Kingdom - Explorations of the Sermon on the Mount

The Touch of the Kingdom

September 16, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

“When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.”
Matthew 8:1-3

There is power is the simple act of human touch; how much more so is the power of a touch from God! As Jesus leaves the mountainside following the sermon that has “blown the mind” of his audience, the crowd just can’t get enough. They want more of this teaching and encouragement from this new teacher that shows them a way that even the current foremost experts of scripture of the day couldn’t enunciate. Jesus spoke of seeking out God’s kingdom and releasing our worries and that our Heavenly Father would pursue us and protect us and give us a foundation upon which to build a steady life.

Out of the midst of the crowd, with the rich and powerful still looking on from the sidelines, a man steps forward. Not just any man, but a man who was considered ritually unclean in accordance with the scripture as he had a debilitating skin disease. Leprosy was a highly contagious bacterial infection that easily passed from one person to another through touch from one infected person to another. It caused skin lesions and nerve damage, often leading to the loss of fingers, toes, eyes, nose, and other parts of the skin.

In the first century AD, people who contracted leprosy were confined to leper colonies and were forbidden to be in public. They were required to cover their faces and other parts of their bodies in order to not only hide their affliction, but also prevent spread of the contagion to others. This resulted in the stigmatization of an entire segment of society in the name of “public health”. Lepers were routinely spit upon by the “clean” of society and shunned and pushed away, separated and left to die alone and abandoned.

Today leprosy is easily curable through proper treatment and sanitation, although in some parts of the world the cure in unavailable. Mother Teresa spent the majority of her life among this caste of “Untouchables” in India, ministering to the afflicted and the orphaned children wrought by this terrible disease. While today, leprosy is considered a very rare disease with fewer than 20,000 cases per year in the US, treatment requires medication and extreme sanitation measures. The disease is also spread by airborne droplets found in sneezes or other bodily fluids. And anyone who contracts leprosy will experience chronic pain for years after, if not for the rest of their lives. Sound familiar?

While the circumstances of COVID-19 are significantly different and statistically lower fatality rate among the afflicted, the societal response to it is no different. We treat people who we deem a potential threat for not wearing a mask as “unclean”. If anyone sneezes because of allergies, panic ensues. In some cases, people seem to go out of their way to speak judgement against one another in the midst of this pandemic.

I’m not suggesting that the public health measures that we have instituted aren’t warranted. That’s a different debate colored by too many variables and interpretation of data that I don’t have the time or space for. My opinions on the matter are irrelevant and everyone is too emotionally attached to their own perspectives for anyone to change anyone’s mind. That is not what the scope of this article is about.

However, we have reached a point in our society that we have become isolated from one another as a people, afraid to even shake someone’s hand or give someone a hug of comfort out of fear of contraction of a non-manifested disease or judgement from government authorities for not abiding by the mandates of our “benevolent overlords in power.” We have effectively eliminated the power of human touch to lift up the lives of our neighbors.

But Jesus didn’t care about the conventions of the day. A man stepped out of the crowd and mustered up the courage to ask the one person who had demonstrated His power and love to the crowds before teaching them on the mountainside to perform one more act of kindness – to touch him and make him clean. Imagine the gasps of horror escape the crowd as this diseased man approached Jesus. Obviously, there was even some apprehension within his own heart, because he asked “if you will, you can make me clean”. There was some human doubt, but there was also trust in the divine power of Jesus to be able to heal him of his affliction.

And Jesus didn’t hesitate as He stretched out His hand and touched him. He touched Him. A man afflicted with disease that could infect Him and His followers. He touched Him. But He didn’t just touch His body; He touched His soul and heart. He healed not only His physical malady, but He healed his broken heart and loneliness and isolation. He restored his mind and gave him a reason to rejoice.

There is great power in graceful act of a kind touch from another human. A handshake. A fist bump. A warm hug from a friend. There is even more power when that touch is infused with the grace of God by the Spirit of God. It heals the heart. It releases the pain of loneliness. It increases the production of endorphins into the body – the happiness hormone.

Conversely, there is also great power in the violent act of an unkind touch from another human. When we strike one another in anger. When we withhold kindness and shrink away from one another in horror and fear. When we seek to destroy others instead of build them up. This creates pain and isolation. It destroys communities and divides nations.

If you want to see healing in your world, hug a friend. Shake the hand of a colleague. Kiss your spouse with passion. Give out of the goodness of your heart. Let the Spirit of God move you to be neighbor that seeks the heart of God. Be a force for healing in our world. There is enough violence in the world without us adding to it out of fear and anger and bitterness of our own. But when seek the heart of the Father, it renews our mind and transforms our heart and gives us the strength to touch the hand and heart of our neighbors and families and friends. It gives us the ability to bring healing to the hearts and mind of those around us. Most importantly, it gives us hope for a brighter, healthier tomorrow.

Author’s note: COVID-19 is indeed a real phenomenon, with far reaching public health risks. In no way is this article intended to minimize the risks of this pandemic, nor is it in any way intended to be a form of medical advice. Please, exercise wisdom in the application of common sense health and sanitation measures as a matter of good public health policy and personal practice. If you believe that you have been exposed to COVID-19, please see your doctor immediately for proper medical guidance.

The Comfort of the Kingdom

September 11, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:4-7

mother holding a child’s hand, close-up hands, nature in background.

During my childhood growing up in the 1970s and 80s in southeast Louisiana, it wasn’t that uncommon that my mother would take me to the store with her every other weekend. Occasionally, we would drive all the way into Baton Rouge and visit the former Cortana Mall. Once situated in one quarter of the cloverleaf intersection of Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway, Cortana Mall was essentially the place to go when you went to the city. Across the highway used to be a bowling alley that my church youth group would frequent, where I once bowled better than a 200 (but only once.)

Being as we lived about 30 minutes away in the country, these trips to town back in those days often felt like a huge treat to get to experience a different side of life that we didn’t experience daily in our quiet, serene lives in Pine Grove. On rare occasions as I got older, my mother would “release the leash” and let me roam the mall by myself or with a friend who was invited along in order to cure my boredom with perusing the giant clothing outlets.

However, as a younger child, I wasn’t allowed to stray far from my mother’s sight. And if I somehow wandered off and got lost, I would become fearful and cry out for her. Sometimes a store employee would see me and offer assistance with a kind smile in the hopes of calming my fears and anxieties until my mother could be located, usually only a few feet away.

Just as my mother was nearby and I was not out of her sight, in spite of my own blindness, our Abba Father is always near – His eyes ever watching and His hands ever guiding and comforting. Even when we can’t see Him, He sees you. He rejoices over you in your victories and offers comfort in the midst of your pain. Just because you don’t see Him in the midst of your darkness doesn’t mean He shut off the lights. And when you experience pain and disappointment and discouragement, He is there offering a gentle hand of peace.

But all too often, because we become fixated on our circumstances, we lean on our own pride and humanity to pull us up by the bootstraps and push through the pain and the circumstances. Yes, it is true that God gave us a brain to use and think and reason with our situations, but sometimes, we reach a breaking point where the circumstance is beyond our competencies. Our natural response is to respond with fear or frustration or anger, which blind us to the comfort that is waiting for us if we simply stop and breathe Him in.

We can rejoice in knowing, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, the Lord is near, waiting for us to crawl into His lap to comfort us as His child. While our circumstances may exceed our competencies, His peace is capable of overcoming that beyond our own understanding. When we begin with the realization that the Lord is always near, we can stand in confidence knowing that even if we don’t understand what is going on, His peace is readily available. He will help to guard our hearts and minds and remind us of the grace and love that He has for us as citizens of His Kingdom and Princes and Princesses of His realm. He will never abandon you in your pain. In fact, He comes running to our aid, pleading for you to cling to Him.

Let His peace reign in your heart and mind. Rejoice in the presence of the King of Creation! For you are a prince or princess of the Universe and He adores you. If you don’t know Him, I urge you don’t delay. He is waiting for you on pins and needles, longing for you to lift up your eyes and see Him for the truth that He is. While the door to the Kingdom is narrow, and path to the gate is difficult, the door is open to anyone who would walk through it. The rewards of Kingdom citizenship far outweigh the riches of this world.

If you want to know more about what it means to be part of the Kingdom, I’m just a quick click and an email away. There is nothing more important to me in this world than knowing that you know my Abba. If you don’t know Him and want to know more, don’t wait. Run! Peace to you, my friends, from the Father of all Creation.

The Unity of the Kingdom

September 10, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Philippians 2:1-2

Unity does not equal uniformity. God has uniquely created and gifted you for a specific purpose within His Kingdom. We all have a role to play, but we all must learn what it means to synergize for the sake of the Kingdom. As a new creation in Christ, it takes time to renew our mind and restore our vision for the world around us. In the end, it is our love for Christ and our love for one another that must bind us together with a singleness of mind, heart, spirit, and purpose.

Unity of mind begins not with everyone believing exactly the same trivialities, but it does mean we are focused on the absolute truths of the essentials of our faith. Most specifically it means that we have an understanding of who Jesus is and that His authority overrules everything, even our own selfish desires. And that requires a new way of thinking about the world around us. It requires a new way of thinking about the people around us and how we ought to treat one another for the sake of the Kingdom.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:2

Unity of heart will only happen after we have experienced a renewal of the mind, but it is an ongoing process that will last as long as we are on this earth. When we “maintain the same love” for one another within the Kingdom, by extension we supernaturally extend that same love beyond the borders of the Kingdom. It’s more than just a passing affection for one another, but it is love that must be maintained through pain and disappointment and discouragement and disagreement. When our need to be right becomes more important than our need to be in a right relationship with one another, we are no longer maintaining the same love for one another.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
1 John 4:7-8

Unity of spirit means getting deeper than the heart of the matter and recognizing that it is the Holy Spirit of God that must drive our decision making and our vision for the Kingdom. Not our own pet projects and causes. For too long we have begged and pleaded with God to bless the work of our hands. It is time that we start seeking the heart of the Father and earnestly seek out what God is doing in our world and join Him, because His work is already blessed.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets it desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.
Galatians 5:16-17

Unity of purpose will come only after we have experienced unity of mind, heart, and spirit. It takes renewed thinking, restored love, and reconciled Spirit in order to full comprehend and contextualize the purpose that we have in unity for the Kingdom. Our purpose in this world is a very simple calling, but it is one that requires a proper mindset, a submissive heart, and Spirit-led discernment acting in unison with one another to fulfill. The advancement of the Kingdom of God is the fulfillment of the Great Commission – to make disciples. This is not a responsibility of the clergy, but rather it is the responsibility of the entire Body of Christ.

And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commended you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20

The advancement of the Kingdom of God is made effective through a collective unity of mind, heart, spirit, and purpose. Paul’s ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:11-20) was all about building up the body of Christ so that each of us together can further the cause of the Kingdom. However, that requires that we understand what it means to be reconciled to God and to one another within the Kingdom before we do the work of expanding the Kingdom. The gifts and empowering of God in us are for the purpose of “equipping the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity fo the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs in the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12-13)

The Establishment of the Kingdom

September 9, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
Acts 1:6-8

Three years have passed since Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount in which He proclaimed everything that the Kingdom of God would be like. While it is widely believed by many scholars that the Sermon on the Mount is actually a collection of topical teachings that Matthew compiled and set into a single delivery, it does not change the fact of the truth that He proclaimed everything that Father expects of His children. And in the end, because He spoke with such authority – more so than the established Scriptural experts of His day – the crowd of observers stood in awe and amazement, their minds quite figuratively blown away by this carpenter teacher from hicktown Nazareth.

Now three years later, after Jesus has invested His life into His closest allies, endured the betrayal of His friends and the shame and humiliation of the cross that took His life, He has once again risen in victory over death, Hell, and the grave. For forty more days, Jesus appeared to His followers and continued to teach them and prove to them that He had indeed been resurrected by the same power that had performed miracles for the previous three years. And He continued to declare the Kingdom of God and explain their part in it (Acts 1:3).

As once again, He stands on a mountainside outside of Jerusalem, overlooking the great city of God’s immense affections, the question arises: “Is it now that You are restoring the kingdom of Israel?” And it is painfully evident that they still didn’t understand. Israel has been oppressed under the boot of the Roman Empire and there was nothing they wanted more than freedom and restoration of their homeland. Now that Jesus had fulfilled the prophecy of a king riding into Jerusalem on donkey, they waited expectantly for the deliverance that was promised. Yet, the deliverance that was promised, was not the deliverance they expected.

“It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.” (Acts 1:7) Israel would indeed be restored as an independent kingdom. This prophecy was indeed fulfilled on May 14, 1948 – a little more than 1900 years later. Israel would struggle back and forth for centuries between the Romans, the Byzantines, Christendom, the Mongols, and the Muslim Caliphates. In 1920, the British unfolded their plan to increase Jewish immigration to the Promised Land following World War I, and in 1948, Israel finally won her independence. But this was not the Kingdom that Jesus was speaking of.

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) The Greek word for “power” here is “dynamis”. It is the root word for many words in Latin and in modern English like “dynamite”, “dynamic”, and “dynasty”. It is often referential of power in numbers or strength and influence. But its most common use is as a form of inherent power – a power that resides within by virtue of individual nature or temperament. It is referential to authority, more so than ability. This explains Luke’s use of the word “martys” for Jesus’ characterization of His disciples as “My witnesses.” The word has carried with it some interesting connotations over the years, the most notable of which is being the root for the word “martyr.” In reality, it is a legal term to describe someone who appears in court to testify to what they have seen.

Ultimately, yes, every one of the Apostles suffered persecution for the sake of God’s Kingdom – a Kingdom that demands repentance and submission to God before the kingdoms of man. All of them were killed for their faith, except for John – who was boiled in oil and miraculously survived to be exiled on Patmos, where he received the final Revelation.

The Kingdom that Jesus has been teaching about all along was a Kingdom that is borne within the hearts of the repentant – the reborn. Jesus answered him [Nicodemus] and said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3) It takes new eyes and new ears to see and experience the Kingdom of God. It requires a renewed Spirit within us to guarantee our citizenship in the Kingdom. It requires God’s stamp of approval and His empowering of us to be His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) in this world.

The Kingdom of God is established in the hearts of His followers and evidenced by the authority of the Holy Spirit living within us. It is demonstrated by our submission to His authority resulting in repentance. And it’s an eternal battle – a battle that we cannot win on our own and by our own strength.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.” (2 Corinthians 10:3-6)

The only way we can be a disciplinary force for change in society is to begin with ourselves. We must first “take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.” Then and only then do we have any right or authority to speak on behalf of the Kingdom of God in order to exact change in our world. To use the ways of the world to advance the mandates of the Kingdom of God is foolishness. Instead of using violence of the flesh to bring about a change of heart, we must learn the rules of engagement in spiritual warfare. Then and only then can we advance God’s Kingdom in this world.

The Authority of the Kingdom

September 8, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:28-29

In 2018, my bride Sara and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary with a trip to what has become one of our favorite places in the world – Italy. For this trip, that I secretly arranged for us and presented to her for Christmas 2017, I planned excursions around places and sites that carried personal significance to us both. I have personally always been fascinated with the history of the Roman Empire, as well as the religious significance of the Church in Rome. I’ve also held a passing interest in the Italian Renaissance of Florence, but nothing compared to Sara’s interest due to her passion for art and the masterpieces of Michelangelo Buonorotti.

As part of this trip, we got to explore the Flavian Ampitheatre (more commonly known as the Colosseum), the Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican Museums. We stood in awe of the magnificent paintings of Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. I finally got to feast my eyes on one of my favorite paintings – Raphael’s School of Athens. But nothing in Rome compared to the tear-filled awe that we experienced when we stood before Michelangelo’s Pieta. The lifelike marble carving of the Virgin Mary cradling the crucified body of Jesus as only a mother could. The realism captured by Michelangelo as one viewed this sculpture was striking in that you felt as if you could reach out and touch the crucified body of our Lord. The taught muscle and soft skin harkened to the darkest day in the history of the world when mankind killed the Creator in the name of self-centered authoritarianism.

For me, the rest of St. Peter’s was dull by comparison, although still fascinating to witness. As our trip continued to Florence, we marveled at the magnificent architecture of San Giovanni’s Baptistry and the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral, more commonly known as the Duomo. The site of the infamous Pazzi conspiracy that claimed the life of Giuliano de Medici and wounded his brother, Lorenzo “Il Magnifico” de Medici. As we explored the city, I stood in awe at the foot of a memorial to one of my own personal literary heroes, Dante Alighieri, author of The Divine Comedy, outside of the Basilica de Santa Croce. This relatively simply basilica (compared to the Duomo), is the final resting place of such famous names as Galileo Galilei, Enrico Fermi, Rossini, Niccolo Machiavelli, Giorgio Vasari, and Michelangelo Buonorotti. We toured this magnificent basilica during our second trip to Florence in September 2019 and we stood in awe in the presence of these great artists and famed men.

While in Florence, we toured the Accademia, home of Michelangelo’s famed sculpture, the David, carved from a neglected piece of marble that was left for scrap for decades. We toured the Ufizzi Museum where we observed Sandro Botticelli’s masterful works Primavera and Birth of Venus, and we stood in amazement at the beauty captured by this artist of his muse, Simonetta Vespucci. From the Piazza Michelangelo, we had the opportunity to witness the beautiful, breathtaking landscape view of Florence as it nestled along the flowing River Arno. Imagine with me the awe that we experienced and then multiply that by the factor of standing in the presence of the authority of Almighty God has He taught the truths of the Kingdom from a simple hillside.

The crowds were amazed at His teaching, not because of eloquent words, but because He taught with authority, unlike the teaching of the scribes. He was more than just a breath of fresh air. Here was a man who was different, who was teaching the Scriptures in way that the foremost experts were incapable of teaching. He was teaching the Scriptures in a way that made God and His Kingdom accessible to them like nothing they have ever heard before.

The word for “amazed” in this verse is a Greek word “ekplesso”, which means “to strike out or expel by a blow.” IT carries with it the connotation of a sudden sense of astonishment as opposed to a sense of fanciful wonder. It’s as if the Spirit of God Himself struck the hearts of the hearers in a way to open their eyes and ears to see and hear Himself in a new way. The word is also the same root word for “explosion”. In essence, God’s word exploded in their hearts anew.

When we truly recognize the authority of God as expressed in His word, the inevitable result is an explosion of realization that Jesus is truly someone different. He’s greater than the greatest experts of Biblical exegesis that have ever lived. His wisdom is higher and His grace runs deeper than anything we have ever experienced, or ever will apart from a relationship with Him. But we must be willing to open our hearts to the majesty that is His word that is backed by His divine authority.

Just as Michelangelo and Botticelli were considered the foremost masters of sculpture and painting of their day, Jesus is the Master of the Kingdom that we will all one day stand in awe and amazement at the authority that He wields from the Word. There is no painting, sculpture, or architectural wonder of this world that can compare to the majestic wonder of standing in the presence of Jesus as He open our hearts and minds to the truth of His word.

Charles Gabriel is credited with having written over 7000 hymns and songs over the course of his lifetime. One of the most prolific hymnist of his day, Gabriel grew up as a farmboy in Iowa. He learned to play music on a simple reed organ in his home as a child. As a young adult, he began teaching, writing, composing, and editing song collections for some of the leading gospel song publishers of the day.

One day he read a poem by E.O. Excell, that was published in 1905. The words of the poem struck him to his core as Excell portrayed the joy of observing Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating drops like blood as he prayed on the night of His betrayal. Within moments, he penned a new hymn:

Verse 1:
I stand amazed in the presence
of Jesus the Nazarene,
and wonder how he could love me,
a sinner, condemned unclean.
Verse 2:
For me it was in the garden
he prayed, “Not my will, but thine,”
He had no tears for his own griefs,
but sweat-drops of blood for mine.
Refrain:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
and my song shall ever be;
How marvelous! How wonderful!
is my Savior’s love to me!”
The United Methodist Hymnal Number 371

How marvelous! How wonderful it is to know that our God would step out of eternity to redeem His creation, because of His great love for us. How marvelous! How wonderful it is to know that Jesus would come to teach us how to live in His Kingdom. How marvelous! How wonderful it is to know that He stands on the authority of His word and can pierce even the hardest of hearts with His grace.

The Foundation of the Kingdom

September 7, 2020 by David Noland Leave a Comment

Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.
Matthew 7:24-27

As a child growing up in southeast Louisiana, my family and I would often make a summer trip over to the beach on the Gulf of Mexico at Gulfport, MS. This vacation would typically occur during May, well before the height of hurricane season that would come in July and August. One of the joys of these beach excursions, which is by no means unique, was playing in the sand and building sand forts and castles.

Now I was no expert or artisan when it came to building my little sand castles. And this was long before the days of plastic molds and hyper-realistic displays of sand castle mastery. It was a simple time of fun and frivolity. Due to the nature of molding the sand to fit my own image, I would build my little castles closer to the edge of the water, because the wet sand would hold together better than the dry sand that would slip through my fingers so easily. Of course, by the end of the day, with the inevitable ebb and flow of the tides, the incoming waters would eventually wash away my masterpiece, leaving no trace of my creativity.

At the time, there was a small piece of historical nostalgia that always struck me. There was a little gift shop built out of a tugboat that had been washed up across the coastal road during Hurricane Camille in 1969. It was the result of a 24 foot storm surge that washed in over the entirety of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The gift shop was later destroyed by Category 4 Hurricane Katrina and developers have since demolished the rusting tugboat in 2008.

At the time, Hurricane Camille was only the third Category 5 hurricane to ever reach landfall in the continental US. Since then, only 2 other hurricanes have reached landfall as a Category 5 – Andrew in 1992, and Michael in 2018. Camille was also one of the most devastating storms on record resulting in 259 deaths and over $1.42 billion in damages (equivalent to $9.9 billion in 2019).

If there is one thing I learned growing up near the Gulf Coast, it is this: damaging storms are inevitable. They come and they go and they leave death and destruction in their wake. It is with this in mind that I recall that my father every year would pick up a hurricane tracking map from the local Cracker Barrel, which was nothing more than a convenience store at that time, before their rebranding as a Southern staple restaurant. He would meticulously track the storms across the Atlantic and the Caribbean and if the storm would make its way into the Gulf, the real preparations would begin.

Trash cans would be cleaned and filled with fresh water. Fresh batteries would be gathered and our hurricane oil lamp would be brought out to the kitchen table. Non-perishable foods would be stored and radios would be checked for functionality. Flashlights would be located and ensured they were conveniently accessible. With the approaching storm, we always knew to expect at least a couple of days being trapped on our hill due to rising waters at the creek below our home, and no electricity for at least a week. Being prepared for the storm made life a little more bearable without the usual comforts of modern technology that the storm would take away.

The storms of life are also inevitable and they will often leave immense destruction behind them. A job lost. A spouse becomes sick. A child runs away. A friend dies. Suffering is a part of life and a symptom of the corruption of creation wrought by the entrance of sin into the world. However, when we are prepared for the certainty of pain and the reality of suffering in the world, we can rest knowing that our lives can withstand the storm because we have built our lives on the rock of obedience to the Word of God and teachings of Jesus.

If you examine the construction of European castles, you will find a couple of different things. Castles that are built in low-lying areas, or even on beaches, are typically left in ruins. However, fortresses that are built on rocky cliffs, hills, and mountains have stood for centuries, unabated by the forces of nature and the attacks of enemies. In every case, the strength of the engineering of the foundation of these castles that has been credited with their longevity and survival.

This basic function of architecture is still employed in construction today. I have a friend and brother named Matt, who is a home builder. He once described the process of building a new home by starting with the foundation. Not only would his team lay out the concrete base, but they would dig deep into the bedrock of the ground and place pillars beneath the foundation in order to solidify the base and prevent against foundation damage from ground settling once the remainder of the house is built. Otherwise, foundation damage can lead to much bigger problems with the home, resulting in weakened physical integrity that could lead to diminished home value, elevated utility bills, and costly repairs later.

The foundation of the Christian life is more than simply a pronouncement of faith in Jesus as the Savior. The true and complete foundation is submission to His Lordship in our lives. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” (Matthew 7:24) The rock of His Lordship is what makes Him our Messiah, the Christ. As the Son of God, He inherits the same authority as the Father. It is here that we can find shelter from the storm and the dangers of this life:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
My God, in whom I trust!”
For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper
And from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with His pinions,
And under His wings you may seek refuge;
His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.
Psalm 91:1-4

Kingdom - Explorations of the Sermon on the Mount

Verse of the Day

Follow Us