{"id":96912,"date":"2026-07-24T10:36:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:36:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=96912"},"modified":"2026-07-24T10:36:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T15:36:27","slug":"transformation-in-matthew-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/transformation-in-matthew-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Transformation in Matthew 7"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n<p>What will you do with Jesus and His teaching? Reading the Sermon on the Mount (again &#8211; how many times? Many!), I am yet again struck by its personal demands. Believe in Jesus? <b>What <\/b>does that mean to you? Just the mental assent to certain facts about Jesus? Of course, those facts must be at the foundation; after all, the usual expression about Jesus is to refer to Him as Jesus Christ. Yet, even with that simple phrase, it is to be understood that there is a &#8216;the&#8217; that is to be included &#8211; He is Jesus <b>the <\/b>Christ. He is the promised Messiah. He is the way, truth, and life. He has revealed how we are to relate unto God. Thus, we read the Sermon on the Mount again and try to learn what it means to follow the teaching of Jesus. This is not for the faint of heart, but it is accessible for all.<\/p>\n<p>Today our reading schedule is on chapter 7 of Matthew&#8217;s account of Jesus&#8217; preaching.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Following Jesus requires us to inspect our very inner being &#8211; this teaching of Jesus must always be applied personally. Each of us must remove even the &#8216;speck&#8217; that hinders our relationship with God.<\/li>\n<li>We must <strong>seek<\/strong>, that is, seek you <b>first <\/b>the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Again, this demands a foundational change of my personal character. What <b>is <\/b>the most important aspect of my life?<\/li>\n<li>Treat others as you desire to be treated. This simple sentence, if applied, would change the world.<\/li>\n<li>Those three thoughts, when examined by us who would follow Jesus, prove to be too difficult for most people. We yet struggle with &#8216;my will&#8217; versus God&#8217;s will! It <b>is <\/b>a narrow way &#8211; first denying self, crucifying self, and being able to say &#8220;<em>not my will, but yours<\/em>.&#8221; Even in difficult situations that prove uncomfortable, we must faithfully follow Jesus&#8217; teaching.<\/li>\n<li>Beware of false prophets. The problem with following Jesus is that it is easy to get side-tracked into following someone&#8217;s view and teaching about what such following entails! Do not believe every teacher &#8211; I John 3:1.<\/li>\n<li>Obey! Belief in Jesus demands this very change of not only <b>knowing <\/b>but <strong>doing<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Matthew closes this by showing us the reaction of those who heard Jesus:\u00a0<strong>His teaching is with authority.<\/strong>\u00a0As the Father would state: &#8216;<b>This <\/b>is my beloved Son. <strong>Hear ye Him!<\/strong>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Reading this sermon brings the same conclusion that the original hearers had: Jesus&#8217; teaching is of a higher authority &#8211; <strong>His<\/strong>. He is the Lord, He is the <strong>King<\/strong>, He is the Son of God who has all authority. Read again (and again) this sermon. How well are you making its principles the foundation of your relationship with God. In these three chapters you will be challenged to examine and change your character, your inner being, your way of relating unto God. We are never done not only reading but &#8216;doing&#8217; His will.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How has this sermon changed your life?<\/li>\n<li>What is there that you find difficult?<\/li>\n<li>What remains in your will that hinders you doing God&#8217;s will?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This is a difficult sermon.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Hugh DeLong What will you do with Jesus and His teaching? Reading the Sermon on the Mount (again &#8211; how many times? Many!), I am yet again struck by its personal demands. Believe in Jesus? What does that mean to you? Just the mental assent to certain facts about Jesus? Of course, those facts&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[674],"class_list":["post-96912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-change"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":60620,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-sermon-on-the-mount-nailed-to-the-cross\/","url_meta":{"origin":96912,"position":0},"title":"Was the Sermon on the Mount Nailed to the Cross?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 30, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry W. Benton There has not been a more fundamental question about how to rightly divide the word of truth and how to apply the scriptures than this one. At first, you might think this question is preposterous, but bear with me. There are brethren lurking in churches today\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31726,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/jesus-relation-to-the-law-of-moses\/","url_meta":{"origin":96912,"position":1},"title":"Jesus&#8217; Relation to the Law of Moses","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Matthew 5:17-20 by Bobby Graham When Jesus was teaching in the Sermon on the Mount, was he merely explaining the Law to bring the Jews into closer alignment with God's will, or was he setting forth principles that would operate in the coming kingdom?\u00a0 It is understood that there was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58679,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-be-a-victim\/","url_meta":{"origin":96912,"position":2},"title":"Don&#8217;t Be a Victim","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0by Perry Hall The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), in modern lingo, teaches these two counter-culture concepts: Suffering doesn't make you a victim when you find your blessing from God and not circumstances. Victimizing others doesn't make you powerful when your victims refuse to get their dignity through your\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56576,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-gospels-and-the-covenants\/","url_meta":{"origin":96912,"position":3},"title":"The Gospels and the Covenants","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 2, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Roger Blackwelder It has been observed that the traditional divisions we use to describe the Bible are inaccurate. Genesis through Malachi are called the Old Testament or Old Covenant. Matthew through Revelation are called the New Testament or New Covenant. The titles are problematic for at least two reasons:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57954,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lord-lord-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":96912,"position":4},"title":"Lord, Lord!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry \"Not every one that saith unto me, 'Lord, Lord', shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":96880,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/simple-obedience\/","url_meta":{"origin":96912,"position":5},"title":"Simple Obedience","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 23, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong C. J. Wright wrote concerning Jesus: \"There is, then, a basic simplicity about the moral teaching of Jesus which reflects the same characteristic of the Old Testament. This is not, of course, to say that obedience is easy. There is a commitment, a cost, a challenge. There\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96912\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}