Thursday, July 05, 2007
The Way of Life
The goal of the Christian is to be a slave of Christ. That is what the very word Christian means. A Christian or a disciple is one who lives under a certain discipline; a way of life. The Lord Jesus Christ told us what this way of life is in His sermon on the mount found in the Gospel according to Matthew, chapters 5-7. After all of the religious practices, all devotional practices, all striving to meet a certain way, the goal is our way of life summed up in these three most beautiful chapters of the Bible. It is the best sermon ever written. It is amazing to me how to the point and clear the Lord Jesus is in His teaching. It is amazing how simple and how deep His teaching is. It also amazes me how much He cares for us and how much He wants us to care for our fellow man. If you are in the covenant with God, then fill your heart with love and gratitude for God, let it overflow and consume you. The riches found in God are so above our imagination and so deep we cannot comprehend them. When I consider the mercy that He has granted me in my life I am terribly grateful. In the sermon on the mount the Lord Jesus teaches us to be thankful for our daily blessings and to be content with what we have. He also teaches us to Love the Lord God above all things. I have heard many people say that Christianity is not about a way of life. I beg to differ. It is very much a way of life, and if anyone cares to mature as a Christian they should begin now to practice this way of life found in Christ's sermon on the mount. I write this to myself as well as others, because the Lord knows my heart and I know that I need to grow to maturity in Christ.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Paul, I agree that the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most pure and perfect sermons on what it is to be a Christian. I am a former Roman Catholic. I am now a Protestant and studying to become a Presbyterian. I think God has led me to become a Protestant and Presbyterian. What started as a study on the Protestant Reformation has led to a conversion to Protestantism for me.
I believe the Bible as the word of God and the only and final authority and path to salvation I submit in discipline to the doctrines of John Calvin and the teachings of the Presbyterian Church in doctrine and life.
It is Christ alone who is salvation to our souls. Rome taught at the time of the Reformation that there was no salvation outside the Church of Rome. Unfortunately She is now reverting to that same false claim. The Reformers regarded the Church of Rome to have seceded from Christ and the Apostolic Church. The aims of the Reformers were to return to the pure Gospel and practices of the Early Church. I left Roman Catholicism for the same reason.
As a Roman Catholic I was a slave to the Institutional Roman Church. Now as a Reformed Protestant I am a servant of Our Lord and Savior,Jesus Christ.
As a Roman Catholic I had to go to Jesus through the priest and the church as a Presbyterian and a Protestant I go to my Lord and Savior directly. As a Protestant the church is there to assist me not to direct and control me.
I Acknowledge Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. And I agree that "The Sermon on the Mount' tells us exactly what it means to be a Christian. I believe that the Reformed Theology and the Presbyterian fold best lives up to "the Sermon on the Mount"
Dudley
Paul, this is an excellent blog; we would like to establish a link on the Westminster Fellowship web site [http://westminsterfellowship.org/].
May God bless you and keep as you serve our cause in Iraq.
Jim Tuckett
President, Westminster Fellowship
Post a Comment