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On this 11th Sunday after Pentecost, Aug. 4th, 2024, Rev. Matt Sapp, return to the Sermon on the Mount after a three-week break. We reflect on its final words from Matthew 7:21-29, where Jesus warns against false disciples. It's a call to not just hear His words but to put them into practice, building our lives on a solid foundation.
The message emphasizes that it's not enough to know the will of God; we must do it. This teaching brings us full circle to the beginning of our series, where we discussed the Beatitudes and the importance of living out Jesus' teachings.
The sermon also draws parallels with recent Olympic events, illustrating how even the best-prepared individuals can face unexpected setbacks. The key is resilience and building a strong foundation through faith and practice.
As we conclude, we are reminded to be salt and light in the world, to be humble, generous, and self-aware. These qualities will make us stronger and more resilient. We pray for the strength to live out these teachings together as a community of faith.
Chapters
(00:00) Introduction and Call to Worship
(00:30) Recap of Recent Sermons and Events
(01:04) Conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount Series
(06:04) Building a Strong Foundation
(07:06) Olympic Stories and Life Lessons
(12:22) Resilience in the Face of Adversity
(15:00) Practical Applications of Jesus' Teachings
(17:02) Final Reflections
(17:49) Closing Prayer
Matthew 7:21-29
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
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[00:00:01]
Katie Faison:
Each week, we gather here to praise and worship a loving God whose unfailing love is shown through his grace. I pray that as we worship in the presence of God today, we will know the extraordinary power of God's grace and be wise enough to extend it to everyone we meet. Come, let us worship God together.
[00:00:30] Matt Sapp:
Even though we've had what is now a 3 Sunday break from our summer sermon series, some of you remember it's been 4 Sundays now since I've been here talking about the Sermon on the Mount. Some of you will remember that we have been this summer working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. 3 weeks ago, our children led us in worship. 2 weeks ago, our youth led us in worship. Last Sunday was Steve Cothern, retirement Sunday. We celebrated Steve and Nancy Cothern together. This Sunday is promotion Sunday. It's back to school Sunday. Summer is over. School year is here, ready or not. So as we wrap up our summer and move into the school year, we're wrapping up our Sermon on the Mount summer worship series as well. I invite you to listen with me as I read the final words of the Sermon on the Mount. We've been saying all summer this is Jesus' most extended body of teaching in the New Testament, three whole chapters in the gospel in the gospel of Matthew, Matthew 5-7, we've also been saying this is the most important body of ethical teaching in history of the world, those three chapters together are, and this is how Jesus chooses to wrap that body of teaching up. This is from Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 29. You'll find the passage printed on the back of your worship guide.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles, then I will tell them plainly I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers. That sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law. These final words of the Sermon on the Mount are a warning of sorts, a warning against false disciples. They come in the Sermon on the Mount. These words come just after a warning against false prophets. The section of Matthew chapter 7 that comes just before the section we read says, beware of false prophets. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. They leave a trail of destruction behind them and then Jesus says right after that, beware of false disciples. That first instruction, beware of false prophets, is a warning to look out for other people.
But this final instruction, look out for false disciples. Not everyone who says Lord Lord. Not everyone who vocalizes what it means to be a disciple, not everyone who calls out my name, not everyone who comes to worship is a true disciple, Jesus says. This final instruction is a harder one than the one that precedes it because it might be directed at us. This is not look out for other people, this is look out for yourselves. Make sure you're doing the will of God. Not everyone who says, Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who are actually doing the will of God. This is an action speak louder than words instruction.
Hear my words Jesus says. Hear all these things I've been teaching you and put them into practice. Actually go out into the world and do them and you'll be like someone who built their house on a solid foundation. You will be a true disciple. But if you hear my instructions and don't put those words into practice, if you hear my teaching and don't actually do it, you'll be like someone who built their house on sand on a weak foundation. And when the storms of life that come, when the wind blows and the rains come, that house built on a weak foundation doesn't stand a chance, Jesus says.
It's not enough to know the will of God. You actually have to do the will of God. It's not enough to say we believe in Jesus. We have to actually believe the things that Jesus teaches too. That's how we started the summer. Some of you can think back a few months. That's how we began our series on the sermon on the mount as we walked through the beatitudes, those first 13 verses of the Sermon on the Mount. As we looked at the beatitudes, we said it's not enough to say we believe in Jesus. We actually have to believe what Jesus teaches too. And here at the end of the summer, at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount, we've come full circle. We're right back to the same idea. It's not enough to know the will of God. You actually have to do the will of God if you want to build a strong and resilient life for you and your family.
Building a strong life for yourself and your family. Building a house, a household on a strong foundation, that's no small thing, is it? That's what literally all of us are aiming for as we sit here in the pews today. Building a strong and resilient life for ourselves and for our families. It's what we want. It's what we dream about. It's what keeps us lying awake at night. And that's what Jesus is talking about here. If you want to build a strong and resilient life for yourself and for your family, if you want a house on a solid foundation, do these things I've been talking about here.
If you wanna build a strong and resilient life for yourself and for your family, do these things that are printed on the back of your worship guide. I don't know if I can say it any plainer than that. It's been all Olympics all the time at our house over the last week or so. Maybe that's true in some of your households as well. I'm not sure why but I think I've become a bigger fan of the Olympic games as I've grown older. I'm as big a fan of the Olympics now as I have ever been so we've been watching it a bunch this week. Just a few days ago, in the first rounds of the men's 100 meter dash, Mozambique sprinter, Steven Sabino, false started.
Sabino is 18 years old from Mozambique. He's come all the way to Paris. He's competing in his very first Olympic games. And in the 100 meter dash against the fastest men in the world, getting off to a quick start, your your reaction time when you hear the starter's pistol is everything. So with all of these world class athletes lined up in the blocks next to this teenager from Mozambique, Steven Sabino just jumped just a little too quickly out of the blocks and he got called for a false start. Now that doesn't sound like too big of a deal if you don't know what a false start means in professional sprinting. This is what Yahoo sports writer, Jeff Eisenberg, called yesterday the cruelest rule in all of sports.
Steven Sabino was immediately disqualified. That's what a false start means in Olympic sprinting. If you jump out of those blocks too early, there is no second chance. You're out and out for good. The 18 year old from Mozambique tried to plead his case. He told the official that he heard what sounded like maybe a starter's gun coming from over in the shot put area. The the shot put competition was going on out in the field next to him. He says that was an unfair distraction, anyone who heard that sound would have jumped but to no avail.
Sometimes runners who false start are allowed to still run. They're still allowed to compete under protest. In all likelihood, their times won't count in the end. But they can still get back in the blocks and run the race. But not Sabino this time. It was off the track and back down the tunnel to the athlete's dressing room before he even ran one step of a race at the Olympics. Now it's a 4 year wait to try to make it back. Sabino was sobbing on the track. He'd aimed his whole life in this direction. He's only 18 years old. He'd spent his entire adolescence building up to this one moment. He'd achieved a level of proficiency and greatness that few of us ever will.
He was standing on a track in Paris surrounded by 75,000 cheering people at the Olympic games on international television. It was a dream come true. And in one moment, literally less than a tenth of a second, it all came crashing down. Yesterday, in Olympic swimming, American swimmer, Alex Walsh, was competing in the 200 meter individual medley. If y'all don't know what that means, that's where one swimmer uses all 4 of the swimming strokes, 50 meters for each one to compete individually in a 200 meter race. Alex competed and she won the bronze medal.
Many swimmers on team USA compete in in multiple events. They they compete in individual events and team events or they swim at different distances or they compete in different swimming strokes, but not Alex Walsh. This was her one event. This was her only chance at the Olympics. She made it to the finals. She made it through the first rounds and then she made it through the semifinals. She got into the final round of the 200 meter individual medley. She had a chance to compete for a medal and she won one. She won the bronze medal for herself, for her family, for her country. She had USA emblazoned across the chest of her swimsuit. She won for about 10 seconds.
She was disqualified for failing to complete the back stroke portion of the event correctly. She turned off of her back just a fraction of a second too quickly as she approached the wall and was trying to transition from the backstroke into the next stroke of the competition. So no bronze medal. No reported time at all. Just a d q next to her name at the very bottom of the leader board. In her only event in Paris, no big deal. Right? Just wait 4 more years and try again. Wait 4 more years and hours and hours and hours and months and even years of punishing grueling work and training to try to get back and have another chance.
You could see the look on her face change as she went from bronze medal winner to disqualified. You could literally, on TV, see the the color drain out of her face as that change went up on the leaderboard before she'd even climbed out of the pool. Jesus says, the rain came down. The streams rose. The winds blew and beat against the wise man's house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But we've got our own saying in the south, the good lord willing and the creek don't rise. Right? Well sometimes the creek does rise.
Sometimes the storms of life do come even to the faithful, even to the best of us, even to the wise man, even to the true disciple. The rains come down and the wind blows and the creek rises and and Stephen Sabino, the 18 year old from Mozambique, who had never had even one false start in his entire career, comes to the starting line of the 1st Olympic games where Alex Walsh turns just a bit too far too quickly in the pool. The question isn't whether the rain will come. The question is what happens next? What happens next when something happens to to rock your world, to shatter your dreams, to shake your family, to to test your faith? What happens next? Some people have a solid foundation and they make it through the storm, and some people don't. And their lives just fall apart.
You have all seen this happen in real life. Either to you or to your family members or to your friends or neighbors. Some people have a solid foundation and they seem to make it through. Others people don't and they just completely fall apart. What is it that makes some people more resilient and some people less so when the storms of life come. If you wanna be more resilient when life knocks you down and life comes at you fast, All it takes is one false start or one missed turn in the pool. Thankfully most of our mistakes happen in practice. They happen in training. They happen in private. They happen when the stakes aren't so high. But sometimes every once in a while, They happen to us on the biggest stages when the lights are brightest and the consequences are great.
If you want to be stronger and more resilient when the storms of life come and the creek rises then do the things on the back of this worship guide. Do these things and you will build a stronger more resilient life for yourself and for your family. Do these things and you will be more resilient. That's not me saying this. That's the promise of Jesus at the end of the sermon on the mount in scripture. Be salt and light that challenges the ordinariness of this world and you will be stronger and more resilient. Be happy. Be holy. Be measured.
Avoid those twin excesses of wealth and worry and you your family will be stronger and more resilient as a result. Be humble, be open, be wise, be self aware, Recognize both your own limitations and appropriately value the most precious parts of who you are. This is one of my favorite pieces of Jesus' teaching. Be self aware and you and your family will be stronger and more resilient. Be generous. Not just fair, Jesus says. Anyone can be fair. Even the pagans are taught to uphold a standard of fairness. You are called to a higher standard. Be generous. And you and your family will be stronger and more resilient.
That's the teaching of the sermon on the mount. I want what we do here at this church to make a difference. I want what we teach here to make a difference in your life and in the lives of your family. I want all of us to be better and to feel better and to be stronger and to feel stronger, because of what we're doing here together. And there is absolutely no better way to make that true. No better way for your individual lives to be stronger and more resilient. No better way for our collective witness to be more impactful than for all of us together to be the things printed on the back of your worship guide this morning.
It isn't easy. It's not easy to be and do all of these things. In fact, it's really really hard, but it is simple. It easily fits on less than a single page. It's not hard to understand. There will be no excuse for any of us at the end to say we didn't understand the instructions. It's not enough to know the will of God. We actually have to do it and do it together. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we do come here this morning wanting to be stronger and more resilient people. We wanna be parts of stronger and more resilient families. We wanna be a stronger and more resilient family of faith.
Remind us of your teaching this morning of what it takes to build all of who we are and all of who we're aiming to be on a solid foundation. And strength to do it and remind us that we don't have to do it all by ourselves, that you give us each other to do it together. We offer our prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
Each week, we gather here to praise and worship a loving God whose unfailing love is shown through his grace. I pray that as we worship in the presence of God today, we will know the extraordinary power of God's grace and be wise enough to extend it to everyone we meet. Come, let us worship God together.
[00:00:30] Matt Sapp:
Even though we've had what is now a 3 Sunday break from our summer sermon series, some of you remember it's been 4 Sundays now since I've been here talking about the Sermon on the Mount. Some of you will remember that we have been this summer working our way through the Sermon on the Mount. 3 weeks ago, our children led us in worship. 2 weeks ago, our youth led us in worship. Last Sunday was Steve Cothern, retirement Sunday. We celebrated Steve and Nancy Cothern together. This Sunday is promotion Sunday. It's back to school Sunday. Summer is over. School year is here, ready or not. So as we wrap up our summer and move into the school year, we're wrapping up our Sermon on the Mount summer worship series as well. I invite you to listen with me as I read the final words of the Sermon on the Mount. We've been saying all summer this is Jesus' most extended body of teaching in the New Testament, three whole chapters in the gospel in the gospel of Matthew, Matthew 5-7, we've also been saying this is the most important body of ethical teaching in history of the world, those three chapters together are, and this is how Jesus chooses to wrap that body of teaching up. This is from Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 through 29. You'll find the passage printed on the back of your worship guide.
Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but only the one who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles, then I will tell them plainly I never knew you. Away from me you evildoers. That sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash.
When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law. These final words of the Sermon on the Mount are a warning of sorts, a warning against false disciples. They come in the Sermon on the Mount. These words come just after a warning against false prophets. The section of Matthew chapter 7 that comes just before the section we read says, beware of false prophets. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing. They leave a trail of destruction behind them and then Jesus says right after that, beware of false disciples. That first instruction, beware of false prophets, is a warning to look out for other people.
But this final instruction, look out for false disciples. Not everyone who says Lord Lord. Not everyone who vocalizes what it means to be a disciple, not everyone who calls out my name, not everyone who comes to worship is a true disciple, Jesus says. This final instruction is a harder one than the one that precedes it because it might be directed at us. This is not look out for other people, this is look out for yourselves. Make sure you're doing the will of God. Not everyone who says, Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who are actually doing the will of God. This is an action speak louder than words instruction.
Hear my words Jesus says. Hear all these things I've been teaching you and put them into practice. Actually go out into the world and do them and you'll be like someone who built their house on a solid foundation. You will be a true disciple. But if you hear my instructions and don't put those words into practice, if you hear my teaching and don't actually do it, you'll be like someone who built their house on sand on a weak foundation. And when the storms of life that come, when the wind blows and the rains come, that house built on a weak foundation doesn't stand a chance, Jesus says.
It's not enough to know the will of God. You actually have to do the will of God. It's not enough to say we believe in Jesus. We have to actually believe the things that Jesus teaches too. That's how we started the summer. Some of you can think back a few months. That's how we began our series on the sermon on the mount as we walked through the beatitudes, those first 13 verses of the Sermon on the Mount. As we looked at the beatitudes, we said it's not enough to say we believe in Jesus. We actually have to believe what Jesus teaches too. And here at the end of the summer, at the very end of the Sermon on the Mount, we've come full circle. We're right back to the same idea. It's not enough to know the will of God. You actually have to do the will of God if you want to build a strong and resilient life for you and your family.
Building a strong life for yourself and your family. Building a house, a household on a strong foundation, that's no small thing, is it? That's what literally all of us are aiming for as we sit here in the pews today. Building a strong and resilient life for ourselves and for our families. It's what we want. It's what we dream about. It's what keeps us lying awake at night. And that's what Jesus is talking about here. If you want to build a strong and resilient life for yourself and for your family, if you want a house on a solid foundation, do these things I've been talking about here.
If you wanna build a strong and resilient life for yourself and for your family, do these things that are printed on the back of your worship guide. I don't know if I can say it any plainer than that. It's been all Olympics all the time at our house over the last week or so. Maybe that's true in some of your households as well. I'm not sure why but I think I've become a bigger fan of the Olympic games as I've grown older. I'm as big a fan of the Olympics now as I have ever been so we've been watching it a bunch this week. Just a few days ago, in the first rounds of the men's 100 meter dash, Mozambique sprinter, Steven Sabino, false started.
Sabino is 18 years old from Mozambique. He's come all the way to Paris. He's competing in his very first Olympic games. And in the 100 meter dash against the fastest men in the world, getting off to a quick start, your your reaction time when you hear the starter's pistol is everything. So with all of these world class athletes lined up in the blocks next to this teenager from Mozambique, Steven Sabino just jumped just a little too quickly out of the blocks and he got called for a false start. Now that doesn't sound like too big of a deal if you don't know what a false start means in professional sprinting. This is what Yahoo sports writer, Jeff Eisenberg, called yesterday the cruelest rule in all of sports.
Steven Sabino was immediately disqualified. That's what a false start means in Olympic sprinting. If you jump out of those blocks too early, there is no second chance. You're out and out for good. The 18 year old from Mozambique tried to plead his case. He told the official that he heard what sounded like maybe a starter's gun coming from over in the shot put area. The the shot put competition was going on out in the field next to him. He says that was an unfair distraction, anyone who heard that sound would have jumped but to no avail.
Sometimes runners who false start are allowed to still run. They're still allowed to compete under protest. In all likelihood, their times won't count in the end. But they can still get back in the blocks and run the race. But not Sabino this time. It was off the track and back down the tunnel to the athlete's dressing room before he even ran one step of a race at the Olympics. Now it's a 4 year wait to try to make it back. Sabino was sobbing on the track. He'd aimed his whole life in this direction. He's only 18 years old. He'd spent his entire adolescence building up to this one moment. He'd achieved a level of proficiency and greatness that few of us ever will.
He was standing on a track in Paris surrounded by 75,000 cheering people at the Olympic games on international television. It was a dream come true. And in one moment, literally less than a tenth of a second, it all came crashing down. Yesterday, in Olympic swimming, American swimmer, Alex Walsh, was competing in the 200 meter individual medley. If y'all don't know what that means, that's where one swimmer uses all 4 of the swimming strokes, 50 meters for each one to compete individually in a 200 meter race. Alex competed and she won the bronze medal.
Many swimmers on team USA compete in in multiple events. They they compete in individual events and team events or they swim at different distances or they compete in different swimming strokes, but not Alex Walsh. This was her one event. This was her only chance at the Olympics. She made it to the finals. She made it through the first rounds and then she made it through the semifinals. She got into the final round of the 200 meter individual medley. She had a chance to compete for a medal and she won one. She won the bronze medal for herself, for her family, for her country. She had USA emblazoned across the chest of her swimsuit. She won for about 10 seconds.
She was disqualified for failing to complete the back stroke portion of the event correctly. She turned off of her back just a fraction of a second too quickly as she approached the wall and was trying to transition from the backstroke into the next stroke of the competition. So no bronze medal. No reported time at all. Just a d q next to her name at the very bottom of the leader board. In her only event in Paris, no big deal. Right? Just wait 4 more years and try again. Wait 4 more years and hours and hours and hours and months and even years of punishing grueling work and training to try to get back and have another chance.
You could see the look on her face change as she went from bronze medal winner to disqualified. You could literally, on TV, see the the color drain out of her face as that change went up on the leaderboard before she'd even climbed out of the pool. Jesus says, the rain came down. The streams rose. The winds blew and beat against the wise man's house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock. But we've got our own saying in the south, the good lord willing and the creek don't rise. Right? Well sometimes the creek does rise.
Sometimes the storms of life do come even to the faithful, even to the best of us, even to the wise man, even to the true disciple. The rains come down and the wind blows and the creek rises and and Stephen Sabino, the 18 year old from Mozambique, who had never had even one false start in his entire career, comes to the starting line of the 1st Olympic games where Alex Walsh turns just a bit too far too quickly in the pool. The question isn't whether the rain will come. The question is what happens next? What happens next when something happens to to rock your world, to shatter your dreams, to shake your family, to to test your faith? What happens next? Some people have a solid foundation and they make it through the storm, and some people don't. And their lives just fall apart.
You have all seen this happen in real life. Either to you or to your family members or to your friends or neighbors. Some people have a solid foundation and they seem to make it through. Others people don't and they just completely fall apart. What is it that makes some people more resilient and some people less so when the storms of life come. If you wanna be more resilient when life knocks you down and life comes at you fast, All it takes is one false start or one missed turn in the pool. Thankfully most of our mistakes happen in practice. They happen in training. They happen in private. They happen when the stakes aren't so high. But sometimes every once in a while, They happen to us on the biggest stages when the lights are brightest and the consequences are great.
If you want to be stronger and more resilient when the storms of life come and the creek rises then do the things on the back of this worship guide. Do these things and you will build a stronger more resilient life for yourself and for your family. Do these things and you will be more resilient. That's not me saying this. That's the promise of Jesus at the end of the sermon on the mount in scripture. Be salt and light that challenges the ordinariness of this world and you will be stronger and more resilient. Be happy. Be holy. Be measured.
Avoid those twin excesses of wealth and worry and you your family will be stronger and more resilient as a result. Be humble, be open, be wise, be self aware, Recognize both your own limitations and appropriately value the most precious parts of who you are. This is one of my favorite pieces of Jesus' teaching. Be self aware and you and your family will be stronger and more resilient. Be generous. Not just fair, Jesus says. Anyone can be fair. Even the pagans are taught to uphold a standard of fairness. You are called to a higher standard. Be generous. And you and your family will be stronger and more resilient.
That's the teaching of the sermon on the mount. I want what we do here at this church to make a difference. I want what we teach here to make a difference in your life and in the lives of your family. I want all of us to be better and to feel better and to be stronger and to feel stronger, because of what we're doing here together. And there is absolutely no better way to make that true. No better way for your individual lives to be stronger and more resilient. No better way for our collective witness to be more impactful than for all of us together to be the things printed on the back of your worship guide this morning.
It isn't easy. It's not easy to be and do all of these things. In fact, it's really really hard, but it is simple. It easily fits on less than a single page. It's not hard to understand. There will be no excuse for any of us at the end to say we didn't understand the instructions. It's not enough to know the will of God. We actually have to do it and do it together. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we do come here this morning wanting to be stronger and more resilient people. We wanna be parts of stronger and more resilient families. We wanna be a stronger and more resilient family of faith.
Remind us of your teaching this morning of what it takes to build all of who we are and all of who we're aiming to be on a solid foundation. And strength to do it and remind us that we don't have to do it all by ourselves, that you give us each other to do it together. We offer our prayer in Jesus name. Amen.
