Dear friends.
One line from this week’s sermon may need room than I could give it on video: “The Christian life isn’t meant to be hard work.”
Following Jesus is costly. Loving an enemy is hard. Forgiving someone who has hurt us is hard. Choosing honesty when dishonesty seems easier is hard. Serving when we are tired can be hard. Jesus never promised a life without sacrifice.
So what did I mean?
I was speaking about the exhausting kind of Christianity that turns grace into a checklist.
We can read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 and turn them into targets. Be more humble. Be more merciful. Keep your heart pure. Make peace. Try harder. Do better. Then God will be pleased with you.
Before long, faith feels like an appraisal without end.
But Jesus begins somewhere else.
Sunday Rewind - each week I share a sermon from the Battle Ready Sermons archive. My role has shifted to training the next generation of Salvation Army officers at William Booth College, so I’m no longer preaching every Sunday, but God’s word doesn’t go out of date. These messages are here to encourage, challenge, and point you to Jesus, whenever you need them.
This week’s sermon was originally preached 14 September 2021.
The Beatitudes are not a ladder we climb so that God will bless us. They describe the life of people who live under God’s gracious rule. They show us what begins to grow when we trust Jesus rather than ourselves.
That changes discipleship.
I do not show mercy so that God might decide to love me. I can show mercy because I have received mercy.
I do not pursue peace to prove that I am worthy to be called God’s child. I make peace because I belong to him, and his life is taking shape in me.
I do not admit my need for God because spiritual poverty earns a reward. I can admit my need because there is no shame in depending on the One who loves me.
There is still effort in following Jesus. But it is response, not payment.
There is still discipline. But it grows from grace, not fear.
There is still change. But the Holy Spirit is at work within us. We are not trying to manufacture a Christian life by willpower.
Perhaps that is our heart-check for this week.
Are you following Jesus, or are you trying to impress him?
One path leaves us anxious, tired and wondering whether we have done enough. The other begins with grace.
Jesus is not waiting for you to complete the checklist.
Come to him. Trust him. Receive what he gives. Then let that grace shape how you live at home, at work, in your corps or church, and among people who need mercy and peace.
Grace comes first. Discipleship follows.