You're Not The Boss of Me.

Why do you do what you are told to do at work? The reason we do what our bosses tell us is because they have the authority over us at work, and because they have the power to keep the paychecks flowing. Following their directions keeps our work life running smoothly and that allows us to stay on an even keel. But what would happen to you if the owner of the company you work for told you to do something and you said you would, but then didn’t...or worse yet you just ignored his instruction? What if you decided you didn’t want to do what he said, because you’d rather do what you want to do and do it the way you want to do it? You might get away with it for a little while, but pretty soon your actions would catch up to you and he would sit you down in his office and ask you this. “Why won’t you do what I’ve asked you to do?” You could answer with the old childhood response: “You’re not the boss of me.” The problem with that is that he is the boss of you and obviously, if you persisted with this behavior, you would get fired. And when you got fired, you wouldn’t have an income, and when you don’t have an income, your life would end up in pretty bad shape...right? Let’s run the scenario out a few months. You can’t pay your mortgage, so the bank forecloses on your house. You can’t make the car payment, so they repossess your car. Your life is now in pretty bad shape, and who do you have to blame for it? You could blame your old boss for firing you, but is that the one who is really to blame? No. I’ll tell you who is really to blame... the guy looking at you in the mirror is to blame. You are to blame for your situation, because all you had to do was follow your

boss’s instructions and everything would still be going smoothly for you. OK, I realize that so far this is all just common sense, and I haven’t given you a big new revelation from the Word of God that will revolutionize your life. But what if we take that same scenario and scale it way up past your boss at work. Let’s talk about the one who is supposed to be the ultimate authority in your life. Jesus. What do you believe about Jesus? Was He just a guy who made some good suggestions in the first four book of the new testament, or is He actually The Creator of the universe? Is He the foundation of your life? Is He your Lord? In the scenario where you do what your boss tells you, it’s because he pays you. You respond with action because a payment has been made. And in the case of Jesus, a payment has also been made. But He paid on your behalf because it was a price you couldn’t afford. Your sin caused you to be unqualified to pay your own sin debt. Jesus purchased your salvation when He died on the cross, and in doing so, He purchased you. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 “19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” If you have surrendered your life to Jesus, you no longer belong to you. You belong to God. That’s why we call Jesus our Lord. The word Lord just means “owner.” He made a payment, so we must respond with an action.

Do you call Jesus your Lord? If so, He has a question for you. It’s pretty blunt and straight to the point. Luke 6:46 “46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?” That’s a sobering question. What is your answer? What do you do when confronted with this question? Remember, it’s not the pastor asking you this...It’s Jesus. It would be pretty easy to come up with an excuse as to why you don’t do what I say. You would probably pull out the old phrase we mentioned earlier, that you used when you were a kid: “You’re not the boss of me.” And you know what...you would be right. But what will you say to Jesus when he asks you that question? Luke 6:46-49 “46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? 47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” If you want a stable, unshakeable life...do what I tell you. That’s what Jesus is saying in this passage. If you hear His teaching and then go about your life not following His directions, what do you think will happen to your life? As a Christian, What happens when you decide you don’t want to follow what Jesus said, but instead just do what you want, the way you want?

Jesus is talking to those who claim to follow Him and call Him Lord. He’s talking to us as believers. Why don’t we do what He says? Do you want your life to be built on a solid foundation? Yes. Do you want to be secure when the flood comes? Yes. So why don’t we do what Jesus says? Because it’s not raining...yet. We don’t see the need to adjust our way of thinking when life is sunny and things are going ok. The problem with that is, when it starts raining it’s too late to go back and start digging a foundation for your life. Our way of thinking will direct our actions. So if our thinking is unaffected by the teachings of Jesus, then our actions will be unaffected by His teachings. Jesus illustrated this when He was in the temple and the chief priests and elders of Israel began to question Him. Matthew 21:28-31 “28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” What Jesus was saying to the chief priests and elders was that those far from God, the prostitutes and tax collectors, had changed their mind and followed what John the Baptist had preached. John preached the same thing that Jesus preached, and that was repentance is required for entering the kingdom of God. The chief priests and elders had said they serve God, but didn’t do what God had told them to do. They talked a good game, but they didn’t actually do anything, so Jesus called them out. Have you told Jesus you would serve Him, but are not doing it?

Let’s look at how Jesus laid out His illustration. The first thing we should notice in this passage is that the father didn’t ask his sons to go work in the vineyard...he told them to go work in the vineyard. He didn’t say, if you have time, or if you feel like it, or if you don’t mind. He just said go. He told them what to do. It was then up to each of them, what they did with that command. They had a decision to make. Do I do what the boss has told me to do, or do I do what I want to do? It’s the same question the chief priests and elders had to answer...and its the same question you will have to answer also. The first son didn’t want to do what his dad told him to do, in the beginning. But then he changed his mind and did the will of his father. That’s the first step of true repentance. Repentance requires a change of mind, which will then trigger a change of your actions. Here is a kingdom principle: Your mind must be changed before your life can be changed. Romans 12:2 “2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Your life cannot be transformed unless your mind is changed. If you don’t believe you are doing anything wrong, you will not be motivated to change anything about your life. Living a successful life in the kingdom will require you to change your mind about some things, and then take some actions. The second son said he would go, but didn’t. It doesn’t seem to me that he ever intended to go. He just said whatever got his dad off his back. Is it enough to just say you will follow what

Jesus says for us to do...or do you actually have to do it, for it to have an affect on your life? We must actually put into action what Jesus told us to do if we want to have stability in this life. How do we know we have a stable foundation for our life? The storms will not shake us. Let’s take a minute and now look back at that first passage we read in Luke 6. Here are the things that were common to both men that Jesus talked about. They both heard what Jesus said to do. They both built houses. They both went through a storm. The storm didn’t kill either of them. But here is the difference between them. One had his house destroyed by the storm and the other one weathered the storm with his house intact. The outcome for both of them was determined way before the storm hit. It was determined when they decided how to build their house. One decided that he needed a stable foundation on bedrock and the other decided he didn’t. Whatever you are dealing with now, has its roots in the past. Somewhere in the past a decision was made that put you on this path. It may have been someone else’s decision, but there was a decision none the less. It was a lot of extra work for the first guy who dug a foundation and I’m sure the other guy made fun of him for it. But he decided the extra work was worth it. The guy who didn’t dig got his house built much faster and was already enjoying it while the other guy was still digging away looking for bedrock. I’m sure the first guy looked foolish for doing all that extra work...because the weather was still sunny.

The first guy put the words of Jesus into action and the second one did not. And why is that? Because the first one put his faith in Jesus and the other one put his faith in the fact that it wasn’t raining...at least not yet. Have you put any work into digging a foundation that will hit bedrock? It will look foolish to those who say, all you have to do is walk an aisle and pray a prayer, and everything will be fine. Is that doing what Jesus said to do? No. Then why would you expect to have a stable foundation when the storms come into your life? Now I’m not talking about salvation. There is no work or anything you can do to earn salvation in eternity. That’s what Jesus paid for when He purchased you. I’m talking about how to have your life remain stable here on earth when storms come now. That does require some work. And that brings me to the next thing that the men had in common. They both went through the storm. Storms will come, of this we can be sure. We are not promised a life of ease. Scripture is clear about what to expect as a Christian. Problems. 1 Peter 4:12 “12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” James 1:2-3 “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Romans 5:3-4 “ 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,”

Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.” These are just a few of the many verses that set our expectations when it comes to what we should expect from this life. But the question we are answering today is what will keep our life from falling apart when these storms come. The reality is that just like in the story Jesus told the storm hits everyone. Not just those who have a proper foundation. As we have seen, the only thing that will keep our life stable and unshakeable is doing what Jesus said to do. Doing what Jesus said requires you to first know what He said. Do you spend any time with Him in His word? How can you do what He says to do, if you don’t know what He said? The journey to a stable life requires three major decisions. The first decision is that you have to make is to commit to knowing what Jesus told us to do. The second one is to follow through on that commitment. The third decision is the one that you make to take action on what you have learned that Jesus has said. We are here to help you do that. Beginning in January Neal will be teaching a class on “The Red Letters.” In some bibles the words of Jesus recorded in the four gospels are printed with red ink, so they are called “red letter editions.” Neal will be focusing on the words of Jesus, so this will be a great opportunity for you to learn what Jesus said we are supposed to be doing. We will give you more details about the day and time of this class as we make those final decisions.

We don’t just randomly decide what to teach on here at FUEL. We want to teach you the things that will transform your life from just believing in Jesus, to actually becoming a disciple of His and following what He said. If you have had storms in your life that left you wrecked, I have good news for you. You can rebuild your life, but this time you have the opportunity to rebuild it beginning with digging a firm foundation. The bedrock of your life can begin with knowing what Jesus has called you to do, and then doing it. Look again at the verses we just read about trials and suffering. This time notice what we are promised when we go through trials after having laid a firm bedrock foundation of doing what Jesus says. 1 Peter 4:12-14 “12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. ” James 1:2-3 “2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” Romans 5:3-4 “ 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” Psalm 34:19 “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.”

We are not left to weather life’s storms alone. The Lord will deliver us from them. But He must be Lord of our life. And if He is Lord, we must do what He says. This is the only way to be sure your life holds securely and stable when the storms come through again.