“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27)! Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect. It matters how we practice. In order to get better, we need to get the fundamentals down. I need to know the fundamentals so well that it is unconsciously something I do. Following Jesus is all about the fundamentals.
When I first got on the path to salvation, my focus was on loving God and loving my neighbor. I used to joke that I didn’t understand how folks had so much time to worry about prophecy and eschatology because I was still working on loving God and my neighbor. And that isn’t really a joke as much as it is a statement of my focus. I wanted to work on the fundamentals of being a Christian before I got so caught up in all the other stuff. And here I am nearly four years later still working on the fundamentals.
Now, some of you will say that I should have got that worked out by now. I should be moving on to other studies. BUT I can see a deficiency in church people when it comes to love. Yesterday, the pastor at one of the churches I attend had a lot to say about love as folks gear up for St. Valentine’s day. Other folks are looking forward to Lent and the promise of Easter. Regardless, these are great times to work on developing a better and deeper love. And that means working on the fundamentals of what it means to follow Jesus.
Practicing the fundamentals of Christianity can help create that solid foundation. Last year and this year, I spent the dawning of a new year reviewing the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. And having a concise teaching of Jesus that shows what and how we should follow is important to our fundamentals. The Bible Project is working through a year-long study of the Sermon on the Mount. There are many books about the Sermon on the Mount and the Jesus Creed that can provide more insight. Among them is Sermon on the Mount: A Beginner’s Guide to the Kingdom of Heaven by Amy-Jill Levine and 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed by Scot McKnight but there are many others. In the Sermon on the Mount through the past few weeks, I have seen the importance of love, prayer, fasting, community, charity, and obedience and I hope you have seen those things as well. These are the basic fundamentals of following Jesus. As I move forward after this to start breaking down the remainder of the gospel of Matthew and beyond into other readings, I hope that my journey into deeper understanding will help guide you into working on those fundamentals as well. Fundamentals will help us build a foundation that will withstand when, “The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.”
Grace and Shalom to your home.