Religious duty was a driving force for me growing up during my childhood. Religion was something I latched onto to give me direction in life.
The practice of religion kept me in line, but it also kept me driven. I never could just enjoy life or smell the roses, so to speak.
I needed a personal relationship with God. Even after I met Christ at age 20, however, I would slip back into religion-focused tasks. I still struggle with this today.
Sunday’s sermon, on July 13, 2025, entitled “Building on Earth,” discusses how I can set aside my drive to please people and instead build heaven on earth.
Since I am a builder, God equips me to build heaven on earth in three distinctive ways:
I can build righteousness, not religion. The plan is secrecy.
I can build faith, not disbelief. The plan is prayer.
I can build knowing God, not knowing how. The plan is a personal faith.
The first point of the sermon focuses on the fact that true righteousness is liberating and frees me from religion. Our motive is not to perform but to relate to God. And we need to seek secrecy as we serve others and not pronounce our good deeds to them.
In Matthew 6:1-4, Jesus says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The second point of the sermon focuses on the fact that prayer is essential for building heaven on earth. We need to ask for good outcomes in our lives and then believe that God can do what we ask.
In Matthew 7:7-11, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
The third point of the sermon focuses on the fact that trusting in a relational God takes personal faith and that kind of faith builds His kingdom. And we need to find satisfaction in what God is satisfied with.
In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
In other words, we need to act on what the Holy Spirit is nudging us to do, not just do something good because we feel it is a “mighty” work. Proverbs 14:12 says, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”
Finally, we need to believe that Jesus is the architect. He lays down the plans. We build upon those plans. We build upon the belief that He is God, and then we are to ask Him to do a personal work in us.
In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
If I build on what God has designed and established, mainly to love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself, then I will build on the rock, who is Jesus, and I will be safe when trials and hardships come.
Pursuing religion is fruitless. Real fruit comes from abiding in Christ and listening to His Spirit, doing what He leads us to do–to love, which is according to His will.
I pray that God helps me to keep this truth straight in my head.
—Ann Elizabeth Yeager