Foundation for Life
Jesus’ love is the foundation for the rest of my life .
Introduction
Foundation for Life
24. The little parable about the one man building on rock and the other man whose foundation was sand emphasizes the importance of acting in accordance with Jesus’ teaching. It is one thing to hear what he said and even approve of it; it is quite another to obey. But it is only obedience that results in solid achievement. Everyone makes the application general: taken with the repetition of the word in verse 26 it rules out any exceptions. All either respond to Jesus’ words or do not; there is no other possibility. Therefore is inferential; what follows is an inference from what precedes. Jesus goes on to speak of the person who hears his words, and not only hears them but does them. “Doing” words is a somewhat curious expression, but clearly it means that the person in view is not content with admiring some outstanding teaching; he makes it his guide and models his life on it. The expression underlines Jesus’ earlier call for obedience. He is telling us now the result of obedience. The person who puts his teaching into practice is likened (i.e., “declared to be like”) to a wise84 man. His wisdom is shown in the fact that he built his house (see on 2:11) on rock, the most solid of foundations.
25. Any building must face some vicissitudes during its useful life; Jesus therefore proceeds to list a particularly testing time for this house. Rain clearly denotes heavy rain, torrential rain, not ordinary gentle rain that would not put a building to a severe test. It was such rain that the rivers rose, where rivers “are to be understood as the mountain torrents or winter torrents which arise in ravines after a heavy rain and carry everything before them” (BAGD, 1). Certainly Jesus is speaking of testing torrents. Strong winds accompanied the rain, winds that beat against the house. The combination of rains, rivers, and winds represent the severest testing the weather can bring to a house. But it survived them all, owing to the excellence of its foundation. First, negatively, it did not fall (the verb may be used of structures, “fall to pieces, collapse,” Acts 15:16); then, positively, comes the reason, it had been founded on rock (the last expression is repeated from v. 24). The foundation is clearly critical. With the right foundation a building may well withstand the severest testing.
26. Attention moves to the foolish and careless hearer of Jesus’ teaching. Most of the words are repeated from verse 24, but with the negative not inserted before do them, with foolish replacing “wise,” and sand substituted for “rock.” We should not understand a deliberate choice of sand, but a failure to take seriously the necessity for a solid foundation. The man described is one who hears Jesus and perhaps enjoys the process, but who does not put into practice what he has heard. That man is foolish (see on 5:22); he is a stupid person who acts in a stupid way. This is seen in that he builds on sand. This last word is used 5 times in the New Testament, mostly of things too numerous to be counted. Here, however, the thought is that a sandy subsoil makes a very poor foundation on which to build a house.
27. The same process of testing that confronted the wise builder tests out the foolish builder; the language is repeated exactly until we come to struck, which replaces “beat against.” This word can mean a very hard blow indeed, but it is also used in the sense “stumble.” Lenski sees this meaning here, but the context seems to favor a hard blow and that, coupled with the action of rain and rivers, was too much for the house with the poor foundation. That house fell (it would not be too much to say “collapsed”) with a great crash. The expression points to complete ruin. For a house built on sand there is in the end no other fate than complete destruction. So it is with anyone who hears Jesus’ teaching without heeding it. It is teaching with a strong undertone of warning as well as with much to comfort and inspire. We neglect the warning at our peril.
7:24–27 It is not enough simply to hear Jesus’ call or even to respond with some temporary flurry of good deeds. Rather, we must build a solid foundation that combines authentic commitment to Christ with persevering obedience. Jesus graphically illustrates his point with a parable (on which see comments under chap. 13). The wise person living in the Palestinian desert would erect a dwelling on a secure rock to protect the house from the flash floods that sudden storms created. The foolish person would build directly on the sand and would have no protection against the devastation of the elements. So too Judgment Day will come like a flood to disclose which spiritual structures will endure. Preliminary crises may also reveal authentic and inauthentic spirituality. In fact, often only in times of crisis can one’s faith be truly proven. This parable concludes Jesus’ “two ways” discussion and forms a fitting conclusion to the sermon as a whole by making plain that there is no valid reason for refusing Christ’s appeal. As R. T. France states succinctly, “The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount is not meant to be admired but to be obeyed.”104
Matthew rounds off the section with a few words about the effect of Jesus’ teaching. It is clear that many people were impressed not only by what Jesus said, but by the way he said it. His teaching was markedly different from anything to which they were accustomed.
28. It is not easy to know what to do about the recurring expression, rendered in KJV with “and it came to pass.”92 Most modern translations simply ignore it with this justification, that it is not the way we would normally express things. But it is not the way a first-century Greek writer would normally express things either; therefore I have tried to retain the flavor of the Matthean expression by using the traditional English way of rendering it. Here it introduces a formula that Matthew uses at the end of each of Jesus’ major discourses (11:1; 13:53; 19:1; 26:1), as a way of transition into his next section. The formula draws attention to the discourses as significant; Matthew insists on the importance of Jesus as a Teacher. He tells us now that Jesus had ended his discourse (the verb sometimes has the thought of “accomplish,” and there is possibly a hint that Jesus had said all that he intended to say). The effect of what Jesus had said was continuing astonishment94 among his hearers. The plural, multitudes, indicates that this was not the impression of a tiny minority but of large numbers of people. As we saw in 5:1, the sermon was addressed primarily to disciples, but there were others than disciples present. It is the reaction of these others that Matthew now relates. He does not give the impression that Jesus was simply another in a multitude of teachers, some slightly more acceptable than others. Jesus astonished people. There was no one like him. Teaching may mean the manner or the content of the instruction. There seems no reason here for restricting it to either. Jesus did not teach in the same way as other Jewish teachers, nor did he say the same kind of things.
29. Matthew explains. He was teaching96 (habitually) as someone who had authority (“with a note of authority,” REB; “like an authority,” Moffatt), and this clearly impressed the hearers, for it was not the way their scribes taught. It was the scribal habit to appeal to authority, for it was an age in which originality was not highly prized. It was widely accepted that there had been a golden age early in the history of the race and since then history had been all downhill. Those closer to the golden times might be expected to have the rights of it when any dispute arose. There was a widespread respect for age. Thus it was important to cite authorities if one wished to obtain a hearing. But Jesus ignored this scribal commonplace. Where others appealed to authorities, Jesus simply said, “I say unto you,” a fact noted in all the Gospels (Mark 3:28; Luke 12:37; John 6:47, etc.; there is a clear and strong note of authority). This should not be taken to mean that there were no new teachings among the rabbis. Of course there were, but they were not typical. New teachings were typical of Jesus, and especially the teaching that made clear his messianic place (vv. 22–23, e.g., would be unthinkable among the rabbis).
7:28–29 Jesus’ words have now ended (“finished,” from teleō, suggests the derivative sense of fulfillment). Not surprisingly, the crowds marvel and contrast Jesus’ teaching with that of the scribes. For them the difference was one of authority. Of course the scribes and Pharisees were religious authorities, but their right to speak was always based on their ability to quote Scripture or subsequent Jewish teachers and tradition. Strikingly, Jesus quotes Scripture in his sermon only to reinterpret it, he cites no human authorities or tradition, and he speaks with directness and confidence that he himself is bringing God’s message for a new era in human history. Such preaching reflects either the height of presumption and heresy or the fact that he was a true spokesman for God, whom we dare not ignore.
Having laid that groundwork, finally, we come to THE BIG question: how can anyone believe that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to God? What is our answer to that? Based on this text, our answer is quite straightforward. We can believe that Jesus is the only way because we take Jesus at his word. In other words, because he says so!
Basically this is an issue of authority. We all make judgments about who is an authority on certain matters. Then if we believe that someone is an authority, we trust his or her view on that particular issue. If the world’s most renowned heart surgeon tells us we need heart surgery as soon as possible, we take her at her word. If our company’s top computer guru tells us the problem with our computer is related to a certain virus and he explains how to remove it, we heed his advice. The argument that the Bible gives for theological exclusivity uses the same line of logic. If Jesus is the unique Son of God, who created and sustains the universe, who came to earth as a man, who performed miracles (especially rising from the dead), and if what he taught and did was predicted by the prophets and attested to by apostolic eyewitnesses, then what he says about entrance into the kingdom of heaven is trustworthy.
So taking him at his word and saying, “I believe Jesus is the only way because he says so” is not a trite or superficial answer. The issue of theological exclusivity is an issue of authority. The ultimate question of the Sermon on the Mount from Jesus is not just “What do you think of my teaching?” but “What do you think of me?” “[W]ho do you say that I am?” (16:15). Do we recognize Jesus as his first audience did, “as one who had authority” (7:29), or do we recognize him as that and much more, as the one who has all authority over Heaven and earth (28:18)?
Jesus says, “Everyone … who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man.… And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man” (vv. 24a, 26a). Jesus claims that human wisdom and human folly will be assessed based on one’s reception or rejection of the Sermon on the Mount! What a staggering claim!
But that’s not all he claims. Listen afresh to verses 21–23 and notice Jesus’ self-focus:
• “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven” (v. 21a).
• “On that day many will say to me …” (v. 22a).
• “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me’ ” (v. 23a).
Me, me, I, I, me! Just who does he think he is? There is nothing indirect or modest about the final verses of the Sermon on the Mount. Here Jesus gives what might just be the boldest claims in the history of the world. The prophet Isaiah writes, “For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver; the LORD is our king; he will save us” (Isaiah 33:22). That is what Jesus claims here of himself. He is judge. He is lawgiver. He is king. He is the only one who can save us. Ultimately salvation is in his hands. He will judge whether we come into his presence or not based on how we respond to his words—“these words of mine” (7:24, 26). He will decide and declare our destinies.
Think about what Jesus says. Let me put it into perspective. If today I ran into a young man who had no job or formal education and who after he gave a short lecture on the top of some hill came up to me and said, “You, my friend, will one day stand before me, and I will determine your eternal destiny based on your response to what you have just heard,” I would say, “Oh that’s nice” and dismiss him as a self-deceived lunatic. How is it then that when Jesus claims that he will be the judge before whom we all will stand and that whether or not we get into the kingdom of heaven will be judged based on what we did with his words, I find him so very believable? And why I am not alone in my assessment? Millions of others from every imaginable country and culture believe the same.
Why is this? Is it that his message is so universally applicable? Is it that he, unlike any other teacher ever, seems to know intimately the mind of God and yet intimately the ways and needs and desires of man, touching every possible line of relationship with which you and I deal on a daily basis—everything from whom we should worship to what we shouldn’t worry about? Is it that his claims—as lofty and seemingly egocentric as they are—somehow come across as the words of the humblest man ever to walk the face of the earth? Yes, I suppose it is those three reasons and more! His message is otherworldly but down-to-earth. His claims and character collide in a most convicting way. Whatever it is, he has me (and I’m not a gullible person) by the heart and won’t let go. He demands my life, my soul, my all. And I say, “You have it. Here it all is. Into your hands I commit my spirit. You are the Lawgiver. You are the Judge. You are the King. You are my Savior.”
But what about you? Where are your feet today? Are they sifting through sand or are they solidly placed upon the Rock? Our loving Lord is warning you today. Beware of false prophets. Beware of the wide gate and easy path. Beware of building your house on the wrong foundation. Beware of the coming judgment. Beware lest your house crumble and fall to the ground (v. 27), and your seemingly carefree walk through this world ends in destruction (v. 13), and your very body and soul are banished from Christ’s presence (v. 23) and are thrown into the fire (v. 19). “Beware,” Jesus warns.
However, he also graciously invites you to “Choose life,” to “enter by the narrow gate.” It doesn’t look like it leads to much of anything, but believe Jesus (take him at his word) that it actually does lead to true life, freedom, and joy … both now and forevermore!