This week we continue the series of messages
titled I Love the Church Because… This week’s message is I Love the Church Because…It Provides Me
With A Foundation. Listen to
how one person completed the statement I
Love the Church Because…
As a
girl, my mother sang in a quartet with women from the Wesleyan Church. I went
to their church often. And I was often dragged, I mean got to go along when
they sang at other places. By the time I was 10, I had been in Baptist, Methodist,
Wesleyan, Church of God, Assembly, Pentecostal, Nazarene – basically any
protestant church that allowed musical instruments! That included African
American congregations. I had seen people speak in tongues, be slain
in the spirit, cry at the altar, dance and sing, share their testimonies and
heard many, many different messages. The one thing that I loved the most were
the testimonies – both the formal ones given from the pulpit and the ones in
conversation and songs. And as an adult, that hasn't changed. I have known many
people with whom I disagree about doctrine, scripture, etc. But still – when I
hear them speak from their hearts about their experiences with God as they have
known him, I feel unity with them. Those stories and experiences they've shared
have given me insight into myself and my relationship with God.
When I read that story, I thought about that
combination of experiences and the way in which they helped to form a foundation
to that person’s faith, and foundation is what we are talking about today. Our Scripture text for the day comes
from a familiar portion of the Sermon On the Mount, Matthew 7:24-29, where Jesus speaks about the importance of providing a
foundation of faith to our lives –
24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of
mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the
rock.
25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its
foundation on the rock.
26 But everyone who hears these words of mine
and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house
on sand.
27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the
winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things,
the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
29 because he taught as one who had authority,
and not as their teachers of the law.
We
need a spiritual foundation in life.
From
the time we are young we are taught about certain elements that make for a
solid foundation in life – a good education, a good career, buying a home,
investing and saving for the future, raising a family, etc. These are all good pieces of advice,
there is no doubt about that reality, but they are only a part of what provides
a good foundation in life, because life is more than work, career, and
possessions. Jesus, in fact, says
in Luke 12:15 that we must remember a
man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. A good, solid foundation to life is far
more than just a good education, a career, buying a house, and all those
matters we are taught to do. They
are important, and add much to life, but we are more than creatures of flesh
and blood; we are spiritual beings as well.
Life is
also, according to the teachings of Jesus, about matters of the spirit. Many of the teachings of Jesus are
centered upon the idea that we are not just physical beings but spiritual
beings as well, and he often reminds us of the importance of maintaining a
healthy spiritual life. This truth was confirmed early in the ministry of Jesus
when, after his baptism, he was led into the desert where he was tempted. Matthew tells us, in 4:3-4, that the tempter came to him and said, “If you
are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but
on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” The particular temptation that was leveled at Jesus is the
same that is presented to us, and that is to ignore – or forget – the reality
that we are spiritual beings and we must give attention to our spiritual
needs. Jesus confirmed this again
in Matthew 6:19-20, where he says, do not
store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and
where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do
not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
It is
so easy, in the rush of life, the physical part of life, the making a living, the
operating a taxi service for our kids and grandkids, the taking care of a home,
the participation in community responsibilities; all those things that fill our
lives with so much activity – that we can forget or overlook the truth we must also
care for the spiritual component of ourselves. In this overscheduled, overbooked, frantic world in which we
live, I fear that we can very easily starve ourselves spiritually.
It is also
often overlooked, I believe, that the ills of the world are mostly spiritual in
nature. Whether it is war,
economic issues, climate and environmental issues, racism – or just about any
other issue – at their roots we find questions and concerns of a spiritual
nature, which means that the political and economic and social approaches to
solving major problems will never fully confront those problems in a way that
can bring true, lasting and transformative answers until the spiritual
component of those issues are recognized.
For instance, we pour into landfills the leftover residue of our
consumer and disposal culture and that is a spiritual issue about the way we
treat God’s creation; our entertainment glorifies violence, which makes the use
and abuse of humanity into little more than the means of entertainment; and
while government and social policies are important in guiding how we interact
as people, it takes confronting the spiritual issues at the root to effect the
deep change that our world needs.
Spiritual
practices build a strong foundation to our lives.
Have you ever wished you could travel back in
time and speak to your younger self?
I would love to be able to travel back in time to speak to my 20, my 25,
or 30-year-old self. I don’t know
if that younger self would listen, and that younger self might be a bit alarmed
at the amount of gray hair I have, but I would love to go back and offer some
advice to my younger self. Some if
it might be advice to study harder and be a more serious student and to be more
responsible about life in general, to which my younger self would probably
reply, dude, what have you done with
me? You’re scaring me! I might also offer advice such as this
– right now you don’t know what the names
Google and Starbucks and Amazon mean as business names, but trust me, when they
come on the market, buy every bit of their stock that you can!
But
I would also remind my younger self of this important truth – the patterns and
practices that you follow when you are young are the patterns and practices
that you will follow for the rest of your life, so choose those patterns and
practices wisely and nurture them, because many times we don’t even see the
patterns and practices we are establishing. Our relationship to money is established at a young age. Our relationship to church is
established at a young age. Our
basic way of relating to people is established at a young age. Our relationship to work is established
at a young age.
Spiritual practices are among the best ways to
build a strong foundation to our spiritual lives. Spiritual practices are things such as prayer, Bible study,
fasting, and meditating. I’ve not
always been as consistent as I should with some spiritual practices, but one
that has always been a consistent practice to me is attending church. Now, I know what you are thinking. You might be thinking well isn’t that kind of obvious Dave? You are a minister, after all. Going to church is what ministers do,
and telling people they ought to go to church is what they also do. And you would be correct in saying
that. But church has always been a
central part of my life, and I am very grateful that it has been, that it is,
and that it always will be. Church
has not always been easy, as we all know it can sometimes be a bit adventurous
and a bit contentious. But so can
everything else! In fact, tell me
what isn’t challenging at times.
Even the beautiful, precious, wonderful things of life can be
challenging. Isn’t family life
challenging at time? Does that
take away from its beauty? Of
course not! Is it challenging to
be a parent? Of course it is, but
do the challenges detract from its beauty and wonder? Of course not!
Is marriage challenging at times?
Of course it is, but do those challenges take away from its value and
beauty? Of course not! In fact, I would argue that the
challenges and adventures that come in life, in family, in marriage – in all
the important parts of life – actually serve to enrich those facets of life.
But, to speak to my younger self again, I would
tell myself that it’s hard to rebuild a foundation once the house is already
constructed. You can remodel the
inside of a house, you can redo the outside, you can change the landscaping,
but it is near impossible to change the foundation, so make sure the proper
foundation is built while you are young.
The
answer to the ills of our world are found in God’s Spirit.
I think
there are several fallacies that our culture seeks to ingrain in our
minds. I don’t know how conscious
that effort is, as culture is not some monolithic beast that makes those
choices in a conscious way, but there are fallacies presented to us nonetheless,
such as the idea that science and technology will be our savior. They will not. Science and technology have offered
some very helpful changes and advances to us, but there is a great irony in
both, as they aggravate many of the problems we now face, such as climate
change. The technology that many
believe will save our environment is precisely the tool we have used to damage
our environment. I read an article
this weekend that spoke to that point.
The article was about a survey conducted of Nobel laureates, who were
asked what they considered to be the most pressing issued confronting
humanity. Near the top of the list
was this concern – the unintended consequences of technology. I am not a Luddite; I enjoy using
technology, but I am not blind to its problems, one of which is the effect that
technology has had on our environment.
The question of our environment, which I believe is one of the most
fundamental questions and issues of our time – and of all human history – is
really a spiritual issue, because it speaks to the reality that we must change
how we live. Buying a few organic
vegetables is not going to make the kind of difference that needs to be
made. The difference that needs to
be made will only come when we confront our rampant consumerism and excessive
use and abuse of resources. In our
scientific, materialistic world (and I mean materialistic in the sense of only
seeing the material nature of life, while failing to recognize the spiritual
aspect of life) I become ever more skeptical about humanity’s ability to deal
with spiritual questions as we push further and further into our infatuation
with technology and science as the be all and end all to everything. Nevertheless, I hold out hope that
humanity will heed the words of Jesus to turn more fully to matters of the
Spirit, and thus find the needed answers.
Another
fallacy is that we always have time.
It’s very easy to believe we always have time, for instance, to make
right a relationship, or always have time to take care of our spiritual lives. But we do not always have time. I don’t say that to be discouraging or
depressing, but to remind us all of the importance of taking care of matters
that need to be confronted.
Another
fallacy is that the goal of life is success and accumulation. It is not. We are taught, from a young age, to work hard in order to be
successful, but we seldom pause to ask what
is the definition of success?
Is success attaining a particular income level? Is it living in a particular
neighborhood? Is it having a
corner office? If we do not define
success, we will most likely spend a good deal of life trying to achieve
someone else’s definition of success.
Jim “Mattress Mack”
McIngvale is someone who lives according to God’s Spirit. He was kicking himself the morning
after Hurricane Harvey made landfall for closing his furniture stores while
some people could still shop. But
then he changed his perspective as his faith, he said, moved
him to help. My faith defines me.
It’s who I am, he said. How am I going to let my people drown? It’s as simple as that. I’m not
going to let my people drown. McIngvale
dispatched Gallery Furniture trucks to pick up victims. He opened his stores as
emergency shelters, offering food, mattresses and clean restrooms to hundreds
of evacuees and Texas Army National Guard troops. He turned his stores
into collection sites for disaster relief items, posted a “Pray for Texas”
video on his Facebook page that received nearly 3.9 million views, and garnered
heartfelt thanks and lifelong customers.
Dave Gibbs, an elder of Grace Crossing Church in Conroe, Texas,
north of Houston, said McIngvale’s response to Harvey was just a day in the life of Mattress Mack — nothing out of the ordinary. McIngvale’s stores prominently display inspirational
messages such as You can preach a better
sermon with your life than with your lips and What you are is God’s gift to you, what you make of yourself is your
gift to God. A framed article behind the counter where he greets customers
has the headline To pray, to preach, to
bless. That’s the motto, he
explains, of the Dominican Order priests and nuns who taught him at Bishop
Lynch High School in Dallas, where his family moved after he was born in
Mississippi.
That’s what a good foundation will do. Remember, a good foundation in life is not always what we
think it is. As important as it is
to have a good education and a good job, life is much more than education and
work. We are spiritual beings, and
must tend to matters of the Spirit.
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