To accept Jesus Christ’s love, embrace Jesus’ teaching and share Jesus with those near and far PART 2
Matthew 7:24-27
24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!’
We continue our thinking about the Bible basis for St. Andrew’s Church’s mission statement: To accept Jesus Christ’s love, embrace Jesus’ teaching and share Jesus with those both near and far.
The verses from Matthew come at the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, and in summary he says – “It is not enough to hear these words I have spoken and say, ‘Those are good words, Jesus speaks so well.’ No, the real measure is, are you acting on those words, are you putting them into action in your life?”
It is easy to say that Jesus said amazing things, and Jesus did say amazing things – things that sound very different than the words we hear in our world much of the time. Words of challenge that say, living a moral life is the best way to live life. Words of challenge that say, when people ridicule you and laugh at you, don’t retaliate. Words of challenge that say, meekness and humility are the way to a fulfilled life. Words of challenge that say, following Jesus means you can expect persecution.
St. Andrew’s Church mission statement says that our goal as people of St. Andrew’s is to take Jesus’ words and to embrace them, adopt them, as being the pattern of our lives, as being central to the way we will live our lives. Knowing that living the Jesus way means living a very different pattern than the one the world around us says is the way to live life.
As we set our lives on following the Jesus way we will be changed more and more into being like Jesus in our actions and words and attitudes – we will be shaped/formed into people who are more like Jesus. Loving and embracing Jesus’ teaching and words will change us and we will be made into new people. People who are resilient in the challenges that life brings.
PRAYER:
O Lord, your Son Jesus Christ said amazing things that challenge our lives, we quickly endorse his words as being the words of life, but we are slower to actually live them in our lives. Teach us the joy of adopting the Jesus way as our way of life, our way to life. Show us how we might embrace Jesus words as being the center of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.