Preaching in Tornado Country

“DON’T BE STUPID”
Matthew 7:21-29
June 1, 2008
Faith United

(Preached three days after several tornadoes touched down in the Kearney/Gibbon and surrounding areas)


I don’t often like to admit I’m a Christian
when I’m in public—
you have to admit that as Christians
we have a serious image problem these days;
And you may have picked up occasionally
my hesitancy to tell anyone out there
what I do for a living
Whether it’s the person cutting my hair
or someone that I’m introduced to
outside of the context of church

I’m more than a little disturbed by what is called
the prosperity gospel
something that is selling really well these days
One of its proponents is Joel Osteen
that ever-smiling, shiny-toothed pastor on TV
and author of best-selling books
One could accuse me of being jealous I suppose
after all, he is on the best seller list
he is pastor of a 30,000 member church
and his face is on TV
His message is simple,
and I guess that’s why it sells so well
His message is,
If you become a Christian, your life
will go much, much better
Choose to be happy, he says
Don’t be so negative
God wants you to succeed
Believe that good things will come your way
and they will

Now don’t get me wrong,
I’m not one of those believers who says
that we must be miserable for Jesus’ sake
A lot of our bad days do come from negative thinking
or beating ourselves up unnecessarily
But today we read the end of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
and I just don’t think that Jesus
would be very successful in a megachurch
nor would he be on the bestseller list
with his toothy grin on the front cover

I’m not one to say whether someone else
is a true Christian or not
that’s not for me to decide, thank God
but I do wonder if Joel Osteen
has read the Gospels
Osteen says that we can make our lives successful
WE just need the right attitude
and WE will therefore be successful
But I don’t find that message at all
in the Sermon on the Mount
which is in Chapters 5-7 of Matthew
This is Jesus’ basic creed
this is what he’s all about

Jesus is very demanding
Almost too demanding
we can even say at times
that what he wants is IMPOSSIBLE
I mean, he couldn’t have really meant that stuff
about turning the other cheek
or praying for your enemies
or doing to others
what you would have them do to you?
I mean, who can DO that??

It says the people were astounded by Jesus’ teaching
ASTOUNDED
that wasn’t just… yeah, he’s really dynamic
or boy, does he have white teeth!
Jesus didn’t preach like the popular preachers
of his day
because the message he preached
wasn’t very popular
It was DEMANDING
IMPOSSIBLE
RIDICULOUS
In fact, one might be able to imagine
the Sermon on the Mount being played on YouTube
or on CNN or Fox News
in case somebody in that congregation
happened to be running for President
yeah, if Jesus was your pastor
you might not win an election

Thank God they didn’t have the internet
or video cameras back then
or Peter wouldn’t have gotten away
with simply saying the night Jesus was arrested,
“Oh no, I don’t know that Jesus dude
I have nothing to do with HIM…
man, he’s quite a character isn’t he?” --
right before the cock crowed three times

Aren’t we glad that when we say stupid things
it doesn’t end up on the internet?

Jesus didn’t preach a popular message
Not when you really listened
But Jesus didn’t use spin doctors
to form the right the words to say
or worry about how it would be received
or interpreted by the masses
He was very practical
In fact, many would have said he was TOO practical
not intellectual enough
He was a builder,
he knew about construction
his family was into carpentry and stonemasonry
that’s what he grew up with
He knew how to build a house
on solid ground
with a solid foundation
He also knew that most people of his day
built their houses along the sandy riverbeds
because they had easier access to water
Building on rocks made it difficult
you had to climb rocky slopes to get home
you had to carry the building materials over those slopes
and go fetch water every day
and try to get it home over rough surfaces
No, it’s much easier to build on the sandy riverbank
You’re not thinking about possible storms
I mean, how often do those storms hit US?
And why build in preparation for something
that may never happen?
Jesus was practical
He didn’t use lofty, intellectual terms
that didn’t touch real life

Joel Osteen seems to promote
that very popular idea
that if we’re just good enough
if we just work hard enough
and are smart enough
than bad things won’t happen to us
But we’re not stupid
we know that storms come
no matter good we are

You can look at two houses
they can look exactly the same on the outside
Beautiful, well-decorated, furnished with taste
hot tub, sauna, the works
They look exactly alike
But you don’t really know their strength
their stability
until the storms hit them

I’ve learned a lot of things in my life
and one of the most painful things I’ve learned
is the power of failure
For a long time I believed
what Osteen believed
that if I was just good enough, faithful enough
if I knew my Bible
if I prayed regularly
if I was a good person and a good Christian
than nothing bad would ever happen to me
and if it did, it was a sign that something was wrong with me
But after getting knocked around a bit
after having experienced pretty intense failure
a time or two
I learned a lot
Life happens

It doesn’t always work out the way we wanted it to
Storms come
storms hit
and hit hard
and knock us over
Sometimes it happens
because we’ve made bad choices in our lives
but all too often things happen just because
the conditions were right for disaster

When Mother Teresa visited Haiti,
she was shown one of the most horrendous slums
in the world
Somebody asked her,
“How do you explain all of this
in light of our claims that our God is a loving God?
Why does God let things like this happen?”
And Mother Teresa answered
“When I see God,
he’s going to have a lot of explaining to do!”
Haven’t we all felt that way?

What are we standing on?
How do we find stability in the storm?
What keeps us getting out of bed every morning
after we’ve been hit hard?
How do families stay together
after they’ve suffered tragedy?
How do communities stay alive
once the rug has been pulled out from beneath them?

Jesus is saying, Listen to me
Listen to my words
be my disciples
We talk a lot in our Conference about making disciples
we’d really like to fill all the pews
and to push the numbers up
but making disciples is not about just
putting warm bodies in the pews
it’s about forming a people of God
it’s about a lifelong learning to follow Jesus
it’s about trying and failing and trying again
it’s about saying, Jesus, you’re crazy
I can’t do that
but then trying it anyway
It’s like two houses in Nebraska
one has a basement
and one doesn’t
I’d rather be in the one with the basement, thank you
because we know the storms will come
and when it’s all over
both houses may have blown down
but only one will keep you safe

Jesus spends three chapters
preaching the Sermon on the Mount
telling us what following him entails
what he believes, what his society is about
and how it contradicts so much of our own society
he doesn’t just write a book
and sell it with his picture on it
when he’s done preaching, telling it like it is
he gets down off that mountain
and starts practicing what he preaches
he heals the lepers,
he heals the servant of someone who isn’t a church-goer
he gives peace to the crazy person
he makes a lame man walk
makes the blind to see
the deaf to hear
he prays for his enemies
he doesn’t blow them up
he doesn’t even save his own life
He doesn’t give us an easy way out
or let us hide in the crowd
He tells it like it is
and gives us a choice to follow or not
Assuring us that we can’t live by the rules
of two different kingdoms
We sign up for his and play by his rules
and risk looking like a fool
or we play by the rules of the kingdom of this world
and buy into the Game
We build a foundation of stone
We do it day by day, in the everydayness of life
In the things that we say and do
in the way that we treat people
in the way that we talk and act and play

As parents, there’s the old joke
that we say to our children
“do as I say, not as I do.”
Jesus would never say that
He may be impossibly demanding
in his expectations of being his followers
but he doesn’t ask anything of us
that he doesn’t do himself
Do as I do, Jesus would say
Watch me… and learn
To be called by Jesus means to be challenged by him
Challenged to be better people
the kind of people that know that this isn’t all there is
that we have a higher calling
that we are building our lives right here and now
lives that will go on forever
Say what you mean, and mean what you say,
Jesus might tell us
Back it up with your life
Follow me
we’ve seen how Jesus weathers storms
nothing can take that dude down!
Nothing
and maybe if we follow him,
we can have that kind of foundation, too
that kind of power
not the kind of power
that destroys and wipes out
but the power to stand tall and strong
through the storms, through the night
knowing that we are a people of God
we are not alone
we are connected to each other,
to others who believe this craziness
that Jesus teaches us
and who are willing to be their lives on it
Don’t be stupid
Build your lives on the things that matter
the things that last forever
the things that last beyond these very human bodies
we’re hanging out in now
things that last beyond this world
things that last longer than sound bytes
and YouTube videos and
gossip columns
It’s not the structure of the house Jesus is talking about
it’s the location where we build
If you build in a flood zone,
expect to be flooded
If you build in Nebraska
make sure you have a solid basement
If you follow Jesus,
no one guarantees it’s going to be easy
because Life isn’t easy
this world is not easy
but if you follow Jesus
if you are a part of the Body of Christ
you have a rock to stand on
and when the storm is over
you won’t be alone
and you will have the tools you need
to build again
and again
We know that storms happen
boy, do we know…
some things are just beyond our control
And Jesus is clear
there is just no way for us to make our lives secure
by trying to construct our lives on our own foundation
No matter how many weapons we have
or what materials we use
If we’re relying on our own resources
then we will fall
If we build our lives on Jesus’ life and teachings,
then we will make it through to the other side
no matter what hits us along the way
So get a life
build your lives on the Rock that may be shaken
but won’t collapse ...