Sermons in Brief - Mini Messages from Pastor Harmon
"Shaken, not Stirred" - Luke 6:43-49
"Shaken, not stirred." The very phrase conjures up images of Sean Connery, natty in his tuxedo, ordering a martini as 007, James Bond. ( What a terrible way for a holiness preacher to begin a gospel sermon!)
No one knows why the fictional spy preferred his martinis "Shaken not stirred." It is certainly unnecessary for us to even care. But I love the phrase! Rather than order martinis "Shaken, not stirred" I would like to order my life "Shaken, not stirred."
When I first moved to Nampa one of the great saints of our church went to heaven. Mr. Dyer was a simple, hardworking, good man. His funeral was one of the most powerful services I had ever attended. The family asked former Pastor Jim Lester to preach, and Pastor Lester told us a story.
Pastor Jim said one day after church one of the members (the kind we preachers try to avoid as we slip out the back door) cornered him and proceeded to give him a piece of his mind he really couldn't afford to part with. You know it hurts to get chewed up and spit out. So he went to his good brother Dyer and told him the story. Brother Dyer listened and thought a moment and said "Pastor when you agitate something long enough, what's inside spills out."
Jesus said that as well: "You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It's who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds." (The Message)
What spills out is what's stored up! So I'm wondering: when I'm shaken, agitated, bumped (and life has a way of troubling us) do I like what spills out? Aam I stirred or am I still? In Jesus' words am I a fig or a thornbush? Am I wormy apple or a golden delicious? And how can I live in such a way when I am shaken I am not stirred?
There is a little spiritual secret in vs 45 and amplifiedin vss 46-49 where Jesus said "The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart." If you want good stuff spilling forth when you are shaken then it is time to start storing away some good stuff.
Here is the spiritual secret amplified: (vs 46) "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" and (vs 47) "I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice." NOTICE THE EMPHASIS : HEARING HIS WORDS AND PUTTING THEM INTO PRACTICE. THAT IS THE SPIRITUAL SECRET OF FOR BEING SHAKEN NOT STIRRED. "He who hears my words and puts them into practice. . ."
(vs 48ff) "He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."
Open your Bible prayerfully, read it carefully, obey it joyfully. BY TAKING THE WORD OF GOD INTO OUR LIVES AND DOING IT, PUTTING INTO PRACTICE our lives will be built on strong foundations. When the storm comes we might be shaken - but not stirred.
I read about a man in New York City who died at the age of 63 without ever having had a job. He spent his entire adult life in college. He had acquired so many academic degrees that they looked like the alphabet behind his name. Why did this man spend his entire life in college? When he was a child, a wealthy relative died who had named him as a beneficiary in his will. It stated that he was to be given enough money to support him every year as long as he stayed in school. And it was to be discontinued when he had completed his education. The man met the terms of the will, but by staying in school indefinitely he turned a technicality into a steady income for life - something his benefactor never intended. Unfortunately, he spent thousands of hours listening to professors and reading books but never "doing." He acquired more and more knowledge but didn't put it into practice. James said: "Be doers of the Word, and not hearers only" (1:22). If we read the Bible, or listen as it is taught, but fail to put to work what we have learned, we are as bad as that man with his string of degrees. His education was of no practical benefit to anyone.