Sermon based on Matthew 5:38-48 and 1 Corinthians 3:10,11,16-23
Try this: put your hand in the air and draw a picture of a house. It doesn’t need to be elaborate — a simple one will do.
Now, think about what you did. Where did you start your picture?
Very few people will draw a line along the bottom (the foundation) first and then draw the house above it. Most will start at the top of one of the walls or possibly draw the roof first. This points up the fact that we commonly ignore the foundations and yet they are really important. Read 1 Corinthians 3:10,11 and note that Jesus Christ is the foundation – the only foundation – for our lives.
We have to have something to base/found our lives on. There are plenty of options available – philosophies, religions, our own ideas – but the best foundation we can have for our lives is Jesus Christ. In fact, if we don’t have him, our lives will collapse – probably in this life and certainly in the next.
Think as you read this, of drawing a picture of a house, beginning at the bottom. If that seems unusual, so be it. Because that is one of the things about building our lives on Jesus: things often appear to be upside down or the wrong way round, but God knows what he is doing and it is best to learn from him.
Christians are intended to be different. Being God’s temple, as in I Corinthians 3:16, demands it. After all, the temple is the place where God’s presence was manifested among his people. Note that it is ‘temple’, singular and ‘you’, plural. We are not a collection of individual temples; we are together one temple (Paul uses the image differently in 1 Corinthians 6:19). As such we have a different wisdom from the world, a new way of looking at the world – a biblical word view. Wisdom is not a matter of acquiring information; it is about a practical response, a way of thinking that shapes our daily lives and conversation. So, in the face of global warming, terrorist threats, or personal pain we have a different set of attitudes and responses that can challenge and inform those around us.
We now have four building blocks – values of God’s kingdom – to build our lives with.
• Wisdom leads us to live by a different set of values. As Jesus makes clear throughout the Sermon on the Mount and as exemplified in today’s verses, it is people and relationships that take priority. This is a hard call. Vindictiveness and the desire for revenge (often dressed up as justice) come more easily to us than loving and forgiving those who have wronged us.
Jesus said, ‘Don’t try to get even’ (Matthew 5:38,39) – our first building block.
Jesus allowed himself to be abused and beaten, and didn’t answer back. Isaiah predictied this. He was speaking of the Messiah when he wrote, “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.” (Isa.53:7.) Matthew notes this in telling of Jesus’ trial: The High Priest questioned him, “But jesus kept quiet.” (Matt.26:63.)
And so it is with us. Is there someone who has put you down or offended you or who is working against you? What are you to do? Hit back? Try to clear your name? Tell everyone how bad that person is? Jesus said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matt.5:44). And the effect of this? “So that you can become the children of your Father in heaven.” (Matt.5:45.) 1 Peter 2:20b-23. And 1 Peter 3:9, “Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you.”
Think about the people you know. Is there someone you need to forgive and pray for?
• ‘Be generous’ (verse 42) – our second building block. Jesus shared whatever he had with others, particularly his time. Mark tells us that there were times when “There were so many people coming and going Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat.” Jesus took his disciples away by themselves but the people followed. That’s when he fed 5,000 at once. He chose his disciples ‘to be with him.’ He shared his life with them.
Isaiah 58:6,7 “The kind of fasting God wants is this: Remove the chains of oppression and the yoke of injustice, and let the oppressed go free. Share your food with the hungry and open your homes to the homeless poor. Give clothes to hose who have nothing to wear, and do not refuse to help your own relatives.” Jesus said something similar to a rich man who asked him how he could truly please God. “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me.” (Matt.19:21.)
Think about the things you own. Is there something you have that you could share or give to someone in need?
• ‘Going the extra mile’ has passed into popular usage as an expression of going beyond what might be expected. ‘Be willing to put yourself out‘ (verse 40,41) is the third building block.
Jesus still ministered to others even when he was tired. One day Jesus and his disciples were traveling. John tells us that Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by a well they had come to. The disciples went into the nearby town and a woman came to the well to get water. Although Jesus was tired he engaged the woman in a conversation which ended with her believing in him and witnessing to her neighbours. (John 4.) Again, John tells us that Jesus took the role of a servant at the Last Supper. “Jesus knew that he had come from God and was going to God. So he rose from the table, took off his outer garment and tied a towel around his waist. Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” (John 13:4,5.) Washing feet was nobody’s preferred job but Jesus put himself out for his friends.
Think about your time. Could you spare some extra time to help others?
• Jesus was asking for real, hard, sacrificial action that went against the grain — action that demonstrated a different way. It was also politically subversive, a demonstration that the kingdom of God, and not that of Caesar, had ultimate authority. We who live with different challenges will have to work out what it means, in practice, to live out the conviction that Jesus is Lord of all life and that in his kingdom people matter supremely. The fourth building block is: ‘Be loving and friendly to everyone’ (verses 43-48). Jesus made friends with all sorts of people, many of whom were shunned by society. Read Matthew 9:10-13.
Think about someone you don’t like much or would avoid if you could. Could you ask God to help you love that person?
If living differently and being perfect as God is perfect, seems impossible — and it does — then we have the assurance that this temple is built on the sure foundation of what Jesus has done, rather than on the shaky foundation of what we are able to do.
What a wonderful society ours would be if everyone built their lives in this way.
Think about living that way of life: not trying to get even, always being generous with our possessions, putting ourselves out and being friendly with everyone — yes, everyone! It seems impossible, even with Jesus as the foundation. But remember that Jesus promised never to leave us. Someone is in the house with us. In our picture of a house, think of the Holy Spirit as the roof. and read 1 Corinthians 3:16,17a again. If the foundations of our lives are truly founded on Jesus, the Holy Spirit will help us to live God’s wise way.
Let’s review. Jesus is to be the foundation for our lives. Not trying to get even, always being generous with our possessions, putting ourselves out and being friendly with everyone, are some key values of God’s kingdom, which seem to be so different from the way we would normally want to live. We need God’s help through his Spirit to build our lives on him.