Pentecost 2

Matthew 7:15–29 (NIV): 15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 “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 who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

This past week we were told that our weather here in Central Wisconsin was the result of something that has only happened four times in recorded history. Well, if something odd is going to happen, it may as well be in 2020. As if concerns over COVID 19, a volatile stock market, high unemployment, cancellations of almost every group activitiy you can think of, and ongoing protests in major cities across the country over race weren’t enough. What happened last week? Well, the jet stream pulled very wet weather directly north from the Gulf of Mexico to our state so that we received much higher than average rainfall and some severe weather.

I mention this today because it reminds me of what Jesus taught about in the conclusion to his sermon on the mount. He tells about a violent storm: The rain came down, the streams rose, and winds blew and beat against several houses that had been built. This first part of the parable should remind us that bad things happen to all people. Because we live in a world that is subject to frustration because of the Fall into Sin (see passage), we are all vulnerable to hardships in our lives.

Romans 8:18–21 (NIV): 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We are invited to pray to God to prevent such disasters and who knows how many times they have been averted. And yet, the reality is also that God does allow bad things to happen to good people.

Joseph

Job

Mary and Joseph

Persecuted Christians

Jesus

Have you experienced storms in your life?

Actual bad weather.

Fires, accidents, financial loss.

Victim of a crime.

Serious illness, death of those close to you.

What can we do about it?

Call upon the Lord in the day of trouble and trust that he will deliver you or work all things out for your good.

Prepare yourself spiritually for those inevitable events.

That is the message of the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Jesus compares two men who are set on building a house for themselves. In building their houses, one major choice they had was what type of a foundation they would build on. This reminds me of the fable of the three little pigs. In that fable their choice was what type of building material they would use. Straw, sticks, or bricks. In the fable the big bad wolf came and huffed and puffed and sought to blow down their houses. It is a story also about how to prepare for disaster without the lesson of what it takes on our part to be prepared which Jesus teaches.

Back to the wise and foolish builders.

One choice was that of sand. Here we can picture a landscape with a nice level surface with smooth sand and no obstacles to remove in order to build the house. Most likely it was a dry streambed based on what was going to happen. This symbolizes the easy way out.

Many times in life we are faced with a choice of whether we are going to work hard to achieve our goals or find an easier way of getting what we want. I started to watch the 1960’s classice TV sitcom called Bewitched. In this sitcom a beautiful young female witch married a mortal and promised that she would refrain from using witch craft. As she was home shopping, she made furniture suddenly appear in the living room and dining room at no cost to her. Just to show her mother what it would look like. But she refused to keep it. She would not take the easy way out. “What are you going to do instead?”, asked Endora. “I will buy it on time payments like everyone else.”, was Samantha’s reply. To some borrowing money for brand new big ticket items is the easy way out instead of using hand me down furniture until you have saved enough money for it. How often aren’t we tempted to overextend our credit to but what we want instead of sacrificing with something less that we can afford and need?

But here Jesus is not teaching about spending money. He is talking about our relationship with him and with each other and our responsibilities to God. He had just taught a powerful sermon on practical ways in which to be faithful followers of our God (summarize content of sermon on the mount). There may have been some people who thought, “I’m good to go. I spend hours listening to Jesus in the hot sun and have fulfilled my religious duties for awhile.” There may be Christians today who consider the ritual religious things that they do or post on social media to be the culmination of their responsibility as Christians. They hear the words of Jesus but do no put them into practice.

What are they vulnerable to when the inevitable happens? They collapse. Their sham Christianity does not provide the spiritual and emotional support that God promises to those who are indeed invested in him. THis goes back to what Jesus had just warned earlier in the sermon: Matthew 7:21–23 (NIV): 21 “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 who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

On the other hand, Jesus gives the example of the one who built his house on the rock. Obviously, it is more difficult to prepare to build on this type of land because of the obstacles that must be removed or rearranged. This is an illustration of someone who works hard to be properly prepared.

Illustrations: We see this in the military. Those who were drafted or enlisted in the past and those who enlist today must go through rigorous training in order to advance to the next level. I don’t care how adept someone is at playing Call of Duty on Xbox, that does not prepare one physically when they are the ones called to duty in the service of their country. A child may love to watch Doc McStuffin’s and play doctor with family members and her stuffed animals and be good at that, but if she wants to be a medical professional, it takes many years of study and practical experience so that she can treat those who are really sick and injured. (Our own preparation for tragedy or at least hardships).

We don’t know who was all in Jesus’ audience when he taught this parable on putting God’s word into practice (define), but years later Jesus’ brother, James, wrote these inspired words about how to do this in a parctical way.

James 1:19–27 (NIV): 19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you. 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. 26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Conclusion: Part of our plan for living is known as “risk prevention” and “risk control”. We may be cautious in the things that we do and how we act so that we can keep as safe as possible. In the past several months this has reached a whole new level. Many people are much more cautious when it comes to personal hygiene and social interaction and many people had adopted new strategies in financial planning to name just a few examples.

Risk control is protecting ourselves should a disaster strike by being properly insured. So we drive safely to avoid accidents and are insured in case we are in an accident so that it does not result in catastrophic financial loss.

As Christians, we trust in God to “defend us from all evil” but also realize that we are vulnerable. The storms do come to Christians too. But Jesus promises that we can stand in the day of trouble by hearing his Word and putting it into practice. Amen.