Let’s start at the end. Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)

²⁴ ”Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Rock On!

 Jesus sets up a tension within the Jewish audience over the Law.
The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to the church in Galatia because he was astonished at their rapid acceptance of false teaching. Paul called it a “different gospel” that distorted the gospel of Christ. He made his repugnance clear in Galatians 3:1-3: “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”In Galatians 5:1, he rebuked them again, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Paul, a Hebrew, a Pharisee, and a saint in Christ, was a strong advocate for life founded on freedom.

Jesus preached a passage, used frequently to support the practice of retaining the law for perfection of the faith, in The Sermon on the Mount? In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus said,
¹⁷Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

These two verses really show the tension most Christ followers experience.  Should the focus of the walk with Christ be on freedom or obedience to a protective captivity in the form of laws ultimately given for the benefit of man?

How are you dealing with this tension? Continue Reading…

The Sermon on the Mount – Let’s start at the end. Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

New Players – Matthew 5:3-12
The Sermon on the Mount is undoubtedly the most famous sermon ever spoken. Jesus has been baptized (Mat. 13:16), overcome tremendous temptation by Satan (Mat. 4:10), gathered the first disciples (Mat. 4:19), and ministered throughout Galilee with teaching and miracles (Mat. 23-25). By this time he had attracted great crowds of astonished and curious Jews. The setting for this revelation was described in Matthew 5:1-2, and a new culture of citizens (Originators) were identified in verses 3-12. Jesus made a radical statement by excluding the religious elite from this roster of spiritual inheritance. Continue Reading…