This week’s reading: Matthew 7:24-29
Hi Friends,
What an amazing sermon! We finish up this great Sermon on the Mount today with Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 through 29. We will talk about true success and how to have it here and then forevermore. Listen to these famous verses:
“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.” Mt 7:24-27 NIV
Put it into practice. The Christian life is not a show. It is not a performance in front of others, trying to convince them that we have our act all together. It is not you and me trying “our hardest” to follow a bunch of rules and regulations that leave us more burdened than we were before we claimed to know Christ. The Christian life is, however, one where we seek to connect with God and trust Him to help us put into practice all that He teaches us in His Word. For example: I recently had the opportunity to do a good deed for a friend. By God’s Grace, I was able to carry it out, but then something happened afterwards that caused me to begin to complain about it. Now how many of us realize that complaining is not consistent with being a follower of Jesus? But again by God’s Grace, I turned my heart to Him as I entertained those discontented thoughts, and immediately, I was convicted. Quickly, I told myself, “Stop it! God is watching what you did and He will bless it, even if things didn’t go the way you thought they should have gone!” This was me, with the Lord’s help, putting into practice peace and joy instead of allowing my old grumbling self to fall into the trap of resentment. This may sound like a simple and insignificant example, but it really is huge, because it is these seemingly “tiny” events in our day, that either help us stand strong in any storm, or cause us to collapse under the weight of it all. It is only as we mature in Christ, that we recognize the inconsistencies of Whose we say we are, and what we are actually doing. And when we notice the difference, we can quickly turn to God to help us act like we are His. This of course is called discernment. I have been talking a lot about this amazing virtue because it is one of the tools God makes available to us in order for us to be able to grow. The more we grow the more we can use discernment to grow more…and the more we reflect God instead of our old, sinful self.
Practice does make perfect. While in our spirit we already have Eternal Life, in our soul, we are still catching up to this reality. Our New Identity in Christ must be worked out from our hearts, through our thoughts, emotions and will, then they will show up in our actions, more and more. Again, think growth here. The more we practice something, the better we will get at it, right? This is true for whatever “it” is that we are practicing. If I practice how to yell at my husband, by doing it more and more, then I will get really good at being disrespectful towards him, right? Ok, the truth is, we don’t need to practice selfish habits because they, sadly, come natural to our fallen self. But we definitely need to, on purpose, intentionally, practice following Jesus and His Love and compassion! Thus the lovely warning from our Lord here. He knows human nature. He knows we need to be told the truth, in love and grace, so that we can be free from the lies that keep us acting like our old, MMI person instead of this New Creation that we now are in Christ. And so here Jesus tells us how to achieve true success, that is to be able to stand firm in any and every storm that may come into our lives. And He also tells us how we can fail miserably and allow the rain, the streams, and the wind to blow down and beat against our house, so much so that we fall with a big crash! You see, a truly successful life is one that follows God and is strong enough to live with peace and joy, no matter what is happening around us. A truly successful life is one where we can love God with all we’ve got and love our neighbor as we love ourselves, no matter who that neighbor is. A truly successful life is one that outlives our own life, by leaving a legacy that points others to Jesus and to Eternal Life. We can only approach this truly successful life when we put the words and wisdom of Jesus into practice, each and every day, with each and every situation we encounter…and always with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. We can only have real success as we connect with God and work with Him to build our lives on the Rock.
House on the Rock. It is easy to understand what Jesus is saying here, right? If we want to have successful lives, we must build our lives on something that is immovable, solid, concrete. Well, the only thing that never changes is truth…because it is truth! And only Jesus, Himself, is the Way, the Truth and the Life! (Jn 14:6) Only Jesus is immaculately pure. Only Jesus is perfect. This is why He never changes. (Heb 13:8) When something is perfect, it doesn’t need to change because, well, it’s perfect. If we try to live by any other philosophies, there is no security, no durability, no dependability. Everything is always shifting, just like sand. Have you ever built a sand castle at the beach? What happens when the waves come rushing to it? It disappears, right? This is what all the beliefs of this world are like. We cannot rely on them because none of them find their foundation on the Rock. They are based on humanity, but humanity is fallen, broken, corrupted. How can anything like this give lasting freedom, unending peace and joy, unconditional love and grace? They cannot, and so our lives are always being tossed around like the waves. Nothing permanent. Nothing irreversible. Certainly, nothing eternal! We are desperate for the Rock, and praise God that He has come! Jesus desires to save us for all Eternity and this Salvation starts the moment we sincerely surrender our lives to Him as Savior and Lord. Savior to save us from our old sinful person AND Lord so He can show us the New Way to live this New Life. As we choose to follow Him, to put into practice all He has taught in His Word, then our lives become more and more consistently filled with true abundance.
The Abundant Life. This is a New Way to live because it is not focused on worldly things and events. The Abundant Life is filled to the overflow with all that is eternally good. Such priceless attributes, like peace and joy, are what make this New Life so amazing. When everyone around you is filled with fear because of whatever is currently going on in this fallen world, but you remain at peace? Again, priceless! This fear is meant to move us to make bad choices, which will only give us more reasons to fear because of the results of those bad choices. See? But if we can remain connected to Jesus, our Rock, then it almost doesn’t matter what happens around us because it will not happen IN us. We will not allow the outside chaos to affect, nor infect us and we can be blessed in the midst of a storm, AND have enough wherewithal to be a blessing to those around us too. Talk about abundance! This is the kind of life Jesus came to give us, the kind of amazing adventure Jesus died to grant us. May we seek it with all we have, as we seek Him with all our hearts. I know every time I let go of MMI and remember my life is securely built on the Rock, the lovely relief that gently washes over me is amazing, and I do not mind whether the current events in my life are a full on storm or just a light shower! Either way, I remain at peace, trusting God to do what He Will’s to do. This Abundant Life is so awesome that I cannot find the right words to explain it. It must be experienced for yourself. Choose to surrender. Choose to hold on to our Lord. With His help, choose to put into practice all He says. Then, choose to enjoy the ride, wherever He takes you. This is the Abundant Life, my Friends, and I want more and more of it! How about you? Then won’t you join me?
Until we meet again, keep lifting your eyes to God, He’s closer than you think.
<>< Peace, Diane
