“…Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
– Jesus, Luke 6:45
Sunday’s sermon brought me to one of Jesus’ most challenging statements to me (above). I am a talker. I don’t even stop when I’m alone, I just talk to myself. I get paid to talk on certain days of the week. I rarely miss the opportunity to crack a joke or put in my two-cents. My dad has called me “the peanut gallery” for probably 25 years (yikes!).
Esther and I have a motto in our home: Words Matter. Apparently, Jesus thought the same thing. The words of Jesus in Luke 6:45 humble me because they expose that when I speak too quickly, lash out with harsh words, or fail to see how my words could be misunderstood, that is not an error or a slip-of-the-tongue but it reveals something inside of me that needs to be dealt with. My words say more about me than whatever I am talking about.
Hearts on Fire (not in the good way)
The book of James, which is arguably a commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, devotes an entire chapter to the topic of the tongue and our words. James says,
…the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. – James 3:6
These verses can be turned into a simple logic puzzle:
- The tongue is wicked (James 3:6),
- The tongue speaks from the heart (Luke 6:45),
- Therefore, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9).
Jesus’ point in Luke 6 is not just, clean up your mouth; his point is, clean up your heart.
Jesus’ illustration in Luke 6:43-45 is, healthy trees give healthy fruit and healthy people say healthy things. So, if you make a list of the what you say and judge that against the righteousness of God, you have a metric of how deeply your devotion to God’s way of life has taken root in your heart. Our words do not create our salvation, they are simply a diagnostic we can use to see God’s work in us. This is a gracious and practical way to understand our need for a Saviour every day.
So the question is, how do I clean up my heart? Is it through poverty and hunger (Luke 6:20-21)? Is it through loving your enemies (Luke 6:27)? Is it through getting the log out of your eye (Luke 6:42)? Can we be the impartial judge (Luke 6:38)? No. Those are good things, but they do nothing for our hearts. In fact, those things are impossible without a change of heart. We can change our behaviour for a short time, but to make lasting transformation, the foundation needs to change.
Built on the Rock
Both Matthew and Luke’s account of Jesus’ sermon end with the same passage, the parable of the wise and foolish builders (Matthew 7:24-27, Luke 6:46-49). I think this parable illustrates the main point. Jesus has just dismantled our attempts at being righteous and our understanding of blessing. He has blessed the poor and persecuted, declared woes on the rich and care-free, and he has shown us our loving, judging, and speaking is a mess. Do you think you are good because you haven’t murdered anyone? Well, have you ever been angry? Because Jesus says that is the same thing (Matthew 5:22). Do you think you’re a good person because you love your family? Well, what about your enemies? You need to love them too (Matthew 5:44). Jesus has brought the storm of God’s righteousness and truth washing over our efforts to be righteous and has revealed any sand under our feet. Like standing at the beach as waves lap over your toes and feeling yourself slowly sink into the beach.
Get on the Rock
What Jesus’ disciples don’t know yet, what is revealed in the rest of the Gospel stories is that Jesus is building a foundation for his followers. He is living a perfect life that will end in a brutal death in our place, for our sins to fulfill the righteous requirements of a Holy God. He is building a foundation with his own body and life that will hold no matter the storm. When God’s trumpet sounds, and he judges each man and woman who has ever lived according to their works (Romans 2:6), only the work of Jesus will remain. We are to build our lives on that promise. “All other ground is sinking sand. (My Hope is Built on Nothing Less)
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
– 1 Corinthians 5:21
Jesus came so we could have new hearts and speak new words of life. Not perfectly, only he could do that, but a trajectory of change and dependence on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. If you can’t seem to get your mouth and, therefore, your heart in order, get on the Rock; come to Jesus. Even if you have been a Christian for years you have to continue to preach this truth to yourself: Jesus never spoke a careless word. His heart is pure, and his victory of sin and death is yours by adoption as a son or daughter of God (Ephesians 1:4-5). He accomplishes everything we could not. He promises to be the Rock that will not move.
Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. - Jude 1:24-25
