Doing what Jesus said
I have been listening to some teaching by Dallas Willard this week when he said something that really stood out which I want to spend a bit of time thinking about. Here’s what he said:
If we want to do what Jesus said we DON’T try to do what Jesus said.
You might want to read that again. It seems completely illogical doesn’t it? And yet there is a real profound truth behind this statement. We won’t succeed in becoming more like Jesus by trying harder to obey everything that Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). The Sermon on the Mount was never intended to be a set of new laws to follow once we become part of the New Covenant. Not at all. The Sermon on the Mount is a description of what a life lived under the personal rule of God will inevitably start to look like.
Entering the kingdom of heaven means bringing our lives under the personal rule of God. Before Jesus came, God ruled His people through requiring them to follow countless rules and regulations. Because of Jesus though, we now are no longer required to follow all of those rules. Instead we are to follow just one rule: the personal rule of God. And as we bring our whole lives up under His rulership and surrender everything to King Jesus, our lives will inevitably start to come into alignment with what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.
If we were to spend our lives trying to do everything that Jesus did, we would be doomed to failure. We would never manage it. But if we bring our life under the rule of God then we will become the kind of people who will naturally do what Jesus said and did. God is not interested in a people who do good things; He is looking for a people who are good. When we submit ourselves to God’s personal rule in our lives we become like Jesus and the result of that is that we do do good things.
March 10th, 2005 at 10:58 am
I liked what you had to say and have bookmarked your page. I am sending you my blogspot page in case you may be intrested and have any comments. you may find a reference to christians not good but that is how my church is with the exeption of one or two. I have alot to learn yet in the workings of god. but god did enter my life miracuasly just recently not yet revealed in my blog. take care god bless you (singledadalone.blogspot.com) ROY
March 12th, 2005 at 9:07 pm
I have been thinking about the Sermon on the Mount for the last week or so because that’s where i’m upto. The LORD turned me to 1John where it explains how to live the life. You sumarised it perfectly and it really helps to have what you’ve written. I’m about to write it in my diary. Thanks!
April 25th, 2005 at 12:10 am
Very nice article. So, we don’t do good works in order to have a relationship with God. It’s the other way around. Because we have a relationship with God, good works follow us naturally, like fruit that grown naturally on a tree.