"Therefore
everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice
is like
a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and
the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put
them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came
down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell
with a great crash."
a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and
the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put
them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came
down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell
with a great crash."
When
Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 7:24-29 (NIV)
because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Matthew 7:24-29 (NIV)
Is your life built on the Rock? Or is it built on sand?
Jesus
finished his great sermon very dramatically.
He is essentially telling us that we are either “in” or “out”.
Without using the words heaven and hell, he was ultimately referring to
just that. Put even better
Jesus was explaining the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven as Matthew puts it,
The Kingdom of God, as Luke puts it, and Eternal Life as John puts it.
They are all descriptions of the same reality, the reality of life with
God. Life without God is,
well, being “out”.
Furthermore
and incredibly Jesus speaks of “these words of mine”. Can
you imagine how the religious leaders, or for that matter anyone else, would
have heard that? What arrogance!
This upstart carpenter placing himself above God and Torah?!!
Unless . . . . . unless Jesus actually was God
Himself having come to earth.
Now
the hard part. Jesus is
explicit that the eternal Kingdom of God, Life on the
Rock, has its foundation on hearing and doing
what he said. This parable has
to be one of the severest in the entire Bible.
Hearing leads to doing or the hearing is entirely useless.
So we discover that the Sermon on the Mount is the Old Testament law on
steroids. It takes the
old commandments and penetrates past outward observance to inner adherence from
the heart.
Here’s
the bottom line. Hearing and doing are the life of salvation.
Entrance into that life means entering into God’s forgiveness through
Jesus death on the cross. The
future hope and present power to live in the Kingdom of God both now and forever
are found by participating in the resurrection life of God which means dependent
connection to Jesus. In the
end the question is, “Am I a follower of Jesus?”
with the follow up question being “Do I bear witness to my claim to
follow Jesus is by the way I live”
“Lord, thank you for teaching me how to live the Life of God.
I’m terrible at it now but I want, really want to be better at living
out all you’ve taught me. You
once summarized your sermon with the words, 'Love God and love others'.
As I seek to do so, remind me over and over again how every word of your
Sermon on The Mount elaborates on those two powerful directives for living.
You’re amazing. Amen”
For more:
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