Building Your Life on Jesus' Authority.

Well, welcome everyone, especially if it's your first time. My name is Nathan. I'm actually just a random member here at New Culture. One of the things that's actually kind of cool about New Culture is that there's lots of opportunities for people who attend here to really contribute. It's not like we have the leadership and then the people attend and it's very separate and disconnected. So that's one thing I really appreciate. Abbie's just really good at doing that, just facilitating things where everyone gets to use their different gifts. So yeah, here I am giving the message.

Fair warning, it has not been vetted by Abbie. So if I say anything like heretical, it's all on me. So just to put that out there. But actually, in all seriousness, you should actually evaluate what I'm saying. Anything I say, I am not perfect and anything that is said from the pulpit, you should be thinking for yourself, digging in the scriptures for yourself. If there's anything that I say that seems like not quite right, I'm happy for you to come up afterwards and be like, hey, what did you mean by that? Or I don't know about that. Yeah, and then Abbie can publicly rebuke me the next week.

A story about witches and Jesus

I'm going to start just with a story here. I just want to preface this. It sounds way sketchier than it is. A couple weeks ago I got into a very interesting conversation with two witches. Yes, two people who were very active in practicing witchcraft. One of the things, if you don't know me, I love gathering stories of miraculous things that God is doing in the world and the way that God touches and heals people because I believe that still happens today. So I love documenting stories of that. In my sort of investigation, I've been very interested in what are the sorts of healings that are being claimed in some of the false religions or beliefs out there. So I wandered into this shop that was selling witchcraft-type things and basically just asked, what has been your experience with these crystals and things like that? It was just a fascinating conversation. But honestly, it was very sad too. It was all about doing these different rituals to manipulate things to get what you want.

The person there told me, I used this ritual with crystals to get a boyfriend. It can be very, very dark, very self-centered stuff. I ended up asking them, like, what do you think about Jesus? To them, Jesus was a great guy. Really great moral teacher, very spiritual person. They generally had an acceptance of all things spiritual. Jesus is kind of that mix of all the spiritual gurus of the world. It's all just this sort of mystical thing. Jesus is really not that special, but just one of the special ones out of all the pantheon of different spiritual persons.

This view of Jesus as just a great moral teacher is very prominent. But in the gospels, that is not how Jesus is portrayed. Jesus is portrayed as one who has an immense amount of power and authority, and that he stands out. There's something different about this man, something very different. Especially we see this being emphasized in the Sermon on the Mount and in the events right before and right afterwards.

So if you go to Matthew 4:23. This is just right before the Sermon on the Mount, and it says speaking of Jesus: he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. Every disease and every affliction among the people. This Jesus was different.

I asked the people I was talking to at the crystal shop, what kind of healings have you seen with the crystals? They were like, oh, it's all in the metaphysical. The crystals, a lot of people say that they actually heal people, but those people give crystals a bad rap. It's all in the metaphysical. That is not so with Jesus. Jesus has the power to heal anything and to do anything. Here he is going around with deep compassion and healing people.

This then sets the stage for the Sermon on the Mount. Already he's making himself known as someone with an incredible amount of power and compassion. Because it's not just magical displays that make people just kind of be like, oh wow, that's so cool. It's like he has compassion on the hurting and the broken. So then he goes up on this mountain and delivers this most famous sermon ever given. Not only after he is doing all these miracles, he then has the audacity to make statements like, you have heard that it was said, dot, dot, dot, but I say to you, dot, dot, dot.

This kind of authority. Not only power, but authority to sort of ratchet up the Old Testament laws. Just when you think that Jesus couldn't sort of display his uniqueness and otherness anymore, right at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, which is the passage we're going to dive into, he gives his mic drop moment. Like the final parable that summarizes everything. The end of the matter. It's just like boom, this is it.

Building your life on the rock

With that background in mind, let's read after he has gone through all his teachings. Let's read the last parable, Matthew chapter 7, verse 24. Here he goes with this last all-encompassing statement, which is like the final statement of his authority:

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

Matthew 7:24-27

I want you to notice here that Jesus ties in all of his teachings and he says, they're my words, they're my words. The Sermon on the Mount, these moral principles, they're tied in with the person of Jesus. They're all tied in.

This really, I think, is like Jesus's ultimate statement of how to live a flourishing life. The all-encompassing statement of how to live a flourishing life. These are Jesus's words. If I had to summarize the main teaching of Jesus, I think I would summarize it as: in the Sermon on the Mount, success in life is living with a pure heart. A pure heart surrendered to Jesus.

Success is a pure heart

One of the things that just stood out to me so much as I've read through the Sermon on the Mount over and over again is just how much it is focused on the inward part of ourselves. Why are we doing things? Do we give in secret? That sort of thing. Just really getting at the core of who we are.

I think this is so counter-cultural because success is not just getting what you want in life. It's not about doing impressive things. Those things are certainly blessings. If you have the opportunity to accomplish great things and being made in the image of God, we're made to go out and explore and invent things and create ministries and do all these wonderful things. But at the end of the day, success isn't defined by how financially secure you are. Or whether you have an amazing job or amazing ministry. Again, blessings, but not foundational.

To Jesus, success in life is loving your enemies. Success in life is giving generously when no one is watching. Success in life is praying in secret when no one is watching. Success in life is living at peace with a brother or sister who wounds or hurts you and forgiving them. This is success in life. This cuts right at the core of who we are.

I want us to really just sit with that and to really think through that. Because I know for myself I tend to fall into patterns of thinking where I think success is defined maybe by my accomplishments or by how well I'm doing in this or that department of life. But according to Jesus, you could pick any person you can think of that's tremendously successful. Maybe like a businessman who created this business that does some really cool stuff and they've just been wildly successful in everything. But then behind closed doors when they come home to their wife and kids after a long hard day, they're irritable, they're angry.

Compare that to someone who maybe has been like a janitor their whole lives, but they have been faithful with that job, have done excellent work, and they come home to their wife and kids and they treat them with so much love and care and compassion. That person is more successful in Christ's kingdom than that successful businessman. We have to really ingest that into our hearts.

So we should be honest with ourselves. Who are you behind closed doors when no one is watching? Or who are you with your closest friends and family where maybe that sort of filter that you put on with people that you're less familiar with maybe comes down? I think it's just so important to reflect on who it is that we really are and to examine our hearts and our motives.

Heart transformation

Jesus is calling us to something really hard, which is not behavior modification, but heart transformation. Heart transformation is so much harder. Anybody can, at least for a time, modify their behavior and appear like everything's fine. But to actually change from the inside out is a very, very hard thing. I'm sure there are many struggles that we're all struggling with different things. We're acutely aware that you want to change in this area but maybe you feel stuck or you're very aware of just the difficulty in really changing yourself.

The question that I think we want to reflect on is, what will give us the strength to change? What will give us the strength to have real heart transformation? I think the answer is hinted at, strongly hinted at, right in the next passage starting at verse 28 of chapter 7.

So this is after he finishes the Sermon on the Mount. And then he says: when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

I want to highlight the word astonished. I think that strength to live the Christian life comes when we are just in awe of Jesus. When we look at Jesus and we are astounded at him like, wow. When we behold Jesus, we're then given, I think, the strength to be able to love our enemies. To be able to have that real heart transformation.

But you cannot divorce the moral principles of the Sermon on the Mount from the person of Jesus. Because you need Jesus to be the object to motivate you to live in that way. So I want to ask, myself included, everyone here, when was the last time you were astounded at Jesus?

Growing up in the church, it can be so easy. It's like, oh, Jesus died for my sins and the Trinity and all this nice stuff. And it's like you hear this stuff over and over again. And sometimes I think we take it for granted. We take it for granted. But I think it's important that we really engage in a practice of just reminding ourselves of how incredible Jesus is. How magnificent. Just astounding the person of Jesus is. If we were all just enthralled with the person of Jesus and could see him as just far higher and greater than any other person that has ever walked this earth, I think we would really start to see real change in our hearts.

The fear of the Lord

This idea of just being astounded and in awe of Jesus is really greatly connected with this whole idea of the fear of the Lord. In Proverbs, we're told that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. I know the fear of the Lord is a tricky sort of concept. It's hard to grapple with. But as I have kind of wrestled with what the fear of the Lord means, I've come to this understanding.

Fear of the Lord is not being scared of Jesus or being scared of God. Rather, fear of the Lord is when we get such an awe-inspiring glimpse of Jesus, his power, his love, his authority, that we fear not him, but living without him. We should fear living separate from the one who has made us and in whom we move and have our being.

Have we gotten such a glimpse of how amazing Jesus is that we're just like, oh my gosh, I don't want to live life without walking with Jesus? Like, heaven forbid I don't want to do that. I think there should be a little bit of actual like fear. Like actual trembling of, like, wow, this is what I was made for. I was made to walk with Jesus.

So if I don't live for what I was made for, I am going to break. It works that way with machines and circuits. I'm an engineer by the way. If you use them for purposes they weren't intended for, they are going to break. So I'd challenge you, like, do you really believe that?

If there are certain, maybe even certain sin struggles or things that you're dealing with that you know isn't right, but there seems to be this pattern. I think some real freedom can start to be found when you understand that this isn't good for you, this isn't the way of life. When the storms of life come, if you're not building your life on the rock, then trouble does await. Your life will not be flourishing. Sometimes we have to really ingest these hard truths and examine ourselves and be like, what is it that I really believe? I think a lot of our actions do stem from our beliefs, and they start with the mind. What do you believe?

Let me turn to Psalm 130. This is just a really interesting passage that mentions the fear of the Lord, and it kind of gives it a different perspective on it. Psalm 130, verses three through four:

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you, there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.

Psalm 130:3-4

I find that so interesting. God's compassionate, loving forgiveness that you may be feared. A lot of times when we read about the fear of the Lord, we think, oh, I'm like scared of God. So really, we are to be drawn to the Lord because of his kindness and his forgiveness.

Testimonies of Jesus's love

I kind of just want to enter into a time of reflection on what are the things that astound you about Jesus. I want us to practice just being amazed at the person of Jesus. Because I know for my own self, as I mentioned, just growing up in the church, it's very easy to like, yeah, just take these things for granted. But I've been trying to get into a practice of like going back and meditating on the things about Jesus and then actually being like, wow, that is pretty insane. Like in a good way. Like that is nuts.

So I think if we start with this posture of just awe of Jesus, we can begin to change. I'd like to share some things that I find really just amazing or awe-inspiring about Jesus. But then I want to open it up for anybody to come up and share what is something about Jesus that stands out to you, that makes him unique, that gives him praise.

One of the things I like to think about, I sometimes struggle with feeling like in awe of things that I can't see. I like physical things. But what's really helped me has been to reflect on just creation in general. The insane vastness of the universe, the intricate complexity of cellular life, the beauty of a sunset. I try to just ingest all of that and pause a little bit and be like, wow, like this is incredible. But then to pause and to say, I haven't seen Jesus, but it's Jesus who made all of that.

Everything was created through Jesus. Everything. That has helped me just be like, wow, everything was created through Jesus. Everything. That can be very humbling for me. Another thing too is I love just hearing stories of God miraculously healing people. I believe one day there's going to be a resurrection where everyone's healed. But then sometimes he gives little snippets of little tastes of that resurrection life. So I love hearing some of these stories and that oftentimes fills me with a sense of, like, wow, that is incredible. It's like Jesus just coming with just immense power.

I recently spoke with somebody who was playing volleyball and they fell back and landed like on their wrists and ended up breaking their wrists. The guy was saying that like it was the most excruciating pain he has ever felt in his entire life. He could actually like feel like the bones kind of squish around in there. It was nasty. He said he prayed and instantly the pain left, rigidity returned and the pain was like gone. Later on he gets an x-ray and they're like, well, you only have a little something wrong with your elbow joint, but the main wrist is like totally, totally intact. You can kind of blow it off and say, well, maybe he was mistaken or something like that. But there's just so many stories like this that really starts to add up.

I recently interviewed someone right here in Madison who was diagnosed with macular degeneration. She comes into a prayer service and someone prays for her. She couldn't see very well and was going to go completely blind. I mean, there's really nothing you can do about macular degeneration. She was prayed for and instantly, all of a sudden, she's like, oh my gosh, it's so light, like just light flooding my eyes. She was just ecstatic. She ended up going back to the doctor and they were like, you don't have macular degeneration. So this is even happening like here in Madison. Jesus is giving little reminders that he's prominent. That amazes me. That's a comfort to me especially with all of the craziness in the world right now. It's just powerful too to just think about even this sermon. Like if people would listen to the Sermon on the Mount, we would not have wars. This is the solution to our world's problems. So that's what blows me away about Jesus.

People then came forward to share what strikes them about Jesus.

One person said: I have to say babies. The amount of joy and serotonin. The happy feelings. I literally have the worst day of my life and walk in and see one of those babies and I'm like floating. Along with what Nathan was saying about God's creation, the intentionality to have us start so small and the fact that that child is gonna be as tall as Nathan or as big as all of us someday. All of the intricacies of creation in that way, but especially with babies and their cuteness. Only God could create that.

Another person said: Nathan, you mentioned creation, right? The God of the universe knits together this incredible tapestry of life and he sustains all of it, which is crazy. But for me, his pursuit, his desire is me. That's crazy. Because I'm just so unworthy of that pursuit. But like I think about Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, He leads me beside quiet waters. He refreshes my soul, He guides me along the right paths for His name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I'll fear no evil for He is with me.

Just the idea that Jesus holds all of life together and he's like such an immense, so beyond us, God. Yet we're the ones he wants to spend time with. That's crazy. That's a different kind of love. For me, when I have really rough days or where I feel like I'm just not building my life on the rock, if I can be reminded of that, he still loves me just the same as the day he got on that cross. Like that's crazy and it brings me back. It centers me.

Another person shared: A few weeks ago, part of the Sermon on the Mount is like living at peace with one another. Someone approached me from like years ago with some really core wounds and hurt that had happened within relationship. We had this restorative conversation and it was one of those things where I didn't know that I needed an apology. I didn't know that I still even needed that. I felt like I had made peace in my heart. Like okay, these things happen and I was hurt but I can forgive and move on. After that conversation, I was just overwhelmed with just how beautiful the love of Jesus is and how intentional. Jesus knows our deepest desire, sometimes even more than we know. Jesus knows what we need. So that was just a reminder for me that Jesus knows what I need and he cares intentionally even in the things that I feel like are in the past. He's still healing and he's still restoring. So just really grateful for that restorative love.

Another person said: Something that struck me was reading John 1. It talks about in the beginning was a word, right? That is pointing explicitly to Jesus in that passage. We don't think about Jesus existing beyond being born and being crucified. That's it. But the idea that John 1 begins with the idea that Jesus is eternal, has always been present, with an established job that needs to be done. That there's more work for him to do in the future. That means that that timeline isn't as short as we think it is. It's forever.

One aspect of our New Testament is that Jesus is passionate in his love and service for others, including the most marginalized in our communities. Every time I hear the Sermon on the Mount, with no fail, I feel the same passion. I can feel the Holy Spirit moving in me and I know others feel the same way. So one thing that strikes me about Jesus is his passion.

Another person shared: Something I've been reflecting on the past weekend. We got to hear like some other people's testimonies this weekend on the little retreat we went to. Just the fact that the Lord knows every single person in every step of their life and has so uniquely placed himself there in some kind of way to bring people to him. We live in a world where there's no way that we could ever know everyone's name, right? We're kind of bad with names or bad with faces. But the Lord knows every single person. The billions of people in this world, he knows every single person. Knew them from when he created them. Knows the hairs on their head. Knows every piece of their life that they're going to have and go through.

I just think I'm just in awe of the way that the Lord knows people. Meets them where they're at and just loves them so wholeheartedly from the moment that they're created. Just knows every single person's name in this room and outside of this room and in the city and the world. He just loves them so deeply and just wants to have that relationship with them. It's just waiting for them and waiting to either put people in their paths or speak to them directly. And just show them his love.

Another person said: I'm visiting for the summer and something that's really struck me is just the way that God is the same God here that he is everywhere. He's the same God that met me in my room in Tennessee. He's the same God that met me at my college. He's the same God that meets our families, that meets our friends. And just everywhere he's not limited by geographic location. He's not limited by just the people that were around. He's eternal and he is everywhere.

Paul says it really well here in Colossians 1:13. Thank you for opening this time up, Nathan, to magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt him together:

He has rescued me, put us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son that he loves, in whom we have redemption by the blood, the forgiveness of sins. The Son is the image of the invisible God. He is the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things. In him all things hold together. He is the head of this body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. God was pleased to have all of his fullness dwell in Jesus, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood shed on the cross. Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled me by Christ's physical body through death to present us wholly before him without blemish and free from accusation if we continue in our faith.

Colossians 1:13-23

I'm just amazed at his rescue and his continued love, like Nathan was talking about, the forgiveness that he just continues to pour.