Baptist City Blog

Don't Make the Christian Life Difficult

Matthew 7:28

"And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:"

There is a reason why the people in the verse above were astonished at the doctrine of Christ. The reason was because His doctrine did not make the Christian life difficult, but rather His doctrine was common sense living. One of the mistakes many people make is that they make the Christian life seem so hard that many Christians live a defeated life.

You will notice in the Scriptures that the only ones who made the Christian life difficult were the Pharisees. It was the Pharisees who added to the doctrine of Scriptures so they could be recognized for their living. One of the reasons the Pharisees hated Jesus so much was because He took a group of common men and made something great with their lives. He didn't ask these men, His disciples, to do anything to impress man, but He simply taught them to live a common sense life, and the common sense life is the Christian life.

The verse above is the end of what we call the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus used the Sermon on the Mount to show how to live the Christian life. When you break down this sermon, you find that being a Christian is not as difficult as one would think, in fact, all God asks is that a person be real. Let me show you some of the things that Jesus taught that makes common sense.

In Matthew 6:5-15, Jesus taught us how to pray. In His teachings on prayer, He taught us not to be repetitious in our prayer lives, but to be concise and direct with our needs. He used phrases like this: "But when ye pray, use not vain repititions..."; "...for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him." Notice the simplicity of this teaching. The Pharisees were known for being repetitious in their prayers, but Jesus taught us to get down to business and be direct with God about about our needs. Jesus taught that before we even pray, God already knows our needs. This teaching is not difficult, but it is common sense living.

Another illustration of the common sense of the Christian life is when He taught us how to determine who we should trust in life and in doctrine. Jesus said in Matthew 7:1, "Judge not, that ye be not judged." God was very clear that we should not go around judging the motives of people. So how should we come to a conclusion of whether we should listen to a preacher or trust someone to use them? He makes it simple when He says in Matthew 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Jesus said the way to determine whether or not you should trust someone is to look at the results of their actions. This is not judging someone's motives, this is simply making a decision based upon the facts of what they have done. You cannot argue with the results of someone's actions. Again, this is common sense living.

Christian, be careful about making the Christian life so difficult to live. Study the Sermon on the Mount and look at how simply God breaks down the Christian life. When you do this, you will find that the Christian life is really not that difficult, but it is simply living by common sense. If you will be real and live with godly common sense, you will find that you will please God with your life.