A few weeks ago I attended a retreat in Mobile, Alabama which consisted of five days of silence. In two weeks I’ll talk some more about that experience and about why silence is important to spiritual growth. But this morning I want to talk about something I did one afternoon during that retreat. One of the coordinators of the retreat asked me to spend most of a day trying to imagine the day that I would die. She asked me to envision a day in the future when I might be lying in a hospital bed with hours left to live; to imagine who might be gathered around me; to imagine what reasons I would have for thanksgiving on that day; and to imagine what reasons I might have for regrets on that day. She wanted me to spend most of a day thinking about the day I would die. To say the least, it was not a “feel good” exercise.
Earlier that week I had jogged through a neighborhood and noticed an old cemetery. I decided that if I was going to seriously contemplate my death I should go to that cemetery. So I walked a mile or two and spent several hours among the tombstones.
The graveyard was named “Spring Hill” after the neighborhood surrounding it. Though established in 1844, many of the graves there were much older. The dates on the stones ranged from the 21st century to the 18th. For example, John Blair was born in 1798. Lloyd Addison was born in 1799. Thomas McMillan was born in 1804 (in Scotland – there were many in the cemetery born in places like Scotland, England, Ireland and Germany).
After a while I began to ponder some of the things written on the tombstones. Some of the markers attempted to summarize the person’s life or something important to that person.
For example, Vernon Fowlkes was remembered for loving his family, playing his dulcimer, and drinking malt scotch whiskey!
Mary Lucy McKnight was remembered simply as “A best friend.”
It was said of Presiding Circuit Judge Joseph Hocklande, “He lived as he died, with dignity and courage.”
Mary Owen’s tombstone remarked, “She loved everyone and saw good in everything.”
Most surprisingly, Samuel Vance had the following written on his tombstone: “There is no God. Religions are but myths. The only truth is science. And engineering is its distillate.”
I’m going to call these statements “Tombstone Tweets.” If you’re not familiar with the word “tweet,” it’s a reference to a social media site called Twitter. Twitter allows you to post information about your activities using 140 characters or less. It forces you to succinctly summarize whatever you are trying to communicate. The messages on these grave markers were a kind of tombstone tweet. They were succinct summaries of what was most important to those people who were now dead.
As I read these summaries, I started wondering: what would be my “tombstone tweet?” When my life is over what statement would summarize what my life was all about? What would someone write on my grave marker? Would I be disappointed in what they wrote? If I had the chance to write it myself, what would I write?
How about you? What will your “tombstone tweet” be? When your life is over what short statement will summarize what your life was about? Will you be disappointed in what someone might put on your tombstone? And if you had the chance to write it yourself, what would you write?
It would be helpful to ask Jesus these questions about ourselves. If Jesus was truly the Son of God, if he was truly raised from the dead, if he was truly partner with the Father and the Spirit in the creation of all that is, including us, then he would know what line ought to summarize our lives. He would know what statement ought to be written on our tombstones. He would understand the best the way to summarize a human life.
I’m going to suggest this morning that Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matt. 5-7 is the full version of Jesus’ “tombstone tweet.” Let me give you three reasons why the Sermon on the Mount is the best place to turn for understanding Jesus’ view of what your life ought to be about.
- First, Matthew organizes his novel about Jesus around five speeches given by Jesus. Matthew believed we could learn a lot about Jesus through these five speeches. The first and thus the most important is this speech in Matt. 5-7.
- Second, Matthew prefaces this speech with language in Matt. 4:23 which tells us that this speech was the best example of the kind of teaching Jesus was doing at this time. This Sermon on the Mount is Jesus at his best.
- Third, there is a strong correlation between the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament and the Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament. Just as Moses ascended a mount to receive the Ten Commandments, so Jesus ascends a mount to give these commandments. The Ten Commandments focused on our relationship to God (“you shall have no other gods before me…”), our relationship with others (“honor your father and mother…”) and our relationship with possessions (“you shall not covet your neighbor’s goods…”). Similarly the Sermon on the Mount focuses on the same three areas of life. The Sermon on the Mount is to the New Testament what the Ten Commandments are to the Old Testament.
Here’s one way to summarize the life Jesus describes in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus calls us to die having been gracious toward people, genuine in our piety, and generous in our possessions.
- Gracious toward people: “Blessed are the peacemakers…” (5:9); “But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also” (5:39); “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (5:44).
- Genuine in our piety: “Blessed are the pure in heart…” (5:8); “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them…” (6:1); “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites…” (6:5).
- Generous with possessions: “Blessed are the merciful” (5:7); “Give to the one who begs from you…” (5:42); “You cannot serve God and money” (6:24).
If Jesus could have his way with your life, here’s what he’d love to see on your tombstone: “___ was gracious toward people, genuine in piety and generous with possessions.” That’s what the Sermon on the Mount says in one sentence. That’s Jesus’ vision for your life. That’s what he hopes you will have accomplished by the end of your life: love people passionately, be authentic and sincere with God, and give generously what you have.
This leads to another question: how do we achieve that vision? On the day you die, if you want to have lived out the Sermon on the Mount, how do you do that? At the end of the sermon Jesus discusses this issue: 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matt. 7:13-20 ESV)
Some people, Jesus warns, are going to offer you an easy way, a broad way, a popular way to pursue this vision. But watch out for them, Jesus says. Jesus calls the people who promise a quick and easy way to this Sermon on the Mount life “false prophets.” They are selling you a lie.
Jesus explains with the image of a wolf who comes in sheep’s clothing. It’s impossible for me to read that line without thinking of a cartoon character who was popular in my childhood. His name was Ralph Wolf. He looked like Wile E. Coyote. But while Wile E. Coyote hungered for a particular road runner, Ralph Wolf hungered for sheep. The sheep, however, were guarded by a dedicated sheepdog. So, Ralph tried to disguise himself as a sheep. The ruse, however, was easy to spot. Just putting on wool and some lamb ears did not change who Ralph truly was—a carnivorous wolf. Jesus says that some spiritual sounding people will tempt you with an easy external path to living out the Sermon on the Mount. But it won’t change who you truly are inside. It’ll be like putting a sheep costume on a wolf. A wolf cannot produce sheep-like behavior just because he’s wearing sheep skin. You’d have to change his nature in order to change his behavior.
Then Jesus points to the trees. Trees, it turns out, were one of Jesus’ favorite teaching tools. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus periodically points to a tree and makes a spiritual point. A thornbush, Jesus says here, is not going to produce grapes. And a thistle is not going to produce figs. That kind of good fruit cannot come from that kind of tree. Jesus is saying that whatever a tree is on the inside, that’s what it’s going to produce on the outside. A wolf is still a wolf, even it’s dressed up like a sheep. A thornbush is still a thornbush. And a thistle is still a thistle. It’s nature inside will determine the fruit it produces outside. No matter what you do externally, those bushes or trees cannot produce good fruit like grapes and figs. A bad inside (a diseased tree) cannot produce a good outside (like grapes or figs.).
What does this have to do with pursuing a Sermon on the Mount lifestyle? I think Jesus is saying this: To pursue the Sermon on the Mount life, we must grow like trees: from within to without. The “good” or “healthy” fruit in this passage is a reference to a life that looks like the Sermon on the Mount. It refers to a life that is gracious toward people and genuine in its piety and generous in its use of possessions. And no amount of quick or easy external changes can lead to that life. Fruit comes from within a tree. If you want a different fruit on the outside, you have to change the tree on the inside.
In other words, to end up with a life that is gracious toward people instead of toward people, something’s going to have to change inside of us so that fruit gets born on the outside. To end up with a life that is genuine in its piety instead of hypocritical or legalistic, something’s going to have to change within us so that fruit gets born without. And to end up with a life where we are generous with possessions, something’s going to have to change inside of us so that fruit grows on the outside. It won’t do much good to make some quick and easy external changes. The kind of life Jesus calls for will only come from a change of our nature. It’s going to have to come from inside out. In order to pursue the Sermon on the Mount life, we must grow like trees: from within to without.
Jesus also uses trees in Matt. 13 to further this point: 31 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.” (Matt. 13:31-32). Most of us are not familiar with mustard trees or mustard seeds. Jesus uses them because there was such a stark contrast in his day between the little size of the seed and the large size of the tree that seed produced.
I recently looked for examples of this among trees we may be more familiar with. While in Mobile, AL I came across this small bunch of pine cones. They are no larger than half the size of your hand. These cones contains the seeds for a particular type of pine tree which grows near the Gulf. And here’s the large tree those little cones produce. It’s taller than the two story building right next to it.
Continuing my walk one day I came across this very small acorn. It was no larger than a penny. It was nestled in a pile of leaves and other acorns. And directly above it was the tree from which it fell. That tiny acorn has the ability to produce a tree like this large oak.
And Jesus is saying that the kingdom—another way of talking about how God works in the human world and in human lives—is like this. God works from the little to the large. God doesn’t often start with the loud and extraordinary and the exceptional. God usually starts with the quiet and the ordinary and the unexceptional. And from these little beginnings God brings large results.
What’s this have to do with the Sermon on the Mount? ? I think Jesus is saying this: To pursue the Sermon on the Mount life, we must grow like trees: from little to large. The large is the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle. We are a fully grown oak tree or pine tree when we finally are gracious toward all people, and our piety—our relationship with God—is void of hypocrisy, and we use all our possessions in ways that are generous rather than selfish. That’s the fully grown tree. But we don’t start there, do we? We start small. God uses small and ordinary steps to get us from here to there. Our growth in that direction will be from little to large. That’s how God works.
All of this points toward the necessity of what are called “spiritual disciplines.” The way to grow like trees toward a Sermon on the Mount lifestyle is through spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are little practices which change us from the inside out and lead us to that large life Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount. Spiritual disciplines are small habits we engage in over time that transform us from within so that on the outside we are more compassionate toward other people, more heartfelt and sincere in our walk with God, and more generous with our resources. They start small and the start within.
Richard Foster defines a spiritual discipline in this way:[1] “A spiritual discipline is an intentionally directed action by which we do what we can do in order to receive from God the ability (or power) to do what we cannot do by direct effort.” By willpower and direct effort very few of us can love people like Jesus directs in the Sermon on the Mount, or be genuine and heartfelt with God, or be generous with possessions. But we do have the ability and power to engage in small acts that lean in those directions. And as we do the small things we can, God transforms us from the inside out so that eventually we become capable through his power of doing the large things Jesus discusses in the Sermon on the Mount.
Thus, over the next three Sundays Eric Gentry, I and an author on spiritual disciplines named Earl Lavender want to share some little spiritual disciplines which God can use to help you grow towards a Sermon on the Mount life. We’ll be sharing disciplines which take very little time to do (ten minutes or less) but which can bear large results in your life. Each week in the Link you’ll find some resources that can help you dig deeper. And, our intent is to return to this series next year and share more disciplines. At that time I’ll also be publishing a book called “Ten Minute Mystic.”
As we close, I want to urge you to spend ten minutes this week thinking about some small disciplines you might start this week. On the chart in the Link I’ve listed the three areas covered by the Sermon on the Mount and some short spiritual disciplines you could do to lean in those directions. These take ten minutes or less. It’s not an exhaustive list. And we’ll be talking in this series about some things not on that list. But it’s a start. Spend ten minutes this week considering the three areas covered by Jesus and choosing one thing you could do in each area to grow more and more into that lifestyle.
| Vision | Spiritual Discipline |
| Gracious Toward People |
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| Genuine in Piety |
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| Generous with Possessions |
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