“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man [or woman] 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 [or woman] 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)
We have churches in our region where God is moving powerfully. Lives are being transformed. People are embracing Jesus as their Savior and Lord. God’s love is being expressed through humble acts of kindness, service, and generosity. People young and old are experiencing the manifest presence of God.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have churches who have died or are dying, perhaps because they never recovered from COVID isolation. And our remaining churches are all in-between, with some continuing to do good things without any measurable growth and others just “hanging on.”
One truth applicable to all these churches is, as Paul stated late in his ministry, they have not become all they can be. (Philippians 3:12-14) And so, like Paul, we all need to “press on” toward the goal: the great prize of God’s call in Christ Jesus.
I personally believe the way to “press on” is fundamentally the same for every church and every individual Christian, including me. It is more about the “pews” than the pulpit and more about “the rest of the week” than it is about Sunday morning. As I heard someone say at a Christian conference twenty years ago: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
What is this “main thing”? Jesus revealed it at the end of his Sermon on the Mount when he gave us the parable that contrasts the wise and the foolish. Both hear the Lord, be it by sermon, bible study, or the sharing of a godly grandmother, but only the wise live according to what they hear. Only the wise love God with their soul (will) and strength as well as their mind and heart. (Luke 10:27) Only the wise love Jesus by having and keeping His commandments. (John 14:21-23) Only the wise are both hearers and doers of God’s Word. (James 1:22)
The “main thing” revealed here is choosing to have God be the God of your life every day and in every situation. As that great old hymn declares: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way.” Otherwise put, Jesus is not just the Truth and the Life. He is the Way. (John 14:6)
There are, of course, things that get in the way of living the Way. Ephesians 6 warns us that we wrestle against forces of darkness, and so we need to pray daily for protection from the evil one. (Matthew 6:13 – the Lord’s Prayer) We need to remember that when we are submitted to God, we can resist the devil and he must flee. (James 4:7)
We need to remember the tug-of-war that goes on inside all of us between the desires of the Spirit and the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16-26) Our fleshly desires include not just lusts and greed, but some of the simple habits of life we developed before we became God’s people – things we do all the time without deliberately choosing what would be best to do. We must work to follow Jesus, not these habits. (Luke 9:23)
Finally, we must remember what Jesus taught in the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23). God’s Word can be choked out of our lives not just by the deceitfulness of riches but by the “cares of this world.” We must all deal with the cares of this world. Instead of trying to deal with those cares on our own so we can be free to spend time with God, we need to address those cares with God (Matthew 6:25-34; Psalm 23). Walk with Him all the time. (Colossians 2:6-7; Proverbs 3:5-6)
Our God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is the Creator of the universe and of you and me. His goodness, wisdom, knowledge, and power are absolute. He never makes a mistake. And we are His beloved children, indwelled by His Holy Spirit and loved beyond measure.
The rain, floods, and winds of this world are upon us. It is time to make our relationship with God AS GOD the highest priority in our lives every day. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
God bless you and God bless our community.