“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!” (Matthew 7:24-27)
Video of Sequoia National Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ac-9A1xnh8
Good morning!
This Sunday is week five of our Summer Road Trip sermon series, where our congregation is traveling virtually through 8 of America’s National Parks together. Last week we took a break from this sermon series to have our Service of Lament, but you may remember that five weeks ago we began our Summer Road Trip with Yellowstone National Park and talked about how God works through us so that the worst thing is never the last thing—there is always hope to be found even in the worst of times. Four weeks ago, we went on to Olympic National Park and were reminded that God has created a richly diverse world and it is up to us to protect and value that diversity.
Three weeks ago, we went to Carlsbad Cavern National Park, right here in New Mexico, and we talked about the gifts that can be found in the darkness. Two weeks ago, we went to Grand Teton National Park and were reminded of the importance of remembering and honoring our sacred mountaintop moments. If you have missed a week and want to catch up, you can always find a video of the sermon on our Facebook page or read a text version of it on our website.
The inspiration for this sermon series is the book America’s Holy Ground: 61Faithful Reflections on our National Parks by Brad Lyons and Bruce Barkhauer. Just like the last four parks we have focused on so far, the devotion for Sequoia National Park is beautiful. In it, Lyons and Barkhauer describe Sequoia National Park this way:
“They’re almost too big to believe. Giant sequoia trees are tall, but…it’s the circumference, the depth, the sheer volume of life in front of you embodied in one of the planet’s largest organisms that is jaw-dropping.
When you drive into Sequoia National Park [and]…the road straightens out, you enter the Giant Forest. Interspersed among the pines are immense cinnamon-hued trunks that are branchless for dozens of feet till they begin, dizzyingly high…these are the great sequoias.
A short hike takes you to General Sherman, the world’s largest known tree. Not the tallest, not the widest, nor the oldest, but don’t let the lack of superlatives lower your expectations. General Sherman is the largest by volume and by weight. A sign at the tree’s base states it could hold enough water to fill almost ten thousand bathtubs, and that it weighs about 1,385 tons. Estimated at 2200 years old—let that soak in—the tree is more than 36 feet across at the base and towers 274 feet high.”
Isn’t that incredible? Even with the statistics that they provide and the video we just watched, it is still hard for me to wrap my head around a tree that is that big, let alone a forest full of them! Can you even begin to imagine the web of roots stretching out and down into the earth, keeping those giant trees above ground standing strong and secure?
This idea of relying on a strong foundation brings me to our scripture for this morning. It takes place towards the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, probably the most famous sermon ever preached. In it, Jesus tells the story of two men who built themselves houses. The Wise Man built his house on a rock, and when the rain and the floods and the winds came, it stood strong because it was built on a strong foundation.
Then we have the Foolish Man, who built his house on sand. It may have been a beautiful spot to have a home (I’m picturing sandy beaches and sunsets over the water) but the sand was not a sturdy foundation. When the storm reached this man’s house, it washed the sand right out from under the house and the house collapsed.
If you’ve been a part of a church for very long, you have probably heard this parable before. I know when I was a little girl in Sunday School and Church Camp, I learned a song about this story. It was a fun song to sing complete with hand motions. The song went like this:
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rain came a-tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the house on the rock stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the house on the sand went SPLAT!
As a kid this was a super fun song to sing, and I used to have it stuck in my head for days afterwards. I would wander around singing it to myself and finding a great deal of satisfaction when I got to “THE HOUSE ON THE SAND WENT SPLAT!”
Now, 20-something years later, those words make me cringe a little. This year I am a first time home-buyer and I’ve already had my fair share of anxiety about strong winds and harsh rain causing problems for my house’s foundation. Don’t worry, we’re doing fine. I have a lot of empathy for the poor man who built his house upon the sand, only to have all of his hard work destroyed because he made some poor decisions.
But we know this story is not literally about 2 men and where they chose to build their houses. Jesus tells this parable at the end of his Sermon on the Mount, and he begins it by saying, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” And he continues by saying, “But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
In other words, we need to listen to the teachings of Jesus and incorporate their lessons into our own lives in order to build a life that is foundationally grounded in our faith.
So, what are the teachings that Jesus shared in his Sermon on the Mount that we should be grounding our faith in? There are too many for me to explain fully in this sermon, but I have picked out a few that I think are most important. First he gave us the beatitudes, where he lifted up those who are in mourning, poor in spirit, meek, merciful, and peacemakers. He takes society’s ideas of what is strong and what is weak and turns them upside down by blessing people that society would have thought of as weak and saying that theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Then he tells the crowd that they are light, and they need to shine brightly. He teaches that not only should they not commit murder, but they also needed to be willing to reconcile with those they were angry with. They should talk personally with the person who has angered them rather than letting their anger grow and spread.
He teaches them not to fall into the mindset of an “Eye for an eye and a took for a tooth,” but to use non-violent resistance to stand up to their persecutors. He teaches them to love their enemies and pray for those who would persecute them. He teaches them how to pray, how to care for the poor and oppressed, and how to be humble in their giving. He teaches them not to judge others or they will be judged, and to be aware that a good tree bears good fruit and a bad tree bears bad fruit.
And it’s in these lessons that Jesus tells the church to ground their faith. Not in the fear of Hell or eternal damnation. Not in whether you say or believe the right things. Not in trying to keep track of who is Christian enough. Not in what denomination you are, or what church you belong to. No. Jesus said we should ground our faith in loving each other, caring for each other, being kind, being humble, and connecting with God through prayer. These are the roots that will keep us standing tall and strong in our beliefs.
So this morning, I invite you to consider: what foundations have you built your faith on?
Amen.
