Foundations for Our Future (150) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Depart From Me

When I imagine that great Day, I am aware that my sins will be seen clearly. I know that I will not yet be “perfect” as the Lord said I should be. (Matthew 5:48) But I know that clothed in his righteousness I shall be welcomed into his presence. As a wonderful Christian song of some years ago sang, Jesus will say: ”This one’s mine Father.” Christ is not saying there is any doubt of this for a true follower. But he does have the harshest of words for those he calls “workers of lawlessness.” (Matthew 7:23) To them he says: “Depart from me” and “I never knew you.”

Once again we are seeing the painful truth that the church on earth is not identical to the church that Jesus is building. Many times he will point this out to his followers, and we must not fail to understand. His word is true, and it alone can give us clarity in this present age. We cannot organize the church perfectly on earth, though we try, but we can “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest his word.” We do so in order that it will bring forth in us the fruit of “true religion and virtue.” (BCP ‘19, pg 110) For those who believe, his “word is a lamp to [our] feet.” (Psalm 119:105)

This is the church we are asking the Lord Jesus to build among us. A church doing the Father’s will. A church unafraid of the day of judgment, because it is walking in the love of God made known in his Son. Doing the will of the Father means the church submits to Christ.

Foundations for Our Future (151) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Building Well

I have always enjoyed being a part of building something. Even as a young boy I loved making things with bits of spare wood, or building a sand castle. It was not long before I knew that what I made of wood would last for some time, but what I made of sand would be soon gone. Today Jesus begins a short section of his teaching that calls us to imagine two houses, with two builders, one built on the rock, and one built on the sand. (Matthew 7:24-27) And only one builder will be commended.

The link that we must not miss is this: the wise man hears the teaching of Jesus and does them. He is not a hearer only, but a doer. We have heard this distinction repeatedly in the Sermon off the Mount. Hearing without doing, is actually not hearing. The outer ear has heard sound waves, but the ear of the heart has been deaf.

Our Lord seems to give us at least two ways to understand what he is teaching, for today let us look at the first. The challenges of this life will be severe. There will be floods and winds that beat upon our lives and of those we love. (Matthew 7:25) We will labor to build many things, relationships, partnerships, organizations, and businesses, that will be buffeted. Many of them will not survive. But Christ Jesus suggests that if we build on his words the forces that come against us will not prevail. The things we build with our life, in obedience to him, will not fall.

Foundations for Our Future (152) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Building A Life

Yesterday I suggested that one way to view our Lord’s teaching about building well or badly, could be understood as being about the works of our life, But there is almost certainly a more important way to understand it, and that is about the outcome of our lives. What are we building day by day with our choices and actions? To build upon what Jesus says is to build in the only way that will last. Not simply in this life, but forever. Why is this so? Well it is because if you build on Jesus’s teaching you are building on the rock. (Matthew 7:24,25)

It is important to realize that though our Lord uses a very visual image, a house built on a good foundation, he is actually telling us that his words, when obeyed, ensure the pleasure of Almighty God. To obey Jesus is to obey God.

The reason I can say this is because one of the most common ways to describe God in the Hebrew Scriptures, is to call him the Rock. When the rock is mentioned it almost always refers to God himself or God’s Word. From the Song of Moses (Deuteronomy 32:4) to the Psalms of David (see Psalm 18:1,2 for example), Israel rejoiced to acknowledge and praise God as their Rock. When Jesus used this illustration he was drawing on that reality, and he was here, as elsewhere, alerting his followers that he was not just a wise rabbi. He was, and is, the Son of God. To build a life on him was to never fall, because it is built on the truth of God.

Foundations for Our Future (153) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Do or Do Not

Hear me clearly. The people who call themselves Christians are dividing into two categories. Those who hear what Jesus says do and “do them,” and those who hear what Jesus says and “do not do” them. (Matthew 7:26)

That our Lord told his first hearers about this distinction should not surprise us, but it does. Why? Because we have been swept along by a current of false teaching for many years. We have imagined that we could listen to preachers, teachers, and church officials who speak about “the gospel”, and yet ignore our own disobedience to what the Lord actually teaches. Frequently, because those who have been speaking are disobeying too. We have obeyed non Christian voices as well. Do you see that clearly?

The New Testament reveals repeatedly that there is only one true gospel, and many false ones. The hallmark of a false gospel is disobedience to the clear Word of God. For any true Christian the starting point for knowing the truth of God’s Word is Jesus, the divine Son of God. What does he say? He does not speak on his own authority, but speaks the very truth of the Father. (see John 16:13)

Believing that this is true, the faithful disciple does not let a day go by in which he or she fails to “abide” in the Word of their Lord. To abide is to believe and to do.

Are you abiding daily in the words of Jesus?

Foundations for Our Future (154) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Foolish Means Doomed

In modern American English to be foolish is the equivalent of being silly. It was not the meaning of the word in Jesus teaching. To be foolish meant to be opposed to God, to disbelieve in God, to be disobedient to God. Foolish unbelievers were going to perish. Foolish disobedient ones were to be locked out of God’s heaven. Foolish opposers of God would be righteously overthrown. The lesson in Matthew 7:26 could not be more clear. Our Lord has been making the point throughout the entire Sermon on the Mount.

Day by day we are building a life. Day by day we are influencing our children and our wider circle of family and friends. Day by day we are being assaulted by voices that are foolish. How can we resist them? Jesus says there is only one way. We must heed what he says. We must be aligned with him, above all other voices.

No one need tell me that this is not easy. The convenience of this present age, the wealth of this present age (for us here in the USA), and the powerful media of this present age, are all conspiring together to undermine God’s truth. Our government is deeply complicit in this assault, and its power and coercive lawlessness (judged by the Word of God) is only increasing. How are we to stand?

Beloved, there is only one way that leads to all that God wants for us. We must believe what Jesus says, yield our lives into his hands, and let the Holy Spirit teach us to obey him.

Foundations for Our Future (155) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

And The Rains Fell

This year has seen a dry Spring in our region. It is most unusual, but we all know that the rains will come. It is not in doubt, it is inevitable. Our Lord Jesus says the same thing is true about the coming division of the human family. The judgment of God, the truth of God, the righteousness of God will not be long delayed for any of us. It is coming, and when it comes some will stand and some will fall. So also will the floods come, and the winds, and the fall of many will be great. (Matthew 7:27)

Do you remember what we have seen about Christ our Rock? No flood, no wind, no rain will cause the slightest damage to him. His “word endures” as the wonderful hymn of Martin Luther puts it. And also Satan’s “doom is sure.”

These truths are deeply unfashionable in our present age. They will make many of our friends step away from us, unless they too recognize that the way of Jesus is the way of life. But how will any unbeliever recognize the truth to turn to?

There is only one way that an unbeliever turns, and that is if they have been near to another person who is truly living for the Lord. They must be seeing in that believer a different attitude, a different response, a different Spirit than that which is in the world.

This is the calling of a disciple. This is the calling of those who do not just read the Sermon on the Mount, but learn to walk in its truth.

Foundations for Our Future (156) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Jesus Finished

Matthew tells us today that “Jesus finished these sayings, and the crowds were astonished at his teaching.” (Matthew 7:28) We can only guess at the size of the “crowds” (which I think implies that the Sermon unfolded over more than one session or day). But they were astonished. Why?

Our verse tells us that the way Jesus taught was not the way the religious teachers of his day taught. Does this sound familiar? Whenever the pure Word of God is preached, there is a startling realization among church people. This is not what we have been hearing? Where does this man get his authority? This happened throughout the lifetime of Jesus, and it happens in every time of spiritual revival in the truth of the gospel.

The Anglican Family of the church was born, or perhaps I should say reborn, in such a time as this. It is desperately needed among us again today. When the Reformation swept over Europe in the 16th Century, the dividing line was the clear teaching of the Word of God. Those who took their stand on that Word were first marginalized, then spoken against, and finally imprisoned. Many were subsequently put to death.

By God’s grace a day came in England when the governing authorities repented and returned to the Lord. They reformed the laws and practices of the nation, and put the truth of the Gospel at the center. They made the sovereign Kings and Queens, and their government, yield their authority to the overarching authority of God. The church was so constituted as to uphold this same truth.

Can it happen again in this country?

Foundations for Our Future (157) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Not Like Other Teachers

Matthew ends his account of the Sermon on the Mount by telling us that “the crowds were astonished at his teaching.” (Matthew 7:28) Clearly the content of Jesus’ message was a surprise to many. Though everything that he taught had a foundation in the revelation that had already been given to Israel (“the Law and the Prophets”), it was still startling to many. He was out of step with the leadership of his own generation. Yet his constant claim was that he was in step with God the Father of all Israel.

True Christian believers through the ages have experienced the same misalignment. The Word of God calls them to a path in life that is frequently quite different from that which is taught by those in power, and lived by many around them. How then are they to manage this tension? Two answers have been the most common, and I believe the most faithful.

First a disciple of Jesus must let the teaching of Jesus be at the center of his or her understanding. He is their source. He is the one true guide. He is their only Lord and Master. To abide in his word (see John 8:31,32) reveals that they are truly his disciple.

Second, a disciple’s commitment to the Lord Jesus and his word, will lead, always, to a growing desire to let the whole Word of God be the unfailing “lamp to our feet, and light to our path.” (Psalm 119:105)

Jesus is not like other teachers. He brings us to depend only on God.

Foundations for Our Future (158) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Scribes

The final verse of the Sermon on the Mount concludes with the crowds comparing Jesus to the scribes of their own day. (Matthew 7:29) Who were they?

There was only one way to have another copy of any written document in our Lord’s day, and that was if someone copied it by hand. The importance of the Holy Scriptures among the people of God meant that there was a constant demand for the written Word of God. Things written on paper get spoiled. Even fine manuscripts written on vellum (a very high quality writing surface made from Sheep’s skin) could get damaged or destroyed. Scribes were the professional copiers of their day.

It would seem from the evidence of the New Testament that scribes were associated closely with the religious leaders, the establishment, of their day. They were known to hold themselves aloof from ordinary people, believing that their “sacred work” made them better than ordinary Jews. It appears that they handled the Word of God day by day, but were not known for their fidelity to it. People could see the difference between Jesus and the scribes. The text says they perceived the difference in the authority with which our Lord taught, and that of the scribes. Does this have any lesson for us?

A simple set of questions may help us find an answer. Do you simply have a bible, or are you reading it daily? Do you only read it daily, or do you prayerfully seek to let it shape your day? Do you just note the words, or are you letting them determine your daily path?

Scribes handled the Word of God, but apparently did not follow it.

Foundations for Our Future (159) 

by: The Rev. Dr. Jon Shuler

Our Next Focus?

We have been opening the Sermon on the Mount, day by day, for one hundred and forty-four days. Nearly five full months. Because of the importance of the teaching that Jesus gives us in the sermon, we must never forget where we have been, nor fail to return to it often. After a lifetime of following the Lord, we can never fail to be challenged and guided whenever we do so. It is truly foundational for any disciple of Jesus. But today we move forward to a new section of the Gospel of Matthew.

To accurately tell the story of anyone, the writer must develop a plan. Matthew clearly did so, and his gospel is most wonderfully set out to help all his readers develop a comprehensive understanding of the teaching of Jesus. There is a sense in which we could fairly say he has been giving us the opening chapter of the Lord’s public ministry in the section we have been reading. He began by giving a summary of his teaching ministry in Galilee and beyond (Matthew 4:23-25), and when we come to the end of Chapter Nine we will again see a similar summary. (Matthew 9:35,36) There Matthew will describe one of the most central truths about Jesus: he had compassion for the helpless. (Matthew 9:36)

We will see in these next few days that over and over the poor, the broken, and the suffering ones seek to get near Jesus, and he will never turn them away. The compassion of the Lord will be our focus.