Luke 24:1-12 

These warnings were actually found on some consumer products: 

On a Duraflame fireplace log: "Caution—Risk of Fire."
On a cardboard sun shield for a car: "Do not drive with sun shield in place."
On a portable stroller: "Caution: Remove infant before folding for storage." 

Yikes! Do these things really need to be said?

I think it is safe to say that there are some words that are easy to ignore! Besides some warning labels, take radio ads for cars for example. Did you ever wonder why people who sell cars on the radio feel that it is necessary to yell at us? I just don’t get it.  Most of those ads make me not want to buy that car! Some words are easy to ignore, and some words make us want to ignore them. 

Then there are words that grab us, words that make us think … There are words that bring a sense of deep joy into our hearts when we hear them … and words that are just as deeply troubling to us. 

And there are quite a few words that we seem somehow to miss completely, we don’t even hear them until just the right moment when everything aligns and we finally are able to pause and listen carefully so that we can hear them. (Perhaps today we’ll hear a word like that?) 

There are many reasons why we might not ‘hear’ certain words.  Like those obvious product warnings (obvious), or an annoying announcer (messenger), or words that are too difficult or too troubling, that we simply turn away.  Another reason for not hearing could be that we are so sure that we understand what someone is saying to us that we mentally ‘tune them out’; truth be told, we just stop paying attention. 

That’s probably the #1 issue in troubled marriages, by the way – there is no communication, and that’s because one or both of the marriage partners at some point have decided that they already know everything there is to know about the other one; they’ve decided that they understand everything that this person can possibly have to say before they say it; they stop listening. 

The old saying tells us that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’, and that’s is a proverb because it is so often true. How many of you (be honest) pay attention to the flight attendants when they are giving you ‘the talk’ as the plane is taxiing down the runway?  We should pay attention, but we think, ‘I already know this’…or, ‘This is never going to happen. I don’t need to hear this!’ (Is it just me?) 

I’m convinced that one category of words that can very easily be ignored for many of the reasons I’ve mentioned so far, are religious words…yes, Bible words. Even the words of Jesus. Now, very few would ignore Jesus’ words as a conscious effort, but I’ve seen many instances over the years of people who know the words, but seem to be missing the truth. I’ve known people who can quote chapter and verse of the Bible, people who love to argue theology, but somehow the meaning of those words never seems to be able to make the journey from the head to the heart. 

There are a lot of people – certainly most of the people in our nation today – who could tell you that Easter is the day that the Church celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They could tell you that Jesus died on a Cross on a Friday and rose on a Sunday.  According to the polls, a majority of people still know this and believe it, which is pretty interesting. 

I say ‘interesting’ not as a judgment, but simply as an observation. A survey in 2003 revealed that 63 percent (of Americans) were "absolutely certain" that Jesus died and physically rose from the dead.[1]  Quite a few more than that claim to believe it, but with a little less degree of certainty. 

But if we were to ask questions about how specifically people try to put the teachings of Jesus into practice in their lives – i.e., do we forgive because Jesus told us to, do we love unconditionally (or try to), do we consider ourselves to be servants of those around us?  Our neighbors, our co-workers? Where do we invest our treasure? How do we deal with anger and revenge … does injustice bother us because of our faith (if it is someone other than ourselves who is the recipient of the injustice?)  Does our belief in Jesus affect the major decisions in our lives – i.e., does our faith in Christ have anything to say about where we will work, where we will live, who we date or marry, how we deal with our personal finances? And questions like these? 

The problem is the answer to those questions consistently points to the same conclusion: in a word, ‘no’.  People in our culture ‘believe’ in a resurrected Jesus, but the truth is we don’t pay too much attention to him! 

Now that’s a kind of curious thing… because the Scriptures are very consistent in their teaching about how the Resurrection of Jesus fits into the bigger picture of Christianity. The Resurrection is the cornerstone of our faith, to be sure. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul states that very bluntly: 

And if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. 

The Resurrection is the cornerstone of the Christian faith, but it is not an isolated event. It is not something that is meant to stand alone. It is the cornerstone of Christianity, but not the whole of it. To the Biblical writers the Resurrection, in addition to being a mysterious act of God’s power that broke the curse of death for all time, tell us that it was also the event that vindicated the claims and the life of Jesus. In this one act, everything that Jesus taught and all that he claimed to be, and all that the Scriptures claimed that he was and will do and is proven true! 

Jesus rose from the dead, an historical fact, an event that has a great weight of historical evidence to support it – and he was the only person in history to have done that.  And because he rose, we know that truly – just as he said – the penalty of our sins has been paid. In full. Because he rose from the grave we know that his promise to the thief on the cross – that ‘today you will be with me in Paradise’ was not an empty promise.  And we too, then, have that same hope! 

When Jesus told his disciples – and us – on the night of the Last Supper that we need not be afraid of death because he was going to prepare a place in eternity for everyone who loves him, we know that this is not an empty promise, either. We know that because Jesus rose from the dead – because he has conquered the enemy death, and he has invited us to join him in the victory celebration! Good news!  That’s Good news! 

But, you see, the Resurrection vindicated all of Jesus’ life and teachings.  Everything that Jesus taught us about following him, about forgiveness, about mercy, about love, about the way to God… everything that Jesus taught us about giving and serving, about priorities and prayer and anger and humility…that’s all been proven true, too. 

And we know that because his teachings were vindicated, they were underlined, they were established by the authority of God, on this day… on Easter. The Day of  Resurrection. 

Forgive me for repeating myself … but here’s something I said earlier:

… there are words that grab us, words that make us think … There are words that bring a sense of deep joy into our hearts when we hear them … and words that are just as deeply troubling to us. And there are quite a few words that we seem somehow to miss completely, we don’t even hear them until just the right moment when everything aligns and we finally are able to pause and listen carefully so that we can hear them. (Perhaps today we’ll hear a word like that?) 

Perhaps. In Matthew 7: 24 – 27 Jesus spoke these words:

Listen to them from Eugene Peterson’s version, ‘The Message’: 

"These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit—but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock.

"But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don't work them into your life, you are like a foolish carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” 

What Jesus literally says in that first verse is “whoever hears my words and puts them into practice is like a wise builder who built his house on solid rock.”  Are you hearing his words?  This is the teaching of the One whose life and words were vindicated by his rising from the dead… and he’s telling us, pretty clearly, that it is not enough to simply hear the words… it’s not enough to simply know the words. We need to act on them, to put them into practice. 

His words are not extras. Not ‘interesting but archaic’ teachings. They are ‘foundational words’, words that we start with. ‘Words to build a life on’. His words are life.

There was an article in USA today a few years ago about a developer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was responding to the increasing destructiveness of high winds in the Midwest. This guy offered an optional tornado-safe room in the new homes he was selling. For an extra $2,500, this room could also be used as a closet, bathroom, or vault when it wasn’t needed for safety.  Would you be interested? 

Nine of the first ten buyers that he made this offer to accepted it. “Sounds like a great idea”, they said! The tenth couple, however, opted for a hot tub instead.[2]

I hope that if a tornado strikes this couple’s house that they can find peace and refuge in their hot tub! But then again, they may have made the correct decision. The odds are probably in their favor; it’s not likely that a tornado will hit their home.  I’m not so sure that the same odds apply to the storms of life, however. 

Did you notice that in Jesus’ parable he describes two builders? One builds a home with the foundation deep in the bedrock, and the other builds right on sand.  But for both of them Jesus says, “And when the storms came…” The winds rose, the waves crashed against both of these houses…because they always do!  That’s what happens! That’s life! It wasn’t a question of whether or not this would happen, it wasn’t about taking a chance and going for the hot tub instead. We are part of a broken world, we live in this place where for the time being, evil still reigns, and brokenness is everywhere – a place where there is good, to be sure, but where there is also trouble, sadness, and pain. 

No one is exempt from the storms of life.  The question isn’t whether or not the storms will come – they’re coming, and they’ll keep coming - the question is ‘how deep is your foundation’?  Is it deep enough to withstand the most ferocious storms?  And, again, hear his words, Jesus is very clear: the houses that can withstand the storms of life are built by those who not only hear his words…but those who put them into practice in their lives. Any other building will ultimately disappoint, it will come crashing down. 

I heard of a guy who got a ticket for speeding and had to go to traffic school. He was talking about that experience. (Maybe some of you have been there?) In the defensive-driving part of the course, they created this scenario: “You're stopped at a stop sign. You look in your rearview mirror and see a car careening toward you that you realize is going to rear-end you. What should you do?” 

He said, “Almost everybody in the class said you should take your foot off the brake, so that when that car hits you, you would go forward, absorbing some of the shock.  But that was the wrong answer! 

The instructors told them: you put your brake on as tight as you can and brace yourself for that collision. Because if your car is rigid and braced—if it's on its foundation, in other words—then when that horizontal pressure hits, the car will absorb the damage, and more likely spare the occupants. If your car is not braked, you get the whiplash effect, which is very bad.[3]

Jesus says to us, when our lives are anchored into the Rock – when we have found his faithfulness and his love, and when we have made that the foundation of our lives by putting into practice the things he taught us – then we’re better equipped to handle the pressures and the storms and the challenges of life, whatever direction they come from. 

A Theologian named Wolfhart Pannenberg said this: “The evidence for Jesus' resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.[4]

The resurrection was the event that proved, that validated, the life, the ministry, the sacrifice and the teachings of Jesus Christ.  To believe in the Resurrection means not simply to give a passing nod intellectually to an historical event, but it means that, as Jesus invited us to do, we are ‘taking up our Cross’ and are following him.  Day by day. 

I.e., we are not only hearing his words, but doing everything we can to put them into practice. To live as Jesus taught. We then, are building an eternal house on the Rock of Ages. 

And it all makes sense because He is risen! Hallelujah