The Way of Jesus
The Gap Between Profession and Practice: Building on the Rock
There's a particular kind of person we all know. They buy the running shoes, download the fitness app, invest in the gear, and talk endlessly about their love for running. But here's the thing: they never actually run.
We can laugh at that person, recognizing the disconnect between their words and actions. But what if that same gap exists in our spiritual lives? What if we've mastered the language of faith without ever truly living the lifestyle?
Why Do You Call Me Lord?
In Luke 6:46, Jesus asks one of the most uncomfortable questions in all of Scripture: "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?"
This wasn't directed at casual observers or distant critics. Jesus was speaking to his disciples, people who had perfect attendance in his presence, who knew all the right words and titles. They traveled with him, witnessed miracles, and heard his teaching firsthand. Yet even they had a gap between what they professed and what they practiced.
The repetition of "Lord, Lord" wasn't casual. In that culture, doubling a title signified deep reverence and urgency. These were people who considered themselves close to Jesus. They had the vocabulary down. They knew what to call him. And that's precisely where the problem lived—not in their profession, but in the chasm between profession and practice.
The Foundation That Matters
Jesus continues with a powerful metaphor about two builders. Both construct houses. Both face the same storm. But only one house stands.
The difference? Foundation.
The wise builder dug deep, past the surface soil, down to bedrock. He laid his foundation on rock. When floods came and torrents struck, the house couldn't be shaken because it was well built.
The foolish builder constructed his house on ground without a foundation. When the same storm hit, the collapse was immediate and complete. The destruction wasn't minor or manageable—it was great.
Notice that Jesus doesn't promise different weather for faithful followers. The storm hits both houses. The flood doesn't discriminate. Life's challenges, losses, and difficulties come to everyone regardless of their spiritual resume.
The question isn't whether storms will come. The question is: what have you built on before the storm arrives?
Three Verbs That Change Everything
Jesus gives us a simple formula: Come, hear, do.
Not complicated theology. Not seminary-level discourse. Just three straightforward verbs that separate admirers from apprentices.
Admirers watch from a distance. They appreciate the art but never pick up the tools. Admirers can master religious language without ever mastering the lifestyle. They inherit faith traditions, church jargon, and prayer formulas, but they never learn to actually live like Jesus.
Apprentices, on the other hand, get in the room. They pick up the tools. They practice.
Consider a grandmother who's an incredible cook with treasured family recipes. Her granddaughter grows up watching her in the kitchen, smelling the aromas, enjoying the meals. But years later, when the granddaughter tries to recreate those dishes, she has to call for instructions. Why? Because she was in the kitchen but wasn't practicing the lesson. She was an admirer, not an apprentice.
Being in proximity to greatness doesn't make you great. Being in church doesn't make you Christlike. What matters is whether you're actually practicing what you're learning.
The Milk and Meat Misunderstanding
Many people complain about wanting "deeper" teaching or "meatier" messages. But here's what we often misunderstand: the difference between milk and meat isn't about how theologically complex the content is.
Milk is what you need when someone is feeding you. Meat is what you get when you can feed yourself.
The issue isn't that the teaching isn't deep enough. The issue is that we haven't been practicing enough to develop the capacity to feed ourselves. We want to be spoon-fed spiritual insights rather than developing the disciplines that allow us to dig into Scripture, prayer, solitude, and generosity on our own.
From Savior to Lord
Many of us have made Jesus our Savior but not our Lord. We want him to save our souls from hell, but we don't want him as Lord over our lives. Our agendas remain our own. Our ambitions, schedules, resources, and relationships operate under our management, not his.
But God didn't save us merely to keep us out of hell. He saved us to make heaven on earth—to live now in ways that reflect his kingdom, his values, his love.
The Lord's Prayer asks that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." That means our lives should be creating receptacles of heaven here and now. When people encounter us, they should get a taste of what God's kingdom looks like in practice.
Three Things We're Becoming Together
The Christian life is meant to be lived in three movements:
Movement Makers: We serve. Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve. If the King of Kings took up a towel and washed feet, who are we to demand the red carpet treatment?
Missional Partners: We walk on mission with God. The Great Commission isn't a suggestion; it's a partnership with the Creator to see his redemptive work spread throughout the world.
Multipliers: We reproduce. From the beginning, God's command was to be fruitful and multiply. Spiritually, this means making disciples who can make disciples. We multiply the practices that Jesus laid out for us.
Digging Deep Before the Flood
Every parent knows something about building foundations. Raising children isn't just about managing behavior in the moment. It's about building character, instilling values, modeling integrity, and laying a bedrock that will hold when storms inevitably come.
The words spoken over children, the prayers prayed, the values modeled—all of this becomes the foundation that no flood can wash away.
The same is true for our spiritual lives. Sunday morning attendance isn't the foundation. Listening to good preaching isn't the foundation. The foundation is built Monday through Saturday through the daily practices of prayer, Scripture reading, generosity, service, Sabbath, and loving our neighbors.
Sunday should be the celebration of the work you've been doing all week, not a checkbox that covers your lack of practice.
The Invitation to Practice
The way of Jesus is simple but not easy. It requires discipline. It means saying no to good things so you can say yes to God's things. It means turning your plate down sometimes. It means praying when you'd rather scroll. It means being generous when you'd rather hoard. It means serving when you'd rather be served.
But this is the way. This is the path that leads to a house built on rock, a life that can withstand any storm.
The gap between what we profess and what we practice doesn't close by accident. It closes through intentional, daily decisions to follow Jesus not just in word but in deed.
So the question remains: Why do you call him Lord if you're not doing what he says?
Today is the day to start digging deeper, to get past the surface soil of religious activity and down to the bedrock of genuine discipleship. Today is the day to move from admirer to apprentice, from spectator to participant.
The storm is coming. What are you building on?
We can laugh at that person, recognizing the disconnect between their words and actions. But what if that same gap exists in our spiritual lives? What if we've mastered the language of faith without ever truly living the lifestyle?
Why Do You Call Me Lord?
In Luke 6:46, Jesus asks one of the most uncomfortable questions in all of Scripture: "Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?"
This wasn't directed at casual observers or distant critics. Jesus was speaking to his disciples, people who had perfect attendance in his presence, who knew all the right words and titles. They traveled with him, witnessed miracles, and heard his teaching firsthand. Yet even they had a gap between what they professed and what they practiced.
The repetition of "Lord, Lord" wasn't casual. In that culture, doubling a title signified deep reverence and urgency. These were people who considered themselves close to Jesus. They had the vocabulary down. They knew what to call him. And that's precisely where the problem lived—not in their profession, but in the chasm between profession and practice.
The Foundation That Matters
Jesus continues with a powerful metaphor about two builders. Both construct houses. Both face the same storm. But only one house stands.
The difference? Foundation.
The wise builder dug deep, past the surface soil, down to bedrock. He laid his foundation on rock. When floods came and torrents struck, the house couldn't be shaken because it was well built.
The foolish builder constructed his house on ground without a foundation. When the same storm hit, the collapse was immediate and complete. The destruction wasn't minor or manageable—it was great.
Notice that Jesus doesn't promise different weather for faithful followers. The storm hits both houses. The flood doesn't discriminate. Life's challenges, losses, and difficulties come to everyone regardless of their spiritual resume.
The question isn't whether storms will come. The question is: what have you built on before the storm arrives?
Three Verbs That Change Everything
Jesus gives us a simple formula: Come, hear, do.
Not complicated theology. Not seminary-level discourse. Just three straightforward verbs that separate admirers from apprentices.
Admirers watch from a distance. They appreciate the art but never pick up the tools. Admirers can master religious language without ever mastering the lifestyle. They inherit faith traditions, church jargon, and prayer formulas, but they never learn to actually live like Jesus.
Apprentices, on the other hand, get in the room. They pick up the tools. They practice.
Consider a grandmother who's an incredible cook with treasured family recipes. Her granddaughter grows up watching her in the kitchen, smelling the aromas, enjoying the meals. But years later, when the granddaughter tries to recreate those dishes, she has to call for instructions. Why? Because she was in the kitchen but wasn't practicing the lesson. She was an admirer, not an apprentice.
Being in proximity to greatness doesn't make you great. Being in church doesn't make you Christlike. What matters is whether you're actually practicing what you're learning.
The Milk and Meat Misunderstanding
Many people complain about wanting "deeper" teaching or "meatier" messages. But here's what we often misunderstand: the difference between milk and meat isn't about how theologically complex the content is.
Milk is what you need when someone is feeding you. Meat is what you get when you can feed yourself.
The issue isn't that the teaching isn't deep enough. The issue is that we haven't been practicing enough to develop the capacity to feed ourselves. We want to be spoon-fed spiritual insights rather than developing the disciplines that allow us to dig into Scripture, prayer, solitude, and generosity on our own.
From Savior to Lord
Many of us have made Jesus our Savior but not our Lord. We want him to save our souls from hell, but we don't want him as Lord over our lives. Our agendas remain our own. Our ambitions, schedules, resources, and relationships operate under our management, not his.
But God didn't save us merely to keep us out of hell. He saved us to make heaven on earth—to live now in ways that reflect his kingdom, his values, his love.
The Lord's Prayer asks that God's will be done "on earth as it is in heaven." That means our lives should be creating receptacles of heaven here and now. When people encounter us, they should get a taste of what God's kingdom looks like in practice.
Three Things We're Becoming Together
The Christian life is meant to be lived in three movements:
Movement Makers: We serve. Jesus didn't come to be served but to serve. If the King of Kings took up a towel and washed feet, who are we to demand the red carpet treatment?
Missional Partners: We walk on mission with God. The Great Commission isn't a suggestion; it's a partnership with the Creator to see his redemptive work spread throughout the world.
Multipliers: We reproduce. From the beginning, God's command was to be fruitful and multiply. Spiritually, this means making disciples who can make disciples. We multiply the practices that Jesus laid out for us.
Digging Deep Before the Flood
Every parent knows something about building foundations. Raising children isn't just about managing behavior in the moment. It's about building character, instilling values, modeling integrity, and laying a bedrock that will hold when storms inevitably come.
The words spoken over children, the prayers prayed, the values modeled—all of this becomes the foundation that no flood can wash away.
The same is true for our spiritual lives. Sunday morning attendance isn't the foundation. Listening to good preaching isn't the foundation. The foundation is built Monday through Saturday through the daily practices of prayer, Scripture reading, generosity, service, Sabbath, and loving our neighbors.
Sunday should be the celebration of the work you've been doing all week, not a checkbox that covers your lack of practice.
The Invitation to Practice
The way of Jesus is simple but not easy. It requires discipline. It means saying no to good things so you can say yes to God's things. It means turning your plate down sometimes. It means praying when you'd rather scroll. It means being generous when you'd rather hoard. It means serving when you'd rather be served.
But this is the way. This is the path that leads to a house built on rock, a life that can withstand any storm.
The gap between what we profess and what we practice doesn't close by accident. It closes through intentional, daily decisions to follow Jesus not just in word but in deed.
So the question remains: Why do you call him Lord if you're not doing what he says?
Today is the day to start digging deeper, to get past the surface soil of religious activity and down to the bedrock of genuine discipleship. Today is the day to move from admirer to apprentice, from spectator to participant.
The storm is coming. What are you building on?
Posted in This is The Way
Recent
Archive
2026
No Comments