The Path of Discipleship

Well here we are at the end of the sermon on the mount. The sermon began in chapter 5 and ends with the closing remarks of the crowds at the end of chapter 7. What I feel is important to know about the sermon on the mount is that many of them are short sayings that Jesus gives us to help us be better disciples. It is important for us to know that because so many times when we hear passages like today we either get paranoid because we shouldn’t be judgmental, we feel like God isn’t answering when we ask or knock, or we feel that the narrow gate is just too narrow. When that happens we tend to feel like we’re not doing it right, or we’re not being the perfect person that we should be. I say that because I do the same thing and feel the same way at times.

In fact I feel that way almost every time I get on the freeway. I promise you that there is at least one day a week, every week, where I try to merge onto the freeway to get to church and there is a car in the right lane who refuses to slow down, speed up, or change lanes. As hard as I try there is a whole lot of judging happening on that person going on in my mind. How hard is it to do one of those things so that I and any of the other cars merging on the freeway can get on the freeway? I shouldn’t have to slow down to 50 mph in order to get on the freeway. Which then leads me to asking God for those times I merge to be free from that kind of driver. Let me tell you, that prayer isn’t always answered the way I want it answered. Which then leads me to eventually feeling guilty for being so upset about the whole situation and then I wonder if I am traveling the narrow gate, and no I don’t mean the onramp that is soon to become the offramp, or if I am getting caught up in the dumbs things of the world and perhaps in those situations I am traveling the broad gate. Is it just me or do any of you have things like that happen in your life? Maybe it’s not merging on the freeway, but perhaps it’s shopping with people who stop in the middle of an aisle and you can’t get around them. Or maybe the people playing golf in front of you take too long and they don’t offer to let you play around them so you can continue to go at your pace.

That is what I think we often think about when we look at these passages. Almost like the way many people look at the 10 commandments. People tend to look at them as a list of things we shouldn’t do and feel completely lost or unredeemable if we do. But as I said when I opened our time together, I feel these passages are meant to help us learn to be the best disciples we can be. While I feel that we should do our best to not judge people and put them into boxes that are unhelpful for both us and them, I believe the heart of this kind of judgement is meant for God. Meaning that God is the ultimate judge as we see in other passages throughout the Bible. So we should work less on judging one another because we all have flaws and we all have failures. God knows we are all broken children, but God loves us and redeems us anyway. Let’s spend less time pointing out each other’s flaws or shortcomings and instead build each other up. Perhaps we could use all that lumber in our eyes to build something incredible.

When it comes to asking, seeking, and knocking we have to understand that not everything we ask for is actually good. Sure I would love another entire bowl of ice cream after the first one I just had but that doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing for me. Just like asking for the car in the right lane to notice me and do something about it isn’t exactly the most important thing in my life of faith. It might feel important in that small moment, but in the grand scheme of life it really doesn’t matter. One commentator I was listening to pointed this out. In the garden Jesus asks for the cup, meaning his suffering and death, to pass from him if it was God’s will. Clearly Jesus asked. Are we prepared to say that Jesus, Jesus, didn’t ask hard enough or genuine enough? No. That was the path God needed Jesus to go down. Just because we ask for things doesn’t mean that God doesn’t hear or that God doesn’t care. Last Sunday I was the last person leaving the church and there was a woman walking up in tears. She didn’t share with me what was going on, and that was ok. What she did share was that she needed to be with God and she felt that was in a church. So I opened the church and she prayed silently. She then got up, thanked me, and went on her way to wherever she was going. My prayer for her was that God would be with her and listen to her. I know what she was going through wasn’t over, but I do know that see searched and knocked and asked and I could tell that by the way she left that God was already beginning to answer.

So when we do our best to live out these sayings, to live out these practices, then we will be just like the person who built their house on the bedrock. These sayings include the beatitudes, being salt and light, all the reminders of the law that Jesus provides, teaching us the proper way to pray through the Lord’s prayer, and making sure our treasures are the ones in heaven not here on earth, these are the things, these are the foundations that Jesus is giving us to be the best disciples that we can be. Sure the gate may be narrow but it is an important road to be on and we are all on this road together. The very reason we are all here is to walk that path, and we have to know that we are here for each other to build up and not to tear down. We also know that Jesus lived this path just as we are living it, and that Jesus continues to walk that path with us, every step of the way, helping us to be the best disciples we can be, so that we too can share the good news of our savior who loves us and this whole world. Amen.