“Hearing and Doing”
Matthew 7:21-29
Psalm 46
I don't know about you, but I am in Summer mode right now. I know that here in this valley we are Mountain people, but when I am in Summer mode and Jesus says something about sand, I thinking...beach!
I think that there is a lot to like about a house on a Sandy Beach. You wake up to a new day. You throw open the window to see the wide expanse of the ocean. The sun is out, and the horizon is so clear that you can if you look from side to side you can just sense the curve of the earth. Later you are sitting out in the sand, listening to the lap of the water on the shore. The sun is warming your body. You have a drink with you, nice and cold, a little umbrella in it. That's the life. It's luxurious. It's pampering. There's only one thing, the whole house is built on sand. So when the storm clouds appear overhead, and when the wind begins
to blow hard...
In Scripture, there are literally hundreds of metaphors, parables, and illustrations that relate to building and construction. Perhaps this is because home building is such a fitting metaphor for our lives?
In today's gospel, home construction is discussed by Jesus, at the end of his “sermon on the mount,” to speak about the choices that we make in our obedience to the ways of God. Even though Hebrews asserts that the real “builder of all things is God” (Heb 3:4), God has graciously given each of us a hand in the construction of those buildings that are our own lives, our own churches, and our own communities.
Each of us is busy building a life, brick by brick, board by board, one experience after another. Every experience that we have, each relationship, all of the good and bad that happens to us, becomes part of us. Brick by Brick, stone by stone. We make decisions about which step to take next, which way to turn now, which way to spend the next hour, as we if building a house, brick by brick, stone by stone.
In bringing his teaching to an end with this parable, Jesus asks, encourages, challenges his disciples, “What shall your foundation be?”
The one's who will not be surprised when entering the kingdom will be the one's who built their foundation upon Jesus' words, that is to say, those who hear them and do them.
They are the one's who will find that they have built upon the solid foundation of rock. They are the one's who will find that when the rains fall, the floods come, and the winds blow, that the building that is their lives will stand. If we want to find that rock upon which to build our lives, we need to listen for Jesus words, and act on them.
I went to Festival of Homiletics the week before last. You will hear more about it, I promise, because I was challenged in profound ways there. I want to tell you about one speaker, because I will be chewing on his presentation for awhile. This Methodist pastor is part of the “emerging church” movement, (which I won't go into here). He has been pastor of this church in Ohio for 29 years. For the first 20 years, he did the mega-church thing. He carried out all of the church growth ideas that 5000 member churches have been doing, and he was good at it. He grew a church from about 80 to over 2500. Not bad! But after 20 years he realized that his church was full of what he called “soft secular” people, not disciples of Christ. His church was full of people who would invite Jesus into a small part of their lives instead of giving their whole lives over to Jesus and following him. Using the building metaphor, they perhaps added on a room for Jesus, but the rest of the house stayed pretty much the same. They were unwilling to move or build their house upon the rock of his word and life. This pastor felt called to nurture disciples-ones who were changing their lives for Jesus-ones who were hearing his words and doing it.
As a result of his realization, he completely changed his way of doing church. He risked all of the gains that he had made by throwing out the principles that had grown his church (numerically) many times over. Instead of focusing on big buildings and worship that was more polished entertainment than it was worship, he focused on action. He focused on bringing the gospel to people where they are. I was challenged in my thinking.
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” Jesus says later in Matthew, “For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.” (Matthew 23:23 NRSV) When we are about justice, mercy, and faith, then we are building on the rock, at least according to Jesus. I am challenged by these words. If you go to 5:48,
Jesus has the boldness to tell everyone gathered on that hill with him, “Be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect.” Take that and do it! Can we help but be challenged by these words?
The counterpoint to this seemingly impossible challenge is the good news that there are words of grace woven together with the words of challenge.
“Ask, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you; for everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” These words are not to assure us that when we ask for a new Porsche, God will give it to us. These words mean that when we hear Jesus words and try to do them, Jesus will be by our side.
Jesus promises that the blueprint of new life, built upon a solid foundation, is not some secret or mystery available only to a few who happen to be particularly gifted at soul construction. Jesus loves us enough to show us the way, to tell us the truth. He loves us enough to give us the bricks and the mortar, the beams and the rafters to build well, and in the right location.
If we get sidetracked, if we can't seem to decide on plans, if there are building delays, if there are cost overruns, if there are budget shortfalls, if the inspector says you used the wrong lumber for the framing, if the angles are not straight and the house is leaning dangerously to the side (there are so many things that can go awry when you are building a house), Jesus gets us back on track with this sacrament. The good news of this passage is that however long the construction takes, the foundation remains as solid as ever.
The Ohio pastor I mentioned earlier now has 5300 people participating in one of his church's worship experiences. They meet in houses and bars, wherever there is an opportunity. He preaches 5 times in a weekend, and sends a DVD of his message to all of the other groups that meet. He spends $700K on expenses in his annual budget, and $2.5 million on mission, most of it going to ministry in and for Darfur.
The majority of this ministry is lay led. It is led by people who have decided to give Jesus more than one room in their house. They are building on the rock.
I believe that extraordinary things happen when we take up the challenge of Jesus' words.
Food for thought. Amen.
June 1, 2008
Rev. Paul Heins
First Presbyterian Church
Logan, Utah