Many will say to Me in that day, "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!"

 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

- Matthew 7:22-29

We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapters 5 - 7.  We began with the Beatitudes, then we read You are the salt of the earth, Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.  I did not come to destroy but to fulfill, Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment, Let your "Yes" be "Yes," and your "No," "No," Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven, Pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly, Our Father in heaven, You cannot serve God and mammon, Your heavenly Father knows you need all these things, and Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.   In yesterday's reading, Jesus preached, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.  Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  You will know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  Therefore by their fruits you will know them.  Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven."

 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'  And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'"   Again, as Jesus is coming to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, He is clearly speaking as Judge, and we are to understand it that way.  He is speaking here of the time of Judgment, the end of the age initiated by His Incarnation in this world.  Even those who perform marvelous works aren't immune from this emphasis on the real inner life of a person, Jesus' words warning us against hypocrisy.    He likens it to lawlessness.  Just as the Law of Moses meant to include the whole of the commandments, so Jesus speaks of His commandments and teachings in their entirety.

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock."    The church has been likened to a rock, and Christ Himself, after Simon's confession of faith, will name him Peter, meaning "rock," as this faith is the rock upon which He will build His church.    Here, obedience to Jesus' teachings in faith becomes the great rock upon which each of us may build our own lives.  We note the formula (also given throughout Deuteronomy in the words given to Moses) of hearing and doing.  We hear His sayings, keep them in our hearts, and we are to live them, to do them.

"But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:  and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell.  And great was its fall."  Salvation isn't based only on hearing, but also on doing.  Faith is about both.  Just as Jesus teaches about false prophets (in yesterday's reading, above) that "by their fruits you shall know them," so we will all be known by how faithfully we live His commands.  (See James 2:24.)

And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.  Jesus doesn't quote from others, but speaks from His own authority.  A scribe would study with a famous rabbi, following a school of a famous teacher.

Jesus' words on the mountain are clearly meant to give us an understanding that He speaks as one with His own authority.  John's Gospel teaches us that He is the Word incarnate.  He is the authority who gave the "word" to Moses on the mountain.  He has taught in this Sermon that He has come not to destroy, but to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17).  But His life as Incarnate God will shake up the world in this fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets.  Everything will change, centering upon the ultimate sacrifice of His life as our Passover.  His command is not that we only hear, but that we live out what He teaches.  I don't think faith and works can be separated.  True faith, real belief, will necessitate living out what is in our hearts.  It's a question, as Christ has put it, of what we love most, what we put first.  When He taught in the Sermon on the Mount that we cannot serve two masters, we cannot serve God and mammon, this hearing and doing is part of what He was talking about.  His teachings against hypocrisy -- and, in particular, His warnings about Judgment -- teach us this.  It all comes down to a choice of what we really love, what we put first, and then we make the choice to live out our faith.  Both go hand in hand.  Let us take His authority seriously.  Jesus' teachings in the Sermon on the Mount are reflected and repeated all throughout the Gospels, in different settings and in different contexts.  Let us understand that all of these teachings apply to our lives in all kinds of ways and circumstances, and none are really separate from the others.   Matthew's Gospel has given us the fullness of this Sermon, but there is no doubt Jesus taught the same teachings in many places and throughout His ministry.