Sermon on the Mount – Thoughts on Matthew 7
Sermon on the Mount – Thoughts on Matthew 7.
“Great multitudes followed Jesus, from Galilee, and Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan. And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying,…” (Matthew 4:25-5:12).
Jesus had just been touring the entire region in a flurry of teaching, preaching and healing. Huge crowds were following Him from one place to the next. So He decided to take His closest disciples aside to a hilltop near Capernaum for a special word. Apparently by the end of His teaching there on Mt. Eremos, many others must have joined them, because the Sermon on the Mount closes with this: “By the time Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed by His teaching, because the words of Jesus carried such great authority, quite unlike their religious scholars.” (Matt. 7:28-29). Earlier Jesus had just finished declaring to the people that the Kingdom of heaven is at hand (4:17), that it is drawing near, and now here on this huge hill near Capernaum, He wants to reveal the characteristics of that Kingdom. He has a strong desire to teach His disciples the character traits of the citizens of heaven. In the Sermon on the Mount, reported by Matthew in chapters 5, 6, and 7, Jesus describes not only the ideal conditions of the heart, but also what will result from those attitudes of the heart. He unpacks exciting and fresh interpretations of the Law of Moses that fulfill what God had in mind when He gave them to Moses on Mt. Sinai so long ago. Jesus expands on features of God’s Kingdom and what the way of Jesus looks like. As the disciples will see in the next three years, Jesus Himself provides the example we all need to follow His Way. We don’t know if this Sermon on the Mount is one long sermon taught in one stretch, or if it is a compilation of His teachings that Matthew decided to weave together. Either way, this Sermon is God’s word and provides the nucleus of the Christian way of life, including the Golden Rule, “Always treat others as you would like them to treat you.” (Matthew 7:12).
THOUGHTS ON MATTHEW 7:
Do not Judge. (Matthew 7:1-5) Let’s say a driver seems to cut you off in traffic, or maybe someone apparently gives you a scornful look. What is your reaction, and how are you to think about what that other person did? In the minds of the ancient rabbis, those are the questions that were debated and discussed in depth and at length. They would ask questions like… What scripture would apply? What is the right thing to do? What would God expect of us? Is there more than one right answer here? How are we to treat this person, remembering that we all were made in the image of God?
For centuries, one of the hot topics in rabbinic circles had to do with how to interpret Leviticus 19:15: “You shall not do injustice in judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but you are to judge your neighbor fairly.” And the two most popular interpretations during Jesus’ day were, “Judge everyone with the scales weighted in their favor,” and “Judge every person in favorable terms.” It is exciting to know that Jesus was smack in the middle of this very practical discussion, and that his words were intended to expand on this subject of how to judge our neighbor fairly.
Clearly, Jesus accepted what was popular in rabbinic teaching during that time… Give others the benefit of the doubt. Don’t assume the worst motivation for someone’s questionable behavior. Believe the best about people, because only God knows the heart and can therefore judge rightly. Drop the critical spirit before you become an incurable cynic. Don’t jump to conclusions about a suspicious action, but learn to make allowances. If you believe the worst about people, and judge them with contempt, you are acting as if you know what people are thinking and why they are thinking it. Instead, weight your scales of justice in that person’s favor, even if we think they might not “deserve” it.
There was a Jewish idiom during those days that talked about a “good eye” (aiyin tovah) and an “evil eye” (aiyin ra’ah). The good eye referred to looking at people generously, favorably, positively. A good eye meant that a person was generous in how he or she dealt with others. The evil eye meant that a person was stingy, unforgiving, negative in his outlook towards others. These were popular expressions in ancient Judaism, and fit right into this idea of weighting the scales in a person’s favor.
Jesus seemed to support all those ideas, but he increased the challenge by focusing heavily on the main reasons for showing mercy… Mercy toward others because of God’s mercy towards me; I give grace to others and allow them to have apparent weak moments, because God gives grace to me and allows me to show my humanity as well. I weight the scales in my neighbor’s favor, because God graciously weights the scales in my favor, despite my own sinfulness. Pretend evil doesn’t exist? Of course not. Excuse sinful behavior? No again. Moral accountability? Yes indeed. Judging favorably doesn’t excuse bad behavior, it instead graciously assumes a forgivable explanation for it. In terms of what’s going on in other’s hearts, God only knows. In our own hearts, which we do know, seek mercy, grace, and peace. Judgment is mine, says the Lord. After all, maybe that driver didn’t even see you, and that sour look came from a sour stomach… Who knows? So what. Give grace.
Ask, Seek and Knock. (Matthew 7:7-8). Jesus said to ask, seek, and knock in prayer if you want some divine attention. The Greek words are in present tense, so what Jesus said was, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.” Be persistent, don’t give up. Don’t be afraid of being bothersome, or irritating, or unreasonable with the Lord. God is patiently unflappable and understanding. However, God is also inscrutable. His ways are not our ways, and He knows what we don’t know. But even if He seems to be playing hard to get, keep your eyes on the prize. Keep on asking. Keeping on seeking. Keep on knocking.
There is a story told by Rev. Kenny Borthwick of an old building in Scotland that had a bakery shop on the first floor, with the kitchen on the second floor. This kitchen had a huge bread kneeling machine that, for most of the day, banged and knocked and vibrated, shaking the floor and walls. One day, the entire building collapsed unto itself with no warning. Evidently there was a cumulative effect of the bread machine after many years of use, and all that shaking and vibrating eventually resulted in the collapse of the floor and walls. There wasn’t one big vibration that collapsed the building, there was no way one could point to one vibration more than any other. Prayer can be like that. Sometimes when a prayer gets answered, it’s impossible to tell if there was one prayer that took effect, or if it was the cumulative effect of persistent prayers over a long time. Sometimes prayers are only answered after a persistent knocking on heaven’s door. Jesus wants us to keep knocking, like the bread machine, and in God’s timing the door will open, the response will happen. Just keep praying, hopeful and expectant, and eventually those prayers will take effect.
False Prophets. (Matthew 7:15-16). Here is Jesus once again announcing Watch out! Be careful! Beware! Be on your guard! When Jesus warned the people about false prophets, He was standing on the shoulders of a long line of Hebrew prophets who spoke of the same danger. Moses had false prophets executed for preaching rebellion to the Lord in the name of other gods (Deut. 13:5, 18:22). Isaiah warned his listeners of false prophets who misled them through their lies (Is. 9:15). Jeremiah spoke often of how the false prophets were dishonest and spoke out of delusions in their own mind (Jer. 2:8, 23:16). Ezekiel condemned the false prophets for following their own spirit and speaking out of their own imagination (Ezek. 13:2,22:28). Hosea called the false prophet a fool and a maniac (Hos. 9:7). And Zechariah accused the false prophets of lying in the Lord’s Name, an abhorrent act. So Jesus speaking of the dangers of false prophets was a good reminder to His Jewish audience.
Speaking from the Hebrew prophetic tradition, then, He warned of false Christs and false prophets who would perform great signs, and in fact would be miracle-workers who might even deceive believers (Matt. 24:24). Jesus said to take special note of their fruit, of the personal life of the prophet, and consider carefully the fruit of his so-called ministry. Peter goes into great detail in expanding on this warning as he describes the fruit of false prophets and false teachers, in 2 Peter 2. They introduce destructive heresies. They deny the sovereign Lord. They follow shameful, immoral ways. They bring the way of truth into disrepute. They exploit others with deceptive words. They walk according to their fallen nature and in the lust of twisted sexual desires. They are arrogant, selfish, and despise authority. They scoff at things they don’t understand. They delight in deceptions. They are well-trained in greed. They engage in empty boasting. They are slaves to corruption. They reject the command to live a holy life. They earn wages by wrongdoing. And the list goes on. So Peter gets very specific about the bad fruit of false prophets and false teachers. All these warning are sadly true today.
Fruitful Trees. (Matthew 7:17-20). Let’s follow the science, God’s natural science. In order for a tree to grow and thrive and bear fruit, it needs to grow roots. Bearing fruit depends on growing roots. A tree doesn’t go high unless it goes deep. Growing a root system in our spiritual life requires that we go deeply into God. We pray until it becomes second nature. We study and internalize His Word until it’s all we want to do. We meditate on the truths of Scripture, ruminating like sacred cows chewing their cuds, until those truths become a part of our spiritual digestive system. We worship with joy and devotion, by ourselves and with our fellow believers, to express our love of the Lord. We listen thoughtfully and consider the wisdom of those who open Scripture and expound its truths. Whatever helps us deepen our root system into God is welcome into our life. Without roots the tree will not get the nutrition needed to thrive. And without deep roots, a tree will topple with the first windstorm.
Our tree will thrive when we grow deep roots, bear the fruit of good deeds, and live into the fruit of God’s character. We won’t need to worry about the Great Lumberjack at the Judgment as we depend on the Lord for all it takes to grow in a heavenward direction. We need not fear the axe. With the sufficiency of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, our little tree will grow into a thriving tree of fruitfulness, an oak of righteousness.
The Conclusion to the Sermon. (Matthew 7:21-27). The opening words of the final section of the Sermon on the Mount are actually scary good, and I do mean scary. Evidently one can have a powerful ministry, even prophecy and exorcism, and still not be known by God. Apparently, one can do great things for God but still not truly know God. One’s whole identity could be wrapped up in doing things for the Lord, but not with the Lord. It comes down to working God’s words into your personal life, as Eugene Peterson once said. The bottom line is developing a friendship with the Lord, a relationship in which you really do know each other. External religion is inadequate. Demonstrating piety misses the point. Religious showboating leads nowhere. Mere God-talk is vanity of vanities. The holy-rollers sadly end up being the Great Pretenders, going down the drain. And then Jesus gives us one of His more famous parables of the Two Builders.
THE BUILDERS. a. The prudent, sensible, practical, wise builder had the good sense to dig below the surface of the ground until he found the rock. He then built his house on the rock foundation. The Holy Land has rock everywhere. Some rock is just below the surface, and other rock may be ten feet down. Everybody knows that the builder doesn’t stop digging until you hit the rock.
b. The stupid, lazy, foolish, impractical builder didn’t bother digging at all. He just built his house on the sand or clay at the surface of the ground. What an idiot.
BUILDING THE HOUSE. Since everything was built by hand, including the digging and the construction, house-building was only accomplished by rigorous work, strenuous effort. Building a home was very difficult, and even dangerous. Much building was done in the summer, although the hardened ground was like iron to dig. Home builders wanted to get the job done before the winter rains. If the foundation was not on a rock foundation, then the rain would soften the ground, the walls would weaken, and the house would collapse. Only an extremely foolish person would build right on the ground with no rock foundation.
JESUS. According to Kenneth Bailey, Jesus, the master teacher and Old Testament scholar, combined two prophetic references when designing this story. On the recommendation of another Bible scholar, Sheridan Larson, I am adding a third prophetic stream. The third is a remarkable piece of scripture, and obviously all three portions are major aspects of Jesus’ references in the parable. All the Jewish listeners would immediately be aware of all this.
a. Isaiah 28:14-18 refers to a time when God would build in Zion on a “tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He who believes in it will not be shaken.” Every Jew knew that at this time there was a sacred rock, called “the Foundation,” slightly elevated off the ground, sitting in the center of the Holy of Holies, which is in the center of the Temple, which is in the center of the world. With this parable, Jesus is boldly claiming to in fact be the Holy Rock, the Foundation, the fulfillment of Isaiah’s precious cornerstone. He is saying that if you build on Him as the true foundation, by both listening to and acting upon His words, nothing will shake you. You will be unshakeable through life’s storms. Jesus is asserting that the Foundation Rock, built by God, is Himself. His body is the new Temple, the Third Temple, so don’t forget to build your life on Him, through hearing, believing, obeying His word.
b. Ezekiel 33:29-33 is another prophetic stream Jesus refers to in this parable. Ezekiel talks directly to his Jewish hearers, warning them that they won’t hear God’s love song, since they are those who hear God’s words, but do not put them into practice. They are listening, but they don’t act on God’s words. This is the context of the parable, and every Jew in the audience would immediately remember Ezekiel’s words of warning.
c. Zechariah 4:6-10 is the third prophetic word that Jesus references in this story. Again, every Jew would immediately think of this reference when hearing Jesus speak the parable. Let these amazing words of scripture speak for themselves: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit – said the Lord of Hosts. Whoever you are, O great mountain in the path of Zerubbabel, turn into level ground! For he shall produce that excellent stone; it shall be greeted with shouts of ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’” And the word of the Lord came to me: “Zerubbabel’s hands have founded this House and Zerubbabel’s hands shall complete it. Then you shall know that it was the Lord of Hosts who sent me to you. Does anyone scorn a day of small beginnings? When they see the stone of distinction in the hand of Zerubbabel, they shall rejoice.” What a stunning description of Jesus!
FINAL THOUGHTS. a. Jesus says some scary words to start the parable. Some will be lost, even though they say all the right words. Even if they address God, even if they say, “Lord, Lord.” This parable is fair warning to all of us, that religious God-talk and powerful ministries aren’t evidence of salvation. We need to hear the truth at the heart level, but we also need to practice the truth in our daily lives, with God’s strength and enablement. If we only pay lip service to God, then we aren’t truly building our lives on the Precious Cornerstone, and we’re only kidding ourselves. We don’t know Him, and He doesn’t know us.
b. Both houses were hit by storms. Both experienced challenges and difficulties. Following Jesus doesn’t mean we are magically protected from life’s storms. One home was unshakeable, the other wasn’t. Build your life on the true Rock, the spiritual Foundation, and you will be left standing strong.
c. There’s a reason this parable was spoken by Jesus at a crucial time in his teaching, after His big sermons in Matthew (on the Mount) and in Luke (on the Plain). It’s a summing up of what He wants the audience to take away after all those words in those sermons. Hear and do. Listen and practice. Believe and obey. Build on the Living Stone.
d. There was no doubt in the Early Church’s mind that Jesus fulfilled the messianic prophecies of Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, and Zechariah 10:4, that Christ came out of Zion to be the Foundation Rock upon which to build one’s life and salvation. Jesus Himself claimed to be the Living Stone, the Cornerstone that the builders rejected in Matthew 21:42. Paul says so in Ephesians 2:20 and 1 Corinthians 3:11. Peter says so too, in 1 Peter 2:4,6. And Luke repeats all that in Acts 4:11. Many who were in Jesus’ audience in this parable of the two builders, believed the story to be messianic, fulfilled in Jesus, that He is the Foundation Stone upon which the wise builder built his house. And true to His Word, when we build on Him, we are unshakeable. Let us dig deep till we find this Foundation. Then let us build our house, through God’s strength, through thought, word and deed.
Astonished! (Matthew 7:28-29). Jesus spoke “with authority.” The Scribes did not. They based everything on what they only repeated from their tired tradition, nothing new, no fresh bread. They were experts in repetition, like religious robots. They didn’t speak from the heart, from life experience. They talked a good show, but their personal lives were inconsistent with their teaching. They didn’t “own” their fancy religious words. Jesus, though, spoke with authority. He spoke from a pure heart that was consistent with His authentically holy life. He “owned” His profound teaching. He spoke fresh words from God, new yet in the spirit of Hebrew scriptures. Jesus was the genuine article, the wise author of His own words, which was the source of His life-giving power and authority, astounding the crowd. Regarding Matthew 7:28: “The Greek word used here, “ekplesso,” is a strong verb that means ‘awestruck, filled with amazement, astonished, panic stricken, something that takes your breath away, to be shocked.’ Clearly Jesus spoke with such glory and power emanating from him that his words were like thunderbolts in their hearts. May we hear his words in the same way today.” (Dr. Brian Simmons).