Listen & Do

Intro

Well Since February 6th we have been absolutely crawling through Jesus’ most famous and consequential sermon.

We are on our 18th and final week to look at these words of Jesus.

But I hope you never stop looking at them…I know for me, I review this once a year and I still feel like I have so much to learn...

So what I want do is to re-visit a quote that I used when we first stated this series. It is a quote by an unknown Jewish Rabbi

“The history of Christianity is the history of christians trying to evade living out the sermon on the mount and avoid its plain meaning”

I wonder if after Jesus gave the meat of his sermon he just knew that this would be the case

Because half of chapter 7 is both an invitation and a warning to put into practice his sermon

We do try to evade the sermon on the mount and we look for ways of skirting it...In fact, sometimes we as humans have this question of what is the minimum we can do and still get by?

and when we think in terms of the minimum that we can do and still get by, we have to realize that we are cheating God out of our full allegiance

We are cheating ourselves out of life that is really life

and what Jesus warns of all over the sermon on the mount is that we are in dangers of the fires of hell

So the reason why I want to end the sermon with this quote is because it is a reminder & a warning

The invitation and the warning of Jesus is to put this into practice now...

What I started this series with is the invitation to the Gospel is an invitation to live in God’s kingdom right here and now

The sermon on the mount is what God’s governance looks like in our lives.

And God wants to extend his kingdom through you…and if thats true then God’s word must be practiced.

So last week, Jesus gave the invitation to the narrow road…AKA his Kingdom

Jesus reminded us about the discernment that we must have...

So let’s look

Matthew 7:24–29 NIV

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

IN the very first week of this series I pointed out that when the text says that the crowds were amazed, the word there is Ekplecco...

It means astonished or beside yourself…Like something you never heard...

And for those of you who tend to be a little more Bible nerdy like me.

There are 5 sections of discourses in the book of Matthew…And at the end of every section Matthew writes this little note....

That all who heard him were astonished at his authority and his teaching

Matthew wants you to know that all who heard Jesus teach had this great emotional response…That they were Eclipsed or overwhelmed by what he had to say

So that is my prayer for you…That you are so Ekplecco by Jesus that you have to take his words seriously

So first let’s deal with the fact that Jesus ends the sermon on the mount with a parable

The house built on rock vs the house built on sand is something we still say today

We know and understand this parable pretty quickly and easily right?

Because its almost like the three little pigs right...

The lazy pig made a house of straw

Then the Middle pig a house of wood

But the third pig took way longer and more money and made a house of brick…and when that big bad wolf came he couldn’t blow the house down...

people in Jesus’ day would have understood this too…If you go to Israel today, especially in the region where Jesus grew up there are many homes that have their foundation carved into bedrock.

When I was in Israel we visited a second century fortress that was literally cut into rock

Herod had a dessert fortress that was carved into rock called Masadda

We kind of instantly get the purpose of this parable

Your first fill in is literally what Jesus said in the sermon:

Anyone who hears Jesus’ words and does not do them is a fool.

Don’t blame me, this is what Jesus says in the parable...

Anyone who hears Jesus’ words and practices them is wise.

There is something that I need to say to us and to the American church as a whole that I think matters so much in this parable.

When will we realize that affirmation of faith is not enough? But that true faith actually is obedience? with our lives, with our bodies…with our language and the way that we treat people...

Our true faith is revealed when we embody the gospel and live it out every day

An affirmation of saying, I believe in Jesus, but then not living out his teaching is just fake and blowing smoke...

The Hebrew word for “hearing” is often translated as “obey”

See we must actually put into practice what the Bible says, otherwise that is not faith, it is just intellectual agreement...

I would say that if you are here today and you say, Pastor Dave I have faith but I wont live by Biblical standards, then I would argue that you really don’t have any faith at all if you wont practice it in your life and reading the Bible is merely an intellectual exercise

Jesus is saying that destruction comes when their is a failure to obey…To me, when we simply proclaim that we follow Jesus but do not obey God’s word....

1. Its just foolish

2. It doesn’t look like faith at all

3. There is no power in that kind of life

Often times in church Belief is emphasized for salvation…thats is because verses like this:

Romans 10:9 NIV

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

now there is nothing wrong with this verse, it is absolutely true and I used this verse all the time......

but there is a cultural translation issue...

The 21st Century American thinks that the word “believe” is only a mental exercise

But when Paul wrote that and when Jesus talked about belief the word to them always included action…To the 1st century people, belief and actions was not something that you could separate

So if you were eating a triple bacon cheese burger with fries for breakfast but called yourself a health coach…You might mentally believe in healthy eating but you shouldn’t be coaching anyone…Because clearly, you don’t practice what you preach…In other words, you don’t really believe in health or else you would do it.

I am not trying to invalidate Romans 10, because this is a key scripture…Paul is trying to build up the missionary witness of the church, he reminds them that faith comes through hearing so go and preach the word…Paul is activating a church to speak their faith

My only point is that cognitive agreement is not the same thing as living out faith in Jesus...

There are atheistic New Testament Scholars who agree with Jesus! but they don’t put their faith in him and practice what Jesus preached....

So the warning that I think Jesus has for the church is to not confuse cognitive agreement with faith

The reason why I am harping on this point is that we might read this like…hey the storms of life are always going to come so build your house on the rock…and we think, yeah storms are always coming in life...

But modern scholarship has been investigating these words that Jesus has used and has taken into account what Jesus said before about the narrow and wide road, the true and false prophets…

And what the best modern scholarship us telling us is that Jesus is probably talking more about the day of Judgment here as the storm…rather than just the storms of life...

Jesus gives the sermon on the mount and tells us that we are responsible for it! We have to build our houses on it!

So much so that at judgement day, you will stand before God and have to give an account of not just what you know…but how you lived!

Our lives are accountable before God! and we have to live in that tension

What is your plan to practice the sermon on the mount?

Let’s read Matthew 7:24 one more time

Matthew 7:24 (NIV)

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Putting things into practice is developing a routine…Dr’s practice medicine…They do it every day

Lawyers practice law…They do it every day.

We have to develop a routine of hearing from God and doing what he says

This is literally how Jesus ends the sermon on the mount.

So it is my hope that I can end the sermon on the mount series with practical ways to practice the sermon on the mount:

I want to give you one tool that has been so helpful for me over the years…

If you and I are ever having a counseling appointment where you are telling me that you feel like God might be leading you somewhere, I will literally draw this out on a paper for you

VIDEO 4min

I want to show you this video that explains what the

The Learning Circle

So the learning circle is something that was developed for education and then brought into Christianity because someone realized the over lap...

So here is my Kairos moment:

Its not enough to think correctly, we also need to obey Jesus physically with our bodies.

now of course I had this Kairos moment because late in my teens I believed in God but that didn't always show up in my life

Romans 12:1 NIV

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

So this verse Romans 12:1 was something I had read 1,000 times but when I was reading the whole house on a rock parable it just shot out at me that obedience was physical not just mental

It also hit me that what we do physically is an act of worship…

So if your here and you read the bible and say…Okay, I agree with Jesus....Is there a physical manifestation of that in your life?

See this is what the learning circle does…It take’s Jesus imperative to hear and obey…to listen and put into practice and it helps you to create a plan for living out what God is saying to you.

See when we sin in our lives, often times it is physical…But that sin reveals an incorrect belief about God

The apostle Paul was concerned with right belief and right actions...

He addressed a person who was stealing in the church in Ephesus…and this is what he said

Ephesians 4:28 NIV

Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.

So anyone who steals…which is a sin…which by the way is a physical act

Must do something useful with their hands…which is physical

So that they can share with those in need

Paul calls people to physically act in obedience

So I want to show you something cool here

But what is the belief behind all of this:

Steeling is done out of a scarcity mentality: (This is the incorrect belief about God) When we buy into scarcity thinking we ultimately believe that there is not enough for me so I need to take something in order to get by…The sin there is against someone else for sure but it is also the sin of not having faith that God will provide for you

But God is a God of abundance and of blessing and one of the core characters of God is generosity....So how do we experience that?

We do something physical with our hands and we then are generous

Physical obedience in this area re-enforces an idea

So this is all my Kairos Moment...

Because early in my late teens, I thought correctly but had the problem of behaving in a way that was inconsistent with my thoughts and really my faith...

So How did I repent or work the other side of the circle?

Every time I physically acted in a way that was inconsistent with who God was calling me to be I had to dig deep and say…ok why…what do I believe that is causing me to act this way...

This was a long hard process that took friends and accountability partners and It was like I was able to pull the weeds out of my life

It was a process of saying…ok I acted this way, what does that reveal about how I believe in God?

I keep harping on this point today....

Because this is what Jesus said…We both need to hear his voice and then put what he says into practice...

Jesus wants to grow people who have a full and vibrant faith...

And the quickest way to neuter your faith is not not live it out

I think what Jesus is saying is that we are always building a house....all of us…But when you stop practicing your faith you are always building on sandy ground

Outcome:

The sermon on the mount can not be something that we focus 18 weeks on and then disappear through your lives

Its is my hope that you will be confronted with the teachings from the sermon on the mount for your entire life

It is my prayer that God will continually enable you to hear from you and give you the strength to do what he says

So I have a very simple question for you today

Do you have the space in your life to hear from Jesus and then to live it out?

Do you put the words of Jesus into practice in your life?

IS your life shaped by Jesus