Sermon Tone Analysis

Matthew 7:24-27.

"Blueprint for Life"

Ajax Alliance Church.

Sunday February 5th, 2023.

Matthew 7:24-27.

24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.

27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

(ESV)

A recent study by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD) reported that Municipal inefficiencies and delays are not only slowing the addition of housing supply, but they are also adding directly and indirectly up to $3.30 per square foot to the cost of a new home".

"To put that in context, each month of delay in approvals adds $2,600 per month to the cost of a new 800-square-foot apartment and over double that for a new single-family home."

Building permit approval times average anywhere from 10-34 months.

Nine of the 16 municipalities in the (Greater Toronto Area) now have combined municipal charges (including development charges, parkland charges, community benefits charges, planning fees etc) for a ground-oriented development (mix of singles and townhouses) that exceed $100,000 per unit.

Seven exceed $125,000 per unit.

(https://nationalpost.com/news/municipal-red-tape-and-delays-adding-100k-to-cost-of-a-new-home-in-toronto-area-study)

Building is a biblical metaphor for life.

Jesus uses the parable building your house on the rock to talk about the fact that the many (vv.

13, 22) who are on the broad way will not enter the kingdom of God.

Their lives are not built on the foundation of Christ and His Word.

Jesus picks up the theme of humanities own righteousness, the righteousness that is totally unacceptable to God and that will in no way qualify a person for His kingdom (Matt.

5:20).

In the first illustration (Matthew 7:21-23) we see a contrast between the true and false verbal professions of faith and good works.

Here in Matthew 7:24-27 we see contrasts between obedient and disobedient hearers.

Both groups hear God's true Word, but some hear and obey, and some hear and disobey; some turn their trust to God's righteousness, and some continue trusting in their own, though that does not become visible until the judgment.

The implication is that even those who disobey believe that they belong to Christ and make a convincing profession of faith in Him.

They hear God's Word and recognize it as God's Word, but wrongly believe that simply knowing and recognizing it are enough to please God and guarantee them a place in His kingdom.

Like those who say, "Lord, Lord (Mt.

7:21)," and do amazing religious works but really "practice lawlessness," the false hearers build their religious house, but are self-deceived as to its viability.

In the illustration of those who make false professions, the true believers are mentioned only by implication ("not everyone who says to me," v 21).

In the illustration of the hearers and builders, however, both the true and the false believers are clearly described.

Whatever we build our lives upon, determines the sturdiness of our existence.

Far from being a peripheral matter, it is literally foundational for every element of our lives both now, and eternal.

We would do well to consider what our lives are build upon and if or how the foundation can withstand the storms of life.

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus presents a blueprint for life that we can build a life that can withstand every storm from attacks all the way to our fears.

We can build a life that can withstand storms by building upon: 1) A Wise Foundation (Matthew 7:24) which is also 2) A Withstanding Foundation (Matthew 7:25) instead of just a 3) A Wishful Foundation (Matthew 7:26-27).

We can build a life that can withstand storms by building upon:

1) A Wise Foundation (Matthew 7:24) 24 "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

(ESV)

First of all, both builders have heard the gospel.

Everyone then who hears these words of Mine applies both to the wise man (v 24) and to the foolish man (v 26).

They both know the way of salvation.

Second, they both proceed to build a house after they have heard the way of salvation.

The wise man builds his house, which represents his life, on the words of Jesus.

The implication is that the foolish man, although he does not do/act upon Christ's words, thinks that his house is secure simply because he has heard and acknowledged the words.

He believes the life he lives is Christian and therefore pleasing to God.

He does not intentionally build a house he thinks is going to fall.

Both builders have confidence their houses will stand; but one person's confidence is in the Lord and the other person's is in themselves.

It is quite possible for (someone) to have heard all Jesus' teachings and to have said, "It is true.

These are great sayings.

They are the key to morality.

I'll just go out and try a bit harder."

But if you are thinking that way, you have missed the whole point of what Jesus is saying.

He says, "I am not asking you to go out and try harder.

You will never be able to do it.

To go out and try harder and to try to construct that kind of character in your own strength is like trying to build a mansion upon sand.

Actually, you will only achieve that kind of character when you build on me." (Boice, J. M. (2002).

The Sermon on the Mount: An expositional commentary (265).

Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.)

The wise believer who does the words of Jesus does not mean mere outward compliance.

This would only repeat the folly of the scribes and Pharisees, the old error of work-righteousness.

The action of one who does the words of Jesus represent one who is in condition described in 5:3-6, which 3:2 expresses by the command μετανοεῖτε, "repent," and Mark 1:15: μετανοεῖτε καὶ πιστεύετε ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ, "repent and believe in the gospel."

The essential doing is faith, v. 21 (which see: "doing the Father's will"), John 6:29, 39, 40; 1 John 3:23.

Then will follow the true evidence of repentance and faith indicated in the other beatitudes, 5:7-12, and in the body of the sermon.

This doing of the words of Christ is the whole life of faith, including contrition, the confidence of the heart (conversion, regeneration), and the new obedience, all as one grand whole and all in the power of the grace coming to us in the Word as the divine means of grace (Lenski, R. C. H. (1961).

The Interpretation of St. Matthew's Gospel (309-310).

Minneapolis, MN.: Augsburg Publishing House.).

In the context of this parable, both the wise and foolish built the same kind of house.

Outwardly their houses were very much alike.

From all appearances the foolish man lived much in the same way as the wise man.

We might say they were both religious, theologically orthodox, moral, served in the church, supported it financially, and were responsible citizens of the community.

They seemed to believe alike and live alike.

Both builders build their houses in the same general location, evidenced by their apparently being hit by the same storm.

In other words, the outward circumstances of their lives were essentially the same.

One had no advantage over the other.

They lived in the same town and possibly attended the same church, heard the same preaching, went to the same Bible study, and fellowshipped with the same friends.

The wise man builds carefully, because there is substance and great importance to what he is building.

In the parallel passage in Luke, Jesus says, he "dug deep and laid a foundation upon the rock" (Luke 6:48).

Sometimes a builder in Palestine had to go down as deep as thirty feet before he found rock.

This was hard work!

It would produce much perspiration to dig deeply for a good foundation.

The Sears Tower in Chicago had to go down over a thousand feet before the builders found rock upon which to construct one of the tallest buildings in the world (Butler, J. G. (2008).

Analytical Bible Expositor: Matthew (123-124).

Clinton, IA: LBC Publications.).

* The wise man who goes deep is not satisfied with superficial confessions of faith, with quickie conversions that involve no repentance, no mourning over sin, and no despairing of self.

Knowing that he owes everything to the Lord, this man desires to give Him his maximum effort.

After he does everything his Lord commands he declares that he has only done his duty (Luke 17:10).

Yet he does not consider his work for the Lord burdensome.

For one thing, the work we truly do for the Lord is the work He does through us.

For another, the work that is truly done for the Lord is done out of love, not out of compulsion or fear.

Please turn to Matthew 16

The differences between the two builders and the two houses they built were not noticeable from the outside.

But they were immeasurably more important than the similarities.

The key is to understand that one does act upon God's Word (obedience) and the other does not do/act upon His Word (disobedience).

One builds using the divine specifications, the other uses their own.

By far the greatest difference between the specifications of these builders and the way they build is in the foundations they laid.

The wise man ... built his house upon the rock, whereas the foolish man ... built his house upon the sand.

Petra (rock) does not mean a stone or even a boulder, but a great outcropping of rock, a large expanse of bedrock.

It is solid, stable, and unmovable.

Sand, by contrast, is loose, unstable, and extremely movable.

The land agents selling lots on the sand are the false prophets Jesus has just warned about (vv.