The Message of the Teachings on the Mount (110)
By Abraham Eli
This study was first taught on March 25, 2012
Topic: The Message of the Teachings on the Mount (5): Who Should Hear This?
No audio available for this study.Background
At our last bible study, we made some observations on the impact of adversity on the Christian thus:
1. Adversity can come in torrents or waves of contrary conditions. We saw that regardless of how intense adversity is, it is the life that is built on Christ’s teachings that will remain standing when the adverse condition is over. Such persons are thankful to God at all times, even when adversity strikes.
2. It may take a long time to build one’s life on Christ, but the wise builder always enjoys ultimately. We saw that even though the foolish builder may have already been enjoying his life, while the wise builder was still digging and building, ultimately, it was the wise builder who ended up enjoying after adversity was over.
3. The adverse conditions did not come upon the buildings of the wise builder and the foolish builder, until the wise builder had finished his building. God will not allow a Christian to be tempted until he is ready. However, God does not support lazy Christians. Hence, adversity comes the way of a Christian because he is expected to be able to handle adversity based on the expected level of maturity of the Christian. The true believer will encounter adversity which is equivalent to the level of spiritual maturity he is expected to have attained in Christ, not necessarily the level he is at. This means that you have to build your life on Christ, as and when He directs you. Not doing so, would mean that you are not growing at the pace expected of you; and when adversity strikes, which will be equivalent to the level you ought to have attained, you would be unable to stand!
4. The wise builder was called 'wise' only because his house was established on the Rock. A wise Christian establishes his life on Christ and it manifests when he does business according to God’s way; when he gets married according to God’s leading; when he works according to God’s ethics of work, etc. This established life in Christ, is the result of years of digging and building on Christ’s teachings. As we hear and act on Christ’s teachings, we are taking roots downward, and will definitely bear fruit upward. While the fruit may not appear instantaneously, it will definitely manifest in a life that is persistently rooted and grounded in Christ’s love! So, when adversity strikes, the Christian whose life is established on Christ will be unmoved.
5. Adversity can bring the foolish Christian to the wisdom of repentance. It was adversity that brought the prodigal son to his senses, and made him to repent and return to the waiting hands of his father. Similarly, when adversity strikes a foolish Christian, and he comes to his senses, God is waiting to receive him, provided he is returning to build on Christ the Rock!
Scripture Text(s)
Matthew 7:24-27
Today, we come to the end of our study on “The Message of the Teachings on the Mount”. We thank God for seeing us through the last three years of study, and pray that the Holy Spirit will bring us to a grand finale, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
The relevance of the Lord’s closing remarks is the more captivating when we see to whom he made it.
Matthew 4:23-25; 5:1-2; 7:28-29; 13:19-23; Romans 10:1-20; 2 Corinthians 4:13; Hebrews 4:2; Romans 1:15-28; Psalm 19:1-6; 1 Peter 2:9-10; John 3:16-21.
Conclusion
The teachings on the Mount began with Jesus' disciples gathering round Him to hear Him teach, but it ended up with much more people (crowds) coming to hear Him. This must have prompted the Lord to address His closing remarks to “whoever”. The implication of the Lord's remark is thus that His message is not discriminatory––it is for the believer in Christ just as well as it is for the non-Christian; it is for the wealthy, as it is for the poor; it is for men, as it is for women; it is for the high in society, as it is for the lowly; it is for the old, as it is for the young; it is for those who have been attending bible study regularly, as it is for those who do not attend bible study at all.
One thing though, is that “whoever”, must be someone who has heard the teachings of the Lord. Even if a person has not heard the word of God yet, the day he hears it and begins to act on it, is the day that he can be said to be a wise builder who will overcome adversity. But many have heard the gospel; they just have not accepted it! On the other hand, if a person has been hearing the word of God, and has not been acting on it, then that person can be said to be a foolish builder. In any case, not hearing the word of God is not a tenable excuse, because all men have the knowledge of God through nature; again, they just have refused to yield to Him and to His gospel!
The message then is that, it is not how frequently a person attends bible study or studies the bible personally (even though that is a good thing), that matters; what is important is how promptly and effectively, a person acts on the word of God! (Hebrews 11:7).
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