What Is In Your Foundation

This morning we are starting a 4 week series on Family Values. We are going to look at some biblical principles that form and shape a strong family, a loving family and a Christ centered family. In order to achieve that we need to start with a solid foundation. A foundation that is built on Jesus. One that can stand the test of all that life has to throw at us.

I was listening to a podcast this past week and the two individuals were talking about their childhood memories of Jesus when they were growing up. One of them talked about how his church had a yellow school bus and they would get picked up by that yellow school bus to go to church and Sunday School. It reminded me of being in grade school and going to bible club. It was something that I asked to go to and not something that was forced upon me. I think though that that started to lay the foundation for my understanding of Jesus, the foundation for my faith.

We all have a foundation in our lives. For all of us our foundation is in different stages of life. For some of us we are young and in school or college, living at home and learning about life and all that comes with it. For some perhaps we are newly married or just starting to have kids and so our foundations seem to have more layers and stuff to them. For some were middle age, empty nesters and again our foundation has different layers. Perhaps for even others your in retirement mode with grandkids. Perhaps your single for what ever reason and that too has stiff in your foundation.

No matter the place in life you find yourself you need a foundation. You have choices to make and decisions about how your going to build that foundation.

If someone examined the way you live, not just what you say, would they see evidence that your foundation is truly built on Jesus, or would they find its only on the appearance of faith?

Have you ever been to North Manitou Island? If you have when you get on the island you head down what is called cottage row. There you will find some of the original cottages that were built in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. In addition to cottage row there are a few other homesteads and barns still standing on the island.

The thing about many of these buildings is they have been rotting away for the years now. Their foundations have all started to give way and when your foundation gives way its not long and the rest of the structure will come crashing down.

Its a perfect image to our passage this morning.

Prayer

Matthew 7:24–27 NIV

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.”

Our passage this morning is the last few verses of what is known as Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The sermon starts out as a teaching to His disciples but the crowds soon gather around. Jesus covers a number of topics in life over the course of the next few days.

As I studied the passage and surrounding text the first thing that came to my mind was that I at first thought it was odd that Jesus uses the imagery of building your house on rock versus sand at the end of the section known as the Sermon on the Mount. As I studied the whole sermon to varying degrees I realized it made all the sense in the world.

I think possibly Jesus closes with our passage because he just spent a lot of time giving the disciples and the crowds that have gathered the foundation by which they must live. Jesus is wrapping up his teaching and he basically lays out a black and white decision.

He actually starts to wrap up the sermon in verse 13 when he gives 4 warnings.

Narrow and Wide Gate

True and False Prophets

True and False Disciples

Wise and Foolish Builders

In all 4 warnings we are told there is decision that has to be made. Which gate do you enter through? Which Prophet and Disciple are you going to listen and finally how are you going to build your foundation. The disciples, the crowds, the religious leaders, and you and me have a decision to make. We cant have both options.

In our passage this morning we find two types of people, wise people and foolish people. They both have a foundation, they both have stuff in their lives and they both go through the same things. The difference is they make different choices.

The first group are wise builders. They hear the words of Jesus.

Wise Words With Actions

Jesus says that everyone who hears his words, everyone that listens to his teaching. He doesn’t single out any one person based on sex, nationality, social status. He says everyone. His words are to be heard by everyone and that included the wise man and later we will see it includes the foolish man as well.

However Jesus says its not enough to just hear my words, that he calls foolish. If you hear my words AND put them into practice. Like I said earlier Jesus spent a few days giving this sermon on the mount and so he gave them plenty of instruction, plenty of examples of how they are to live their lives. How they are to put Jesus’ words into practice.

In his imagery of the True and False Prophets he says that

Matthew 7:16–18 “16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”

So if you are putting Jesus’ words into practice you are producing fruit and if your producing fruit your building your foundation on the solid rock.

Certainly the proximity of where Jesus is giving this sermon is somewhat close to the Sea of Galilee and so for the crowds and those hearing his teaching they have a great image of building your house on rocks or on the hillside away from the evil things that are lurking to destroy you and your house.

James 1:22–25 “22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Its when you hear Jesus’ teaching and put his words into action that you are more likely to resist the storms coming your way.

Resilient in the Storms

Jesus uses the image of a weather related storm. He says that the rain came down, the streams rose and the winds beat against the house. All are parts of a storm. I think we all have experienced a weather related storm and probably many in our life time. We all probably were scared at some point during a storm and perhaps some of us are to this day.

The Webster Dictionary defines Resilient as “capable of withstanding shock without permanent deformation or rupture”. Certainly if your house is not built on a solid foundation its not going to withstand the storm without permanent damage or rupture.

Jesus being the son of a carpenter probably knew a thing or two about building and the need to build on a solid foundation. Sure the sand along the shore may offer some solid ground for a period of time. Especially in the hot summer months but once the rains came and the winter winds blew the hard packed sand would not stand a chance against the rain and wind.

Notice that the same storms that come to the wise builder will later come to the foolish builder too. What are these storms in our lives?

We can look at the True and False Prophets and see some of the storms that may come our way.

Matthew 7:15 “15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

The prophet Ezekiel has this to say about false prophets.

Ezekiel 13:9–12 “9 My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will not belong to the council of my people or be listed in the records of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord. 10 “ ‘Because they lead my people astray, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash, 11 therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth. 12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, “Where is the whitewash you covered it with?””

Or perhaps we look at the True and False Disciples where Jesus says “not everyone will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my father who is in heaven.”

Matthew 7:22–23 “22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Later in Matthew Jesus gives the parable of the sower and he talks about sowing seeds. If your sowing seeds along the path on the rocky ground or in the thorns, the seed doesn’t have roots deep enough to handle the trouble that comes along. He says that when trouble comes along those plants will quickly wither away and die.

If you sow your seed in good soil where the roots of your plants can go deep and wide then your plant will yield a crop of 30, 60 or even 100 times as much as was planted.

When we sow our seed in Jesus or build our foundation on Him we produce fruit and are able to handle the storms that life sends out way. We are resilient to the evil things in this world.

The other person that Jesus describes in his teaching is the foolish builder. We see he gives the same description from the start when he says again everyone who hears these words of mine, but that is where things change because he says that they do not put them into practice.

Wise Words Without Action

In other words they are wise words but WITHOUT action.

Ezekiel 33:30–33 “30 “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other, ‘Come and hear the message that has come from the Lord.’ 31 My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed, to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put them into practice. 33 “When all this comes true—and it surely will—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.””

The foolish builder goes through the same storms of life. They appear on the surface to know Jesus but they dont have the knowledge of the depth of Jesus love. Just like the false prophets in Ezekiel’s time on the surface they have what looks like a beautiful house with painted walls but in reality its flimsy and doesn’t stand up to the rain, flood and winds.

Jesus ends his sermon perhaps in an abrupt and odd way by saying “it fell with a great crash”. That is the results of ignoring the teachings of Jesus.

Consequences of Ignoring Christ

In our passage this morning we see that the results of hearing the wise words of Jesus but doing nothing with them, so basically ignoring them. The results of that is like a foolish builder who builds his house on the sand.

If we look back to the false disciple we find Jesus saying

Matthew 7:23 “23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

If we look at the false prophet we find Jesus saying

Matthew 7:19 “19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Both builders had a foundation to build. Both builders had choices to make. One chose to put the time and effort into their foundation. They dug deep into the rock and laid a solid foundation. They did the research to know what they materials they needed in order to have a foundation that would stand up to the elements of life. It cost them much but the results were solid.

The other builder chose to build something a little faster and a little cheaper. They thought they could get by with not digging as deep, with researching and using the materials that would give them a solid foundation. They wanted it to look amazing and that it did, but only until the elements of life came along. As the storms of life began to pour down upon the foundation, as the flood waters rose and the winds began to blow it undermined the sand that the foundation was built upon and just like your kids building sand castles on the shores of Lake Michigan the castle begins to wash away. It doesn’t have the depth of the foundation to stand up against the elements of life.

This ending to Jesus’ sermon was probably a little tough for some in the crowds to hear and perhaps for some today its equally hard to hear. Anytime it seems when we talk about eternity of suffering we get a little stressed out perhaps. We like to think that we have done enough to get to heaven or that we know enough that Jesus will know us.

He makes it pretty clear that we have a choice to make. Is it going to be the wide gate or the narrow gate. I found it interesting the importance on the order of words in these verses. The gate has to come before the road.

John 14:6 “6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

If Jesus is the only way to eternal life and that he is, then you have to go through the narrow gate. We often times want to follow the crowds and do what feels good but Jesus says the wide gate leads to a broad road and to destruction. He says thats where the crowds will be. When we enter through the narrow gate, when we enter through Jesus and his blood shed on the cross then we will find him. That gate leads to a narrow road. A road that will have trials and tribulations but its a road that leads to life.

Edward Mote was born in 1797 in London. His parents managed a local pup and often led Edward to his own devices playing in the streets. He said of his childhood “so ignorant was I that I did not know that there was a God”. Exposed to the gospel and baptized at 18, Edward spent 37 years as a cabinet maker. In his 50’s he entered the ministry and was a pastor for 26 years. Maybe there is hope and a place for me yet.

When Edward was 37 he wrote the hymn “My Hope Is Built On Nothing Less”

1 My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

2 When darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace; in every high and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the veil.

3 His oath, his covenant, his blood, support me in the whelming flood; when all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.

4 When he shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in him be found: dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.

Refrain: On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand: all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.

To build a solid rock foundation we must not only hear the teachings of Jesus but we must put them into practice. Words without practice will collapse like sand but words with actions will become a solid foundation in which to build our lives.

I had a band instructor that liked to say “today is the first day of the rest of your life”. We have a choice to make and we can make that choice today. Are we happy to just listen to the teachings of Jesus? Matthew writes that the crowds

Matthew 7:28–29 “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.”

Are we simply amazed at his teaching but not willing or wanting to do anything with them? Or are we willing to put them into practice starting today?

We can build our faith upon the words of Jesus and when we put them into practice Jesus becomes the solid rock foundation upon which we build our lives, we build our faith.

As we grow in our faith we are able to put the teachings if Jesus into action. With Jesus as our solid rock foundation we are able to live out His command to build disciples.

Jesus calls us to act, not just to admire or listen the Jesus’ words but to live them our daily. Faith without obedience leads to spiritual collapse; faith expressed through obedience leads to stability and eternal life.

So Whats In Your Foundation?

I pray that your foundation is built upon hearing Jesus and acting upon His teaching.

Amen