Sermon on The Wise Man built his house upon the Rock Matthew Chapter 7
By The Reverend Charles Royden
Lesley Rochford gave us a real insight last week into the effects of the
Tsunami, when she spoke about her time in Banda Aceh helping as a nurse
those who were effected by the terrible effects of that natural disaster. It
was very interesting speaking with her afterwards about the incredible
things which some of the workers from Christians Missionary Agencies were
saying about the Tsunami. Lesley told us that she was not excessively
religious herself and when she went she worked with a Christian
organisation. The Christians working there said that that the Tsunami was
God's work, which God brought about to enable the Christians to go and work
in that Muslim country etc. I guess in the same way that people attributed
the Sars epidemic in Hong Kong to God, AIDs as a punishment of homosexuals
etc. God it seems is fully occupied dreaming up new and more indiscriminate
methods of torture.
So, I want you if you can to think back to those pictures which we saw last
week and you will remember the scene on two of them. The area in Banda Aceh
was completely devastated, all the houses were demolished by the flood and
storm, only one or two were left standing. Now you may remember being told
also that many of the Mosques were not destroyed either. Now I am guessing
that if God wanted to have a go at the Muslims he would have been a bit more
accurate and made sure he demolished the Mosques. God was punishing Muslims,
but he is a lousy shot?
The reason why the Mosques and one or two houses were left standing of
course was - because they were built on proper foundations, they were brick
built buildings. The poor, (the ones we are told God loves), it was their
houses which were blown away of course. The poor lived in houses of wood and
straw like the two unfortunate pigs, the Mosques were made of bricks and
like the clever pigs house it did not get blown down.
So back to today’ reading which does talk about building sensibly on good
foundations. Jesus is speaking at the end of the sermon on The Mount, that
wonderful collection of material which tells us how Jesus thinks we should
live our lives. Jesus has made all these statements about
learning to forgive one another etc.
Now Jesus knows that what will happen is that people will agree with his
teaching, but go away and do nothing about it. I guess it is the same as we
might behave about global warming. We read the scientific stuff which tells
us that glaciers are melting, the environment is going into turmoil and we
watch movies about it and we all agree that it is dreadful - and then we do
nothing. It really is quite interesting that the country which produced the
great movie 'The Day after Tomorrow,' has not signed up for the Kyoto
agreement.
Jesus knows that somewhere between the head and the heart and the hands and
feet good intentions get lost. We might agree that the following are good
ideas
* If someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other, * Love
your enemies, * You cannot serve God and mammon, * do not judge, * do to
others what you would have them do to you.
The problem is that we are all notoriously bad at implementing them.
So Jesus finishes his teachings of the Sermon on the Mount with a warning.
If you fail to implement this teaching, if you just nod your head in
agreement and then fail to act, the you are just like a house built on sand.
You look great but you will end up wanting and you will be proved to be
lacking in substance.
This teaching about building on the rock is not geared towards unbelievers.
I am sure that there are sermons all over the place today extolling the
importance of the wicked amending their lives and following the teachings of
Jesus. But that is not what the passage is about. It is not directed as a
criticism of the lost sheep who are outside fellowship. It is directed at us
who hear and agree with the words of Jesus, but fail to let his teachings
take root in our lives.
The teaching is delivered to people who all appear to be signed up
disciples. The point which Jesus is making is that just because you look
like a Christian and talk like a Christian, that is no guarantee that you
are actually allowing the Word of God to take root and form the guiding
principle for your life.
Jesus knew about building, he was a carpenter. So he used an illustration
about building houses to try and draw attention to the laziness of human
nature to. He knew how easy it is to hear things, listen to them, agree with
them and then go out and do not one thing about them. And so He told the
story to show the necessity of doing as well as hearing. It is not enough to
know; it is not enough to agree. Every word is given that we may use it, put
it into action and make it a part of the structure as we build a life.
Today in the Christian lectionary we embark upon a long progression of
Ordinary Sunday's, they are green in liturgical colour. We will proceed
through the Book of Matthew looking at the teachings of Jesus. The caution
today is to ask ourselves, how much of it will make a real difference, how
much will we allow ourselves to be changed by the teachings of Jesus, not
just listen to it and think it is a good idea.
Additional Material
Commentary Hearers and Doers
Our lectionary readings from now until Advent are going to be concerned very
much with the Gospel of Matthew. The passage from Matthew today has been
taken from what we call the Sermon on the Mount. It contains many rules for
Christian living. This particular passage today comes at the end of the
Sermon on the Mount. By this stage in Matthew we have already been given the
following teaching by Jesus
To let our light shine so that people might see our good works and give
glory to the Father (5:16)
To keep and teach the commandments (5:17-20)
To deal with anger and to resolve conflict (5:21-26)
To maintain proper marital relationships (5:27-32)
To speak honestly without fanfare or oaths (5:34-37)
To act in generous and loving ways -- even toward our enemies (5:38-48)
To give alms and to pray in secret (6:1-6)
To forgive (6:14-15)
To seek first the kingdom of God (6:24-34)
To refrain from judgment (7:1-5)
So now at the end of his teaching Jesus challenges his hearers to be either
obedient to his words or disobedient. Jesus does this by using the teaching
method of a parable. On the face of it is an easy to understand story, but
parables have a way of presenting truth in very clear and uncompromising
manner.
Jesus told this compelling parable with a powerful message about two men who
built houses. One man built his house on sand and his house fell down when
the weather got really bad. The other man built his house on the rock and
his house stood firm in spite of the storms. So far s good, we all agree
that we should build on solid foundations, we should copy the man who built
on the rock.
The Jesus comes in with the punch line. The difference between the two men
is not that one man is a believer in Jesus and the other is not. Both of the
men listen to the words of Jesus. What distinguishes them is that one man
put the words of Jesus into practice and tries to live by them. The other
man hears the words of Jesus and might think that they are fantastic, but he
does not live by them. The lesson is clear, listening to the words of Jesus
is a start, but ultimately useless if we don't live out what we believe.
That is why the Sermon on the Mount has been called the Christian Magna
Charta, the Christian Manifesto, the Design for Life, and the Rules for
Christian Living. Jesus is telling his followers that belief in him is about
what we do when we get up in the morning. How do we live our lives in the
choices and decision which we take? In the Sermon on the Mount we read the
Beatitudes, the Lord's Prayer, and the Golden Rule. Jesus deals with murder,
adultery, divorce, oaths, revenge, and worry. Jesus gives instructions on
prayer, giving to the poor, fasting, judging others, and saving money.
In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus tells his followers -
* If someone strikes you on the right cheek turn to him the other, * Love
your enemies, * You cannot serve God and mammon, * do not judge, * do to
others what you would have them do to you.
It is very easy to agree with these statements completely and then go out
and behave differently. We can accept statements as being completely true,
but nevertheless we can be utterly complacent and not allow ourselves to be
changed by what we have heard. The teaching of Jesus from the lesson in
Matthew Chapter 7 this week, challenges any of his hearers who have that
shallow kind of response. The message is clear, if you follow Jesus you do
what he says, otherwise you might just as well not bother following him at
all. It is a hard message, but it makes sense, being a Christian is not just
about things we believe in our heads, it is about how we live and show that
our faith makes a difference.
The storm in the parable can be seen as the Last Judgement, or any time of
testing. What is clear is that Jesus makes the assumption in the parable
that both men experience storms. The wise man who tries to live out his
faith and the foolish man for whom it is only skin deep, both face storms.
Faithfulness to Jesus does not mean the absence of storms. Our faith is a
strength to us in times of distress not a means of protecting us from them
in the first place. How often have you hard somebody say, I don’t know what
I have done wrong to deserve this? The importance is not what torments
assail your life, it is how you face them.
A faith that is built on Christ, the solid rock, is a faith that endures
emotional upheavals, floods of sorrow, tempests of grief and hostility. A
faith built on Christ endures our economic upsets, our sorrows and our
grief. But building a house of faith on rock is a slower process. It takes
more effort, stamina, patience, and imagination. Building a house on the
rock is a lot harder, you work and work and at the end your house looks no
better than the one built on the sand. Superficially they can be seen as
both being good houses. The difference is only seen when the going really
gets tough.
Another rabbinical parable said
'A man whose knowing exceeds his doing, is like a tree with many branches
and few roots.'
The benefit of a tree having great roots is that when a drought comes then
the tree can survive.
Bishop Ryle put is clearly when he said,
‘Sound doctrine and holy living are the marks of true prophets.’
And so the Sermon on the Mount is brought to a conclusion with a warning
from Jesus. His words are not just to be heard but also to be done. Choose -
wisdom or foolishness. Words without action and action without faith are
both shallow and not what God wants for us. Jesus is not impressed by our
pious words, rather he looks for sincerity in our good living in obedience.
Charles Royden
Meditation
What do we do when faced by people we really do not like? There will be many
different reasons why we don't get on with certain people and why they don't
get on with us. It can be really hard to get along with people who are rude
and selfish and some people can just wind us up for no special reason. The
Sermon on the Mount gives us guidance on how we should behave towards these
people. Even if we feel like punching somebody in the face, instead we must
show good manners and be polite, turning the other cheek. When we feel that
somebody has really pushed their luck and deserves a right talking to, then
we should forgive. God's way for us is one of learning tolerance,
understanding and forgiveness, especially to those we really hate! Charles
Royden