Sermon Cloud

            My wake-up call on Friday morning was the GEHS marching band.  Happen for anyone else?  Now, I actually love that.  I love this time of year, listening to the band practice, seeing the athletes on the practice field.  Just a few weeks and we’ll be spending beautiful fall evenings at the GEHS stadium, listening to the marching band, climbing over little kids so I can catch the mini-footballs the cheerleaders throw out after touchdowns. 

            I love fall Fridays, even though my own HS football team wasn’t exactly a powerhouse.  In fact, we just plain sucked.  Our worst year was my freshman year; I don’t think we were within 40 points all year.  At the end of our games, our coach would send in the few back-ups that we actually had.  One of these was a whiny quarterback named Mike Vestal.  While in the huddle, he’d get in the faces of us offensive lineman, and yell/ whine “come on guys, block!”  And because we didn’t like Mike, we’d occasionally let the defensive lineman run right by us, so they could take his head off, on the off chance it would get him to shut up.         

            I realize that sounds very cruel.  Maybe it was.  But it sure was funny.  And he knew what we were doing.  But little did Mike know that we were doing him a favor.  We were preparing Mike for the future.  At the impressionable young age of 14, we were teaching Mike that the people he’s depending upon will let him down.  Circumstances will turn against you.  You’ll soon find that you’re running for your life from a defensive lineman intent upon tearing your head off. 

            That’s one of the main truths in today’s passage.  Matthew 7:24-27  The good news from today is that it isn’t a matter of if life will decide to kick you in the teeth, it’s just a matter of when.  To illustrate this cheery fact, Jesus gets his audience to think of the rains that came through their area.  Jesus lived in Palestine, the western part of what we think of now as the middle east.  There are only two seasons in that part of the world, rainy and dry.  During the rainy season, the clouds would come up the mountains and then dump the rain.  That rain would flow down the mountains, into the valleys, creating massive flash floods.  These floods could literally wash away a house. 

            The question wasn’t if the rains are going to come, they’re coming and they’re bringing a flood.  The question is whether or not your house was built on a foundation that can withstand the floods. 

            Maybe I’m just a nerd, but I find it fascinating that verses 24 and 25 directly mirror verse 26 and 27.  Only 4 words are different.  Two men - “wise” and a “foolish” man.  Both heard Jesus’ teaching, wise man “follows” Jesus’ teachings, foolish man. “ignores.”  Both built a house; on a “solid rock,” one was built on “sand.”  Jesus says that when the rains came to both, one “won’t” collapse and one “will” collapse. 

            Both people build a house.  Both face the rains.  Both get the floods.  But only one survives.  Repeat…

            Last Thursday night, I was at what’s called an “ordination service.”  Ordination is the act of the church declaring a person is called, equipped and qualified to enter pastoral ministry.  Us ordained pastors were praying over the men and women recently ordained within our denomination.  Before the prayer time though, I was in the “ordinand choir.”  I saw this couple on the second row with a newborn baby.  They had that brand new parent glow.  Their baby got fussy, they had to take the baby out a few times, but they were smiling the whole way. 

            I hate to show emotion in public, or at home, for that matter.  I usually keep stuff pushed down.  But sometimes I get blindsided by feelings.  It’s happening more and more when I see happy parents or beautiful babies.  I’m not mad at them, but the ache in my heart feels like a knife.  And sitting in that choir loft on Thursday night, a couple tears ran down my face.  I tried to get rid of them before my friend sitting next to me saw them.  It embarrasses me. 

            I was talking with our new neighbors on Friday and they asked why we don’t have kids.  I just said, “it’s a long story.”  You could say that Erin and I have a few light sprinkles, over the past couple years.  It feels at times that the waves of doubt and grief are going to just wash us away.

            These are the floods Jesus is talking about.  And they’re flash floods.  There’s no time to prepare.  When your doctor calls, when you get laid off; it’s too late to start strengthening your foundation.  You’ll soon find out whether or not your foundation is solid. 

            If that’s not scary enough just to know the floods are coming, then the last part of verse 27 oughta freak you out, Vs. 27b.  There’s a finality in what Jesus is saying here.  The whole thing just collapses.  Pause

            An author in the Bible named Paul, talks about the same thing.  1 Corinthians 3:10-15.  Paul tells us that the only foundation that can stand up to the storms of life is Jesus.  That’s it!  Anything else will collapse.  Which is exactly what Jesus is saying.

            This teaching comes at the end of a section we call “the Sermon on the Mount.”  I shared a few weeks ago how the SOTM is the epitome of what it means to follow Jesus.  We’ll be looking at the SOTM in more detail in September. 

            Right at the end of 3 chapters of teaching, Jesus gives us a choice.  “You can ignore what I’ve just said and see your house collapse.  Or you can live by my teachings and survive the inevitable storms of life.”  Same thing Paul said.  Your life is built on Jesus, you’ll stand firm.  If your life is built on anything else, you house is going to collapse.  Simple as that. 

            So what does it mean to build a foundation upon Jesus?  First, I’ll tell you what it doesn’t mean.  Building your foundation upon Jesus is not saying, “I believe Jesus is the Son of God.”  Building your foundation upon Jesus is not listening to someone talk about Jesus once a week at church.  Building your foundation upon Jesus is not being in a small group bible study listening to a group of people talk about Jesus.  Building your foundation upon Jesus is not reading the bible to learn interesting facts.  Now all of those activities are good.  I highly recommend them.  But on their own, they’re incomplete.  It’s not enough to just know about Jesus.  It’s not enough to just read the bible.  It’s not enough to just know the teachings of Jesus.  Building your life upon Jesus means you actually do what Jesus says!  I know that was deep, so I’m going to repeat it in case you didn’t catch it.  Repeat   So simple, yet so revolutionary. 

            A biblical author named James says exactly this, James 1:22-25.  Don’t just hear about it, do what it says!  At TFC, we have a very simple strategy for ingesting scripture and then living it out.  We call this SOAP.  You’ll see our SOAP strategy on the back of your weekly.  If you practice this strategy every day, you will be laying a foundation built upon Christ.  Now, if you miss a day here and there, don’t beat yourself up.  But it can’t be sporadic, either.  This foundation building must happen on a steady, regular basis. 

            This daily foundation building requires three things: A bible, a notebook and a pen.  You gather those together, get alone with God for a few minutes or so, and then SOAP.  Weekly

            This is like eating your vegetables.  Simple, essential, but not always easy.  If you fail to ingest and apply scripture, you’re not going to make it.  Some part of your life will buckle under the pressure.  If you do this, you’ll be building a foundation that can stand the toughest storms this world can throw at it.  Having a solid foundation doesn’t mean it won’t be hard.  It doesn’t mean there won’t be times in which you’re not sure how in the world you’re going to make it.  But you’ll make it.  Because your foundation will be secure.

            While we’re far from perfect, that applies more to me than Erin, we are discovering that the foundation we’ve built is holding up to the pressure.  While we have our doubts.  We have our times of being mad at God.  Our faith in God is still there.  The realization that Jesus is walking through the pain with us, is clearer than it was one year ago.  Pain has a way of making things clear.  And our marriage, while strained at times, has gotten stronger. 

            And what we didn’t see coming at all was that at the darkest points, God used our pain to bring light to others.  Last November, a baby we were considering adopting was stillborn.  My wife was in the hospital all night long, it was a dark moment.  As a direct result of that night, though we’re able to walk alongside Emily Crow as she keeps taking steps toward Jesus.  Took a big one this week and I’m proud of her! 

            Last month, the medicine to start the invetro process didn’t work.  It was terrible.  But because we didn’t have to save for a baby, God told us to help someone else in their journey.  A family member gave us a hug and with tears running down her face told us, “you’re changing their life.” 

            Those things don’t take away the pain.  They don’t fix the problem.  But they do reveal that the foundation is holding steady. 

            While we’re a long way from getting through this and we have this growing fear that things could get worse before they get better.  We KNOW the foundation holds. 

            Vs. 24-25

            Band - remedy