Tonight we are concluding our time in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount with a discussion of Matthew 7:13-29. Jesus tells us that the way of Life is narrow and hard (trying praying for and loving your enemies and those that despise and persecute you). Jesus teaches that sound trees bear good fruit and bad trees bear evil fruit. “Good fruit” is a consequence of being a sound tree and not the cause of being a sound tree. In other words, salvation does not come from good actions or from saying magic words like “Lord, Lord” (v.21). Most people and animals can be trained to modify their behavior and speech patterns to conform to certain norms. Rather, Jesus is speaking about the transformation of our very consciousness, our essence, and our very being.
Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount with the illustration of two builders – one who builds his house on the sand and one who builds the house on the rock. The difference between building on the sand and building the rock isn’t a difference in location but a difference in foundation techniques. In Myrtle Beach, large buildings cannot be built on sandy soils because those soils lack the required load capacity; rather large buildings are built upon subterranean pilings which are driven into the ground until they hit rock. A structure built on sand and one built on pilings resting on rock will look the same once constructed. The outward appearance is identical, but the foundations are different. Sand won’t support the building, but rock will. The question that Jesus poses to us in the parable is where is our foundation.
Dinner at 6. The menu is chicken bog. Discussion about 6:45. Hope to see you here.
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:28-29