"DOING THE WILL OF MY FATHER"

Jesus says: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." (Matthew 7:21)

That's pretty heavy, isn't it! Is there anyone who always does God's will? I doubt it. How about usually? Probably a few. How about sometimes? I think sometimes would catch most of us. Most of us do God's will sometimes. On a good day, we might move up to usually -- but we seldom move up to always.

What Jesus requires, however, is not perfection. Perfection is impossible. If Jesus demanded perfection, none of us would qualify. What Jesus requires instead is faith:

Faith that produces fruit.

Faith that results in action.

Faith that leads us to show mercy.

Faith that leads us to care for little ones.

Faith that causes us to feed the hungry and to give drink to the thirsty, and to welcome the stranger, and to clothe the naked, and to visit the prisoner.

Faith that leads us to go and to make disciples and to baptize and to teach people to obey Jesus.

Those are the things that Jesus wants us to do. We will never do them perfectly, but if we are people of faith, we will try.

Then Jesus said:

"Therefore everyone then who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, yet it did not fall, because it had it's foundation on the rock." (Matthew 7:24-25)

Jesus is the rock. If we believe in him and follow him -- if we live our lives as he would have us to live them -- then we will be ready for thick and thin -- for good times and bad -- for life and for death. That's Jesus' promise. Amen.
Rev. McCary's Chapel
United Methodist Church