Matthew 7:21-29
9:00 Youth Worship—June 16, 2002
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
One of my favorite hamburger places (before I stopped eating red meat) was Wendy’s. I like the way they let you put as much lettuce and tomatoes as you want in your sandwiches. And the fries are thicker than the ones at MacDonald’s.
Dave Thomas, the recently deceased founder of Wendy’s saw a big difference in Christians. He called some—“Shirtsleeves Christians” and others “Roll-Up-Your Sleeves Christians.” The former wear their faith on their shirtsleeves, complain how godless the world is but do little about it, and care more about their church facilities than about needy people. The latter type of Christians digs into life and get involved. They teach and practice gospel values, and support good causes with their time and resources.
“Lord, Lord”
Today’s Scriptures concludes the long teachings of Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. Jesus makes careful distinctions between his way and other ways. When he 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,” Jesus is teaching his followers that it’s not enough to use fancy religious words like, ‘Lord, Lord.’
Surprisingly, it is even not enough to say certain spectacular religious words like casting out demons, prophesying, and saying ‘deeds of power.’ It’s not enough to cry out to the Lord in prayer. The ultimate criterion for true discipleship is not measured by what a disciple says, but by what a disciple does.
In verses 21-23, Jesus is simply warning his disciples not to substitute a fake form of worship for authentic worship. We can all fake it by thinking that the Lord’s name has some kind of magical formula or we celebrate the Lord’s Supper thinking that we are now protected from all harm or that church membership means just showing up on Sundays.
Authentic worship means translating what we profess into practice. It’s converting lip service into community service.
The way we become true disciples is to gain wisdom by sticking close to the teachings of Jesus. Today’s passage tells us that when we hear Jesus’ teachings and act upon that truth, we begin to build a strong foundation for our lives.
The parable of the wise man and the foolish man points out that when we hear Jesus’ teachings and act on them, we will build our house upon a stable rock. But when we hear and don’t act, we will be like a foolish man who build his house on the sand.
And when rains fall and the wind pick up, the foolish man’s house will collapse. To build a house on a rock, you have to roll-up-your sleeves. It’s not enough just to hear the truth that Jesus teaches and leave it on your shirtsleeves but we also need to act upon that truth. The truth of Jesus is found in his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount.
Dave Thomas
How many of you know the story about Wendy’s Dave Thomas? This past January, Dave Thomas died at age 69. This familiar, charming entrepreneur became a household name when he began pitching his burgers and fries in television commercials in 1989. Always smiling and wearing a white short-sleeved shirt with a red tie, Dave Thomas used humor to tout the quality of his fast food products.
Thomas was influenced and helped by Col. Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain. By successfully turning around in a six-year period four failing KFC restaurants for his boss, Thomas made his first $1.5 million at age 35. This enabled him to open his first Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers in Columbus, Ohio in 1969. He named the restaurant after his 8-year old daughter Melinda Lou, nicknamed Wendy by her siblings. His chain grew to 4800 restaurants in the United States and 34 countries by 1996.
Certainly Dave Thomas was an amazing business success. His story is even more amazing when we read of his humble beginnings in his book, Dave’s Way. After Dave was born in New Jersey in 1932, he was put up for adoption. His mother was not married and could not care for him. Eventually a Michigan couple adopted him. His adoptive mother died five years later and his adoptive father moved around tracking down work, marrying two more times. During summer months Dave would stay with his adoptive grandmother who taught him to love the Lord and the Bible. Dave started working full-time in restaurants when he was only 12, and eventually dropped out of high school when he was 15.
When Dave learned that he was an adopted child, he was bothered by the fact. However, as he reflected more and more on the good home life his adoptive family had provided him, he realized that he could be an instrument to help other families adopt children who needed a home. In 1990, Wendy’s International added adoption coverage to their maternity benefits. Eligible employees get paid leave and up to $4000 in assistance when they adopt a child. The company provides even more resources if a child has special needs. Dave Thomas once said, “I’d rather get one of these children a home than sell a million hamburgers.” In addition, he established the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to raise public awareness; he gave the profits from the sale of his books to this foundation; he made numerous appearances and even testified before a congressional committee in support of adoption.
Dave Thomas was a “Roll-Up-Your Sleeves Christian” who out of his deep faith in Jesus, worshipped God in doing good deeds. His life was built on a solid foundation because his grandmother taught him to love the Lord and the Bible.
True Leaders
If you and I wish to be true and wise leaders, we are to be known by our fruits. In Matthew 7:15, we read,
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. …Every good tree bears good fruit, but the 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. Thus you will know them by their fruits.”
A true leader will work to ensure that the church looks and acts like the kingdom of God rather than just “sounding like” the kingdom. A true leader will show mercy and forgiveness of the gospel and not just preach beautiful sermons about mercy and forgiveness. This doesn’t mean that a true leader is perfect, far from it. But a true leader is always seeking to bring his life and the lives of the church into accordance with the message he’s teaching. Those who went on the Mexicali Missions Trip last summer were living their faith out as true leaders. They put action to their words. A true leader rolls up her sleeves and gets to work.
Tomorrow many of you and your friends will begin six weeks of counseling and leading at Day Camp. You’ll be given many responsibilities and tasks to carry out. The words that you say in your teaching or the instructions you give in leading games or the prayers that you say over the free meals are just the beginning of being good Day Camp counselors and staff. The 80 kids are going to watch what you do. By the way you act upon the truth that Jesus taught us to be faithful disciples is the difference between the wise man who built his house on the rock or the foolish man who built on the sand.
When you roll up your sleeves tomorrow morning and work for the kingdom of God, your actions reveal what a true leader is. Go back to Matthew 5 and read that it’s more blessed to be merciful, for you will receive mercy. Know that you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Try not to be angry and turn the other cheek. Love your enemies, don’t store up treasures, serve only God, and ask it will be given to you, seek, and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. And in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.
Setting an Example
Long before Vince Lombardi became famous for saying, “Winning isn’t everything. It is the only thing,” Albert Schweitzer once said, “Example is not the main thing in life—it is the only thing.”
One of the memories of my father who died when I was in high school was how he worked in the family laundry business. Even after serving in the U.S. Army in Germany during World War II, the only kinds of jobs that he was equipped to do were in the service industry. He and my uncles ran a laundry in Boston. During those hot and humid summer days, I can remember him rolling up his sleeves to iron those cotton shirts and pressing those trousers. I don’t remember him ever complaining about the hard work and
long hours for little pay. He worked hard so that we kids would have spending money. He set an example for me today to work hard for what I believe.
Today is Father’s Day. And I realize that when it comes to fathers we are not as sentimental as we are when we think about our mothers. Like Dave Thomas, not all of us come from traditional households. Some of us may even be disappointed in what we see at home. Some of us wish that we had the opportunity of having a father longer than we did. But regardless of what our situations might be, we hear from Jesus that what’s important is what we do with the rest of our lives.
Rather than be bothered with the fact that he was adopted, Dave Thomas became instrumental in encouraging parents to adopt needy children.
Rather than spending your summer watching TV and just hanging out, some of you are serving at Day Camp or volunteering in community service.
Rather than wishing that your family can be just like your friend’s, come to an understanding of where you’ve been so that you will have the courage and will to use your life in order to make a difference in the world.
Rather than simply using fancy religious words like, “Lord, Lord,” Jesus is teaching us to put our faith in the truth of Christ into action. When the rain, wind, and storms of life come, our lives will not crumble.
Rather than being “Shirtsleeves Christians,” God is calling you and me to roll-up our sleeves and to become true leaders who exemplify the kingdom of God in both words and deeds.
Let us pray.
We thank you, God, for calling us into faithful and active discipleship. Show us ways to labor and bear witness of your love for us and for the world. And with Christ as Savior, we commit ourselves to roll-up our sleeves and make a difference. Amen.