Hey! Did you get the message?

     That's what a friend yelled to me at one of the places I've worked in the past.  The message was not important.  That my friend yelled at me to let me know was what was important.  The messenger is extremely important.  Should we choose to not be a messenger we endanger lives and souls of those whom we come in contact with.  That doesn't mean we need to be chicken little's and hype up the situation either.  There are both in the Christian church and we deal with them as they come and go.  I've tried to be the type of messenger that shares what God has shared with me.  Sometimes that message from God is hard to write because I've not taken myself out of a sinful pattern that God wants me to address as well.  When that happens I tend to be resistant to being the messenger that he wants me to be.  Maybe you have found yourself in this predicament as well. This choice doesn't cancel out my ticket to Heaven.  My salvation is secure in that Christ died for me and he died for you as well.  Yelling "FIRE!" in a crowded building is only constructive when there is a fire.  Otherwise we only desensitize people to the message and soon no one cares what you yell.  The end question is not so much that we live the message (though we should) as much as we pass the message on.  Did you get the message?
     The Sermon on the Mount has the Beatitudes at it's very beginning.  They are there for a very specific purpose.  They are the foundation for the rest of the Sermon.  There are 10 of them.  The first 6 pertain to the commandment that we love one another.  The last 4 pertain to our love for God.  Just the opposite of the list of the 10 Commandments of the Old Testament where the first 4 are about our love of God and the second set of 6 are all about our love for each other.  Why the reversal? Hey!  Did you get the message?  If not, keep reading the Sermon.  What follows is based upon a very important fact.  That fact is that the Sermon on the Mount is based on our having made a commitment to love Jesus.  Because we love Jesus, we love the Triune God.  The believer thus has surrendered their lives to Jesus and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me.  Don't believe that?  Red on. The Sermon on the Mount clearly tells us what Jesus has come to do with his birth, life and most importantly, his death.  He has come to fulfill the law for us because we can't do that ourselves.  Every "I" has been dotted (even if my computer refuses to leave it a dotted i) and every "t" has been crossed by his going the distance for you and I.  Hey! Did you get the message?
     The Sermon on the Mount then gives us the details of how we should live as surrendered lives to Jesus.  Not feeling the peace?  You are not there.  Not feeling the relaxation that comes from knowing God's plan is working out even if we don't know how?  You are not there.  Not living in the present?  You are not there.  Our daily sole focus should be Christ and him risen from the dead!  The Gospel message!  Yet, you and I make this a difficult decision as we get wrapped up in the cares of the world and the deception of the devil.  The message is that we shouldn't mix up our lives with one foot in the world and the other in heaven.  The message is that we have more than enough for today because God cares for us. The message is that there are dire circumstances for those who are perishing.  The message is that YOU and I need to get the message out as if getting people out of a burning building.  That requires boldness that can only come from the Holy Spirit as you become the messenger God wants you and I to be.  Hey!  Did you get the message?  It's always your choice.