Hilton Head Island, SC – July 17, 2022
The Chapel Without Walls
Matthew 7:13-20; Mt. 7:21-27
A Sermon by John M. Miller
Text – “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock.” – Matthew7:24 (RSV)
This is the last in a series of eight sermons about the Sermon on the Mount. I did not cover everything in these three highly condensed chapters in the Gospel of Matthew. If I had done that, we would likely be going until late August or sometime into September, and I might have lost at least half a congregation in the process. The Sermon on the Mount, in its totality, is about twice too long for the average person to be willing --- or able --- to absorb it quickly. But I hope we have covered most of the important sections of this very influential portion of scripture.
It should have been evident to anyone who was here for even half of these sermons that what Jesus is recorded as having said was unlike anything that had ever been preached by any Jewish prophet who ever lived. It isn’t that any of it was in direct violation of anything written in the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament), but, to use a “contemporary” word contemporaneously, Jesus certainly put a new “spin” on ancient teachings. That was especially true as regards the Torah, the biblical laws of the Old Testament. Furthermore, in many ways the Sermon on the Mount is even more stringent in its commandments than many of the things written in the Hebrew Bible.
For example, consider the first two verses of our first reading this morning. Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to eternal life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7:13-14). I feel compelled to make my own commentary on what Jesus is quoted as saying in these verses and in many other verses. For at least the past five decades I have chosen to believe that Jesus did not actually say that. He might have said something similar, but not those exact words. If he did, he hinted that most people will end up in hell, and he is reputed to have repeated that idea in several other places throughout the Gospels. It should come as no surprise to any of you who have heard me preach many sermons that I completely reject the concept of hell. Further, I believe everyone will go to heaven, because that is what I am convinced God wants. And if that’s what God wants, that’s what God will get, because no one can ultimately thwart God’s will.
Nonetheless, much of what it says Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount is extremely demanding of anyone who would be a disciple of Jesus Christ. To deny that, or to choose to ignore it, is to do a serious injustice both to Jesus and to the Gospels that describe what Jesus said and did. The next verse you heard from Mt. 7 was this: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” I am certain that some people who heard me preach for a while became incensed by what I said, including that I don’t believe in hell. They might consider me to be the quintessential false prophet. I admit that I could be that, but I hope and trust that I am not. If questioning things that are said in the Gospels or elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments illustrates that I am a false prophet, then perhaps I am one. But I think I have heard enough false prophets myself to know one when I hear one. To me (although this is not at all objective), I don’t sound like what I think a false prophet sounds like. A frail prophet, maybe, a mistaken prophet, perhaps, but I hope and trust that I am not a false prophet.
Do you want to know the type of people I think are false prophets? Those who, in cavalier religious language, insist that laws must be passed to prevent women from getting abortions. Nobody likes the idea of abortion, but women should have the right to receive one if they are convinced it is the less bad of the only two bad choices they have. No male lawmakers should be allowed even to vote on such laws; only women lawmakers should do so. Were that the case, there would be no laws forbidding abortion. Other false prophets are those who hide behind the sanctimonious Second Amendment to the Constitution, insisting that automatic weapons can be sold to citizens other than the military or the police. Some even resist background checks on everyone purchasing any sort of firearm. They are false prophets, claiming to be true Christians in promoting such foolish ideas. False prophets sit on federal courts and allow pubic employees to address Christian prayers to God in public places that belong to the public, when “the public” also include Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and those who have no religion at all. For a Christian judge or justice to do that is to become a false prophet in the name of dreadfully conceived Christianity.
Why am I even mentioning these things? It is to alert you, and also me, to the fact that the Sermon on the Mount requires a whole new approach to the teachings of Jesus as compared to other biblical teachings. It demands new thinking, if we are to accept its essential validity. Probably Jesus said many of the things Matthew said he said, and also Luke said he said, since Luke has some of these same sayings in His Gospel. But no one can be certain of anything that it is claimed Jesus said. Furthermore, Matthew and Luke either consciously or subconsciously put their own “spin” on how they wanted their readers to understand Jesus. Had either you or I been there to write a Gospel for consideration back then, I have no doubt that’s what we also would have done. In fact, those who think they would never do such a thing are only deluding themselves. All of us interpret Jesus and anyone or anything else in the Bible the way it makes the most sense to us. To perceive it any other way is nonsense.
As though he has not already made this hard enough, Matthew says Jesus said, “So every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit” (Mt. 7:17) Who, other than God, can determine who is fundamentally good or bad? But maybe Jesus overstates the point he wants to make in order to make the point. Maybe much of the Bible is overstatement to make a point. I never thought of that notion until I wrote this sermon.
But this not all. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is 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 mighty works in your name?’ Then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you, depart from me, you evildoers’” (Mt. 7:21-23).
Jesus seems to be suggesting to his followers that it is important for them to decide who are the true and who are the false prophets. The problem is that many who claim to be prophets are false prophets, and many who would never claim to be prophets are the true prophets. Newspaper and magazine editors and commentary writers and a decreasing number of politicians are among God’s finest of prophets, but they never see themselves in that light, nor do most other people. How and why God chooses anyone to be one of His prophets only He knows, and those who are called may never know. Furthermore, as in most other matters, God is notably silent in giving us an explanation. Often, the ones who claim to be or are claimed to be the most authentic prophets are the least authentic, and the most authentic don’t make any such claims at all. All of this is, as I hope you perceive, a very complicated business.
And now we come to the last verses in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “Every one then, who hears these words of mine and does them will be like the man who built his house upon the rock. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been built upon the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand, and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Mt. 7:24-27) --- period; end of sermon. It isn’t a cheerful ending, or a happy one. Instead, it is painfully demanding. It states that we either listen to and follow the words of Jesus, or we reject them. And if we reject them, we are in deep trouble.
Two weeks ago I quoted the lyrics of a Sunday School song I learned in 1944 at the First Presbyterian Church in Dixon Illinois. Today I want to quote from the lyrics of a Sunday School song my wife has sung to me on various occasions through the years which she learned at the Presbyterian church in Newville, Pennsylvania, in 1957.
“The wise man built his house upon the rock,/ The wise man built his house upon the rock,/ The wise man built his house upon the rock/ And the rains came tumbling down./// The rain came down and the flood came up,/ The rain came down and the flood came up,/ The rain came down and the flood came up/ And the house on the rock stood firm./// The foolish man built his house upon the sand,/ The foolish man built his house upon the sand,/ The foolish man built his house upon the sand/ And the house on the sand went (CLAP!).”
If you teach little kids little ditties like that, it can change their lives. They might grow up to formulate a grown-up theology that enables them to build their metaphorical house upon the rock in their later years. Unfortunately, too many people grow up with the non-contemplative, unthinking faith of a young child, and never allow themselves to advance any further. It is one of the greatest tragedies of the religious life since Moses led the Israelites through the Red Sea and across the Sinai Desert - - - if he actually did lead the Israelites through the sea and across the desert.
You may be sure of this: If the final statements in the Sermon on the Mount were literally true, everyone living on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina should be in mortal terror. Every structure on this island is built on sand, because the entire island is nothing but sand. Bedrock is far beneath the surface. To my knowledge, no one here puts down foundations that far, not even for the five-story buildings that the town says “are about as high as a building oughta go,” as Oscar Hammerstein said.
I can only imagine that in Jesus’ time the only houses constructed on sand would be those in the floodplain of the few streams or rivers that existed in Judea. When the floods came, as they did in Yellowstone with a vengeance several weeks ago, everything along the rivers was washed away. We will never have to worry about rivers on Hilton Head, because we don’t have any. Unfortunately, we are not worried about climate change, either, even though, without doubt, in the not too distant future a higher sea level will inundate this island so that it will no longer be habitable. For the time being, though, our ignorance is our bliss, despite all our houses being built on sand.
Near the town of Spring Green, Wisconsin, there is a famous building known as The House of the Rock. The concept for the house came from the fertile mind of its owner, Alex Jordan. He had his house built on Deer Shelter Rock, an outcrop sixty feet wide and two hundred feet long on a hill high above the Wyoming River Valley (which obviously is not in Wyoming). He had asked the world-famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design his house. Wright had a spat with him, as Wright did with nearly everyone else, and he told Mr. Jordan he wouldn’t design a chicken coop for him. Jordan therefore got another architect to design The House on the Rock. Out of spite, Frank Lloyd Wright bought a large piece of property near it, where he built Taliesin East, his Midwestern headquarters. Later he built Taliesin West in Scottsdale, Arizona.
My speculation is that Alex Jordan had Matthew 7:24 in mind when he built his house. Whether the irascible Mr. Wright also did is debatable. In any event, people all over the Midwest and from other parts of the USA go to Spring Green to visit the two houses. It definitely put Spring Green, Wisconsin, which otherwise would largely be unknown, on the map.
Every house or building on this island is built on sand. Geologically, we have no visible rock here. Still, many people on and off Hilton Head Island think it is inhabited by a crowd of affluent snobs who moved here to escape the cares and woes of the world. Is that who we are, or is there more substance to us than that common caricature? Architects and builders have figured out how to build strong structures on our sandpile by the sea, but spiritually have we built on the metaphorical rock of which Jesus spoke, the Rock of Ages? Are God and Jesus a cleft for us too? Do we perceive God as a mighty fortress, or do we rely solely on ourselves in life? What would Jesus judge us to be?