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The Second Sunday after Pentecost
(A) [Pr. 4] Grace and peace be with you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
One of the most famous
buildings in the world is the
The tower’s problem was not one of bad design or of poor workmanship. The problem was what was underneath. You see, the Tower of Pisa was built on the shifting sands of a former estuary. The soil was simply not stable enough to support a monument of this size. The tower had no firm foundation. (Brett Blair, www.esermons.com, 2002 - adapted from a sermon by Alan Perkins.) Jesus in today’s gospel from Matthew talks about the importance of having a firm foundation. After delivering his Sermon on the Mount in chapters 5 through 7, he concludes by saying (and this time I am going to read from a contemporary translation called “The Message” by Eugene Peterson: "These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit – but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards." (Matthew 7:24-27) That’s a powerful translation, isn’t it?! Foundations are absolutely critical – not only for the construction of houses, but also for the building of our LIVES! Jesus says that if we base our lives upon the foundation of his teaching, we will be able to endure anything that life might ever throw at us – both the minor “weathering” of day-to-day living, and also the terrible storms and crises that we all have to face from time to time. But if our core values are shaky and shifting – like the sands beneath the leaning Tower of Pisa – then our lives will eventually collapse and face total failure and destruction no matter how happy and successful we may seem to be right now. It will be just a matter of time. It is not a question of “if” but “when” storms of life will hit and test our foundations. Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount had been talking about a number of foundational principles for living. In my sermon this morning, I would like to talk about two of them – which to me seem especially important. These two principles are TRUTH and LOVE. If we have these two principles as being the very core of who and what we are, then our lives will have a rock solid foundation that will enable us to meet whatever the days, months, and years ahead may bring. The first foundation principle is TRUTH. Truth means being totally honest about who we are and what we do – to ourselves, to others, and to God. Truth also means not trying to cover up or excuse away our sins, shortcomings and failures. It is far better to own up to any sins or failures we have – no matter how bad they may be – than to try to cover them up. A few years ago I remember reading a very insightful article in a newspaper about how teenagers could build rapport with their parents. At the very top of the list was “tell the truth”. As the columnist put it, Mom and Dad would rather know the truth about something up front – no matter how horrible it may be – than to find out later that they have been lied to and conned. As a parent, I of course added my “Amen!” to that – but what the columnist wrote is applicable to all of us in every area of our lives. “Covering up” is almost always worse than the original problem because it destroys trust. For example, Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton found that out politically with Watergate and Monicagate when they lied about and tried to hide their original offenses – thereby making things so much more worse than if they had simply “come clean” at the beginning. They got tangled up in their own webs of deceit. And the same is so often true for us as well. If TRUTH is not part of the foundation of who and what we are, eventually everything will begin to unravel and come crashing down. Having TRUTH as a foundational principle for our lives does not mean that we are perfect. As sinners, we will constantly fall short of God’s expectations and fail again and again and again no matter how hard we try. As the apostle Paul writes in today’s second reading from Romans: “…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:22) And the TRUTH is that this also includes US. But as Christians, we are not afraid to admit this truth because we know that we have a loving God who will forgive us IF we own up to and confess our sins. The only sins that cannot be forgiven are the ones that are NOT owned up to and confessed but are rather covered up and hidden. So how truthful are we really? Do we see admitting and telling the truth – even to our short-term detriment - as being an absolutely essential part of who and what we are? If we do, people – and God – will know that we are people of integrity and that we mean what we say. Having the principle of TRUTH as part of the foundation of our lives will always serve us well – both everyday and especially when the storms and crises of life assail us. Being people of TRUTH – and living by it each and every moment of every day – is foundational if we are truly to be children of God! The second foundational principle for living I would like to talk about is LOVE, because it must always be a part of our life’s foundation along with truth. Theoretically, one could be a totally truthful and honest person, but without love being truthful could easily degenerate into a critical legalism. Earlier in his Sermon on the Mount, at the beginning of the seventh chapter of Matthew, Jesus addressed this by warning his disciples not to judge others with a critical spirit. As he put it: “For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.” (Matthew 7:2) If we focus upon the faults of others without love, we will become self-righteous hypocrites who will be looking for – as Jesus puts it – the speck in our neighbor’s eye while not noticing the log in our own! (Matthew 7:3) I am afraid that this has all too often been the case with many Christians – both of the so-called Christian right and the Christian left – who are quick to point out the sins of others or of society in general, but without loving them. But when LOVE is a part of the foundation of who and what we are, we see others in a different light. We are not blind to their faults, because we are people of truth, but we also care for them. We are slow to criticize and are always quick to forgive. We bear with them, and always desire their good. If LOVE for others is truly at the core of our being, what a difference that can make in our attitudes and in our relationships! LOVE is also essential for our having a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As I mentioned earlier, TRUTH means understanding and confessing who and what we are – that we are sinners who constantly fall short of what God would have us be. But truth alone only serves to keep us estranged from God, because we know how guilty we are and that we deserve God’s wrath. But when we understand that God LOVES us, then we see everything in a different light. We don’t have to keep “beating ourselves up” for not being perfect. We can love and forgive ourselves, because we know that God loves and forgives us. Today I ask you: “Do you really know how much God loves you?” “Do you really know in the depths of your being that God desires only your good?” If you do, then you are free from guilt and self-condemnation! You can go through life without being obsessed with what others might think or say about you, because you know that God loves you – and THAT is what really matters! If this understanding of God’s love for us through Jesus is part of the foundation of who and what we are, then we can live each day knowing that we are forgiven, redeemed, and reconciled with God – and even our own inmost selves. We don’t have to go around carrying a load of guilt. We will know that we are not perfect, but that we are always, always loved come what may. Having that assurance as part of our life’s foundation will enable us to endure and overcome whatever storms of criticism, failure, or hatred that may assail us – because we will know that we are God’s children, and that in every circumstance he is always working for our good (Romans 8:28). As I showed at the beginning of this sermon, the shifting foundation that the Leaning Tower of Pisa is built upon may cause it to be an interesting tourist attraction, but it is certainly not desirable for its long-term stability. The same is true for us in our lives. Sometimes, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa, our lives may seem to be interesting, successful, and even happy – but for real success and happiness that will last we need a solid foundation. When our lives are built upon Jesus Christ, and the principles of truth and love that come through our having a relationship with him, then we will be able to meet, endure, and overcome all that life and the world may ever throw against us. As we will sing in our sermon hymn; “On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Thanks be to God! Amen! -------------------- George R. Karres, Pella Lutheran Church 418 W. Main Street Sidney, MT 59270
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“Leaning
Tower of Pisa” in Italy. (Here’s a picture of it I got from the
internet!) As you can see, especially when contrasted with the
church building next to it, the tower is leaning at about an
8-degree angle from the vertical. In the 1990’s the tower was
closed for several years while engineers completed a 25 million
dollar renovation project designed to stabilize it. During that
time they removed 110 tons of dirt, and reduced its famous lean by
about sixteen inches. The project was necessary because the tower
had been tilting further and further away from vertical for hundreds
of years, to the point that the top of the 185-foot tower was about
seventeen feet further south than the bottom. The degree of the
tower’s leaning was increasing each year, and Italian authorities
determined that if nothing was done the tower would most likely
collapse within another ten years – thereby making the expensive
renovation project one of absolute necessity!