I Am Invited.
What Is My Response?
Matthew 7:21-29
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Day 1
I Am Invited. What Is My Response?
Start your day by praying the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 7:28-29
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
When Jesus finished preaching His sermon, the people were amazed and recognized His authority. They recognized He was not just a teacher of the law or religious leader. As you are finishing this study, are you amazed by Jesus’ words? Have you grown in recognizing Jesus’ authority?
According to the dictionary, a person with authority is one who has absolute power or the right to give orders to their subordinates. It is someone who makes decisions and enforces obedience. It is a person with the right to rule and with full sovereignty.
The word authority is based on the ideas of ‘originator’ and ‘author.’ The word author means a) one that originates or creates something: source; b) capitalized: God.
Jesus is God. He is the one who created us and has authority over us, whether we believe in Him or not. Everything that has ever existed originated from Him. His absolute rule and Lordship are therefore not disputable.
As you come to an understanding of Jesus’ authority, what is your response to Him, His teaching, and His calling to live in His Kingdom?
Does the Lord’s Prayer have a new meaning for you as you consider Jesus’ authority?
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Please get on your knees and pray. Use the Lord’s Prayer as a guide. Pray in light of what you have learned about the meaning of this prayer, and keep in mind our Lord’s authority over you.
Day 2
I Am Invited. What Is My Response?
Start your day by praying the Lord’s Prayer.
Jesus concludes His sermon with these words:
Matthew 7:24
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice …”
Here’s what Jesus is saying: “Take everything that I taught you in My sermon and now put it into practice.” Let this be your prayer. Ask the Heavenly Father for these things to be done in you.
Please take your Bible and read through the Sermon on the Mount again. Focus and take notes on what Jesus is asking us to put into practice.
Day 3
I Am Invited. What Is My Response?
Start your day by praying the Lord’s Prayer.
I had a close friend in college. I shared the Gospel with her, and she used to come to church with me and hang out with my believing friends. She loved spending time with us, but she didn’t like the idea of Christianity. In general, she perceived Christians in a negative light: they were not cool; they were often seen as hypocrites; and they were narrow-minded. She did not want to be associated with these images.
I tried to present Jesus to her as best I could. One day, she called me and asked me how she could be saved. I told her to believe in Jesus, and I explained the Gospel. She asked where to start, so I told her to go on her knees to pray and tell God about it. She did this.
Weeks passed and I didn’t see any change in her or any fruit of the Holy Spirit. I asked her what was happening with her. To my disappointment, she said she just wanted to be saved but didn’t really want to believe or follow Jesus. I had told her to pray, and she did it; therefore, she must now be saved.
We are sometimes like my friend. Because we fear hell, we want a ‘ticket’ to heaven, but we do not want to be bothered with Jesus. We might think that because we prayed the ‘prayer of salvation’ we will be admitted to heaven. However, our salvation is not based on one prayer. Our salvation is exclusively based in Jesus Christ and our true faith in Him.
I explained it to her in this way. Telling her boyfriend that she was going to marry him did not make her actually married. She would not be married until they participated in an official ceremony and lived as husband and wife. In the same way, we can’t have salvation apart from life in Christ and subjection to Him.
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Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”
The moment Jesus becomes our Lord, His will is to be followed and obeyed. To become a believer in Jesus Christ is to acknowledge and obey His word. It is to live in the understanding of what new life in Christ offers us and what it requires of us.
How do you discover the will of our Father?
How can reading the Bible, praying, and corporate worship, etc. help you learn about our Father’s will?
At the end of His sermon, Jesus again explains and emphasizes that salvation is only found in Him. Most of Jesus’ audience were Jewish people who lived by the law, but they needed to recognize that the law could not save them. They needed to see and understand that Jesus was the awaited Messiah, the One Who was sent by God to become the means for their salvation. Jesus was calling them to believe and trust in Him and not rely on the law and their good deeds to be saved.
Ephesians 2:8 -10
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are saved by the grace of God through our faith in Jesus Christ. There is not a single person who can boast about their own works and thereby put God in their debt: “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?”
Doing the will of our Father in heaven is the fruit of belonging to Christ. Our surrender to Jesus and His lordship will be visible in our devotion and obedience to Him. Our obedience to Christ in doing His will is a sign to others and the evidence of our salvation; it is not the prerequisite for our salvation.
One of the reasons God wants us to obey and do His Father’s will is because God knows what is in our best interest. We might not always understand the reason behind His will. But the obedience will show our wisdom and bring us understanding (Deuteronomy 4:5-6).
Jesus says that those who do the will of His Father, namely those who truly believe and belong to Him, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Sadly, many will call him Lord and will be rejected on the last day because they never belonged to Him, and sadly, Jesus will declare that He never knew them. In one respect, He knows everything about us–He made us and nothing about us can escape His knowledge! But Jesus wants to know us as His dear children, His followers and His worshipers. He is calling us into the right relationship with our Creator.
Where does your obedience to Christ stem from?
What religious works or rules do you keep and perform in the hope of being justified before God?
What makes you say that Jesus is your Lord?
Day 4
I Am Invited. What Is My Response?
Start your day by praying the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 7:24-27
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
What does it mean to build your house on the rock? What are the results of it?
What does it mean to build your house on the sand? What are the results of it? (Deuteronomy 32:17-20)
Considering the results of building on the rock or building on the sand. To whose benefit is Jesus preaching His sermon and why?
I love the story in Acts when the rulers, priests, and teachers of the law seize Peter and John (Jesus’ disciples) because they performed a healing on a lame man. The next day, together with the high priest, these men questioned and tried to falsely accuse Peter and John. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, gives them this answer:
Acts 4:11-12
11 “Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
First, Peter tells them that because he and the other apostles are building their lives on the stone (Jesus Christ), they can perform healing in His name. It was done in their obedience to Jesus.
Second, he tells the teachers and Jewish leaders that they have rejected that stone (Jesus) and are building their lives on sand (their law and traditions apart from Christ).
Finally, he tells them that salvation can be found only in the person of Jesus Christ. Our house (life) is only secure and stands for ever if we are saved by Jesus Christ.
We don’t know how the leaders personally responded to the crucial truth that Peter presented to them. But we do know what they immediately saw in Peter and John:
Acts 4:13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
They realized that Peter and John were with Jesus. They remembered that Peter and John were doing what Jesus was doing: obeying their Heavenly Father.
How do you spend time with Jesus?
If you call yourself a follower of Christ, what are some ways that you show that you are His disciple and are adhering to His teaching and doing His will?
How can others tell that you are living your life in the presence of Jesus?
Obeying God is not like doing chores and checking them off a to-do list. Obedience comes as a result of being in and growing in our relationship with Him. We understand that obeying God is for our good and for our interest because God loves us so much and wants us to be part of His life. When we obey our Father’s will, people will see our love for God and that we have been spending time with Jesus. Jesus says:
John 14:15
If you love me, keep my commands.
John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.
Loving and obeying Christ are inseparable. We may proclaim that we love God, but if we are not inclined to obey His will, we are deceiving ourselves and are living a lie. Or we might be doing great things in self-righteousness and in our own wisdom. Any good work not done in the love of Christ is worthless. In both cases we prove that we do not know God and have not come into true faith and relationship with Him. Paul warns us about ‘great works’ done with no love.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3
1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Paul then continues to explain what love is and what true obedience to Christ looks like. This love is very different from the love of this world. God Himself is love. When we obey God, we get to know Him and what godly love means. When we look at the attributes of God, we see how the attributes describe that love. By doing our Father’s will, we are allowing this godly love to be channeled through us. God’s Holy Spirit testifies about His love for us and produces that love in us.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
What fruits of obedience listed in the scripture above (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) do you see in your own life as evidence of your love for God? If you are lacking anything, ask God to help you to do His will and to grow in knowing Him.
Paul states that love never fails. If our house is built on the rock of Jesus Christ, it never falls; the life of faith and devotion to Christ lasts into eternity. Our love relationship with Christ includes the same love relationship to our heavenly Father who will love us and have fellowship with us also! We see this in the scriptures below.
1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:16
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
John 14:21
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
John 14:23
Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Today God is offering us His unfailing love and is willing to come and make His home with us! Despite our earthly corrupted bodies and any present limitations, our sin and failures, we are called now to taste and see how good our God is and to live in close fellowship with Him. Despite the “rain coming down on us, the streams rising, the winds blowing and beating on us”, we stand because Christ is our strong foundation!
When Jesus comes again and takes us home for all eternity, when all the fleshly hindrances are removed, and all the storms cease, we will know our God and His kingdom in all fullness. What a glorious thing to yearn and wait for!! Paul states it so eloquently:
1 Corinthians 13:12-13
12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
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Conclusion
My hope is that while you were studying the Sermon on the Mount, the Holy Spirit has been teaching you what God’s will is for you and how you can love and obey Him. Because it is so important for us to love and obey God, Jesus gave us His Prayer as help and guidance to know and obey Him. Here are some ways that the Lord’s Prayer calls for love and obedience to Christ:
When we call on our Father in Heaven, we assert that we are His children and dependent on His care. We love Him and obey by acknowledging Him as our Father and by submitting to His care.
When we pray Hallowed be Your Name, we recognize His holiness and our absolute need for His saving grace. We love Him and obey by submitting to His authority and His rule over us. We bring our sins daily to be washed clean by Him.
By asking Your Kingdom come, we express our desire to enter His Kingdom and make others His disciples (inviting them into His kingdom also). We love Him and obey by living our lives now on this Earth in the perspective and hope of Heaven.
When we ask for Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, we tell Him that we want to follow all that He is teaching and commanding us to do. We love Him and obey by doing the works He prepared for us in advance to do.
Praying Give us today our daily bread, we acknowledge Him as a provider and source of every good gift we need. We love Him and obey by receiving what He has prepared for us and every provision for our physical and spiritual nourishment. We love Him and obey by letting Him do the necessary work in us and by receiving His power to do His work.
We love Him and obey by bringing our weaknesses and temptations to Him and making Him Lord over us as we pray “and lead us not into temptations but deliver us from the evil one.”
My prayer is that you will continue to learn about God’s will and about how to love and obey Him. I hope that every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer, you’ll be compelled to obey Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount (and all the other teachings recorded in the Bible) and deepen your love for Him!
Epilogue
My Omama (grandma) died when I was eleven and she was in her late sixties. For many years, Omama prayed for my Otata (grandpa) to know and believe in God, but she died not seeing the slightest change of Otata’s heart toward God.
That same summer, as I would often sneak up on Otata to scare him or surprise him, I caught him several times reading Omama’s Bible. Most of the time, he’d just shove it away under the pillow and pretend he was just sitting there. But one day he took the Bible from underneath the pillow and said he missed Omama and wanted to see what was in this particular book that captured her heart.
I asked him if he understood what he was reading, and he answered that mostly everything confused him. I offered to come every day and read the Bible together with him, and whatever I knew, I could explain to him. He agreed to this and was thrilled. And so we read the Bible together for a year.
Late one evening, I felt the Holy Spirit nudging me to go to see Otata and read him the Bible. I looked through the window, and it was pitch dark; I then looked to the clock that showed it was far past Otata’s bedtime. Satisfied, I sank back into the couch and continued my homework. But the Holy Spirit’s calling got stronger and stronger. Finally, I couldn’t resist anymore and reluctantly went to Otata. He lived two houses away, and on the way, I argued with myself that I was going for nothing and that he was surely asleep.
As his house came into sight, I saw that his kitchen window was bright with light. Curious, I walked closer and peeked through it. Otata was sitting at the table, drinking fennel tea and reading the Bible. My heart skipped harder in excitement and I wondered at what God’s plan might be that night.
Otata did not look surprised as I walked in, but he was very sad and troubled. Words immediately came rushing out of his mouth. He was too old to be a soldier for Christ, how in the world was he going to fight, and what did that particular passage mean? He ended all this with a big sigh. When I asked him to show me the passage, he pointed to Ephesians 6:10-18. It read:
Ephesians 6:10-18
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.
I sat on the chair next to him, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, I explained to the best of my knowledge what this scripture meant. I told him that this is good news and not troubling news because Jesus has won the victory for us, and now He has the very best armor for our protection from the enemy. With His help, we can stand safe and firm against anything that wants to separate us from God.
I could see excitement building up in Otata, and his eyes were shining. That’s when I knew He understood what Jesus had done for him. He then said that he wanted Jesus more than anything but knew that he was a bad sinner. Could he ever be forgiven? Or was it too late? What should he do?
I assured Otata that Jesus had been waiting and calling him all of his life to come and follow Him, any time and under any conditions.
Otata was trembling with joy but didn’t know what to do next, so I suggested we pray and tell God that he needed Jesus. Otata got very nervous and admitted that he had no clue how to pray. I took his hands in mine and suggested again that I would pray and he should repeat after me only if he meant it earnestly.
So we prayed! Otata was forever changed!
That evening, I witnessed the power of prayer, the power of Omama’s prayer. She had prayed all of her life and never lived to see an answer. What my grandma had been praying, seeding, and watering I finally was reaping. Her prayers were answered that evening, years after her death.
I hope the story of my Omama will help you to never underestimate the power of prayer and what God is doing in His Kingdom. Jesus taught us to pray because He wants us to pray and keep praying. Jesus taught us to pray because He wants to see His Kingdom grow and wants many more people to find their way to the Holy God. Jesus taught us to pray because He wants you, and He has made a way for you to come and be loved by the Heavenly Father.
THE END
BIBLE STUDY
INTRODUCTION
Your Kingdom Come
Sermon on the Mount
Bible Text, Matthew 5-7
Lesson 1
Our Father in Heaven, Hallowed Be Your Name
Lesson 2
Your Kingdom Come
Lesson 3
Your Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven
Lesson 4
Give Us Today Our Daily Bread
Lesson 5
And Forgive Us Our Debts, As We Also Have Forgiven Our Debtors
Lesson 6
And Lead Us Not Into Temptation, But Deliver Us From The Evil One
Lesson 7
I Am Invited.
What Is My Response?
ALL LESSONS
Your Kingdom Come
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®
Copyright © 1973 1978 1984 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM
Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.