Therefore, everyone who hears these word of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock (Matthew 7:24) For the past seven months I’ve been teaching my son to drive a car. Actually, the teaching is pretty much over. Most of what he’s doing now is practice, and I need to confess that he has been a far better learner than I have been a teacher. A time or two he has suggested that I tend to overreact. I think ‘freak out’ is the precise phrase he used. In my own defense, I’ve never done this before. It’s not easy sitting in the passenger seat, feigning calm while your first-born navigates Atlanta’s roads. When we began this adventure seven months ago I had one simple request: “Listen to me and do exactly what I say.” I feel quite comfortable riding shotgun as long as I know my words are being taken seriously. I want my words done, not debated. Today we’re beginning a series of reflections on the words of Jesus in Matthew 5-7, a body of teaching known to us as the Sermon on the Mount. If you’ll take a moment to read the scripture text above, you’ll notice that we are beginning at the very end. Our introduction is Jesus’s conclusion. We have good reason for getting started this way: Jesus’s final words to this ‘sermon’ contrast those who hear him and then do what he says with those who hear but do nothing. It is clear that Jesus’s words are not given to us to be admired or pondered or debated. Jesus is calling us to a way of life, not offering us a philosophy. Today you are beginning an apprenticeship, a deliberate practice of life as Jesus calls us to live it. None of this means that we find favor with God by doing the right things. The Christian life is not a life of rules. It is, however, a life. Every word that Jesus spoke was meant to be lived out: practiced in your home, your workplace, your marriage, your conversations, your finances. Following Jesus means a particular way of being in this world. We will see that is life is not easy; it will stretch us, requiring practice. The good news is that we are not expected to do this in our own power. We will need help, and God has promised to give it. Next Step: The Sermon on the Mount can be read at a leisurely pace in just under 15 minutes. Before Sunday’s message read Matthew 5-7. Or, as an alternative, read one chapter a day over the next three days. For Vic Pentz’s sermon series introduction video, click here. Prayer: Far too often, Lord Jesus, we hear your words and admire their lofty teaching, receiving them with nods of agreement. Our struggle is in practicing what you say. We ask for your grace and power in these coming weeks that we might live what we hear and read. Grant that we might become doers of the word and not hearers only, we ask in your name. Amen. Mark H. Crumpler Pastor at Peachtree Presbiterian Church
Posted on: Tue, 03 Sep 2013 16:49:58 +0000
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