One of the most foolish things people say about Jesus is this: He was just a great moral teacher.
So many people would say that. They love his teaching. They think his ethics should be taught to everyone. His ideals of love and integrity should be a feature of public life. There’s nothing here for other religions or philosophies to disagree with. If only Jesus’ moral teaching was more widely heard, we’d be a happier society.
Well, in some ways that’s all true. Jesus was a great moral teacher. Any society that builds itself on the values he taught will be better for it. So why is it a foolish thing to say?
Because people usually mean that Jesus is just a great moral teacher. He’s that, and no more. If our society, if we as individuals, live out some of his key moral principles, we’ve done what we need. We’ve paid enough attention to Jesus to do us good. We can leave the rest of him alone.
The trouble is, when we look at some of this teaching of Jesus, he just doesn’t leave this option open to us. He didn’t intend to. Jesus asks for all-or-nothing.
No chunk of Jesus’ teaching is more quoted by people looking for some ethical titbits than the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. People love the idea of doing to others as you’d have them do to you, and of being a peacemaker.
We looked at chapter 5 in the autumn of 2011; we looked at chapter 6 last autumn, and we’ve been looking together at chapter 7 this autumn. And today, we reach the final few verses.
And we find that Jesus tells us the one thing we shouldn’t do with his words. We shouldn’t just enjoy listening to them. So let’s get this negative out of the way first, and then draw out the two responses Jesus does ask us for.
Don’t just listen to Jesus
Here’s the negative, then: Don’t just listen to Jesus. Don’t just listen to Jesus.
The story of the two house-builders is a very familiar one. We thought about it a few weeks back in our all-age service. Two men. Both build houses.
Where Jesus said this, the climate had rainy and dry seasons. For many months you get no rain at all. All but the biggest rivers dry up. You get dry riverbeds that you couldn’t tell apart from a road. And then one day it rains, the rivers run again, and everything turns green.
Both these men seem to have built their houses in one of these dry riverbeds. One of them built on the sandy silt. The other one found a solid piece of rock to build on. And then the rains came. And it rained, and poured, and the river flowed. A great torrent of water came rushing down that riverbed, as the wind hammered and beat against their houses. The man who built on rock was fine. But the house that was built on the sand was washed away by the floods.
And then Jesus tells us what the story is all about. The two builders, he says, represent two people.
If you were here 3 weeks ago, you may remember that people often get the contrast confused. Many readers think Jesus is compares the crowds who were listening to him with everyone else. Many people think he’s telling us to pay careful attention to what he says, to be like that attentive crowd.
But he’s not. Verse 24: Everyone, then who hears these words of mine and does them. Verse 26: Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them.
If Jesus’ story divides people into two groups, the dividing line goes straight down the middle of the crowd he’s talking to. He’s not distinguishing between the people listening to him and everybody else. He’s dividing his hearers into two groups. Which means he’s dividing us into two groups today.
And the danger he warns of is of just listening. Listening and no more.
The prophet Ezekiel ministered in the 6th century B.C. It was during his time that the city of Jerusalem was captured and destroyed. God allowed this to happen as a judgement on the people of the time. They had not lived God’s way. But nobody ever thought it would really happen.
When the news comes to Ezekiel that the city has fallen, God speaks to Ezekiel. Here’s what God says, in Ezekiel chapter 33, verses 30-33: “As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings lustful songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes—and come it will!--then they will know that a prophet has been among them.”
When Ezekiel spoke, it was like a concert. People would rush round to get everyone together. Nobody wanted to miss the start. They all brought moleskin notebooks and took copious notes. They went out reliving what they’d just heard. They longed for the next instalment.
But it was just like a concert. To them, Ezekiel was a performance artist. He put on the show they enjoyed. But that was it. Nobody took his words seriously. Nobody changed the course of their life. And they’ll only find out too late that Ezekiel was a real prophet, when the city falls.
Storms in the Bible are often symbolic of God’s judgement. At the end of our lives, we will each meet Jesus as our judge.
To many people today, listening to the teaching of Jesus is like going to a concert. Some people love the poetry. Others love the wit. Some love how wise he was, beyond his years. And as we’ve said, his ethical framework is almost universally admired.
But for those who just listen, they’ll find out too late that Jesus really did speak from God. When the storm comes. When they meet Jesus as judge. When the life they’ve built falls with a noisy crash like the house in the story. When the rainy season comes, judgement begins, and their house does not survive.
There’s the warning. Don’t just listen to Jesus. So how should we respond to Jesus?
Be amazed at Jesus the teacher
In two ways. Here’s the first: Be amazed at Jesus the teacher. Be amazed at Jesus the teacher.
Verse 28: When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
The crowds were astonished. They couldn’t believe what they had heard. It was jaws open. Like nothing anyone had expected.
And what struck them was his authority.
The crowds did not come away, amazed at the teaching. They came away amazed at Jesus the teacher. What kind of man, they said, has this kind of authority. Who is this man? Because he is more than just a man.
That’s why it’s so inadequate to snatch a few moral titbits from these chapters. If you listen to what Jesus is saying, what should strike you is his authority. Who on earth is this, who would dare to say such things.
We’ve met Jesus’ authority all the way through. We’ve seen him claim to be the authority on how the Old Testament should be interpreted. We’ve seen him claim to be the one the whole Old Testament was pointing to. We’ve seen him claim to be of equal standing to the God of the Old Testament – just as the prophets of Old were persecuted for their loyalty to God, so we will be persecuted for our loyalty to him.
We’ve seen him claim to be the judge who will decide the eternal destiny of every human being. We’ve seen that knowing him will be the one deciding factor as to where we spend eternity. We’ve seen him claim that the ultimate reward is to be with him for all eternity, and the ultimate punishment is to be banished from him for all eternity. And then in the story we’ve just heard, he’s claimed that putting his words into practice is the only safe refuge when judgement falls.
This is not just another teacher, a peddler of ideas, who happened to come out with some of the most memorable sayings ever spoken. This is someone claiming to speak with the authority of God himself. Claiming that history revolves around him, that God’s purposes are fulfilled in him, that our eternal destinies are decided on how we respond to him.
They were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
The scribes were experts. But they were experts in everybody else’s opinion. They would quote the authorities of previous years, and tell you what this rabbi or that scholar had to say. Jesus was different. He would say, “you have heard that it was said, … but I say to you.”
He was like the frustrating parent. When the child asks why they’ve just been given this instruction, the parent simply replies “because I say so”. It never satisfies. The child wants another reason. A better reason. A more detailed reason. Something they can accept and understand. Why do I have to do this? So Jesus says, “because I say so”. And he doesn’t appeal to a higher authority, because there is none.
So there’s the first way we should respond to Jesus. We should be amazed at Jesus the teacher. Not at his teaching, but at him.
We should pause long enough to realise who this is. To let it sink in. The crowds that day met God on earth. They must decide how to respond to him.
Build your life on Jesus the rock
There’s a second response that Jesus calls for here. Build your life on Jesus the rock. Build your life on Jesus the rock.
It wouldn’t be enough just to be amazed at the Jesus the teacher. That’s still only listening. The contrast in the story was between the person who heard Jesus words of mine and did not do them, and the person who heard them and did them.
Rocks are often used symbolically in the Old Testament. Moses taught Israel that God was their rock. In the prophetic writings, the Messiah was anticipated as the rock. Some people will trip over him and stub their toe or worse. Others will take refuge on him, stand on him, and find all their security in him.
There’s even one passage in Isaiah 28 where God speaks of placing a true rock for people to trust in. There, the benefit of standing on this rock is that you won’t be washed away when the flood waters of death come rushing past.
The New Testament takes that picture of the coming rock, and identifies it squarely with Jesus himself. Jesus is the rock God has placed on the ground to be a place of safety. If we stand on him, we will not be swept away when the waters of death and judgement come sweeping through.
But the point is that Jesus is very precise about how we build our lives on the rock that is him. It’s all about his words. We need to listen to the words of Jesus, then put them into practice, do as he says.
A Christian is someone with a particular attitude to the words of Jesus. We are not just those who listen. We are those who build our lives on the foundation of what he says.
This does not mean that our security is our own perfection. Not at all. The rock is not my ability to follow every detail of Jesus’ teaching. The rock is Jesus. All I have to do is stand on him. To decide that his teaching is the way through life. To do as he said – to come to him for forgiveness, to receive new life from him, and then to set about making my life into what he asks of me.
Build your life on Jesus the rock.
Conclusion
Please don’t say that Jesus was just a good teacher. It’s something many people do think, but Jesus demands all or nothing.
Who do you see when you look at him? Do you see someone with all the power and authority of God himself? Someone with the right to command anyone’s obedience. Someone with the power to determine everyone’s eternal destiny. That’s who we see in these chapters of Matthew.
What do you see when you look at your life? What is your life based on? Where does your confidence lie? On the Lord Jesus, the one place of safety there is when the eternal storm comes? If so, you’ll see that in how you treat Jesus’ words. Or is your confidence resting on something else? Because if so, you’re standing on sand.
Jesus was a good teacher. And what he taught is that he is the Lord, the judge and the rock.
And he calls us to build our lives on him.