What's Your Foundation?

Introduction

In life, we all face choices and when we make those choices they lead us down a path in life. In my time in Student Ministry, I’ve heard many students talk about their plans for their life. How they have these grand dreams of accomplish great things in life. One specific one was a student I had in my first student ministry position. He’d drop by my office and we would talk about his struggles and his dreams.

In one of these meetings, we shared how his dream was to be the most bodacious and world renowned redneck ever to live. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I laughed out loud. He talked with one of the deepest and stout southern accents you’ve ever heard. Even Larry the Cable guy and the Duck Commanders have nothing on this young man’s accent.

After a moment of laughing, I noticed he wasn’t laughing. What I had thought to be him joking around, he had a great sense of humor after all, I realized he was dead set on it. So, I readjusted myself in my seat and said, Gavin, why is it so important to be the most attractive and well known rednecks in the world? He proudly said, people need to know that being a good ole country redneck is a good thang.

So, I asked him would it not be better for you to be the best good ole Christian country guy you can be and allow God to take care of the rest? He was puzzled. “How can I be well known and great redneck and a good Christian”, he asked me. He’d missed the whole point. When we surrender our lives to Jesus and we make him our foundation and build our lives on him, Jesus leads every step we take.

About a year later and after many additional meetings and conversations, he came into my office and told me how he’d been really taking seriously reading his Bible, praying, and started journalling. He paused then said “Somethings changed in me. I just want to live for Jesus best I can and this sin business is no fun anymore. I had no clue some of this stuff was stuff I’m not supposed to be doing. I just want ya to know I wanna build my house on Jesus.”

He and I had been reading in Matthew together going through the sermon on the mount and he had an aha moment. It took a long time. But he saw the importance of establishing his foundation on Jesus.

Please turn with me to Matthew 7:24-27 (Page 474)

Leading up to this passage Gavin had read about how Jesus preached:

On how to receive blessings from the Lord.

The importance of reflecting Jesus in the world around us.

The importance of prayer and forgiveness.

The call to be Kingdom of God focused.

How our anxieties subside when we walk in Christ.

The power of righteous living.

The desperate need to have good fruit in our lives and how that only comes through walking with the Lord.

how many will think they are believers but unless they have a personal relationship with Jesus they are not truly saved no matter what they look like on the outside and think in their heads. Jesus must dwell within us in personal relationship.

Jesus is concluding his Sermon on the Mount with today’s passage. It is a challenge from Jesus.

There is only two responses to Jesus and his word. The doers and the non-doers of God’s Word.

Look with me at these verses in Matthew 7:24-27

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

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.”

1. Wise people obey the teachings of God’s Word.

Matthew 7:24–25 ESV

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.

A. God’s will for our lives gives us stability.

When we hold on to the promises of God and walk with him faithfully, we can rest assured God is going to see us through to the end.

One promise we all should have stored in our heart is Jeremiah 29:11:

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

B. God’s will for our lives withstands the world’s attacks.

A home with a firm foundation can withstand the storms of life.

Job’s story summarized

He only withstood the trials of life because his faith was rooted in God.

If we aren’t rooted in Christ, when the difficult seasons come, we will turn to other things only leading us to

2. Foolish people ignore the teachings of God’s Word.

Matthew 7:26–27 ESV

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.”

Jesus compares the person who hears his Word but doesn’t do it a foolish person.

Fact is rarely do our plans for our lives pan out the way we envision them.

It reminds me of James 1:22-25:

James 1:22–25 ESV

22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 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. 24 For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. 25 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.

It is a little ridiculous to think someone can look intently in the mirror and forget what they look like after they walk away from the mirror.

I can imagine someone looking in the mirror fixing their hair, checking out their teeth to make sure they look good, even winking in the mirror, walking away to talk to love interest but before they get there, they stop again looking in the mirror with the same routine because they simply forgot what they look like.

If you think about it, to some extent, it sounds a lot like Gaston from Beauty and the Beast. What a prideful guy he was and definitely a fool in the end.

Ultimately, when the storms of life come and we are on our own

Conclusion

In life we are faced with a choice, a choice of choosing to trust Jesus and follow him and live according to his will for our lives, or we can choose to reject the truth and live our life according to our whimsical desires. Only the life rooted and founded in Christ is able to truly withstand the test of life.

Growing up, Sussie was in a home with a mom and dad that loved her. She was a young child no care in the world. She loved playing with her dolls and doll house. She dreamed of being a doctor one day. Most days while playing, she’d pretend to treat these dolls for all kinds of illnesses that no person had ever heard. As she grew older a family member began to shower her with attention, giving gifts, before long she was assaulted and abused by that family member. Mom and dad had no idea what had happened to Sussie. But she wasn’t the same, she no longer wanted to be a doctor, her interest in her dolls disappeared quicker than light at night once the lights are turned off. Sussie lost interest in living. She’d been attacked, in no way was what happened to Sussie her fault.

One day several years later, a girl at school invited her to attend church with her. She reluctantly came. She saw so many other students running around having a good time. She couldn’t relate, her life experience made it hard to connect with other people her age. Yet, that day Sussie heard about the love God has for her. As she heard about the love God has for her, she struggled. “How could God love so much and let me hurt so badly...” she wondered to herself. Then the pastor spoke about brokenness. Her attention was grabbed. She could understand brokenness. After all, she has felt broken for many years. He explained how in our brokenness, God came chasing after us including those who feel most alone and hopeless.

The words that followed sent her heart racing. The pastor explained “God, came so that you might be made whole.” Sussie simply couldn’t wrap her head around how God could love her, she’d been abused and her value diminished. Yet, the pastor explained, “No one is so broken or so far away from God that he can’t make you whole again. But you must choose today, will you build your life on Christ or will you chose to allow your brokenness to rule your life.”

That day, Sussie allowed God to transform her life. She surrendered all to God and established Jesus as her foundation for living.

Right now, right where you are, what is your foundation? What are you building your life on? Sussie chose to allow Christ to define her and chose to build her house on him and her life was never the same. She was freed from her brokenness.

We are all broken apart from Christ. None of us are able to live up to the standard God has for us. But the person who grabs ahold of saving faith in Christ can withstand the most difficult of trials because they rest in Jesus. Sussie was broken and was lost in her grief of the wrong done to her, but she too was broken because of her own sin. When she gave her life to the Lord and trusted him, her faith was established and her foundation laid on the rock of Jesus. We all must come to that point in our life.

Gospel Presentation