Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount by comparing a wise man who builds his house on the rock with a foolish man who builds his house on the sand. The wise man is described as one who hears Jesus’ words and does them (Matt. 7:24) whereas the foolish man is described as someone who hears Jesus’ words and does not do them (7:26). The difference lies not in what the two men know, but in what they do with that knowledge. The Bible, as a document, is meant to be lived. If a church studied the Bible, but was not serious about living it out it would, in fact, cease to be a church and would become instead just a glorified book club. If we are not living the Word, then the Word is not living in us. Throughout His earthly ministry Jesus put the greater weight of His teaching on what a person does rather than what a person believes. It’s not that right understanding doesn’t matter, of course it does, it’s that it only matters insofar as it informs how a person actually lives. So whenever we take up a Bible passage, and explore its meaning together,  the question that should always be raised and answered before we sing the last song and walk out the door is, “what are we gonna do about it?”

Last week we studied the radical humility of Jesus in Philippians 2:6-8, and this week we will take up the question, “But what are we going to about it?”