Built to Last | Summer on the Mount | Trinity Sermons

Today's reading is taken from the Gospel according

to Matthew chapter 7 verses 13 to 29. Matthew

Matthew 7:13–29 Matthew 7:13–29

chapter 7 verses 13 to 29. Enter through the

narrow gate, for wide is the gate, and broad

is the road that leads to destruction, and many

enter through it. But small is the gate, and

narrow is the road that leads to life. and only

a few find it. Watch out for false prophets.

They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly,

they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you

will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from

thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Likewise,

every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree

bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad

fruit. and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut

down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their

fruit you will recognize them. 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 wind 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. The word of the Lord. Good morning,

church. How are you this morning? Good. Before

I get into my sermon, I just want you to turn

to your neighbor and answer this question. Where

have you been amazed by God this week? Give yourself

30 seconds. Where have you been amazed by God?

At the end of the passage, it said they were

amazed by his teaching. Where have you been amazed

by God this week? All right, is anybody brave

enough to tell me where they were amazed by God

this week? Anyone brave to? Yes. Having great

sons and grandsons. A blessing, a blessing. And

hopefully you even saw them this week, maybe.

You did. Okay, not only do you have them, but

you actually physically were able to spend time

with them. Anywhere else people were amazed by

God this week? That may be a miracle. You should

maybe think about that. It's been a tough road.

That's been a tough road, yeah, or tough flight,

yes. Any other ways people have been amazed by

God this week? Yeah, over here. Having a moment

with God among seniors, did you say? Wonderful.

Yeah. You could see God at work in those conversations

and with those people, with elders. Excellent.

And one more, yeah? Your niece found a full -time

job. Praise God for that. Amen. That can change

a life right there. Getting a full -time job

changes your life. Well, this morning... we are

gathered to listen to the last section of the

Sermon on the Mount. And you're going to have

one more sermon on it next week, which is on

the Lord's Prayer. But this section that we heard

today kind of wraps up what people usually understand,

sort of Matthew 5 to Matthew 7, as the Sermon

on the Mount. And like any good wrap -up of a

sermon, what we've got in this section is a call

to action. And Jesus uses in this wrap -up and

his call to action three classic images. They're

images that we see in other parts of scripture.

And we're going to walk through those three images.

It's a gate, it's a tree, and it's a house. But

we're going to look at that in the context of

this title, which is Choosing the Jesus Way.

And I want to just flag what you see on the screen

here. You're going to see little drawings periodically.

I did not make them. I did not get AI to make

them. I did try AI. They were not as good. So

what you see on the screen all comes from the

Bible Project. They have a really excellent visual

commentary on the Sermon on the Mount. So if

you missed any of the sermons, if you want to

go deeper on anything about Sermon on the Mount,

I do recommend it. It's a free online resource

from the Bible Commentary, and all the little

drawings that you have on the screen today come

from them. So my gratitude to them. Okay, there

is a lot of content because it is a wrap -up,

but Jesus, like, throws three very distinct images

at us, so we're going to do that, and then I'll

wrap with a story. So what is the first one?

Let me just see if I can use this properly. I

can, yay. Okay, so like I said, these are the

sections. We've got the gate, the tree, and the

house, and I look at those three things, and

in addition to those images, what we have is

that the gate is really asking us what are the

choices that it takes in our following Jesus.

The second is what is the impact if we follow

this new way, and then the third section is what

is the outcome. So we've got, I did this this

morning because there was no visuals, and so

we had a very interactive sermon. So we're going

to try it again. The first picture is, you've

got a cheat sheet above you. So the first one

is the? Gate. The second one is the? And the

third one is the? Okay, so this is the only time

you're going to see all three at the same time.

So next time I ask you, one will be missing.

Just so you know, stay awake. Okay, what is the

choice? What is the choice, otherwise known as

the gate? So up until now in the Sermon on the

Mount, what has been happening is that Jesus

has been talking to his disciples who've been

listening with lots of extra people, the crowds

around there too, and they've been listening

to how to be with God and how to be with neighbor

in this new way of kingdom living. He's even

spent a whole section talking about religious

practices, and he's sort of wrapped up. The Sermon

on the Mount, before this section we hear, verse

12, which precedes this one, is one that people

are very familiar with, even if you're not in

the church, because it goes like this. Do unto

others as you would have them do to you. That's

right. So that's what comes just before this.

He's summarized the law and the prophets with

that statement, and then he goes into this. section

that we read as chapter 7, which is why people

call this kind of the wrap -up, because that

was sort of a summary statement of kind of everything,

and now there's three little pictures to help

us. So what is the first picture? It is of a

gate or door and a road or way. And this imagery

of a road going through a door or a way going

through a gate, those are the different words

saying the same thing, is all about the choices

that need to be made. Following me, Jesus is

saying, following the way is going to be an intentional

act. You have got to choose to enter through

the narrow gate. You have to choose to enter

through the narrow gate. It just doesn't happen

automatically. It is not the path of least resistance.

As one commentator writes, the many and the few

are not... They are oratory. They function not

to give a doctrinal statement about how many

will be saved, but rather to exhort and admonish

the lagging disciples of the urgency of the decision

which must be made new every day. I'm going to

read that last part again because I really like

it. The urgency of the decision that must be

made new every day. Now some of you who are sitting

here, may recall the time when you made a decision

that you would follow Jesus. Some of you may

not remember that time because your eye just

grew up this way. And I embraced it. I didn't

have a moment. What this passage is saying is

that it is not just a moment. It is something

that must be ongoing. That's why I love how he

blends the gate and the road. There is a decision

of a moment. You walk through the gate. But you

are walking on a... road or away, because you

have to keep making the decision to follow Jesus

every day. The urgency of the decision, which

must be made new every day. Now, I wonder how

many of you have ever walked on a cobbled stone

road where it had one of these big gates. They're

not... common. In fact, I'm not sure I know of

a place in Toronto, but a couple years ago, I

did go to Quebec City, and it's an old fortified

city, so there's several places where you can

walk through what I imagine these sort of gates

might have looked like in the cities of old.

And on those gates and around them, there's the

cobblestone street, and there's usually fortifications,

and so you just kind of have to follow the path.

Like, if you go with the crowd, you are going

to go through the wide You are not going to find

the small door on the side. You're not going

to know the entrance that is more narrow unless

you are deliberate and looking for it. And Jesus

says that's what we actually have to do. In our

life of following him, we need to take that intentional

pause and not follow with the crowd, not go to

the widest gate, the most open door, but make

that deliberate choice. And sometimes it makes

you feel constricted and narrow. You might notice

that there are fewer people going the way you're

choosing. And Jesus says, don't worry about all

that. Don't worry if there's fewer people or

it's a narrow road. Because ultimately, that

pathway is going to lead you to life. Now, life

here in Greek... is the word zoe, which is, there's

sort of two words that are most commonly used,

bios, which is just physical life, and zoe, which

is like a full life, or abundant life, or like

soul life. And it actually means life that includes

and starts with salvation, right? So the wholeness

of life is zoe in here. Now when I said that

this is a very common imagery, this image of

the gate, This image of the way. I want to compare

what we heard this morning in Matthew, which

you see on the screen, with what we hear in John's

Gospel. So John's another writer who tells the

life of Jesus. And this is how John quotes Jesus,

using these same images. In John's Gospel, we

hear Jesus say, I am the way, the truth, and

the life. John 14. We also hear Jesus say, I

am. The gate. So here we have that we're supposed

to go through the gate and walk the narrow path,

and there we have Jesus as both the gate and

the path. These are not conflicting. They are

to be merged as one big image. In other words,

Jesus is saying, I am your gate and I am your

way. The life you seek is possible through me

and in me, and I will be with you. That just

takes it up a notch. Just takes it up a notch.

Now, I'm not sure how you were feeling this morning

when you walked into this space. Perhaps you

were feeling that you were on a narrow way. Narrow,

maybe constricted. Maybe there was a struggle.

And if that's you this morning, then this word

is an encouragement to you. This word is an encouragement

to you because Jesus does not promise that the

narrow way will be easy to walk on. He just promises

that it brings life. And there's a difference.

So this is an encouragement if you've come in

feeling the struggle or the narrowness this morning.

If you came in this morning and you're like,

I am good. Maybe it's the grandchildren. Maybe

it's just that your life is full and you had

a wonderful devotional moment this morning. So

you're like, I got this Zoe life. I'm experiencing

that. Then praise be. My question to you is,

how are you sharing that with others? If that's

where you are, then how is it overflowing into

others around you? And maybe, maybe you came

this morning and you're not even sure what path

your feet are on. And if that's you, then let's

just keep listening as we go through the other

images that we've got here. And Jesus keeps drawing

us and inviting us into what it means to live

this new kingdom way and calls us into action.

So from the choice, He starts to show us what

the impact is. Some know of this as the tree,

but what is the impact of following Jesus? What

Jesus says, and this one's a two -parter because

there's quite a lot. So there'll be two screens.

You can read if you want. I'm not going to actually

read the text, but I know some people like to

listen and see the text and see how it aligns.

So that's up there for you, for those who want

to do that. But what he says here is the impact

of following me and making that daily choice

is that there will be alignment with your outer

and your inner life. You are going to be an integrated

person if you are following the way. So what

does that look like? It means that if you were

a tree, you would have good fruit. That's the

picture he's giving us. But what that means is

you can't... always know right away. And if you're

looking at someone else, you can't tell right

away because it takes a while for fruit to ripen.

And because of that, and using this image, there's

actually warnings embedded here. You can see

it in the first line on the screen. Watch out,

Jesus says. Watch out. Because if you're choosing

to walk the way and there's other people around

you, there's going to be some things where they

are not aligned. There's going to be some places

where the outer and the inner is not aligning,

and the only way you're going to know that is

by looking at the fruit. So he gives us three

warnings. He says, watch out for the sharply

dressed person who also has a sharp cutting tongue.

That's the wolves in sheep's clothing, right?

The wolves in sheep's clothing. He says, watch

out for the public speakers, or we could say

faith influencers, whose screen life may be as

sweet as grapes. but whose life off the screen

is more like a thorn bush. And watch out. Watch

out for the charismatic, name -dropping leader

who has power, maybe power to bring about change,

maybe even performing miracles. But if their

impact does not align with my teachings, they

aren't with me. They aren't with me. Now this

is a tricky one. Because sometimes we think if

somebody says Lord, Lord, then they must be with

Jesus. And he calls to our attention that we

need to look at the fruit. Need to look at the

fruit. And so when it says that in this passage,

it would be easy to say it's always in someone

else's court. But I wouldn't be a good preacher

if I let you just look at this in someone else's

court. Because the word for others is the word

for us. And so I want you to take a moment now

and think about what your screen time was like

last week. Maybe your phone tells you, mine does.

If you look hard enough, it'll tell you how many

hours a day, how many texts you touched, what

platforms you looked at. Maybe you watch on TV.

Were any of those three warning groups, those

three watch out groups, was any of that in the

content that you saw last week? And did you keep

watching? This hits all of us. This is a word

from 2 ,000 years ago, and I'm telling you, this

is a solid word for today. It is a timely word

for today. When we live in a culture where we

have single perspective news channels, we have

misinformation and disinformation campaigns,

doesn't matter what political aisle you sit on,

where we have influencers who are thought to

be more trustworthy than institutions, God says,

look at the fruit. Look at the fruit. How do

we know who we can trust? We look at the fruit.

And how do we become people who others can trust?

We must bear fruit. Because they're going to

look at our fruit, too. And the fruit we're talking

about here is the fruit of the Spirit, right?

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness. gentleness and self -control. Galatians

5 tells us that against such things there is

no law. So at the end of this Sermon on the Mount,

Jesus tells us first there's going to be a choice

and you have to choose the gate and the narrow

path. And then he says the impact of that choice

is that over time we're going to see this good

fruit, right? Over time good fruit is going to

come. So what happens after that? Well, then

we get to the outcome, which is the house. This

is probably the most familiar of the three little

parables. It's a micro parable. Two houses are

built. They look the same until the storm, but

because they have different foundations, the

one on the rock survives, the one on the sand

collapses. Now, interpretation seems to be built

into the story, right? Right there in the words,

he's like, well, the wise one built it on the

rock, the foolish one built it on the sand. The

moral interpretation is very clear, right? Like

it's right there in the scriptures. And that

why I think this is a very favorite Sunday school

story because kids can kind of picture it. We

might even know songs about it. And probably

you think of Jesus as the rock. And none of that

is wrong. But what Sunday school didn't explore

is that there are, in every parable, but in this

one specifically, there's some symbolic meanings

around the scriptures connected to the phrase,

the house, that I'm pretty sure didn't get touched

on in Sunday school. Certainly didn't when I

went through, and I haven't seen it in any Sunday

school curriculum. See, the house, In scripture,

that phrase often denotes the dwelling place

of God. The dwelling place of God. So when it

says to build our house on the rock, and the

rock we think of as Jesus, it's not just that

Jesus is under us. But if the house itself is

the dwelling place of God, that means that God

is present. in the house with us, not just under

us, but with us. So in the Old Testament, the

most common way of describing the temple, you

know, the one that sits on the rocky hill in

Jerusalem, house of the Lord, the house of the

Lord. And then after this time, this imagery

keeps going. We see in the New Testament that

the church is described as the household of God.

1 Timothy, and that our own bodies are called

the dwelling or the house of the Holy Spirit.

So in this passage, if we assume that the house

being referred to that is being built on which

the rock stands is a little bit broader than

our individualistic Western culture might hear

it. So I want to push our interpretation of this

passage just a little bit. This isn't just about

me and my stuff or me and my life. If this is

the dwelling place of God, the dwelling place

of God is a place of community. It is not an

individual, lone place. Here's how the Bible

Project Visual Commentary puts it. Jesus is describing

a new humanity who lives together with God's

wisdom and love, creating communities of peace

and justice even while violence and death surround

us. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us

a bold vision for what this can look like. And

his life and ministry on earth carry out this

vision. He continues to offer his followers the

choice to do the same. And now that choice is

ours. So if your house on the rock and your house

on the rock and your house on the rock, if we

put all those together, what does it become?

The dwelling place of God or the city on a hill?

Back right at the beginning of the Sermon on

the Mount, chapter 5, verse 14. This is what

Jesus, near the beginning of his sermon, says.

be hidden. You are the light of the world. Let

your light shine before others that they may

see your good deeds and glorify your Father in

heaven. He's wrapping it up, right? What do you

do as a good wrap -up? You give a call to action

and you echo what you started with, right? We

are being called to become houses of God on rocks,

but not just with Jesus supporting us with Jesus

in us so that our light can shine. In other words,

what this is a promise of presence for a missional

purpose. A promise of presence for a missional

purpose. All right. I'm going to close with a

story that puts a little bit of these things

in context, I hope. Take it out of our heads

and into our hearts. if you want to put it that

way. On Friday, I was invited to a bridal shower.

Now, I don't get to attend those too often, just

given my current demographic, so it's kind of

exciting. It was a super fun and happy occasion,

despite the fact it took me two and a half hours

to get there because of Toronto traffic. But

there were 100 people present, and they were

all women. And there were little girls in those

like A -line dresses with like covered in flowers

and pastel colors with running shoes running

around like crazy. And then there were grandmothers

who were wearing their very practical shoes but

still there and present. And then everything

in between. And except for about 15 minutes of

this occasion, the only males present were babies.

They couldn't walk or talk. I realized there

were no even little boys there. And the only

male that we saw for the whole event was the

groom. And he dropped off the bride -to -be,

and he dropped her off and also gifted her signs

of the engagement as sort of the one sort of

ceremonial ritual part of this event. So she

was given a necklace and rings and bracelets

as a token of this engagement. And that is actually

my connection to this family because I know the

mother of the groom. I know the mother of the

groom. And I'm going to call her Rachel. I've

known her on and off for about nine years. I

haven't seen her much in the last three years

because they moved out to Oshawa. They started

in Toronto. But she is the matriarch of a family

that was sponsored through St. Paul's Bloor Street,

Church's refugee program, when all the Syrian

families arrived in the 2015 -2016 time period.

So a shout out, if you are part of the sponsorship

or refugee sponsorship here at this church, I'm

going to give a shout out to you. It is great

work. And this is a family though that I've now

known for nine years. So there I am invited to

this beautiful bridal shower and I found myself

as one of only three non -Syrian Canadians present.

And none of us had ever been to an event like

this before, so we did not know what to expect.

And it really felt like I was stepping into a

way of life. That was completely foreign to me.

A way of life that was completely foreign to

me. The language was not the language that I

speak. English was not spoken in the room other

than between the three of us. The food was different.

The music was different. Couldn't tell you any

of the artists. So it was completely new. It

was like invited into glimpse a different way

of life. And what became quickly apparent after

the small ritual around the gold was that music

and dancing were the main activities of the evening.

And much of it was communal. And there was a

circle of women that would form and reform and

they would hold hands and they were dancing around

the bride. But it wasn't really obvious to any,

the three of us who were not familiar with this

world, whether or not we were allowed to join

in. It wasn't really clear. So we were sort of

sitting on the side just observing and waiting,

wondering about what this way of life might be,

what this party might be. And then a beautiful

moment happened about 45 minutes into the event

when despite our outsider status and the dancing

is going on, Rachel, the mother of the groom,

walks over to us and she extends her hand. She

extends her hand and she drew us to the dance

floor. And as she drew us to the dance floor,

she then handed my hand to the woman who was

next to her. And my other hand to another person.

And then she did the same to the other two women

that were there who were outsiders. And the circle

got bigger. The circle got bigger. And next to

each one of us was somebody who knew the steps.

And next to each one of us, they were trying

to teach us the steps so that we wouldn't wreck

the circle, right? Like, I got to tell you, I'm

a beginner dancer at best. And in this context,

I was about as successful as the 10 -year -olds.

So there was a lot of patience on those women's

part to include me in the circle even while I

was learning what it meant to dance. Friends,

I'd like us to think about the Sermon on the

Mount, and particularly this section that we've

heard at the end, as an invitation to a new way

of living. A new dance, if you will, with God

and with neighbor. A way of living in right relationships

with neighbors where we are hand in hand with

them, where God takes priority as we walk, and

learn together what it means to walk and dance

the narrow path and bear good fruit and build

houses that stand as a witness of God's presence.

And if you are already in the dance, which I

know many of you are, I wonder if you are helping

other people to learn the steps. And if you are

already in the dance, As you are dancing, are

you making sure that the circle gets bigger and

there is space for people who want to join in?

If you are still finding yourself sitting by

the side of the dance floor, Jesus is holding

out his hand. He's inviting you to choose to

join the dance and then choose to learn the dance.

And not because you have the right clothes or

the language or the lineage or the bank account

or the brand or whatever the outside thing is.

But because Jesus. Jesus is the way into this

dance and he is the way of the dance. And he

invites us all to join in. Will you take his

hand today? Amen.