Bible Study series: Luke 6:46-49. Build your house on the rock (Jesus’s teaching).
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Luke 6:46-49
46 Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 Everyone coming to me and hearing my words and acting on them—I’ll show you what he is like: 48 He is like the person who builds a house and dug deep and established the foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the river burst upon that house, but was not strong enough to shake it because it was built well. 49 But the one hearing and not acting is like the person building a house on the ground without a foundation. The river burst on it and immediately it collapsed, and how great was the crash of that house!” (Luke 6:46-49)
Comments:
46:
It is possible to call Jesus “Lord, Lord” and not know him intimately, first, and then not do what he says, second. “Lord, Lord,” could be translated “sir” or “master.” Those titles seem to be a step down from “Lord” (at least it seems so to me), though some modern paraphrases translate the Greek word throughout the four Gospels, like the Message. Lord is better and more accurate, in my view.
The disciples and the people who are listening to his Sermon the Plain have to hear and obey his teaching. This reflects the section in Matt. 7:21-23, where people work miracles and do charismatic things but don’t know the Lord, even though they call him “Lord, Lord.” The Lord will tell them to depart from him. Knowing and obeying Jesus is the best way to keep safe from God’s negative judgment, here and then in the afterlife.
47:
This verse begins with an old-fashioned simile. This is similar to or like that (note that simile and similar are related).
“coming to me”: this is what an ordinary teacher says. It’s equivalent to “If you enroll in my class.” But we have a large number of disciples and the people listening to him in the outdoors. Miracles happened, and people were healed. So he goes beyond an ordinary teacher. He demands obedience of their entire lives. This is Messianic. If you come to him and listen to his teaching, then do what he says. Change your whole life, if you have to. Just don’t come for the self-interested benefits you can get from his healing ministry.
“words”: it is the Greek noun logos (pronounced loh-goss and is used 330 times in the NT). Since it is so important, let’s explore the noun more deeply, as I do in this entire commentary series.
The noun is rich and full of meaning. It always has built into it rationality and reason. It has spawned all sorts of English words that end in –log-, like theology or biology, or have the log– stem in them, like logic.
Though certain Renewalists may not like to hear it, there is a rational side to the Word of God, and a moment’s thought proves it. The words you’re reading right now are placed in meaningful and logical and rational order. The Bible is also written in that way. If it weren’t, then it would be nonsense and confusing, and we couldn’t understand the gibberish. (Even your prophecies have to make logical and rational sense on some level!) Your Bible studies and Sunday morning sermons have to make sense, also. Luke’s Gospel has logic and rational argumentation built into it. People need to be ministered to in this way. God gave us minds and brains and expects us to use them. Your preaching cannot always be flashy and shrieky and so outlandishly entertaining that people are not fed in the long term. Movements like that don’t last over the years without the Word. I have observed this from firsthand experience in certain sectors of the Renewal Movement.
People have the deepest need to receive solid teaching. Never become so outlandishly supernatural and entertaining that you neglect the reasonable and rational side of preaching the gospel and teaching the Bible. Yes, Luke-Acts is very charismatic, but it is also very orderly and rational and logical.
On the other side of the word logos, people get so intellectual that they build up an exclusive Christian caste of intelligentsia that believe they alone can teach and understand the Word. Not true.
Bottom line: Just study Scripture with Bible helps and walk in the Spirit, as they did in Acts. Combining Word and Spirit is the balanced life.
48:
“dug deep”: you have to dig deep into his teaching to find the bedrock and live a solid life.
“Built well”: not only must you find bedrock, you have to build the house strongly. No shoddy construction in the kingdom.
Now come the trials of life. The flooding river was not strong enough to shake the house. The house stood up against the storm. The Lord is looking for men and women who will stand strong even during severe persecution or everyday trials.
49:
It is implied that “the one hearing (my words) and not acting (on what I say).” This was a weak or badly built house, and the builder did not dig deep enough to find bedrock. The house encounters the same flood, and it instantly collapses. How great was the crash! These are shallow followers of Jesus, who disappear when the going gets tough. They’re deserters. They want only the self-interested benefits and do not consider or listen with humble and teachable hearts and obey or do his clear teachings.
GrowApp for Luke 6:46-49
1. How have you obeyed his teachings (or not)? Tell your story.
RELATED
11. Eyewitness Testimony in Luke’s Gospel
3. Church Fathers and Luke’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
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