Rev Michael Birbeck

Foundations MatterFoundations Matter

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Matthew 7

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is famous not because it stands tall, but because it leans. Engineers have spent centuries trying to slow its tilt, yet the tower still leans and always will. Foundations matter. What something rests on determines its future. The same is true of life.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus isn’t offering inspirational advice. He is calling us to build our lives on him. And according to Jesus, that choice is a matter of life and death.

In Matthew 7, Jesus begins by warning us about the danger of self‑righteous judgment. “Judge not” doesn’t mean abandoning moral discernment. It means refusing to apply to others a standard we won’t first apply to ourselves. His image is unforgettable: a person with a plank in their eye trying to remove a speck from someone else’s. Hypocrisy blinds. Before we try to help others, Jesus insists we let him examine us first.

But examination alone isn’t enough. Jesus also calls for wisdom. Some people welcome truth; others openly resist it. Jesus describes the gospel as a precious pearl, something to be shared boldly but also wisely. That’s what Jesus means when instructs not to throw pearls before pigs.

And because seeing ourselves and others clearly is hard, Jesus urges us to ask our Heavenly Father for help. God is not stingy. He has a giving heart. If a good father knows how to give his child good gifts, how much more does our Father in Heaven know how to gives his children what they need, especially wisdom for the relationships and decisions that shape daily life.

Jesus summarizes his teaching with what many call the Golden Rule: “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them.” People resonate with this not because it is sentimental, but because it reflects the heart of the God who made us in his image. If you ever found yourself nodding in agreement as this teaching, it’s worth asking, “Why?” Perhaps it’s because the Author of Life has opened up the secrets of a life well lived.

Then Jesus presses the question home. There are two paths, he says: a wide one that is easy and popular, and a narrow one that is harder and less traveled. Only one leads to life. The other to destruction. Appearances deceive. Foundations matter.

Jesus ends with a picture of two houses: one built on rock, the other on sand. Storms come to both. Only one stands. The difference is not the weather but the foundation.

Jesus invites us to something deeper than receive these words as mere good advice to add to our life. He wants us to hear his words, trust him, and build our lives on the only foundation that lasts, which is him.

The Freedom of Seeking the Kingdom of God

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Matthew 6:19-34

Why did you get out of bed this morning? What’s your reason for living? When your mind goes quiet, where do your thoughts drift? What feels so essential that losing it would undo you? Our answers reveal the true center of our lives. And Jesus tells us that when the center is wrong, the heart becomes restless and anxious. But when the center is right, there is this wholeness that nothing in this world can take away.

In Matthew 6:19–34, Jesus gives us a simple but searching truth: Freedom is found in belonging to a benevolent King who has already cared for all our tomorrows.

Jesus speaks about our eyes. “The eye is the lamp of the body,” he says. This metaphor may not be one we use today, but back then the eye was thought of as the window of the heart. When our vision is clear by, fixed on God, we see the world as it truly is. But when our vision is clouded by fear, comparison, or the constant noise of our age, everything feels darker than it really is.

We live in a culture where every screen, movie, show, or reel is trying to shape what we love. So the question becomes unavoidable: What am I letting shape me? Many of us know the difference a moment of clarity can make: a Psalm read at the right time, a hymn sung on a hard morning, a quiet prayer whispered when the world feels loud. When God becomes the object of our gaze, even our darkest moments lose their power to imprison us.

Jesus later turns to the mind, where our loyalties and anxieties collide. “Do not be anxious about your life,” He says this not because life is easy but because God is faithful. Jesus invites us to look at birds and flowers, ordinary things we pass every day in Tioga County, and see in them the steady care of a Father who provides. If he tends to them, how much more to us.

Anxiety loosens its grip when we remember the cross. There, God gave his greatest treasure, his Son, to secure our future with him. If Christ has carried our greatest burden, he can carry all off our tomorrow’s too.

What if your anxiety comes from a wavering confidence in God’s goodness? What if you’ve been serving the wrong master? We all serve someone or something. Jesus is a different kind of King. His kingdom actually sets you free.

How the God’s Law Makes Us Whole Again

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Hiker walking down rocky mountain trail with cloud-covered valley and sunlit peaks

Matthew 5:17-48

Have you ever wondered how the Old Testament law fits into following Jesus? Some say the law has nothing to do with following Christ today. Others insist it has almost everything to do with it. These debates aren’t new. Even in Jesus’ own day, people wanted to know where he stood. And perhaps nowhere does he speak more clearly than in one humbling sentence: “…be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

At first hearing, that line can push us into familiar camps, either “the law is nothing” or “the law is everything.” But Jesus is going deeper. He’s not lowering the bar, and he’s not simply repeating what others taught. He’s revealing the law’s true purpose.

Jesus begins a block of teaching on the Old Testament (Matthew 5:17-48) by saying, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets…” He’s emphatic: God’s commands were never harsh rules the Son came to undo. If you want to know the heart of God, look at his laws. And if you’ve ever fallen in love with the way Jesus lived, you’ve actually fallen in love with a life lived perfectly in relation to God’s law.

But Jesus also warns that law‑keeping alone isn’t enough. The most meticulous rule‑followers of his day still missed the mark because their obedience was self‑exalting rather than God‑glorifying. You can make the law everything, and, in doing so, miss God entirely.

So Jesus takes the law deeper, down to the heart. Consider just one example: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not murder,’ … but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 21-26). Many of us can say we’ve never murdered. But who can say they’ve never been angry? Jesus isn’t tightening the screws; he’s showing that the law was always meant to shape not just our actions but our attitudes and reflexes toward one another.

Or take his teaching on enemies: loving those who love us is easy. But Jesus says, “Love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44). You can’t fight fire with fire. Responding to hate with more hate only burns the world down further. Jesus calls us to break the cycle.

Why? Because this is how God treats us. The sun rises and rain falls on the just and unjust alike (Matthew 5:45). Jesus is calling us back to the beautiful life we were created for.

And that brings us again to his final words: “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Not perfect in our own strength, but in surrendering to his.

Here is the honest dialogue of a heart responding to that call: You say: “Jesus, I can’t.” Jesus says to you, “I have.” You say, “That’s great for you, but I still can’t.” Jesus says, “I know. That’s why I died, to covers your sins.” You say, “Thank you, Jesus, for forgiveness, but I still can’t live like you.” Jesus says, “I know. That’s why I give you my righteous life too.” You say, “Lord. I’m glad you see me that way, but I don’t live that way.” Jesus says, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” You say, “Then I’ m too weak. Help me!” Jesus says, “Now you’re beginning to understand. You were made to trust me.” Finally you say, “I give up.”
And Jeus says, “Good. ‘…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (John 12:24).”

Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, not by striving harder but by surrendering to him.