by Trent - originally posted on 08-11-05
Does our way work?
Has our doctrine, methods, meetings, retreats, seminars, systematic theology, emotional experiences, and self examination, and what-have-you done anything to free us from anger, old-habits, slander, the desire to be elite, and self-centeredness, and frustration?
Has our way set us free? Has it brought us peace and contentment? Has our teaching lead to tangible results - the abundant life?
Jesus gives a sermon on the perfect life. What are the ingredients?
Does our way produce the kind of life that Jesus was talking about?
What Jesus does not mention as part of the perfect life is this:
Some of you are going to say that you think the second list is an important list. Well, I did not say that those things are trivial. But, the second list is full of secondary - lesser truths, at best ... and complete diversions at the worst. What can be more important than the things that Jesus preached? Isn't everything eclipsed by what Jesus says is important in the "sermon on the mount"?
I'll be happy to talk to any of you about the second list. We can also discuss homosexuality, and political science and abortion, but first I want to know if we have discovered the answer for the 18 things that Jesus says is important first. Have we found that life?
If I say that my way works then my way better result in the manifestation of the sermon on the mount. If we emphasize anything less than the sermon on the mount as the proof of the validity of the way that I live then I am just avoiding a deeper issue.
Will my wife confirm by witness to my behavior the things that I say matters, and the things that I hold dear when comparing the impact of those things on my life to the 18 things that Jesus mentioned? Will my neighbors confirm that? Will children confirm that?
Jesus' simple sermon reveals the effectiveness of our method. And any other method will be revealed by comparison as something carnal, (maybe pious and nice) but nothing more than a false hope and despair.
Are we learning to love your enemies? Are we becoming meek? Are we making peace? Do we mourn? Are we developing a pure heart?
If not, then lets not tell anyone about our church or doctrinal proof. We are unaffected by our way, if we are not being moved into the life that Jesus describes.
The focus of GraceHead.com hopefully has focussed upon all of these things preached in the sermon on the mount, because we are not focusing on any interpretation, teaching, philosophical system, or beliefs. We are focusing on Jesus, Himself! And that life in the sermon that he taught describes His own Life ... the same Life that can be manifest today in us, as we let Him out to play through us.
Keep tuned to GraceHead.com ... your life may be all the proof anyone could possibly need to believe.
For it is the Fathers will that all come to repentance and salvation in His Christ. ~ Jesus [Letters from God and His Christ - Volume 1 ~ The Pearl]