Pastor Detweiler’s sermon from June 1, 2008:

“Build your life on the solid rock of the word of God and let it guide your thoughts and actions”

Deut. 11:18-21, 26-28;

Romans 3:21-25

Matthew 7:21-29

“The Three Little Pigs.”

Once upon a time there were three little pigs. The first one built his house from straw. The second one built his house of twigs. The third one built his house of bricks.

“Little pig, little pig, let me come in.” “Not by the hair of my chiny chin chin.”

“Then I’ll huff and I’ll puff, and I’ll blow your house in.”

What, you might wonder, does this have to do with today’s lessons? Matthew is very concerned about the materials we use to construct the foundation of our lives. First he reports a warning from Jesus:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

Then he impresses on us the importance of building on a solid foundation – the words of Jesus.

“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, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.” (Matt. 7:24-25)

He also warns us about the mortal danger of letting Jesus’ words go in one ear and out the other:

“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!”

This is building with straw.

Every third summer we spend four months reading from Matthew’s gospel and for more than half of that time we also read each Sunday from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Matthew’s Jesus impresses on us the importance of doing – hearing and acting on the word of God. For Matthew, Jesus is the new Moses, bringing the new commandment and fulfilling the law of Israel.

Paul in Romans impresses on us the importance of trusting God and not ourselves. He says “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:23-24). God makes the relationship with us right – we cannot – and trying to do that is to build our house with twigs.

Together Matthew and Romans comprehend the fullness of following Jesus – being a disciple. Building with bricks is opening ourselves to God in Christ – listening to his word, taking it into ourselves – so we are guided in showing our gratitude to him through what we do. It is hearing the word of God and doing it, so that the doing is a response to the word of God, not an attempt to earn God’s favor.

Building with bricks on the solid foundation of God’s word is described in today’s reading from Deuteronomy where the people of Israel are urged to immerse themselves in the word of God:

“You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem^* on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.”

This is the response to God’s gracious care. It is not following rules and regulations – living by the law – but meditating on God’s word so it more and more forms us and our actions. Hearing the word of God and doing it is not the road to perfection or everything in life going just right, but it is the road to shalom: the peace which surpasses understanding, the peace that is found in the path of the Lord’s will for us, God’s help and guidance through the Holy Spirit.

Mary and her husband, Larry, were very close, working together in a family business past usual retirement age because they both enjoyed the work. A few years ago Larry was diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer and given at most 2 years to live. The diagnosis changed their lives dramatically: they quickly sold their business and focused their time on visiting family and friends, making the best use of the time they had remaining. Larry lived only a little over a year.

For Mary, his death meant not only a return to singleness, but decisions about where to live the rest of her life. She was living a few hours from her two sons, but across the country from her daughter. She prayed for months about this and shared that she reflected repeatedly on Palm 142:3 “When my spirit is faint within me, you, O Lord, know my path,” a verse that had come up in a Bible study she attended. It took two years for the way to become clear, but she decided to move near her daughter and planned to spend a month or more each year in the area where her siblings and sons lived. Building her future with bricks meant relying on the solid foundation of God’s word and trusting the Spirit’s guidance

Mary’s friend, Kate, was going through a very difficult time with her oldest son, a combination of emotional and drug problems that had put their family on an emotional roller coaster. Kate was grieving for the hopes and dreams she had for her son and trying to accept the limitations with which they would have to live. When Kate said one day in an e-mail to Mary “Where is God? Where is God in this?” Mary told her about her own struggles and about this verse – Ps 142:3: “When my spirit is faint within me, you, O Lord, know my path.”

A few weeks later Kate called Mary to thank her for that verse. “I have been clinging to it, saying it over and over, meditating on it, remembering that I cannot control what happens and that I have to trust God to care for us – all of us.” She was building on the solid rock of the word of God – building with bricks, not twigs or straw – by taking the Word within her and letting it form and guide her thoughts and actions.

Like the first little pig we can build the house of our lives with straw by ignoring the word of God, or we can build with twigs by trying to build our relationship with God ourselves – relying on what we do and not on God’s grace in Christ.

Or we can build on the solid foundation of the word of God, “Teach(ing) them to our children, talking about them when we are at home and when we are away, when we lie down and when we rise. We can write them on the doorposts of our houses and on our gates, so that our days and the days of our children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to our ancestors to give (us), as long as the heavens are above the earth.”

When we are baptized a foundation for us is laid on the word and promises of God. We die with Christ in the waters of baptism, so we can rise with him. We are given the Holy Spirit to guide our lives to and by God’s word in Christ. Let us trust and respond to those promises.