"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house upon a rock."

 

         The Sermon on the Mount ends with a clear word concerning obedience. Hearing Jesus words is to lead to doing. Faith leads to action.

         This is not an easy part of the Christian walk.

         Miroslav Volf writes, "We may believe in Jesus, but we do not believe in his ideas." This idea of his that you would build your house on a rock does not sit well with us. The hard work of foundation building, of digging down to the solid rock, is something we would rather avoid.

But here it is, a passage full of directives: "Do not judge; ask, seek, knock; do to others as you would have them do to you; enter through the narrow gate; put my words into practice."

         Last week I said that I have recently been feeling convicted that there is a missing piece in my life. I have not been involved in some type of regular, scheduled, personal ministry of mercy or compassion for some time.

         So this week a few of us went up to Love. Inc., now housed in the old Zion-Benton High School. We learned that if we can get a team of five or six to commit to one Saturday morning a month, there is a slot waiting for us in their furniture ministry. This ministry is primarily about providing beds for children, maybe a kitchen table, a few chairs. They have both trucks and stacks of donated items.

         So will I follow through and obey this rather simple leading, or not?

         The Sermon on the Mount says that hearing the words of Jesus, and seeing a rather clear opportunity to put them into practice, I should do just that.

         Jesus concludes his sermon by telling us not to judge others. I have trouble knowing just what he means by that. I have to make judgments, decisions every day. I need to have some discernment into issues and people's hearts and what is worthy and what is not. I can't remain neutral toward everything.

         When I look at that word, "judge," to see if there is a clearer meaning to it, I come back disappointed. The word used here is a rather general term; it covers a whole spectrum of meaning. The best the commentaries can do is to try to differentiate between being judgmental and using good critical discernment. That does not help me, because I tend to believe that the statements you make about me are judgmental, but the ones I make about you are discerning.

         Jesus gives some help in the following verses. First he says that when we are judged by God, it will be by the standard we have imposed on others. Forbearance and forgiveness are essential parts of Christian life. Jesus will have more to say about this tendency in religious people to grasp well the law, but miss the mercy of God.

         Jesus then says that if you truly desire to minister to others, the crucial beginning point is an awareness of your own sin and weakness, and a willingness to do something about it.

         Klyne Snodgrass points out in his new book on the parables that at the time of Jesus, the common expectation of the Messiah was that he would come to separate the wheat and the chaff, he would establish a pure community, he would purge Jerusalem of the Gentiles, he would drive out all sinners, he would gather the holy people to himself, and be intolerant of the unrighteous.

But Jesus spent a good bit of his time eating with tax collectors and sinners, and at Calvary gave his life for the sins of the world. That points us in a direction that leads us away from judging others and towards life in the Kingdom of God.

A word I hear more and more among churches that are moving out into their communities to help in schools and neighborhoods is "befriending." Churches in communities where there are significant needs are adopting local schools by providing people for tutoring, sometimes providing breakfast for children who come to school hungry, or just helping with physical needs in the building. Rather than being people who demand things of others, we become a people who befriend and help those who bear the difficult social problems of our day.

         The heart of this passage has to do with prayer. Jesus says we are to ask, seek and knock. Donald Carson writes that "far too often Christians do not have the marks of richly textured discipleship because they do not ask." The problem for us is that we have been so well-trained in self-reliance that we simply do not feel right about asking for help. It is so hard in this culture to ever admit that you do not have all the answers, and that you might need help.       

         So, what can we do to put into practice these words of Jesus about prayer?

         Ask, seek, and knock. It sounds easy. But we have been conditioned by our culture to not ask, not seek, and not knock. It is not easy for us. We need to take some steps towards putting into practice these words of Jesus.

         First, I think we must admit that we do not pray this way very often. We have backed away from praying "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Especially in the large issues of the Kingdom we tend not to ask God to lead us and empower us in doing his will. We avoid the commands of Jesus rather than asking for his help in Evangelism, discipleship, or justice issues.

We also must admit that we do not seek God because we have become very passive in our faith. We wait for God to visit us rather than seeking God. We go along the broad way because it is both easy and inviting, and we think God will find us there, that God will bless us there. It is much harder to seek God on the narrow way.

         We often are not seeking an experience of God along the narrow way. We do not knock because we are unsure who is on the other side of the door.

         This is the issue that Jesus points to. He says that our lack of prayer has its roots in our distorted understanding of God. He says the Father in heaven is able to give good gifts to those who ask him.

Donald Carson says that too many of us carry extreme views of God. We think that God may be a malicious tyrant, one who is angry with us, one who gives unevenly, perhaps by whim. We keep that door closed.

         On the other hand many think that God is like an indulgent grandfather who provides everything that is requested of him, sometimes to the detriment of the one who asks. We don't feel right about asking.

         Jesus says that God is the heavenly Father, the God of the Kingdom, who graciously and willingly bestows the good gifts of the Kingdom in answer to prayer.

         Finally, Jesus says we need to learn to pray in a way that leads us to obedience. We need he says, to build upon the rock.

         In our church in Washington, we had a crew of people who committed to building all the foundations for the Habitat for Humanity houses in our area. Foundation building is hard work. It is labor intensive, often muddy. It is exacting work. The foundation walls must be just right if the frame and roof are going to come out square. Many people would rather paint the trim rather than laying the foundation. But when you do the foundation work well, the rest of the house goes up rather easily. Things fit and look right.

         This story of the wise and foolish builder is the first parable in the Gospel, and it concludes the Sermon on the Mount. The sermon, which is quite challenging, ends on a note of confidence. You can indeed be a wise person. Dig deep in prayer, follow the directions that Jesus gives, and think always of those who will come after you, who will build on your work.          That is the life worth living. Such a life leads to another word of Jesus, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

         Amen.