"A WISE BUILDER"
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| This morning I want to share with you from the ending
of the Sermon on the Mt., Matthew 7:24-29. There was mention in the paper this morning of the forecast saying to brace yourself, El Nino is coming back. El Nino is the mysterious warming of the Pacific Ocean off S. America that causes severe disruption in the weather patterns. It appears about every four or five years. The phenomenon has been known for centuries first being detected by the departure of anchovies for colder waters and now by satellites . The high-tech stuff says an El Nino is under way and Peruvian fishermen report the anchovies have disappeared. That's not what we need to hear. Last time when El Nino came in 1997 and 1998, the U. S. caught a break according to the government meteorologists . Crop looses were off-set by a mild winter that El Nino had had a calming affect on the Atlantic hurricanes - the rest of the world didn't fare so well. The horrendous floods in Peru. Droughts in Indonesia, Australia and Philippines and I seemed to remember that I blamed everything on El Nino - just not the weather when I finally comes around. The meteorologist tend to have some warnings about these kinds of storms that come, like them or not. But the storms that Jesus is speaking about are life's storms, more than just the weather. He is really talking about, to these disciples, that when they were willing to be called to be disciples, there would be a cross, there would be a price to be paid; he wants them to be prepared, he wants them to have a foundation of faith that is going to help them to stand up when those times come and to be successful. What does it take to be a wise builder? Well, as far as construction - I don't know a great deal but I did work for three months. I know it didn't pay real well and when I had a chance to go with UPS, I jumped on that. I know that working on a condo in Charlotte during the summer, it was hot work but I learned a little bit about re-barring and pouring cement and getting the beams in place and trying to be sure that you still come out with all your fingers. And I know a little bit about praying a whole lot when you're having to walk around on heights you aren't use to but I do know that what's important when you're building is to have a good foundation. I look over and still so those buildings standing after 25 years. What kind of foundation for life are you building? What do you base your life upon? Upon your family, upon your job, do you base it upon success and whatever that means? Jesus is talking about building a foundation of faith - things eternal, things that will be remembered long after we're gone and in heaven. His name was Patrick and he experienced a major life storm when he was 16 years old, somewhere in the late 5th century. He was a Christian, a nominal Christian. His grandfather was a priest but Patrick was a little bit on the wild side, in fact, he was known to make fun of the clergy. When he was 16 years old, his life and his friends changed dramatically.....it was a major, life storm. The Irish pirates were fond of coming into the village and kidnapping young men and making slaves of them and that's what happened to him. He was taken back to Ireland, he was put in the fields herding cattle and all of a sudden this nominal Christianity faces a major life storm. What happened for him was he began to pray and that's what happens when life's storms come. It can make you or break you and for him, it really made him. In fact, he begin to pray a great deal. His journal says, "I would pray a 100 times a day and all through the night". Trouble will do that. His captors certainly noticed a difference. When you move from being a nominal Christian, just content to go to heaven, not wanting to grow and not really wanting to make much of an influence on other people and then you move into being a devout Christian, people will notice. They notice the change. He also begin to understand the Irish and to understand their culture and believe it or not, he developed a love for these people that had captured him and made a slave of him. He heard a vision one night, 'go, your boat is ready for you' and he felt the Lord's direction to go down to the boat and with passageway, he took off. Patrick was used in a mighty way by God - he became a priest and begin to grow in his faith and then when he was 48 years old, he did something that was very unusual at that time. He felt again, another vision, and this time it was to come back, servant boy....come back and share the good news with us. So, the bishop of the church felt indeed he had been called to go back to the very people that had imprisoned him. Patrick went. He was made a missionary bishop. The Methodist church has done that. We did that with Felton May ten or twelve years ago. He had his own conference and bishops have lots to do but the conference freed him up to do something about the drug and alcohol problem in America. I heard him preach when he came to Charlotte. Wow!! What a powerful man of God. I believe he was in Washington, D. C. when they freed him up. But that's what they did with Patrick. They made him a missionary bishop. Patrick - was he successful, was he affective? Oh, yes. He would very much evangelize with teams. He would go into villages, where they were made up of tribes, and he would help people come to the faith gradually and he would really try to make worship very much indigenous, culturally relevant. A lot of people didn't want to go to the Irish. They were viewed as barbarians and if you've got Irish in you today, don't take that personally, o.k. But that's the way they were viewed. At least the Romans viewed them that way. Most of them could not read or write and didn't seem to care about it, they also were very emotional people. They would fully vent their emotions and the Romans were suspect to that - people that were under control of their emotions and so they just viewed them beyond evangelization because they just weren't civilized. Patrick knew better and before he left, they had 28 years later, planted some 700 churches, a 1,000 priest and of 150 tribes, by accounts 30 - 40 of them were pretty christianized. How does that happen? Here is a man that had a lot of storms to come upon him as a teenager and God used that to build a foundation of faith. It helped him to get past the pain, it helped him to really focus on how God could use him and especially at age 48, which was very much retirement age at that time, because often, you did not live past 48. God used him in his greatest work for the next 28 years. How do you build a foundation of faith? I want to share three basic ways you see in the Sermon on the Mt. - you can really build a strong foundation of faith to really stand up to life' storms. The first one you find in the beatitudes is a Christian attitude. It is an attitude of a disciple. Jesus says it this way, "blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hungry and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the poor in heart for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called the sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is the attitude of a Christian servant. This is someone that is being a self-centered person to a serving, oriented person. I remember when I came back to Christ that one of the biggest changes in my life and it's still going on, and I hope it is in your life, it was a shocking revelation to me at 19 or 20 to realize how self-centered I was in my orientation to life. Basically, I was looking at a college education and a career and what it could do for me - how much money will I make - how happy will I be? When Christ came into my life, or when I invited him back in, that changed! It changed my way of thinking and it is still going on today. It's not that the self-centeredness still doesn't come in but you begin to look at the world as 'how can God use me'? He's given me these talents, He's given me this opportunity. How does he want me to be used? It's a totally different mindset. Later to the Romans he said, "Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice, ------- Don't be conformed to the world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind and you will know his will. So, you have this attitude of a servant, it's really a big deal, especially during Lent - the attitudes which are not Christian, the attitudes of unforgiveness, attitudes of self-centerness , attitudes of jealousy and hatred. By the power of the cross, we ask God to cleanse us, release us and deliver us from these sinful attitudes that yes, lead to sinful behaviors. We want to build a firm foundation where we can make sure that our attitude is Christian - an attitude of love, an attitude of gratefulness for what God has done in our lives, an attitude of hope and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We also build this foundation, secondly, on the life of prayer. There is just no substitute for this. Patrick certainly found it, didn't he, in the fields. We build our lives on prayers - we want to know Him. We want to get to know him better. How else would we know him personally unless we spend time praying? That's why Jesus shared with us from the Sermon on the Mt. The Lord's Prayer when he said, "our Father in heaven, hallowed by thy name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us today our daily bread, forgive us out debts as we also forgive our debtors and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." The King James has "for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever. Amen. How is your life for prayer? Do you spend time with Him? Do you pray about problems? Do you look to him for guidance? Jesus was asked about prayer because they could tell that He had a life of prayer. Not only did he escape and withdraw to pray but He would pray with his disciples and they knew that He knew the Father and we want to be that way. We want to know him. There are different types of pray. We praise him, we confess our sins, we pray for other people. That's why Jesus says to love your enemies - pray for those who persecute you. We learn to pray, especially the prayer of forgiveness for God begins to work that miracle in our lives. Make sure that that foundation is a life of prayer. Thirdly, we also build on the foundation of seeking first His kingdom. When we seek first his kingdom, it frees us up not to worry. How is your resolution not to worry in Lent coming along? I hope you haven't forgotten it. Jesus said "do not worry about your life rather, seek first His kingdom and his righteous. What does that mean? We seek first His will. When we look at our lives, we look at our priorities, we look at our values, we want to know what His will is for our lives - we take the time to know it and then we are praying to have the courage to do it. You see the wise and foolish builder - they heard the word of the Lord but the difference was the wise builder put it into practice. It is one thing to hear sermons, it's one thing to go to Sunday School, to circle meetings, to Methodist Men and Youth group and hear the words and now all the access to radio and t.v. and the word, you can hear the gospel plenty. But, oh how essential it is to put it into practice. Jesus said "the one that hears my words and obeys them" - when we seek first the kingdom, God gives us priorities. We begin to sift out what's important and what's not. What is important in the kingdom? It is especially that other people come to know Christ. Sometimes that gets pushed aside. How is your foundation? It is a sure foundation of faith that we can weather the storms of life? Jesus had a major life storm come on Him when he was 33 years old. He was betrayed by one of his own disciples, he was arrested, he was tried, they found him guilty, He who knew not sin. They took him after scourging Him and beating Him, savagely, they took Him to a cross, and the crucified Him....that being the death penalty of the day. He truly experienced the pain, He truly bleed, He truly went through all kinds of agony for you and for me and for the world because He loves us. He said in this world you have true relation to be of good cheer. Build on the foundation, be ready when the storm comes because you see, when He went to the cross, he went courageously. He came through it triumphantly and as He has gone through it, He comes to live in us and to help us through that storm. People will see there is something different about you. There is a grace there, there is a power there, there is a love there, there is a faith foundation there, that's strong and standing. I'd like to know how you have that foundation. Prayer: Oh, Lord we thank you today for the foundation of faith in you. Oh, Lord, we pray that you find us faithful, we pray to discover your grace , and Lord, we pray for hearts of compassion for those in need. Oh, Lord, we pray to hear your call, to be used by you to especially reach others that do not know you that need the encouraging hope, and love and power of Jesus Christ. In your name we pray. Amen. |