Do Or Do Not?
Matthew: Christ The Promised King • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 18:27
0 ratings
· 15 viewsAs Jesus concludes his famous teaching, the Sermon on the Mount, he chooses to finish with a clear call not just to hear, but to obey. The crowds are amazed that he teaches with such authority. We reflect together on how we should respond.
Files
Notes
Transcript
Intro me
It was the twenty sixth of February this year that we started into Jesus’ famous block of teaching often called the Sermon on the Mount! So it’s taken us six whole months to work our way through the three chapters it takes up in Matthew’s gospel, his biography of Jesus found in the bible. That’s quite a while but we’ve taken our time because there’s so much packed in here - so much to think about and consider in what Jesus is teaching us.
Today we come to the closing moment - and as Jo’s already explained, today’s gathering will have quite a different shape as a result. We want to make sure we all have the chance not just to listen to and think about what Jesus has been teaching us, but to consider how we want go about actually doing it as well. And that’s a really sensible way to finish this block of teaching because that’s exactly the warning Jesus gives to his hearers as he finishes up.
Let’s begin by listening together the end of this block of Jesus’ teaching. Liz is going to read for us this morning from Matthew chapter 7 starting at verse 24. Page 972 in our blue bibles - Matthew chapter 7 and verse 24. Page 972. Thanks Liz
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Thanks Liz
We’re going to zoom out again and consider the whole of Jesus’ teaching like Jo said earlier - but before we do, let’s work through how he “lands the plane” here as he finishes. Jesus draws this final dividing line at the end of his teaching between two builders, a wise one and a foolish one. And the first thing we need to see is who Jesus’ line divides - because the wise and the foolish builder have rather a lot in common.
First up, both hear his words.
See in verse 24 - “everyone who hears these words” on the one side - and then exactly the same in verse 26 “everyone who hears these words”. Hearing Jesus’ teaching is common ground, it’s both sides. Jesus divides everyone who “hears these words of mine” into wise and foolish. Both hear Jesus’ words - that’s not what divides them. That’s not what determines whether they’ll stand or fall.
Second, both are building a house - and Jesus doesn’t make any comment on the square footage or number of bedrooms. He doesn’t call out anything about their design choices or the materials they use as making the difference between standing and falling. Jesus is talking about our lives here - and perhaps there’s something in the way he doesn’t say one house was bigger or better, one builder richer or longer-lived. Just both living a life that, as far as outside appearances go, seems to have quite a lot in common.
Both are building a house - that’s not what divides them. That’s not what determines whether they’ll stand or fall.
Third, both face a storm - Jesus uses almost exactly the same words to describe the storm each builder faces, so similar our translation has chosen to use identical words. What’s Jesus saying to us? That every life has similar, almost identical trials? I don’t think so - and truth be told that doesn’t seem to describe reality very well. I know many here face trials which seem to dwarf any in my life.
So if the storm’s not primarily trials in life, what could it represent? Persecution? That’s something Jesus has mentioned a number of times in his teaching. Is Jesus saying here that all of his followers will face similar persecutions? That obviously not true - here we might face an unkind word. Brothers and sisters around the world literally face death.
So what’s the storm? I think we have to understand the common storm Jesus is speaking about here as what Jesus called “that day” just moments ago - in the passage we studied last week. That day at the end of life when some will enter the kingdom of heaven and others will be turned away by Jesus himself. Mt 7:21-23
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
“That day” is a storm every builder, every single one of us will one day face. And that’s where the similarities end. Both hear. Both live. Both die. But only one stands - one falls.
The difference is in what they build their life on. In the foundation of their life. Jesus underlines that for us: “it did not fall because it had its foundations on the rock”. Both houses looked fine until the storm came. Foundations might not seem that important - they might not seem to matter that much - not until the storm. But they’ll be revealed on “that day” when it comes.
That’s the key difference Jesus is pointing us to here: not what you’ve heard - not what you face - but what you do with “these words of mine” as Jesus puts it. Do they “put them into practice” - literally, do them - or “not put them into practice”. That’s the dividing line here. “Do or do not”, as Yoda would say. Only two sides. Nowhere in between.
That’s the different foundation. That’s the different thing to build your life on. Something that will stand through that storm which is coming for us all. You want your life to stand through that storm? I want my life to stand! So what do we actually do? Lay a different foundation, Jesus says. Don’t just hear his words - do them.
Jesus is clear, right? All too clear. Uncomfortably clear. We’ve heard all he’s had to say. Jesus’ question for us now is simply whether we’re going to do it or not.
...
When Jesus finishes teaching, the people are amazed. Amazed at his teaching - verse 28. Now it’s pretty common for people today to say they like the stuff Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount, that it’s great moral teaching, it’s just got all tangled up with a bunch of stuff invented later that Jesus never intended. But here’s my problem with that: if the Sermon on the Mount is just good moral teaching, if it’s just, Jesus telling us “how great it would be to be nice to people for a change”, as Douglas Adams put it in the Hitchhiker’s Guide, is that really so amazing? Enough to stun a crowd and leave them gaping? “be nice”? wow never would have thought of that! I don’t think that would amaze anyone. And I don’t think that’s a fair characterisation of the Sermon on the Mount either.
You know why they’re amazed? Verse 29 because he teaches as one who had authority. He speaks, like it or not, as if he is the Lord - the one people should hear and obey - the one who will either welcome people into heaven or turn them away. When he speaks, he equates his words with the will of God himself. If I had to sum up his teaching here in two words, it’s not “be nice”, it’s “obey me” - because the Lord speaks.
Six times we heard Jesus tell us “you have heard it said, but I say to you”. Six times we heard Jesus say “truly I tell you”. Jesus speaks to us as Lord. He speaks to us as judge. He speaks to us as God. He speaks to us - and he expects us to obey. That’s the point he rubs in through that final picture of the two builders. That’s where he chooses to “land the plane”.
...
“but wait,” you might be thinking, “isn’t Christianity all about grace - getting what we don’t deserve - not works - earning it?” How can Jesus put so much emphasis on doing? How can that be his final word on the matter? To declare obedience as what will determine whether we stand or fall on “that day”?
Well, if you’ve been with us through these last months, you’ll know we’ve seen that this teaching is Jesus’ blueprint for his Kingdom of transformed hearts. And that’s the key - that’s how this all fits together. Doing what Jesus commands, the righteousness that exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, as we’ve seen again and again is an inside-out righteousness - a doing, an obedience, that can only come from a God-transformed heart. Grace is the root. In His grace, God transforms our hearts. Obedience is the fruit. Evidence, not earning it. An inside-out righteousness that’s impossible without God’s gracious transformation.
...
Taking onboard what Jesus has said here, we’re going to spend the rest of our time together today focused on trying to get specific about a step to take towards not just hearing Jesus’ words, but putting them into practice. But this only makes sense as seeking to bear the obedient fruit of God’s gracious root. So if you don’t have that root - if you haven’t asked God to transform your heart - don’t get ahead of yourself and start trying for fruit with no root. Hear Jesus’ warning about the coming storm, hear how obedience is critical, and do business with God, asking for that root, that transformed heart, which will make it possible.
But if you have that root - and if you’ve asked God for it, you do - remember Jesus taught us Mt 7:7-8
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
The prayer for the transformed heart is the prayer that is always answered. So if you have that transformed heart, then it’s time to fertilise and water that root and bear some fruit.
And as we’ve been thinking about the best way to get practical here, the team has put together these wonderful handouts which try and summarise Jesus’ teaching that we’ve been working through for the last six months. There’s a link to the digital version our stream host will post for those watching too and you can find it in the app too. We’ve covered a lot of ground. There’s so much here it can feel pretty overwhelming.
The best idea we had was, rather than going after everything at once and getting completely swamped, that we’d make time for each of us to pick one area that particularly spoke to or challenged us, and then think about some practical next steps we might take towards obedience in that one area over the coming weeks and months. So if we can get these handouts circulated, they just need a wee fold like this, what you’ve got here is a cover reminding us this is for transformed hearts. And then inside that you’ve got the foundations Jesus laid at the outset explaining that. Open it up, and you’ve got all the different topics Jesus covers - “these words of mine” which he calls us to actually do. And finally on the back there, we’ve got some space for us to respond - or there’s a fill-in note on this week’s talk in the app if you wanted to do that digitally.
If you’ve been with us through these months, hopefully the summaries will help you link back and think back to what we’ve been studying together - if you’ve only caught parts or joined part way through, don’t worry - you can just pick somewhere to start from that. Even if this is your first Sunday with us you can still join in - we’d encourage you - and everyone - to pick up a bible and read Jesus words again as you think and pray and see what the Spirit draws you to as we begin to look for a particular place to put our focus on putting into practice in the next season. The references are all on the handout.
Now we’re going to take time to prayerfully and thoughtfully work on this together through the remainder of our time this morning - and as we begin that, let me pray, ‘cause we know only doing this in dependence on the God who transforms hearts.