Do People That Are Hung Wet Themselves?

Building on the rock or sand on Sunday, March 6, 2011

Matthew 7/21-27 21

Whoever said, 'Lord, Lord! Will not necessarily in the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me that day, Lord, Lord! Is it not in your name we prophesied in your name we cast out demons in thy name we have done many miracles? 23 Then I will declare to them I've never known you remove it from me you evildoers.

24 Thus, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell and the floods came, the winds blew and brought to this house: it did not fall, because it was based on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine, and do not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. 27 The rain fell, the floods came, the winds blew and were slaughtered on that house, it fell and great was its fall.

there was the subject of the sermon that you do not like. Indeed, we used to say that the Gospel is good news, and we are right, but this text does not appear to contain good news. It suggests that among the best among us, some will not have the chance to enter the kingdom of God. This is not necessarily the one who prays, or lip service that says, this is not even necessarily the one who performs miracles that will enter the kingdom of God, it is said here.

After hearing this, listeners will probably say, "Preacher, this is for you that these words were said, hush, do not you see that you speak for yourself, you who see miracles here where there is perhaps no, you who make profession of preacher in the name of God and lead others to pray, do not you see that you are ineffective in this world that you do not understand. Shut up because you are the first concerned by the warning of this exhortation. Is therefore your sleeves, put you to work and try to act so that men stop their games that lead to death.

you can imagine, the preacher that I had already pondered such invective for several days and he will not venture to give a sermon on this subject without having provided his rear. However we must realize that not only he who is described in these words of Jesus is also the Church as a whole and the preacher would tend to say to all those who listen " if you see that our Church has not the strength that we want is that you do not do what it takes, therefore fear the ruling. "

If I wanted those words, much of the audience would leave the meeting forthwith, the remainder would remain very small or even become nonexistent. Soon, others, probably the sound of the rumor would join preacher in disgrace and would build with him, naturally a lucrative cult, based on the anathema of Christians warm he would become the guru. It would be from the fear of Judgement which will soon destroy this wicked world collapsing into sin, the filth and immorality, but they are not here to conform to the gospel about which I will remember is always good news.

It seems here that Jesus wants us to live by these provocative lyrics. He tries to tell us that the Christian faith, for all of the individual and not just one aspect of it. Faith is not just the soul while the rest could be independent. It is not a decoration that would act nicely on our soul when we were in the process of depression. Faith is an inner impulse of our being that permeates all our individual and, from inside invaded all the deep structures of our personality.

To illustrate his point, Jesus takes an example, in an area where he is a connoisseur. He is a carpenter, ie someone working on the beams. It will therefore speak construction of a house. He knows from experience that the frame of a house can be excellent, but the solidity of the house depends on its deep structure, that is not seen but whose absence proves catastrophic when the elements involving the rec destruction. These foundations whose existence largely determines the strength of the building. It is preferable therefore to build on rock, although it must make more effort if we build on sand.

The purpose of Jesus is therefore concern that does not show. For what is seen is not decisive in his eyes. While this connection is relevant, we know in advance that in our churches when we focus even more on what is seen. Is the external structure of our buildings that motivates our long debates, more than the inner health of our communities. The outward manifestation of piety of an individual or the appearance of a community do not matter and does not reveal its deep structure. That's what's inside that makes the value.

Everything outside that is causing us concern will matter only if that does not show is firmly rooted in the will of God, ie "intelligent listening" to his word. If I say "intelligent listening" is that there is a listening that is not. Listening is smart to let themselves be challenged by what's new and causing the Word of God and receive it with gratitude even if we do not want to hear.

In contrast, there are also listening "unintelligent", which is more appealing to our sensitivity to our intellect, which is to only listen to God's words that go in the direction of our thinking, which flatter our convictions and we therefore confirm our positions. This is fostered by listening unintelligent unintelligent and therefore a sermon by a preacher unintelligent who knows in advance what's good to hear and twist the meaning of the Gospel to make it say what we want to hear. It is a preacher who attaches more importance to the outside and not inside edify his audience.

You realize that I'm going against the grain of normal demand of our contemporaries who seek a gospel adapted to their wishes, simple enough to be understood by people hurry than we are, a gospel that requires little effort to be understood. That would be to sell out the gospel with it to find immediate success. The world needs spirituality, thinks it sometimes, "we give him and he will get better! . Well no! We can not offer any spirituality, but spirituality intelligent, meaning that requires a process of reflection.

Today's Gospel encourages us to work and make a personal and collective effort at what is not seen to get to the bottom of ourselves and meet God awaits us. It proposes to build the foundations of our faith, consolidate and provide rigor to our beliefs, as long as we accept that God is on our side. All this is not the visible world it is a dynamic depth that Jesus is stimulated. It requires work and intelligence.

Called by Jesus to be with her faith builders, we need not fear the provocations and the disasters that can push us around. If Jesus' words are harsh, not to send us into a hell that men have invented but that God has not created for us is that the appearance of faith are not faith and lead nowhere. They will be of no help if they are not firmly anchored on a constant and daily companionship with the one that drives our faith, namely Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ dwells in the depths of your being, it provokes us to keep our professional life, emotional and spiritual is always seen in his company. If Jesus is our life from God, we must accept that our lives are directed by him. We accept that challenge to our projects. We need to stress on ourselves and also an effort in our community to identify, understand and act in faithfulness