29 May 2005 St. Athanasius Lutheran Church
Pentecost
2
Jesu Juva
“Building a House?”
Text: Matthew 7:21-28
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father,
and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Amen.
No one sets out to build a house that’s going to
fall down. No one sets out to build a
house whose basement will flood when it rains, or which will get infested by
termites, or have its roof ripped off when high winds come. No one builds a house near a hill expecting
it to get buried by a mud slide, or on the sea shore expecting it to get washed
away by a hurricane, or on a fault line expecting an earthquake to shake it
down, or in the woods expecting a forest fire to burn it to the ground. But all those things happen, don’t they? Nobody wants them to! But they do.
Everyday.
And the same is true of our spiritual lives. No one sets out to believe in something they know is wrong! No one knowingly sets out to build a
spiritual house on a foundation of sand.
False prophets don’t set out to be false prophets. No child tells his parents, “You know Mom and Dad, when I grow up I’m
going to be a false teacher and lead many people astray!” No one sets out to build a house that’s going
to fall down! But it happens, doesn’t
it? There are false teachers, false
prophets, false churches, and false religions.
And while they may look good for a while, and have a nice view, and be
in a good location, and be popular and attractive, they are fraught with
danger. And when the storms and winds
and earthquakes and floods and fires and temptations and doubts and fears of
this life come blowing and beating down upon them, they will not and can not
stand. They will fall, and great will be
the fall of them.
Two houses.
Two foundations. Two ways. Two very different endings. In the Holy Gospel this morning, this is how
Jesus ends His Sermon on the Mount. He
has just laid out for all the Word of God and the wisdom of God. From the Beatitudes to the fulfilling of the Law
to the Lord’s Prayer to faith to love to living the Christian life. A more jam-packed sermon I don’t think there
could ever be! And at the end, two ways. What’s
it gonna be? Who will you believe? This wisdom and teaching of God, or the
wisdom and teaching of the world? What
foundation will be holding your life up?
Now by presenting that alternative, Jesus is not
asking for us to make a decision – at
least, not the way it’s so commonly presented today. That
it’s all up to you. You have
to decide where your going to build your spiritual house, your spiritual
life. You have to make a decision
for Jesus and invite Him into your life.
As if we had the power within us to choose Jesus and His way at
all! Because the truth is that if you
can pray that prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart, He’s already
there! He’s the One who has given you
the faith to do that! It did not come
from you. . . . But many believe that very thing – that it is
something that they did – and once you believe that, your focus tends to stay
on the fact that your spiritual life is something that you do. And your focus then becomes building a better
house. And so I’ll pray more and I’ll
give more and I’ll work more and I’ll live better and I’ll have such a strong
Christian life that no storms in this world will ever be able to knock this
house down! And not only individual
Christians sometimes think that way, but even whole churches and Synods! That the devil may have been able to knock my
house down before, but by golly, I’ll make sure He can’t do it again!
You know, the people who build houses think that
too. After a tornado, or a hurricane, or
a flood, building codes become stronger, new techniques are used, better
materials are selected . . . and those new houses may be strong and stand for a
while. But you know what’s gonna happen, don’t you? Age will break down even the best
construction. If there’s even one corner
or weak spot the builders missed, the whole house is vulnerable. And then there is always the storm no one
expected. The once in a lifetime storm, that these days seems to be coming more
and more frequently. And no matter how
good that house was built, it falls, and great is the fall of it.
That’s why when Jesus ended the Sermon on the Mount,
He didn’t talk about the building of the house. He didn’t mention building better, or
stronger. He didn’t point to the quality
of the workmanship. That’s what we
tend to focus on – what we do! . . . But
just as with houses, the devil knows how to break us down over time. Oh, maybe we’ll do alright and look good for
a while. But he is very persistent, to
wear you down and wear you out. He’ll
take advantage of those weak spots in your life – ones you didn’t even know
were there! And he is always ready to
send your way a storm that is stronger than you could ever have imagined. And the truth is, you can’t build strong
enough to stand against him. He is too
strong. He is too devious. He is too much for you.
And Jesus knows that. He knows our enemy – and what he is capable
of – better than we do. And so Jesus
doesn’t talk about building better – He points to only one thing: the foundation. For that’s what the whole Sermon on the Mount
has been about! It is not about what
we do, but what Jesus has done, and
is doing, for us and in us. And on that
foundation, the right foundation, we are safe and secure. All
other ground is sinking sand. (LW 368) And I would think the devil takes particular
delight in knocking down those strongly built, grand, spiritual mansions that
were built on sand!
So why do
people do it? Why are we tempted to do it? Why do they rebuild their house on the
seashore after a hurricane has knocked it to the ground? Why on a fault line after it has been
destroyed by an earthquake? Maybe they
think it won’t happen again. Maybe the
scenic views and location and money they can earn are just too good. And those priorities become more important
than the foundation. . . . It happens spiritually too. Even to the best of us! We want the good views and success and
popularity. We want people to like us,
and so don’t say anything controversial.
Let’s all just get along; agree to disagree. Maybe we want preaching that makes us feel
good, and tells us we’re doing okay.
Keep up the good work! . . . But if those things are our priorities and
therefore become our foundation – instead of faithfulness and truth – what
happens when the storms come? And they will always come. When emotions change, and what’s popular
changes, and people change and let you down, that foundation washes away. Maybe it happens all at once; maybe it erodes
little by little. But it will fall, and
great will be the fall of it.
But there is a
foundation that cannot be shaken. A
foundation not based on emotion or size or popularity or feelings or
success. Although those things may all be there, they are not the foundation. The
foundation is the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Son of God come down from Heaven,
incarnate of the virgin Mary, crucified, dead, and buried, and then the third
day risen from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. That foundation is rock solid because it is
not based upon anything you have done, or must do, or promise to do – but has
been done for you.
That
foundation is rock solid. It is the rock of
And while the world in its wisdom thinks this
foundation foolish and weak (1 Cor 1) – for how can confession
and forgiveness, humility and love, a little water and a morsel of bread and
wine, and old fashioned, outdated words read and preached by a pastor who’s not
even as smart as we are, do such great
things? Although this may all look
foolish and weak, this is the only foundation that will last. And not only for this life, but for
eternity. For it is the foundation of Christ crucified. A rock which is a stumbling block to many,
but the chief cornerstone to those who believe (1 Pt 2).
This is the rock you have been put upon and that you
are being built upon. For it is not you
doing the building, but Christ. It is
His house, His Church. If you want to
build your own house, He does not force you to stay. If the grass is greener on another
foundation, you may go and build there.
The nice views and the green grass and the promises of an easy and
successful life seduce many; they’re more comfortable to lie on than a hard
rock! But they are the calm before the
storm. Whatever you build cannot
last. What Christ builds will last into
eternity. And so, Jesus said, “In
my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that
I go to prepare a place for you?” (Jn
14:2) You see, that’s why Jesus didn’t talk about our
building work – because He is the builder. And what exactly is Jesus building there? Not a physical house, but a spiritual
one. His Church. And He is building it through His foolish-sounding
and weak-looking Word and Sacraments.
And when it is complete, He will come again. And in the end, it will be the only house
left standing. The only house that can
withstand the devil’s storms and assaults.
For it is the house built on the body and blood of Jesus. On the heel of the One who crushed the devil
head. Who crushed his big mouth – his
big, fat, lying, murderous mouth, which got us into this mess in the first
place!
And we are built on that foundation when we stop trying to build ourselves,
and instead live in Him. Living in Him as
we live in His Word, as Moses said: laying up these words in our hearts
and in our souls, and binding them as a sign on our hands, and between our
eyes, and teaching them to our children. Living in Him as we live in repentance and
confession, as Paul said: what becomes of our work and
boasting? It is excluded. For we hold that one is justified by faith
apart from works. And living in
Him as His Word lives in us, as Jesus said: everyone who hears these words
of mine and does them. And
that means not just following the commandments, but His words which say:
baptize; teach; take and eat; pray; hear; believe.
For built on this Word, we are built not on what we
do (which is shaky and uncertain at best!), but on what He has done – on
His love and forgiveness. The
forgiveness promised to the believers in the Old Testament, the forgiveness accomplished
by Jesus in His death and resurrection, and the forgiveness now given to us
through the Holy Spirit. With that Word and
promise as your foundation, the storms of this life cannot destroy you. The storms of fear and doubt and anxiety and even
death can blow and beat against that foundation all they like – and in fact,
they did when Jesus hung on the cross!
But they could not win. And they
still cannot. Jesus’ victory is a
victory for all time, and the victory that He has promised to give to you.
So as we enter into the long Pentecost season, with
its focus on the Christian life and faith, we begin today with the foundation. For there really is only one. On
Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.