Admirers or Followers?

Matthew 7: 21-29

Roger Lynn

July 14, 2019

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“Talk is cheap!” True, deep, genuine faith is about more than just talk.  It is about the values we cherish and the ways in which those values are reflected in the living of our lives.

Sometimes I wish we weren’t called Christians. At times it seems like too big a temptation to misunderstand what really lies at the heart of our faith. All too often we find our attention focused on Christ, instead of on the life to which Christ points us. I think it was the Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, who observed that there were too many admirers of Jesus, and not enough followers of Jesus. The Church was never supposed to be a Jesus Admiration Society. It was intended as a community where we encourage each other to discover and follow the path which Jesus points us to. In the early days of the Church, before the name Christian caught on as the description given to those who were a part of the movement, the name by which they were known was “Followers of the Way.” 2,000 years later it’s still not a bad description. It helps to keep our attention primarily on the path, instead of on the guide. Please don’t get me wrong – the guide is important, but only if we allow him to serve as guide. In the text we read this morning from Matthew’s Gospel we find Jesus offering a warning about this very danger. “You can’t just use the right words. It’s not enough to drop my name and expect everything to automatically work out OK. I don’t want lip service. I want heart service.” 

When we read the Bible, when we pray, when we reflect on what it means to be people of faith, it must be more than merely words we speak. If it is only words, then it is only masquerading as faith. In order to discover meaning and purpose which is truly worthy of our time and energies, it is absolutely essential that our words move from our lips to our hearts and on out from there to our fingers and our feet. If faith does not permeate every fiber of our being and illuminate every corner of our lives, then it is less than it has the potential to be. In “The Message” version of the Bible, Jesus puts it this way, “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on.” (Matthew 7: 24)

Words to build a life on! Jesus says this at the end of what has come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount. It is filled with powerful images of what life life looks like when it is connected with God – a life which makes a difference in the world. Immediately following these words, Matthew tells us a series of stories about Jesus healing people. It is as if Matthew wants to make sure we get the point – “this is what faith is all about – this is what it looks like to truly follow Jesus.” I don’t want to be a member of the Jesus Admiration Society. I want to be a follower of Jesus – a traveler on the path that he points me to, where God is central, where saying the right words is only important when it assists us in living our values, where people are cherished and honored and protected, where brokenness is healed and peace is always a priority. Lots of people think they are on the path simply by using the “right” words. I want to be on the path by living a life which flows from being connected with the Source of all good words.  What does your faith look like underneath the words?