Jesus said: 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 in heaven ... MT 7.2.ff

My first sermon, out of the box ... and this is the text appointed for today. Yipes. Pretty strong language from our Lord, isn't it? I was hoping (perhaps you as well) I was hoping for something a bit softer- say ...

Come unto me all ye who travail and are heavy laden and I will refresh you.

But, no this is it. Strong-language, heavy duty language intended to build us up. Jesus speaks to a group of people who truly believe they're his followers ­but they're mistaken.

Yipes.

He speaks of folks who say they've performed mighty acts in the name of Jesus: They prophesy in his name- They cast out demons in his name- They do many deeds of power in his name ... and yet Jesus says he has no idea who they are.

Yipes and double yipes!

I know-let's go to the Old Testament lesson for today. Let's see ... Deuteronomy ... Yes, that's better.

You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children talking about them when you are at home and when you are away ...

Much better ... until we get this part ... oh dear, here we go again---

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today; (whew) and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God...

I'm less than 2 minutes into my first sermon and all we have thus far is a curse and either a case of mistaken identity or some very clueless disciples.

Yipes. Strong language indeed!

And as it turns out--the very thing we need on our first Sunday together.

Jesus' words this morning come at the conclusion of the Sermon on the- Mount in Matthew's gospel. Jesus addresses two audiences: those who deceive themselves into thinking that extraordinary religious activity is an acceptable substitute for obedience to the will of God. And those who deceive themselves into thinking there is saving merit just in having heard Jesus preach.

No, Jesus says in strong language. The people he knows and will recognize are the ones who "walk the talk." Jesus tells his disciples that the reward of genuine religious observance is the approval of God, not the admiration of the general public.

The rest of the Sermon on the Mount, as theologian Jane Williams writes, is not really about what most people would recognize as 'religion' at all. It is about how we should live with one another in the presence of God. But of course-the whole of the Old Testament assumes that this IS the HEART of religion.

God makes for himself a people who are to be instantly recognizable because of the way they treat each other. Their cultic and liturgical practices will simply be an extension of lives directed towards God and what God desires for us. [ You've perhaps seen the church sign ... You may be the only Bible your neighbor ever reads?] That's walking the talk.

Deuteronomy envisions God's commandments as the very air that God's people breathe. The outward symbols bound on hand and head will simply reflect the reality of the inward person, completely formed by the Word of God ... and forming the next generation in the same way, quite naturally. Jesus' words are to be like this--- molding us, shaping us minute by minute, day by day, year by year. They are to be so fully part of us that all our acts, whether we think them religious or not--- speak of the Lord we follow.

Both Deuteronomy and Matthew recognize that people have a choice. And that we do not always choose to bind the words of God into our very being so that bit by bit our walk begins to reflect our talk. In Matthew, Jesus describes a man who builds his house on the sand- only to have it collapse in the first high wind that blows his way. Deuteronomy is even blunter- to choose to live against God's commandments is to bring down a curse on your self.

It is vital to keep this choice before us. It is the choice this Carpenter from Nazareth set before everyone he met. He understood building is a painstaking and messy business.

Over and over Jesus meets people who believe they have made the right choice. They believe themselves to be following God's commandments ' and many of them think that, as a matter of fact, they are being rather more obedient than Jesus is himself. And now Jesus is saying that his own followers are just as likely to deceive themselves and believe they have chosen obedience when they haven't at all.

And that's why Paul says, in his letter to the Romans, we always miss the mark when we rely on ourselves. All have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God. Period.

But... that doesn't mean construction is over. The building process continues but this time with fresh eyes on the blueprints.

When I was a child of 5 or 6, I would on occasion be invited by my grandfather - a civil engineer, on a summer afternoon outing. We'd travel on Alabama's two lane highways to some exotic sounding place like Tallassee or Chewalka to inspect some state construction project in the works. When invited on these outings, I'd ride proudly in the front seat of his un-air conditioned Packard, his rolls of blueprints laid carefully across my lap... We'd drive for what, to my geographically challenged eyes, seemed like hours.

An unspoken but special part of these shared outings was the quick stop on the way home for a bit of homemade pie at some roadside diner he'd scoped out along the way.

With that afternoon's red clay still clinging to the bottom of my shoes I remember asking my grandfather once why he made these inspection trips. I'd hesitated before asking him, understanding that if my grandfather were to realize these trips were the total waste of time they appeared to me to be­I'd no longer be the recipient of apple pie ala mode ....

Yet I asked, because it was clear to my highly trained six year old eyes that once we'd traveled these great distances, and stood in hard hats under the blazing sun and he'd unrolled the scrolls covered with numbers and lines and blue ink ... that my grandfather would then simply nod to the workmen who paused in their labors, walk a few steps ---look up and down, walk all the way around what seemed to me to be just a vast expanse of nothing, step back, nod again, take my hand and escort me to the car for the trip home.

So why, PopPop? Why make these trips?

Jesus asks us to stay invested, to listen to his instructions, to read the blueprint of his design and then to get to work ourselves. What Jesus says is the foundation- the rock of our salvation. Our obedience is the building.

Left to ourselves, we never quite manage to choose obedience even when we think we have. We always manage to fasten onto something irrelevant and make it the heart of our religion. So God, in his righteous mercy gives us Jesus. Jesus is obedient as none of us can be.

Instead of using his obedience to show us up, He uses it to free us up from our feeble attempts to get it right alone. Now all we need know is that Jesus is the fulfillment of all that the law is trying to do. Jesus shows us the nature of God while He draws around Him a community of people who are trying to do the same in the way we live together. His foundation is right and we are called to proceed.

And we begin today, this morning, together in this holy, holy space. Sounds like just the words we need to hear.

Thanks be to God.

Amen.