10 of the most important rules for creating a life of holy momentum are contained within today's epic, epic gospel passage. Now as I deliver this to you, you may disagree with the list or you may disagree with the order that I delivered in, but what you can not possibly disagree with is this. If you spent the rest of your life simply trying to unpack and then live, the wisdom of each of these rules in this gospel, you would unequivocally become all God made you to be. You would become a living saint on earth and in heaven. Now here is the list in the order, presented by Matthew, the writer of this gospel.
Rule number one, go to your Jerusalem and endure what God asks you to endure. Jesus could have said no to his mission and so can you, you can turn away from your Jerusalem. You can distract yourself. You can avoid or minimize pain as best you can, but beware, because if you turn away from your Jerusalem, instead of turning toward it, you will rob yourself of the best and deepest parts of life. Think here of a married couple who avoids difficult conversations, personal demons and runs away from one another every single time something gets hard. That couple will eventually run away from one another and then never come back. Those hard conversations, those difficult circumstances, those are the Jerusalem. But the couple who turns toward their Jerusalem, who has the hard conversations, who commits to growing individually and together, and who holds hands to the worst of every storm, that couple will know a love and an intimacy that few people experience on earth.
Rule number two, death comes before resurrection. A forest must burn before life can return. The leaves on a tree die in the winter to make room for new and abundant life in the spring. One romantic relationship will end in order to make room for a new and more life-giving one. If you take a moment and think of your own life, can you actually recall a moment of growth that wasn't preceded by a death of some kind, by a letting go, a ceasing, a farewell? I certainly can't.
Rule number three, listen to God, mount the foolish. Make no mistake about it. When you pursue God's dream for your life, some people will do everything in their power to stop you, even those closest to you. They will pull you aside just as Peter pulls Jesus aside and call on the power of God just as Peter calls on the power of God to prevent you from doing what you know you are called and made to do. In life we encounter many voices and many people who readily give their opinion, even if they're not asked. Some will have the best of intentions, and some will not. Either way, who you listen to and who you don't has a powerful impact on your life.
Rule number four, the proper and loving response to those who try and forbid you from doing and becoming who God made you to be is this. Get behind me, Satan. You are an obstacle to me. You are not thinking as God does. But as humans do. In your life, there's going to be the critic, there's going to be the hater, the misguided, the foolish, the well-intentioned, who say to you, avoid suffering, or that dream is too big for you, or you're not talented, pretty smart, strong enough to go where you're called to go. And it is the loving thing to do. Loving to yourself and to God to say, hey, you, with your criticisms and your doubts and all your other stuff. Get behind me on this one. Get behind me. You live for an audience of one. And that person isn't it.
Rule number 5, love isn't a feeling, it's a wanting. To love God is to want God. Jesus doesn't say, deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow me in this gospel. He says, whoever wants to come after me must deny, pick up and follow. Following Jesus will not feel good all the time. And if you rely on feelings, you'll turn away from Him at some point and never come back. But if you want God, if you choose God, if you really want it, then that wanting will endure anyhow.
Rule number 6, deny yourself. Deny yourself because your yes means nothing if you can't say no. Deny yourself for the sake of freedom, and deny yourself for the sake of happiness. A man who cannot say no to alcohol, he cannot be trusted. He isn't free, and he is miserable every second of every single day. So deny yourself. Deny yourself of the bad things that hurt you. Deny yourself of the good things that present themselves at the wrong time or in the wrong context. Deny yourself of the things that feel great at first but cause harm in the end. Deny yourself so that your soul is in charge of your body, rather than the desires of your body being in charge of your soul. In the name of happiness and freedom, deny yourself.
Rule number 7, take up your cross. Take up your cross. Take it up because you are actually incomplete as a person if you don't. Meaning cannot be found by way of eliminating all burdens. It can be found, however, by choosing to take up a cross that is so worth carrying that everything required to carry it actually draws out the very best of you.
Rule number 8, there's no such thing as an unpaved road. Human beings have been around-- we've been around for a long time, and we all walk the same path as someone before us, not in the same way, but the same path. And the amazing and terrifying aspect of being human is that we get to choose who or what we follow and the path that we walk. And honestly, the verdict is in. Those who follow Jesus without reservation, they are the best among us. They are the happiest among us. They are the ones that we call saints.
Rule number 9, there is actually no scenario where you trade your soul in exchange for literally anything and come out the other side better off for having made the trade. Your soul, your character, is too precious to be sold for anything. The dead all speak in unison. In the end, all you have is who you are. So what profit would there be for one to gain the whole world but lose their soul? The answer is absolutely nothing.
The 10th and final rule, all will be repaid according to their conduct. It's not enough to talk about being good. It's not enough to talk about being a holy person or creating holy moments. You have to do it. You have to live it. You have to create them. In life, we either create holy moments or unholy moments, and in the end, when we come face to face with our maker, we will present to Him a life of unholy or holy momentum. And we decide which one, and then He decides what happens after that.
So there it is. Those are the 10 rules. 10 life-changing lessons, and if you embrace them, you will become everything God made you to be. If I embrace them, I'll become everything that God made me to be. The thing is, though, those are 10 rules we really don't like talking about, and that is one of the reasons why the gospel has been and will forever be the most important, important piece of work you could ever read in your life. Without it, without the life and teaching of Jesus, where would we be as a society? Where would I be as a human being? I hope we never find out.
