00:00:00.000 - 00:00:41.000

[Music] Wise or otherwise, a message by Dr. Bruce W. Thielman. [Music] Let us continue in worship by giving attention now to the scripture reading

00:00:41.000 - 00:01:04.000

on which we will be building our thoughts in sermon. The gospel according to Matthew chapter 7, the reading beginning at the verse number 24. These words constitute the close of Christ's sermon on the mount. Jesus is, of course, speaking.

00:01:04.000 - 00:01:38.000

"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house. But it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

00:01:38.000 - 00:02:09.000

And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house. And it fell and great was the fall of it." And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them as one who had authority and not as their scribes.

00:02:09.000 - 00:02:51.000

May the same spirit that inspired these words incline our hearts to their understanding. Pray with me. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. It is interesting to attempt to parallel the writers of the four Gospels with great painters of today and yesterday.

00:02:51.000 - 00:03:12.000

One might, for example, think of Mark as the Grandma Moses of the Gospelers. He has a very limited palette of colors. His paintings are without embellishment. He sticks only to principal matters.

00:03:12.000 - 00:03:39.000

And he has a somewhat limited, indeed abrupt, perspective. Luke we would describe, of course, as the Rembrandt of the Evangelist. Magnificent detail, marvelous use of focus and light. John I would think of in terms of Picasso.

00:03:39.000 - 00:04:13.000

Great change, considerable difference from the others we've mentioned. A great amount of intuitive material and quite controversial. And Matthew, Matthew I think of in terms of the great Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh. Bold colors, brassy colors, brilliant colors, strong, authoritative, aggressive.

00:04:13.000 - 00:04:51.000

When van Gogh, who was Dutch, went to the south of France, he was hospitalized for some time at a place called Saint-Rémy. And while he was there, he entered into a period in which he sought to duplicate the works of some of the great masters who had preceded him. One of the paintings he sought to copy was Rembrandt's Raising of Lazarus. He used the same composition as Rembrandt, but whereas Rembrandt had a great, tall, strong figure of Christ in the center of his painting,

00:04:51.000 - 00:05:33.000

van Gogh instead omitted the figure of Christ and put in its place a brilliant sun. To van Gogh, Christ is the sun, the light, the center of the solar system of human experience, that which holds everything together, the source of authority. And that's the reason I see van Gogh in terms of Matthew, because none of the gospel writers emphasizes the authority of Jesus as much as Matthew does.

00:05:33.000 - 00:06:11.000

The great climax of the gospel in chapter 28 is with these words Jesus speaks and says, "All authority has been given unto me; go ye into all the world." Twice in the gospel, Jesus is discussing perfection. He says that we are to be perfect, and then, in consulting with the rich young ruler, he explains what perfection is. You are to do what I tell you. Claim, you see, to final authority. In the eleventh chapter of the gospel, Jesus announces, "All authority on heaven and earth is mine."

00:06:11.000 - 00:06:51.000

In chapter 23, he says, "There are many teachers, but there is only one to whom you should listen, and I am that one." Again, the claim to regal sovereignty. In Matthew 12, the relatives of Jesus are described as those who are obedient to him. Perhaps most powerfully, in Matthew 5, Jesus lays out a whole series of teachings, and he begins every one of these teachings with the words, "Ye have heard that it has been said of old, but I say unto you."

00:06:51.000 - 00:07:21.000

He is saying to them, "My authority supersedes that of the scriptures which you have." And finally, the passage which is before us tonight, Matthew chapter 7. Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with the parable of the builders. He says, "Those who are wise are obedient to me. They are like those who build upon a rock.

00:07:21.000 - 00:08:01.000

Those who are otherwise, the foolish ones, those who yield to any authority other than my own, these build upon the sand. The house built on the rock endures. The house built on the sand passes away." Jesus is saying, quite simply, that the rise and fall of men and nations depends upon their obedience, their recognition of his authority. We have a drama group here on the campus in the summers called Crossroads.

00:08:01.000 - 00:08:29.000

They do Christian theater and other theater in a Christian way. Sometimes they enter into great discussion trying to understand exactly what the playwright was trying to say in a particular scene or bit of dialogue. The playwright is not at hand, and so they must try to discover what he wishes through their own ingenuity. But this last summer, the group did one play which was written by one of our own students.

00:08:29.000 - 00:08:50.000

And he not only wrote it, he was there to direct it. There was no argument over the intention or the meaning of any of the scenes and dialogue. Why? Because the ultimate authority, the author, was on hand. What he had to say was the truth.

00:08:50.000 - 00:09:30.000

So Jesus claims that kind of authority, the authority of the one who is the author and the finisher of everything that is. And he announces that all that he says is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And when the people hear him speak with that authority, the scriptures note, they were amazed. I'd like to think with you for a bit tonight about the authority of Jesus, and particularly in terms of this parable of the wise and the otherwise.

00:09:30.000 - 00:09:58.000

And the first thing I would like you to notice is this. Whether one is wise or otherwise is determined by one's obedience to Jesus. Christ says, "If you build on my words, your life stands. If you do not build on my words, your life falls." Now Jesus knew all about building. There are six places in the gospel where the word "tekton" is used to describe Jesus.

00:09:58.000 - 00:10:20.000

We usually think of him as a carpenter, but that word is more accurately translated as "builder." You're familiar with the word "architect." Well, that last syllable, "tek," is from this word "tekton," or "builder." A builder understands the importance of the foundation, especially in terms of what he is going to erect upon it.

00:10:20.000 - 00:10:38.000

Jesus says, "If you build on me, it's like building on a rock." If you build on anything else, it's as if you are building on sand. Now when he spoke of sand, he was not talking about the beach or the shore. Most of his listeners had never seen a beach or a shore.

00:10:38.000 - 00:11:07.000

No, Jesus instead is speaking, most likely, of the sand which accumulates at the bottom of the wadis, which crisscross the Middle Eastern lands. A wadi is a crevice in the earth's surface that has been worn there by waters, and every time there is a rainstorm, the waters rush along that wadi. It becomes suddenly the course or the bed of a raging torrent of water.

00:11:07.000 - 00:11:23.000

The most famous wadi is the Wadi Siq, which is at Petra in Jordan. Sometimes it's as few as 10 feet wide, sometimes 200 feet wide. The walls of stone on each side go up about 100 feet. It's two and a half miles long.

00:11:23.000 - 00:11:47.000

The first time I went down that wadi was on horseback, and I noticed up on the wall at one point a painted cross, and I asked my guide why that was there. He explained that a group of French tourists had gone down into the wadi just a few hours after a rainstorm. They had been warned not to go there, but they went anyway.

00:11:47.000 - 00:12:10.000

The waters which had fallen in the mountains far away and had been moving along that wadi caught up to them at precisely the point where the cross was now painted on the wall. Every one of them lost his life. Now, the sand that is carried by those waters accumulates in the bottom of these wadis.

00:12:10.000 - 00:12:33.000

It's golden, sometimes the wadi is quite broad, and the sand is worn smooth. It looks like a very solid and satisfying place on which to build, especially with these great walls on each side to protect what is built. But anyone who would build upon that sand would find the first time there was storm

00:12:33.000 - 00:12:53.000

that the sand and everything they built would be immediately carried away. Great would be the fall of it. Jesus says, "Build on rock, build on me." To build on anything else is to build on wadi sand.

00:12:53.000 - 00:13:10.000

Now, it's very important to notice that when Jesus says this, he's not distinguishing between the wise and the evil. He's distinguishing between the wise and the foolish. He's not saying that people who build on sand are villains.

00:13:10.000 - 00:13:25.000

He's saying that they're fools. He is drawing here a parallel not between righteousness and sin, but between sanity and insanity. He's saying if you build on the sand, you're a nitwit,

00:13:25.000 - 00:13:37.000

for everything is going to be carried away. And it's very important for us to grasp this. We have a temptation in the practice of our faith to think of things in terms of right or wrong,

00:13:37.000 - 00:13:54.000

to understand the will of God to be a series of prohibitions or laws laid down for us, and we measure people in terms of their compliance or their lack of compliance to these laws and regulations. But this is not what Jesus suggests at all.

00:13:54.000 - 00:14:17.000

He suggests that good religion is good sense, that to build upon his words is the only finally dependable foundation that someone can know. To avoid that foundation is simply to be absurd. Look at the Sermon on the Mount from which this parable is taken.

00:14:17.000 - 00:14:30.000

Jesus speaks about the use of the tongue. He talks about self-control. He talks about marriage and love. He talks about whether we will possess material things or material things will possess us.

00:14:30.000 - 00:14:51.000

He lays down guidelines for life in all of these regards, and he says if you do not follow these guidelines, you will be actively engaged in the assassination of your own happiness. Think of the words of Jesus.

00:14:51.000 - 00:15:09.000

Now, there may be many words which you esteem and honor. You may love the prose of Shakespeare or of Goethe, but at the moment of the birth of a child, in the moment of personal or family tragedy,

00:15:09.000 - 00:15:36.000

in that time when life itself is slipping away from someone you love, you would not for one moment contemplate quoting Shakespeare or Goethe. There's only one person's words that fit every situation. I have myself been present many times when people have left this life,

00:15:36.000 - 00:16:02.000

and I can testify to you, and anyone who has been in similar circumstance can offer the same testimony. After the consciousness of the dying one has been clouded, after they no longer see the light or hear the song of birds, after indeed even the ones they love the most have faded from their view and their attention,

00:16:02.000 - 00:16:41.000

even at that time, the words of Jesus quoted in a dying ear are heard and responded to. There is no other word like his words. And what he is saying to us in this parable is that the greatest folly of life is not to recognize that. To build on him is why. To build on anything else is otherwise.

00:16:41.000 - 00:17:02.000

Now the second thing which Jesus says to us in this parable is that obedience to Christ's word is measured by action. Jesus' words are, "Anyone who hears these words of mine and does them." In other words, it's not just a matter of listening. It's a matter of doing.

00:17:02.000 - 00:17:25.000

Christianity starts with a noun, but it always ends with a verb. Those people who sat and listened to Jesus are described in the scriptures as being astonished at his teachings. And perhaps their murmurs indicated this. Maybe they even broke into applause. But Jesus was wise enough to understand that acquiescing by listening to someone

00:17:25.000 - 00:17:45.000

is no indication of change of conduct. After all, we all know there are churchgoers who never miss a Sunday morning in church and who seem to believe that simply listening to a sermon is bringing it into actuality in their lives. And that is not so. Knowing is never enough.

00:17:45.000 - 00:18:06.000

I have a garden behind my home. I understand the principles of cultivation which are necessary to raise corn and red peppers in that garden. If I do certain things, I will have the corn and I will have the red peppers. However, this year I will have no corn and I will have no red peppers. Why?

00:18:06.000 - 00:18:24.000

Because I did not plant any corn and I planted no red peppers. I planted cucumbers and green peppers. Now the laws and the principles with regard to growing corn and red peppers are exactly the same as they've always been.

00:18:24.000 - 00:18:47.000

But knowing those laws is not enough to produce those things. I had to plant those seeds and actively pursue those principles if I was to know results. You fully understand how a woman can study the life and the teachings of Jesus until she has her Ph.D. degree in that subject.

00:18:47.000 - 00:19:12.000

And knowing all that she knows, she can still be very far from knowing Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Because knowing is never enough. With knowing, there must always be doing. There are many people who are fascinated by the beauty of Jesus.

00:19:12.000 - 00:19:29.000

But they never give themselves to the duty of following him. It's easy to be captured by the loveliness of Jesus. Any story which begins with angels singing over the fields in Bethlehem and concludes with angels singing over an empty tomb in Jerusalem,

00:19:29.000 - 00:19:52.000

any story with that much loveliness in it can be admired. But Jesus says, "Those who cry out to me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do the things that I say will not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now I know that even as I suggest these words,

00:19:52.000 - 00:20:20.000

there are some who say, "Well, I try to do what Jesus would have me do, but I just can't do it." And my response is that that's not acceptable. This is the back of the matter. Your life is very largely in your own hands.

00:20:20.000 - 00:20:45.000

There are very few circumstances you will confront in life in which you cannot to a very large degree influence what happens in your experience. That being so, I'd like to ask you these questions. If someone offered you $10,000, could you do the things

00:20:45.000 - 00:21:10.000

which you say you know Jesus wants you to do, but up to this time you haven't been able to do? If someone pointed a pistol at your head and said, "Do the things you say you know Jesus wants you to do and that you want to do but can't do, or else I'll blow your brains out,"

00:21:10.000 - 00:21:34.000

would you then find it in yourself to be able to do them? Suppose someone approached you and said, "I have kidnapped the person you most love in life, and you will never see them again unless you do the very things you say you know you ought to do but can't do."

00:21:34.000 - 00:21:54.000

Would you then be able to do them? Now, if you have answered any of those questions in the affirmative, if you have said yes to any of those, then this question also. How is it that you do not do the things he commands you to do

00:21:54.000 - 00:22:23.000

when they are for the good of your very own soul, when they are in fact nothing less than the wisdom which is the answer to life? I have a very sober word for you. There is no place in the Gospels where Jesus is recorded as saying,

00:22:23.000 - 00:22:47.000

"Well thought, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." There is no place in the Gospels where it is recorded that Jesus says, "Well spoken, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." The testimony of Scripture is this.

00:22:47.000 - 00:23:33.000

"Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." To be wise is to obey Jesus, and the mark of obedience is action. Please turn your cassette to the other side. I have one last thing to share with you and then I am done.

00:23:33.000 - 00:23:59.000

Notice that the action which Jesus calls us to is inevitably tested by storm. Jesus says that the rain descends on both the house that's built on rock and the house that's built on sand. Both of them are buffeted. Only one stands, the house built on rock.

00:23:59.000 - 00:24:25.000

But it is just as severely tested, blown, thundered at, scorched with lightning, as the house that stands upon the sand. Indeed, it's my experience that those who are actively obedient to Jesus not only suffer as much in life as those who ignore his words, but many times more.

00:24:25.000 - 00:25:04.000

For their very discipleship calls upon them to take up the cross daily and follow him. The forces that crucified our Lord--greed, moral cowardice, the pursuit of violence, indifference to ethical values--these forces are still in the world. And as they hated Christ, so they hate all those who are Christ.

00:25:04.000 - 00:25:23.000

Are you spiritually mature enough to hear this story? There is a very noted, though he's not well known in this country, Jewish author by the name of Isaac Bebel. Isaac Bebel has a short story called "The Sin of Jesus."

00:25:23.000 - 00:25:51.000

The center of the story is a Russian girl named Irina. Irina tries to live a diligent, committed, obedient, active Christian life. She is rebuked, she is attacked, she is ridiculed, she is humiliated. Finally, she is raped by a group of men and is impregnated.

00:25:51.000 - 00:26:29.000

He describes that experience as having them spit into her soul. Now heavy with child and in deep despair because of it, Irina goes out into the night and looking up to the sky, she lifts her swollen belly toward heaven and she cries out, "What sense is there in it? I cannot see it, and I've had enough."

00:26:29.000 - 00:27:04.000

And then the story of Jesus appears, and he's weeping. And he falls on his knees before Irina and he says, "Forgive me, Irina. Forgive me, your sinful God, for all that I have done to you." And she answers, "There is no forgiveness for you, Jesus Christ.

00:27:04.000 - 00:27:38.000

No forgiveness, and there never will be." Now that is a blasphemous story. But if you have any sensitivity at all, you will catch the strong note of truth that is in it. No one who has ever lived has brought people into greater suffering than Jesus of Nazareth.

00:27:38.000 - 00:28:14.000

More have died for him than for any other. Sigmund Freud once made the comment that the reason Gentiles hated Jews was that the Jews had given them Jesus of Nazareth. He meant it as a joke. It might not be altogether far from the truth. The fact of the matter is that following Jesus Christ invariably brings upon you thunder and lightning and rains and floods.

00:28:14.000 - 00:28:35.000

That is truer for the wise than it is for the unwise. But those very storms have purpose. They build our character. Character is the result of habit. Character is not the result of impulse, but of consistent habit.

00:28:35.000 - 00:28:55.000

William James says in his Psychology that the essence of character is habitual response. When you see children move out of a school building when the fire alarm rings, and they move in order, that's not something that just happens on the spur of the moment. That's because of previous practice.

00:28:55.000 - 00:29:23.000

The necessary instantaneous response comes because of habit that has been built. When some crooked politicians approached Abraham Lincoln and said they would help him be elected if he lied for them, he responded instantly, "I am not bound to be elected, but I am bound to tell the truth." Now those words did not just spring to his mind on the spur of any moment.

00:29:23.000 - 00:29:45.000

Those came out of the whole habit and direction, the point and purpose of his life. When some came to Martin Luther and said, "We are going to desert you. Where will you be now?" And he replied instantly, "I will be where I have always been, in the hands of God." That kind of affirmation does not come to one's mind.

00:29:45.000 - 00:30:09.000

It's not uttered with the power he uttered it. Because of the instant, it comes out of the direction, the purpose, the habit, the character of a lifetime. Standing strong in storms builds character. Not only that, but the storm also gives us marvelous opportunity to demonstrate our discipleship.

00:30:09.000 - 00:30:40.000

For there is no greater evidence to the reality of love that you can give than to obey the one you love, even when it costs a great deal. There is no more eloquent tribute to love than costly obedience. And finally, obedience in time of storms, standing fast even when the lightning strikes,

00:30:40.000 - 00:30:58.000

is the most effective way there is to win others to Jesus Christ. Douglas Hyde was a very noted communist. He was for 20 years the editor of the Daily Worker in London. He's now a committed Christian. He's written a number of books.

00:30:58.000 - 00:31:21.000

One of them is called Dedication and Leadership. And in that book he points out that the communists have, in 65 years, won more people to their philosophy than any other philosophy in history has won in just 65 years. One third of the people of the earth are today communists.

00:31:21.000 - 00:31:53.000

And the other two thirds are dramatically influenced by that one third. And Hyde goes on to point out that the single factor which wins more people to communism than any other is this. The sacrificial dedication, the unquestioning loyalty and obedience of the communists. Not too long ago, Hyde was put as a spy in a prison in the East, where there were six communists imprisoned.

00:31:53.000 - 00:32:27.000

One was a college professor, one was a high school teacher, one was a plantation overseer, two were civil servants, and one was a scientist. He could find nothing in their lives, nothing in their understanding or experience of communism that was the same, except this one thing. Every one of them had been won when they observed the sacrificial obedience, the unquestioning loyalty of communists.

00:32:27.000 - 00:32:55.000

So just at a time when communism is capturing more young people than any other philosophy in the world, and I would remind you that the average age of a communist in the world today is between 15 and 25 years, and that age is getting younger and younger. Just at a time when young people by the millions are responding to the call, the demand for obedience and sacrifice,

00:32:55.000 - 00:33:28.000

which is coming out of the red world just at that time, we seek to make our lives easier. Our parents encourage us to take the courses which will give us a good job and forget about the rest of it. Some of our teachers tell us that the most important thing to do is to make wealth and to enjoy it. It is precisely that philosophy that will lead us inevitably to defeat.

00:33:28.000 - 00:33:58.000

Isn't it ironic that the forces of ungodliness are today teaching the forces of godliness what sacrifice and obedience really are? Make no mistake about the Master's message. Here in the Sermon on the Mount, early in his ministry, he lays down the principle,

00:33:58.000 - 00:34:23.000

"To obey me is wisdom, to disobey me is folly. To stand, no matter what the storm, in compliance with my will, is to live. To surrender is to faith." And I will say to you tonight, though the memory itself pains me,

00:34:23.000 - 00:34:56.000

that if there were no storms in my life, I would be a Christian for the wrong reason. I would be a Christian because it made life easier for me, for purely prudential motives. If there were no storms in my life, I would have no opportunity to build spiritual muscle. If there were no storms in my Christian experience, I would have no opportunity to prove my love for my faith.

00:34:56.000 - 00:35:27.000

And if there were no storms in my life, the very best form of witness available to me, pending when everything else falls, would be lost. For the disciple of Christ, eternity is assured. We have finally the peace which passes all understanding.

00:35:27.000 - 00:35:45.000

And neither things present, nor things past, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, will be able to separate us from the eternal peace which is ours in Christ. Once you've heard the voice of the Prince of Life,

00:35:45.000 - 00:36:09.000

you'll never be defeated by any agency of death. Once you've heard the angels sing when you're saved, you will never quake before the war cries of men or whole peoples. Once you have the final wisdom,

00:36:09.000 - 00:36:41.000

nothing can take from you that joy which alone is in the Lord. So the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard wrote in his journal years ago, "There is one thing that I must say to you most definitely. For if I die without saying it,

00:36:41.000 - 00:37:10.000

I will in the very moment of my death be transported to a place far away. And in that same moment I will be asked, 'Did you say the most definite thing most definitely?' And if I cannot say that I did, what then?"

00:37:10.000 - 00:37:38.000

So following the example of Kierkegaard on this first Vespers of the year, I say to you, lest I should die without saying it, the thing which is most definite, most definitely, you come here for wisdom?

00:37:38.000 - 00:38:03.000

It is found in obedience to Jesus. That obedience means action. That action means storm. But after the storm, the sun.

00:38:03.000 - 00:38:37.000

The sun and the sun. Let us pray. Our Father, with fear and trepidation we pray that you will take from us

00:38:37.000 - 00:39:08.000

a slovenly, easy, spineless discipleship. And that you will instead, at whatever the cost to us, so infuse us, so fill us with thy Spirit, that we will obey and move out in our obedience,

00:39:08.000 - 00:39:34.000

no matter what the storm. All to the honor and glory of Jesus Christ, our Lord, our final, sovereign, regnant, risen, ruling authority. And the Lord bless you and keep you.

00:39:34.000 - 00:39:54.000

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give to you and to all those whom you love and to all those whom nobody loves,

00:39:54.000 - 00:39:59.000

his peace.