Matthew 7 - Amazon Web Services
Matthew 7.21-34
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Third Sunday after Pentecost
Shelton, WA
The Shape of Things
You’ve heard the expressions: “Walk the talk”… “They’re all talk, no action” … “He’s a real big talker” … “Talk is cheap.” We’ve all heard them. And we’ve all probably used them a time or two as well. Somehow we all know that words by themselves are just words. They are empty, hollow, and meaningless. They change nothing.
Those who came to listen to Jesus that day knew about the powerlessness of mere words. Yet, at the same time, they were a people who found their identity in a word. And not just any word, but the word handed down in the Torah. It was God’s word given to Moses on Mount Sinai. It was the word of the Prophets and the Poets recorded in the Scripture. These were the words that formed their identity as a community, as a people, as a nation.
These were the words written on their door-posts, tied around their forehead in Phylacteries. These were the words that formed the boundaries of their society. They provided the rhythm for the days, and the weeks, and the months and years that made up their lives. They were the pulse that beat in the heart of every individual that made up the nation of Israel.
The words of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms distinguished them from all the other nations. They were like a garment worn that identified them as God’s chosen people. No one else could wear this garment because no one else had these words; they were given to them by God. Morning and evening they would meditate on them, letting those words fill their minds and their hearts. Each Sabbath they would head to synagogue to hear them read and to learn how those words should shape their lives. Each Sabbath the scribes and teachers of the Law would teach, and the people would listen… but little would change. Words are just words—they change nothing.
You know, I have preached something like 600 sermons. That’s basically one sermon a week for 12 years (with two weeks off for a vacation). That amounts to more than a million words. Yet I still wonder sometimes what has really changed.
Words… they’re all over the place. We’re inundated by them. From the internet to the newspaper, from the television to the bookstore, words are everywhere. They keep us up to date. They keep us informed. They teach us what to do and what not to do. They form our laws, shape our culture, influence our thoughts, build our relationships. Whether it’s the words of a sermon or the words of a campaign speech, words have the ability to sway and persuade. But do they really change anything?
You know, I really have to wonder about that. For all the sermons preached every Sunday in churches all across America, has anything really changed? I remember hearing about a pastor who preached the exact same sermon two Sunday’s in a row. After the second Sunday someone asked him if he realized he had preached that same sermon last week. His answer was, “Yea, and I’m going to keep preaching it until we start to doing it.” In other words: until something changes.
Think about it! Everywhere you turn anymore someone’s got a book or a magazine article with seven more secrets to becoming a better you, or three more keys to becoming successful, or twelve more easy steps to finding happiness. If these secrets or keys or steps really changed anything why is there a whole new crop of secrets, keys and steps continually sprouting up in bookstores and magazine racks? The fact is, if these secrets or keys or steps really changed anything there would be no multi-billion dollar self-help industry. Oprah and Dr. Phil would be out of a job. But the simple and sad truth is, for all their good intentions, they really don’t change anything.
Our world is still filled with just as many people looking for themselves, just as many people still chasing after success, just as many people still struggling to find happiness… just as many people wondering why things aren’t any different. They bought all the right books, listened to all the right people, did all the right things, but nothing has changed.
You see it’s not a matter of doing more or striving harder. Those Jews who gathered that day on the hillside to listen to Jesus as he taught his disciples knew what it was like to do more and strive harder. They worked hard at their religion. They strove diligently trying to live up to the word—the Law—that shaped and formed their identity as a people. Yet they also knew that no matter how hard they worked at it, somehow it would never be enough.
Jesus’ words must have felt like a fresh breeze on a hot day. “Blessed are the poor in Spirit.” Trying to live up to a standard that always seemed just out of reach, they knew spiritual poverty. “Blessed are those who mourn… the meek… those who hunger and thirst for righteousness… the merciful… the pure in heart… the peacemakers… those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.” Jesus was talking their language. That’s right where they were—broken, mourning, hungry, persecuted, and poor. Jesus had put his finger on their pain, and he called them blessed. In the midst of their struggling and striving, in the middle of their doing and their failing, in spite of their hardship and their pain, Jesus calls them blessed.
He tells them, “You have heard…” And they had—over and over again they heard. The Law, the Prophets, from childhood they heard the word that was supposed to shape their lives, it was supposed to be a word of freedom and life, instead it had become an impossible yoke on a sweltering day that choked and suffocated. A standard they couldn’t live up to, but one they couldn’t live without.
Jesus tells them, “You have heard it said… But I say to you.” The breeze blows again. Grace is on the wind and they can feel it. “Love your enemies… pray for those who persecute you.” Say your prayers in secret. Give alms quietly. Do not let anger rule you. Let your yes be yes and your no, no. Do not judge. Don’t worry, God is enough. Ask, seek, knock and you will receive. “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.”
These words were different… different than the scribes and the teachers of the Law, different than the Pharisees and the Sadducees. They pointed to a God who could reshape their lives… a God who could do for them what they could never do for themselves… a God who could really change things.
Jesus says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man…” It’s interesting; the word “acts” is a very nuanced word. Its shades of meaning are broad with subtle tones and varying hues. We are deeply mistaken to think of it as merely the act of “doing.” Jesus isn’t saying that we need to “do” all these things. He’s not giving us another list of chores to get done or another law to follow. He’s laying out for us the power of grace to change a life.
At its heart the word is about bringing to pass. It’s a natural process, like a plant growing and bearing fruit. It has within it the idea of creation, the idea of bring forth something new. It’s not an act of the will. As a matter of fact, it’s the very opposite. It’s a matter of the heart. Throughout the whole sermon Jesus is saying, “You have heard it said that you need to do all these things; but I’m telling you that it’s not a matter of what you do that makes you righteous or holy; it’s a matter of who you are. And God can change that. God can reshape your lives. God can make you holy.”
Jesus is inviting us to not just listen to another sermon, but to let God reshape who we are, to let God create in us something new, to allow God to bring forth in us his holiness and his righteousness. God reshapes lives. And the shape of those lives looks a lot like Matthew 5, 6, and 7—it looks a lot like Jesus.
Heavenly Father: we want to have our lives reshaped by your grace. We recognize our own helplessness. We confess that for all our doing and striving we still come up short. Lord, only you can bring about the change we desire. Only you can make us new each day. Only you can make us holy. Only you. Reshape our lives we pray; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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