Saturday
Saturday
The Radical Choice
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 7:21
Jesus sets before us, in the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, the radical choice between obedience and disobedience. Not, of course, that we can be saved by our obedience but that, if we have truly been saved, we will show it by our obedience.
Firstly, Jesus warns us of the danger of a merely verbal profession (vv. 21–23). To be sure, a verbal profession is essential. “Jesus is Lord” is the earliest, shortest, simplest of all Christian creeds. But if it is not accompanied by personal submission to the lordship of Jesus, it is useless. We may even hear on the last day the terrible words of Jesus: “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers” (v. 23).
Secondly, Jesus warns us of the danger of a merely intellectual knowledge. Whereas the contrast in verses 21–23 was between saying and doing, the contrast now is between hearing and doing (vv. 24–27). Jesus then illustrates it by his well-known parable of the two builders. It features a wise man who constructed his house on rock and a fool who could not be bothered with foundations and built his house on sand. As both got on with their building, a casual observer would not have noticed any difference between them, for the difference was in the foundations, and foundations are not seen. Only when a storm broke and battered both houses with great ferocity was the fatal difference revealed. In the same way, professing Christians (both the genuine and the spurious) look alike. Both appear to be building Christian lives. Both hear Christ’s words. They go to church, read the Bible, and listen to sermons. But the deep foundations of their lives are hidden from view. Only the storm of adversity in this life and the storm of judgment on the last day will reveal who they are.
The Sermon on the Mount ends on the solemn note of radical choice. There are only two ways (narrow and broad) and only two foundations (rock and sand). On which road are we traveling? On which foundation are we building?
For further reading: Matthew 7:13–29