Sermon, June 1, 2008 -- Matthew 7:21-27

“Flood Insurance” (Matthew 7:21-27)
Rick Olson, June 1, 2008

There are three main things we need to know about this passage. The first thing is that it’s very solidly grounded eschatologically, that is, in the already here and yet somehow still approaching Kingdom of God, which Matthew always calls the Kingdom of Heaven. The second thing we need to understand is that when Jesus says “kingdom of heaven,” he’s not talking about a place filled with streets of gold where we go the minute we die, where angels flutter around on wings, and we’ll be playing harps for the rest of eternity. Heaven, in the 1st-Century world view reflected in this passage, is where God, whom Jesus calls Abba/Father, lives. The kingdom of heaven is the reign of heaven, the rule of heaven, that is here and will be here on earth. Thus, it’s as much about what’s going on in the present as it is in the future; when Jesus says “enter into the kingdom of heaven,” he means participating in God’s just reign on earth which does have an eternal component, but it’s also in the here and now. And the point Jesus is making here is, only one who does the will of God can participate. Jesus says “Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” will enter that kingdom, but only the one who does the will of God.”

And so, brothers and sisters, right off the bat we have almost a litmus test of who is participating in that kingdom, and according to Jesus here in Matthew, it’s whoever does God’s will. And I think in these times of politicians who claim to be Christians and yet do very non-Christian things, we ought to heed these words carefully: Not everyone who professes to be a Christian, not everyone who calls Jesus “Lord, Lord” is a participant in the coming/already here Kingdom of God. But only those who do the will of God.

In fact, Jesus says, many will say to him “Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” And Jesus will tell these people “I never knew you, depart from me, you doers of evil.” And this is a pretty stunning development . . . religiosity is not a guarantee of being right with God. Did we not preach powerful sermons in your name, did we not cast out demons—the modern equivalent would be heal in your name—and did we not do many deeds of power in your name, did we not grow denominations, raise up big hospitals, did we not bring ‘em in through the front doors, all the desirable young families with children? Did we not rejuvenate our churches, sing all the right hymns, and attend every Presbytery meeting at every church from here to Birmingham?

And it’s important to know that this anti-religious strain is not new with Jesus . . . through the prophet Isaiah, God says “Is this the worship that I choose? . . . Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Is not this not the worship I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” And in Micah: “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? . . . The Lord has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” God has always valued action over empty religiosity, empty bowing and scraping and church-building . . . but not just any action, mind you, not just any doing, but doing the will of God.

But how will we know what that is? How will we know what is this will of God of which Jesus speaks? That’s a question that’s debated along denominational lines, or along lines that separate so-called evangelicals from the main-line rest of this . . . for the evangelicals, for the so-called religious right, the will of God often boils down to moralism, “being good.” We saw this in the two issues that have floated their boats over the last few years: abortion and homosexuality. Mainliners, on the other hand, see the “will of God” in terms of social justice, in terms that Isaiah might understand: breaking the thongs of the yoke of poverty and injustice, to let the oppressed go free, to do social justice.

So the question is: just what is the will of God? Well, Jesus offers some more clues in the next section, the parable of the wise man and foolish man . . . it contrasts two men, one who built his house on rock and the other on sand, and in the middle-eastern dry season—which is a long one, let me tell you—in the dry season, both houses do just fine, thank you very much, but in the rainy season, when the rains came and the winds howled around the eaves, the guy who built his house upon a solid foundation was cool, his house survived just fine, but the guy who built it on the sand was not so fortunate, he was picking up the pieces in no time. And this parable is linked to the stuff about doing the will of God by a then: “Everyone then hears these words and acts upon them is like the guy who built his house on the rock . . . but everyone who hears these words and doesn’t act upon them is like the guy who built it on the sand.” And the key is “these words ,” whoever hears these words and does them must be doing the will of God.

The will of God is associated with the words of Jesus, and so we come to the third thing we need to know about this passage—they are the concluding words of the Sermon on the Mount. Mount, which was named a sermon by 2nd Century scholars, but it wasn’t called a sermon by Jesus or Matthew. What it really is is a teaching, so I suppose maybe “Lesson on the Mount” would be more appropriate or “Lecture on the Mount” or even “Ethical Instruction on the Mount,” because that’s what it is: the sermon contains instructions on how to live the Christian life.

And these words that for Jesus define the will of God are contained in this teaching, this sermon on the mount. And so, doing the will of God means, oh, let’s see now . . . considering the lilies of the field, who neither toil nor spin and the birds of the air, who neither sow nor reap, and yet God takes care of them all . . . doing the will of God means “not worrying about tomorrow,” as Jesus says “for tomorrow will bring worries of its own.” Doing the will of God means we’re not to judge, lest we ourselves be judged—we talked about that last week—it means to be meek for they will inherit the earth . . . it means being merciful, for the merciful themselves receive mercy. . . it means being peacemakers, for they are the children of God. And it means we’re not to resist evil violently . . . if anyone strikes us on the right cheek, we’re not to hit ‘em back, but turn the other also . . . likewise, we’re to go the extra mile . . . give up our cloaks as well as well as our coats . . .

And notice that in the entire Sermon on the Mount, which for Jesus defines what it means to do God’s will, there is no mention of the conventional morality stuff that so obsesses many of our brothers and sisters in Christ. There’s nothing about who you sleep with, or who you marry, or anything sexual at all. And hold your cards and letters, ‘cause I’m not saying Jesus approves of all that stuff, but simply that these things aren’t mentioned in his catalog of the God’s will. In fact, they’re not mentioned in the Gospels much at all—except as it pertains to divorce: they seem to be way down on Jesus’ sin-o-meter.

And many will say Lord, Lord, many will call upon the name of the Lord, and though we’re not to judge them, lest we ourselves be judged, we’re not to be fooled either, and maybe we’d better be a little more careful about following them, you know what I mean? Maybe we ought not to take them so much at their word when they say “Lord, Lord,” when they say “I’m a Christian,” maybe we ought to actually look at whether they’re doing the will of God, whether they’re making an attempt to live by the precepts of the Ethical Instruction on the Mount . . . I think in an election year, especially, we ought to keep all of that in mind . . . not all folks who say “Lord, Lord” are worthy of our allegiance here on earth . . .

And there’s another thing we should keep in mind, especially now as we’re trying to renew our church, as we’re trying to let God revitalize this congregation . . . it’s not about the externals, it’s not about the surface stuff, the religious stuff . . . it’s not about signs and wonders, not about great prophesy . . . some will come to Jesus saying “Look at what we’ve done, look at all the great preaching and buildings and people we’ve brought in through the doors” but it’s not about that stuff, it’s not about building the biggest church building, fielding the biggest pipe organ, or maintaining the most beautiful sanctuary. It’s not about having the most enrolled in Sunday school, or the biggest vacation bible school, or even increasing the membership rolls of the church. Participating in the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of heaven, as Matthew calls it, is a matter of doing the words of Jesus, of performing the will of God.

And that’s why we’ve spent a season discerning what that will looks like translated for this time and this place and this church, and why in fact we should never stop discerning this so, even as we are involved in practicing it, even as we are involved in acting upon Jesus’ words. If we stop asking ourselves what God wants us to be doing at any given time and place—and realize that as the world changes, so might our doing of God’s will change—if we stop continually asking ourselves what that will of God looks like to us here at the corner of Hargrove and Prince, we will die.

Perhaps paradoxically for a process where we’re supposed to “let go and let God,” discerning God’s will at any given time and place isn’t necessarily easy, it isn’t necessarily obvious, it’s much easier just to plow ahead, doing what we think is right, or equally bad, to continue on doing the same thing long after it ceased to be effective.

But you know what? As first fruits of our season of discernment, God has given us a pattern to guide us in that process. God has given us a design to work from, a constellation to guide us in making concrete God’s will. It’s a vision God has given us, just like the vision given to the prophets, to the princes, to the leadership of God’s people. God has given us a vision of Covenant past, present and future. Thanks be to God. Amen.