Solid Ground
Notes
Transcript
Grew up in manufactured home, fairly common in NC, not that uncommon here. Florida, different story. Barely any. With all of the hurricanes and sand, having anything but a concrete slab as your foundation was asking for problems.
Life brings us lots of storms that will try us, and test our faith, in our parable today, Jesus addresses this and gives us a path to a solid foundation.
Parables are short stories or comparisons with a single point ....need to focus on that single point
Read Passage: Matthew 7:24-27
Read Passage: Matthew 7:24-27
This is God’s Word - Thanks Be To God
This is God’s Word - Thanks Be To God
Breakdown
Breakdown
-We find ourselves at the end of the sermon on the mount, this passage is essentially a call to action.
-Parallel passage in Luke 6:46-49, and it also follows many of the teachings of the sermon on the mount, pretty much word for word.
-see two men, and they are compared to builders, one builds on a solid foundation, the other builds on sand. When the storms come, the solid foundation holds
-what is the real difference between the two...I’ll give you a hint, it’s not the construction. The one who builds on solid ground “Does” what Christ teaches.
Foundation on Sand
Foundation on Sand
Hears the word, but doesn’t do them - built on sand
Who is he talking about
Israelites - did what is right in their own eyes
In Judges, there was no King and they did what was right in their own eyes. Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
Given the Law, shown over and over again miraculous things and then would abandoned it all.
followed the cultures around them. Throughout Chronicles kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
following culture is building on sand.
sand shifts with the wind - getting lost in the dessert is dangerous because the landmarks change
Culture changes constantly, and what is good in this culture will not be good in another.
“right side of history” is short sighted and assumes that people will judge them in the same way they judge themselves
as we judge others in the past.
Our culture is based on a hedonistic ideal
Roman culture started as an empire driven culture, devolved into a hedonistic culture, and then when it fell to the Goths, began to shift more to a Christian culture.
See patterns like this all throughout history.
what is ok today won’t be tomorrow (and it’s not evolutionary)
When we follow the culture around us, or we make our own rules rather than following the path that God has set out for us, then we are building on sand.
Not just those following the culture, the “religious” ones who build their own system.
Pharisees and Scribes also followed their own ways. They made their own laws to follow.
claimed to be following God, but in reality, built their own system and missed the point of God’s law.
common theme in the sermon, you were told this, but I tell you...
This is a trap easy for believers to fall into as well. - “Means of Grace” - Prayer, Bible Reading, Gathering together, participating in the ordinances. can be treated as a checklist.
We often look at Pharisees as “how could they not get it” when the reality is we often fall in their footsteps.
Tend to dig deep into theology and not let that theology affect the way we live. Or we make up rules that says we have to do it this way. Or make a checklist that says we have to do XYZ to be good Christian.
There are standards that Scripture lays out, but we must be careful that we aren’t following rules we make up, or are made up by generations before us.
Be careful that we aren’t just studying theology to be smart, but allowing it to transform us into the image of Christ.
We can hear the words of God, even proclaim that we know him, but if we are not doing them, we are building on Sand.
Two Preceding passages we see two examples.
(15-20) False Prophets - we will know them by their fruits. (What they do)
(21-23) Those who “prophesy and cast out demons” - those two things are not among the things to do in the Sermon on the mount
These proclaim to know God, and even proclaim to do work for God, but they don’t actually do what God commands and they don’t really know Him at all.
Here’s the kicker, Throughout the sermon, Jesus emphasizes the why behind the what, the heart behind the action.
It’s not enough to not kill your brother, if you hate him, you are already walking down that path. adultery, lust..
It’s not enough to give to the poor, if you do it to be seen, or to earn something, you already have your reward.
How is this possible?
Solid Foundation
Solid Foundation
How can we be the one who hears these words and does them, especially the why behind the what. We can, but only through Christ.
Christ must be foundation
These things aren’t a means to salvation, they are the minimum standard. Keeping the minimum standard cannot wipe out the stain of sin that is already there.
ill can’t murder someone, go to not murdering someone and expect to be found not guilty of murder.
Salvation comes through Faith in Christ alone, not by anything we do Eph 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
When we talk about doing these things, and keeping these commands, the first thing we have to do is put our faith in Christ. To trust that His work on the cross can and does cleanse us of our sin.
When we are redeemed, we are empowered to say no to sin (Turn to Rom 6)
Vs 1-2, We cannot continue to live in our sin, because those who are redeemed are dead to it.
vs 6-8 When you place your faith in Christ, the old you dies and a new life is given in Christ
So long as we are on this earth, that flesh still pulls at us, Paul doesn’t deny this and addresses it later. But the point here is we are set free from sin, we are no longer slaves to it.
22 - We are “enslaved” to God, not sin, so as Christians we are given the Holy Spirit that empowers us to do the work God has given us to do.
doing these things does not justify us, it sanctifies us.
In sanctification, the Holy Spirit empowers us to say no to sin, and we continue to fight to grow in Christ and to do what He commands of us.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
What are those good works we are to walk in? They are the things that Jesus refers to in our passage today. (Turn Back to Matthew)
Read 24 again ....these words refer back to the Sermon on the mount.(parallel in Luke is in a similar spot) ...we’ve looked at some of these things already
These works aren’t to prophesy and do mighty works (See 22)
It’s not to do great things and have everyone be amazed at what you do for the Church
they are quiet thing (6:1-18)
First half of Chapter 6 tells us that when we do these “righteous” things publicly, the publicity and praise from our fellow man is our reward.
Sermon on the Mount Breakdown (David and I have both taught through this, it took both of us a full year to go through it)
There are moral standards on how we are to deal with anger, lust, honesty, etc. Standards on how we deal with things like anxiety and self-centeredness. There is a tremendous call to focus on others. To love our enemies and refrain from judging others before we judge ourselves. - Strongly recommend reading through it, there are some great commentaries out there if you want to dig a little deeper into it. If you are interested, let me know, I have a couple you can borrow.
Summarized in the Great Commandment Jesus Gives later Matthew 22:37-40
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love, trust God with all that you are, follow his ways
Put others before yourself
These two things are the basis for all the law and all the criticism the prophets pronounce.
As believers we must cultivate a love for God and a love for people. This is our foundation for living a Godly life.
Letting this be the foundation shapes you and grounds you
When the storms come and the culture swirls around us, having this as our foundation keeps us firm.
Culture changes we have a foundation (eternal) to stand on.
Cultivating this foundation is a life long pursuit
It takes the Holy Spirit acting in us to change and shape us, but we also have an active role to play. (2 Peter 1:5-10)
vs 5 make every effort to add to your faith a list of traits - goodness, knowledge, self-control, etc.
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
Pursuing Godly Character, but it’s not just what we do. Remember the why behind the what is important.
Developing a Biblical Worldview
Biblical Worldview is a fairly new term, popularized by Francis Schaeffer and Nancy Pearcy.
A worldview is the lens in which we see the world. The underlying assumptions and ideas that shape how we see people and events and cultures.
Biblical Worldview is a worldview shaped by the truth of Scripture.
Love your enemy seems like a radical thing, but let’s reshape our thinking. Our enemy is a person, created by God, made in the image of God, that unless they repent and trust in Christ will be condemned to eternity in hell.
We are enemies of God until we turn and repent, we did not deserve what we have.
Framing our thinking this way helps us to see why God calls us to have compassion and love our enemy.
Again, the term is new, and the techniques and ideas we will be talking about on are tools, just like the means of grace, but shaping our hearts and minds to be men and women “who hear these words” of Christ and do them, is an essential part of our walk as believers. Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
We need to be continually transformed by the words of Christ, doing as he has commanded and build on that solid foundation.
So many churches, and people have fallen to the storm of the culture around us. When we look at the world around us it’s easy to see that we are living in a world that is hostile to Christianity and we might wonder, how will we make it through.
The apostles had it much worse and the church grew in their time, because they were shaped by the teachings of Christ. If we build on that foundation, using scripture and the teaching of Christ to shape our hearts, our thinking, our actions, we too will weather this storm, and the church will grow in spite of it because God is faithful.
Personal Storms - God loves you enough that He sent his son to die for you, he loves you enough to know what he is doing now. If we build our foundation in Him, he will bring you through that storm too.
One thing that helps us to shape our thinking and our hearts is celebrating communion together.
We do this every week - it is a weekly reminder pointing us back to the foundation of our faith. Remember all of this striving and building is not what saves us, that is the work Christ has already done.
Part of developing a biblical worldview is keeping Christ in front of you - this is a way we can do that.
Christ gave instructions for us to do this in remembrance of Him until he returns
1 Corinthians 11:24–26 “and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
We remember both the work He has done on the cross and the work that will be done when He returns to make the world new.
Here we practice open communion - If you are a believer we invite you to come
if not, we want you to experience the real thing, not this symbol, so we ask you to abstain.
Take a moment to quiet are hearts, examine ourselves, repent of our sin and turn our eyes upon Jesus.
