Sunday sermon: Parables wk 2 'Firm foundations'

READINGS: Ps 18:1-5, 16-19, 30-32;  Luke 6:46-49

SERMON ‘Firm foundations’
Let’s pray: May the words of my mouth, and the thoughts of all our hearts, be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our deliverer. Amen.

Once upon a time, there were three little pigs.
I think you know the story...
Each of the pigs is set upon building a home.
And each of the pigs have quite different thoughts about how they’ll build their home.
The first pig is quite the eco-warrior;
he decides to build his house from cheap, renewable, non-polluting,
environmentally-friendly, recyclable materials.
Having done extensive research,
our eco-pig comes up with a plan to use
a common product born as a result of intensive arable farming...
otherwise known as straw.
More excited by the products he’ll be using to build,
he forgets some simple basic building protocols...
or:
cuts a few corners, because he’s not that patient.
The wondrous eco-house is built,
our eco-pig moves in and turns the house into a cheerful home
and begins to dream of building an organic baking business.

The second pig is impressed by his friend’s efforts, but is more one for the rustic romantic look.
He opts for a wood cabin and dreams of running a logging business.
So caught up with the plans for his business,
he’s not so bothered about some essential small details about house-building –
he gets some dodgy pals to crack on,
while he heads off to explore the ins and outs of forestry.
On his return, the wood cabin is ready and he happily moves in.

The third pig...
well, she’s more of a details person.
She’s been watching her friends and their house building projects
and doing her own research.
The eco-friendly idea is important to her, but she heads in a different direction,
using the straw as insulation.
She’s less bothered about a wood cabin:
she loves the idea of a stone cottage but the wood’s useful though for interior decorating.
Knowing the area is prone to fierce storms,
she spends time making sure she’s dug deep foundations.
Finally the house is built.
...It’s absolutely charming.

The council, as they do, send around the building inspector, an odd chap -
quite a lot of facial hair,
a long pointy nose,
and with a hungry look in his eye.
You know how this goes:
after a lot of hot air, the only house left standing is the house of pig number three –
she of the stone cottage built on strong foundations,
who has also found herself with two unexpected house guests.

I don’t know about you, but so often, when I come across Jesus’ parable
of the wise and foolish builders,
the story of the three little pigs comes into my head at some point!
But instead of three pigs, we’ve two people:
both want to build houses,
both going about the job in very different ways,
and both ending up with very different outcomes.
Cutting corners doesn’t pay off in the case of the foolish man:
building a house –
one of life’s major investments –
is done in such a slap-dash, thoughtless manner
that it all, quite literally, comes tumbling down when rough weather comes in.
Also, it's never a great idea to build a house on a flood plain.
Like the old Sunday School song says:
‘the rains came down 
and the floods came up...
and the house on the sand fell flat.’
There’s nothing there for the house to hold onto, and so the water washes it away.
In the case of the wise man –
well, he’s listened, he’s taken advice, and he’s acted upon it:
he makes sure his house is built on a firm foundation –
built securely on the rock, not the sand.
He’s making sure this life investment is just that:
something that lasts for life.
And as the song goes:
‘the house on the rock stood firm.’

Our parable from last week –
the story of the tricky tenants –
took place in the last week of Jesus’ life.
Today’s parable comes relatively early in Jesus’ ministry.
You’ll find it both here in Luke, and in the Gospel of Matthew.
And it’s set at the end of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount.
It’s not long since Jesus has called the disciples –
and has chosen twelve to be his inner group of followers and helpers, calling them ‘apostles’.
They have been selected for deeper training –
for they will be the ones who will be sent to tell everyone about Jesus.
Meanwhile, news of Jesus has already been spreading around the area –
wherever he goes, people are flocking to him.
After spending some time healing, Jesus settles down for a time of teaching:
the basic themes cover God’s blessing and how to love and follow God –
both good basic building blocks for the foundations of the faith.
As ever, with Jesus, though, he turns everyday perceptions on their head.

As he teaches about blessing you’d probably notice
a ripple of surprise among his listeners.
The commonly held belief was that you could tell who God blessed quite easily:
they were the ones who were rich, beautiful,
who were famous,
who were powerful.
Clearly, they must have been people of fantastic faith to have been so blessed.
But Jesus isn’t having any of that.
This is all surface stuff:
riches could be lost,
looks would fade with time,
fame could be fleeting:
one day you could be popular with the crowds,
another you could be yesterday’s news;
and power – well, put one little foot wrong,
and you could easily be overthrown by someone
hungry to build their own small empire  and sphere of influence.
Sure, there were plus points,
sure, there’s nothing wrong with creature comforts...
but they were not the basis upon which to show what true blessing looked like.
Instead, Jesus encourages his listeners to look deeper:
sometimes the very ones you think are not blessed are the real holders of God’s blessing –
those who are poor,
those who hunger,
those who weep,
those who are despised and excluded:
God is on the side of those who are truly
in need of blessing –
such as these are welcome in God’s kingdom.

His teaching also overturns the usual expectations of how to treat enemies:
to follow God is to follow the way of love.
As with last week’s parable,
here Jesus encourages his listeners to break the cycle of violence.
Don’t hate and harm your enemies:
do the harder thing –
love them.
And actually, when you’re able to forgive, you’re able to move on with living.
Hatred and vengeance only imprison you in a pattern of deathly behaviour –
choose life,
choose love, says Jesus.
And shares that great classic piece of wisdom:
‘do to others as you would have them do to you.’

Other top tips for following in the faith:
don’t be Judgy McJudgerson;
forgive others;
be generous – give to others;
stop and look at how you’re living and work on that,
rather than pointing out the faults of others.
It’s all sound teaching:
things to work on that bring you closer to God,
and closer to your neighbours –
things that bring peace and harmony and good relationships.
And, Jesus add that, as you work on following God’s way,
you’ll produce fruit that is recognisably of God’s kingdom.
Jesus is basically saying to his listeners that it’s not enough just
to say ‘I’ll follow’,
to say ‘Lord, Lord!’
it’s about digging in and acting upon what you’re saying –
both talking the talk
and walking the walk of faith.
What you do demonstrates who you are and what you believe –
your core values.

There’s a show I watch called ‘Vikings’
and this week’s episode had a useful example of deeply built foundations
on the part of two different characters.
One has been raised as a Viking, serving the old gods;
the other, although the son of a Viking, has been raised among the Christian British.
For political and pragmatic reasons,
both forsake the faith they’ve been brought up in and change religion.
What’s interesting is that, for both, in a time of deep crisis,
they go back to the faith of their childhood –
the former Christian, in the middle of a storm at sea, fearful for his life,
once more calls upon the name of Christ.
When challenged with:
‘Oh, so you’re a Christian again?’
although he denies it,
the reality is that... at some core level,
no matter how conflicted he may be...
still, his life’s foundations have been built on Christ.
His challenge is now to find a way of
living in harmony with his words and his actions and his faith.

Having talked about some basic foundational matters of the faith,
we find Jesus finishing up by telling his listeners a story.
It’s a way of summing up why it’s important to practice the faith –
why words by themselves are not enough:
actions matter –
both work together.
We hear a story of two builders...
Those listening to the story understand that the story is a metaphor for life –
and for living the life of faith:
if you take shortcuts things may go on cheerfully for a wee while,
but, when difficulties happen what have you got to draw on?
At times such as these, if you’ve not done some faith foundation building,
there’s often a loss of faith.
But, if you follow Jesus’ teaching –
his guidance for helping you to navigate the faith
will also help you to navigate life itself when hard challenges come.
You’ll have built a solid core –
where you can dig down and know the solid presence of the
One who is our rock.

It’s something that King David understood.
Although flawed and very capable of making mistakes – like all of us –
David had a real heart for God:
he was a man whose foundations were very much built upon God.
This passionate, energetic man, who had a tendency to jump into things with both boots on,
nevertheless knew that no matter how much he got it wrong,
that he was loved by God,
and that he could return to God.
That in the good times, and in the bad,
God was the solid rock upon which he could stand.

Jesus’ story of the builders reminds us that the journey of faith is not easy –
God is with us, of course –
and we have to remember not only to say that we are with God,
but in our living,
in our being,
in our actions,
to demonstrate that we are with God.
As we do so, we build up resilience:
a faith that gives us the strength to cope when those storms of life do blow in –
relationship worries,
job concerns,
dealing with the effects of possible economic downturns in the face of impending Brexit,
health issues,
climate change,
the many kinds of loss we can experience...

In his teaching, Jesus overturns some of his listeners thinking about life.
His is an invitation to encounter God in a different way,
by living life in a completely different way.
Choosing to take up the invitation gives us
‘not only the strength in the present to withstand the various storms...
but also the final great storm that sees us through to an eternity with the Lord,
and for whom we have lived a life of devotion.' [Richard Beaton]
Amen.