Sermon OTM – Matthew 7:24-8:1

Podcast

Morning Talk: chuck smith, jr.

“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” Matthew 7:24-27

Intro: My grandchildren have been helping me with social media, by interpreting a slew of new acronyms

Acronyms are abbreviations for phrases, titles, or names, using only the first letters of each word
– for instance, USA, BTW, or RFK
• acronyms look strange, initially
◦ a popular political insult is RINO: Republican In Name Only
• this came to mind when reading a quote by Justin Martyr
◦ a first century philosopher who became a Christian
– he quoted the part of Jesus’ Sermon we’ve been going over (Mt. 7:21-27)
Justin Martyr, “. . . let those who are not found living as He taught, be understood to be no Christians, even though they profess with the lip the precepts of Christ; for not those who make profession, but those who do the works, shall be saved . . . . And as to those who are not living pursuant to these His teachings . . . are. . . “Christians only in name”
• Jesus continues with his theme from last week
“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”
◦ and now he concludes the Sermon with a parable

The parable illustrates two prerequisites for a stable future

Last week the theme was saying and doing; here it is hearing and doing
– this might remind you immediately of the letter of James
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (Jas. 1:22)
• this is a dangerous self-deception
• there are several people I worry about, because they assume they’re fighting a righteous battle,
◦ but what they’re doing is not of God at all
– Jesus sets two characters side-by-side; one wise, the other foolish
• this is a familiar contrast in the OT wisdom literature
“The wise lay up knowledge,
but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near” (Pr. 10:14)
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
but a wise man listens to advice” (Pr. 12:15)
• both characters in the parable are building a house
◦ we could take this to mean that each one is constructing a life
◦ its stability depends the the values each one adopts and the habits they form

First there is the wise man, “who built his house on the rock”

Luke records the same parable, but there Jesus tells it differently
“he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock (Lk. 6:48)
– Soren Kierkegaard wrote an essay, “Love Edifies” (builds up)
• he stresses the important first stage in building up, which is “digging down”
Kierkegaard, “It is commendable that a man, before he starts to build, should reflect on ‘how high he will be able to build his tower,’ but if he decides to build, then let him take care to dig deep . . . .”
“In the simple story about a house, a building, everyone knows what is understood by the ground and the foundation. But what is, spiritually understood, the ground and the foundation of the spiritual life which shall support the building? It is simply love; love is the origin of everything, and, Spiritually understood, love is the deepest foundation of the spiritual life.”
• as you can see, he was a poet as well as a philosopher and theologian
– of course, he was right about love being the foundation
• Jesus has stressed that all through the Sermon
• love is the righteousness that exceeds that of scribes and Pharisees (Mt. 5:20)

Jesus then describes how sturdiness of house was tested
– rain fell, floods came, and winds blew and beat on that house
• no human person is immune from trouble
◦ inconveniences fall on us
◦ trouble comes to us
◦ storms rage and blast against us
• being a minister means that we have not only our own problems,
◦ but we’re exposed to the problems of many other people
◦ illness and injury, financial problems and job insecurities,
troubled friendships and aggressive enemies
all the usual (and some unusual) anxieties of life,
as well as our own actual losses and miseries
– all these things come as trials (think of a “trial run”)
• they test the stability of our lives
◦ and we’ve seen that whatever tests us can also tempt us
◦ but if we have a firm foundation, we won’t crumble
• that is what Jesus has provided us through the entire Sermon
◦ hearing his teaching is good–that much we can take for granted
◦ but doing as he says is like “building to code”
(then, even moderate earthquakes won’t bring our house down)

Now we come to the foolish man

Jesus makes it obvious that this person paid no attention to the foundation of his house
– not only did he fail to dig down to rock bottom,
• he didn’t even bother to consider the soils composition
◦ constructing a building in Orange County requires soils test
◦ builders need to know the compaction of the ground on which they will build
• what happens when you stand on a sandy shoreline and let the water roll over your feet?
◦ the water shifts the sand under your feet and undermines your stability
– in Luke, Jesus says, the foolish builder
“built his house on the ground without a foundation” (Lk. 6:49)
Jonathan Pennington, “the difference” between the two houses “is at the hidden level of the foundation.”
• maybe no one else could see how the builder cut corners
◦ no one else knew the way he violated building codes
◦ or failed to do what he heard Jesus teach
• but eventually, the truth came out

The assault on the foolish man’s house, was exactly the same as the wise man’s house
– but the foolish man’s structure was not prepared to pass the tests
• not only did it fall, but “great was the fall of it”
• that extra notation could cause me a panic attack
◦ ultimately, his was a life that served no purpose
◦ a life that did not benefit anyone–not even himself
– the obvious questions I need to ask myself are:
• Am I living Jesus’ Sermon On the Mount?
◦ am I becoming a kinder, more merciful person?
◦ am I practicing the true righteousness of the law?
◦ am I avoiding all the ways of acting like a hypocrite?
◦ am I learning to control my anxiety
◦ am I seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness?
• Jesus has brought us back to the crossroads
◦ the narrow gate that opens to the hard way
and the wide gate that opens to the easy way
◦ the wise way and the foolish way–one is ultimate success and the other is ultimate failure

Conclusion: We are not quite done
“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
“When he came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him” Matthew 7:28-8:1

Matthew encloses Jesus’ sermon in a tidy envelope structure
– the sermon began when Jesus climbed the mountain, followed by a crowd
• and now it ends as Jesus descends the mountain, with great crowds following him
• but what stands out at the end of the Sermon, is that
“the crowds were astonished at his teaching”
and that because
“he was teaching them as one who had authority”
• how did they experience Jesus’ authority?
◦ who is Jesus? Why listen to him and then do what he says?
– Jesus exerts his authority all the way through the Sermon
• remember when he was saying (repeatedly):
“You have heard that it was said . . . . But I say to you”

Jesus, the Son of God is an astonishing person
He carries authority within himself
He doesn’t need a badge, a weapon, or a university degree
His is the truest, the most real kind of authority
The words of Jesus stay with us as we descend the mountain,
and return to the desperate crowds below
But we return with a new vision, and a transformed life
Amy-Jill Levine, “If you let the Sermon be your guide, you will not only have one foot in the kingdom of heaven but also be able to experience that kingdom in your life and in your heart.”