PROPER 4A - Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19; Psalm 46; Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-31; Matthew 7:21-29 - 1 June 2008 - A sermon preached by The Rev. Peter A. Munson for St. Ambrose Episcopal Church, Boulder, Colorado

 

A Summer of Reading, A Lifetime of Practice

 

INTRODUCTION - God talk

 

There’s a lot of “God talk” in Christianity. We can throw a lot of words or phrases around, assuming that everyone knows what we mean, or assuming that others will respond to this religious shorthand in the appropriate way. You read it in books. You hear a lot of it in TV preaching. But we do it among ourselves, too.

 

I read a little book this week on money and wealth and stewardship. It was written from a Christian perspective, and made some good points. Towards the end of the book, the writer was making the point that everyone sins, that our sins get in the way, and our lives could be set right by praying for Jesus to come into our lives. I read, “Because God is holy, He hates sin. Because He is just, He has arranged a way for us to be restored to a relationship with Him in spite of our sin, sending Jesus Christ to die in our place.” He went on to suggest a prayer we all can pray, which included the words, “Thank You for sending Jesus to pay the penalty for me.”

 

I get what the writer is trying to say. But most of it is God talk. And we are supposed to respond. “Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Thank you, Jesus. Glory, glory to God! And all the people... in the name of Jesus... said... Amen! Amen! Can I get an amen, brother?” And when we say the sacred names “God” and “Jesus”, we’re supposed to turn them into three-syllable words. Then we’re supposed to go out and “share Christ” and ask others, “Have you been saved?” We talk of grace and spirituality and faith and love and redemption and salvation and so many other things, and we assume that everyone knows what we’re talking about, but it’s often true that you and I, who are part of the same faith community, don’t even have the same understanding of those words!

 

God talk. We can speak a certain language - a uniquely religious language - and if we’re not careful, the language begins to separate us from the very people that we want to make a connection with. We preachers may be the most guilty of all.

 

JESUS’ WORDS

Jesus said, “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 deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

 

Just saying the right words won’t get you into the kingdom. Calling Jesus ‘Lord’, claiming to do things “in the name of Jesus”, praying by inserting certain “magic words”, doesn’t necessarily get you there. We might be fooling others. We might even be fooling ourselves. But we don’t fool God.

 

These words from Jesus came toward the very end of his Sermon on the Mount. Then, in reference to all that he had said in that sermon, he added, “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!” (Matt. 7:24-27)

 

What are the operative words? Well, the house on rock and the house on sand are classic images, but the operative words are “hears these words of mine and acts on them”, and “hears these words of mine and does not act on them.”

 

Jesus challenges us to act on his words. To act on them, we must read them and hear them – really take them in. The Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever given. And yet, sometimes we shy away from these words. Or, if we’ve read them, we think, “I could never live into all that.” And yet, trying to act on his words… trying to live out his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount… seeking to be obedient to those teachings… that is what is necessary if we want to enter into his kingdom.

 

What I notice is that sometimes we are law happy. But the laws we want people to abide by are laws of our own making, even laws of our own choosing. Often these laws or cultural norms – even those espoused by religious people – have nothing to do with Jesus, and nothing to do with the Sermon on the Mount.

 

“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Eugene Peterson, in The Message, puts it this way: “You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.” Does this sound like a teaching from our culture, where the messages are most often about being full of yourself? Who talks about being poor in Spirit? Who talks about being at the end of your rope as a good thing? Who says that with less of you there is more room for God? Jesus does.

 

“Blessed are the meek.” In The Message, “You’re blessed when you’re content with just you are – no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” Who in our culture talks about contentment? Almost no one! Get more; you can be more; strive for more; never be satisfied! How many people talk about the value of things that cannot be bought, or of inheriting the earth? Jesus did.

 

“Blessed are the peacemakers.” In The Message, “You’re blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of to compete or fight.” In our culture, the message is much different, and it’s often shouted by our political leaders, no matter which party they belong to. BLESSED ARE THE WARRIORS! Blessed are the peacemakers? You’re blessed when you show people how to cooperate? Who speaks this way? Jesus did.

 

What are some of the other things Jesus said in this sermon?

 

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets… unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

 

“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘you fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.”

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.”

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.”

 

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love only those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?... Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (The Message: “Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”)

 

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.”

 

“… do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what your will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”

 

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged… Why do you see the speck in you neighbor’s eye, but not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take that speck out of your eye?’ You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.”

 

And how about this? “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”

 

JESUS’ AUTHORITY

 

We are told that when Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he taught as one having authority, and not as their scribes. I don’t think they missed a thing when he said, “You have heard that it was said [in the Jewish law that they had all been taught], but I say to you…” No, he was not coming to abolish the law and the prophets. But he was coming to interpret them, to point out that the so-called religious experts of the day were not getting to the root of what the law was really about, and thus, they didn’t realize how radical the law really was. His authority was grounded in who he was, and in his deeper understanding of the law.

 

The standard for love isn’t just whether you know how to love your friends, and others who love you.

 

Don’t be all self-satisfied and self-righteous if you have never committed adultery, if you still wrestle with seeing a person as an object for your lust.

 

If you’re good at finding fault in others and never see any of your own deficiencies that you need to work on, so what? Big whoop! Anyone can be like that.

 

HUMILITY, GRACE, AND PRACTICE

 

Every time I read and get quiet with the Sermon on the Mount, I am humbled. I see myself as I am, and I see how far I still have to go in this thing we call the Christian life. I read the Sermon on the Mount, and I can certainly nod my head with Paul, when he says in Romans 3:23 that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Well, I can’t speak for all. But I can certainly speak for myself, and I know Paul’s words to be true for me.

 

I also identify with the latter part of that same verse: “… they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” I fall back into that trap that I think most of us humans fall into, and we fall into it more than once during our lifetime. I want to justify myself. Isn’t that why we judge others, really? We want to justify ourselves. “Look, I’m not doing what that slouch is doing!” But I – I, Peter Munson – have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And my sin has not been just a one-time occasion, not by a long shot. And I am in desperate need of God’s grace, and that justification that can only come from God.

 

It is only by God’s grace that I can stand at all. It is obviously only by God’s grace that I can begin to take my first steps in acting on the words Jesus taught us in the Sermon on the Mount. But you know what? He did not preach the wrong words in that sermon. They are not, in fact, too hard for us, when we rely on the God who sustains us and loves us and empowers us. It is possible to build a house on rock, and that is what Jesus calls us to do.

 

CONCLUSION

 

The life of faith has very little to do with your words or my words. It has so much to do with opening up and receiving the living, lifesaving Word from God, which is Jesus, and acting on his words. For his words are the words of life and love. His words are the words that save us. And when we act on his words, according to him, we will enter the kingdom of heaven. And not just someday when we die, but today – now.

 

And so we re-commit ourselves this day, to acting on – to living out – Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount. This is what we mean by spiritual practices or spiritual disciplines. We pray, and keep learning how to pray. We strive to love others – both friend and enemy – and we keep learning how to love. We strive to work on addressing the things in ourselves that need addressing, as opposed to worrying so much about how we can fix everyone else. These are spiritual disciplines, spiritual practices that are designed to last a lifetime. We must keep up with the disciplines, keep practicing how to be like Christ, as long as we are alive.

 

I thought it might be a good thing if we lived with the Sermon on the Mount together this summer, so that we can keep practicing what Jesus taught, so that we can try to be the ones who act on his words, the ones who build our houses on rock. I have divided up his sermon so that we can meditate on part of each week, live with that part of the sermon each week, and do our best to live out that part of the sermon each week. I invite you to struggle with me, to practice with me. You know how folks are always talking about summer reading? Well, this can be part of our summer reading. And, even more of that, it can be part of our summer living.

 

In particular, let us try to live out the Golden Rule this summer. And let us try to live out Matthew 5:48: “Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (The Message)