Spiritual growth and maturity is based on what it is built on...

This week we are looking at how consistently investing our time, in addition to consistently attending a corporate worship gathering, in a community group, will result in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus. At the church where I serve, we believe that the circles that are community groups are betters than the rows of corporate worship gatherings because transformational spiritual growth occurs in community with others where those supportive and encouraging relationships can be developed where people can take that next step in their relationship with Jesus regardless of where one is at in that relationship with Jesus.

Now when we talk about community groups, we are not talking about simply getting together to read the Bible. And we are not talking about simply getting together to connect with others. You see, a community group is not simply a Bible study. While we study the message and teachings of the letters that make up the Bible in a community group, a community group is more than acquiring knowledge about what the letters that make up the Bible say and mean. Instead, a community group is about taking the message and teaching of the letters that make up the Bible and discovering how to live out that message in our day to day lives.

We talked about the reality that a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus is not about how much we know about God. A growing and maturing relationship with Jesus is about how much we know God and how we live our day to day lives in relationship with God. And when you engage those who are growing and maturing in their relationship with Jesus, what you find is that they are not just talking about theology or doctrine; those who are being transformed by their relationship with Jesus Christ talk about how the message and teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible have changed their life.

Now I am not saying that theology and doctrine are not important, because theology and doctrine are essential components of our faith and our relationship with Jesus. What I am saying is that theology and doctrine that does not lead to transformation is merely information. You see, the message and teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible were not simply meant to be informative: the message and teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible are meant to be transformative. And when you engage people who are in a growing and maturing relationship with Jesus, their conversations are dominated by how the teachings of Jesus and the letters that make up the Bible have transformed their life.

We see this reality revealed for us in a section of an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Matthew. In this section of the gospel of Matthew that we are going to jump into this morning, Jesus was ending a famous sermon, which we call the Sermon on the Mount. And as Jesus ended this famous sermon, we see Jesus tell a parable that revels for us a timeless truth as to why consistently investing our time in a community group will help us move on a spiritual journey that results in a growing relationship with Jesus. So let’s look at this parable together, beginning in Matthew 7:24-25:

"Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. "And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.

As Matthew gives us a front row seat to this famous sermon, we see Jesus begin to conclude His sermon by telling a parable. Now a parable is an earthly story designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth. To fully understand this parable, however, we first need to understand a few things.

The first thing we need to understand is what Jesus means when He uses the phase "these words of mine". These words of mine refer to everything that Jesus has said in this sermon. So with this phrase, Jesus is reminding the crowds listening of all of that He has said in His sermon and is basically saying "With these truths in mind, let's talk about two types of people.”

Jesus then described the first type of person as someone who hears the truths that Jesus had proclaimed in this sermon and acts on them. Now this phrase "to act" literally means to carry out an obligation of a moral or social nature. Throughout His sermon, Jesus revealed the reality that God makes demands on His people. Jesus point here is that there is one type of person who will act on the demands that God makes on His people by putting into practice what has been demanded of them.

Jesus refers to the person who puts into practice what has been demanded of them as a person who builds his house on a rock. What Jesus is communicating here is that some people will choose to build and live out their lives upon His teachings. There are some people who will choose to put into practice Jesus teachings as they live in relationship with Him and others.  The decisions that they make on how they invest their time, treasure, and talents will be based upon Jesus teachings.

And as a result of those decisions, Jesus stated that when the rains, floods and winds come and slam against that house, it will not fall. Now the picture that Jesus is painting for the crowds listening is the picture of a monsoon storm very similar to what we experience here in the summer months. Just like here in Arizona, every Jewish person knew that during certain times of the year incredible monsoon storms would turn normally dry washes into raging rivers that would overflow their banks and threaten their homes. It was never a question of if, but when, for these storms.

But what storms is Jesus referring to? These storms could refer to the crisis of life that tests the strength of our spiritual life. And while that could be true, when we look at the context of where this fits in Jesus sermon, it is more likely that He is referring to the final judgment when the nature and quality of our relationship with God will be revealed for what it truly is. Now when Jesus uses the words "to fall" He is literally referring to something that collapses in on itself. We see this word picture in our modem experience when we see a large building demolished through the use of explosives.

So, in essence, Jesus is stating that the person who hears Gods commands and demands as communicated and explained by Jesus and acts by putting them into practice in their lives will not see all that they have built or invested in implode. Because, the reality is that the level of our spiritual growth and maturity is based on what it is built on. Jesus then continues His parable by talking about the second type of person in verse 26- 27.

We will look at this type of person on Friday….