Sunday, June 01, 2008

Matthew 7: 21-29: The Wise and Foolish Builders

Here's my very first sermon preached at the parish I now have the privilege of serving as Team Rector - North End, Portsmouth.

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Church, this morning.

You know, the last few months have been rather a lot of fun, in one way or another. One of the advantages of taking up a new job after interregnum, is that you get the opportunity to redecorate your new house before you actually move into it. Now I do realise that's a great privilege. Most of us have to decorate after we move...trying not to fall over boxes and furniture in the process. And Clare and I have done that in the past. But not this time. This time, we were able to go in to the Rectory, and make as much mess as we wanted! And I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who came round and helped...it was very much appreciated.

It's when you get those kinds of opportunities for rampant destruction and re-creation that you start to get a glimpse of what a satisfying job it must be to be a builder. I mean - imagine taking a piece of waste-ground...and creating on it a brand new house...designed in every detail just as you want it to be. The nearest I've ever got that has been building a shed. But even such a modest construction...when you stand back and look at it...gives a little tingle of pleasure.

We all know, don't we, that there's a big difference between having your house built by a professional builder, and having one built by the well-known firm of 'Bodge-it and Scarper'. I used to run a YMCA hostel, in Old Portsmouth, that had been not so much put-up as thrown-up (if you'll pardon the metaphor). A truly dreadful place...rotting windows, cracked walls, drafty, damp and cold. So we knocked it down.

You know, the problem of having good or bad builders has been a feature of civilization throughout the centuries. Jesus, and his contemporaries, knew all about the problem of sub-standard building...some of which was no doubt built by the well known Roman firm of 'Bodge-itum and Scarperum'. In chapter 13 of Luke's gospel, for example, we read about a tower, in Siloam, which fell and crushed 18 people. Jesus knew all about what happened when a building was badly put up...and he pointedly didn't blame God...he blamed the shoddy builders...just as we should when we see the needless deaths there have been in China and Burma during this last fornight.

So, what is it that Jesus is getting at when he tells his story of 'The Wise and Foolish Builders?'. Well, like with so much of Jesus teaching, he is using a parable..a story...to help us understand something much more profound. Jesus is offering us a quite simple choice; a choice that is rather similar to the one that Moses, before him, offered the Israelites - as we heard in our Old Testament reading just now. Moses, on behalf of God gives God's people a simple choice, between a blessing and a curse. Its a simple proposition: obey the commands of the Lord, and you will live under his blessing, and live long in the Land that he has given you. But choose to disobey, and you will be cursed. Its a choice...a freewill choice. Choose the way of God, and have life. Choose to reject God...and you choose the way of the curse.

But we need to treat Moses' words with some caution. When we think about the choice that Moses offered the people, there is a slight danger that we end up picturing God as some sort of heavenly headmaster. If we are not careful, we can see God as sitting up on a cloud ready to dispense house-points to the good children, but a jolly good caning to the naughty ones. That is not, I think, the picture that Jesus wanted us to see. He didn't want us to see God as the good of curses...but the God of blessing. God is not Father Christmas...giving presents to the good children, and a lump of coal to the naughty ones. One of the fascinating things about the Bible, for me, is the way that as we move from the Old Testament to the New, we get an ever clearer picture of what God is like. As Jesus himself said, he came not to abolish the law, but to complete it. And one of the things he wanted to complete was our picture of God. Jesus introduced us to the concept of God as Father...not a grumpy God waiting to gleafully smite the ungodly, but a Father God who wants everyone to live under his blessing. Jesus introduced us to a God who loved the world SO much that he sent his only son into the world, so that the world, through him, might be saved (John 3:16). And we should note here...God so loved the world...not just a part of it...not just the Jews, or even the Christians...but the whole world...including the people on the streets of North End, and even the young toe-rags who vandalise our building. God loves them. All of them.

Jesus introduced us to a God who blesses. He blesses us with the gift of life itself. He blesses us with an incredible Universe in which to live. He blesses us with his own Son to lead us away from the consequences of our sin...and he blesses us with the gift of his holy spirit to inspire, lead and gently correct us.

In that context, Jesus places the responsibility for what happens to the wise and foolish builders squarely on their own shoulders. The house of the foolish builder doesn't collapse because God has cursed him. It collapses because the stupid idiot built on sand. Jesus is saying to us something subtly different from what Moses said all those years before. Jesus introduces us to God who is our Father...not the distant God of the Mountain-top (which tended to be the way that Moses portrayed God)...but as the Father who wants the very best for all his children...and who invites them to build their lives on his way of doing things...on rock instead of sand. If there is a curse...it is a curse that we bring on ourselves. We effectively curse ourselves, if we choose to live other than God's way.

And surely we can see that principle in action all around us. Just a few yards from this building, we are all aware of people who have effectively cursed themselves by the choices they have made. Perhaps they chose to start taking drugs, or drinking too much alcohol, or sleeping around without sensible precautions. The curses they have brought on themselves include poverty, starvation, having no money to feed their family. Or having a family that they don't really want. There are others who have built their lives on the sand of consumerism... believing that having the latest gadget, or the bigger house, or the better car, or a bit of fame on reality TV will bring them happiness. Instead, they often find, they have the curse of debt...and the discovery that the pleasure of owning the latest piece of stuff quickly passes.

All these people bring a curse on themselves by a refusal to live God's way. After all, if it was God who cursed them...what business would we have trying to make things better for them? Who would we be if we tried to undo a curse from God?! But it is not God who curses. We curse ourselves, by our choices and actions. The task of the Christian church is to help people who have cursed themselves...who have built their lives on sand. Our task is to help them to look upwards, beyond the sand and the rubble of their lives...towards a loving heavenly father who wants them to have life, and have it to the full!

So, let me ask you - what is it that Jesus calls us to? What is it that he gives us a choice about?

Let me introduce you to the Jesus I've come to know over the last few years. The Jesus I serve is the Jesus of the Topsy Turvey kingdom - the upside down world of the Kingdom of God. This is a kingdom in ruled by a King who rides on a donkey; by the Lord of the Universe who is born in a stable; by the Prince of Peace who is murdered by an Empire of War. This is the source of all life, who dies. This is the Lord whose death brings us life. This is the Jesus who at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount says, 'Blessed are the poor', not the rich. This is the Jesus who says 'Blessed are the meek', not the mighty. Blessed are the merciful, not the executioners. Blessed are those who mourn, those who are persecuted, those who are the peacemakers, not the warmongers. That is the Jesus of the topsy turvey kingdom...who calls us to build our lives on the rock of his way of doing things...not the sand of the way that human beings think that happiness and fulfillment can be found.

That is the Jesus that I want to build my life on...and the Jesus that I want to invite you all to build our church here in North End upon. I am SO excited about being given the opportunity to minister to you here in North End. I know that you've been waiting a long time for a Team Rector - and I'm going to do my very best to serve you well. But let us start out by laying down a few ground-rules shall we?

I'm assuming that you agree with the basic proposition of this sermon, so far...that you too want to serve the Jesus who offers a totally transformed way of life to his followers. I assume that you agree that this transformed life will be one that is based on the way that Jesus showed us it is possible to live...the way of giving and loving...the way of meekness, not power - the way of poverty, not wealth - the way of giving more and more away, not getting more and more. And I assume that you, like me, have heard Jesus' call to his followers that we should go out into the world, and teach the world everything that Jesus teaches us.

And I'm assuming that you are ready to respond to the call of God...wherever he takes us from this Sunday onwards. As we look to the future, I think that we have real cause to be excited - not least because of the preparation that God has already done among us over the last few years. Let me tell you what I see, as someone stepping new into this situation:

  • I see a group of people who have faithfully worshipped God in this place for year after year, while numbers dwindled, and while the world outside has continually tried to tempt you away from God, and towards the new gods of consumerism and headonism.
  • I see a group of people with a wide range of talents and abilities that God has given you to help in the task of building his kingdom. There are musicians here, and flower arrangers, and administrators, and coffee-servers, and prayer-warriors and children's workers and maintenance experts.
  • I see a group of people who have grappled with some really tough issues - and some pretty hard disagreements...but who are still faithfully praying, and worshipping together...and learning what it means (as Ruth said last week) to really love one another.
  • I see a group of people who are part of a wider family - including the families of St Francis and St Nicholas...let alone the rest of the deanery and Diocese. That wider family will continue to be a source of strength andf sustenance for us here in St Marks.
  • I see a building which is a bit tired, and a bit leaky and drafty...but which is in on a site of real significance in this community...and which has real potential to be a beacon of light and love to the people of North End.

In short, I see a community of Christians with real potential... potential to grow, potential to reach out into this community, and potential to share the topsy turvey, upside down Kingdom of God with a world that has misunderstood just what God is like. I want to introduce the people of North End to the God of blessing...not the Grumpy God, but the Father God. I see, and I hope you do too, a community that is ready to build on the rock of Jesus.

So, I'm sure you are saying to yourselves... that's all very nice in theory! Where is this new Team Rector actually going to lead us? Well, I want you to know... I am still very much in thinking and listening mode. I would be less than honest with you if I said that I didn't think we need to make some changes - if we are to really take Jesus seriously when he commands us to reach out with the good news of the topsy turvey kingdom...not keep it to ourselves. I think we might have to use new ways of communicating, especially if we want to reach the younger members of our community. I think we might have to think hard about the kind of music we use at our most public services, and about whether a service of Holy Communion is always the best way to reach out to people who know nothing - nothing - of God. I think that we might have to ask some hard questions about the future of this building. But let me assure you - that I have decided nothing yet...and that I truly want to hear your ideas and your plans before I'll be ready ask you to agree a new vision with me...one that will be based on the best that the past has to offer, but also the promise of the future.

So come with me...journey with me...pray with me...as we seek God - and his purposes for North End - together. I'm looking forward to the journey...and I hope you are too.

Let's pray:

Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you have done in this community, and through the people of this parish over so many generations. We feel privileged to be part of a long traditional of faithful people who have held onto you, and to their faith, in the midst of so many other alternatives. But Lord, we want to be people who are looking to the future, as well as having roots in the past. Lord, we want to build on rock, not on sand...and we ask you to be our Master Builder as we look to the future together.

For we ask it in Jesus' name.

Amen

2 comments:

  1. Hi Tom,

    Welcome to the parish and congratulations on a successful first Holy Communion at St Mark's.
    Your enthusiasm for the job and obvious love of God shone through loud and clear this morning!

    I was intriqued to hear your first sermon and keen to know what kind of vision you had for us and how we would "build" our Church. I wanted to comment on a few things you discussed;
    'Just a few yards from this building, we are all aware of people who have effectively cursed themselves by the choices they have made...' - may i suggest that you really didn't have to go as far a few yards?
    I must admit, i didn't really go with you in your theme of people cursing themselves because of the examples you gave, as I would see alcoholism and drug addiction not so much as sin, or even a "refusal to live God's way" but in most instances an illness and promiscuity without protection as a lack of self esteem. My concern when we as a Church talk about these kind of issues is that we can end up talking about "others" and how we can then help "them". Also, that there are no victims and there has to be blame laid somewhere. We are all broken in some way, whether that be through addiction, wrong choices, or simple bad luck. I understand the points you were making about personal choices (whether to build on sand or rock), responsibility and consequences. However, I thought perhaps the examples of alcoholism, drug dependancy and so on were the wrong ones and I found it a little difficult to hear you discuss these in the context of the language of "cursing", particularly when it may well be that you were talking to people in those kinds of situations, or the friends and families of people in those situations.
    The idea of "sin", "curse", "refusal to live God's way" will always be a tricky one to discuss and is perhaps something that we should more openly and honestly discuss at Church. May I suggest one thing that we could do with at St Mark's, a discussion/prayer/bible study group of some kind. It's something that i've really wanted to get my teeth into. I'm the kind of person who really values a good thrashing out of an argument and the diversity of opinions that we in the Church of England accomodate!
    may i take this opportunity to wish you and yours a happy time here in North End.
    regards,
    Russell

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  2. For a response to Russell's comments, see the next post on this blog.

    Thanks Russell for making me think!

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