Hope in the HurricaneNovember 18th, 2012

Almost three weeks have past since Hurricane Sandy touched down on us on October 29th.

- And while some of us have been able to breath that big sigh of relief knowing its impact is mostly behind us,

- There are, of course, many thousands who continue to live under its weight because of lost homes and even loved ones who lost their lives.

In every sense of the word, Hurricane Sandy was a SuperStorm… the largest Atlantic hurricane on record.

- As you know, it started in the Caribbean as a tropical storm; morphed into a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane force winds…

- And, if that weren’t enough, now mixed together with a Nor’Easter, Sandy took a left as it traveled up the US coastline,

- hitting the East Coast at 90 miles per hour, just five miles west of Atlantic City.

The biggest Atlantic hurricane in recorded history has now slammed into the most densely populated region of the country, with 60 million people in its crosshairs.

- Just to give you a sense of its size… Sandy’s wind field was over 1000 miles wide. SEE PIC

- That’s a 3-hour plane ride from one end to the other. So, when Atlantic City became Ground Zero for this epic storm,

- It’s no surprise that 80% of the landmass was under water.

From there, Sandy roared up the Jersey Shore, continuing at 90 miles per hour… devastating beach towns like Seaside, Belmar, Point Pleasant & Long Beach Island.

- Of course, we’ve all looked with amazement as Sandy literally ripped away the boardwalks and piers along several resort towns.

- What an image that roller coaster was in Seaside… no longer sitting on what we thought was an immovable pier.

The Shore Vineyard church in Tom’s River just had their grand opening four months ago.

- But the 3.5 feet of water Sandy brought into their building destroyed everything. SEE PIC

- Thankfully, Vineyards across the country sent them $100g while teams of Vineyard folks from the Philly area gutted the place out in just two days…

- In fact, they were able to have church that Sunday! SEE PIC

Needless to say, homes flooded, cars washed away, several feet of sand moved blocks away from the shoreline.

- Just look at this before and after picture from Brick Township, NJ. Dozens of homes completely washed away.

- Let me ask you… how many of you regularly visited or vacationed at the Jersey Shore?

- It hit me when Governor Christie said that “the Jersey Shore of our youth is gone.”

- The most destructive and expensive storm to ever hit our state has completely reshaped our coastline.

Of course, the Superstorm’s impact on Nassau County and NYC was catastrophic as well.

- Over 6 million people lost power and trees and power lines came down. One of the first images I saw of the storm was seeing the East River covering the FDR in Manhattan…

- And the one of the taxi stations half covered in water.- Subways and tunnels flooded… even the NY stock exchange

was closed for two full days, which, of course, had a huge economic impact as well.

- All told, Sandy’s estimated cost here will be over 50 billion dollars… the costliest storm in US history, second only to Katrina.

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Truth is, all of us have a story to tell… of trees down, power outages, waiting in 4-hour gas lines.

- And yet, I think we’re all thankful that we didn’t have to face what those living in Breezy Point, NY faced as nearly 100 homes burnt to the ground from a ruptured gas line.

- In Hoboken, streets were flooded with dirty storm water mixed with raw sewage… while large parts of Little Ferry looked more like a lake than a suburb.

To one degree or another… we all faced this epic storm. And, in spite of the challenges it brought, we’re all here as a church…

- giving thanks to God who is always present , always powerful, and always perfect in His love.

- So, though I want to frame this message within the context of Hurricane Sandy, my focus will, instead…

- be on the kind of hope and the kind of life that can keep us grounded even through the worst of storms.

So, if you have your Bibles with you, go ahead and turn to a passage that a number of you may have thought of at some point over the past few weeks… Matthew 7:24-27.

- It’s a story Jesus told about a pretty significant storm… a story that can help us process how we can grow from all that’s happened.

- So, let’s get into this passage a bit. And, as we do, keep in mind that Jesus had just finished one of the greatest sermons ever preached… the Sermon on the Mount.

It was His manifesto about life in the Kingdom and what it means to live a Jesus-centered life on earth.

- And when He’s done, He concludes that message with these words:

“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. 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

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the rock. 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Jesus is asking us to consider two families… both of whom are experiencing a pretty significant storm…

- Where “the rain came down, the streams rose, violent winds blew and beat against their houses.”

- Doesn’t quite take a meteorologist to understand what torrential rains, rising floodwaters, and homes being knocked down by gale-force winds is referring to.

- Now we don’t know whether He’s talking about a category 3 or 4, but He’s clearly talking about some kind of hurricane.

So, while our situation here on the East Coast was pretty unique, the truth is, everyone is hit by some heavy-weight storms in their life.

- Everyone in this room this morning has been hit by the hard realities of living life in a broken world…

- Rains that fall hard and winds that blow fierce against our families and marriages and jobs and finances and health and relationships.

The context of how we get hit by these storms will likely be different in each of our lives… but we all share this same reality…

- That storms will come! And yet, the response of the two men in Jesus’ story should raise a question for us…

- That, when a Super-storm like Sandy hits, will the foundation that we’ve built our lives on be able to withstand its fierce winds & rains & ocean surges.

- You see, storms have a way of exposing what we’re building our lives on.

Now, if you compare the two men, they clearly have a lot in common: For example… both men had the SAME DREAM.

- I mean, they both intended build or construct something significant with their lives.

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- If they were married, they wanted a relationship that would grow and flourish and withstand the pressures this world can bring.

Like us, they were building a life. They wanted to build a career and relationship and, perhaps a ministry that’s meaningful…

- something that honors God… built to go the distance.- You see, at the end of the day, we all sort of share the same

dream… to build a meaningful, fruitful life.

But not only did both men have the same dream, the also had the SAME DIRECTIONS. That is, they both had listened to Jesus.

- Jesus says the both guys “heard these words of mine.” - So, these are pretty much church-goin’ guys who set out to

follow Jesus… to know Him and walk with Him.- Both these men also experienced the SAME STORM.

They’re both in their homes when the power goes out.

Both saw the lights of exploding substations and transformers brightening the skies…

- Both were trying to figure out where they could find gas to keep their car going…

- or a generator to keep their refrigerators cold. - You see, we’re just like these two men.

We share the same dreams & have the same directions, in that we’ve heard the words of Jesus and desire to live according to those words.

- And we all confront the same storms… where, at some point in life, we face something that truly tests

- not only our resolve... but the strength of our foundations. Those are the things these two men have in common.

- And yet, when the hurricane hits, the experiences & outcomes faced by each of these men are completely different.

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For the first guy who built his house on the rock, his house stood strong. No damage.

- But for the second, “the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

- It was a total loss… houses swept off their foundations, roller coasters are in the ocean… boardwalks are washed away.

Now, keep in mind as Jesus is sharing His story here… He’s using a metaphor to teach an important spiritual truth.

- It’s not meant to put a guilt trip on anyone whose home or beach home suffered any damage.

- In fact, if you have a beach home that you enjoy lending out to friends, that I’d like nothing more than to be your friend!

- You see, it’s tempting to apply a story in way that is completely out of context.

So, if you were wondering whether Hurricane Sandy was God’s judgment for the “Jersey Shore” TV show,

- than, even though Seaside (where Snookie and her crew filmed) was leveled, know that this simply wasn’t what Jesus was getting at. Instead…

- Jesus was making a critical point about FOUNDATIONS…. about what we’re building our lives on.

Let me ask you… What is the expression commercial real estate agents tell you to look for when looking for retail property?

- Location, location, location!- Well, in this story, one of the guy builds his home inland and

drilled his foundation down into the bedrock.- While the other guy built an amazing beach house on the

sand.- And, of course, we get that… living on the ocean is beautiful.

It’s why we vacation there.

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When I was really young, we would go to Rockaway beach in Queens, where my grandparents would vacation during the summer.

- And then, growing up, we’d vacation in Wildwood... and when I was in high school, my friends and I would often head down to Seaside Heights or Pt. Pleasant.

- From making sandcastles to eating funnel cakes to walking to boardwalk... a day at the beach is great…

- But having a house built right on the sand… how could it get any better!

The problem, as Jesus describes it, is that while the two men had the Same Dream, the Same Directions, and would face similar storms,

- they managed to build very different foundations… one built on stone and the other built on sand.

- Of course, Jesus’ focus here isn’t on the how each man construction their physical homes but, rather, how they chose to construct their spiritual lives.

One chose to build his life on the solid bedrock of God’s Word. He not only listened to Jesus but put Jesus’ words into practice.

- And, for doing that, Jesus calls him a WISE builder.- “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into

practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.”- He may have built a beautiful home… but, at the end of the

day, his focus wasn’t aesthetics… it was durability… - a life that would last… that would stand the test of time. And

for that, Jesus calls him a smart contractor!

In contrast, look at what He says about the other guy. “but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his life on the sand.”

- Now, oddly enough, the Greek word for “foolish” here is the word, “more”. It’s where we get our word “moron” from.

- And, of course, this is very Jersey of Jesus! In His best “Chris Christie voice,” Jesus is basically saying, “This one’s a wise guy while da utha’s a moron!”

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Remember… both men received the same directions… both had listened to the same words of Jesus.

- But only the wise man “put them into practice.” - The foolish one said, “thanks Jesus, but I’ve got my own ideas

about how to do this.”- Truth is, you might even get by with this for little while in

life… at least as long as the good weather lasts.

You see, you can start a marriage based on romance & feelings. BUT when the hurricane hits… when you have your first child,

- when one faces a challenging illness, when one looses their job and the financial pressures increase…

- it’s then that you discover something about the life you’ve built.

You can launch a business with good marketing… finding flashy ways to sell a product that you haven’t even produced yet.

- But unless you build more than a brand, then when that hurricane hits and the bubble bursts… or the economy tanks… your foundation will be exposed.

- Both you & those closest to you will quickly discover its flaws… they’ll see the cracks in it

If you’re honest with yourself, you might even discover that the foundation had never really been laid…

- that while it looked really good… it was built on sand… it was built using your plans, not God’s.

- And so, as fun as it is to live in a beach house… when that hurricane hits…

- you might just discover the house coming down… and suddenly the beach that you once enjoyed outside is now inside.

- That’s when you really have your work cut out for you… - that it would have been easier to build the house right the

first time around.

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That’s how it is with marriage . We make vows “for better or for worse.” But, when you’re young, its easy to assume only “the better”.

- So, when the “worse” hits… when kids go off the rail, when the romance isn’t quite the way it used to…

- the walls begin to shake a bit and the foundation gets exposed.

But if the marriage is based on a deeper commitment— a commitment to not only hear but follow His Word…

- Than you’ll weather the storms that will inevitably intrude your life at one time or another.

- I’m sure all of you have watched helplessly as a family or the life of someone you care about implodes. It’s painful.

- The pressure exposes the cracks in the foundation… a foundation that was never built the way God instructed us.

You see, having just shared His “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus is reminding His listeners…

- That, at the end of the day, the superstorms of life will always reveal the nature of your foundations.

- As long as the sun is shining on your life, you might not think about what you’re building on.

- You may not pay attention to the foundation your relationships or family or career is based on.

Believe me… I know how easy it is to say that “when I get some extra time… when life slows down a bit, than I’ll make the time to lay a better foundation.”

- But when that storm hits, all that is exposed. One way or another… Jesus says a hurricane hit both men, where…

- the heavens open and nature was unleashed and the fury of a great storm exposes the foundations they each built their lives upon.

Truth is, any life, any home, any marriage, any business, any ministry not founded on the right foundation is simply a show.

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- We’ve all seen relationships like that… like the Kardashian wedding.

- Everyone sort of shaking their heads wondering “how long is this gonna last?” Ten days? A month?

- And why? Because they know there’s no foundation. They say the right words… but they don’t put them into practice.

And that’s what Jesus is getting to here. You can come to church… you can hear God’s Word… and think, “I agree”.

- But if you don’t put them into practice… that it’s no longer wisdom to live by but information to tuck away.

- You can say, “I want a godly marriage”. But, if you don’t do it in God’s way… if you choose to take shortcuts…

- Whether its sexual compromise or living together or being unequally yoked… than what foundation are you building?

You can pray, “God, bless my job search.” But, if you fudge your resume, what foundation do you think you’re building?

- You see, it’s the little things that determine the quality of construction.

- So, let me ask you… are you laying the right foundation in your relationships? In your career? Your ministry?

- Because at some point, the wind will blow and the waters will rise and the storms will come.

It’s interesting what the Governor of NY (Andrew Cuomo) said… “These 100-year storms are happening every 2 years.”

- In other words, they’re coming more often than we’d ever like… and, when they do, they will always expose our foundation.

- So, again… are you building on the foundation of real faith... on the bedrock belief in the truth of God’s Word?

- Or it is being built on the cleverness of your own thoughts and plans?

You know, during the last two years Joyce and I lived in Tajikistan, I led a relief effort to migrate an entire village.

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- Because of the need for firewood to keep their homes warm, the people in the village cut down all the trees on the hillside alongside of them.

- Because of that, when the rains would come, the harvested mountainside would release pretty severe mudslides, which was killing a number of people every time a storm came.

And so we secured a large area of land just outside the town we lived in and rebuilt an entire village for them to move into.

- Well, part of that involved setting up a roofing tile factory where we made cement-roofing tiles.

- And one of the things I learned about making strong cement tiles was the perfect ratio of cement mixture to water.

- Well, this is especially important when pouring a good foundation.

If you pour a foundation while its raining, it will add too much water to the delicate ratio… and will weaken the foundation.

- You see, if you want to build a solid foundation, you need to do so BEFORE the storm comes your way.

- This is illustrated a little later in Matthew 8:23-27, where, - after Jesus shares this story about laying a foundation of

faith, He tells His disciples to get into a boat.

Maybe you saw that picture of all the boats piled up along the Long Island shoreline. Sandy threw them in a pile like sardines.

- The storm surge was so strong, there actually boats sitting on the railroad tracks. SEE PIC

- Verse 23 says, “Then He got into the boat and His disciples followed Him. Without warning, a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!’”

Now, this wasn’t the Long Island Sound… it was the Sea of Galilee, which is 680 feet below sea level. It’s like a giant fishbowl!

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- And what the disciples encountered was a rare weather phenomenon known, in Greek, as a “LAILAPS”,

- where the wind rushed down the hills suddenly, causing the waters to stir into violent 20-foot waves.

- Not surprisingly, some Greek lexicons translate this word as “hurricane”.

And now the intense rains and surges were dumping water into their boat… so much so that these tough, seasoned fishermen…

- men who have spent their lives on the water… were freaking out… yelling, “Lord, save us! We’re gonna drown!”

- But there was one little problem. Jesus was… ASLEEP!- Kinda crazy, right? Well… truth is, during one of the bigger

storms of your life, you may have had the same feeling…- It may have seemed as though He was asleep… that when

you needed Him the most, He wasn’t there.

In Mark’s account of this story, in 4:38, he mentions that “Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.”

- In other words, Jesus was not only sleeping, but He was sleeping fairly comfortably through this frightening storm.

- I mean, you can understand why the disciples may have been a little upset… “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

Truth is, that’s a pretty natural response when a storm hits down… “God, where are you? Are you here? Do you care?”

- What’s happened to Jesus? He’s in the back of the boat sleeping. So… the disciples wake Him up.

- And when they do, Jesus responds with what can seem like an insensitive question.

- He says, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Another translation says, “Why are you so easily ruffled?”

And you know these guys are just looking back at Him like, “Uhh, Jesus… I realize you haven’t been watching the Weather Channel, but there’s this thing called Sandy” and…

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- The Seaside Roller Coaster is in the ocean, and the FDR is now part of the East River and like a hundred homes are on fire in Queens.

- That’s why we’re a bit ruffled. I mean, what kind of question is that?! But the Bible says,

- “Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm.

- The men were amazed and asked, ‘ what kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey Him!’”

Guys, every crisis we face will reveal how deep our faith in Christ really is. Every storm will expose the gaps in our faith…

- The things we’re REALLY leaning on as we live out our everyday lives…

- Whether our faith is really built on the solid bedrock of Jesus… not just what He says…

- but a life’s practice of living according to those words.

So, let me ask you… what kind of foundation is your faith resting on right now in your life?

- In the way you’re living your everyday life, is Jesus more the steering wheel… or the spare tire?

- Have you put your full faith in Jesus as your provider and protector?

- Do you really believe that the One who told you to get into the boat will really get you safely to the other side?

You see… there’s a big difference between praising God on Sunday morning when all is well…

- And praising God on Monday when your life is Ground Zero for a storm that’s just hit land.

- That’s part of the real difference between Praise & Worship.

PRAISE is when we thank God for all the good stuff that’s happening in our lives.

- “Praise God I got the job… that I passed the test… that we got power back!”

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- It’s about thanking Him for the good things… and we should always do that!

But WORSHIP is when the basement floods; when the tree comes down; when we loose power far longer than we’re comfortable with.

- And yet, we give thanks to God anyway… in spite of it all.- “I worship You, Jesus, because YOU ARE MY ROCK! You are the

Lord of the Wind and the Waves… the One I can trust through the crisis!”

- Guys, He is the One we can bank everything on… He is the One who we can trust even when we can’t quite see where He is or what He’s doing during the storm.

It’s like the words of the classic hymn, “My home is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. On Christ the Solid Rock I stand… all other ground is sinking sand.”

- Can we really lean on that truth this morning? Will we routinely read His Word?

- And will we choose to put those Words into practice as we live out our everyday lives?

Jesus says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 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.”

So, how can we do this? Well, it starts by what you take in: “Everyone who hears these words of mine.”

- Guys, are you “taking in” the Word of God in your lives? - I’ve honestly never met a Jesus-follower who is really

growing… who wasn’t also regularly reading the Bible.

But, along with reading His Words, those growing followers of Jesus also purpose to live according to those words.

- You see, the heart behind reading the Bible isn’t to acquire more information…

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- but to experience genuine transformation as we experience the reality of those words in our every-day lives.

Through this story of the two men, Jesus never tried to teach us to build our houses in protected hurricane-free areas.

- There are no storm-free zones in this world. - Instead, He’s reminding us, this morning, about foundations:- how the strength & fruit in our lives are determined by the

foundations we build.

So, let’s renew our commitment this morning as a community of people who genuinely want to know Jesus more and more in our lives…

- To regularly and routinely take in the Word of God in our lives… and to live out those words of God in our lives as well.

- Because when we do… when the rains come down and the waters rise and the winds blow and beat against our lives,

- we will not fall… because our foundation was built on the solid rock of God!

** Thanks to Tim Lucas at Liquid whose message of the same title SIGNIFICANTLY influenced this message!

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