I recently blogged about my plan to spend 40 Days With the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew 5 – 7, and here is a short update…

Some questions I can’t get out of my head are based at the conclusion of chapter 7. Sometimes it useful to start with the end in mind and then work your way backward. At least that is how I do a lot of project and programme work. With that said, it is more than that. It is an fascinating implicational set of statements at the end of this long section of scriptures:

“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, NASB95

The thing that strikes me is ‘acts’ on them. If you do these things, you will find security. Kind of like if you take out an insurance policy, you are covered. If you don’t, then you are exposed to risk.

I am a big fan of a personal mission statement. I have had one for many years which I review most every week. I have also been a big fan of organisational mission, vision and values. I think in some ways these statements are a summary and contextualisation of what Jesus taught and then how should I live right here and now.

However, what if I take the sermon of the mount and create a bit of a personal health survey? What if I do this for my family and community? What if I even use this as the basis of an organisational health survey? If there are gaps, how much then is there a risk of what I am hoping to build in my life, family, community and organisation?

More to follow!