The House On The Rock Series

The House on the Rock

Jesus was different.

He was the same as everyone else. He played with the other children. He learned how to make boats and hew beams with his carpenter father. He studied the torah at they synagogue with the other boys every week and he worshipped there on the Sabbath Day. Jesus was just like everyone else… but he was different.

The first real evidence of this in the scriptures besides the star plus a strange mix of shepherds and wise men at his birth was his visit to the temple in Jerusalem when he was just 12 years old.

At the temple everything was normal until he wandered into a session with scholars arguing about the law of God. Jesus listened for a bit before he got involved in the discussion. Before long the scholars were quizzing Jesus closely with many questions about the torah. Jesus responded for hours and the scholars, rabbis and teachers were amazed at his knowledge.

Luke 2:46-47 (NCV)

46 After three days they found Jesus sitting in the Temple with the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and answers.

For the first part of his life he quietly followed in the footsteps of his father. He took no wife and he concerned himself only with one thought – to be about his father’s business. His father’s business was not the carpentry of Joseph but the work of God as described in the torah.

Then at the age of 30 years he left his home and traveled to where his cousin John was preaching in the wilderness near the Jordan River. Thousands were coming to be baptized by him to show that they were repentant and hungry to learn the things of God.

He was baptized in the river because “to fulfill all righteousness” or in other words, “to do that which was right”. After a period of temptation in the wilderness his ministry began. It wasn’t long before John was becoming less and Jesus more. The crowds grew and Jesus taught them about God.

Then came what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. In this message Jesus taught truths which were both new and old. And he taught with great authority. Nothing like this had been heard before.

He began with a few short verses on being happy and blessed.

The Beatitudes introduce the message

Matthew 5:1-12 (NCV)

3 “Those people who know they have great spiritual needs are happy, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.

4 Those who are sad now are happy, because God will comfort them.

5 Those who are humble are happy, because the earth will belong to them.

6 Those who want to do right more than anything else are happy, because God will fully satisfy them.

In these introductory verses Jesus laid out the way to real happiness. It’s not the way of the world. It’s the way of God. It comes through humility and service to others.

This past week Jack Whitaker won $314,900,000.00 dollars. What I really appreciated is his statement on television was his intention to tithe his winnings. But even more exciting was his response to the question, "Have you been lucky before?" He said, "I’m not lucky, I’m blessed. I’ve been blessed all my life."

Jack has it nailed. To be blessed is to be spoken well of by others. It is especially important to be spoken well of by God! This is where real happiness comes from - not money - but living in such a way that God is proud of you. Here is Jesus is talking about.

From the opening of the beautitudes Jesus gets down then to the nitty-gritty details of what this means...

He talks about us being "Salt and light", the "Importance of the law", and anger.

Matthew 5:21-22 (NCV)

21 “You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘You must not murder anyone. a Anyone who murders another will be judged.’ 22 But I tell you, if you are angry with a brother or sister, b you will be judged. If you say bad things to a brother or sister, you will be judged by the council. And if you call someone a fool, you will be in danger of the fire of hell.

He talks about Sexual Sin.

Matthew 5:27-29 (NCV)

27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You must not be guilty of adultery.’ c 28 But I tell you that if anyone looks at a woman and wants to sin sexually with her, in his mind he has already done that sin with the woman. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell.