Following Jesus

On most Sundays, I attend two different church services at two different churches. Both are always great, with convicting sermons and God-honoring worship. But this last Sunday, something happened that I really love. The two different sermons tied together in my mind and complemented each other! It was awesome; I'll show you what I mean.

At Mt. Hood HoFCC, Mr. Garvey preached a sermon on Matthew 7:24-27.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

The main idea of Mr. Garvey's sermon was that we need to build a solid foundation. We cannot sit on the fence. We either build our life on Jesus and follow Him, or we build our life on this world and follow our flesh, the world, and the devil.

But Mr. Garvey also pointed out that Jesus clearly says that tests will come into our life. That is why our life has to be built upon the rock! If there were no tests, we would not need such a firm foundation.

I walked away from that sermon realizing I needed to build my life upon Jesus Christ and that building my life on Him means obeying what He tells me to do so that my life will last. As D. Martyn Lloyd Jones said:

Our Lord says that everything we build in this world, everything that we are relying upon... is going to be subjected to tests.

That evening at reGeneration, Taylor Reavely preached a sermon on 1st Peter 2:13-25.

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God... For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Taylor's main point in this sermon was that we should honor and submit to everyone, for the Lord's sake. We don't submit and honor people because we like it, or because we are even necessarily going to be rewarded. We are to honor everyone because that is what Jesus tells us to do.

But Taylor also pointed out that we will suffer unjustly if we really submit to everyone for Jesus' sake. There will be pain and suffering in obedience. However, we are still to follow our Shepherd where He leads us!

These two sermons tied together beautifully I believe, because they both had the same underlying theme. As Christians, we are to follow and obey Jesus no matter what the cost. Jesus guarantees us pain and suffering and tribulation and "unjust suffering" and "storms." Remember, He tells the disciples that if "they (they being the world)hated me, they will hate you."

To follow Jesus means to follow Him no matter what. But if we build our life on the rock, if we obey Him, we will stand the test. We will be able to join with Paul in 2nd Timothy 4:7-8a saying:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness...