sin

How Will You Respond to Jesus?–Matt. 7:24-29

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Tonight we finish the series on the Sermon on the Mount.  God has been gracious to speak to us through His Word, and I hope and pray that by His grace, we’ve learned more of what it looks like to be a follower of Christ through this series.

We finish up with a reminder that the words of Jesus are serious, and how we respond to Him impacts where we spend eternity. Join me in Matthew 7:24-29:

“‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.’  And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

Whether the people listening to Him realized it or not, the reason Jesus spoke with authority was because He is the authority!  According to Him, how we respond to Him shows not only whether or not we are wise, but whether or not we stand in the storm of God’s judgment.

In the story Jesus tells, the one who endures through “the storm” will be the one who builds their house on the rock, and the one who dies is the one who builds their house on the sand.  As is always the case with the words of Jesus, this is serious.  Jesus is talking about life and death.  He’s not talking first and foremost about the “storms of life.”  Although that’s a popular viewpoint, it’s wrong, and the context of the passage helps us see that.

Jesus has just finished talking about those who He will send to hell because he never knew them.  Before that, He discussed how those who fail to bear the fruit of true faith will be “cut down,” that is, they won’t be joining Him in heaven.  And, lastly, before that, Jesus discussed the way into eternal life with Him, through a narrow gate and hard way.  Based on the context, the “storm” Jesus is describing is the coming storm of God’s righteous judgment.

So what does it mean to “build our house on the rock?”  How can we make sure we have done this, and will stand secure at the judgment?  By listening to the words Jesus has said.  This is in reference to the previous words in the Sermon on the Mount. Make no mistake, the Sermon on the Mount is not a guide to earning salvation.  Jesus, in the beginning of His sermon, commends those who know they need mercy, and commends the broken-hearted, and calls them blessed.  All of the moral imperatives flow out of the gospel, out of a relationship with Jesus.  I had a seminary professor explain it this way: “The Sermon on the Mount is not a guide on how to get into the kingdom of God, but a description of what life looks like in the kingdom of God.”  Listening to Jesus’ words and obeying them is commanded, but it is only possible if we are a disciple of Christ.  So, the next obvious question…how do we become a disciple of Christ?

Before Jesus preached this sermon, He preached a much shorter sermon (at least from what’s recorded), in Mark 1:15: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of heaven is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel!”  We build our lives on the rock when we trust in Jesus as our God and receive Him as our Savior.  We build our lives on the rock when we repent and believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Repentance involves a confession of sin, an agreeing with God about our sin, and a turning from it, a desire to no longer go on in it, and a trusting in Christ as Lord to help us obey Him and kill our sin.  As we turn from sin and trust Christ to help us follow Him, we trust Him to save us, to give us His righteousness, to forgive us through His death on the cross.  We trust that what He’s done He’s done for us.  So following Christ, then, is not an exercise in earning righteousness, but in living it out.  We’ve come under the Lordship of Christ, and He has given us His righteousness.  He has changed our hearts.  He has forgiven us of our sin.  We now live to be who we are in Him, to bring Him glory and to tell others about Him, and toward this end, we listen to and cling to every word He says.  This is why Bible study is essential for the life of the Christian.  Simply put: You won’t follow Jesus well, if at all, without consistent time in His Word and in prayer.  Jesus Himself knew the Scriptures and prayed daily….how much more should we?

Knowing Jesus is what makes you wise.  Knowing Jesus and being united to Him is what allows you to live out what He’s said in the previous three chapters, and knowing Him in a saving way is what allows us to stand righteous before the Father on that great day of judgment.  Know Him.  Trust Him.  Follow Him.

Did you notice what happened to the other guy?  The guy who built his house on the sand?  In case you didn’t catch it, let’s read it again: “And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 

Not listening to Jesus’ words, not submitting to Him as King, not admitting I need Him and trusting in Him as Savior, leads to eternal damnation.  We must not be so naive as to think that God is simply okay with us telling Him we’re not interested.  He’s God.  It doesn’t work that way.  Would it ever be acceptable for a child to look at His parents and say, “You know, I know you created me and everything, but you really don’t have a place in my life?”  Of course not!  Assuming the child has decent parents, there’s no excuse for such disrespect.  In the same way, while only those who know Jesus are children of God, we have all been created by God, and all have a responsibility to recognize Him as God, and when we don’t, God is rightly offended.  God alone is God, and it is terribly wicked for someone or something else to be recognized as “God” in a person’s life.  The punishment for our sin is hell.  Praise God He’s sent a Savior so we don’t have to fear judgment or hell, but can rejoice in Him forever.

If you learn nothing else from my posts, learn to trust in the finished work of Christ for your salvation and to commit your life to Him.  Learn to repent, to confess your sin and trust in Christ to help you follow Him.  Trust His grace.  Trust in Christ.  Learn Christ.  If you forget everything else, learn Christ.  If you forget everything else from the Sermon on the Mount (and I hope we won’t!), remember to build your life on the words of Christ, in this passage and in all of Scripture.  Make your life about Jesus.

Lord, may we never stop praising you for who you are.  May we continue to listen to your Word and follow you.  May you graciously lead us as our Lord and continue to stand for us as our Savior.  May you be glorified in all we think, say and do.

God bless,

Neal E.

I’m not sure when the next blog post will come.  School has started, work is picking up, and I’m involved in a new ministry this semester, so blogging unfortunately gets moved to the back-burner.  But if you subscribe, I promise you won’t miss anything!  Again, God bless!

The Golden Rule: The Gospel and Relationships

/ Neal Embry / Leave a comment

Matthew 7:12, commonly known to as “The Golden Rule,” is one of the most famous verses in all of Scripture, and is often used by Christians and non-Christians alike.  It’s easily found on coffee mugs and posters, plastered across the American landscape.  But what does it actually mean?  What was Jesus getting at when He said it?

In case you’ve forgotten the Golden Rule and so shamed your parents and elementary school teachers, here it is:

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

When was the last time you actually treated someone as you would want to be treated?  This morning, in traffic, did you treat the guy who cut you off like you’d want to be treated?  When your kids didn’t listen to you, and refused to obey you, did you treat them the way you’d like to be treated?  When your coworker didn’t exactly keep their promise to help out with that project that was due a week ago, did you treat them like you’d want to be treated?

We all fail to treat others as we want to be treated, because there’s a fundamental disconnect in what we think we deserve, and what we think others deserve.  Our pride would have us believe we are worthy of grace, while others are only worthy of law.  Our pride clouds our eyes from seeing our sin, but amazingly, we can see the sin of people we don’t even know!  We have good excuses, but “they” have a problem.

None of us want to be treated with the law, that is, with true justice.  We all wish for grace.  But when it comes for us to give grace, we don’t treat others the way we want to be treated.

Let’s say, for example, you cut someone off in traffic because you’re in a hurry.  We can all relate to this, and if you can’t, I’m going to assume you’re either under the age of 16, or you’re just abnormally nice behind the wheel of a car.  But, if you’re like 99% of us, you can relate to this.

When you cut someone off, and they honk their horn, is your first thought, “Oh man, that was sort of mean…I probably shouldn’t have done that.  I’ll be sure to slow down and apologize to them?”  Probably not.  Our first reaction is more along the lines of, “How dare they!  I’m late to work! I’ve got to get to (wherever you happen to be going).  They ought to drive faster!”  We want them to identify with us, to treat us with grace, or unmerited favor, when we offend them.

But if they cut us off, all you-know-what breaks loose.  “That psycho cut me off!”  “They ought to be arrested!”  When we see them pulled over half a mile later, we smile and whisper, “Justice,” even though, were we the ones to get pulled over, we’d be full of excuses, hoping, wishing, desiring that the police officer would let us off the hook, “just this once.”

Do you see the hypocrisy here?  We desire to be treated with grace.  But we don’t at all desire to treat others with grace.  Again, children are a perfect example here.  Anyone who’s ever worked with kids knows they want grace, not law.  “Please, I won’t do it again!”  “I’ll be better, I promise!”  But when their older brother twists their arm, or their sister steals their toy: “Mom/Dad…make them stop!  Ground them/put them in timeout/spank them!”  While children may grow up in a lot of ways, they’ll never grow out of their innate, sinful tendency to want to receive grace while desiring to dispense law.  At least not by their own strength.  And neither will we.

Jesus commands that we treat people with grace if that’s how we want to be treated.  We’ve established that grace is how we want to be treated, but we find it impossible to treat others with grace.  So how do we obey what Jesus says?  We have to look at what Jesus has done.  We have to see the gospel.  We have to believe the gospel.  And we have to be changed by it.

While we treat others with law, Jesus treats us with grace.  When we had sinned against Him and earned nothing but eternal hell, He left His heavenly throne to come rescue us.  When we despised Him and went after false gods, He drew us back to Himself and gave us the eyes to see and despise our sin.  When we lived for ourselves, He lived for us.  When we went after death, He died for us.  When we ran away from Him, He gave us the repentance and faith needed to come back to Him.  When we were condemned by the law, He freed us from that condemnation with His grace, at the cost of His life.

So, when we see we have no shot at saving ourselves, and we trust in Christ to be our Lord and lead us, and trust in Him as our Savior, and we receive His righteousness, and we trust and rest in His forgiveness, we are empowered, by the gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit, to show this same grace to others.

When we’re tempted to treat others the way we don’t want to be treated (law), we remember that it is by grace God has drawn us to trust in Him as our God.  We remember that God has declared us righteous, not by our law-keeping, but by Christ’s law-keeping.  We remember that it is by the blood of Christ that we are declared forgiven, and are, through faith in Christ as Lord and Savior, adopted as children of God.  We remember the grace we’ve received, and we show it to others to be more like Christ and to glorify Him.

So if you’re struggling to show grace, you need more grace.  You need more of what Jesus has done for you.  You need to rest in that, and trust in Him to help you be who you are.  And in those moments when you’re tempted to respond with law in your relationships with others, you can remember grace.  And you can be like Jesus.

Lord, may we remember that we are saved by grace.  May we treat others with that same grace.  May the gospel change us from the inside out.

God bless,

Neal E.

Note: Treating others with grace does not mean that you have to endure abuse, or that you don’t have the obligation to report a crime.  Grace destroys sin, it never enables sin.  It is not ungracious for you to separate from someone who is hurting you.  It is ungracious to not pray for that person or to desire their eternal condemnation.  It is not ungracious for you to report a crime, such as sexual assault.  It is ungracious for you to not care about innocent people who are being hurt when you can do something to stop it.  I didn’t include this in the main text, as it would take away from the main thrust of the message, but we must not think that showing grace means enabling sin.  Grace means doing what needs to be done to restore that person, and sometimes that means separating from them, or calling the police, or a private conversation that gets to the heart of the issue.  Pray to God for the eyes to see how we can show grace to everyone, even to those who hurt us.