“HOW’S THE WEATHER IN YOUR WORLD?”

MATTHEW 7:21-29

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 in heaven.

22  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?'

23  Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'

24  "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock.

25  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.

26  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.

27  The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell--and great was its fall!"

28  Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching,

29  for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

It’s 10:38 on Sunday morning.  Do you know where you friends and neighbors are?

If you look at the statistics I can tell you where you probably won’t find them.  You won’t find them in church.  That’s because the statistics tell us that only 20% of all adults will attend a church service this weekend.

Why is that?  Why is it that so many people don’t go to church?  Some people will tell you that they don’t go to church because it’s boring. They’ll tell you that church is just a bunch of lofty words and it isn’t relevant to what’s going on in your life.  Unfortunately that seemed to be true for an ecumenical crusade that was held some time ago in a large city.  Pastors and lay leaders from all the churches in the city were there.  Everything was going along just fine when all of a sudden one of the church secretaries ran into the auditorium and shouted “The building’s on fire!  The building’s on fire!”   Immediately everyone in the auditorium did what came natural to them. The Methodists gathered in a corner to pray.  The Quakers praised God for the blessings that fire brings.  The Lutherans posted a notice on the door to declare that the fire was evil.  The Catholics passed a plate to cover the damages.  The Unitarians suggested that the fire would just burn itself out if just given the change.  The Congregationalists shouted, “Every man for himself.”  The Baptists shouted, “It’s the wrath of God.”  The Christian Scientists decided that the fire wasn’t actually real and the Presbyterians appointed a chairperson to appoint a committee to look into the matter and submit a written report at a later date.  Meanwhile the church secretary grabbed a fire extinguisher and put the fire out.

Some people will tell you that they don’t go to church because it’s just a lot of lofty words and it isn’t relevant to what’s going on in your life.  A lot of people who don’t go to church will also tell you something else.  They’ll say something like this:  “I don’t believe you have to go to church to be a good Christian.”

What do you do when someone says that?   A statement like that really puts you in a no win situation.  If you disagree and say that you do have to go to church to be a good Christian people might accuse you of being judgmental and holier than thou.  On the other hand if you agree and say that you don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian people might accuse you of being wishy-washy and not taking your faith seriously.

So, what do you do when someone says, “I don’t believe you have to go to church to be a good Christian.”   I’ll tell you what Jesus would probably would say.  Jesus would probably say, “You can go ahead and believe that if you want. I just hope the weather is always bright and sunny in your world.”  That, after all, seems to be the message behind the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders.

The parable is about two men who each went out and built a house.  The first man made it easy on himself.  He built his house on sand and he was very happy with his house.  All that changed though when the wind began to howl and the rain began to beat against the house.  In not time at all the water started to cascade down the mountains all around the house.  The water quickly washed away the sand underneath the house and when that happened the house came crashing down like a proverbial house of cards.

Meanwhile, the man who took the time to build his house on solid rock came through the storm completely safe and sound. 

When you read the parable there’s only one conclusion that you can make.  You don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian…but you better hope that the weather in your world is always bright and sunny.  You better hope that you never loose your job or go through a divorce or give birth to a handicapped child.  You better hope that the people you love never die.

After all the last thing you want is to find yourself in the middle of one of life’s storms and not have a foundation that will get you through that storm.  The last thing you want is to find yourself running around in one of those storms trying to put in a better foundation. 

Unfortunately, that’s what some people do.  They’re like the soldier the soldier during World War II who found himself in the middle of a raging battle.  The bullets were flying over his head and the bombs were going off all around him.  So he dove into a nearby foxhole.  The soldier was terrified when he suddenly saw a crucifix lying on the ground.  Shortly after the soldier picked it up another body came flying into the foxhole.  That terrified the solider even more.  As soon as he realized that it was an Army chaplain though he breathed a sigh of relief and held up the crucifix.  “Padre,” he said, “I sure am glad to see you.  How do you work this thing?”

You can’t always count on the weather in your world being bright and sunny and that’s the reason why I go to church.  I go to church when the weather is good so my foundation, my faith will be strong when the weather is bad. Some of you who are fairly new to our church family don’t know about the phone call that I got about three years ago.  When I picked up the phone my brother told me that our mother had been hit by a car while snowmobiling up in Canada.  She died on the way to the hospital.  The news was devastating.  One of the things that I didn’t do though as I grieved my mother’s death was ask “why?”  “Why God?” 

I didn’t ask that question because my faith told me that sometimes bad things happen to good people.  That’s just one of the painful realities of life.  More importantly though my faith also told me that God was there with my mother when she took her last breath and it also told me that I will see her again.  I know that I’ll see her again because I know that the promise Jesus made long ago is true.  “Because I live you will live also.”

You can build your house on sand but you better hope that the weather in your world is always going to be bright and sunny.   I go to church when the weather is good so my faith will be strong when the weather is bad.  I will also say this.  I don’t go to church to be a good Christian.  I go to church so I can be a better Christian.  I go to church so I can be challenged.  I go to church so I can be encouraged to be more than I think I can be.  I go to church so I can be chided when I’m not living my life the way God wants me to live my life.

I want a faith that brings me closer to the Old Testament prophets who were always proclaiming “Thus says the Lord.”  I want a faith that pushes me to look at things like global warming….the death penalty…illegal immigration….and then challenges me to do what God wants me to do.  Not what the politicians want me to do. Not what the special interests are trying to manipulate me into doing.  Not what the rich and power want me to do. 

I go to church because I want a faith that brings me closer to the God who is going to challenge me when life gets to be too comfortable and comforts me when life gets to be too challenging.

In one of his books Christian author and evangelist Tony Campolo talks about a black Baptist Church in Philadelphia that holds a special service each year for its high school seniors. The service is held shortly before they graduate. One year, after a few of the students shared their hopes and dreams with the congregation the pastor got up and made a startling announcement.  “Young people,” he said.  “You may not think you’re going to die, but you are.  One of these days, they’re going to take you to the cemetery, drop you in a hole, throw dirt on your face and go back to the church and eat potato salad.”  Tony Campolo then goes on to say that sooner or later everyone comes face to face with the potato salad promise.  The question is do you want to face the potato salad promise alone or with God?

So it’s really simple.  You don’t have to go to church to be a good Christian.  You just better hope that the weather in your world is always going to be bright and sunny.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

April 27, 2008