Tag Archives: Kingdom of God

The Promise of The Sermon On The Mount (Bible Study Matthew 7 – Part 6)

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Today we wrap up a series on Matthew 7.  This is the closing of the Sermon on the Mount.  We have looked at Jesus’ warning about self righteousness, the fact that God wants to give us life, the narrow and wide paths, avoiding false prophets and the fact that we need to not presume that because we say “Lord, Lord” that we are in the Kingdom.  Today we will look at Jesus’ closing statement to the sermon.

Here it is:

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Jesus ends the sermon with a promise in a sense.  He says essentially if you put into practice what I have said in this sermon you will withstand everything that comes at you.  That doesn’t mean that it will all go your way.  It doesn’t mean you will be successful by the world’s standards or that you will be in a particular economic or social status.  But it does mean that at the end you will be with Him, on the narrow road and sanctified.

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Is Christianity Inclusive or Exclusive? Yes!

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I’ve seen a lot of conversions (or arguments might be a better word) about the inclusivity of Christianity. Some say that Jesus was all inclusive. Others say that it is a narrow road and that the Kingdom is actually very exclusive. I want to offers some thoughts on this.

First I think that our current culture inclusivity it a sort of virtue. It seems that many want everyone to be included in everything. There is a lot good about this idea. Far too often people have been left out, or even kept out, of opportunities and experiences that they should not have been. That’s a fair critique of parts of our society. So everyone wants everyone to be included. I think that’s a good desire.

The flip side of this is that not everyone is the same. People don’t all have the same skills, talents and even desires. And, no matter how we might try to rig society we will never have equal outcomes for all. It’s literally impossible and extremely unreasonable.  And frankly a dangerous plan.

But the real question as a Christian is what does Jesus teach and what does He say about the Kingdom in this regard? Here are my thoughts.

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Self Righteousness, Envy and Generosity (Bible study Matthew 20)

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In Matthew 20 Jesus tells another parable.  It is the story of the landowner and the workers that he hires at different times during the day.  In the parable the landowner goes and hires men first thing in the morning and tells them he will pay them the daily wage.  They agree and get to work.  Then at 9 AM, 3 PM and 5 PM he goes out and finds others promising them a just wage for their work if they start right away.  They all go.  At the end of the day he pays them all. He starts with those hired at 5 and pays them a full day’s wage.  Then he does the same with those he hired at 3 and at 9.  Finally when it comes to those he hired first, they think that he will pay them more.  But he doesn’t.  They complain about the “injustice” because they got paid the same as those who started only a short while ago.  The landowner says that it is not unfair.  He paid them what they agreed to.  He says who are they to challenge what he does with his own money and asks if they are envious of his generosity.

Now people can read this a lot of ways.  It’s actually a really tough parable.  I think first when we read scripture it’s important to think about what it meant to that group of people at that time.  Jesus was in the middle of many confrontations with the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  The heat is getting turned up as we are approaching the time when they would look to kill Jesus.  One of the things that they are most mad about is that all sorts of “sinners” seem to be allowed into this kingdom that Jesus keeps talking about and they seem to be on the outside and they don’t like it.  After all, they’ve followed all the rules.  They’ve been in this since the beginning.  They should be first, not last.

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The Other Parable of Two Sons (Matthew 21:28-32)

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In todays look at the scriptures I’d like to look at what I like to call The Other Parable of Two Sons.  When most people think of a parable with two sons they immediately think of the familiar parable of the prodigal son.  That is indeed a great parable and perhaps we’ll dive in another day.  Today I want to look in stead at the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21.

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You Can Be A Single Saint

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I’ll be honest.  When I started writing this blog four years ago, I thought I would share some thoughts about my experience as a single for over 20 years of adulthood and specifically in the Church culture.  Somehow in my mid thirties I had a sort of awakening that a whole lot of what I thought I knew about singleness, what I’d be taught and even what I had taught others was wrong.  But I had no idea how wrong we were.

This is why now and then I’m responding to some posts from prominent leaders in our church culture.  They represent what we teach and when it comes to this context, they come up almost unbelievably short.  It’s astounding really.

In a post on the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Page, they share from a speech from Al Molher (whom Time called the “reigning intellectual of the evangelical movement in the U.S.” – Yikes) in which he addresses the “sin” of delayed marriage.  I know you’re getting excited already. . .

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