“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46).
There are a lot of people in our society who insist they are Christians and claim to do things based upon how much they want God back in our society.
The problem is that I hear or read what these people say, but then I see what they do and what and who they support in their zeal to “return” our society to God, and I have to wonder if they even know what Jesus taught, what He said and how He expected us to live. By no stretch of the imagination do I claim to be someone who always and faithfully does exactly what Christ wants me to do, I really do question if many who claim to be Christian really understand what Jesus taught.
It’s not unusual to speak to people about what the Bible says, what Jesus says in the Bible, and hear that same person say, “I agree that’s what the Bible says, but . . .” and then proceed to explain why that particular passage really doesn’t mean what it says or that it really doesn’t apply to this particular situation.
Perhaps it’s time we revisit the Bible, Jesus and what He taught.
What Jesus Said About His Words
“As for the person who hears My words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world but to save it. . . For I did not speak of My own accord, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me what to say and how to say it” (John 12:47, 49).
There are plenty of places in the New Testament when Jesus speaks of His words and His expectations. In the immediately preceeding verses, Jesus is speaking about what it means to place our faith in Him, and how that faith in Him is always faith in God. He speaks of bringing light into the world, and then Jesus speaks about those who reject Him. Jesus points out His ministry on earth was not as a judge, but as a Savior. However, He went on to say that His words will condemn the unbeliever (cf. v. 48). Jesus has high expectations for those who would follow Him. As we can see, He understood that His words came directly from the Father, instructing Jesus in what to say and how to say it.
As Jesus introduced the Sermon on the Mount, He made this statement: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commandments will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20). Jesus then takes the rest of the Sermon on the Mount to explain what He means by practicing the commandments and what it means to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees and teachers. But the point is that Jesus expects an adherence to God’s Word and, by extension, to His words, since He has come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with words similar to the opening question of this post. He compares those who hear and do His words with those who hear but do not do them (cf. Matthew 7:24-27). Those who are obedient are likened to the wise, while those who hear but ignore are fools.
In the upper room the night Jesus was betrayed, He knew that His time was short with His disciples, so He wanted to impart lasting words that would stay with them until the Spirit would come to them. In the lessons He was teaching, Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love Me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not My own; they belong to the Father who sent Me” (John 14:23-24). This comment, “If you love Me, you will obey My teaching” or what Jesus commands is repeated elsewhere in the upper room (cf. 14:15, 21; 15:10).
These are just a few of the verses that let us know Jesus said what He said with the idea that we would put His words into practice in our lives.
Did Jesus Literally Mean Everything He Said?
It depends on what we mean by the word “mean.” We’ve already seen that Jesus said He only spoke what the Father gave Him to say, so we know that Jesus took His words seriously and expected us to take them seriously, too. There are a lot of times when Jesus would be teaching something and make the statement, “I tell you the truth.” The phrase was Jesus’ way of saying what He was about to say was important, similar to a teacher or professor saying, “This will be on the test, so write this down.”
So when Jesus said to turn the other cheek, He meant it. When He said to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, He meant it. When He said we are to live out the Golden Rule, He didn’t mean we were to live out a warped version of the Golden Rule. He meant our lives were to be patterned after a life that wanted to treat people the we want to be treated, not the way we are treated.
When Jesus said we are to go and make disciples, He meant it. When He said we are to love the Lord our God with our total being and to love our neighbors as ourselves, He meant it. Everything Jesus said, He meant.
With some exceptions.
When Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. . . If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go to hell” (Matthew 5:29-30), He doesn’t mean that we are to literally lop of appendages and pluck out body parts. It’s symbolic, meant to show us that God takes sin seriously and that we are to do so, too. He is stressing that we are to be prepared to sacrifice in order to be where God wants us, relying on His grace and mercy to lead us.
By the same token, Jesus tells us that if we want to become His disciples, then we must hate our parents and families (cf. Luke 14:25-27). The emphasis is that when a person comes to Jesus for salvation, we must be prepared to lose relationships that are near and dear to us. He isn’t saying, “If you want to follow Me, start by hating your parents, your siblings, your spouse and children.” What He is saying is that our devotion to Him must be first in our lives.
The best way to figure out when Jesus is not speaking literally but figuratively is to ask ourselves if these particular words are consistent with His overall teachings. For instance, in the matter of hating family in order to become a disciple, it makes no sense to tell us that we are to love our neighbor as ourselves but we have to hate those closest to us. Look at the context of the passage, as well. Taken in to context, a lot of things will fall into place and make sense.
Conclusion
Jesus has a lot to say, and He has expectations of us. He knows we will fall short, but He nevertheless expects us to place ourselves in obedience to His words. We obey not to earn His love, but as an expression of His love. The love of God and of Christ is given to us and was given to us before we knew Him (cf. Romans 5:6-11; 1 John 4:7-12). The life of obedience is the living out of faith that accepts that Jesus’ words are the way we are to live, again, not in the hope of earning His love, but because we know and believe His words to be the true way to live and to relate to our world and those who live in it.
Jesus’ question, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,” and do not do what I say?” is as valid today as it was when He first said it. How shall we answer?
© 2019 Glynn Beaty