Sermon Tone Analysis

I will liken him, etc.

The picture is not of two men deliberately selecting foundations, but it contrasts one who carefully chooses and prepares his foundation with one who builds at hap-hazard.

This is more strongly brought out by Luke (6:48): “Who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock” (Rev.).

Kitto (“Pictorial Bible”) says: “At this very day the mode of building in Christ’s own town of Nazareth suggests the source of this image.

Dr. Robinson was entertained in the house of a Greek Arab.

The house had just been built, and was not yet finished.

In order to lay the foundations he had dug down to the solid rock, as is usual throughout the country here, to the depth of thirty feet, and then built up arches.”

The abrupt style of ver. 25 pictures the sudden coming of the storm which sweeps away the house on the sand: “Descended the rain, and came the floods, and blew the winds.”

27.

Great was the fall of it.

The conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount.

“Thus,” remarks Bengel, “it is not necessary for every sermon to end with consolation.”

28.

Were astonished (ἐξεπλήσσοντο).

From ἐκ, out of, and πλήσσω, to strike.

Often to drive one out of his senses by a sudden shock, and therefore here of amazement.

They were astounded.

We have a similar expression, though not so strong: “I was struck with this or that remarkable thing.”

29.

He taught (ἦν διδάσκων).

He was teaching.

This union of the verb and participle emphasizes the idea of duration or habit more than the simple tense.

CH

A WARNING

Jesus gives a warning about false prophets (7:15–23).

These are people who claim to come from God, but don’t.

They are fierce and dangerous—like wolves disguised as sheep.

We must look carefully at what they actually do.

You tell a good prophet like you tell a good tree—by the fruit!

Jesus says there are plenty of prophets, exorcists and miracle-workers around who are nothing to do with him.

So beware!

In the story of wise and foolish builders (vv.

24–27) the foundation represents Jesus’ teaching.

Both sets of people (represented by the two builders) have heard the teaching; both will experience the same kinds of difficulties.

What distinguishes the two is that only the first does what Jesus has taught.

Building on this foundation means both hearing and obeying Jesus’ teaching.

A lawless life-style rests on a foundation which is no foundation (v.

25b has no parallel in v. 27), and thus has neither basis for living nor protection against destruction.

Verses 28–29 indicate that Jesus’ authority comes from his person and from his fidelity to the Old Testament, as distinct from rabbinic traditions.

Still, Jesus calls not just for amazement (v.

28) but for allegiance (vv.

24–27).

Nor is this a far-fetched illustration; it is a story of the kind of thing which could well happen.

In Palestine, the builder must think ahead.

There were many gullies which in summer were pleasant sandy hollows, but in winter became raging torrents of rushing water.

A man might be looking for a house; he might find a pleasantly sheltered sandy hollow; and he might think this a very suitable place.

But, if he was a short-sighted man, he might well have built his house in the dried-up bed of a river, and when the winter came, his house would disintegrate.

Even on an ordinary site, it was tempting to begin building on the smoothed-over sand and not to bother digging down to the shelf of rock below; but that way disaster lay ahead.

Only a house whose foundations are firm can withstand the storm; and only a life whose foundations are sure can stand the test.

Jesus demanded two things.

(1) He demanded that men and women should listen.

One of the great difficulties which face us today is the simple fact that people often do not know what Jesus said or what the Church teaches.

In fact, the matter is worse.

They often have a quite mistaken notion of what Jesus said and of what the Church teaches.

It is never a matter for pride or self-congratulation to condemn either a person, or an institution, unheard—and that today is precisely what so many do.

The first step to the Christian life is simply to give Jesus Christ a chance to be heard.

(2) He demanded that men and women should do.

Knowledge only becomes relevant when it is translated into action.

It would be perfectly possible to pass an examination in Christian ethics with the highest distinction, and yet not to be a Christian.

Knowledge must become action; theory must become practice; theology must become life.

There is little point in consulting a doctor about our health unless we are prepared to act upon the things we are told.

There is little point in going to an expert unless we are prepared to act upon the advice given to us.

And yet there are thousands of people who listen to the teaching of Jesus Christ every Sunday, and who have a very good knowledge of what Jesus taught, and who yet make little or no deliberate attempt to put it into practice.

If we are to be in any sense followers of Jesus, we must hear and do.

Is there any word in which hearing and doing are summed up?

There is such a word, and that word is obedience.

Jesus demands our implicit obedience.

To learn to obey is the most important thing in life.

Some time ago, there was a report of the case of a sailor in the Royal Navy who was very severely punished for a breach of discipline.

So severe was the punishment that in certain civilian quarters it was thought to be far too severe.

A newspaper asked its readers to express their opinions about the severity of the punishment.

One who answered was a man who himself had served for years in the Royal Navy.

In his view, the punishment was not too severe.

He held that discipline was absolutely essential, for the purpose of discipline was to condition those in service automatically and unquestioningly to obey orders, and on such obedience their lives might well depend.

He cited a case from his own experience.

He was in a launch which was towing a much heavier vessel in a rough sea.

The vessel was attached to the launch by a wire cable.

Suddenly in the midst of the wind and the spray there came a single, insistent word of command from the officer in charge of the launch.

‘Down!’ he shouted.

On the spot, the crew of the launch flung themselves down.

Just at that moment, the wire towing-cable snapped, and the broken parts of it whipped about like a maddened steel snake.

If any man had been struck by it, he would have been instantly killed.

But the whole crew automatically obeyed, and no one was injured.

If anyone had stopped to argue or to ask why, he would have been a dead man.

Obedience saved lives.

It is such obedience that Jesus demands.

It is Jesus’ claim that obedience to him is the only sure foundation for life; and it is his promise that the life which is founded on obedience to him is safe, no matter what storms may come.

LOVE IN ACTI

would want to be treated.

Matthew 7:14–27 forms the concluding warning.

There are only two possible responses to Jesus’ preaching—obedience or rejection.

The narrow versus the wide roads (vv.

13–14), the good versus the bad fruit (vv.

15–23), and the wise versus the foolish builders (vv.

24–27) illustrate this warning in three parallel ways.

Professions of faith without appropriate changes of life-style prove empty.

But mere works by themselves do not save; a relationship with Jesus is needed.

On Judgment Day many will cry, “Lord, Lord” and appeal to their deeds.

Christ will reply, “I never knew you” (7:23).

Hear, Hearing.

Most Old Testament words for hear(ing) come from the root šmʿ, “hear,” or ʾzn, “(give) ear,” although qšb, “pay attention,” sometimes appears.

The New Testament words are akouō, “hear,” along with its several compounds and cognates, and ous, “ear” with its diminutives otion and otarion.

Scripture often refers to the physical ear (Gen.

35:4; Exod.