3rd Sunday after Pentecost (June 1, 2008)

“Building a Rock-Solid Faith”
Matthew 7:15-29

INI

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

At Concordia University Wisconsin (where I graduated from college roughly seven and a half years ago), the campus sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. You would be hard pressed to find a more scenic college campus anywhere in this country. A few years ago, a discovery was made regarding that bluff that overlooks the lake. It seemed that the edge of the bluff was getting closer and closer to the campus. One of the buildings closest to the lake is called the “Peace Center.” It’s a men’s dormitory that traditionally houses young men in the pre-seminary program. When I was there we began to joke that one day the guys in the Peace Center were going to wake up floating in the lake if they didn’t do something about that bluff. The soil near the lake—and consequently on the bluff—was very sandy and over time had suffered serious erosion. So the school embarked on a multi-million dollar bluff restoration project that would provide a more solid wall against Lake Michigan…and provide better protection for the buildings on the campus.

I can’t help but think of that every time that I read Jesus’ words that are found in today’s Holy Gospel from Matthew 7. There Jesus tells us of two house-builders. One guy is a wise man who builds his house on solid rock. The other guy is a fool that builds his house on sandy ground. When the rains, the winds, the flooding rivers and all of nature’s elements begin to beat upon those houses, only the house with a sure foundation will be left standing. Every one of you is probably familiar with at least one hymn that sings about Jesus as the rock or foundation on which faith is build. This morning we sang, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” We sang, “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.” There’s also, “Rock of ages cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee.” Our hymnal has several others that aren’t so familiar, but carry the same theme: “Christ is made the sure foundation, Christ, our head and cornerstone.” Or how about, “Built on the Rock, the Church shall stand even when steeples are falling.” If you’re into more of an old-time southern Gospel flavor, maybe you remember singing, “I go to the Rock!”

All of those songs remind us that Jesus is the foundation of the Christian faith. Our Holy Gospel today gets even more specific. Faith is built—not just on Jesus—but specifically on Jesus’ words and teaching. “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” It’s one thing to say that your church is built on Jesus. But as we’ve all seen, people can make Jesus into a whole bunch of different things. They can make Jesus into an example for us to live by. They can make Jesus into a healer who will take away your every sickness. They can make Jesus into the liberator of the oppressed in society. But Christian faith is built solely on the Word of Christ. A faith that disregards the Word of Christ is a house built upon sand…waiting to be washed away.

The challenge in Jesus’ parable of the two houses—one on rock and one on sand—is in understanding how houses with bad foundations get washed away. Keep in mind the story I told you earlier about the bluff at Concordia. No one woke up one day and realized that all of a sudden the lake was 30 feet nearer to the campus than it used to be. It eroded…it was gradual… and if it had gone unchecked long enough, then the whole thing would have been beyond repair. It sounds as though Jesus is telling us that a house built on sand is “here today, gone tomorrow.” Think though about sand and what happens when water rushes upon it. Maybe you remember building sand castles on the beach as a child…and when you built your sand castle right at the edge of the shore where the water is washing up, it wasn’t very likely that one big wave would come and destroy your sand castle. More than likely it was gradual…the water would gradually wash over it and slowly…slowly…the sand castle would wear down into a wet pile of sand.

Look at the other examples Jesus gives us today. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” False prophets…those who teach contrary to what the Word of Christ says…come in a way that will try to deceive you. False prophets come “in sheep’s clothing.” They come looking like good Christian teachers, but they shift the focus away from the Word of Christ and point it towards something else. Would you ever expect a false prophet to come up to you and say, “Hi, I’m a false prophet…listen to what I have to say?” Of course not! False prophets look good by appearance, but “inwardly are ravenous wolves.” They give the appearance of focusing on Jesus, but they call into question his real word.

Think of how Satan worked in the Garden of Eden, when he tempted Eve with the fruit. He called into question God’s clear word. “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” Really, God’s instructions were quite clear. “Eat from any tree— except for that one right there!” But Satan and his false prophets love to call into question what God has said clearly. When Jesus clearly says that it’s a sin to be greedy, false prophets find a way to excuse your greed. When Jesus clearly says that it’s sinful to divorce your spouse apart from adultery, false prophets will try to find a way to excuse it. When Jesus says that his kingdom is not of this world, false prophets will find a way to make it all about this world. Those false prophets are compared to “diseased trees.” They can’t bear good fruit. They can’t produce works that please God because they have not built their teaching and their faith on the solid rock of Christ’s Word.

How do you and I know the difference between “false prophets” and genuine teaching of God’s Word? The answer is simple…a “rock-solid” faith is built on God’s Word. If you are not in the Word of God, your foundation will slip away fast…watch out for the storms that will sweep you away. If you are not hearing the whole counsel of God…everything that Jesus and his Word has to say to you…if you’re picking and choosing and twisting it to meet your needs, then you’re building the house of your faith on sand. But if the Word of God is there…then your foundation is solid. If you’re hearing the commands and the promises that Jesus Christ gives us, then your foundation is solid. If you’re hearing those commands and promises, then the Spirit is working faith in your hearts that does God’s will and receives those promises, and your faith is built on the Rock of the Word of Christ.

The project that Concordia University Wisconsin ended up undertaking to stabilize the bluff on which the campus sits was estimated to cost 12 million dollars to complete. That seems like a staggering amount of money, doesn’t it? But why do that project? The foundation must be secure. You can’t have a college campus sliding off into Lake Michigan. The foundation is worth investing in. That sort of fits well with our Christian faith…it’s all about the Word that points us to Jesus Christ. The Word is essential. You have to have it. You can’t do without it! Without it, we are like the “foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

But you and I know that where the Word is, rock-solid faith is built. Starting today as we begin the month of June, we’re going to be offering the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. And there’s a very simple logic behind it. If you think the Lord’s Supper is merely bread and wine, then there’s no value in doing it at all. But we believe—as the Word of Christ teaches us—that when the Word is added to that bread and wine, then it is the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, given into death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. When you and I receive the Lord’s Supper, we eat and drink the Word of Christ. After all, Jesus himself is the “Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.” When we eat and drink Jesus’ body and blood, we eat and drink the Word. The Word is what faith is built upon. The Word is worth investing in. The Word is everything because the Word is Jesus crucified for sinners. Here at this altar this morning, those who commune will be solidifying the foundation of their faith as they put the Word into their mouths.

As people then who are grounded in the Word, Jesus reminds us that we will know the false prophets and those who present a false faith “by their fruits…Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” Obviously only true Christian teaching produces true Christian fruit. You don’t find grapes growing from thorns, do you? There is one beautiful exception to that—when our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, it was a crown of thorns that pierced his brow. He bled for our forgiveness. And there is fruit…there are grapes harvested from those thorns. The blood that he sheds on Calvary is the blood that we drink in the wine of the Lord’s Supper. Only then do thorns produce fruit, for Jesus’ suffering and death give us the fruit of salvation. How do you and I know this? The Word tells us! The Word…Christ our Lord…is the foundation of the Church…the rock on which our faith is built. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.