"BUILDING ON ROCK"
Dr. George R. Sinclair, Pastor
Gen. 6:9, 7:24, 8:14-19; Ps. 46; Rom. 1:16-17, 3:22b-28 (29-31); Matt. 7:21-29
June 1, 2008
In the summer of 1993, torrential rains brought a 100 year flood to vast stretches of Illinois where Paula and I once lived. A few months after the flood, Paula and I received a letter from friends there. They caught us up on the news and thanked us for some money our church had sent. Their letter read in part:
“Kevin’s family moved into a FEMA trailer August 22 on the edge of the football field. Bobby’s family is next to them and we hear Donnie and Polly will also be in one up by him. It has been a difficult time getting through all of the ‘red tape.’ The trailer is new and small for a family, but they are OK. All their furniture is still here and at my folks. We hope it won’t be a year, but most likely it will be. Water is still in all the homes in the bottoms and no clean-up can begin there.” (The “bottoms” were farms just inside the levies, which at that point along the Mississippi are about twenty feet high. The year Paula and I left Illinois the river was above flood stage. Before leaving, I had the chance to walk up on the levies there to take one last look at the river. Even in normal times the Mississippi is a boiling cauldron. When it’s flooding you don’t want to see it.)
The letter continues . . . “Volunteers from Michigan and Indiana have helped clean up homes and removed sand bags. Food has come in from all over the US. The Assembly of God Church is the “relief center” in Warsaw. Methodist churches all over the state plus local churches provide one meal a day. . . boxes of food and cleaning supplies have been distributed weekly.
We have been overwhelmed by it all!
We have been told by the Corp of Engineers that another flood crest is predicted in October. . . if that happens, we doubt any crops will be planted for another one to two years. . . I hope you received our letter of thanks from the Session. We’ll keep you posted on how [the money] is used. Thank you so much for remembering us! Love, Carlene.”
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came . . .”
Floods come. According to Jesus, it’s not a matter of “if” but “when.” And when floods come life is turned upside down. Floods turn us upside down. Nothing is where it’s supposed to be. My Illinois friend said she had trouble “catching up.” For Carlene that meant doing everything she normally did like working as an intensive care nurse, checking on her mother, cooking for her husband, watching grandchildren, going to choir practice and then dealing with six feet of water in a friend’s living room. When floods come we have trouble “catching up.” Floods unleash chaos.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.” Jesus was of course speaking metaphorically. The flood he refers to concerns moral life and is linked at least symbolically to the flood in the days of Noah. That flood was about more than water. It was about God’s judgment. It is not by accident that Jesus concludes his great “Sermon on the mount” with the image.
In that sermon, Jesus talks about turning the other cheek, going the second mile, loving enemies, not worrying about tomorrow, giving to those who beg. He preaches about adultery, divorce, truth telling, judging others. He calls his followers salt and light. He begins his sermon with a blessing. You remember: “Blessed are the poor; blessed are the meek . . .” The sermon ends with a warning “. . . the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”
Four sharp contrasts are posed by the warning: wise/foolish; rock/sand; doing/not doing; not falling/falling. Jesus ends his sermon with a choice or rather at the end of his sermon we are left with a choice. Will we be wise or foolish? Will we build on sand or rock? Will we do or not do God’s will? Will we stand or fall? To stand we must build on rock. To live the life Jesus calls us to not only requires information, it requires courage. Character is formed by information and courage. To stand we must build on rock. And rock is a compound of both knowledge and moral strength.
When summer is over and our children start back to school, Amanda and Kara will kick off a new year of Sunday school. They’re calling this year’s Rally Day “Back to Basics.” Basics are those things we keep coming back to, the things we never forget or that we forget only at our peril. We’re stressing the “basics” with our children—what we believe to be true and good and right. Basics have to do with foundations. Basics are what we build upon, our core values, the rock-solid principles that stay with us.
It makes a big difference what we build upon. We want to give our children rock. We want to give them something to build a life upon. But “basics” are of little use without courage. “Basics” don’t do children much good if they don’t also have strength of character. Knowing the good doesn’t mean doing the good which is why bringing children to church and Sunday school is so important. It’s important to bring them here because they learn right from wrong, but also because bringing them here gives them courage to choose right over wrong. Character takes both. Character takes both knowledge and courage. I don’t want to get into the larger debate about “character education” or “abstinence” or “just say no” programs sponsored by the government. That’s a subject for another time, but I do want to say this: we aim to shape the character of our children here at GSPC. Our charge is to mold children into the likeness of Christ. We can’t do that if children aren’t here on Sunday morning. Character can’t be formed through distance learning.
I believe every parent in this church wants their children to be formed in the image of Christ. You want your children to grow up knowing what we believe to be the highest good. You want your children formed by truth. That can’t happen unless you get them here. Character requires two things: information and courage (and perhaps a third, a ride to church.) A child can be told all day long what’s right and what’s wrong, but if that child does not also have courage she will never be able to choose the good and reject evil. Character is formed by information and courage.
Of course Jesus wasn’t speaking to parents only. He was speaking to any who would follow. People who follow, he says, build on rock. And building on rock means making choices.
A specialist in time management stood before a group of high-powered overachievers and told them, “It’s time for a test." The specialist took a one-gallon, wide-mouth jar and put it on the table in front of the class. He then took about a dozen fist-sized rocks and placed them in the jar one by one until they reached the top. He then asked his students: “Is this jar full?”
Everyone answered, “Yes. Yes, it’s full.”
So the specialist took some gravel and dumped it in the jar and shook the jar until the smaller pieces settled into place. Again, he asked, “Is this jar full?’
This time the class was on to him, “Probably not.”
“Good,” he said. And then he got a bucket of sand and poured it into the jar and again asked, “Is this jar full?”
This time even the lesser lights caught on, “Well, of course not.”
“Good,” the teacher said. He then took a pitcher of water and poured it into the jar until it spilled over the sides. “Now is this jar full?”
“Yeah, it’s full,” they all agreed.
“Well, then, the time manager asked, what’s the point? What’s my illustration about?”
One eager manager raised his hand, “The point is that no matter how full your schedule, if you really try, you can always fit more in." No,” the teacher replied, “that’s not the point. The point is, if you don’t put the big rocks in first, you’ll never get them in at all.”
What are you putting in first? When do you build on rock? When do you make time for the foundation that will make the one difference that is all the difference? I look around and sometimes feel that your jars are mighty full. There’s ball practice, tennis lessons, music lessons, dance, trips, hunting, fishing, snow skiing, kite flying, you name it. Our jars are packed. When do you make time for the foundation that will make the one difference that is all the difference?
Finding that difference is a matter of life-long learning and it’s a matter of choice. Building on rock is a choice. It’s a matter of putting the big things first. And big things include Bible study. Big things include Sunday school. Big things include worship. You can’t build on rock when you’re distracted. You can’t build on rock when you’re too busy. Building on rock is not something you do when you “get around to it,” or something you do “one day.” Building on rock means choosing here and now to follow Jesus. And you can’t do that by osmosis. Having a faith that’s worth having takes choices, sometimes hard choices.
Someone has calculated that we spend nearly a third of our lives sleeping. We spend about one-fourth working. Eating, travel, and leisure take another fourth, which leaves just under eight percent for getting dressed and being sick. Religion, according to the study, constitutes less than one percent of our time or about six months of a lifetime. I don’t know how they did the math exactly, but six months of church and Sunday school at just one hour a week adds up to about 83 years. One hour a week is not a big investment for a faith worth having, especially when that one hour can color everything else.
Building on rock doesn’t come easily, but then life isn’t easy—floods come, wind and rain beat against every house. It’s not a matter of “if”; it’s a matter of when. Build on rock. Take the time. Make the time. Put first things first and keep them first. “Everyone,” says Jesus, “who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall . . .it had been founded on rock.” Amen.