The Heart of the Gospel (Matthew 7:21-29)

 “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 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?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.’

“Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”

Now when Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.

Sermon

I must confess: I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I decided to preach a series of sermons on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. I mean, I did… I knew it would be powerful. But it has been even more powerful—and even more challenging—than I expected.

Week 1: we heard the beatitudes, and learned that God’s blessings are not given to the wealthy and the powerful; those who have already been blessed in this world. Neither Caesar, nor Herod, nor the high priests, nor any of the more influential or prominent secular or religious leaders are mentioned as recipients of God’s blessings… Isn’t this just the opposite of how the world works? The wealthy and powerful are blessed… at least in our eyes. 

But in God’s kingdom, it’s the poor, the meek, the persecuted, the hungry, and those who mourn who are blessed. The last shall be first, and the first shall be last. The mighty are cast down, and the lowly are exalted. 

Week 2: we heard about Salt and light. Your particular variety of salt is something unique to you, and God calls you to spread your salt upon the earth. And the light within you is also unique, and it is holy. 

God calls upon you to shine your light and not hide it. The things that make you unique and different are exactly what this world needs.

Week 3: we heard how Jesus doesn’t overturn the ancient teachings, but instead expands on them,… encouraging us to go even further when it comes to loving our neighbor… to not look to those ancient teachings to limit our love, but to go beyond the letter of the law, and embrace the spirit, the intent, which is to love your neighbor as yourself. 

Rabbi Yoachim Prinz said: “Neighbor is not a geographic term. It is a moral concept. It means our collective responsibility for the preservation of man's dignity and integrity."  

Or as Barack Obama once said, before he ever became president: “We are connected as one people. If there’s a child on the south side of Chicago who can’t read, that matters to me, even if it’s not my child. If there’s a senior citizen somewhere who can’t pay for her prescription and has to choose between medicine and the rent, that makes my life poorer, even if it’s not my grandmother. If there’s an Arab American family being rounded up without benefit of attorney or due process, that threatens my civil liberties. It’s that fundamental belief – I am my brother’s keeper, I am my sister’s keeper – that makes this country work.” 

That is the essence of God’s law; that’s how things are in the kingdom of heaven. And that is how we are to fulfill the law and love our neighbor as ourself.

Week 4: we heard Jesus reiterate that this kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, is to be our first priority. It is what we are to seek first, above all else. 

And by week four, the overarching themes stood out: caring for the poor, and lifting them up; loving one’s neighbor as you love yourself; working for what is right and just in the world.

*****  That brings us to today. Jesus knows that there are many who claim to follow God, who speak God’s name, who go around quoting scripture, yet who fail to embody God’s ways… which I suppose is why Jesus reiterates all these things in his Sermon on the Mount. He’s reiterating the teachings that are present in the law given to Moses, as well as the words of the prophets, but he’s saying these ancient things in new ways, with new words, and doing it louder, for the folks in the back (one might say). 

Because those who claim to know God and who make a habit of speaking God’s name… even though they have studied the law, and they have studied the teachings of the prophets, and they have accepted the responsibility to teach these things to the people, they themselves do not follow the way of living that God calls people to follow. 

They are the ones who say “Lord this” and “Lord that,” and “Praise God,” and “Be righteous;” 

the ones who make a spectacle of their faith, praying with a loud voice on the street corners and in the temple and in the halls of government, 

drawing all kinds of attention to themselves, begging you to see just how holy they are, and how strong their faith is… 

yet they fail to do the will of God. 

They fail to actually embody God’s love, 

they fail to love their neighbor, they limit their definition of who is a neighbor, and they do not lift up the poor and lowly, but seek only to exalt themselves.

They quote scripture, but they twist its meaning so that scripture becomes nothing more but a justification for their unholy ways. 

Then they dare to claim that those who are against them are against God, when, in reality, their actions are so far removed from the loving, compassionate lifestyle God commands;

and instead of maintaining justice, and doing what is right, they subvert justice, and have become the very ones that the prophets warned the people about.

Yet, because they speak the Lord’s name, there are many who follow them, who believe it is right to obey them, and who will even defend them, saying that they are people of God.

But Jesus sees through all of this. He says that not everyone who speaks the Lord’s name will enter the kingdom of heaven. 

They will boast of their righteousness, but Jesus will say to them: “Go away from me. I don’t even know you. And I certainly don’t recognize the faith you claim. It has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with God. It has nothing to do with the kingdom I came to establish.”

And then, because he spoke these words against them, those in positions of power, who boast of their faith, will accuse Jesus of blasphemy, of heresy, and of acting against God and against the government. 

Him calling out their hypocrisy and their false displays of faith will so offend them, that they will seek to have him arrested; and eventually, they will have him executed.

The teachings of scripture are indeed powerful. They guide us to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of peace, the kingdom of all that is right and just. 

But because there are many who will twist and pervert the law of God and the teachings of scripture, it is important that we read and understand the scripture for ourselves, that we study and learn to embrace the vision of the prophets, which Jesus embraced and called the kingdom of God.

That’s why our General Minister, Terri Hord Owens, has stressed to the church that we read and study the Bible. And that’s why we have our small group ministry, providing the opportunity for you to dive deeper into scripture.

We need to be Bible-literate. We need to understand the consistent vision, presented throughout scripture, of a kingdom or realm where love is the guiding force for all of life; that we learn to love our neighbor as ourselves; that we seek God’s justice, the justice that ensures that every person is treated with dignity and honor, reflecting their identity as a child of God.

*****  We need to understand the Biblical concept of Jubilee, instituted in the law of Moses. Jubilee is described in Leviticus, and is mentioned in Numbers, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and elsewhere. It is what Jesus refers to in Luke 4 as “the year of the Lord’s favor.”

In early Greek manuscripts, Jubilee is called a “trumpet blast of liberty.” 

Jubilee involves the forgiving of debts and returning of land to its original owners, as a way of preventing the accumulation of wealth in the hands of just a few people. 

Jubilee limits their amount of wealth, because if just a few people are able to amass obscene amounts of wealth, that makes it harder for others just to survive.

It makes it hard for society, for civilization, to survive.

Jubilee does not seek to ensure that everyone has the exact same amount of everything. But Jubilee does seek to ensure that a few don’t hoard so much that there is none left for the poor. Jubilee seeks to ensure that the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few doesn’t become so obscene that the poor are left destitute. 

And this idea of Jubilee is behind everything that the prophets stood for.

And this idea of Jubilee extends to the teachings of Jesus, and to the Sermon on the Mount. 

It even forms the background to the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus introduces in the Sermon on the Mount. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 

This is a Jubilee prayer. 

This is a prayer for justice. This is a prayer that the poor and the vulnerable are taken care of.

Yet in Jesus’ time—as well as in our own time—many of those who speak the Lord’s name and claim to follow the Lord’s ways, are the same people who craft or support policies that do the exact opposite of what Jubilee calls for. They remove protections for the poor and the vulnerable, and allow those who are already obscenely rich to amass even more wealth and power and control.

And that’s why Jesus says: “I never knew you. Go away from me, you who behave lawlessly.” You may be following the government’s laws, or the laws you helped create, but you are not following God’s laws. You may give lip service to God, but you offend God by the things they do. 

*****  And then Jesus says “Look. I have told you how you are to act. The teachings of the prophets, and the law of Moses—which I came to fulfill—have told you how you are to act.

Take these teachings to heart. Live by them. Let them be the foundation of solid rock on which you build your house. 

If you build your house on any other foundation, then it doesn’t matter how great and luxurious your house is; it will wash away when the floods come.” 

This, friends, is the heart of the gospel. And this is why I’ve spent a little extra time this winter, preaching on the Sermon on the Mount.

So that we can make sure our house is built on a solid foundation. So that when Jesus sees us, he will greet us with warmth and gladness, and say to us: 

“I recognize you. I recognize the work you have done. 

“You have cared for the poor and the vulnerable. You have worked for justice. You have loved your neighbor as yourself. 

“So come; there is a place for you, here in the kingdom of heaven. And the joy and the love and the happiness of God’s kingdom will be yours, now and forever.”

"Built on the Rock" (Matthew 7:21-29)

I read a story this week … I forgot where the story originated … but it involved a woman who was feeling pretty down about life. She was feeling dissatisfied. She may have even been a little depressed; but then she noticed, sitting on the counter just an arm’s reach away, a can of vanilla frosting.


She reached for the can, took the lid off, and smelled the frosting. Mmmmm. It smelled good. She found a spoon, and dipped the spoon into the can of frosting, and took a bite.

It tasted good; so sweet and delicious. It made her feel good inside. It made her happy.

So she took another bite. Again: so sweet and so delicious. So happy.

Wanting more and more of that happiness, and wanting it to last, she took another bite. And another. And another.

And after awhile, even though she kept eating the vanilla frosting, she discovered that the happiness was fading away. That good feeling that she felt after the first bite was no longer there. In fact, the more bites she took, the more that good feeling was replaced by a very bad feeling, a very sick feeling.

By the time she put down the spoon, after the can of frosting was almost completely empty, she felt far worse than she had in the first place.

This story is not so different from the one from the one about a man who built his house on the sand. Why did he build his house on the sand? Because it felt good! It felt good to open the door and step out, barefooted, and feel the sand squish between your toes. It felt good to be down near the water where the sand is, to hear the stream or the ocean waves.

Plus, it’s easy. Almost as easy as pulling the lid off a can of frosting. You can move the sand around however you want – grading the site, making it nice and level, is a cinch. You can do it by hand.

But when the rains fall and the floods come and the winds beat against the house… well, the good feelings fade go away… they go away, along with the house.

The words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are a solid rock upon which one can build a strong, stable, and truly happy life; a life filled with joy that lasts, a deep down satisfaction that does not fade away. The happiness that comes from eating frosting fades away, but the joy that comes from building your life on Jesus lasts forever.

This is the sixth and final week that our Sunday worship scriptures come from the Sermon on the Mount. There is so much wisdom, so many good teachings on how to find joy in those three chapters in Matthew; and yet, I can’t help but wonder: if these teachings of Jesus do lead to a better world and more joy-filled lives, why don’t we follow them? Why do we so often ignore them?

Why do Christians get so hung up on homosexuality, for example – something that apparently didn’t bother Jesus, since he never spoke about it – and ignore his repeated teachings on turning the other cheek, on making peace, on forgiving others, on not judging, on loving one’s enemies? Why do we not put much effort into living by these teachings?

I think part of the reason is that these teachings of Jesus are so new, and we’re afraid of what’s new. Yes, I know, they’ve been around for 2000 years, and yet they are still new. They’re unfamiliar. They’ve been untested by all but a very few people in history.

The life to which they call us is radically new and different from the life most of us know. The world that Jesus describes – the kingdom of God – is so radically different from the world we know. It’s all still so very new to us.

And we don’t like things that are new or unfamiliar. New things scare us. So we resist them. We resist change – no matter how much hope and joy those changes promise. Stepping outside of the box, changing the way we look at things, it’s all very difficult.

When Copernicus and Galileo suggested that the world was round, and that the earth revolved around the sun (instead of the sun circling the earth), people refused to believe them. Believing them would require a whole new understanding of humanity’s place in the universe; believing them would require them to look at everything in a whole new way; … and that was just too big a leap for people to make.

Most of us, we’re so used to building our lives on the sand, that we can’t imagine building our lives on solid rock. Most of us, we’ve been licking the frosting for so long, we’re too afraid to try something new, something different, something that might actually lead to a satisfaction that lasts rather than a momentary sweetness that’s followed by an upset stomach.

Showing forgiveness not only to those who we think deserve forgiveness, but also to those who we believe do not deserve forgiveness: how often has that been tried? How often has that concept actually been tested out?

In 2006, a man entered an Amish schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. He opened fire, shooting ten schoolgirls between the ages of 6 and 13, killing five of them, before turning the gun on himself.

Though horrified, shocked, and deeply saddened, the Amish community immediately forgave the shooter. Even family members of the victims offered forgiveness, and they reached out in love and support to the shooter’s family.

The news of their radical show of forgiveness and their willingness to love even their worst enemy captivated the world’s attention. Some were critical, saying it was inappropriate to forgive someone who showed no remorse; but most people were simply amazed that this group of people actually too seriously Jesus’ teachings on love and forgiveness.

Most people, despite hearing the Sermon on the Mount numerous times, couldn’t even imagine practicing the restorative justice of Jesus. For most of us, our idea of justice is that it be punitive: offenders must be punished!

And when they are punished, we feel good; we take satisfaction in the feeling that we did right. But that good feeling doesn’t last. It’s nothing but a momentary sugar rush that leaves us feeling worse in the long run.

Loving one’s enemies. Turning the other cheek. Going the extra mile. Not judging others. Showing forgiveness even to those who don’t deserve it. For most of us, it’s a completely new way to live.

It’s hard to put down the frosting. It’s difficult to put away the junk food. Have you ever seen the TV show The Biggest Loser? I’m not really a fan of the show – I don’t like the way it’s produced, I don’t like how the show drags everything out, and I generally don’t like shows that feature people getting voted off – but I am a fan of the contestants on the show. How difficult must it be to go from a lifestyle that involves eating two large pizzas a day while sitting on a couch, to a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise? It takes incredible mental strength to so radically change one’s life. At the end of the season, when you see the contestant’s before and after pictures, it doesn’t even look like the same person. And, in fact, it’s not. That person how has a whole new life.

I think it probably takes at least that same amount of mental and spiritual strength to truly live according to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount. The people on The Biggest Loser: they worked with trainers every day. They were encouraged every day. The trainers helped them find the strength that was within them. In the process, they learned how to live a new, healthier lifestyle, and they practiced what they learned. Every day.

That’s how we, as disciples, as followers of Jesus, are to live. We need to practice what we’ve learned, every day. We need to train. Every day. It’s difficult to begin living a whole new lifestyle. We need to find the strength that is within us, and we need to learn to rely on that strength. Every day.

We do this by practicing the spiritual disciplines. These are our training tools, which will help us live the new lives we’re called to live. We need to read our Bibles, alone, and with others. We need to pray. We need to worship. We need to practice hospitality. We need to tithe. We need to allow our lives to be shaped by the days and seasons of the church calendar, observing a weekly Sabbath, and observing special days like Ash Wednesday and special seasons like Lent. And we need to fast; if not a complete fast, then at least a fast from things like vanilla frosting.

It’s not easy cutting into solid rock in order to lay a level foundation on which to build a house. It’s much easier to just lay your boards across some level sand and build your house there. But we know the end result of such actions. Better to build your house on the rock, so that it will stand strong, so that you may dwell secure.