In Matthew’s Gospel, chapters five through seven, we have the first recorded sermon of Jesus Christ that we call, “The Sermon on the Mount.” It’s a message that is built around the heart, our hearts, and how Jesus expects us to live if we are to follow Him. In other words, it’s a sermon about life-style, our life-style, and how what we do and say and think and live ought to serve as an example, a witness for others to follow. He talks about the kind of attitudes we need to have as His followers. He tells us that we are both salt and light, giving flavor and light to those who long for something more in their lives. They know there is something missing, something that they long for and have a deep desire for, but don’t know how to achieve it. He talks about how He came not to destroy the law, but to follow it, the law that God has established for us in the Ten Commandments and in His precepts. He lets us know that anger, name-calling, and cursing are not just reactions towards comments made about us, but are actions that begin in our hearts. He talks about adultery and divorce, and in John’s gospel the eighth chapter, we learn that both of these sins, certainly not God’s plan for us, are both forgivable, and neither can keep us out of the kingdom of heaven. He talks about telling the truth and walking the second mile. And then He tells us something that we all need to know, and that is how to have love for our enemies and for those who persecute or hurt us. He talks about giving and praying and fasting, three virtues that draw us nearer to God. He talks about what to do with our possessions and our worries, in fact, He gives us a cure for hoarding and for anxiety. And He teaches us not to unnecessarily and cruelly judge one another, and then for those times when we don’t know His will for our lives, how we are to “ask, seek, and knock.” For questions on how we can get into the kingdom of heaven, He gives us a clear-cut answer, an answer that we don’t ever need to second-guess or wonder about. Finally He tells us how to build our lives upon the kind of solid foundation that will never blow away or wash out. And when He has finished delivering His message, Mathew 7:28-29 tells us that the people who heard that message were “astonished, because He taught them like one who had great authority, and not like the tried and true and route messages that they had been hearing from their religious leaders. Yes, this is a message directed towards our hearts, declaring unto us on how we can live a life that is pleasing unto Him, and unto ourselves, and unto those around us. It’s a message that we can hear from no one else but from Him, if we are listening. Yet, oh what a life! What a challenge, what a change that is directed towards our lives and towards hearts that can make us brand new inside. Paul puts it this way, “old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.”
Back in the days before cell phones and computers have become such a part of our lives, before such inventions were even thought of and only dreamed of for “sometime in the future”, people used to communicate with one another via phone calls on something called “a rotary phone” and by means of hand-written letters, actual words written down upon a piece of paper and sent to someone we wished to communicate with. Today such handwritten letters have almost become “a lost art form”.And should a message be delivered about some bad news, such as the death of a loved one, or some forebolding the message, the message came upon a very special piece of paper called, “a telegram”. It was a message generated from a “Telegraph Office” and usually delivered by some young person riding upon his bike. One such message was delivered by a worried father to his young son. Like the prodigal son, this son had moved away from home and met up with a wild crowd who encouraged him to spend all his money on them, but when his money played out, they shunned him and left him on his own. In a letter with shaky letters and tear-stained words, the young son wrote a letter to his father wondering if there was any way possible that he could come back home. His father, who had been deeply concerned about his son since the day he left, simply sent the boy a telegram with one word written upon it, “Home”. That’s all it said, and it was simply signed by the one word, “father”.
God has sent you and me such a “telegram”, it’s called the Bible, and in it we find that one simple answer, “Home”. It’s signed with that one simple word, “Father”. Jesus has told us how we can please Him, and how His words can bring a change to our lives, and they were first delivered in the sermon we call, “The Sermon on the Mount”. Won’t you come “Home” to Him today? His simple signature is also one word, “Savior”. Will you read His letter today and vow to come “Home” to Him?
