Practicing Righteousness

I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

He's the one who perfectly obeys the law. He's the one who perfectly teaches the law. He is the proper end and promised one. He is the lamb and the prophet and the priest and the king. Here, Christ, our king, is teaching us with all authority. Church, this is such good news to grasp. Our good God is giving us all that we need to know him, to love him, to trust him. How terrifying it would be to grow complacent with the very Word of God. To come to these words and just read them as if they're any other kind of text that God has spoken. We get to come to God and trust Him and to know Him. The more you read His Word, the more convincing His Word is and His truth. The terrifying warning that preceded this, go back to verses 21 and 23. We looked at this last week. Some will say, Lord, Lord, but they will not enter that kingdom. They'll say all they've done, they've prophesied, they cast out demons, but he will say, ultimately, I never knew you. And notice the significance there. They did not do the will of my father who is in heaven, verse 21. And there are workers of lawlessness. They're the disease trees that bear bad fruit. They're not on the narrow way that leads to life. These are the hypocrites. This is why listening to Jesus, who's speaking with all authority, and everything he says is good for us, is so important that we would hear him and know him. Church, this is such good news for us to appreciate, to trust. Our God speaks. The Word of God was made flesh. The Son of the Father has come to make Him known. We must see how dangerous it is to modify His Word. We must see how important it is to prioritize His Word so that we would do the will of God. So verse 28, 29, we should be astonished. We should grow in faith. We should respond to see he is the one who has all authority. And now we're gonna see he's the one who gives us strength. 24 and 27, the king's strength. Here we have two different similes. There's a man who builds a house on a rock and a man who builds a house on sand. One's wise, one's foolish. This final word picture is so powerful. There are two foundations. Like many places we've seen, he's saying there's two different ways to live. You're either on the right way or the wrong way. You're either on the rock or you're on the sand. There's folly or there's wisdom. Now the foundation, we're in the middle of a renovation, a construction project here. If anyone's ever tried to buy a house and gone through the inspection process, you understand the foundation is important. We understand this as a church. Many of you might not know, but that fellowship hall, if you go in the kitchen, you can see holes in the ground where they were filled. That foundation was weak and the building started sagging and falling. So we had to get concrete to pump it back up, which is pretty amazing to watch. So that it was on a strong foundation, not weak fielder that was sinking, but a strong foundation. It's important to consider what we're building our lives upon. What kind of foundation? Now, what makes the story or this contrast really stand out is what's actually so similar among the two peoples. Listen for what's similar. They all hear the words of Jesus, they all build a house, and they all suffer the same devastating storm. They all hear They all build, they all suffer. Verse 24,

therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who builds his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, 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 builds his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.

So what's similar is there's hearing the words, building a house, and then a storm comes. We oftentimes look at the difference as it's either the rock or the sand, and the outcome is significant. It's either gonna stand, the house is going to withhold and withstand that storm, or it's gonna have a great crash. But the most important difference is in verses 24 and 26. Did they hear the words and practice them? Or do they hear the words and not put them into practice? The question that Jesus is ending the Sermon on the Mount with is, what are you practicing? Now we can go back a step and just say, are we hearing the right words? But what are we practicing? Because that is the most significant action we have in this story. That's what determines if we're actually on the rock or the sand, if our faith is going to persevere or have a great crash. What are we practicing? That's the difference between wisdom and folly. To consider this most important question, we're all building our lives on something. We all have different beliefs, different pre-understandings. There's all kinds of assumptions that all of life is built upon. Some first major questions, is there a God? Well, we can look to God's word and say, yes, in the beginning, God. He's your creator. All right, second important question, can we know him? Yeah. And God said. And God said. God speaks, again, such good news. The other questions we have to ask, what is man? What is good? What's worthy of your time, your energy? What's right, what's true, what is holy? What Jesus taught over and over again through this sermon, the foundation of this sermon, our heavenly Father is good and he's generous. He has taught us what is good, what is holy, how to live. Jesus is really functioning, not just like Moses and the king. He's the great philosopher. A true philosopher is saying, what is the best, truest, happiest life? That's how the whole sermon began. Blessed, blessed, blessed. Happy, happy, happy. He's teaching us what it really means to live because He is the God who created us and gave us life. But again, the key issue is, are we just gonna hear these words? Are we gonna put them into practice? Are we gonna hear them and seek the security of wisdom and practice them, or are we gonna hear them and ignore them? That's folly that leads to destruction. To hear them and not practice them. That's what James describes. You go to the mirror and you look at yourself, and then immediately you walk away and you forget what you saw. Well, that's what it would be like to hear them and not practice them. It's easy to hear and hard to listen. I thought parents might say amen, but that's fine. Right, hearing just means audible noises are hitting your eardrum and there's noise happening and you're aware of noise. But to listen means you're leaning in. There's an intentionality. To listen says I want to hear you and understand what you're saying. And I'm even gonna ask questions to make sure I really understand. That's what it means to listen. There's an active even submission in the idea of listening. You're wanting to hear from someone. But he's not even said to listen. It's easier to listen than harder to obey. You can hear, you can understand, but then it might be difficult to do. Whatever that instruction is, whatever that truth is, to embrace it, believe it, and then do it. But Jesus is saying it's more than just an attempt of obedience. He says practice. Put it into your absolute routine. It's something you do day after day, minute after minute. It's what your life is based upon. And it assumes, this is what's so good about practice here, it means you're attempting and you're gonna fail and you're not gonna do it perfect and it's even gonna stretch some muscles and be hard at first. But you know what is beautiful about practice? You get better at what you're practicing. Now, Christian, let me just press in a question here. Does that terrify you or does that encourage you? Because you're getting better at what you practice. You're getting better at what you practice. If you're practicing lying, you're getting better at lying. If you're practicing lust, you're getting better at lust. If you're practicing anger and jealousy, you're getting better at anger and jealousy, and that's terrifying. We're training our hearts and our minds and our bodies with the things we put into practice. Christ has come to free us from those evil practices that destroy us. He's the one who gives us the strength to put into practice the things that give life. God has designed us to get better at what we practice. Are we practicing what is truly good? Are we practicing in a way that makes us more faithful and dependable? Are we seeking to let Jesus tell us what are the most important priorities that we should be putting into practice? See, what Jesus has said is hard. Again, he said so. The narrow gate leads to the hard way. that there should be repeated patterns that help us build up what we're going to practice. This isn't random acts of kindness. It's not just simple spontaneous actions. It's not just doing what you wanna do when you feel like doing it. No, it's putting to practice what God has told us to do. The God of life, the King of our salvation. To be very clear, Christian, there should be very irregular aspects of discipleship. Whatever you're doing should be repeated over and over again when it comes to discipleship. It takes discipline. It's right there in the Word. To be a disciple of Jesus Christ takes discipline. To put off sin, deny yourselves, carry your cross, follow Jesus. You know, it's amazing. The military is designed to take someone who is weak, cowardly, unskilled. To put on some muscle, give them a skill set, and give them the courage to do the job they've been trained to do. It's amazing what you can do with a human life when it's put into the right practice. The church is meant to be a gymnasium. Yes, there's healing. And then there's the right practices that are building up an immune system. There's practices that are building up a health and a strength. We're called to encourage, which means add courage. We're called to equip, which means we're able to do the things Christ has called us to do. We call that sanctification. Let's think about some of these practices and what Jesus would mean by hear these words of mine and practice them. The most significant thing we've heard over and over again is do not merely have external behavior, but have heart transformation. Do not be like the hypocrites who practice even religious things falsely. Do not be like the Pharisees and the scribes. Your righteousness must exceed even theirs. So how do we practice this? We need to practice righteous thoughts and desires. Not just avoiding criminal behavior of adultery and murder, but putting away those desires of anger and lust, that's hard. To practice the desires that come from within you, to practice denying yourself in a way of what actually comes from within you, you need to have God's word that's gonna help you see the wrong, first of all, and then His grace to put them off. Second, practice your promises.

Let your yes be yes and your no be no.

Make sure you're making the right commitments according to what God has said. What's in pen? What's in pencil? Practice loving your neighbor. Practice seeing every other human being as made in the image of God, as an equal.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Another one, practice prayer. Jesus taught us how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. He gave us a grand promise,

ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened.

Practice prayer, a dependence upon God and aligning your will with God. Practice putting off anxiety by seeing how good God is. and how generous he is. Practice not being anxious by meditating upon his word and his promises and learning how to step out and trust those promises in action. Practice asking God for forgiveness and forgiving others. Practice seeing the grace of God has forgiven you of such great sin. so that you can practice forgiving others and confessing sin and seeking reconciliation. One of the real concerns with our age is how isolated and individualized we have become. So we don't like to practice things that are inconvenient or difficult. We really live in such luxury, we're trained to be narcissists. Our sinful hearts were already bent inwards and everything about our society says that's right and good and just keep practicing that. and sadly, you'll get better at it. Christ came to bend your heart away from yourself and up to God. Instead of having this bit in that is so unsatisfying because the one thing you're never committed to do in scripture is self-love, it's assumed, and the way we normally do it is self-abuse. What God calls us to is to love him who loves us. and teaches us how to rightly love ourselves and rightfully love one another. Oh, practice bending your love up to God. Jesus, the God of life, the King of love, teaches us what is truly good, the blessed life. Practice, it will be hard for a while. You might stumble. You might get frustrated. Like all exercises, those muscles that you haven't been exercising, they're gonna burn a little bit. Don't stop practicing, because practicing produces perseverance. The God who has come down to save you has not left you alone. The Holy Spirit indwells us so that we can put into practice all that Christ has said. It's Father's Day. It's important that we know how to practice for our children. There's two things I want us to remember from the Sermon on the Mount regarding our Heavenly Father. He's good and he's generous. So let's make this application real simple. Are you practicing what is good with your time? Father, are you practicing what is good with your time? Secondly, are you being generous with your time? Because that's what your kids need the most. That you're doing what is good with your time, and then you're being generous with your time. As we've emphasized this word practice, because that is what everything hinges upon, let's just be very clear. If you practice what Christ has said, Christ has spoken in grace, we can receive it by faith, and then we practice these things. We must realize Christ is that rock we're supposed to be building our life upon. And the way you can really build your life upon the rock is if you are hearing him, believing him, trusting him, obeying him, and practicing all that he said. Christ is that rock. You cannot trust your practice is what's going to keep you safe. practicing what Christ has said so that you trust Him and grow closer to Him and depend upon Him. He is the one who keeps you safe. Christ is the rock and the strength we need. He is the security. Everything else is going to be sand. Again, that repetition, the rain came down, The streams rose, the winds blew, and beat against that house. That happened to the house in the rock, and it happened to the house in the sand. The house in the rock, it does not fall because of the foundation, but the house in the sand, it fell with a great crash. Again, this is why one of the measures of our life is that, are we living a life that's gonna be able to endure? Is our faith one that's strong enough to get past frustrations and even failures? Sadly, this world is not the way it's supposed to be. We need to be very clear about that. Because of sin that we've introduced into this world, there's sickness, death, frustration, there's suffering, there's persecution, things that can be so intense and devastating. The storm here could be a stand-in for a number of things. A health crisis that shakes you. A relationship that disappoints you or devastates you. A financial burden that worries you. Persecution and attack on you personally and violently for belonging to Christ and practicing what he says. The language of this is so helpful because it's like a psalm. You can apply it to whatever storm you are in the midst of or that you might be afraid of that's coming. The storms might change. They all could be devastating. What stays the same is to rock Christ, who died for us to forgive us, who rose again to give us new life, who's at the right hand of the Father, where we can find absolute security. that the pain, the suffering is gonna be different for everyone in this room. We remain the same as Christ who holds us. If you wanna meditate on this more, I would encourage you to read Romans 8. Romans 8, no condemnation, no defeat, no separation. And we talk about that golden chain. One theologian calls that the fortress. When you're in the fortress of God, he holds you, he keeps you. When trials come, Oh, God is greater, God is good, and God is generous. We see that hopefully high calling of practice so that we might persevere. I wanna go back to Jesus' authority because that is what gives us security. He encourages us to persevere. He provides the courage. This is the end of the sermon. It's the final push. Practice what I've said. Meditate, hear, listen, trust, obey what Christ has said. Let's go to the end of the gospel though. Matthew 28. Here are the final words of the entire gospel. And let's just hear them in light of Jesus' last words in the Sermon on the Mount.

Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

He's now proven he has all authority. He has been raised from the dead. He's going to go to the right hand of the Father. The last words here, the Great Commission, make disciples. In order to be a disciple, we must hear and observe all that he said. Because in order to make disciples, we must teach them to observe all that Christ commanded us. This is what is expected of all disciples of Jesus Christ. We would hear him. and practice what he says. And as we're then making disciples, we're teaching each other as we've received Christ to practice what he has said. The high calling of the Christian is to know the great God who has saved us. In his grace, he speaks. In his grace, he restores. By faith, we listen. and we seek to put into practice what he's given us. Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have revealed yourself as the good and generous God, who does not withhold anything good from us, And we know this because you sent your Son to die for us, to rise again for us, to satisfy your wrath so that we might know you as our Father. Lord, as we all have various trials, Lord, may we consider the command to count them joy, because we can look to you and ask who gives generously. Help us, Lord, to look to you, knowing your word does give us guidance, help, wisdom, and truth. Lord, help us to know how to put into practice what you have said. And Lord, if someone is not in a trial, give them the wisdom to start practicing now. so that your grace makes them ready to persevere. We thank you that you are the good God who helps us, who keeps us, who preserves us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.