Matthew 7: 21-29

“Building” is an image we may use to talk about faith. We all know that when it comes to building, the foundation is crucial. Mess up the foundation and you have a real problem. Even before the beautiful bell tower in Pisa, which we know as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, was completed, it was obvious there were problems. The soft, sandy soil wasn’t stable enough, and foundation was too shallow for the height of the tower. They have worked to stabilize it for centuries, most recently by pumping concrete into the ground, but it would have been a whole lot easier to just build a good foundation right from the start. How do we build our foundation of faith? It starts at the beginning...

("The story is told about a shipwreck. One of the sailors, thrown from boat, flailed about in the water, thinking he would surely drown. As he moved his arms, trying to stay afloat, he felt something solid about a foot below the water level...")

("Robert Frost wrote many poems that he referred to as 'writings for the common man'. In one such poem entitled The Death of the Hired Man he wrote, 'Home is the place where if you go there, they have to take you in.' Lovely words indeed, but observed more often in the breach than in reality...")

So many people seek for the secret to life. I thought of this some time back while watching a documentary about the musical group The Beatles. As some of you may remember, the 1960s was a time when so many young people, including John, Paul, George, and Ringo, were looking for the meaning of life. The Beatles turned to Eastern mysticism in the person of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. At one point they followed Maharishi to his retreat center in India and stayed with him for some weeks. One day someone with a helicopter offered to take the Maharishi for an aerial tour of the area and one other person could go with him. John Lennon immediately jumped forward and took to the air with his guru. Afterwards one of the other Beatles asked Lennon why it had been so important to him to take that ride with the Maharishi. Lennon replied, "I thought that while we were up there he might slip me The Answer." In a way what Jesus gives us in the Sermon on the Mount, as well as throughout the course of all that Jesus said and taught in the gospels, is The Answer. It tells us who Jesus is, tells us who the true God of the universe is, and tells us how to live for that God in Christ in ways that will go with the way God set up this creation, in ways that will affirm the God-given dignity of each person, in ways that will put us on that straight and narrow path that leads to life. Jesus has given us The Answer and that's precisely why only a fool would receive all of this for information only but not do much if anything to enact it in daily living.

("Several years ago I went camping with my son and his scouting group. The tents on this trip were all light weight nylon. They had fiberglass rods that would spring them into shape...")

("When a friend of mine was ready to build a house on the land he had purchased in eastern Kentucky, he sent out a request to some friends. Scott invited us to offer an object, a tangible blessing that he would bury in the ground upon which he would build the house...")

I was sailing last week with some very good friends. Our boat captain this year is the most experienced of all of us. We were heading out to the Chesapeake Bay from a channel that was narrow and shallow. The wind was strong and the seas were choppy. We drifted to the left and our sailboat went aground. My friend panicked, which is unusual for him. We backed off and he decided that we better go back in. We motored back to the dock and sat there. Now we were in a marina where hundreds of boats, many larger than ours, were docked. I thought to myself, “These boats navigate this channel every day. Surely, it is not impossible for us.” I said to my friend who was overwhelmed with the situation that I had every confidence in his ability to take us out of the channel. I also suggested that he might stay to the right to avoid drift. Drift was something I was familiar with having been in the Navy. After a 30 minute waiting period we headed out again and this time we safely navigated our way through the channel. There have been times when I too have needed a voice of reassurance to navigate my own life through some problem or circumstance. There are voices who reassure us but we don’t always listen. To build our lives on solid ground takes courage and faith. Nothing is impossible. By being committed and living by the ethic of love, we too will enter the kingdom of heaven.

("The famous Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard once wrote a vivid parable concerning the danger of becoming just a satisfied customer with religion...")

("An interesting aspect of the recent Tsunami devastation in South Asia is that most of the newer concrete block homes were washed away whereas the traditional houses build from bamboo withstood the great tidal wave...")

("At the time Matthew's Gospel was being written, in the 80s of the first century, the city of Antioch in Syria had become the third most important city in the nascent Roman Empire. But Antioch was sitting on top of a geological fault-line that nobody understood in those days, and it had repeatedly suffered from earthquakes that destroyed parts of the city as fast as the citizens could rebuild...")

("In August of 1993, my health had deteriorated to the point that I had approximately three days to live. The three-day reality was made clear, but only after life-saving surgery and a marvelous recovery...")

("A couple of churches ago we built our own house on land we purchased from a man in the church. He warned us ahead of time that about 5 feet below the surface the dirt turned into a kind of heavy quick-sand..." and other illustrations)

("The expression 'face the music' is said to have originated in Japan. According to the story, one man in the imperial orchestra couldn't play a note. Being a person of great influence and wealth, he had demanded that he be given a place in the group because he wanted to "perform" before the emperor...")

("When I was in the 2nd grade, on the final day of that year, the school teacher, Mrs. Pierce, a very godly Baptist woman, said, 'Arthur, I'd like to talk to you before you go home today'....")

("In 1174, the Italian architect Bonnano Pisano began work on what would become his most famous project. A separately standing bell tower for the Cathedral of the city of Pisa. The tower was to be eight-stories and 56 ½ metres tall...")

("William Barclay tells the following story: 'Some time ago there was a report of the case of a sailor in the Royal Navy who was very severely punished for a breach of discipline. So sever was the punishment that in certain civilian quarters it was thought to be far too severe...")

Here in Austin, TX, USA, there is a kind of soil called Austin clay. It doesn’t look any different from other soils around the city, but it is dramatically different! When a house is built on this Austin clay, you can count on having problems with that house. When the city has a lot of rain, Austin clay becomes soft and the house sinks ever so little...

["David (not his real name) came to my office asking if I would intervene in his family difficulties. This was his second time within the span of nine or ten months he came with this request..."]

("Some of you who were living here in western Oregon probably remember October 12, 1962. It was the day of the Columbus Day Storm - the Oregonian version of 'The Perfect Storm'...")

("Joy comes in the building of the sand castles; that no matter what we build in life, it will collapse with time. Time destroys everything, so joy comes not from leaving anything permanent, but joy comes from the brief moments of building...")

("Arthur Miller's play, The Death of a Salesman is an analysis of a capitalist theory of friendship. It is friendship based on mutual self interest. The hero, Willie Loman, has all his life been mesmerised by an 84-year-old man who could pick up a phone and make a deal...")

("Consider John. He's fifty-five years-old, at the peak of his business career, awaiting his first grandchild, and...he has cancer...")

("A man died and he gets to the pearly gates. St. Peter is there and he says, 'Alright, glad to see you. Now, it takes 100 points to get in. What can you tell me that would help you gain the 100 points to get in the gate?'...")

("In his book The Pursuit of Happiness, Who Is Happy-and Why, David Meyers explains why these things are nothing more than sand. Meyers discovered that from 1957 to 1990, per capita income in the US more than doubled but the number of Americans who reported being very happy remained the same...")

("It was the classic American dream: two happy children, barking dogs, tree-lined streets and a feeling of community. Then, in one nightmarish instant, Hurricane Andrew came to town...")

("Do you remember Cardinal Emil Léger? At one time he was one of the most powerful men in Canada and within the Roman Catholic Church. He was a man of deep conviction and humility...")

("The area in Banda Aceh was completely devastated [by the tsunami], all the houses were demolished by the flood and storm, only one or two were left standing. Now you may remember being told also that many of the Mosques were not destroyed either...")

(excellent exegesis)

("One of my all-time favorite TV characters is Dana Carvey's The Church Lady. First appearing on Saturday Night Live in a talk show spoof called, 'Church Chat', this 50+ year old woman is an old fashioned, hair net wearing, granny shoed critic of improper church antics...")

("There is a popular television commercial about a pickup truck which has been on the air for several years. The song that is sung during the ad includes the words 'like a rock'. The symbolism of those words refer to the toughness, durability and dependability of the truck..." and other illustrations)

("I really enjoy watching the Discovery Channel or the History Channel on television. I enjoy watching the programs Modern Marvels or Big Machines. They show being built tall buildings or watching bridges or houses being built..." and other illustrations)

Scroll down the page for this resource.

Scroll down the page for this video.

(Song from Bible Study Charts) (hear it sung here) (signing can be found here)