House Building
So as we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount we are told simply to ask...although we might need to remember to be careful what we ask for!
The Law and the Prophets is about doing to others as you would like to be done by... which is simple.... isn't it? Well which of knows what we really want? Even less do we always know what we need!
This gateway is narrow... it's something we commit to or we don't, we can't be half hearted or do this just when we fancy.
There are plenty of people out there who know what's best for us... there have always been infuencers, role models and celebrities. Always the politicians after power and the con man after your money. Just step back and see what they do.. it's not so much a judging of then - which we are not to do - but deciding that we don't want to live with them
And the religious people, the charismatic leaders who gather adherents... they're the ones we need to avoid most, it seems.
For we are to build our own home and that home needs a cornerstone, a rock... and that Rock is Christ. When Jesus pointed at Peter and said "You are Peter, you all well nick-named "Rocky", and then he poited at himself and said, "On THIS rock, will I build my Church".
The sermon doesn't end, it simply movs into the next scene - are you following me or not? This man speak with authority... in greek the word is "exousia" which lietrally means "out of his being". Jesus isn't qualified with a diploma in Mission or Ministry. He IS something, he IS someone. And wants us to be the same someone as himself.
The sermon of the Mount is not a catalogue of moral imperatives. It is a demand that we stop trying to be good and start to want God and only God, then we will be perfect, then our righteousness will exceed that of the Pharisees. But as long as we sink back into wanting to achieve by our own efforts we are doomed to fail.
Ask and it will be given you... ask to build on the Rock which is Christ.
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