Stand Out - 30 Days with Jesus - Day 8

Luke 6:1-49

There are so many lessons in today's Scripture! In Luke 6, Jesus teaches that He is the Lord of the Sabbath (verses 1-5), heals a man's hand on the Sabbath (verses 6-11), chooses His apostles (verses 12-16), teaches us to love our enemies (verses 27-36), not to judge others (verses 37-42), and that we should be fruitful believers (verses 42-49).

I think the main point of the lessons in this chapter is that we should not be so bound by religious tradition that we forget to follow the will of God and feel His Spirit move on us. This lesson begins in Luke 5 with the parable of the old and new garment (and the old and new wine and bottles).

In Biblical days, clothes were made from wool. When wool is washed, it shrinks. That's why you could not patch an old coat with a new piece of wool - because the old coat had already shrunk and was not going to shrink anymore, but the new piece of fabric was going the shrink when it was washed, and it would tear away from the old fabric when it shrunk.

Jesus was teaching something totally new. His message of salvation and grace was something totally unheard of. It didn't fit in with the old traditional ways of the Jews. The Pharisees were always on Jesus' case about breaking tradition. He ate with tax collectors and sinners (check out the story in Luke 5:27-32). He healed a man on the Sabbath (Luke 6:6-11). In order to serve people and show them the love and grace that He had come to earth to bring, He broke traditions and stormed through racial and social barriers.

He was the new piece that didn't fit in with the old traditional religious ways.

And I think that Jesus wants us to be like Him. We are not called to fit in - we are called to stand out and stand up for Christ!

In order to do this, we have to learn the lessons that Jesus taught in Luke 6:

1. Love Your Enemies - I think this is one of the hardest lessons to learn. It's easy to love someone that loves you back, but when you have to love someone that doesn't love you, it's tough. But we are called to be like Christ, who not only loved His enemies, but gave His life for them (a.k.a - US). "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8 If we can achieve the selfless, unconditional love, then we are truly getting more like Christ.
2. Judge Not - I tend to be very critical. It's a daily battle for me to keep from being judgmental, even over the smallest things. But when I'm feeling self-righteous and critical, these verses always put me in my place: "Why do you notice the little piece of dust in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the big piece of wood in your own eye? How can you say to your friend, 'Friend, let me take that little piece of dust out of your eye' when you cannot see that big piece of wood in your own eye! You hypocrite! First, take the wood out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the dust out of your friend's eye." Luke 6:41-42 (New Century Version)
3. Produce Spiritual Fruit - Good works are not required for our salvation. There is no way to work your way into Heaven. However, good works (a.k.a - fruit) should be a natural occurrence from a life lived in faith for the glory of God. When we are walking with Christ, we will produce good fruit. (Look up Galatians 5:22-23 to read more about Spiritual fruits.)
4. Check Your Foundation - We've all heard the story (and probably sang the song) about the wise man that built his house upon a rock. Jesus is the rock on which we should stand. Everything we do should be founded on Him and His teachings. In order for us to build our lives around Him, we have to KNOW Him!