God’s Constitution, Pt 32: Builders

Matthew 7:23-29                   24“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. 25The 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. 26But 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. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

Jesus has been teaching his disciples about how to interact with the world and how to relate to others.  His teaching has been powerful and although he had begun speaking just to his disciples, the crowds had been gathering.  I can imagine the rumor spreading, “Have you heard?  Jesus is over on the hill teaching!  Come on, let’s go listen!”  But it doesn’t do a person any good to listen to a sermon and then just ignore the message, so as we come to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives a parable comparing a person who has been listening to the Sermon (these words of mine) and following his words with another person who has been listening and ignoring.

The point he is making is that all of us have struggles in our lives.  They happen regularly and they happen to everyone.  How we respond to them is what counts, and even more importantly, the messages in the Sermon lead a person to live in such a way that the struggles come less often.  For example, Jesus taught about prayer, justice, care for the needy, handling the religious law, divorce, fasting, judging other people, salvation, and even murder.  And he taught not so much about the actions related to such things as about how a person thinks about such things.  For instance, most people don’t murder, but Jesus taught that if we think evil about others in our heart, we have in essence already murdered.

Jesus made it clear that His followers should live in a noticeably different way than other people because His followers should hold to a much higher standard of conduct -- the standard of love and selflessness that Jesus Himself would embody when He later died on the cross for our sins.  Many of Jesus' teachings are commands for His followers to do better than what society allows or expects.  That sort of living differently brings results that may be surprising.  For one, people are attracted to such people; they like being around them.  Such people are nice, they are kind, they are pleasant to be around.  Also, such people seem to have fewer struggles.  The struggles aren’t eliminated, but they do seem less common, and I think this comes from the first result. 

The principles of the Sermon form a basis, a foundation, for a successful life.  They teach how to live a life that is dedicated to and pleasing to God, free from hypocrisy, full of love and grace, full of wisdom and discernment.  That’s the point of the parable.  A house with a strong foundation is unlikely to be destroyed by a storm, or even a flood.  Similarly, a life strengthened by intimate submission to Jesus and his teaching is not likely to be through back and forth by struggle.

The thing is modern people often complain about religious rules.  And they are absolutely correct; religion is about rules.  Jesus didn’t teach about religion, he taught about lifestyle.  The Pharisees taught religion.  Six times Jesus said, “You have heard it said…..  But I say to you…..”  He was inviting his listeners to live in a way that is pleasing to God, not by following rules (613 commandments), but by living under grace, experiencing blessings, and living in a Christ-like way.  This is the sort of thing that causes reduced struggles in one’s life.  If one lives a moral life dedicated to pleasing God, one can expect good things to happen.  He taught us not to worry about our basic needs, that God would provide.  He taught that while we are not capable of anticipating every contingency and that our sin nature will cause us to make mistakes and mess up, God is stable and consistent, and loving of His children.  When he said, “Let your light shine,” or “Be the salt of the earth,” he was saying that we are to be so different that we show the world there is another way.

Our top priority should be living in a way that pleases Him.  He said,

33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:33)

What are these things?  They are things like grace, blessing, health, love, and kindness.

Many of us attend church every week and we hear messages originally from God but spoken through the mouth of pastor or prophet, and often, maybe even frequently, that speaker included references at the end of his notes recognizing other thinkers on the subject matter.  Jesus didn’t do that; he quoted no source other than his Father or himself.  He didn’t have to offer support for his words.  We can trust what he had to say.