything you do then no matter what comes your way you will be able to stand up under it.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has always been a fascination with people for many years. It is a popular tourist site. It’s amazing that someone’s lack of forethought could become such a popular attraction. “The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy is going to fall. Scrientists travel yearly to measure the building’s slow descent. They report that the 179-foot tower moves about one-twentieth of an inch a year, and is now 17 feet out of plumb. They further estimate that by the year 2007 the 810-year old tower will have leaned too far and will collapse onto the nearby ristorante, where scientists now gather to discuss their findings.

Quite significantly, the word ‘pisa’ means ‘marshy land,’ which gives some clues to why the tower began to lean even before it was completed. Also--its foundation is only ten feet deep!” (Source Unknown) There are a lot of people who talk a good game, they can speak Christianese with anyone. But in reality they haven’t applied what they know to their life and when the storms come their life will come crashing down with a thud. Why? Because they have no foundation or like the Leaning Tower of Pisa it is so shallow that gradually it leads to a big crash. The truth is, sometimes the storms that take people down are storms that they brought on themselves because they didn’t live by the principles God gave them in His Word. We see a church that is so different today. In some respects it’s good and some respects it’s not. We see a church that is almost a mirror reflection of the culture that we live in. That is good on the aspect that we as a church in many respects are reaching out and ministering to the hurting and those that are truly in need of the love and healing that Christ can bring after a crash. But the flip side is there are a lot of people who identify with the church and consider themselves Christians that are a mirror image of our culture around us. And that isn’t good because the church is supposed to stand out and be the light and beacon in our culture. And it is far from doing that in many aspects. The divorce rate in the church is no different then the divorce rate in the world. Christians have as poor a record of handling our money and making sound financial decisions as many in the world do. And there are all kinds of truths from God’s Word about how to handle our finances. You can go on and on and in many respects we have a church that knows God’s Word but isn’t applying it to their lives. And because of it, many in the church are experiencing storms that are caused simply from not grounding their life in God’s truths. The church should be experiencing storms for standing up for God’s truth in a world that has abandoned it, but instead we have a church that is having storms because they have abandoned applying the truths to their lives. Yes, “Lord” needs to be more than a word on our tongue. It needs to be more than a language that we speak, it’s got to be the life we live!