Diffusers 21

Intro

Teach

Therefore

In seminary Bible interpretation class, my prof heavily emphasized that whenever we see the word therefore in the Bible we should pay careful attention to what its there for.

Here Jesus is calling us to carefully considered action based upon everything he just said, but especially the verses which directly proceed these.

Because the way is narrow, and because there are good trees and bad trees, and because there are two types of builders… we must make every effort to not only hear what Jesus says but to respond positively to it.

To be sure, everyone is responding to Jesus’ call to follow after him one way or another. We either go with Christ or we go our own way. There is no other way, only the two.

Everyone

The word everyone gets used twice by Jesus here. There are two types of “everyone” and everyone who has lived will fall into one category or the other.

Everyone who hears Christ’s words and acts on them

Jesus compares these to a wise man who builds his house on the rock.

This is a house which can withstand anything and everything which might be thrown at it. It is built on Christ, and he is a foundation who never even so much as cracks no matter the pressure.

That he endured the cross and came out even stronger only confirms this. If Jesus can take the cross, he can handle all of your issues too.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 5

5 So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,

“YOU ARE MY SON,

TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”;

6 just as He says also in another passage,

“YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER

ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”

7 In the days of His flesh, aHe offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.

8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.

9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

10 being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

Everyone who hears Christ’s words and does not act on them

Jesus compares these to a foolish man who builds his house on sand.

The Reformation Study Bible: English Standard Version Chapter 7

Storms in Palestine are infrequent but can be violent. Although the houses of the foolish and the wise may for a long time appear equally secure, when the storm comes the destruction of the foolish one’s house is total (Is. 28:14–18). So it is with the life of those who ignore the words of Jesus.

They will think they are secure, but their foundation is not even strong enough to crack… it crumbles and washes away.

Everyone will endure what Christ endured on the cross one day, but only Christ is strong enough to stand strong after taking the full brunt of God’s wrath over sin.

When the world faces what Christ faced and conquered apart from him, they will collapse utterly. All of us would. The best of us would as quickly as the worst of us would. We have no chance apart from Christ.

Authority

Why didn’t the teaching of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day come with authority? It was because their foundation was weak.

They knew about God but they didn’t know God so their message had no substance. All they could offer was sand.

Jesus can set us on the rock because he is the rock. He is the one the Pharisees claimed knew about but didn’t know.

They stood right in front of him and could not recognize him.

Again, they had all kinds of scripture memorized but when the living word showed up they could not recognize him at all.

Apply

Look to Christ

We always get in trouble when we look inward for our credentials rather than outward towards Christ.

The Pharisees, Sadducees, as well as many modern day and historical rabbis and pastors have fallen into this same issue.

They appeal to tradition or what men have said. We don’t get our authority from man, but from Christ.

Christ had authority because he appealed to himself and he knew what was true.

Any credentials we might have will come not from us, but from Christ alone. Look to him!

Build on Christ

What we do comes from who we are.

Too often we act as if what we do defines who we are and that derails us spiritually. It puts the importance on us and our goodness rather than Christ and his righteousness. But if we realize that what we do comes from who we are rather than defining who we are it changes everything.

It seems subtle on the surface but it's actually huge and significant. It is the difference between building upon Christ or asking God to build on us.

The key to transformation isn't behavior modification, but growing nearer to Christ.

This is why we emphasize being in Christ. Being in Christ, immersed in him, resting at his feet and being taught by him is the pathway to becoming like him. We are only on the narrow path, living as a good trees, living for Christ's glory and building our lives upon him when our doing flows from our being in Christ. When our sense of being flows out of what we do we are living like wide road people and our foundation is shaky at best.

Launch

A life built upon anything besides Christ will crumble. Even a live built on good deeds will crumble. We don't need to be good, we need grace which makes us good. We need our root to be made new before we can be the good tree and the only root which will do is Christ.

If we have learned anything from our time in Matthew 5-7, may it be that if we want to truly live we must look to Christ alone.

Only when we are fully immersed in Christ can we be so full of his grace that we diffuse it into the lives of others around us.

I want to be the kind of weirdo to the world that a person become when he or she is fully immersed in Christ. How about you?

If you want that, how will you prioritize your life to get it?

Jesus isn’t calling us here to know about him only, or to be aware of the true foundation. He is calling us to build on it. That takes effort and commitment.