Kingdom Foundations

Intro

Last week of The Jesus Manifesto - what Jesus meant when he said “Follow me”...

Read Matthew 7:24-27

The message, for obvious reasons, is called Kingdom Foundations. We’ve seen the destruction cause by flooding in Kentucky this past week. Here is one example of what happens when your foundations give way (show pic). 37 lives lost to date with more expected. Homes and businesses destroyed. It will take millions and years to dig out of this.

The reality that these kind of events force us to grapple with is simple: storms happen. Like death and taxes, storms will pass over us. Both literal storms, and sometimes more destructive, figurative storms. The storms of life. Critical illness. Loss of employment. Kids going down wrong paths. Betrayal by those you thought were friends. In these moments we discover - often too late - the kind of foundation our life has been built on. Do we have foundations that can weather these storms, or will they fail under the crashing waves of adversity.

Like in past weeks, today’s passage has both bad news and good news. There is a warning to heed, but there is also hope and escape. The truth this passage tells us is this: Storms happen. You can’t choose your storm, but you can choose your foundation.

Two builders

Jesus closes his sermon with contrasting parables. There are two builders. One builds his house upon rock. This represents a solid foundation that securely anchors the rest of the house against storms and floods. This builder still experiences storms, but they aren’t destroyed by them.

The second builder builds on sand. This represents a foundation that is prone to shift and move, that does not provide a sure footing for the house but will give way when the storms come. BTW - to build upon sand is both cheaper and faster in the short term, but the foolishness of this kind of building is seen when the first serious storm is encountered.

Obviously, these builders represent how different people build their lives. Some build their lives in a way that can withstand the test of storms and time. Others, not so much. And the essential difference between the two is found is a simple phrase: Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them. Jesus makes the claim that what really distinguishes those who’s life can withstand the storm and those whose can’t is whether or not they put his words into practice. It’s one thing to hear his words, but it is a completely different thing to do them.

There is an axiom that the previous pastor loved to use, and it is appropriate here: It’s not that the way of Jesus has been tried and remains lacking but rather that is has remain untried.

Jesus teaching is this passage leads us to two obvious questions.

What are you building your house on?

What am I building my house on? The first question is very apparent. Through this parable Jesus invites us to examine our own lives. What is our life built on? What serves as its foundation?

Last week Jesus warned about those those who are around church but never truly enter the church through a relationship with him. Now he gives a similar warning to those who hear his words but never act upon them.

There are actually two dangers present here. The first is the danger of a merely outward profession. They know the right thing to say, but all it is is words. The apostle John warned of this when he said, 1 John 1:6 “If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true.” The second danger is of merely intellectual knowledge. James tells us, James 1:22-24 “But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.”

There are those who hear but who do not listen. Anyone who has raised children is familiar with this, right? “Roger, clean your room please. Did you hear me? Yes!” And then coming back later, “Roger, why isn’t your room clean?”

The point here is, don’t be like Roger. What are you building your house on? A house that is built upon anything other than a living faith in Jesus Christ is doomed to fall in the end. On the flip side, a house that is built upon Jesus - by not just hearing his words but applying them to life - is one that will bear up in the face of any storm.

What are you building your house with?

A less obvious question this passage begs us to ask is, “What am I building my life with?” The Sermon on the Mount is intended to be adopted as the the lifestyle of those who call Jesus, Lord. It is a life filled with the fruit of knowing Jesus as Savior. Not the work of trying to earn God’s approval, but the good deeds that flow from a life that knows him. I’m thinking back to the earlier part of the sermon when Jesus said, Matthew 5:16 “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

Scripture isn’t only concerned that we rightly believe in Jesus and have him for our foundation. It is also concerned with how we built upon that foundation. Rather than preach this let me just read what the Scripture says:

1 Cor. 3:11-15 “For no one can lay any foundation other than the one that has been laid; that foundation is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— the work of each builder will become visible, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each has done. If what has been built on the foundation survives, the builder will receive a reward. If the work is burned up, the builder will suffer loss; the builder will be saved, but only as through fire.”

Eph. 2:10 “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.”

2 Tim. 3:16-17 “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”

What are you building your life with? What kind of materials are you investing in your dwelling? Are they things that will live beyond you and precede you into the next life? Are they things that will cause others to see the beauty of Christ? To get practical, what I’m talking about is about how you spend your time, your mental energy, your money, your talents. Are you investing these things in ways that will remain and that will endure?

Is your life an investment in the kingdom of God or is it being selfishly spent on yourself?

Conclusion

There is an eschatological meaning tied to this passage. One one hand, Jesus is likely looking at the Temple. It had failed because those entrusted with it did not truly obey God - they just offered lip service. A storm would hit the Temple 40 years later and completely destroy it.

But it also points to a moment in the future. What the Bible calls “The day of the Lord” when every person who ever lived will stand before the Judge and have their building tested. Many in that moment will be swept away for all eternity.

But here is the hope and promise in this passage. If you build the foundation of your life on Jesus you will not simply survive, you will thrive. Yes, you will withstand those moments when the storm passes by. You make be shaken, but you will not fall. But more than than, if you build you life on Jesus your life will possess a kind of beauty that surpasses the most beautiful home imaginable. You will be a light that shines in the darkness, and you will walk in the blessing and goodness of God. This is the blessed life of those whose houses are built upon the rock of Christ.

Storms are coming. Jesus Christ makes you strong to withstand them and to come out even more beautiful on the other side.