Rev. David Holwick G Life On the Level, #7
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 24, 2013
Luke 6:46-49
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I. New Jersey provides the perfect example.
A. Ed Wright's house.
I am not sure if I have ever been to Mantoloking, but I hear
it is the richest town in New Jersey.
It has 300 people in January and 5,000 in July.
It's on a barrier island, so everyone is close to the ocean.
Ed's house was pretty typical - 250 feet from the ocean and
only 100 feet from the bay.
He built it 30 years ago.
They had building codes back then, but Ed had seen photos of
what storms could do, and he wanted to go a step farther.
He drove 34 pilings 20 feet into the sand.
He put the living quarters on the second floor, and made the
walls on the first floor kind of flimsy.
That way they could break away if waves hit them and leave the
rest of the house standing.
That is pretty much what happened when Hurricane Sandy hit.
He wasn't in the state at the time, and feared the worst.
At 7 the next morning, he got a phone call from a friend.
"I've got good news and I've got bad news," he was told.
"The bad news is that most everybody is gone.
The good news is that your house is still there."
All ten houses within 200 feet of him were gone.
(More than half the houses in the town were destroyed.)
Even the street had been washed away.
His house stood like an island in an ocean of destruction.
This week, residents were allowed to return to Mantoloking.
The people who are rebuilding are making their houses like
Ed's, which they call the "Miracle House."
Ed Wright is a retired industrial arts teacher.
He says, "The goal is to construct things that will stay around
awhile, and hopefully outlive you."
#63936
B. The principle is eternal.
1) Jesus had Ed's situation in mind when he talked about
building on rock or sand.
2) It makes a difference, but not always right away.
3) Which building code are you following?
II. Two builders, two houses, two outcomes.
A. The foundation is key.
1) Jesus says the first guy dug down deep.
a) He wanted to reach bedrock.
b) They like to do that in Manhattan too - the biggest
buildings have to be on something solid.
c) For the Empire State Building, they dug enough dirt out
of the basement to equal the weight of the whole
building.
2) The second guy saved some time.
a) No digging, no foundation.
b) From the ground up, his house probably looked just as
good as the other guy's.
B. Then the storm came.
1) Israel, like the American West, has many dry streambeds.
a) A sudden downpour turned one of them into a torrent.
b) Matthew's version adds a driving wind.
2) Both houses experience the storm, but only one survives.
a) The rock house not only holds up, it isn't even shaken.
b) But as the children's song puts it, the house on the
sand went "splat!!"
C. It is not hard to make the application.
1) The house represents your life.
2) You can pile on all the accomplishments you want, but in
the end it is the foundation that makes the difference.
3) What is the foundation of your life?
a) Some people make their job, their marriage or their
nationality their foundation.
b) These things are powerful - but they can crumble.
4) You have to build your life on something that will last.
III. Jesus is the only foundation that is worthy.
A. The essence of Christianity is a relationship with Jesus.
1) You acknowledge that you are going in the wrong direction.
a) You are a sinner, and you can't fix it yourself.
2) You admit that you need Jesus to save you.
3) So you ask him to be the Lord of your life.
B. A decision is not enough.
1) In the parable, both builders call Jesus "Lord."
a) Both have heard his words, and probably think they are
saved.
b) But only one of them puts Jesus' words it into practice.
2) Plenty of disobedient Christians have wrecked lives.
a) They have the highest respect for Jesus, but it doesn't
have much of an impact on their behavior.
b) They go to church on Sunday, commit adultery on Friday
and wonder why everything is going wrong for them.
1> Jesus doesn't promise he'll protect you from your
own stupidity.
2> Everyone's actions have consequences.
C. Wood, hay and stubble. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
1) The Apostle Paul uses the same analogy in 1 Cor. 3.
a) Jesus is the foundation, just like in the parable here.
b) The choices you make in life are the building.
1> Some build with gold, silver, costly stones.
A> This is the good stuff.
B> They want to honor Jesus and obey him.
2> Others build with wood, hay and straw.
A> They take the "cheapo" route.
B> They cut corners, do their own thing.
2) The Judgment Day is the ultimate inspection.
a) The righteous stuff goes with you into eternity.
b) The tawdry stuff is burned up.
1> Paul notes the person may still be saved.
2> But they'll have little to show for it.
3> They will walk around heaven smelling a little
singed.
IV. Storms are coming.
A. The life you are building now will be tested some day.
1) You may seem just like everyone else, no stronger and no
weaker.
2) But when the storm arrives, you will find what you are
really made of.
B. Storms come in many forms.
1) There can be literal natural disasters like Sandy, or
man-made events like wars.
2) Your job might be off-shored.
3) One of your kids may become addicted.
4) You could be diagnosed with a serious disease.
a) Everyone is tested by something different.
b) But everyone will be tested.
C. Many people are not prepared.
1) This week our Roxbury Clergy Council met with a local
official.
I asked him what church he attended, and he confessed that
he had not been going regularly for years.
The key event was the death of his brother.
He was a strong young football player and he died of a
sudden heart attack.
That is a tough thing to accept.
But it is not by any means unique.
Many deaths seem untimely and unfair.
Is your faith based on the premise that God will only allow
good things to happen to you and your loved ones?
Early Christians assumed their lives would be tough,
almost unbearable.
Believing in Jesus made it harder for them, not easier.
They believed because they knew it was true.
Why do you believe?
What would make you not believe?
2) Famous pastor Harry Emerson Fosdick once said,
"The highest use of a shaken time is to discover the
unshakable."
#16761
V. It is not enough to be religious.
A. Too many people see Christianity as a checklist.
1) I believe there is a God - check!
2) I believe Jesus is his Son - check!
3) Therefore I will go to heaven when I die - check!
B. Jesus wants more than acknowledgement - he wants your obedience.
1) In what areas of your life are you ignoring his clear
instructions?
2) Money? Purity? Honesty?
3) Weakness in only one area can make your whole life crumble.
C. Are you one foot in, one foot out?
Tom Sirotnak was a chubby, slow, uncoordinated youngster who
desperately sought approval.
He found it through body building and sports.
When he arrived at the University of Southern California he
boasted a 20-inch neck, 20-inch arms and a 54-inch chest.
(I looked like this once - in my fantasies.)
Tom used his physique to land a job as a bar bouncer.
He wrestled bears.
He played on the varsity football team at the University of
Southern California.
Actually, he warmed the bench more than he played, but he was
on the team.
Beer flowed freely and women sought his company.
But despite his physical exploits and campus status, Tom was
empty inside.
He tried to satisfy himself with a steady diet of lust,
pornography and immorality.
Ironically, while he was partying away his college years, he
called himself a Christian and belonged to a campus ministry.
The hypocrisy and inconsistencies gnawed at him and during an
away game in Phoenix he aimlessly wandered the streets.
Fortunately, he later wound up in a Christian gathering.
The speaker was former L.A. Ram and Football Hall of Fame member
Rosey Grier.
Seeing through Tom's counterfeit faith, Rosey challenged him to
get the sin out of his life.
The only way to serve God was to quit compromising, he said.
Tom repented, and God changed him.
He now believes that the measure of manhood is not muscles, but
Jesus Christ, and he serves him as an evangelist.
#3674
Jesus is the only way to true fulfillment.
It is not enough to say you believe.
You should show it by the everyday moral choices you make.
Otherwise, you'll soon be washed away like the sand.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
# 3674 “Macho Image, Sports, Parties, Degree Left Him Empty,” Tom Sirotnak
with Ken Walker, Online Christianity Today, April 20, 1986.
Excerpted from “Warriors” (Broadman & Holman Publishers).
#16761 “Using a Shaken Time,” Harry Emerson Fosdick; from the internet.
#63936 “Ed Wright's Miracle House,” Rev. David Holwick, adapted from The
Star-Ledger newspaper article “The Mantoloking miracle: Why did
Sandy spare this one lone home?” by Tomas Dinges, December 27, 2012,
<http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2012/12/the_mantoloking_miracle_why_di.html>.
These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be
downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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