Listen on YouTube to: God will make a way
Use the lyrics of this song, to thank God for all that Jesus means to you:
I serve a risen Saviour, He’s in the world today.
I know that He is living whatever men may say.
I see His hand of mercy; I hear His voice of cheer;
And just the time I need Him He’s always near.
He lives, He lives, Christ Jesus lives today!
He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.
He lives, He lives, salvation to impart!
You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart
A H Hackley (C) 1933 Word Music
Jesus brings his ‘Sermon on the mount’ to a close by giving us three illustrations which summarise all that he has been saying and we have been reading over the last few weeks.
The first illustration is reminding us to keep focussed on maintaining our relationship with God. If we just ‘drift along’ without checking on what the treasure of our heart is we will find ourselves separating from God and that leads to ‘destruction.’ Read Matthew 7 13-20
So Jesus encourages us to recognise that living a life which reflects his descriptions of God is no easy ‘walk in the park’ but needs to be regularly monitored – perhaps checked on as often as we would if we were looking after some treasure! Then Jesus uses a very different illustration to give us ideas about how we can check whether our life is showing his description of Father God.
We don’t have to be gardeners to understand this next picture Jesus gives us, we all know that you can’t pick grapes from thorn-bushes. Jesus is using this illustration to ask us to consider what sort of fruit we produce in our lives. What do people go away feeling after they have encountered us? Around 20 years after Jesus spoke about the fruit which our lives produce, Paul writes using a similar illustration Galatians 5: 22-23. To produce love, peace, patience, kindness etc… in our lives we need to be nourished by a healthy, daily relationship with ‘our Father who art in heaven.’.’
Jesus then uses yet another illustration to show us how to maintain this relationship throughout the ‘ups and downs’ of life. Read Matthew 7: 21-27.
Jesus tell us the meaning of the illustration before telling us the story. He say in verse 24 that if we allow Jesus’ teaching to affect our lives – if we put his words into practice – then we will have a firm foundation which will enable us to stand firm even when we go through the ‘storms of life.’ After telling this story about two builders, Jesus highlights the importance of his message by saying we are fools if we hear his words and don’t let them modify our behaviour.
Jesus ends his ‘sermon on the mount’ by asking us if we are foolishly going to let his words wash over us, or be wise and apply his teaching to our lives, and know the truth of his opening statements - ‘the Beatitudes.’ There Jesus told us that (Matthew 5: 6 GNB) “Happy are those whose greatest desire is to do what God requires; God will satisfy them fully!”
Use the words of this song to help you voice you desire for Jesus’ words to affect your worship, words and actions:
My life is in you, Lord - My strength is in You, Lord
My hope is in You, Lord - in You - it's in You!
I will praise You with all of my life
I will praise You with all of my strength
with all of my life, with all of my strength - all of my hope is in You
Daniel Gardner © 1986 Integity's Hosanna! Music
Listen on YouTube to: Sing wherever I go
On Sunday there will be a new topic which will take us further on into the New Testament - Stephen