April 6, 2025 • 19 mins
Luke 6:46-49
Some disasters never happen because we do the work in advance to stop them. Build your house on solid ground and watch it withstand the coming flood. Faith helps us reframe what could have been a disaster into a moment of strength and endurance.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Matt Nelson (00:04):
Welcome to the Sermon podcast from First United Methodist
Church in downtown Bentonville.
If you have questions related to whatyou hear today or just want to find out
more about the ministries at First UnitedMethodist Church, please visit us online
at FU mc bentonville.org or check usout on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
This week's podcast begins witha clip from a short video that
(00:27):
was aired during Sunday service.
Roy and Kelly Lee (00:31):
We can reuse and recycle.
We can turn off lights, wecan get a more efficient car.
We can do all the thingsthat are necessary for that.
We can vote in the way thathelps those things happen.
But mitigation, trying to do what you can.
Sad as it sounds, some housesneed to get rid of the big trees
that are around their homes.
(00:52):
Uh, if you can look at a tree and youknow that if a tornado came, it would
land on your house, in your house.
The tree probably needs to come down andif the shade is nice in the summer, but
it's not really worth it in the long run,so each home can do an assessment of what
they could do to try to make the nextdisaster less impactful for your family.
Connie and Brad Anderson (01:11):
One of the things that we have consistently
highlighted is you can tell thatthe facility that that the church,
that this physical space hasbeen so diligently taken care of.
Because of how light the damage was.
I mean, that was devastatingto find, don't get me wrong.
The, the stain glass window wasdevastating to find, but it, it could
have been worse if, if 20 something yearsago when they restored all these windows,
(01:34):
they hadn't have put in storm glass.
It would've been all in this room.
It, it just would'vebeen pieces everywhere.
And, and now we're talking what,what the restoration looks like.
Our faith has sustainedus, uh, in many, many ways.
Uh, so many people showing upand it just shows us that that's
the hands and feet of God.
Everywhere we turn, we had thesafety net under us that we
(01:55):
didn't even know we really had.
And then when we needed something,the safety net was there and
everybody just kicked into action.
We had a former pastor onetime, um, that said something
that I've always remembered.
Everything that happens is not thewill of God, but the will of God is in.
(02:16):
Everything that happens.
We have seen that over and over sinceall this has happened, and for that
we are very, very grateful and very,very thankful in so many different
ways in so many different people.
The help, the outpouringof love was overwhelming.
Adam and Rebecca Kingree (02:38):
So how has our faith sustained
us on a journey of recovery?
I think there's.
Yeah, there's a lot and Ithink there's gonna be a lot.
I mean, it's still honestly apretty recent experience, right?
And so I think that there's gonna be alot of lessons that we take that maybe.
Take some time over the years.
Right.
But I think for me, um, one of the firstthings was, you know, our whole area
(03:01):
was obviously impacted and I, I always,Rebecca would remind me, like I would
be almost hesitant to accept support.
I know the church was reaching out tohelp us and I was like, well, there's.
There is a lot of people, especiallyin Rogers, who were much more impacted
than us, who had total losses.
And so part of me was apprehensiveto accept help in a way.
(03:24):
Um, but I think that lookingback, that really sells short.
I think from a faith perspective, theabundance of God's love, um, there's no
limit on what, what God's level will give.
God's level will give youthe people that reached out.
And so for me it was reallyaccepting love and that's okay to do.
(03:46):
And then second, I would say, um,just how fragile everything is.
It's a, I know anybody who's been througha traumatic experience can probably
understand that, but it's really, youunderstand how fragile everything.
Like right now I'm looking at thesetrees and I'm thinking When the
wind blows too hard, I can easilysee something happening again.
But I think once you understand howfragile everything is in life, you can
(04:08):
look at it as a. Negatively afraid.
But it also, I think, helps you understandthe beauty of what you have right here,
right now, and to really experiencethat as deeply as you can in the moment.
And I think for me, it's embracingthe fragility of life that there is,
and to really just appreciate everysingle moment of every day of what you
(04:29):
have and to really grow a gratitude.
Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris (04:32):
I love that sentiment of paying attention to what's
beautiful about everyday life andrecognizing the fragility in the midst
of it, but finding hope in that as well.
That's a powerful, powerfulstatement of faith.
We are in this series for lt,in which we're looking at what's
called mitigated disaster.
(04:52):
And just to frame you up, we didn'tactually introduce this section of the
series, but over the next four weekswe're gonna be looking at FEMA and
other disaster response organizations.
Kind of how they understandhow disaster unfolds.
And so today Ray's gonna betalking about mitigation.
Next week we will talk about preparation.
(05:14):
The following week we'll talk aboutresponse after a disaster has occurred,
and then we'll talk about recovery,the kind of long haul work that has to
happen on the other side of the disasterbefore we get into Holy Week, which is,
you know, a faith disaster all its own.
So have that kind of frame in mind aswe're going through the next few weeks.
Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler (05:33):
So our scripture lesson is from the
Gospel of Luke, chapter six.
It's verses 46 through 49, and I inviteyou to listen for the word of God
contained in these holy scriptures.
Why do you call me Lord,Lord, and don't do what I say.
I'll show you what it's like whensomeone comes to me, here's my
(05:54):
words, and puts them into practice.
It's like a person building a house bydigging deep and laying the foundation
on bedrock When the flood came andthe rising water smashed against that
house, but the water couldn't shakethe house 'cause it was well built.
But those who don't put into practicewhat they hear are like a person who
(06:17):
built a house without a foundation.
The flood water smashed againstit and it collapsed instantly
and it was completely destroyed.
This is the word of Godfor us, the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
I would love it if you'd join me injust a moment of prayer this morning
before we get into our message.
And if you feel comfortable, just,uh, close your eyes and let's
(06:39):
take a few cleansing breaths andfocus our mind on the presence
of the Holy Spirit in this place.
Holy and merciful God, break your wordlike bread for your children this morning.
And may the words of my mouth andthe meditations of all our hearts
(07:01):
be acceptable in your sight.
Amen.
So when I read this scripture, there aretwo things that just leaped instantly to
my mind, and one of 'em is the children'ssong that we always sing at BBS.
And it's that song, the Wise Manbuilt his house upon the Rock.
Well, you all know that one, right?
And you get so thechildren love that song.
(07:23):
They have a lot ofmovements and it's so great.
But mainly when we get to theFoolish Man built his house up
on the sand, we get to sing, andthe house on the sand went splat.
And they loved that.
They adore that splatting sound.
And I do too.
It's kind of fun.
So the second thing that comesto mind for me personally is my
(07:44):
wife and I like to vacation at thebeach, and we usually rent an Airbnb
that's really close to the beach,as close to the beach as we can get.
And the last one we stayed at.
It was really built so well.
The walls were about two feet thickand probably made of concrete.
It was very sturdy, and the mainthing I remember is the patio door.
(08:05):
The glass patio door was very heavy andit kinda had a locking mechanism that
shot a rod into the ceiling and intothe floor, and I thought, man, you could
have that patio door on a submarine.
It probably wouldn't leak.
It was so well built.
So that house was built to withstandpowerful winds and rain and still
(08:26):
be standing at the end of the storm.
So the theme, as Pastor Michellesaid for this Sunday, is mitigation,
preparing, how do I hope for thebest and prepare for the worst.
And what I think will be dealingwith today is how deep is our faith?
Is our faith dug out and put on a bedrock?
Do we have a foundational faith?
(08:48):
That will carry us throughthe storms of our life.
So Jesus in this passage sharpensthat point more when he says,
why do you proclaim me as Lord,Lord, but then ignore my message?
Good question.
This passage in Luke comes at theend of a famous sermon Jesus gives.
Luke says, on a level place, and it'ssimilar to the sermon that you probably
(09:13):
have heard of the Sermon on the Mount.
And some scholars called this andLuke, the sermon on the plane.
So what I wanna do is kind of look at thissermon on the plane because this scripture
when Jesus says, why do you call me Lord,Lord and don't listen to what I say?
He says a lot of things inthe sermon on the plane.
I think we can kind of examine that andsee what is Christ talking about there.
(09:34):
So I always thought when I wasreading the different gospels.
Okay.
Matthew must have been talking tosome different people and, and Luke,
you know, he doesn't always agreeexactly, but I read a book recently
about Jesus, and this scholar wassaying Jesus was a traveling teacher.
He was an oral teacher.
He taught by speaking, and he did thatprobably because a lot of the people
(09:56):
he's speaking to weren't able to read.
So he was traveling and givingthese speeches and he would've used
phrases and words that were realmemorable so people could remember.
And it's likely that the sayings weread in the gospels were repeated by
Jesus more than once and and possiblyhe repeated them many times, but you
(10:16):
can imagine he knew his audiences,he would change them slightly.
So I think that's reallywhat we're working with here.
Luke is working with a differenttime when Jesus is basically
teaching the same sermon.
So in both the Sermon on the Mountin Matthew and the sermon on the
plane in Luke, Jesus does and saysmany of the same things in Luke.
(10:37):
He heals many of the people at thebeginning, and then he's instructing them
on how to live in the manner following histeachings, how to live following Christ.
And he gives us the beatitudes andhe tells us to love our enemies,
and he gives us the golden rule.
So he's telling us, here'show I want you to live.
Of he tells us to be kind and merciful tosinners and our enemies because as he says
(11:04):
in verse 35 and 36, love your enemies.
Do good and lend, expectingnothing in return.
If you do, you'll have a great reward.
You'll be children of the most high.
For God is kind to the ungrateful andto wicked people, so be compassionate.
(11:24):
Just as your father is compassionate.
That's a remarkable statement.
I think I've read Luke several times andthat statement never popped out at me.
Like this time, be kind to the ungrateful,the mean-spirited, and don't judge because
God is kind and compassionate to all.
And to put a cherry on top ofthis kindness Sunday very next
(11:46):
word in the sermon is don't judge.
Do not judge lest you be judged.
So what does all this mean for us today?
Him.
Jesus is obviously not talking aboutbuilding houses with fire resistant
shingles or double pane windows.
He's talking about us.
He's talking about our lives,about building strong faith.
(12:10):
Jesus is telling us, don't justconfess Jesus' Lord with your lips,
but also do what I'm asking you to do.
So how do we prepare spirituallythen to weather those storms of life,
the difficult and the dark places?
How do we build a S firmfoundation on faith?
So based on what Jesus has saidto us and how we move through
(12:32):
the world, we can think of a fewthings we can do to emulate Christ.
So I believe the first thingwe do building our faith is to
cultivate a strong prayer life.
That's easier to say thanit is to do, believe me.
One of the questions that alwayscomes up when I'm in meetings with
other United Methodist pastors,after we get pleasantries out of the
(12:54):
way, some in the middle invariablysay, how's your prayer life going?
What are you doing to feed your soulas you're doing this Walk with Christ?
So one thing I can think of is to be awarethat God is always with us and to kind of
whisper some prayers throughout the day.
Not necessarily fall on ourknees 12 times a day, but.
Be aware God is there andwhisper these prayers to God.
(13:15):
Years ago I read a, a strangelittle book by Paul S. Williams
called Dos Intergy, and it waskinda like a poem, a book of poetry.
So lots of pages just had one lineand you turn the page and you had
another line and one page, I'llnever forget this, I turned the page.
It says, beware of God.
Turned the page.
And the next page said, andby beware, I mean be aware.
(13:39):
Being aware of God throughout the dayis a way to think of this in a way of
acknowledging that God is always present.
I also believe it's, it's very goodfor us if we can, to set aside time
dedicated to speaking to God and tolistening for God, including time
to be quiet and still before God.
(13:59):
And that's not always easy either,especially for preachers or including
preachers, especially for everyone.
We get busy and we forget.
I can't tell you the number of times I'vebeen really busy around here and I've
been doing things, and I get to the endof the day and I think I forgot something.
What did I forget?
Oh, I didn't pray today.
So we know the prayeris important to Jesus.
Of course, he prayed often and justbefore Jesus comes and preaches the
(14:22):
sermon on the plane, Luke tells usJesus spent the night in prayer to God.
It was his example thatwe can follow there.
A second way of building a firm foundationis one you all are doing right now.
We need to find community, seekplaces where you can support
others and others can support you.
(14:43):
And I would also suggestfinding a small group.
I admit I used to think, oh,that's just a waste of time.
Why do we need small groups?
And then I got involved in a smallgroup and I said, this is so meaningful.
It's so meaningful to meetwith a few people and to talk
about your spiritual walk.
And so you can do thatin a Sunday school class.
A lot of you I know are very committedto Sunday school and Bible studies and
(15:07):
book studies, but you can also just forma small group based on what John Wesley,
our founder, called a class meeting.
John Wesley would get people together.
He would get about 12 peopletogether, and he would say, there's
two questions you need to ask.
How is it with your soul?
And where have you seen God this week?
(15:27):
And that's a very meaningful wayto have a small group experience.
Again, we see this more from what Jesusdid at this time than what he says,
because right after he prays all nightto God, he calls his disciples together.
And he names his 12 apostles in Luke.
So that's a pretty good small group.
(15:49):
So after this, Jesus startspreaching the sermon on the plane.
And just like the Sermon on the Mount,Jesus starts with the beatitudes.
And I wanna think a minuteabout these beatitudes and how
they're framed here in Luke.
Luke often casts things in contrast,sometimes paradoxically contrasting.
And so the writer of Luke givesus the blessed list first.
(16:12):
And then being Luke, hegives us the woe to list.
So Jesus says, blessedare you who are poor.
For yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry for you.
Be filled.
Blessed are you whoweep for you will laugh.
And blessed are you when peoplehate you and when they exclude
you and revile you, and defameyou on account of the son of man.
(16:34):
But then Luke gives us the woe tolist Woe to you who are rich for
you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are fullnow for you'll be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now for you willweep and woe to you when all speak
well of you for that is what theirancestors did for the false prophets.
So I believe what Jesus is sayinghere is He's trying to tell us who's
(16:57):
important in this kingdom of God.
Who should we be thinking about?
And not surprisingly, it'snot the rich and powerful.
And then Jesus says that beautiful.
Love your enemies and do unto othersas you would have them do unto you.
At the close of this section, we hearthat remarkable scripture I referenced
early God is kind to ungrateful andwicked people be compassionate just
(17:22):
as your father is compassionate.
So I think that's an important wayto prepare our house for disaster.
I believe what Jesus is saying iswe need to keep our hearts tender
and make room for compassion.
And I kind of think anotherword to describe what Jesus
is talking about is empathy.
So what I think is the way to be strong,paradoxically, is to open our hearts
(17:49):
to compassion and to cultivate empathy.
So how do we weather the storms and thedisasters that we all inevitably face?
I believe it is to soften our heartsand show the compassion of the heavenly
Father to the poor and to the hungry.
And to the grateful and even to thewicked, we should affirm Jesus' Lord.
(18:14):
And then we should follow the exampleof the teachings of the Living Christ.
Glory be to God.
I'm in.
Matt Nelson (18:23):
Thanks
for listening to the Sermonpodcast from First United Methodist
Church in downtown Bentonville.
If you would like to let us know you werehere, follow the link below to connect.
To participate in worship through giving,you can give online at FUMCbentonville.org
or on Venmo @FUMCbentonville.
FUMC Bentonville welcomes all.
(18:43):
Because we believe the communiontable is God's table, we invite
everyone into our church family.
We welcome and celebrate every race,gender, gender identity, sexual
orientation, marital status, age, physicaland mental ability, national origin,
economic station, and political ideology.
We come together in action and outreach,aspiring to follow Jesus' example of
(19:07):
radical hospitality, love, and grace as atransformative movement in our community.
Please join us for worship on Sundaymornings, at nine and 11:00 AM,
both in person and on Facebook Live.
All are welcome and we'dlove to have you with us.
Grace in peace.
Welcome to the Sermon podcast from First United Methodist
Church in downtown Bentonville.
If you have questions related to whatyou hear today or just want to find out
more about the ministries at First UnitedMethodist Church, please visit us online
at FU mc bentonville.org or check usout on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.
This week's podcast begins witha clip from a short video that
(00:27):
was aired during Sunday service.
Roy and Kelly Lee (00:31):
We can reuse and recycle.
We can turn off lights, wecan get a more efficient car.
We can do all the thingsthat are necessary for that.
We can vote in the way thathelps those things happen.
But mitigation, trying to do what you can.
Sad as it sounds, some housesneed to get rid of the big trees
that are around their homes.
(00:52):
Uh, if you can look at a tree and youknow that if a tornado came, it would
land on your house, in your house.
The tree probably needs to come down andif the shade is nice in the summer, but
it's not really worth it in the long run,so each home can do an assessment of what
they could do to try to make the nextdisaster less impactful for your family.
Connie and Brad Anderson (01:11):
One of the things that we have consistently
highlighted is you can tell thatthe facility that that the church,
that this physical space hasbeen so diligently taken care of.
Because of how light the damage was.
I mean, that was devastatingto find, don't get me wrong.
The, the stain glass window wasdevastating to find, but it, it could
have been worse if, if 20 something yearsago when they restored all these windows,
(01:34):
they hadn't have put in storm glass.
It would've been all in this room.
It, it just would'vebeen pieces everywhere.
And, and now we're talking what,what the restoration looks like.
Our faith has sustainedus, uh, in many, many ways.
Uh, so many people showing upand it just shows us that that's
the hands and feet of God.
Everywhere we turn, we had thesafety net under us that we
(01:55):
didn't even know we really had.
And then when we needed something,the safety net was there and
everybody just kicked into action.
We had a former pastor onetime, um, that said something
that I've always remembered.
Everything that happens is not thewill of God, but the will of God is in.
(02:16):
Everything that happens.
We have seen that over and over sinceall this has happened, and for that
we are very, very grateful and very,very thankful in so many different
ways in so many different people.
The help, the outpouringof love was overwhelming.
Adam and Rebecca Kingree (02:38):
So how has our faith sustained
us on a journey of recovery?
I think there's.
Yeah, there's a lot and Ithink there's gonna be a lot.
I mean, it's still honestly apretty recent experience, right?
And so I think that there's gonna be alot of lessons that we take that maybe.
Take some time over the years.
Right.
But I think for me, um, one of the firstthings was, you know, our whole area
(03:01):
was obviously impacted and I, I always,Rebecca would remind me, like I would
be almost hesitant to accept support.
I know the church was reaching out tohelp us and I was like, well, there's.
There is a lot of people, especiallyin Rogers, who were much more impacted
than us, who had total losses.
And so part of me was apprehensiveto accept help in a way.
(03:24):
Um, but I think that lookingback, that really sells short.
I think from a faith perspective, theabundance of God's love, um, there's no
limit on what, what God's level will give.
God's level will give youthe people that reached out.
And so for me it was reallyaccepting love and that's okay to do.
(03:46):
And then second, I would say, um,just how fragile everything is.
It's a, I know anybody who's been througha traumatic experience can probably
understand that, but it's really, youunderstand how fragile everything.
Like right now I'm looking at thesetrees and I'm thinking When the
wind blows too hard, I can easilysee something happening again.
But I think once you understand howfragile everything is in life, you can
(04:08):
look at it as a. Negatively afraid.
But it also, I think, helps you understandthe beauty of what you have right here,
right now, and to really experiencethat as deeply as you can in the moment.
And I think for me, it's embracingthe fragility of life that there is,
and to really just appreciate everysingle moment of every day of what you
(04:29):
have and to really grow a gratitude.
Rev. Dr. Michelle Morris (04:32):
I love that sentiment of paying attention to what's
beautiful about everyday life andrecognizing the fragility in the midst
of it, but finding hope in that as well.
That's a powerful, powerfulstatement of faith.
We are in this series for lt,in which we're looking at what's
called mitigated disaster.
(04:52):
And just to frame you up, we didn'tactually introduce this section of the
series, but over the next four weekswe're gonna be looking at FEMA and
other disaster response organizations.
Kind of how they understandhow disaster unfolds.
And so today Ray's gonna betalking about mitigation.
Next week we will talk about preparation.
(05:14):
The following week we'll talk aboutresponse after a disaster has occurred,
and then we'll talk about recovery,the kind of long haul work that has to
happen on the other side of the disasterbefore we get into Holy Week, which is,
you know, a faith disaster all its own.
So have that kind of frame in mind aswe're going through the next few weeks.
Rev. Dr. T. Ray Wheeler (05:33):
So our scripture lesson is from the
Gospel of Luke, chapter six.
It's verses 46 through 49, and I inviteyou to listen for the word of God
contained in these holy scriptures.
Why do you call me Lord,Lord, and don't do what I say.
I'll show you what it's like whensomeone comes to me, here's my
(05:54):
words, and puts them into practice.
It's like a person building a house bydigging deep and laying the foundation
on bedrock When the flood came andthe rising water smashed against that
house, but the water couldn't shakethe house 'cause it was well built.
But those who don't put into practicewhat they hear are like a person who
(06:17):
built a house without a foundation.
The flood water smashed againstit and it collapsed instantly
and it was completely destroyed.
This is the word of Godfor us, the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
I would love it if you'd join me injust a moment of prayer this morning
before we get into our message.
And if you feel comfortable, just,uh, close your eyes and let's
(06:39):
take a few cleansing breaths andfocus our mind on the presence
of the Holy Spirit in this place.
Holy and merciful God, break your wordlike bread for your children this morning.
And may the words of my mouth andthe meditations of all our hearts
(07:01):
be acceptable in your sight.
Amen.
So when I read this scripture, there aretwo things that just leaped instantly to
my mind, and one of 'em is the children'ssong that we always sing at BBS.
And it's that song, the Wise Manbuilt his house upon the Rock.
Well, you all know that one, right?
And you get so thechildren love that song.
(07:23):
They have a lot ofmovements and it's so great.
But mainly when we get to theFoolish Man built his house up
on the sand, we get to sing, andthe house on the sand went splat.
And they loved that.
They adore that splatting sound.
And I do too.
It's kind of fun.
So the second thing that comesto mind for me personally is my
(07:44):
wife and I like to vacation at thebeach, and we usually rent an Airbnb
that's really close to the beach,as close to the beach as we can get.
And the last one we stayed at.
It was really built so well.
The walls were about two feet thickand probably made of concrete.
It was very sturdy, and the mainthing I remember is the patio door.
(08:05):
The glass patio door was very heavy andit kinda had a locking mechanism that
shot a rod into the ceiling and intothe floor, and I thought, man, you could
have that patio door on a submarine.
It probably wouldn't leak.
It was so well built.
So that house was built to withstandpowerful winds and rain and still
(08:26):
be standing at the end of the storm.
So the theme, as Pastor Michellesaid for this Sunday, is mitigation,
preparing, how do I hope for thebest and prepare for the worst.
And what I think will be dealingwith today is how deep is our faith?
Is our faith dug out and put on a bedrock?
Do we have a foundational faith?
(08:48):
That will carry us throughthe storms of our life.
So Jesus in this passage sharpensthat point more when he says,
why do you proclaim me as Lord,Lord, but then ignore my message?
Good question.
This passage in Luke comes at theend of a famous sermon Jesus gives.
Luke says, on a level place, and it'ssimilar to the sermon that you probably
(09:13):
have heard of the Sermon on the Mount.
And some scholars called this andLuke, the sermon on the plane.
So what I wanna do is kind of look at thissermon on the plane because this scripture
when Jesus says, why do you call me Lord,Lord and don't listen to what I say?
He says a lot of things inthe sermon on the plane.
I think we can kind of examine that andsee what is Christ talking about there.
(09:34):
So I always thought when I wasreading the different gospels.
Okay.
Matthew must have been talking tosome different people and, and Luke,
you know, he doesn't always agreeexactly, but I read a book recently
about Jesus, and this scholar wassaying Jesus was a traveling teacher.
He was an oral teacher.
He taught by speaking, and he did thatprobably because a lot of the people
(09:56):
he's speaking to weren't able to read.
So he was traveling and givingthese speeches and he would've used
phrases and words that were realmemorable so people could remember.
And it's likely that the sayings weread in the gospels were repeated by
Jesus more than once and and possiblyhe repeated them many times, but you
(10:16):
can imagine he knew his audiences,he would change them slightly.
So I think that's reallywhat we're working with here.
Luke is working with a differenttime when Jesus is basically
teaching the same sermon.
So in both the Sermon on the Mountin Matthew and the sermon on the
plane in Luke, Jesus does and saysmany of the same things in Luke.
(10:37):
He heals many of the people at thebeginning, and then he's instructing them
on how to live in the manner following histeachings, how to live following Christ.
And he gives us the beatitudes andhe tells us to love our enemies,
and he gives us the golden rule.
So he's telling us, here'show I want you to live.
Of he tells us to be kind and merciful tosinners and our enemies because as he says
(11:04):
in verse 35 and 36, love your enemies.
Do good and lend, expectingnothing in return.
If you do, you'll have a great reward.
You'll be children of the most high.
For God is kind to the ungrateful andto wicked people, so be compassionate.
(11:24):
Just as your father is compassionate.
That's a remarkable statement.
I think I've read Luke several times andthat statement never popped out at me.
Like this time, be kind to the ungrateful,the mean-spirited, and don't judge because
God is kind and compassionate to all.
And to put a cherry on top ofthis kindness Sunday very next
(11:46):
word in the sermon is don't judge.
Do not judge lest you be judged.
So what does all this mean for us today?
Him.
Jesus is obviously not talking aboutbuilding houses with fire resistant
shingles or double pane windows.
He's talking about us.
He's talking about our lives,about building strong faith.
(12:10):
Jesus is telling us, don't justconfess Jesus' Lord with your lips,
but also do what I'm asking you to do.
So how do we prepare spirituallythen to weather those storms of life,
the difficult and the dark places?
How do we build a S firmfoundation on faith?
So based on what Jesus has saidto us and how we move through
(12:32):
the world, we can think of a fewthings we can do to emulate Christ.
So I believe the first thingwe do building our faith is to
cultivate a strong prayer life.
That's easier to say thanit is to do, believe me.
One of the questions that alwayscomes up when I'm in meetings with
other United Methodist pastors,after we get pleasantries out of the
(12:54):
way, some in the middle invariablysay, how's your prayer life going?
What are you doing to feed your soulas you're doing this Walk with Christ?
So one thing I can think of is to be awarethat God is always with us and to kind of
whisper some prayers throughout the day.
Not necessarily fall on ourknees 12 times a day, but.
Be aware God is there andwhisper these prayers to God.
(13:15):
Years ago I read a, a strangelittle book by Paul S. Williams
called Dos Intergy, and it waskinda like a poem, a book of poetry.
So lots of pages just had one lineand you turn the page and you had
another line and one page, I'llnever forget this, I turned the page.
It says, beware of God.
Turned the page.
And the next page said, andby beware, I mean be aware.
(13:39):
Being aware of God throughout the dayis a way to think of this in a way of
acknowledging that God is always present.
I also believe it's, it's very goodfor us if we can, to set aside time
dedicated to speaking to God and tolistening for God, including time
to be quiet and still before God.
(13:59):
And that's not always easy either,especially for preachers or including
preachers, especially for everyone.
We get busy and we forget.
I can't tell you the number of times I'vebeen really busy around here and I've
been doing things, and I get to the endof the day and I think I forgot something.
What did I forget?
Oh, I didn't pray today.
So we know the prayeris important to Jesus.
Of course, he prayed often and justbefore Jesus comes and preaches the
(14:22):
sermon on the plane, Luke tells usJesus spent the night in prayer to God.
It was his example thatwe can follow there.
A second way of building a firm foundationis one you all are doing right now.
We need to find community, seekplaces where you can support
others and others can support you.
(14:43):
And I would also suggestfinding a small group.
I admit I used to think, oh,that's just a waste of time.
Why do we need small groups?
And then I got involved in a smallgroup and I said, this is so meaningful.
It's so meaningful to meetwith a few people and to talk
about your spiritual walk.
And so you can do thatin a Sunday school class.
A lot of you I know are very committedto Sunday school and Bible studies and
(15:07):
book studies, but you can also just forma small group based on what John Wesley,
our founder, called a class meeting.
John Wesley would get people together.
He would get about 12 peopletogether, and he would say, there's
two questions you need to ask.
How is it with your soul?
And where have you seen God this week?
(15:27):
And that's a very meaningful wayto have a small group experience.
Again, we see this more from what Jesusdid at this time than what he says,
because right after he prays all nightto God, he calls his disciples together.
And he names his 12 apostles in Luke.
So that's a pretty good small group.
(15:49):
So after this, Jesus startspreaching the sermon on the plane.
And just like the Sermon on the Mount,Jesus starts with the beatitudes.
And I wanna think a minuteabout these beatitudes and how
they're framed here in Luke.
Luke often casts things in contrast,sometimes paradoxically contrasting.
And so the writer of Luke givesus the blessed list first.
(16:12):
And then being Luke, hegives us the woe to list.
So Jesus says, blessedare you who are poor.
For yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry for you.
Be filled.
Blessed are you whoweep for you will laugh.
And blessed are you when peoplehate you and when they exclude
you and revile you, and defameyou on account of the son of man.
(16:34):
But then Luke gives us the woe tolist Woe to you who are rich for
you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are fullnow for you'll be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now for you willweep and woe to you when all speak
well of you for that is what theirancestors did for the false prophets.
So I believe what Jesus is sayinghere is He's trying to tell us who's
(16:57):
important in this kingdom of God.
Who should we be thinking about?
And not surprisingly, it'snot the rich and powerful.
And then Jesus says that beautiful.
Love your enemies and do unto othersas you would have them do unto you.
At the close of this section, we hearthat remarkable scripture I referenced
early God is kind to ungrateful andwicked people be compassionate just
(17:22):
as your father is compassionate.
So I think that's an important wayto prepare our house for disaster.
I believe what Jesus is saying iswe need to keep our hearts tender
and make room for compassion.
And I kind of think anotherword to describe what Jesus
is talking about is empathy.
So what I think is the way to be strong,paradoxically, is to open our hearts
(17:49):
to compassion and to cultivate empathy.
So how do we weather the storms and thedisasters that we all inevitably face?
I believe it is to soften our heartsand show the compassion of the heavenly
Father to the poor and to the hungry.
And to the grateful and even to thewicked, we should affirm Jesus' Lord.
(18:14):
And then we should follow the exampleof the teachings of the Living Christ.
Glory be to God.
I'm in.
Matt Nelson (18:23):
Thanks
for listening to the Sermonpodcast from First United Methodist
Church in downtown Bentonville.
If you would like to let us know you werehere, follow the link below to connect.
To participate in worship through giving,you can give online at FUMCbentonville.org
or on Venmo @FUMCbentonville.
FUMC Bentonville welcomes all.
(18:43):
Because we believe the communiontable is God's table, we invite
everyone into our church family.
We welcome and celebrate every race,gender, gender identity, sexual
orientation, marital status, age, physicaland mental ability, national origin,
economic station, and political ideology.
We come together in action and outreach,aspiring to follow Jesus' example of
(19:07):
radical hospitality, love, and grace as atransformative movement in our community.
Please join us for worship on Sundaymornings, at nine and 11:00 AM,
both in person and on Facebook Live.
All are welcome and we'dlove to have you with us.
Grace in peace.
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