Our passage this week, which we will read in a minute, starts with the word “therefore”, which means that it is coming directly on the heels of, and in light of, what Jesus had just shared previously in this chapter. Last week we looked at verses 13 through 23. We looked at, what I believe, is a very sobering and serious, but also extremely loving teaching that Jesus gives. And really, it was a warning, it’s a warning about what happens if you don’t take Him seriously, but it is very loving in the fact that Jesus doesn’t want us, to get to the end, without Him, and deal with those consequences. Jesus talked about how many people who have called Him Lord, and said, and done things, in His name, will come to meet Him someday, and unfortunately, He will say “I never knew you”. Because everything that they were doing was just an act and people might have been fooled by the act, but Jesus wasn’t fooled. He is like you claim to be my people, but the good fruit that would be there in your life if that was so, aren’t there, and so He says, “depart from me, I never knew you”.
That’s a scary thing to hear from the mouth of Jesus, but it was better for us to hear His warning of it now, to cause us to truly reflect where we are at right now at this time, then to hear it at the end of our life, and not have a chance to get right with Him. I believe that He made this warning, in love, for us, so that we will never actually have to hear that from His mouth, and instead when that day comes, be welcomed into His Kingdom. So that’s where we have come from, that’s what leads up to the therefore, so let’s start reading our passage.
Read Matthew 7:24-29
Jesus’ “therefore” at the start of this passage, like we talked about a minute ago, takes into account everything that He had just been talking about, it takes into account really the entire teaching of His sermon on the mount, up to this point, and then it puts all of it into a really good analogy for us. Jesus says to these people, listening to Him on that mountainside, and He says to us today, that if someone hears what He is saying, and does what He is saying, then He compares that person to a wise man who builds his house on a rock. And the meaning of the wording here doesn’t necessarily mean a large literal rock that a house is built on, it doesn’t necessarily exclude that, but it could also very much mean a house built on a foundation of stones, a really solid foundation.
But then Jesus goes on and talks about a different person, He talks about a person that hears what Jesus is saying and chooses not to do what He is saying. Jesus relates this sort of person to a foolish man that is building his house on a foundation of sand. And so, we can think about this analogy practically as Jesus is making it. We can think about the foundation of a home or a building, I mean we are sitting on a foundation of this home right now. And so, what is the purpose of a foundation, why is Jesus using this in the analogy that He is making? Or even what exactly is a foundation in the first place?
The first Google definition of foundation that comes up is:
“the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level.”
If you have ever seen a home or building built, then it’s typically the concrete slab that is formed, and has footings dug, and has rebar placed throughout it, and then the entire home or building is built on top of that. And why is this part of the building so critical? Obviously, our building methods are a bit different now, then they were when Jesus was saying this, but the same principles were already very much in play. And so once again I headed to Google and typed in “the importance of a solid foundation in building” and I really appreciated the first two descriptions that came up. One was from a masonry website and the other from a general construction company website. But let me read these:
The masonry website said the following in regard to the foundation:
“Its primary purpose is to hold your house up. Without it, your house would quickly sink into the ground unevenly, resulting in cracks and damage to your home. A properly built foundation will keep the home even and supported, even during a flood or earthquake.”
And then the general construction website said:
“Its primary purpose is to support the load of the entire building. A well-designed and strong foundation keeps the building standing while the forces of nature wreak havoc. Well-built foundations keep the occupants of the building safe during calamities such as an earthquake, floods, strong winds etc.”
It’s just so funny to me that 2000 years later, I can go to some random construction site source on the internet, and their reasoning for the thing in Jesus’ analogy uses almost the exact same wording as He did for its purpose. The first site said a properly built foundation will keep the home supported, even during a flood, or earthquake. The second site said that a well-built foundation will keep the occupants safe during calamities such as an earthquake, flood, strong winds, etc. Jesus says once again in verses 24 and 25 that:
Read Matthew 7:24-25
He says the rain is coming, the floods are coming, the winds blew and beat on that house, but it stood, and it stood because it lines up with that properly or well-built foundation that those construction sites talked about. Because it was a solid foundation, it was a foundation of rock, not just a house built on top of sand. And so, when we see this analogy play out, when we hear about this foundation of rock that will hold this house up, or will hold our life up, as the analogy is really talking about. Then we have to ask:
What is the rock in this analogy?
I think sometimes when this question is asked about this particular passage that many times the answer comes back as JESUS! I think other times the answer comes back as the Bible. I feel like those are the main two answers that I have heard in regard to this passage over the years and obviously those answers aren’t bad, and they aren’t 100% wrong, but I don’t think that they are specific enough to get us where we need to go in light of what Jesus is saying here.
What Jesus actually says here is that whoever “hears these sayings of Mine and DOES THEM”, I will liken that person to a wise man who built his house on the rock. Simply acknowledging Jesus and maybe even identifying somewhat with Him is not enough, simply just hearing His words and the things that He is saying is again not enough. The actual thing that is the solid foundation for our lives, the answer to “what is the rock?”, is an active obedience to Jesus’ words. It’s not just knowing, it’s not just hearing, it’s the actually doing part, that grounds our lives onto the rock.
Last week we heard this warning about people, that knew Who Jesus was, they were saying “Lord, Lord” and Jesus was like I don’t know you. Jesus is warning the ones that just know that they are on a foundation of sand. We’ve heard all throughout this book so far about plenty of people that knew plenty of things and even were doing some things even in Jesus’ name, but they were doing these things as hypocrites and not actually obeying Jesus. They were acting, they were just putting on a show. Jesus is again warning these people, that just act, that they are on a foundation of sand. And sand is not going to hold up against what is coming.
In both of these scenarios, for the wise man in verses 24 and 25, and for the foolish man in verses 26 and 27. In both scenarios the rains descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and these houses was caught in the storm. Jesus doesn’t say that perhaps rain will come, perhaps flooding will come, perhaps the winds will blow, maybe it will happen for wise guy, maybe it will happen for the foolish guy. No, in both scenarios the weather happened, the storms came, and things got difficult. And there is an important lesson for us in that truth. The fact is that the storm is coming, if it’s not here right now, there will be one here eventually, for all of us. And so, the question for us today is:
What foundation will we be built on when the storm gets here? Will we be built on obedience to Christ, or will we be built on the countless grains of sand that is everything else in this world?
The storms coming, the clouds are on the horizon if they are not already overhead, we need to be prepared to weather the storm. This makes me think of what James says in James chapter 1. Let’s go there together.
Read James 1:2-4
I love this passage. My daughter’s middle name came from me teaching this passage when we found out that Eileen was pregnant with her. Her middle name is the Greek word, for the word joy, that we see in verse 2. The Greek word there is the word “Chara”, which is obviously translated as joy, but it carries more weight with it than that, it really has the idea of “Joy, because of the grace of God”. So, James talks about this incredible joy, but then we notice the circumstances that he talks about this joy in. He says, “count it all joy, when you fall into various trials”. This statement includes the very same truth that we just saw in Jesus’ teaching. James says WHEN you fall into various trials, not if you ever happen to fall into a trial. The trial is coming, the storm is coming. But James says, count it all joy when you get there.
And we can be like, really James, that doesn’t really sound realistic, maybe you don’t live in the real-world James. But that’s when we have to understand exactly what he is saying here, because he is not talking about being happy about the trial, or just putting a smile on our face in difficult times, he is talking about something that can overwhelm our perspective, that can overcome our mindset, that even with the worst of storms raging that there can still yet be joy.
And that’s because for the true believer, the real follower of Jesus Christ, the one that’s not acting, the one that is actively obedient of what Jesus says, the one that knows and believes beyond any doubt that the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has saved them from their sins. For this person, there is this storm shelter of joy, that is rooted inside of the grace of God Himself. This storm shelter of grace rooted joy is the place in the storm where we can trust Him, follow Him, even obey Him practically, that would allow this house, my life, to stand even through the worst of it, the worst of life’s storms. And James tells us that weathering through these storms, with Him, will refine us, and build our endurance, for the future steps of our life.
It’s very much the same idea that Paul was writing to the Roman church about in Romans 5. Let’s go there really quick as well.
Read Romans 5:1-5
We have been saved by faith, we are now at peace with the Almighty God, because of what Jesus did for us. We stand in His grace and rejoice in hope and in His glory. And then Paul says in verse 3 that we can “glory in tribulations” and that these tribulations, or these trials, or these storms, produce within us perseverance, or endurance, and character, and hope. Again, like when we heard James’ statement, we could be like Paul, what do you mean we can glory in tribulations? It really has this idea of to hold one’s head up in the midst of the difficulty, and that’s not because we are strong enough to do so, it’s not like, look at me, I can hold my head up. It’s look at all the context that Paul gave, and recognize the greatness of God, and His work, and that He is the one that holds my head up, that He sustains me. And if we think back to Matthew 7, that if we follow Jesus, if we trust in Him, if we actively obey Him, that if I am built on the right foundation, the rock, that I can weather the storm, because He and His grace towards us is the storm shelter that we need for any storm.
It’s not look how strong I am to make it through this. It’s look how great He is to lead me and carry me through.
The wise man built his house on the rock, all of the storms came and raged, and beat on his house or his life and what happened? Matthew 7:25 says that His house did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. The same circumstances happened for the foolish man, let me read verses 26 and 27 again.
Read Matthew 7:26-27
In verse 27 the storms raged at this house as well and Jesus says that it fell and not only just fell, but He emphasized “and great was its fall”. Again, that kind of goes back to last week, the narrow path or the right foundation leads to life, the wide path or the sand foundation leads to destruction. The only solid foundation for our lives is to be built on active obedience while following Jesus. That’s it.
And so, Jesus comes to the end of this sermon, and we see the reaction of the people in verses 28 and 29.
Read Matthew 7:28-29
Jesus finishes teaching and the people sitting on the mountainside that day were astonished at His teaching. As they rightly should have been. It says that they understood that He taught them as someone having true authority and not just as the scribes. He wasn’t just rattling off information to these people, He was teaching them as Emmanuel, or God with us, He was leading them, as the Good Shepherd to the sheep. They recognized that He and His teaching was more than just these religious guys and what they were doing and saying.
And honestly that’s why I felt that we were supposed to start here in the book of Matthew. Matthew contains the greatest amount of Jesus’ own words and teachings and I really wanted to hear these things straight from the source. We absolutely need to be built on the right foundation, that’s one of the key elements of why we are called “Base Church”, to be building up on the right foundation, but it’s obviously extremely important for each of us as individuals as well. The storms are coming, and the only thing that will allow us to stand when they get here, is actively following and obeying everything that Jesus and His word teaches us. It’s not just acknowledging, it’s not just hearing, it’s not even just liking, or sharing, or fake doing of things, it’s following Him wherever He takes us and doing everything that He has told us to do and then we’ll stand, because we will be built on the rock. And because we have listened to Him Who actually has authority, Who actually is God, Who really called us to follow and obey Him. The crowds that day were astonished, and we should be too, but astonishment wasn’t Jesus’ goal, His goal was making disciples that hear and then do what He was saying. Let’s be those disciples.