REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
TEACHING GOAL: To show the absolute importance of putting into practice the words of our Lord based on the Sermon on the Mount.
INTRO TO FINAL SECTION, MT. 7:24-27
READING: “In apply this teaching to ourselves, we need to consider that the Bible is a dangerous book to read, and that the church is a dangerous society to join. For in reading the Bible we hear the words of Christ, and in joining the church we say we believe in Christ. As a result, we belong to the company described by Jesus as both hearing his teaching and calling him Lord. Our membership therefore lays upon us the serious responsibility of ensuring that what we know and what we say is translated into what we do.” (Stott, 210)
READING: “Matthew 7:13-14 (and 15-27) records the beginning of the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. After spelling out the character of the kingdom in the Beatitudes – the “Beautiful Attitudes” of those who are members of the kingdom of God (5:1-12) – and giving his disciples the two metaphors of salt and light (vv 14-16) to illustrate how those who live out the Beatitudes affect the world, Jesus explained that he requires a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees (vv 17-20). He then presents relentless examples of what this surpassing righteousness is like (vv. 21-48). Then he gave specific instructions about giving, praying, fasting, materialism, worry, wrongly judging others, and prayer (6:1-7:11). He capped his comments on prayer with the Golden Rule (v. 12). Our Lord then began a lengthy conclusion to his magnificent sermon. In effect, he was saying, “That’s it, my friend. Now what are you going to do with it?” There is no point in listening to the sermon if you are not going to do anything about it.” The remainder of Matthew 7 is grand, motivational application. The Savior refuses to let his listeners bask in the grandeur of the sermon’s thought. He knows that admiration without action is deadly, that conviction without commitment will dull one’s spirituality.” (Hughes, 241)
Mt. 7:21-23 (“Not everyone who says to me Lord! Lord! will enter the Kingdom of Heaven) is about those who SAY but do not do. Mt. 7:24-27 is about those who HEAR but do not do.
STUDY TEXT:
“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. The 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. But 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Mt. 7:24-27)
REVIEW:
1. It is quite easy to delude ourselves and deceive others as to the true quality of our Christian life.
2. Building our lives on the solid foundation of obedience to the words of the Lord Jesus demands time and effort and is certainly costly in the sense of the emotional energy expended.
3. Building our spiritual lives is similar to building a house and if we let up our spiritual lives can fall into disrepair.
4. In the building of our Christian lives, our spiritual lives, there is absolutely no substitute for obedience to the commands of Christ.
5. The bottom line proof of being a follower of Christ is obedience to the Word of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.
SONG
THE WISE MAN BUILT HIS HOUSE
The wise man built his house upon the rock (3x)
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down And the floods came up (3x)
And the wise man’s house stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand (3x)
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down, And the floods came up (3x)
And the foolish man’s house went “splat!” [clap hands once]
So, build your house on the Obedience, (3x)
And the blessings will come down
Oh, the blessings come down, As your prayers go up (3x)
So always learn to obey
INTRODUCTION:
The two houses we will be looking at are the metaphors for two men’s religious lives.
OUTLINE:
SO HOW WISE ARE WE?
1. Similarity of the Two Houses
2. Foundation of the Two Houses
3. Putting Words into Practice
4. The Positive Results of Putting Jesus’ Words into Practice
5. A Look at the Storm
6. Destruction
7. A Look at the Fool
8. Review of Lesson 1-3 on the Sermon on the Mount
9. A Truly Wise Person
JUST HOW WISE ARE WE? – Part 2
IV. THE POSITIVE RESULTS OF PUTTING JESUS’ WORDS INTO PRACTICE
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice . . . . “ (Mt. 7:24)
QUESTION: What benefits do we derive from a life of putting the words of Jesus into practice?
We are classed as a ‘wise’ person
We will be conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:29)
Our life will be other centered, not self-centered
Bring glory to God
We will experience life abundant (John 10:10)
We will have a sense of purpose, direction
We will receive a “Well done” (Mt. 25:21) when we enter heaven.
ILL: How many of us have paid for expert advice, maybe even hundreds of dollars and then did not follow through? Here I have expended four years of studying the Sermon on the Mount, maybe the equivalent of 1,200 hours (the equivalent of 30 credit hours in a college) and you have spent at least 120 hours participating in this class about the Sermon on the Mount. How ridiculous are we if we don’t make every effort to put into practice what we have learned.
V. A LOOK AT THE STORM
“The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house . . . The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house . . .” (Mt. 7:25, 27)
It is not a question of “if” but of “when” the storms come . . . they will come.
The storm consisted of a combination of falling rain, rising streams and howling wind.
In a hot, dry climate this was the equivalent of an Arizona flash flood.
Or not dissimilar for the tsunami that swept Aceh a few years ago.
As to the two houses, the difference between them was not evident until the storm came.
Trials are sure to come. “Yet man is born unto trouble as surely as the sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7)
The storms of life will test our character. Will we stand in the storms of life?
“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – – of great worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” (I Peter 1:6-7)
“When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is established forever.” (Prov. 10:25)
“True piety is not fully distinguished from its counterfeit till it comes to the trial.” (John Calvin)
The foundation of our lives will be tested … now in time of trial but also on the Day of Judgment …. But it can be tested now by self-examination.
VI. DESTRUCTION
“. . . . fell with a great crash.” (Mt. 7:24-27)
Today we would say that it collapsed like a house of cards.
QUESTION: What other descriptors of hell are used in Mt. 7:13-27 which is the conclusion of the Sermon?
Note the metaphors of hell in Mt. 7:13-27 – “destruction” (vs. 13), “thrown into the fire” (vs. 19), “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (vs. 23), “. . . it fell with a great crash.” (27)
The man who built on sand did not have a little left, he had nothing left. The whole house was carried downward by the flood.
Other translation: Disastrous was the fall, mighty was the crash, its downfall was complete, what a fall it had.
The first line of the sermon – “Blessed are ….” Think of the last words of this great sermon, this “Sermon on the Mount” – “it fell with a great crash.” The first word – Blessed; the last word Crash.
And what is the difference between “blessed” and “crash?” …. Putting the words of Jesus into practice.
VII. A LOOK AT THE FOOL
But 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. (Matthew 7:26)
The Greek word for fool here is moro from which we get the word moron.
God said to the rich man who made extra barns to store his extra grain, who planned to retire, eat, drink and be merry, “You fool!” (Luke 12:13-21)
The foolish man expended a lot of time, effort, sacrifice, sweat and tears into building a beautiful house on a foundation of sand.
The foolish man was shallow in his thinking. It was all about appearance, speed, saving time, money.
But he does not build a house that he thinks is going to fall. He is very sincere. Who would build a house that he thought would fall at the first storm.
False believers also work hard and are sincere in building their religious house.
What Jesus is saying to us is that if we do not practice His saying, if we do not work the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount into the warp and woof of our lives we are like this stupid, foolish carpenter. Do we want to be classed with him? The only way to avoid that is to put into practice the words of Jesus.
It is interesting that in the Luke episode re building this house Jesus says, “Why do you call me Lord! Lord! and do not do what I say?” (Luke 6:46)
QUESTION: What is the major similarity between the five foolish virgins, the rich fool who built extra barns and planned an early retirement and the foolish carpenter in this parable?
The fool is foolish because he has no foresight. The five foolish virgins failed to fill their lamps with oil. They had no foresight. The rich fool who built his barns had no foresight … he did not foresee his death. If we go through life without putting the words and teaching of Jesus into practice on a daily basis, we are a fool and have no foresight.
VIII. REVIEW OF INTRO TO 120 LESSONS ON SOM
600-300 BCE has been called “the axial age” (when people in remote and apparently unrelated lands achieved major spiritual and intellectual breakthroughs) in human history, Mankind’s intense search for meaning during that period produced Confucius, Buddha, Zoraster, the prophets of Israel and the philosophers in Greece.
The core question they all asked was, “What does a righteous, right-living, person look like? How should we live?” Job states the question clearly, “How can a mortal be righteous before God?” (Job 9:2) The prophet Amos longed for this righteousness: “But let judgment roll down as water, and righteousness as an impossible flood.” (Amos 5:24)
When the 70 Jewish translators of the Old Testament into Greek (The Septuagint) came to the word “righteousness” as above they borrowed the Greek term that Plato used in The Republic for right living and translated it as dikaiosune {dik-ah-yos-oo’-nay}. A good, modern day translation of righteousness would be “true inner goodness” or “moral excellence.”
Dikaiosune is the very word used in the Sermon on the Mount for righteousness. It is as if Jesus was answering the question formed by Confucius, Buddha, Zoraster, the prophets of Israel and the Greek philosophers.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness (dikaiosune) surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven (5:20).
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (dikaiosune), and all these things will be given to you as well (6:33).
We know that, if we are a believer, we have positional righteousness in Christ – God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (II Corinthians 5:21)
We know that as a believer, due to our union with Christ, the power to live a righteous life flows into us – Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. (John 15:4)
In spite of our positional righteousness and the inflowing life of Christ into as believers, we must also do the hard work of training ourselves in godliness – “. . . train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. (I Tim. 4:8)
For four years we have been studying our Lord’s description of a righteous person. He has been telling us what true inner goodness, moral excellence looks like. In these last verses he is challenging us to decide to become that kind of person.
IX. A TRULY WISE PERSON
“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. (Mt. 7:24)
It almost seems like this would be a good parable to put in the center of Proverbs. Proverbs is the center-piece of what Bible scholars refer to as Wisdom literature – Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon.
“How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding than silver!” (Proverbs 16:16)
“He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers.” (Proverbs 19:8)
In the Jewish tradition a wise person was one who obeyed the Torah. It seems that Jesus launches his application on that principle and says that a wise person is one who obeys His teaching. You are considered a “wise” person if you practice the ethical precepts taught by Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount.
Again, we come to the question. We have studied not the wisdom of Solomon, but the wisdom of Jesus, an analysis of true inner goodness, moral excellence, Biblical righteousness. We have set at the feet of Jesus, the expert, telling us how we ought to live. Will we live right? Will we make every effort to put into practice the words of Jesus?
SO WHAT???
1. Storms will come and they will test the genuineness of our faith.
2. Destruction awaits the person, the full, that hears but does not obey the words of Christ.
3. For thousands of years people have wondered what a true inner goodness, righteousness, moral excellence looks like. That quality is described in detail in the Sermon on the Mount.
4. A truly wise person is a person who puts the words of Jesus into practice.