We are wrapping up the Sermon on the Mount this week and I hope this study has spurred you to look more deeply at the life Jesus has called you to as his follower and the kind of life we are called to in community together. Before Jesus preached this sermon, he proclaimed “the good news of the kingdom…” As diverse crowds of people came to see his healings and listen to his teachings, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. From the crowd, those who answered the call to follow him came forward and he began to teach them. The crowd still heard his teachings but there is now a distinction between those who are “amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority” (7:28-29) and those who answer the call to follow Jesus by putting his teachings into practice (7:24). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus lays out the narrow way of following him.
Following Jesus is a journey of transformation. We should never be too comfortable with where we are because we have not finished the journey. We continue to return to the Sermon as our guide. Jesus teaches as one who has authority to determine what is authoritative, unlike other teachers who received their authority from someone else. Therefore, Jesus’s difficult teachings cannot be separated from who is. When you become very familiar with the Sermon on the Mount and then go on to read all of Matthew, you will see that Jesus’s life is a commentary on the Sermon. To say it differently, the Sermon is the snapshot of Jesus’s life and therefore the life we are called to live as his followers. When we read Jesus’s difficult teachings, we must open ourselves to be challenged and changed rather than justifying how the teaching doesn’t apply in specific instances in our lives.
I ended my sermon last Sunday with the passage on the “Narrow and Wide Gates” in 7:13-14 and I want to begin there this week. Following Jesus, one step at a time, is the narrow way. The words of his Sermon, put into practice in our lives, is the narrow way. Following the ethics of any political group that runs against the teachings of Jesus is walking the broad road. Societal teachings, when they run against the way of Jesus, are the broad road. Traditionalism within churches, when they lead to practices that do not look like the way of Jesus, become part of the broad road. Our commitment to following Jesus in his footsteps should challenge every aspect of our lives to make sure our sights are firmly set on the way of Jesus and nothing else.
Many will come along and proclaim ways of living that are not of Christ. They provide a bad model for ordinary Christians. When we speak of “false prophets” we often speak of people who do not speak the truth or are lax on something we are more serious about. Reading in context this time around, there seems to be more emphasis on those who come along who fail to call people to discipleship. We’ve sometimes placed more emphasis on the false teaching being some sort of wrong belief (and there is need to sort this out) but this passage seems to place more emphasis on right living more so than right belief. While right belief has some importance, what is more important is that your life is changed because of following Christ. Are you a less anger filled person than you were 10 years ago? Are you less prone to violent thoughts? Are you more of a presence of peace than you were? We could continue making a list but the point is that following Christ leads us to look more like Christ more so than a certain set of beliefs (again, beliefs are important). Any voice that isn’t calling us to take steps in the way of Jesus should be met with suspicion and weighed against Jesus.
The climax of this section, and of the Sermon, comes in 21-23. These verses are among the most important in Matthew’s Gospel. They fall within the call of Jesus for our righteousness to surpass that of the Pharisees and the scribes (5:20) and make it even more explicit. You cannot simply possess the teachings of Jesus and be considered righteous in the Kingdom of Heaven. One must receive the teachings and then act upon them. This is reaffirmed at the end of the gospel with the Great Commission, calling people to be doers of Christ’s teachings, to obey his commands (28:18-20). Many will claim to know the proper teachings of Jesus and will even do incredible things in his name. Jesus says he will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” People who are of “the Kingdom of Heaven” are the ones who do the will of the Father. This takes a close and intimate walk with Jesus where you follow in his footsteps and begin to look more and more like him.
Jesus ends with the parable of wise and foolish builders. Put his teachings into practice and you will be wise. Don’t put them into practice and you will be foolish. This chapter then ends with the crowds being amazed by his teaching because of the authority he carries. What is your response to Jesus’s teachings? Dismissive because they are not practical or are inconvenient for life today? Are you amazed with the crowds? Or, will you be a disciple of Jesus, hear his words, and get up and follow him on the narrow path?