Choose Your Teacher Wisely

In one paragraph

This message worked through the closing illustrations of Jesus's Sermon on the Mount in Luke 6, covering the blind leading the blind, the speck and the log, the tree and its fruit, and the two houses. The preacher traced how each illustration supports the same central demand: that those who call Jesus Lord actually do what he says. The sermon landed on the question of foundation, asking whether we...

Read together

1. Psalm 100:1-2 opening call to worship before singing, 'make a joyful noise to the Lord... serve the Lord with gladness, come into his presence with joyful songs'
2. 1 Peter 5:7 read during the offering as 'a good word': 'cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you'
3. Luke 6:17-20 setting the scene for the sermon on the plain, the crowd gathering to hear Jesus and be healed
4. Luke 6:20-22 the four beatitudes: blessed are the poor, the hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated for Jesus' sake
5. Luke 6:24-26 the four woes corresponding to the beatitudes, directed at the rich, well-fed, laughing, and well-spoken-of
6. Luke 6:27-30 commands to love enemies, bless those who curse, pray for abusers, offer the other cheek, and give to all who ask
7. Luke 6:31 the golden rule: 'treat people the same way that you want them to treat you'
8. Luke 6:32-34 rhetorical questions about what credit it is to love only those who love you, since even sinners do the same
9. Luke 6:35-36 command to love enemies, do good, lend expecting nothing in return, because God is kind to ungrateful and evil people; be merciful as your Father is merciful
10. Luke 6:37-38 commands not to judge, not to condemn, to pardon, and to give; the measure you give will be measured back to you
11. Luke 6:39 parable of the blind man leading the blind, both falling into a pit
12. Luke 6:40 a student is not above the teacher, but when fully trained will be like the teacher
13. Luke 6:41-42 the speck and the log: why look at the speck in your brother's eye while missing the log in your own; Jesus calls the person a hypocrite and says to remove your own log first
14. Luke 6:43-44 no good tree bears bad fruit and no bad tree bears good fruit; each tree is known by its own fruit; figs not from thorns, grapes not from briars
15. Luke 6:45 the good person brings good out of the good treasure of the heart; out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks
16. Luke 6:46 'why do you call me Lord, Lord, and yet you do not do what I say'
17. Luke 6:47-48 everyone who comes, hears, and acts on Jesus' words is like a man who built a house on a rock that withstood the flood
18. Luke 6:49 the one who heard but did not act is like a man who built on the ground without a foundation; when the flood came it immediately collapsed
19. Luke 7:1 after Jesus completed all his teaching in the hearing of the people, he went to Capernaum
20. Philippians 4:11 briefly referenced as Paul saying 'do all things without grumbling or complaining'

Talk about it

1. The preacher described two ditches on either side of the road, one being legalism and the other licentiousness. Have you ever caught yourself overcorrecting from one extreme and landing in the other? What did that look like?
2. The sermon raised the question of who we are listening to, pointing out that a teacher's blind spots will eventually become our blind spots. Who are the main voices shaping how you think about faith right now, and how do you evaluate whether they are pointing you toward Jesus?
3. Jesus asks why we notice the speck in someone else's eye while missing the log in our own. Why do you think it is easier to see other people's faults than our own, and what does it look like in practice to deal with your own log first?
4. The preacher said that whatever fills the heart will eventually come out of the mouth. When you pay attention to what comes out of your mouth during an ordinary week, what does it tell you about what is actually in your heart?
5. Jesus closes the sermon with the contrast between a house built on rock and a house built on the ground with no foundation. The preacher said floods are coming for everyone. What does it look like, practically, to hear Jesus's words and act on them rather than just hear them?