BUILDING A STRONG LIFE FOR MISSIONAL LIVING: Laying A Foundation Of Obedience

Photo by Val Toch on Unsplash

Anything building you construct is only as strong as the foundation that you lay. This also true in constructing a strong life for missional living. The foundation isn’t just a good idea but an essential element. You can’t have a strong life without a strong foundation.

Jesus at the end of His Sermon On The Mount talks about the kind of foundation that can weather the powerful and destructive storms that life will throw at God’s people as they are joining Christ on His mission. He uses a story to illustrate the kind of foundation that Christians need.

“Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the rivers rose, and the winds blew and pounded that house. Yet it didn’t collapse, because its foundation was on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mind and doesn’t act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. The rains fell, the rivers rose, the winds blew and pounded that house, and it collapsed. It collapsed with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27

6 Lessons To Learn From This Story

1. Everyone Goes Through Storms In Life. Going through storms in life is a matter of “If” but just a matter of “When”. Everyone goes through difficult times that can rock a person to the very core of who they are. The storms might be financial, physical, and if you are intentionally trying to live a life on mission with Christ some of those storms can be in the form of persecutions for you faith and obedience to Christ. YOU WILL HAVE STORMS!

2. The key to weathering the storms and not collapsing is the foundation your life is built upon. Every person needs to really think through what kind of foundation they are building their life upon. Is it built on a solid rock that would give way or is it build upon the sand that has absolutely no stability at all. The determining factor on whether you life will stand or come crashing down during the storms of life is dependent upon the foundation you have built your life upon.

3. According to Jesus ALL PEOPLE fall into one of two categories. When you break life down to its lowest common denominator all people are either wise who make really good decisions or fools who haven’t given proper consideration to the choices they make. There’s no grey area. It’s either one or the other.

4. Both the wise person and the foolish person have one thing in common. They both have just heard Jesus speak the words of the Sermon On The Mount. They both heard what Jesus had to say about how to live life in a Godly way. They both understood what He meant.

5. There’s one distinguishing difference between the two (wise and fool). While both of the them heard what Jesus had taught, it was only the wise person who also obeys. The fool hears but disobeys. Obedience to Christ and His teachings is the solid rock foundation that allows a person to weather the storms of life. Disobedience is the sandy foundation that cannot hold a life together during those same storms.

OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST IS THE FIRM FOUNDATION YOU MUST BUILD YOUR LIFE UPON!

3 Applications To Laying A Foundation Of Obedience To Christ:

1. Daily hear the teaching and commands of Christ.

   “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth ….” Joshua 1:8a

2. Meditate on those teaching and apply them to your life.

   “… but you shall meditate on them day and night ….” Joshua 1:8b

3. Be doers of the word.

   “ … so that you will be careful to do all that is written with in it. For then will you make your ways prosperous and then will you have good success.” Joshua 1:8c

So now that you have read this blog post what are you going to do about it? What is God saying to you? How are you going to obey Christ today and thereby build that strong foundation of obedience to Christ?

Please share you answer as a comment and thereby encourage the rest of us.

3 Important Choices That Lead To Powerful Missional Living

A powerful missional life just doesn't happen by chance.  It comes about because Christians make choices that lead them into that kind of lifestyle.  These choices are not always easy to make and if the truth be told they are often extremely difficult.

As we look at Moses we can see 3 choices that he had to make that allow him to powerfully join God on His mission.  These same 3 choices still face Christians today!   To make the choice the way God would have you will lead to greater effectiveness in shining the Light of Christ but to make the choice contrary to God will cause you to become impotent and ineffective in missional living.  

To choice God's way is not easy and will require you to have faith in God.  The outcome of your choices may not always be clear but your conviction to follow Christ is not only clear but firm and your trust that God will work all things out for good is steady.  Without faith you cannot please God - you cannot make the choices the way God would have you to make.  

The Bible verse to help us navigate in understanding these choice is found in Hebrews 11:24-26.

"By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward." (NIV)

Let us take a look at the 3 choices:

Choice #1:  Choose To Identify With God & Not The People Of The World

"By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter" (Vs. 24 NIV)

We all know the story of Moses of how Pharaoh, out of fear of having the Hebrew slaves grow so large in numbers that they might overthrow him, ordered that all the male children under a certain age be killed.  We remember how Moses' mother hid Moses until he was to big to hide any longer but then out of faith put baby Moses in a basket and floated him downstream. We've heard about how Pharaoh's daughter found the basket and fell in love with baby Moses and decided to raise him herself thereby making him a Prince of Egypt.  And in the palace of Pharaoh Moses was raised in the wealthiest country in the world.  He had pleasure, prestige, power and property.  He was living in the lap of luxury.  

That was until he was all grown up and decided to no longer live in the lap of luxury while his people were living as slaves.  He wanted to help his people. He wanted to find a way to ease their suffering.  MOSES GAVE UP THAT IDENTITY OF BEING A PRINCE OF EGYPT TO BE KNOWN AS A HEBREW SLAVE. 

As we intentionally set out to live a life on mission with Christ we too will be asked by God to exercise our faith to abandon our identity with the world and instead, be known as a Child of God.  We will be asked by God to stop considering ourselves as a member of this world but instead to consider ourselves as ambassador for the Kingdom of God.

When we make this choice most of the people in the world will not understand why we would do that.  Many people will ridicule us - make fun of us - and even malign our character for choosing it.  They will consider us foolish and even traitors.  

But we also need to keep in mind that how we view our identity will have a powerful effect on how we go about God's mission and how effective we will be in accomplishing His will. 

Choice #2:  Choose To Embrace Suffering Rather Than Pleasure

"He chose to be mistreated along with people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time."  (v.25 NIV)

Did you see that?  Moses chose to be mistreated!  That's amazing!  Instead, of living in the lap of luxury with everything your heart could ever want.  Moses gave it all up just to follow God and be obedient to him.  That requires a growing faith to make that kind of Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

.And it's not just about giving up the pleasures of the world (Egypt) but more importantly to give them up in favor to being mistreated by others who don't believe in God.  Moses could have enjoyed all the sinful pleasures that a wealthy life as a Prince of Egypt could offer.  But he chose not to.  Why? Partly because Moses realized that sin, though pleasurable, is only temporary but in like fashion he also realized that that the mistreatment he would experience was also only temporary.

In missional living we will experience the mistreatment from the people of this world.  By choosing Christ and obedience to His mission we become an enemy to the world and the rulers of this world. We could experience all the pleasures of the sinful lifestyle this world has to offer.  We could easily drown ourselves in debauchery and party until to our hearts content.  But we are willing to give it up!  Why? Because we know that with Christ's return comes the end of all of the pleasure of sin. 

But it's going to require faith for you to make that choice!  We can see sin and the pleasures that people get from their participation in it but we don't see Christ and all that he has offer yet.  We have to believe and trust that Christ will be true to his word.  THAT'S FAITH.

Choice #3:  Choose The World's Disgrace Over Getting Their  Approval.

"He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt because he was looking ahead to his reward."  (v. 26)

This is a choice of what's of most value to you!  Moses felt that being disgraced and dishonored by those of the world was of more value than all the riches in Egypt.  All the hate, all the name calling, all the beatings and even death was of worth more than all the treasures the world could gather together.  

Jesus express the same sentiments on the Sermon On The Mount in what we call the Beatitudes.  Read what he says:

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you." Matthew 5:11,12 (NIV)

According to Jesus we are "BLESSED" when we are insulted, persecuted and lied about all because Jesus.  We are to rejoice when these things happen because our reward in Heaven because of it. 

I'm not sure what you think but Jesus believed that our reward in Heaven is going to be far more valuable than all of the treasures of earth.  

You know, when suffer for Christ we are in really company. Moses suffered, all of the prophets of the Old Testament suffered and even Jesus' own disciples died because of their choice to follow Christ. and not submit to the opinions and attitudes of the world. 

3 Choices!  Making these 3 choices will greatly enhance your missional living.  It will help shine the Light of Christ brighter than you ever thought possible. 

Leave Us A Comment To Share Your Thought & Idea's About This Topic!

 

7 Things Not To Do As A Follower Of Christ

Matthew 6:1-7:6

Jesus, on the Sermon On The Mount, talks about many things that are important for a Christian should do in order to live a powerful missional life and to shine the Light of Christ brightly in their part of this dark world. But, Jesus also talk about things that a Follower of Christ should avoid and "NOT DO"!  

It's important to remember that knowing what NOT TO DO is just as important as knowing what TO DO, especially when it comes to missional living.  In this post we are going to identify 7 things that Jesus tells us not to do!  It's just a list and doesn't go into any commentary as to why or how, so I would encourage you to read the passage for yourself and meditate on it so you can gain the full weight of what Jesus was conveying.  SO, LET'S GET STARTED!

#1 Don't Do Good Deed's So Others Can See!

"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, You will have no reward for your Father in Heaven." (6:1)

#2:  Don't Pray Like The Hypocrites

"Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They've got their reward." (6:5)

#3:  Don't Fast Like The Hypocrites

"And when you fast, don't be sad face like the hypocrites. For they make their faces unattractive so their fasting is obvious to people. I assure you: They got their reward." (6:16)

#4:  Don't Store Up Treasures On Earth

"Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal."  (6:19)

#5:  Don't Worry About Your Life

"This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing?"  (6:25)

#6:  Don't Condemn Others

"Do not judge, so that you won't be judged."  (7:1)

#7:  Don't Give What's Precious To Those Who Won't Appreciate It!

"Don't give what is Holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces." (7:6)