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Luke 5-6: If He’s Lord, Do What He Says

Jan 7, 2009
Christian Living, Faith, Luke, Surrender

Today’s reading is Luke 5:1-6:49.

It was tough to decide what to write about in today’s reading. As I was going through it several things jumped out at me. Not the least of which were some questions I’m still not convinced I know how to answer. However, as I got to the end of the reading one statement outshone them all.

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” (Luke 6:46).

It is one thing to call Jesus Lord. It is another thing to actually let Him be Lord. Sadly, for too much of my life, I’ve been willing to simply call Jesus “Lord” but then still try to run my own life. My Christianity was one of half-measures, trying to do enough to get to go to heaven but still pursuing my own ways on the side. All that does is lead me on a path of self-destruction–in this life and the next.

There are lots of arguments today about how we should read the Bible. Folks act like if we emphasize obeying Jesus we must be teaching a works salvation. The fact is, I can’t work my way into heaven. No matter how much I obey Jesus I won’t deserve heaven. I can’t earn it. I’ve already blown that.

However, if I want to go to heaven, I have to let Jesus be Lord. This is not because if I let Him be Lord enough, I’ll be good enough to go to heaven. It’s because Jesus knows the way. His Lordship is not some set of arbitrary commands testing me to see if I can make the grade and therefore graduate into heaven. His Lordship is merely the guidance into the eternal kingdom. I need to let Jesus be Lord because His way works and my way won’t. His way will get me to eternal life. No other way will (cf. Matthew 7:13-14). 

What this means for me today is I must surrender my life to Jesus. As Galatians 2:20 says, I must live by faith in Him. That is more than just believing He is Lord. That means because I believe He is Lord, I believe what He says and do it. I don’t just say He is Lord. I let Him be Lord.

“Today, Jesus, I invite you to be Lord of my life. I surrender to You. Let me simply find Your will for my life that I might do the next right thing in Your service.”

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

8 Comments
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  • http://www.andysochor.com Andy Sochor

    The thing that I noticed is along the same lines as what you talked about – obedience.

    "When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, 'Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.' Simon answered and said, 'Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as you say and let down the nets.' When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break" (5:4-6).

    Simon, the professional fisherman, worked all night and caught nothing. Then Jesus tells him to go back and let down his nets again. Using human reasoning, Simon might think, "I know what I'm doing. There are no fish tonight. We're all tired. There is no point in going back out." But he obeyed the word of the God of creation and reaped the benefits.

    God's commands may not always make sense to us. But not understanding why God tells us to do something does not excuse us from doing it. We need to obey, even if we don't initially see the reason behind it.

  • Edwin Crozier

    Great point, Andy. Let me add to that one of the things that always stands out to me about that occurrence. I think Peter must have had some of that "I'm the professional" mentality even though he went along with Jesus. When the fish come rolling in, Peter says, "Depart from me, I'm a sinner." He was completely humbled and felt unworthy to be in Jesus' presence.

    But Jesus didn't say, "You know, you're right. I'm outta here." Instead, He said, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men." Jesus accepted Peter into His fellowship and had a job for him. Powerful stuff right there. We should all be cowering in fright in the presence of Jesus' holiness because of our sins. What we deserve is to be burnt to a crisp because of the purity of His holiness. But instead, He warmly welcomes us and let's us know He has a job for us. On top of all that is the implication that He'll make us capable to do the job.

  • http://www.sharingthegoodnews.wordpress.com Clay Gentry

    In today's reading I noticed a contrast between Jesus and the Pharisees that I had not noticed before.

    In Luk 5:15 we find that great crowds are coming to Jesus. Instead of praying in front of the crowd as the Pharisees would have (Mat 5:5-6) Jesus "would withdraw to desolate places to pray" (Luk 5:16). Another example of Jesus stealing away to pray is found in Luk 6:12.

    We can take two points away from this: 1) It's okay to pray in front of others (Luk 11:1) but don't do it for show. 2) Sometimes we need to get away in order to get with God, the crowd can be too distracting.

    Clay

  • http://benhastings.wordpress.com Ben Hastings

    I keyed off of the same passage as Andy, but specifically focused on verse 5 – "at your word I will"

    He could have – theoretically – left it at that statement as we so often do – showing "faith" only in lip service. Instead, he put his professional opinion aside and obeyed God. I know I need to move more from the "saying" into the "saying AND doing" category!

    Too, I just have to say "amen" about your thoughts on 6:46

  • Nathan Williams

    It seems all of Luke 5 is about faith and trust in the Lord.

    In order to truly trust in someone, you must first believe they are WILLING to help you. Luke 5:13: "I am willing, be cleansed."

    Second, you must believe they are ABLE to help you. Luke 5:24: "But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins…I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home." And the paralytic did!

    Jesus demonstrated in these two simple stories of healing that He both has the POWER and the COMPASSION for us to heal us. I can fully trust Him.

  • Edwin Crozier

    Hadn't thought about that, Clay. Thanks for bringing it up.

    Ben, saying and doing…yes, that is where the trouble always is for me. Or maybe I should say, saying and doing and then keep on doing. It is, after all, New Year. I've said and done a lot this week. Will I keep doing next week and next month.

    Nathan, the amazing part is Christ's willingness. Who else was willing to touch a leper?

  • Mark Joseph

    Luke 5:15-16 reminds me of your sermon "Christianity is a Taught Religion." Here, we read that crowds were coming to Jesus to be healed of their sicknesses, and yet Jesus withdrew from them to be alone and to pray.

    In your sermon, you pointed out that, while Jesus miraculously fed 5,000 on day one, he refused to feed them again on day two. He elected, rather, to provide for them the "bread of life." To merely be taught the truth, however, did not appeal to the crowd, and so they departed.

    In Luke 5:17-26, Jesus healed the paralytic so that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law would know He had the authority on earth to forgive sins. Jesus' miracle was intended to convince them that He was in fact who He claimed to be – the Son of God.

    Today, our faith comes by hearing the Word of God. We are "taught" by the re-telling of these eyewitness accounts of Jesus' miracles, which prove who He is – the Son of God.

  • Edwin Crozier

    Thanks for that Mark. I hadn't thought of a similarity between this passage and that lesson. Certainly, sometimes Jesus acted before the crowds. Sometimes He withdrew. Sometimes that was for personal reasons. Sometimes that was to teach the crowds a lesson.

    Remember that final point throughout all the gospels. That is what they are about–proving Jesus is the Son of God. That is especially what Luke is about. Just consider the end result of the genealogy in Luke 3:38.



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