So our belief in a creator and in Jesus Christ as Lord is a rational belief and a belief that is justly held. Scripture is both authentic and reliable as we seek to know God, and God is just in what He does: always showing more grace and mercy to even the worst sinners. There are many sinners in this place. They have congregated here because many church organizations drove them away. Once again, I apologize.
What does all of this mean for us? What good are these truths about God and about the rationality of our belief in life and ministry and whiskey? Where do we go from here? What pursuit do I give myself to? In Matthew chapters 5-7 we see Jesus' famous sermon on the mount, in which He gives direct moral teaching, including the fact that not one letter will pass from the Law. Of course, this discourse leads into the rest of His bodily life and ministry on this earth. He is the fulfillment of the Law. At the end of His sermon on the mount, Jesus teaches us something very important regarding the foundation of our lives:
Matthew 7:24-29
“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of Mine and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. And its collapse was great!”
When Jesus had finished this sermon, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, because He was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.
We all have
two options as we live on this earth. It is not whether or not we will put rocks in our scotch. Either we will build our lives upon the foundation of Christ's words or we will not. There is much more at stake here than that tingling sensation and the goodness of that cherry resting at the bottom of your glass. There doesn't seem to be an in-between here. We are either fully committed to live according to the words of Christ, or we are not committed at all. If Christ is the eternal word, then it was through Him that all of Scripture was inspired, and all of Scripture, including the words of the Law that Jesus mentioned, are words that mean something very significant for our lives. This is a clear indication that the words in all of Scripture are words that are either accepted fully or denied fully. They are not words that can be accepted only in moderation. They cannot be accepted only in part. We cannot love Jesus and reject a portion of the words He inspired in the text of Scripture. Furthermore, they are not words that can be accepted only on a trial basis. Let me see if Christianity works for me. If we test drive Christianity like we do a car, then it will not work for us. We will not be delivered. We will not receive eternal life. We will either build our lives on Christ's words or we will not.
As we consider our own lives, we come to this realization: Christ taught that when we build our lives on the foundation of His words, we have a firm foundation in this life. A firm foundation sounds pretty good. Considering this, we might think about some of the struggles we have. We endure shaky ground. There are storms that impact us in this life. Most of the time, we do not have any control over the storms. We might lose a loved one, a relationship might end, we might experience financial struggles, problems in marriage, persecution of some kind, loss of a job, or illness. What we learn, here, is that a life in Christ is a life firmly grounded. This does not mean that we do not suffer. It does mean that when storms come, we are more prepared to stand through them because we have built our lives on the firm foundation of Christ. This can serve as evidence for our own lives. A life firmly grounded is a life in Christ. Christ helps His people to stand in times of great trial and tribulation. The context of this part of the text, though, runs much deeper than this. According to verses 22 and 23, a life built on Christ's word will help us to stand through Christ's judgment when the time comes. There is a time coming when Christ will judge the whole world. This will be a tribulation greater than any other for those who have not built their lives on Christ's words.
Thus we learn, and this is what Jesus taught, that whoever does not build his or her life on Christ's word (that's all of Scripture) has a faulty foundation. This foundation may hold for a time, but will ultimately fail (especially concerning the judgment of Christ). If we build our foundation on our own words, thoughts, feelings, or orientations; our foundation is less likely to weather the storm. Furthermore, it will not withstand Christ's judgment. Here, the challenge is the same for those defining their own lives in any way- from a self-defining of sexual orientation, to the culture we try to design, to our generational trends, to our saying that we don’t need the body of Christ to love Christ. We must deny the shaky foundation that we have built for ourselves so that we can build our lives on the foundation of Christ's word for the purpose of honoring Christ, not ourselves. When we build our foundation on our own material possessions, on our families, on our own thoughts about organization or structure, on our human relationships, on our thoughts about being a part of the church, or even on the work we think we are doing for the Gospel, we have a misplaced foundation and it is faulty because we are imperfect people. The challenge is always self-denial and submission to King Jesus.
By the life we live, then,
we either show Christ or deny Christ. Whether or not we like to put things in these terms, every genuine believer is also an apologist and an apology maker. We choose every day to either show God plainly to people or not in our obedience to God's word. The sad reality is, most people do not reject God because the earth seems to be older than what some 'Christians' claim. Most people do not oppose God because evolutionary theory contradicts some interpretations of Genesis 1 and 2. Most people don't choose to reject Christ because resurrection is impossible by materialistic standards. Most people who have rejected the faith or consider the faith to be unimportant because many people who claim to be Christians live in a very un-Christlike manner. This is why I rejected the faith early on. Many people in the church today have not built their lives, their organizational churches, their relationships, or their basic beliefs on the actual words of Christ. When posed with difficult questions, most 'Christians' choose to give a “That's the way it is!” type of answer rather than giving a true reason, an apology, for our having the faith that we have. We choose every day to either answer difficult questions about the faith or not. We choose every day to either obey 1 Peter 3:15 or not. With our lives, then, we argue either for God or against Him.
To those who left the local church. To those who say that they can love Jesus and not go to church. To those who have been hurt by the ridiculousness that has become the religious estate in the world today. I apologize, and I apologize. We live our lives in response to God’s goodness, not the failures of people. Can I introduce you to who Christ really is?