The Two Foundations
Notes
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Introduction
Introduction
I’m going to begin with the end in mind: I’m going to challenge each of us in this room today. We are going to be talking about rain, storms, and floods today—which is appropriate for this particularly wet Massachusetts spring. A few things:
We all choose foundations for life
We all face various storms
We all experience consequences of our choice.
If you only hear and read truth, you won’t be ready for the storms of life : Whats the old adage? You are either in the midst of a storm, just got out of one, are most likely headed into one in the near future? This always bums people out but like any good human you know that *knock on wood*:
Even though I could tell any human these same things I want to urge us today that
If you only hear and read truth, you won’t be ready for the storms of life : Whats the old adage? You are either in the midst of a storm, just got out of one, are most likely headed into one in the near future? This always bums people out but like any good human you know that *knock on wood*:
When you get a lot of money out of somewhere thats when the car breaks down, the furnace breaks, or you get some random property tax bill.
The weather is always iffy when you plan an outdoor event and invite a bunch of people (not always but enough of us resonate with this)
The weather
The internet always acts up when you need it the most
I say all of this but it has also been in my experience where the Lord has come through during my storms. Sometimes he comes through and drops a bunch of money in my lap… or health or jobs. Other times: he chooses to show up in a different way and you leave that season sadder but wiser. We have this thing deeply engrained in our brains that if he doesn’t show up and fix everything in accordance with our expectations that he has failed us in some way.
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 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. 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. 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.”
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
Or we have it in our heads that if we transition into a season of life and things are supposed to get easier but they actually got harder we feel like he’s failed us. So, before I go off on a tangent lets get to the point today.
We are going to be reading from today:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 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. 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. 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.”
And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
So, Kevin ran us through the parable of Salt and Light last week. This is all in the realm of Jesus’ Sermon on The Mount.
If you aren’t familiar with it please read through it (we’d be here all day going through it), but the high points:
Jesus starts with the blessings (which we call the beatitudes):
blessed are the poor in spirit, peacemakers, etc.
Jesus talks about his followers being the salt and light in this world
He tells us that he came to fulfill the law and not to abolish it
He addresses anger, lust, divorce, oaths, revenge and hate and always takes it a bit further. He pushes his audience into seeing that simply not doing an action doesn’t mean you didn’t sin inwardly. He pushed for a further and deeper examination at our wickedness and ability to do evil.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 7
7:1–12 As with the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is describing how to live as members of the kingdom of heaven. He begins this section by explaining the dangers of a judgmental attitude (Matt 7:1–5). He also emphasizes God’s goodness (vv. 7–11) and instructs His followers to replicate that goodness as they interact with others (v. 12).
It is at the end of his sermon on the mount where Jesus essentially asks the question: so what’s it going to be? The way I just laid out? Picking up your cross and following me? Or the pseudo? The feel good? Your own foundation?
The main question at hand is: on what foundation have you built your house on?
Is your house built on the sand? And when the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew it fell—and the fall was great.
OR is your house built on the foundation of rock? On Christ? And when the rains fall, floods come, and wind blows it doesn’t fall?
Transition: It’s important to note that this is the third time that Jesus has made this connection between choosing his way or the other way…a different way that isn’t fruitful and that, ultimately, if followed to its conclusion will not lead to eternal life.
The choices:
“Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
& Then our passage from today.
This closing section of the Sermon on the Mount provides a powerful illustration and an invitation to commitment. Jesus calls us to action—to do or not to do. To follow or to not follow. One response leads to life, the other to death. One produces good fruit, the other bad fruit.
The Lexham Bible Dictionary The Closing (Matt 7:13–27; Luke 6:47–49)
1. Two gates or ways (Matt 7:13–14)
2. Two trees or fruits (Matt 7:15–23)
3. Two builders or foundations (Matt 7:24–27; Luke 6:47–49)
Witherington argues that these illustrations
The Lexham Bible Dictionary The Closing (Matt 7:13–27; Luke 6:47–49)
The closing section of the Sermon on the Mount/Plain (Matt 7:13–27; Luke 6:47–49) provides illustrations and an invitation to commitment. In both the Sermon on the Mount and the Sermon on the Plain, Jesus calls His audience to action—to do or not do, and to follow or not follow. One response leads to life, the other to death. One produces good fruit, the bad fruit. Three illustrations present this invitation:
: Two Gates
: Two Types of Fruit/Trees
: Two Builders
I want to focus in on two key truths:
Number 1: Hearing and understanding Jesus’ teaching is not sufficient, being his disciple requires action
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 7
7:24–27 The Sermon on the Mount ends with this parable, which attests to the reliability of Jesus’ teaching. Wise people hear His words and respond in obedience; foolish people disregard His words, fail to act according to His teachings, and suffer destructive consequences.
We love to accumulate knowledge. We read our Bibles, listen to podcasts, read books, go to groups and attend worship gatherings on Sundays and yet fail to be obedient to most of the truths extracted from Scripture. We have a tendency to be hearers and not doers. I would make the argument that if more believers were doers of the word then our world would be rocked.
Sarah and I were friends with a couple in Louisiana named the Browns. Long story short, Weston Brown is a church planter. He just planted a church in Bossier City LA but they ended up changing the plant to downtown Shreveport. Thats like moving from a pretty nice part of Worcester to a sketchy part of downtown Worcester. Weston said something to me a while ago that has stuck with me: in a city like Shreveport with about 192,000 in population (Worcester has about 200,000) and roughly 300 churches in and around the city why does Shreveport continue to be top in the nation for racism, sex trafficking and homelessness? It is as if those 300 churches were missing the point…
Well Dennis… Jesus says you’ll always have the poor amongst you.
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.
Well Dennis… sin will always exist in this world until Christ cracks the sky
These points may be true but I also think that believers across the board struggle with hearing and doing. We like being comfortable. We like our pockets of familiarity. I’ve seen too many churches turn inward. I fully believe that if a local body’s front doors close and the community doesn’t feel an impact that church/local body missed something along the way. We are very good at providing Spiritual answers to physical questions and physical answers to spiritual questions.
I’m going to press deeper here: you don’t need 110 commandments to figure out life today. Ask yourself if what you are doing is for the Glory of God. Are you glorifying God in Word AND deed.
Hows your attitude at work?
How are you treating your spouse when no one is looking? Or when you’ve had a hard day?
Are you glorying God with how you use your time? Your seasons of life? I’ve squandered way too many seasons.
Are you glorifying God in your conversations?
The greatest tragedy: a sick church in a dying world my friends…and we make up his bride.
We either chose Jesus’ foundation…and we make a daily choice to pick up our cross and follow him or we lead a life of compromise. Remember, Rome fell from within way before it was sacked and fell externally.
So, Hearing and understanding Jesus’ teaching is not sufficient, being his disciple requires action
The late Leonard Ravenhill said this: The world is not waiting for a new definition of the word Christianity, its waiting for a new demonstration Christianity.
2. If your foundation is sure, no storm will cause your life to collapse.
Transition: Alrighty… on to number 2 ! And with this I’ll end.
Number 2. If your foundation is sure, no storm will cause your life to collapse.
2. If your foundation is sure, no storm will cause your life to collapse.
When you take this verse to its furthest point you get words like Jesus in and these words haunt me.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
The furthest distance is between your head and your hearts my friends. There are plenty of people who either (A) acquire a bunch of head knowledge and never do and this is evidence of the fact that they’ve never internalized that head knowledge. And on the other hand we have a bunch of people who confuse their doing with being. We like to do a ton for God and yet, somehow, miss the point.
There is a storm coming that will try every man's work. When God takes away the soul, where is the hope of the hypocrite? The house fell in the storm, when the builder had most need of it, and expected it would be a shelter to him. It fell when it was too late to build another.
The multitudes were astonished at the wisdom and power of Christ's doctrine. And this sermon, ever so often read over, is always new. Every word proves its Author to be Divine. Let us be more and more decided and earnest, making some one or other of these blessednesses and Christian graces the main subject of our thoughts, even for weeks together. Let us not rest in general and confused desires after them, whereby we grasp at all, but catch nothing.
The multitudes were astonished at the wisdom and power of Christ's doctrine. And this sermon, ever so often read over, is always new. Every word proves its Author to be Divine. Let us be more and more decided and earnest, making some one or other of these blessednesses and Christian graces the main subject of our thoughts, even for weeks together. Let us not rest in general and confused desires after them, whereby we grasp at all, but catch nothing.
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew Doctrinal and Ethical
The true test. The prospect into the future, which at the same time implies an examination into the foundation of our present state: (a) Anticipation of the storm which is to burst; (b) of the sunshine which is to follow, and to shed its light either upon a ruin, or on a fabric that has stood the tempest; (c) anticipation of the revelation of Christ as Judge, by receiving Him into our inmost hearts as the foundation of our faith and life.
A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: Matthew Homiletical and Practical
The rock and the sand; or the Eternal Word in its compactness and firmness, and the world, resembling particles of sand, without cohesion.—Every spiritual structure shall be tried. 1. The truth of this statement: (a) As proved by experience; (b) even the kingdom of God, or the inner life, has its tempests. 2. Inferences: (a) Many a false building has already been swept away; (b) how careful should we be in rearing our own structure!—The word of Christ a word of power: 1. Of real power (of truth, of love, of life, of the Spirit); 2. of perfect power (of full authority and omnipotence).—The teaching of the scribes and the teaching of Christ. The former powerless, despite their appearance of power, authority, science, and enthusiasm; the latter all powerful, in the midst of deepest outward poverty and contempt.
1 Corinthians May the Lord make us wise builders for eternity. Then nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ Jesus.
May the Lord make us wise builders for eternity. Then nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ Jesus.
Faithlife Study Bible Chapter 8
8:1–17 In the Sermon on the Mount (chs. 5–7), Jesus teaches about the kingdom of heaven; now He begins to demonstrate it through powerful deeds.
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Is your life wood, hay or straw? When the fire comes to test it it will be burnt away
Or is your life gold, silver, and precious stones?
This isn’t about the quantity of your work. Don’t think that the answer is getting busier… its about the quality of your work!
Your foundation will be tested. Has been tested and will continue to be tested.
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Hear me…I know these are hard words. This isn’t a question about your salvation. If you claim to know Jesus Christ then you have chosen his foundation but what is your work? God isn’t going to measure the size of your heads my friends.
My prayer for all of us in this room is that regardless of the storm you are going through right now that you keep the faith.
God isn’t going to measure the size of your head my friends.
My prayer is for strength, for humility, for growth
My prayer is that we embolden.
My prayer is that we live in confidence knowing that storms will come but that our houses will stand (In Jesus).
My prayer is also that the Spirit convicts us of the areas of our lives that we aren’t being obedient in. Show us our pride, our anger, our laziness.
My prayer is that regardless of the storm we respond like Job… when God speaks out of the whirlwind:
“Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further.”
Then Job answered the Lord and said:
“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further.”
Job 50:3-5
I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
twice, but I will proceed no further.”
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
-2-3
May the Lord make us wise builders for eternity. Then nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ Jesus.