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Building on the Rock: Practical Advice from Jesus!

by Robert C. Buehler

178 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); catalogue #98-0001; ISBN 1-55212-205-0; US$20.99, C$31.99, EUR20.80, £14.50

How do the highest teachings of the man of Galilee lay the foundation for success in the real world? Pastor Bob Buehler brings together personal experience, a pastor's heart, and solid scholarship in this fresh look at the foundation of Christian ethics in the words of Jesus. More than just a commentary, this book probes deeply the relevance of faith, showing how the ethical teaching of Jesus lies at the heart of Christianity, and provides practical wisdom for the secular world as well.

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about the book     about the author     sample chapter     catalogue info    

About the Book

"Even with all of the devotion to Jesus we see in the church and society today, many Christians lack a clear understanding of his most central teachings," believes Church of God pastor Robert C Buehler of Marbury, Maryland. That observation, corroborated by recent findings from evangelical pollster George Barna, motivated Buehler to write a detailed analysis of the Sermon on the Mount in an easily accessible style.

Buehler's book, Building On the Rock: Practical Advice from Jesus (ISBN 1-55212-205-0) has just been released by Trafford Publishing in Victoria, Canada. It provides a provocative introduction to Christian ethics along with a thematic overview of Matthew chapters 5, 6 and 7. While carefully researched, it does not encumber the reader with the scholarly apparatus of a more technical approach.

"My intent was not to write a commentary but to focus on a single question," says Buehler. "That question is, how can the ethical teaching of Jesus be taken seriously in the modern world, and not merely dismissed as an impossible, irrelevant ideal? This book is an attempt to raise that question. It should serve the reader as a starting point for further thought about practical Christianity."

Read the news release for this title.

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About the Author

Bob Buehler has been telling people the good news of Jesus for over 25 years. Raised in rural New England, far from the Bible belt, and coming of age in the turbulent 1960s, he brings a perspective that combines the ability to speak the language of the street with a profound love of scripture and a respect for tradition, history and scholarship.

Bob's passionate search for practical Christianity has made him a leader in church and community life, and an outspoken advocate for the marginalized. He has developed programs for ministry to the homeless, and is now an active supporter of Habitat for Humanity. Ordained in 1987, he has been pastor of churches in New Mexico, New York and Maryland. He now lives in southern Maryland with his wife Shannon, four sons, and two cats.

Contact the author at rcb@seethekingdom.net or godnix@gmail.net
To reach the author by phone: 301-743-5567

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Sample Chapter

CHAPTER ONE: The Rock And The Kingdom

The Source

For nearly two millennia, the world has been influenced by Jesus of Nazareth. The movement he began evolved into one of the most enduring institutions in the history of the planet; enduring, in part, because this institution, the church, has never entirely lost its character as a movement. The movement has been spread, from earliest times, by a combination of the spoken and the written word. Jesus himself was a preacher, to whom the early church ascribed the basis for the preaching that arose in it. It was natural that not only stories of his deeds, but also collections of his sayings, were circulated, collected, and written down. These sayings were regarded as vital source material for the faith and life of the people of the new covenant. One particular collection of such sayings, presented in Matthew's Gospel, is known as the Sermon on the Mount.

This Sermon appears in Matthew chapters 5-7. But if these teachings are central to Jesus' thought and ministry, it would be surprising indeed if there were no biblical indication that he articulated them more than once. In fact many of the sayings found here also appear, with variations, in the other gospels. Luke 6:20-49 gives us the longest extended passage of such material.

The Audience

Who is Jesus talking to as he speaks these words? Certainly the evangelist wrote to instruct the Church concerning what Jesus taught; and as the Gospel of Matthew was one of the most widely circulated and universally accepted of the early Christian writings, we can assume that at least some of the leaders of the early church considered what is said here to be important for a full understanding of their message. The evangelist himself gives some indications, within the text, of the nature of the audience Jesus had the day the Sermon was delivered; from this we can take some hints by way of analogy.

The audience was undoubtedly Jewish for the most part, but not exclusively so. We are told (Matthew 4:25) that " large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him": that is, from every locality within reach; and that it was upon seeing these crowds that he went up on the mountainside and sat down to teach. On the other hand, it was only when " his disciples came to him" (5:1) that he actually began to teach; and his purpose in climbing the mountainside may have been to escape the crowds long enough to give these instructions to his disciples.

The present discussion assumes that the primary audience is indeed his disciples, that is, those who profess to be learners and apprentices of Jesus. By way of analogy that should include the whole Church of today, for a start. Yet he and the evangelist acknowledged the presence of "the crowd", and certainly, by the time the entire sermon is ended, the crowd is present, and is said to be amazed at his teaching. So whether we understand the primary audience to be the average believer, or the world, or a select group of chosen persons from among the believers, such as the Apostles, there is still a very diverse secondary audience noted in the scripture. We cannot assume that everyone in this audience was a devoted disciple. Many cannot be supposed to have had more than a passing interest in Jesus. It is to this wide secondary audience that he addresses his final words of promise and warning.

Anyone who hears these words (Matthew 7:24), whatever his or her spiritual status or ecclesiastical standing, stands to gain the stability that comes from putting them into practice; or to suffer the consequences of failing to put them into practice. One thinks of Mohandas Gandhi, who never professed Christianity (at least not in the sense of renouncing any other religious teaching), but endeavored more than many Christians do to employ some of these very teachings of Jesus as practical guides for both public and private life. Such a person - one who is not identified as a disciple, but standing on the outskirts of the crowd surrounding Jesus takes what is said seriously enough to apply it - is on a sure foundation. By contrast, instability and disaster is predicted even for one who claims membership in Christ's own community, if such a person ignores the practical application of his sayings. The present study is for the benefit of those who want to be disciples of Jesus in fact, whether or not they are his followers in name.

The Kingdom of God

The doctrine of the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven as Matthew usually refers to it, (using this circumlocution out of respect for the Jews in his audience), appears early and often in the sayings of Jesus. Like John the Baptist, he began his ministry proclaiming the nearness of the kingdom of God. He spoke of that kingdom as something that could be " seen" by those who were born again (John 3:3), as a reality that could not be observed but was already apparent within or among the people (Luke 17:20-21), and also as a future reality that was yet to appear. It is probably the same as what he calls My kingdom when telling Pilate it is not of this world (John 18:36). It is the subject of most of the parables. Sometimes it seems as if Jesus is groping for words or images that can help his hearers understand something of the nature of this spiritual kingdom, first trying one thing and then another to get his point across.

The opinion has been popular for the last century or so that "the Kingdom of God" always or mostly refers to an expected future political arrangement, and only later took on "spiritualized" overtones in the church after Jesus failed to usher in a new Israelite kingdom. Others suggest, however, that it makes most sense to understand it in a "both-and" fashion: it is both a present reality and a future expectation. In this view, the establishment of the Kingdom Jesus preached about is not delayed until the arrival of a new age, nor is it to come about merely by restructuring society. It is something that those who are truly born again can see in the here and now: a realm of right relationships; a kingdom where the watchwords are forgiveness and reconciliation and healing and peace and life; or as Paul describes it, it is a kingdom of justice, and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. It is always at hand for those who can receive it. Its culmination will be the time of restoration of all things (Acts 3:21), but its characteristic is always one of restoration.

Luke records a telling comment Jesus made to his disciples about the nature of the relationships within his kingdom (Luke 22:24-30):

Also a dispute arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. You are those who have stood by me in my trials. And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, so that you may eat and drink at my table and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

This passage functions within Luke's gospel as a counterpart to the narrative of John 13:1-17, in which Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, and told them to do the same for one another. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him (John 13:15-16). The kingdom Jesus confers on his disciples is one in which service replaces authority, and greatness is measured by doing as Jesus has done.

Jesus, in his teaching, describes for us the characteristics of those who are, here and now, citizens of God's kingdom. He wants those characteristics to be ours, for when they are we are building on the rock.

Daniel's Prophecy

The second chapter of Daniel describes a dream of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon - a metallic statue which according to Daniel's interpretation represents the major political authorities of the world from Nebuchudnezzar's day until the time of the establishment of God's kingdom. Many interpreters agree that the political kingdoms represented by the statue in the dream include the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek and Roman empires. The downfall of all these kingdoms is signified in the dream by

a rock cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth (Daniel 2:34, 35).

In his explanation of this dream's meaning, Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar (vv.44-45),

In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision of the rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands - a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has shown the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy.

Is there a connection between the kingdom of God which is the subject of so much of Jesus' teaching, and this kingdom which shall never be destroyed predicted by Daniel? Is the nature of the rock cut out without hands ever spoken of in the New Testament? Does it have anything to do with the teaching of Jesus? Can a kingdom characterized by love and service, and symbolized by the washing of feet (John 13:1-20), smash the feet of political authorities and bring their rule to an end? Jesus, who himself is called the Rock (I Corinthians 10:4), brings our attention to this present reality:    

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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 winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.    

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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.  

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These are the words (Matthew 7:24-26) that form the basis of this book. We will return to them again and again.

This remarkable promise and solemn warning forms the conclusion and climax - the punch line, if you will - of the Sermon on the Mount; a passage that is widely regarded as the most sublime of the whole Bible; one that sets such a high standard for both behavior and attitude that it is often viewed as impossibly idealistic and therefore entirely impractical. It is that common, and often unexamined view, that will be challenged in these pages.

The love ethic of Jesus as expounded in the Sermon on the Mount (and not only there, but throughout the New Testament) is so discounted by many of those who name Jesus as Lord that some Christians have mounted extensive arguments to disassociate it from the central doctrines of the grace of God and justification by faith. Some would relegate the application of this teaching of Jesus to a future millennium, or to a short interim period which ended at Pentecost. Others regard it as a belonging to the past, a summation of Old Testament law, which the doctrine of grace allows us to safely, for practical purposes, ignore. Whatever method is used, the plain fact seems to be that it makes people downright uncomfortable to think that these sayings of Jesus are intended to be practical guidelines for daily living; yet his own words suggest that they are just that.

In this study we will see that the gap between the doctrine of grace and these seemingly impractical commands of Jesus is not nearly so wide as we might think. We will find, in fact, that the ethic of love prescribed by Jesus in the passage under study is thoroughly understandable in context of the Pauline theological framework of justification by faith. More to the point, the reverse is true: the doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is an outgrowth of the teaching of Jesus, and not an escape from it.

No one can hear the voice of Jesus without making a decision. In the case of the Sermon on the Mount, that decision is made at the point of practical application. To hear these words and apply them (put them into practice) is a decision whose result, according to Jesus, puts us on a firm foundation. To hear the same words and ignore them, or admire them as an impossible ideal, or discount them as interesting but not practical, sets us up for a great fall.

But perhaps that can be avoided by an earlier decision. Perhaps we can decide not to hear what Jesus is saying. " He who has ears," he says elsewhere, " let him hear." The safest thing might be to close our ears, to get off the mountain, to exclude ourselves not only from the company of disciples but also from that of curious onlookers. This impulse was followed to its logical end by those who were present at the trial of Stephen, when he preached Christ to them: they stopped their ears, and rushed at him. If that is your impulse, please do not read this book.

On another occasion (Matthew 16:18) Jesus spoke of a rock, and said " on this rock I will build my church. " He said this to Peter, after the famous confession at Ceaseraea Philippi, " You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Peter had recognized that Jesus embodied in his person God's nature and will, and that no comparison, however favorable, with prophets of the past would do him justice. For Jesus not only spoke the truth as the prophets had done; he not only demonstrated God's power as some had done on special occasions; he revealed not just some aspect of God's purpose as had been done at many times and in various ways (Hebrews. 1:1), but everything he did, was, and said revealed the nature of God. This is what Peter had recognized when he called Jesus the Son of God. Such a recognition did not come from human teaching (this was not revealed to you by man) but from divine revelation (but by my Father in heaven). It remains true that human teaching will not reveal the nature of Christ to us; it requires a spiritual revelation, namely the Spirit of God at work in our own inner life. Without some such divine working, I don't suppose it is possible to get very far with the application of Jesus' teaching. Jesus says, If anyone is willing to do God's will, he will know of the teaching, whether it be from God or whether I speak from myself (John 7:17). And Paul says, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose (Philippians 2:13). In short, to study the words of Jesus is necessarily more than an academic or intellectual exercise. At every point we will make choices about whether we can or will put faith in these teachings to such an extent that they become our practice. Those choices are intimately related to God's working in us, and our willingness to respond to that working in our own situation. There is no neutral ground.

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Catalogue Information

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