Solid Ground in Times of Change
Rerouting: Navigating a Changing World
August 9, 2020 – Brad Bailey
Intro
Good morning to each of you who have joined our gathering this morning... and welcome to each of you who may be watching at a later time.
If you have ever used a map application... like Google maps... you have probably had the experience when it needs to reset course...something in the route changes...and some sort of spinning shape begins... with the word: “rerouting.”
In many ways... that can capture the nature of this season. You were moving along in life...and then in March... a pandemic brings change. Changes to your path. Changes to your plans. Change to your patterns.
Once I see that spinning icon... with the word “rerouting”....I often feel some mix of frustration....and anxiety...cause I need to keep driving but it hasn’t showed me a new way yet.
Sometimes I just pull over. And that may be how some of us feel. We may feel we pulled over to the side of the road and are waiting to find a new way forward.
We are all in a strange time of rerouting... of navigating a changing world.
So today I want to begin a series...a weekly focus... on how God may speak to us in such a time.
I want to invite you to consider how God speaks to us about navigating a changing world. If you are a part of our Westside Vineyard Church... I am so glad that we can navigate this season together...as we gather around Jesus whose life we are to embody. If you are just beginning to explore who Jesus is...and who he may be to you...I am so glad you have stopped to take time listen to what Jesus says.
We are all seeking the know what is the true center in life... around which life can really be oriented. And at such a times as this... when our familiar routines and reference points change... we can feel a bit disoriented... and that can be an opportunity to consider afresh... the true center in life. Today... I believe God wants us to grasp that amidst all the changes at hand... it’s a vital time to realize what is unchanging.
Think about those events we usually associate as striking with change...and what we can learn from our natural reaction. Let me ask you... When a hurricane comes... from your personal experience or what you see people do from images you see...what do we do? I would venture to say that our most natural reaction is to hold on to what is most solid and that will serve us well. When an earthquake comes... from your personal experience or what you see people do from images you see...what do we do? I would venture to say that our most natural reaction is to hold on to what is most solid and that will serve us well.
In many regards... we may need that good sense towards the whole of our lives. Let’s listen to what Jesus says. As we read in the Gospel of Matthew [1]
“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” - Matthew 7:24-27 (NLT) ?
Jesus speaks these words at the conclusion of his extended teaching about how to reorient one’s life according to the kingdom of God.... God’s reign and rule over life. And now he brings home the significance of actually doing so.
I want to help us hear a few particular truths within these words that can speak to us in this particular time.
The parable draws on the image of building a house... and it’s rather clear that Jesus is using this to speak about building our lives. Jesus gives an example of two people...making two very different choices. And it may be helpful to consider which of these two very different lives is building a house?
The obvious answer is BOTH. The truth is that every one of us is building a house…which is a picture of building a life.
Now some of us may think... “I’m not building a life... I’m just living day to day.”
As comedian Lily Tomlin once said… “I always wanted to be someone. I just should have been more specific.” We may tend to see ourselves as just in some sort of casual process of living day to day. But here’s the truth... every day we are building lives. With every decision and action we are forming something called our life out of the material we have. So the first point I want us not to miss is simply this...
1. You are building a life... even now... with every decision and action.
And it’s vital to grasp that we are still building every day right now...in the midst of this pandemic. You may think that you have to reroute ... but you are still in the drivers seat of your life. You are still defining who you are every day by what you live for and how you live. That is as true in the year 2020 as in any other year of life.
I imagine that some of us may think that we were trying to build something... but then a pandemic took over. You may think the headlines dictate your life. They don’t. You are writing the headlines of your life each day. You are building a life. It may involve how you respond to what is done around you... but you are the one who builds.
So the choice is not between building and not building…. but the type of life you are building... about whether it will be able to stand.
Jesus speaks about the difference of what the wise and foolish choose using a picture particularly familiar to those in Palestine. In Palestine, in summer many of the rivers dried up altogether and left a sandy bed empty of water...and even the sand may have seemed baked down and easy to build on. But in winter, the empty riverbed could became a raging torrent.
And as Jesus describes...the storms that will come...to rains and wind...and floods. He is not describing just common rain... but storms heavy enough to level a house. Jesus is pointing to the final judgement that each life must face …when each life will be judged before God…. but he is also depicting the type of testing that we will face throughout our earthly lives
It’s rather telling that Jesus does not say “if” the storms and floods come...but rather “when” they come. They are inevitable. So lets note this second point...
2. Storms will come (dramatic changes and challenges)... and they do not need to devastate you.
Storms come in many forms: loss of a loved one; broken relationships; sickness... financial loss... and storms come upon everyone... regardless of how we are living our lives.... whether we would be described as the righteous or the unrighteous.
When the season of changes and challenges comes... we will face the reality of what we have chosen to build upon. And so we should see that only that which is built on what lasts...will last itself.
The wise man builds on the rock... this is referring to the bedrock. In a similar account in the Gospel of Luke... the wise man digs down deep to lay a good foundation.
And it’s important to stop and recognize that Jesus is claiming that there is such a bedrock to life. And this is really important for some of us to hear right now.
3. There is solid ground... amidst all change there is the unchanging.
This is really vital. Even before this pandemic, some of us may have felt challenges with various degrees of insecurity and anxiety.... in which we didn’t feel our feet were resting on solid ground and perhaps we suffered from various degrees of anxiety. And now all of us are feeling the major changes that are upon us.... and may feel varying degrees in unstable ground.
The nature of living through the pandemic is different than other big events. It’s not an earthquake that brings a moment of jolt that is so notably experienced. This pandemic is an unseen element that is not defined by a moment of experience... but rather it looms around us with a constant sense of unsettledness... marked by restrictions to provide protection from what is never seen. In some ways... I think this type of pandemic season tries to define life as being ruled by change...and we even find it common to refer to this as a time of chaos.
When we focus on certain aspects of our lives right now... many of us are experiencing real change...some particularly significant... how we gather with others... work that has ceased... school...events that we can’t go enjoy... social unrest. When there is significant change... we can begin to think “everything is changing” ...and we begin to feel that there is nothing but a world of chaos. But stop for a moment. However chaotic life may feel... look beyond that change ...and you will see the unchanging.
Think how much order there is in life... that is so valuable...so taken for granted...and has not changed at all. The planets and sun are still in place... we still have oxygen to breathe... we still have gravity to keep us in place... food still grows from the ground... and we still have 24 hour days.
When you feel like “everything is changing”... stop and look and you will see that life is still ultimately rooted in order... not chaos.
What we need when we feel like “everything is changing”...is to connect to that which is unchanging. It is often said that the one thing that is constant in life is change. And that can certainly be an important part of the truth. But the larger truth that we often miss is that the world is more rooted in order than in change.
This can be important even in navigating the more relative and temporary order in life. We no longer live in the world with a medieval belief that we are simply pawns to the whim of capricious pagan gods...nor do we have to try and embrace the atheistic idea that there is no ultimate purpose or order other than the survival of the fittest. I believe that when people begin to look at all that is fixed and ordered in the world...they can begin to feel they can make reasonable choices.
In business...this may involve recognizing that there are many fundamental needs that have not changed...that are still at hand. I expect time will still exist tomorrow so I still have a reason to buy a watch. If you are selling watches...I may not feel as certain about my income...so I may not want to buy as expensive a watch...but I still need a watch. In other words...even in the more relative and temporary order in life... there are many basic elements that have not changed and that can provide a basis for many means ahead.
But of course all such order is rooted in God... who is the source of everything....and the only truly unchanging center of life. [2]
And the testimony of God throughout the Scriptures is to build our lives on a rock. In the Old Testament, God is described as the Rock of His people (Psalm 18:1-3). Later, Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Christ is called the rock upon which the Church is built (Matthew 16:13-20). The wise builder searches for the true meaning of life until he finds the Word of God. He searches the Word and finds the Rock. He searches the Rock and makes it his foundation. Then he builds his life upon the Rock.
This is what Jesus meant by the good news of God’s kingdom. He has come to unite us with the reign and rule of God. So he speaks of our need to hear and follow the way of life he brings which enables us to be united with God... the center of all that is unchanging. [3]
And he clearly emphasize that the main difference between the wise and the foolish builder...is not whether they hear what Jesus says...but whether they follow it. [4]
It’s not a matter of just hearing but of hearing and following...or other English words are hearing and obeying or hearing and doing. The essence of the issues is that of trust. A belief is not actualized until it is acted upon...and that is an act of trust. Building on solid ground is not a matter of hearing... it’s not a matter of believing in terms of simply agreeing that a proposition may be true.... it is choosing to actually build your life on it ... which means you choose that ground... as the solid foundation you will base your decisions and actions on...and then actually build on it.
Some years ago a missionary named John Paton began to translate the New Testament into the language of the natives he was serving. He discovered that there was no native word for "believe." One day, as the he struggled to resolve this problem, one of the natives came into his office... worn after a hard day of work...and flung down across two chairs, he said something about how good it felt to lean his whole weight on those chairs. Paton lit up and identified the word in the native language that meant "lean one’s whole weight on." In that moment he not only found the word he needed to translate what translate into English as “believe”...but perhaps one even more accurate in it’s meaning.
To build your life on something...is to entrust your weight upon it. [5]
Jesus was inviting us into the life he had. He has no interest in just being a hero who we can look admirably upon. He didn’t call people to be his fans...but rather his followers. He calls us to actually make God the foundation of what we build upon. Not the decor on the wall. Not the add-on bonus room. By his true nature he is the foundation...and what makes him our foundation is a matter of trusting Him regarding every aspect of our lives... our longings... our security...our money. [6]
Jesus wants us to seek a relationship with the Father that he had. It was that relationship that he was able to entrust his suffering and final end on earth to.
It’s been said that we should “start with the ends in mind”... which means it’s the end which should inform how we live in the present. If God is our foundation...we will come to the end of our earthly lives finding nothing can take away what has always been our source of trust.
CLOSING
This is a time to face the choice...of whether our lives reflect that of the wise builder or the foolish builder. This pandemic has brought some significant winds of change. It has shown that there is indeed some sandy ground ... and whatever is on it can shift. No doubt it’s hard... and there are real losses... but it provides an opportunity to consider what we are building our lives upon. This is a time to look at what we are trusting in. We may have been avoiding some truths that we actually know. The health of these bodies is ultimately sand. Beauty is ultimately sand. Careers are ultimately sand. The stock market is sand.
Anxiety can be a symptom of what we are trusting in. This season of uncertainty and unsettledness can help us consider...what am I finding hard that may reflect having trusted something not to change that is by nature changing... that is more like sand than rock. We’ve been warned to dig deep. And many of us know that we are often like the foolish builder who may have built too quickly...and too shallow. When connections are limited... working roles are curtailed... plans are uncertain... we have an opportunity to realize that these may serve fine as walls... but not foundations.
This can be a time to have a building inspection. Since a building’s integrity lies in the foundation... we do well to begin with inspecting our foundations.
What have I built my life upon? What am I trusting in?
Is the changing or unsettled nature of this season providing an opportunity to form a deeper foundation... that which is rooted in the unchanging love of God?
When we look to the life of Jesus...we see the significance of being rooted in who we are and whose we are. You may recall that at the start of declaring what God was bringing... the Spirit came upon him and God declared that he was his beloved son. And immediately he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness...where for 40 days he was alone...in fasting and prayer. And the devil...the enemy of all that is God’s ...began to try and persuade him to trust in what this world could offer in terms of security... and power. In his humanity he showed us what it means to choose to live with a true foundation that can stand amidst the storm. He was in the midst of fasting...and it meant not accepting the food or comfort or wealth to become a shallow sandy foundation. He was going to be despised and rejected by many...and it meant not choosing the acceptance of others to become a shallow sandy foundation. I believe that those 40 days became a powerful juncture in which his determination was formed. I believe that this season of our lives can become it’s own opportunity to determine what we trust in.
The Spirit of God led Jesus into 40 days of social separation... 40 days of physical uncertainty... 40 days without any form of this world’s means of security to rest in. Just as those 40 days in the wilderness were a time of defining his foundation...so this season in which we may feel some deprivation... can be an opportunity to define what we are rooted in. And I believe we all will be wise to see that it was not a shallow or simple choice for Jesus. Jesus had to do battle with the demons that were set against him...and we will too. The soul must choose to face the false sources of identity and comfort. Digging down through the sand to reach the bedrock of our true foundation is a work of the soul.
But on that foundation... that true foundation... we find rest. As we develop that settled life for our souls... we develop a life that no storm will destroy.
For many of us...I believe that we can discover that this season of being less connected and certain in various aspects of this world... is an opportunity for digging deeper.
We can be frustrated that our old map is waiting to reroute... and just be in a mode of waiting to get back the old life. Or we can recall that maps change...they are only manmade representations. But there is another source...and that is the compass. The compass represents that we are connected to a larger reality that has not changed. There is still a true north ...defined by something larger than any social changes. As the territory changes, the map won’t help. This is a season in which we can see the limits of manmade maps of the world’s old well trodden paths in life... and the need to return to a compass. So lets make this a season in which... while we are waiting for the map to reroute... we look to the compass...which offers the unchanging true north...which is God. It is God that seeks to lead us to our ultimate destination...which is eternal life with Him.
For some...this may be the beginning of a life choice ...to receive God’s provision for sinners ...which is the life of Christ. The virus that has infected our world provides an opportunity to see human life in all it’s value and it’s vulnerability. God says we were created as those who bear His image... sacred beings loved more than we have ever known or deserved...and more defiant than we have ever admitted. That defiance is called sin...and we have accepted it like a spiritual virus. We have all chosen to go our own way...to lead our own lives... and that separation from God leads only out into darkness and destruction. That is what Jesus came to provide for. He gave his life to provide a spiritual vaccine. To receive his life is to receive his leadership... his life with the Father. He took the consequences of our sin... our spiritual virus... and offers what he bears...which is life that exists forever with God. He rose from the dead to show that the vaccine is no mere trial. God has the power to defeat the power of sin and the consequences of death. We receive this by receiving his life as a radical exchange of what we live for.
I want to invite you to join me in prayer.
PRAYER
Notes:
1. Note. Similar words are shared in the Gospel account of Luke (Luke 6:47–49.) In Mathew they conclude the extended Sermon on the Mount.” In Luke they are in response to those who call Jesus Lord and his challenge as to whether they is show in obedience.
2. What we find is a world rooted in profound order… while not fully aligned with that order....and that reflects what God has revealed and is bound in the Scriptures ...which is that the world was created as good...but then “fell” into a state in which it was no longer fully aligned with God.
3. There is a radical authority in what he was declaring. As one described well: After recording Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” Matthew wrote, “When Jesus had finished saying these things.” Five times Matthew wrote such a statement (identical or similar words), each time following a collection of Jesus’ sayings: 28; 11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1. These serve as turning points or shifts in the book’s structure.
As a result of this sermon, the crowds of people following Jesus were amazed at His teaching. “Amazed” (exeplçsonto, “struck out”) indicates being “overwhelmed.” The imperfect tense indicates that it lasted for a while. [The middle of passive literally says “they were struck out of themselves. They were bewildered by the spiritual impact. It suggests a strong, sudden sense of being astounded, and is stronger than thaumazô (“to wonder or be amazed”). Matthew used exeplçsonto four times (7:28; 13:54; 19:25; 22:23). Walvoord, John & Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983, S. 36]
Verse 29 compares Christ’s teaching with that of other religious leaders. “for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.”
Jesus had just demonstrated the inadequacies of the Pharisees’ religious system. The righteousness they knew was not sufficient for entering His kingdom. The authority of Jesus is what amazed them, for He taught as a Spokesman from God—not as the teachers of His time who were simply reflecting the authority of the Law. The contrast between Jesus and the religious leaders was most pronounced.” – From Dennis Davidson - The Two Foundations In Life
4. In one of his letters to Arthur Greeves, C.S. Lewis remarked about the danger in thinking about spiritual things, particularly for imaginative people: "We read of spiritual efforts, and our imagination makes us believe that, because we enjoy the idea of doing them, we have done them. I am appalled to see how much of the change which I thought I had undergone lately was only imaginary. The real work seems still to be done. It is so fatally easy to confuse an aesthetic appreciation of the spiritual life with the life itself -- to dream that you have waked, washed, and dressed, and then to find yourself still in bed."
-From Knowing the Face of God, Tim Stafford, pg. 238
5. As one writer says, Try it for yourself. Find a verse of Scripture which contains the word "believe." Then substitute "lean his whole weight on." For example, John 3:16:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever shall lean his whole weight on Him, should not perish, but have eternal life."
6. Jesus Christ Himself is the Rock (Isa. 28:16-17, 1 Pet 2:6, Rom. 9:33, 1 Cor. 3:11; 10:4).
