“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it because it was well built. 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” (Luke 6:46-49).

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?

The Greek word for Lord is kyrios. It means “Lord,” “Master,” “Owner,” “A person with absolute ownership rights.”

So, if you know Jesus as Lord, as one who is the Lord and Master, one who is Owner, one who has absolute ownership rights to us, why do we call him Lord and not do what he says?

If you didn’t know the full understanding of the word Lord, now you do. If you call Jesus Lord and do not do what he says, it’s ludicrous.

And, what’s crazy is that if we were to do what the Lord commands, it works out not only to further God’s kingdom, but we end up doing what’s best for us. So, why aren’t we obeying?

I know. Even as I write this, I too struggle to obey all the time. And it puzzles me too.

You see, fully submitting our lives, our trust, our hopes, our dreams to the Lord is not radical Christianity. It’s the most basic Christianity there is.

The very reason that we would see a submitted life to God’s word as a radical discipleship demonstrates how far from basic Christianity we have strayed.

So, will you join me in submitting to Christ and his Lordship? Will you join me in obeying God’s word?

God knows we won’t be perfect. But he does desire and delights in our best effort to obey him. Let’s give it our best!

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Anne Lamott writes, “Not only is everyone screwed up, but everyone screws up.”

Yup. That pretty much sums it up.

The reason why compassion, understanding, and forgiveness is a necessity is because we’re all screw ups. Not only that, the forecast for screwing up doesn’t have an end date. Everyone of us is going to keep screwing up.

Gee.

So, God tells us, “You guys want to do this church thing? You want to do this Christianity thing? You won’t make it without forgiveness. You will need to be forgiven, and you will need to keep forgiving.”

That we will mess things up is not a matter of if mess ups happen but a matter of when. It’s bound to happen. And without forgiveness and compassion, we have no hope of community.

That’s why God makes forgiveness a non-negotiable item for Christians. And there can’t be an end to forgiveness. It is to be an everlasting well of forgiveness. Jesus tells us, “Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them'” (Luke 17:4).

We’re all screw ups and that’s why we all need forgiveness.

“Praise the LORD, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples” (Psalm 117:1).

Have you ever wondered why Christians sing? Why is singing a part of every worship service? What is it that we are doing when we sing hymns or praise songs during worship?

It’s not to set the mood.
It’s to get in the mood.
In fact, it has very little to do with us at all.

John Piper says, “Singing to God isn’t just a nice emotional trip to spice up a wonderful worship service. It is an attack against Satan!”

I love that.

You see, the reason why John Piper says that is found in two Old Testament passages that tells us about who Satan was before his fall. Did you know that Satan once was an angel in God’s court?

Isaiah 14:12-15: How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the Mount of Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you are brought down to the realms of the dead, to the depths of the pit.

Satan became jealous of the praise God was receiving. Satan wanted to be like God. He wanted the same praises. In fact he wanted to be higher than God.

Ezekiel 28:17: Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings…All the nations who knew you are appalled at you; you have come to a horrible end and will be no more.

Because of Satan’s jealousy of the praises of God, Satan was thrown out of heaven.

Do you know why we sing praise songs and hymns in worship? We sing praises because God is worthy of our praise, and because it is a great weapon we have against Satan.

So, the next time you sing at church, sing your heart out. Let God know how awesome he is, and know that that torments the devil more than anything else on earth.

Love it! Sing out loud! Let God know how awesome he is!