What Is God’s Purpose for My Life? The Sermon on the MountSample

Day 7: Build on the Rock

The Golden Rule, as it's often known, was the last new teaching Jesus gave in the Sermon on the Mount. As such, it serves as a summation of everything else Jesus has said in the Sermon up to this point. Christ's teachings on the nature of blessings, righteousness, sin, individual rights, service to him, and worry all find their fulfillment in this single thought. If we can get this right, then everything else will fall into place.

While the Golden Rule is quoted often, actually following Jesus’ teaching is far more difficult. It takes our attention off of ourselves and asks us to live a life of empathy and love.

While many people show love and empathy, Christian or non-Christian, Jesus teaches a hard truth in verses 13 and 14. In each of the examples that follow, Jesus demonstrates that while gray areas exist all around us, there are ultimately just two classifications of people: saved and unsaved.

People will be at different places along each path; sometimes, it may seem like someone is right in the middle. But the existence of that spectrum does not change that the two roads never intersect. Fortunately, even those currently on the path to destruction don't have to stay there. After all, every Christian started along that road before accepting Jesus' offer of salvation.

Next, Jesus discusses a danger to Christians: false prophets. Often, false prophets and teachers are dangerous because they aren't even aware they're false prophets.

Most of the religious leaders attempted to disrupt Christ's ministry because they genuinely thought they were helping people follow God in doing so. That's why Jesus tells us to look at the fruit of their lives and their teachings. Doing so is not always as simple, however.

Verses 21 through 23 can be the most frightening in all of Scripture. After all, none of us can be 100 percent sure that the gospel is true and that we are going to heaven until we get there.

If you read this text and are concerned that it might be talking about you, then chances are good it's not. No one could guarantee you one way or another; it could be God using these verses to alert you that you do fall among those who have served the Lord without having a personal relationship with him.

That said, it’s important to remember the people about whom Jesus speaks in this passage were genuinely surprised when he rejected them. It had never occurred to them that they might not be saved because they were certain that their good works were enough to merit that salvation.

Those who have placed their faith in Christ have every reason to feel confident in their eternal fate. But because true salvation is an act of faith and comes from the awareness that there is nothing we could possibly do to earn it, it's understandable if we have moments of doubt. After all, the idea that the God of the universe would become human and die on our behalf so that, through nothing more than faith, we could enter into eternal life with him is pretty unbelievable.

It just also happens to be true.

Ultimately, our assurance is not based on our words or our works but on Christ's. While no one can guarantee you that you’ll join Jesus in heaven, he can guarantee it if you only put your trust in him. He is a firm foundation, which leads into the next verses.

Contextually, the "rock" to which Jesus refers in this passage is the layer of limestone that was found beneath the topsoil throughout this region of Galilee. You were guaranteed to find it if you dug deep enough. Jesus’ teaching provides that solid foundation for our lives.

He came to live, die, rise again, and teach that we “may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). There will always be those who try to find it on their own or by taking what appears to be an easier path. They may even do so while claiming to be Christians. However, abiding in the entirety of God’s word and relying upon the foundation he provides is the only way to experience that abundant life.