The interactive portion of the sermon comes early this morning.  I guess it would be better said, there’s an interactive portion to the sermon this morning.  Join with me in singing the song if you know it.  ♫The wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock, and the rains came tumbling down.  The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, but the house on the rock stood firm.  The foolish man built his house up on the sand, the foolish man built his house up on the sand, the foolish man built his house up on the sand, and the rains came tumbling down.  The rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, the rains came down and the floods came up, and the house on the sand went splat! ♫

            Thank you for helping me sing this song that is based on the passage of scripture that we read just a few moments ago.  I guessed that many of you learned this song as a child as I did or at the very least taught it to your children.  It is one of those songs of faith that we learn very early on which might lead you to believe that the message is simplistic; however in this case the message while really good advice is anything but simplistic if you put it in the context of the rest of the passage.  In fact in the passage we read Jesus is really quite cryptic and doesn’t really tell us what he means, at least not very clearly.  

           The passage begins with Jesus setting straight those who think they can slide into the kingdom of heaven by mere name dropping.  “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Ok so this goes against what I was taught in Sunday school and at church camp when we were singing the song about the wise man and the foolish man.  I was told that all I had to do when it was my time to stand at the pearly gates was to say “Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.”  This phrase was repeated over and over as if it were the secret password or something.  I went to bed at night practicing it just in case God called me home early.  I didn’t want to be caught off guard and forget what I was supposed to say and be left outside of heaven because I couldn’t remember.  Setting aside then what I was taught, if calling upon Jesus name won’t be enough for some people to get in then surely there must be something we can do; some good deed that we must perform in order to gain entrance to heaven. 

            Unfortunately for that line of thinking Jesus goes on to say “Not everyone who utters prophecies will enter the kingdom; not everyone who casts out demons will enter the kingdom; not everyone who does many “deeds of power” will enter into the kingdom.”  So then getting into heaven is not based solely on what we say nor is it based solely on what we do.  We are left to ask then how do we get into heaven.  As if this news weren’t bad enough it gets worse; that is if we read the rest of Matthew’s gospel.  Already Matthew has told us that it is very difficult if not impossible for rich people to get into heaven.  We have been told also that one’s righteousness must far exceed that of the Pharisees in order to gain access to heaven.  Finally we have also been told that the way to heaven is narrow not broad.  So by now we are left to wonder, all this being the case, who can get into heaven and how? 

             Well that is the question Jesus is addressing when he says that “everyone who hears his words and acts on them will be like the wise man building his house upon the rock and everyone who hears his words and fails to act on them is like the foolish man building his house upon the sand.  Notice that the rains came tumbling down on both their houses; leveling the house built on the sand while the house on the rock stood firm but both were rained on.  Notice also that Jesus says those who hear his words and act on them are like the wise man, but he doesn’t tell us what actions those are.  I would think after hearing the parable we would want to be those wise one’s who build their house upon the rock but we still don’t know what actions we must heed.  Do you see now why I suggested this passage is a little more difficult to understand than the children’s song lets on? 

             I think the key to unlocking the meaning of this passage lies in vs. 23 Jesus is talking about those who are evildoers.  It would seem to me then what we can take away from this passage is we can not go about doing all manner of evil hoping to turn around one day and say “Save me Jesus” and expect that to make up for a long line of misdeeds.  Nor can we work evil and expect a few good things we did in Jesus name to cover for us.  This thing Jesus has come to do, this way to salvation Jesus has come to offer requires that our lives have Jesus as their foundation, not just something we think of every now and again.  He say’s it doesn’t work that way.  As a boy, the Greek philosopher Bion was sold as a slave to a teacher of rhetoric who, impressed with the boy’s abilities, agreed to free him. Years later, he embarked upon a voyage on a ship manned by a particularly dissolute crew. When a storm blew up and the sailors began to pray to the gods for salvation, Bion advised them to keep quiet.  “Better,” said Bion, “that they don’t know where you are.”  I think this is the same point Jesus is trying to make.  The point being there are bound to be storms in our life and we are to endure those storms we need to pay attention to Jesus’ teachings and be doers of Jesus’ words not just when we want him to come and save us from the storm.

              I imagine you may be asking but how does grace factor into all of this?  Well first let me say that the Gospel according to Matthew is not real big on grace at least not as we understand the term and not as much as some other parts of scripture.  We read and interpret scripture as a whole and so sometimes those doctrines we have drawn from the entirety of scripture do not hold up to every single passage of scripture.  Therefore we should not be surprised that this passage challenges one of our key theological ideas.  But maybe it doesn’t challenge the understanding of grace so much as first meets the eye.  It would seem to me that the whole point of grace is so that we might be in a right and continuous relationship with God.  It strikes me that is precisely what this passage is about, being in an ongoing relationship with God through Christ.  The parable leaves us asking where is our foundation?  Is our house built on the rock or on the sand?  The trouble with foundations is no one pays them much attention as long as they are doing their thing and there is no flood with which to contend.  Only when the floods come do we worry about the integrity of our foundation, the bedrock upon which our house is built.  Jesus is encouraging us to consider where our foundation is now while the floods are no where in sight. 

           I believe that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone; not by anything we have done.  So calling on the Lord’s name isn’t the way into heaven, nor is doing marvelous deeds in Jesus’ name because it is by God’s grace alone that we are saved.  However in light of that grace if we were wise wouldn’t we build our house upon the rock of that grace and our salvation?  From the wisdom of Mr. Rogers: “When I was a boy I used to think that strong meant having big muscles, great physical power; but the longer I live, the more I realize that real strength has much more to do with what is not seen. Real strength has to do with helping others.”  Like Mr. Rogers I believe that real strength has to do with what is not seen that is our foundation our relationship with God.  We can rest assured of our salvation we don’t’ have to fret over getting into heaven but the good news of the grace we have received needs to be lived out some how.  Again the whole point of grace is so that we may be in relationship with God.  If we have been saved but we fail to live in relationship with God, if we fail ground our daily living in our relationship with Jesus the Christ then we have missed the point.  When in life the rains come, not if they come, but when the rains come if our foundation is built upon our ongoing relationship with Christ then we are more likely to endure than if our foundation, our center is someplace else.

              Belief is important. Doing faithful works is important. But our ongoing relationship with God is more important. Our relationship with god has been repaired by Christ alone through grace alone but it is up to us to live in this renewed relationship and for that relationship to be the foundation of everything else in our lives.  This text is not supposed to frighten us but encourage us. Being of the kingdom of God is not about the grand gesture, mighty works, exercising prominent gifts of the Spirit. It is about being faithful doers of the word. That’s encouraging.  Amen.