This week Chris and I talked about the Sermon on the Mount - (this was the second lesson on the Sermon in Sunday School, last week it was the Beatitudes.) My husband and I referenced an awesome DVD called “Courageous”. It is about a group of fathers and law enforcement officers who, with the aid of their beliefs, make strong commitments to be better fathers and stronger men. It is a fictional movie but it is based on real truths. Here is a synopsis of a side story of the movie (Don't my synopsis of Javier is not a movie spoiler!)
(Movie Trailer From You Tube if your interested )
After making the commitment one man, Javier Martinez, finds himself faced with a real dilemma.
“I would like to give you this promotion and you will be working in receiving in the warehouse. You can have the job on one condition, There are going to be 17 crates come in and but I want you to sign off that there were only 16. The other crate is going somewhere else. I can count on you right?, You are on my team ok?”
Javier is torn, how can he lie? He has made strong commitments to God to stand up for truth. God has just blessed him with a good, permanent Job. He has to determine what to do. The boss gives him until 10:00am the next day to decide.
Javier goes home and tells his wife Carmen of his dilemma,
“What can I do?” “He made it clear that I had to be a Team Player.” Carmen reply's “you finally have a job, you don’t want to lose it, maybe it is ok this one time.”
But, Javier decides to tell the boss that he can’t lie and say there are 16 crates when there are actually 17. He knows that and he will have to turn down the promotion, he also realizes that he may also lose his job altogether. He tells Carmen “I will call after the meeting at 10 if there is a problem.”
Before 10 the next day Carmen says another prayer. Carmen looks at the clock, it is 10:10 and just then the phone rings. She doesn't want to answer it, but finally, hesitantly she picks up the phone and after Javier says hello she immediately begins to console him. “It will be ok, she says. You can find another job, we will be alright, you have done the best you could.” But, Javier, she finds, after she stops to listen to what he is saying, is explaining that it was all a test.
The boss had asked 6 other men the same question, all had said they would sign off on the 16 crates, and let the 17th crate slide. Only Javier had the integrity to be true. He received the manager's position. His family was blessed for his being pure in his actions and his deeds.
How can we tell if someone is a true disciple of Jesus Christ?
Chris and I Showed 2 Bottles of Water. (one he got from pure well water and one that he got from the toilet!)
We Explained: One of these bottles of water contains pure water from our well, the other water comes from the toilet bowl. Which bottle contains the pure well water? How do we know, how can we tell? We are the only one who knows, besides our Heavenly Father, where we got the water from.
Chris tells me that his parents told him that one time, when he was a toddler, his mother asked him to go and get her a cup of water. She didn't tell him where to get it from. Yes, he was young, not tall enough to reach the sink, and so, guess where he got it from? He didn't know better. We do, our motives behind our actions can be pure and true. I don’t know how she determined where he got the water from, I hate to imagine - but we are lucky, most of the time it is not necessary for us to judge each others water bottle, but when it is and if it is, we are told how we can judge.
Matthew 7:20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. One of the only ways to judge a true disciple is by their “fruits” Sometimes it is not necessary to judge but if it is, and when it is, and if we are called upon to be a judge, Jesus tells us this righteous way.
The real test of a true disciple is the heart of that disciple. This lesson was all about the purity of the heart. True disciples do the right things for the right reasons.
Matthew 6:19-21 (Where treasure is there will heart be also.)
How can we determine what it is we treasure? (One way is to evaluate the amount of time, money, and thought we devote to something.) Think about the things you treasure and silently consider what these treasures say about where your heart is.
We, as Javier, need to be assured that God will take care of us. How can we have peace, when things are tough?
Matthew 6:28 -34 At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told the parable of the wise man and the foolish man (Matthew 7:24–27). What is the “rock” on which we should build?
The Day before our lesson Chris and I, had to go and get ink for the printer and get the computer repaired. It was a real dilemma, it was going to cost more than we had, we like Javier were on our last bits of change for the week. We knew that today we would need to pay our tithing. Chris and I decided, after a bit of tough time and controversy that we would do the budget (we detest the budget). But, we didn't question our tithing we always pay our tithing, Chris had already written one tithing check for last week and we knew that we would need to turn it in plus the check for this week. We took the computer to Office Depot where they would do a free computer check. It ended up being something pretty minor and didn't cost us anything. It works, it may cost something later but it works for now. Then, we went to pick up the ink from the refill store. That man said, “I really didn't do much, it seemed that your ink was almost full, I did top it off, It wouldn't be fair for me to charge you, I simply made sure that is wasn't blocked.” This is an example of how the Lord blesses us. I know that God takes care of us. This has happened so many times in our life. We have no reason to question it.
•Jesus promised that if we “seek … first the kingdom of God,” we will be given all other things that we need
Matthew 7; 8-11 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
The Book of Mormon, another testament of Christ, repeats many of the Sermon on the Mount words to the Nephites in the Americas Long ago. The Saviors words to them, also confirms that we need to ask God for that which we need...
3 Nephi 18:19-20 Therefore ye must always pray unto the Father in my name; And whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be given unto you.
I know that God takes care of us, and that as we live as his loving disciples with true integrity and purity in our thoughts and in our motives our lives will be blessed. We are not perfect, we are asked to be perfect (Matt 5:48) but we can only achieve this with the help of our Savior,
We know that we can not receive perfection without him.
We Sang “ The wise man and the foolish man, as our lesson suggested” It is a childs primary song but it teaches an awsome lesson and since the lesson suggested it I wanted to sing it
(We did it - Well, most did, some of the class were kind of party poop-ers , and looked like "Why in the world should we sing that!" No worries, but a BIG thanks to those who sang!)
Remember the rains came down and the floods came up on both the houses! But, the house on the rock stood still. Psalms 46:10
We encourage you to read the Sermon on the Mount, and apply it to your life!
What a wonderful world it would be if we all lived according to these words! How blessed we are to have these words from our Savior right literally in the palms of our hands.
