Scripture reading: Psalm 46.

Sermon text: Matthew 7:21-29.

Introduction

How do you stand in the storms of life? How do you know what to do when life throws its worst at you?

It doesn’t take a long life to realize that life is hard. Life works best when we have the knowledge to know what to do, but that knowledge comes only with experience. You’ve probably heard the line about experience: “Experience is a hard teacher. It gives you the test first, then it teaches you the lesson.”

Don’t you wish you knew the answer to every situation in life? Do you wish you could build a foundation for life that can withstand any trial you face? Jesus stood on a mountain in Galilee and told His listeners that true wisdom couldn’t come from books alone. True wisdom came from God alone. Everyone who lives as God has commanded will find a firm foundation in our “refuge and strength,” our “help in trouble.”

Sermon

Wisdom has long enamored humanity. Every civilization recognized the necessity of living wisely. The Chinese civilization still studies Confucius, the most famous philosopher of the Zhou dynasty. The Greeks, our intellectual ancestors, also experienced a golden age of philosophy, or “love of wisdom.” One of the greatest Greek philosophers, Socrates, so influenced Western civilization that philosophy is divided into the “pre-Socratic” and “post-Socratic” periods. People still study Greek philosophy today.

Jewish civilization also boasted its own wisdom literature. The Old Testament says that Solomon himself wrote 1,000 proverbs; some of these are found in the book of Proverbs. This tradition of wisdom literature formed the backdrop for Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.

The wisdom literary tradition of humanity proves the necessity of knowing how to live wisely. Those who live wisely seem to know how to know what to do and when to do it. Even better, those who are truly wise know how to learn from others’ experiences. Socrates himself once said, “Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for.”

Unfortunately, not everyone will try to live wisely. Unfortunately, most people in the world will lack the wisdom to live rightly with their fellow humans. If people fail to live wisely — or, even worse, refuse to live wisely — they must live by law. Society requires order to avoid chaos.

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees thought they knew how to enforce wise living through law. The Jews knew they had God’s law in the covenant. The Mosaic Law formed the foundation of Judaism. However, the Pharisees of Jesus’ day had inherited more than the Mosaic Law; they also inherited — and enforced — a set of rules that clarified and extended the Mosaic Law into every facet of life.

Most people know that the Pharisees enforced a set of 613 laws drawn from the writings of Moses. What few people know is that this number of “613” was not an arbitrary number. Instead, the 613 comes from the 365 “negative laws” (corresponding to the 365 days of a solar year) and the 248 “positive laws” (corresponding to the number of bones and organs in the human body). In other words, the rabbis had derived the number and then formulated enough laws to fit them!

The Pharisees proudly claimed to know the 613 laws and to follow them religiously. They also expected the common people who formed the majority of first-century Judaism to obey their laws as well. Therefore, Jesus’ teachings would have seemed like a fresh wind of freedom to a people burdened by an oppressive legal system.

I encourage you to read the Sermon on the Mount in its entirety. Read the words of Jesus; see how He said, “you have heard,” followed by “but I say.” Jesus took the words of the Law, including the 613 laws of the Pharisees, and summarized them in only a few short sayings.

Today’s passage concludes the Sermon on the Mount. In this passage, Jesus puzzled His readers by reinforcing the message of the prophets. Words alone did not prove belief; actions demonstrate what we really believe. Wise living relies on our actions, not on our words. The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say.”

Jesus told them, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Notice that He continued by saying, “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?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” These people will expect to enter heaven based on their words, but it takes more than simply saying, “Jesus is Lord” to enter the kingdom. Our actions prove whether Jesus is truly Lord of our lives.

But what about deeds? Didn’t these people do great things for Jesus? When you examine what Jesus said, you’ll notice these people didn’t prophesy, cast out demons, or do mighty works for Jesus. Instead, they simply used Jesus’ name to bring honor to themselves. These are the people who act one way in worship and another after they leave. True godly wisdom demonstrates its presence in our daily lives as much as in our worship.

To reinforce these teachings, Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” If you’ve ever built a house, you know what Jesus is saying. No one builds a home on bare dirt if he expects it to last very long. Dirt settles, leading to cracked walls, warped doors, and other serious structural problems. Instead, wise builders dig down to the rock beneath the dirt and build a foundation directly on the rock. Jesus’ teachings form a rock-solid foundation for wise living.

On the other hand, the foolish build “on the sand.” The “sand” of life includes anything that doesn’t rely on Jesus’ teachings. Scripture forms the foundation for a godly life.

What did Jesus say that was so important?

First, we must understand that simply claiming Christianity as our religion does not bring a spiritual birth. Jesus told Nicodemus, “you must be born again” (John 3:3). St. Paul tells us how this happens: “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). When we are born again, we receive the Holy Spirit to help us live as God intended regardless of what life throws at us. The Holy Spirit guides us as we study Scripture so we will know what God expects of us and how we should live.

Secondly, look at what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount. Among other sayings, Jesus told us to forgive those who offend us or wrong us. Jesus told us to love our enemies. Jesus gave us the “Golden Rule” in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said, “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Doing for others demonstrates a godly love for other people.

Some people will rightly point out that the Chinese philosopher Confucius said something similar centuries before Jesus. However, notice the difference between Confucius’ teaching and Jesus’ admonition. Confucius had said, “Never impose on others what you would not choose for yourself.” In other words, Confucius’ saying is a negative instruction, while Jesus’ teaching is a positive instruction. We must seek to do for others, not avoid offending them.

Lastly, Jesus told His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Wise living requires that we live in right relationship with God. We must realize that we cannot live wisely on our own. The Scriptures confirm that God alone knows the future; God has planned a glorious future for all of us. When we confess Jesus as Lord, we establish a relationship with the God who knows everything about us and knows what life will bring.

When we are born again into our new life, we must join other believers who help us live that life. Part of wise living means learning from others. Mature believers can help new believers learn to live wisely. On the other hand, mature believers grow wiser by helping new believers. That’s why God requires us to worship together. Worship gives us an opportunity to gather with other believers and invest in one another’s lives. We help one another live according to God’s way.

Do you want to build a successful life? When you follow Jesus’ teachings, confessing Him as Lord and believing in His resurrection, you’ll understand the secret to wise living. Successful living — wise living — requires a right relationship with your Creator. This relationship begins with a confession of Jesus as Lord and continues with His Spirit helping you live a godly life.