Well it’s hard to believe but we have made our way to the last few moments of this amazing teaching from Jesus here and today we are going to see how Jesus wraps this whole thing up and in these last few verses we will once again see the big theme unfolding. The theme has been Jesus laying out the type of life that a disciple should live…which would mean that these words that Jesus is preaching are actually to be lived out. Which you have heard us coming back to that idea all summer long. Jesus is talking to the committed, His disciples, and he is laying out a way to live life that is simply better. If we lived this way, it would allow us to live differently, it’s a better way to live. But and it’s a pretty big but here…we aren’t really seeing a lot of Christian’s grabbing hold of this teaching and applying it to their lives. This isn’t just Jesus giving us good positive information for us to have in our brains, and kick out in really positive social media posts, this is a road map to live out life and life to the full, which is what Jesus came to give us. So Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount this way…
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” NIV
You know, as we really start to land the plane on this series I just can’t get past how important these words from Jesus are…but there is something that really hits my heart for those of us in the church. We have heard this stuff before, and the tragedy of Christianity today, isn’t that we haven’t heard this, it’s that we don’t actually apply it to our lives. We can quote it, but it doesn’t mean we are living it out. I know for some this may sound plain or simple, but this is the key to everything for us as Christians and it is found right there in verse 24…
Jesus says “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice…”
This has been my prayer for the entire series. Imagine what our lives would look like if we could hear these words from Jesus and actually live them out? I always love reading these verses in different versions, check out verse 24 in the Message version here…
Matthew 7:24 “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.”
When you really are listening to what Jesus says here you realize what a big deal this teaching actually is…this isn’t trivial…Jesus is saying I’m giving you the key, the foundation to build your life on. I know I have spent a lot of time kind of picking on Christian’s as this series has gone along and I want you to know it’s not because I don’t care. It’s actually because I do! I think for many Christian’s we know the words Jesus is saying, the issue isn’t knowing the words…it’s actually putting them into practice. I think one of the greatest things our enemy has done has been somehow getting us to a place where we compartmentalizing our Spiritual lives into a Sunday morning moment or experience. We have somehow put our Spiritual lives on the back burner the rest of the week, or maybe better said is we leave it as the thing we do on Sunday mornings at church. We listen to a sermon at our local church, and leave with more information…but it never becomes part of who we are in our everyday life. We aren’t taking these words and actually putting them into practice…that is the problem. This is really what religion does to us in a lot of ways. It keeps things on the surface, makes it feel more like an act, than an actual way to live our lives…and I think that is the problem for many of us today. We are busy living our lives how we want, when we want, we love Jesus but we aren’t allowing His teachings to penetrate our hearts in such a way that it comes out in our lives and our actions. What is funny is I don’t think it was a new problem, because this is the exact thing Jesus is calling out to His disciples as He sits on the hill teaching them. Do you see that? He wants us to live this stuff out and when we do, I’m not afraid to tell you that life is just better. It’s free, it’s fun…it’s really all of what Jesus told you He came to give you in John 10:10 which if you have been at MRG for any length of time and heard me teach, you probably know this one by heart…
John 10:10 …I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. NIV
Now as we will learn again today, and as Jesus has pointed out over and over again, this life He calls us into, this life to the full thing, comes as we live out His teaching. As that becomes the foundation to our lives. Now here is what is really interesting, I think for many people when they hear that they will get to live out life and life to the full as a Christian they assume that means happy, fun, peaceful times with no adversity, pain, or challenges…and they could not be more wrong in thinking that way. This doesn’t mean that life won’t keep happening. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be challenges along the way. It doesn’t mean that there won’t be tough times, painful times, and it certainly doesn’t mean that being on Jesus’ team means life will be easy. That isn’t what Jesus says at all. I think for so many of us this seems to be something we choose to over-look in our Bibles. The tough times stuff…we want it to be all lollipops and gumdrops but Scripture never lays out life for us that way. We were never promised an easy life yet for many of us when something bad happens we are shocked, we get angry at God…yet over and over again we see Scripture not only telling us tough times are coming, but also showing us how we should respond to those tough times. As I was writing this out, it made me think of something Paul said here…
Phillipians 3:18 There are many out there taking other paths, choosing other goals, and trying to get you to go along with them. I’ve warned you of them many times; sadly, I’m having to do it again. All they want is easy street. They hate Christ’s Cross. 19 But easy street is a dead-end street. Those who live there (on easy street) make their bellies their gods; belches are their praise; all they can think of is their appetites. 20 But there’s far more to life for us. We’re citizens of high heaven! We’re waiting the arrival of the Savior, the Master, Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our earthy bodies into glorious bodies like his own. He’ll make us beautiful and whole with the same powerful skill by which he is putting everything as it should be, under and around him. 4:1 My dear, dear friends! I love you so much. I do want the very best for you. You make me feel such joy, fill me with such pride. Don’t waver. Stay on track, steady in God. MSG
The Bible never tells us that living the life of a disciple is going to be easy. The Bible never tells us that when we ask Jesus into our lives that everything from that point on is going to go perfectly well in our lives…yet for some reason that fact seems to escape us as we walk through lives studying the Bible. I know, I know really cheery way to talk about things here on a Sunday morning, but we love you too much here at MRC to not bring this stuff up. We need to see that life still happens for a Christian so that we don’t fall into the trap that so many do, where they end up angry at God because they are living as Christian now and can’t believe tough times still hit! They will hit! This is why we continue to point this stuff out, and the other reason is believe it or not, we live life too, and are walking in this mess with you! I know as a Pastor you might not think that we are experiencing all the challenges that life brings too…but we are. And I want to tell you something that I am most confident in…if we live out what Jesus is saying, we can get through life, and respond to the challenges life throws at us in a much better way than we would without walking through life WITH Jesus. This Christian life is the way to live your life. So today as we close down this series, you really see the heart or the motivation behind this whole sermon that Jesus preached on that hill which I think comes out so well in verse 24…and frankly you see my prayer for each of us, and I very much include myself in that prayer. I want to live His words out.
“These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on.” Matthew 7:24
It really all comes down to this, can we take Jesus’ words and put them into practice in our lives…or not.
So you may be thinking, ok Sam, I get it. I see how important it is that I’m living out Jesus’ words, but how would I know if I am or not? I think that is a great question…and really it’s what I want to talk to you about today. Do you want to know how you are doing with living out Jesus’ teaching? I will tell you how you will know, it’s when life happens. When the tough times come…it’s in how your respond to the storms of life that you will see if Jesus’ teaching is an active part of you or not. I think this is exactly what Jesus is showing us as He moves into this illustration.
Matthew 7:24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” NIV
So Jesus talks about two specific people here, one was wise and one was foolish. One had a strong foundation and one did not. But here’s what is really interesting, without the storm that came I don’t think we would ever be able to tell which one of these two men was the wise one and which was the foolish one. I want you tracking with this thought here…what was it that really exposed the foundations of these two homes? It was when the storm came. On the nice day with the sun was shining both homes looked fine, the storm was what exposed the foundations of these homes, and what exposed the builders for what they did. I want you thinking about this as it pertains to your life.
I have four children, and we have entered into the teenage years which definitely has been interesting at times. My oldest daughter is 16. So we have hit a lot of new life stages lately. She has her learner’s permit so I’m teaching her to drive. She also has her first job, and I’m really proud of how well she is doing working at our local grocery store. We also have reached the world of boyfriends which maybe isn’t my favorite part, she wants more freedom in life and she is learning to earn that, but entering all these different life stages with our teenagers has me talking to her and all of them really about a lot of different things in life. I talk to them a lot about the foundational parts of their lives and how important they are. How important their relationship with God is, how important taking care of themselves is in every way, spiritually, physically. How important rest is…how important budgeting and saving money is, and here’s the challenge in so much of what I’m saying to my teenagers…they haven’t really experienced life yet. Maybe to say it better is I’m here in my 40’s begging them to prepare for the storms of life, and it really is a struggle to get them to see and understand that life will happen…storms will come, and that is when I want their foundation to be so strong (and they will want it strong too in that moment). The problem is they haven’t felt life in their young teenage years the way I have felt like at times beat on me in my 4 decades on this Earth. I don’t want them to realize the foundation is not right in or after the storms of life hits…I want them to be prepared without having to feel it first. I don’t want them to have to get beat up by life to realize the importance of the foundation of life! Those teenage years are so tough, and to be honest, I couldn’t see it in my younger years either, and I walked through a lot of pain before I realized the importance of the foundation of my life, and it’s the lesson I don’t want my children to learn the hard way even though at some level we all probably have to learn it through feeling it some. The lesson is this life will happen. Storms will come…and those are the moments we see if we are walking through life putting Jesus’ words into practice or not.
You know one of the things that really hit my heart recently was watching my Aunt Crystal’s last few years before she passed away. Although Crystal was my Aunt she was only 6 years older than me, and her storm that she had to face was cancer and it took her life at just 48 years old. She was diagnosed with a terminal form of cancer a few years ago and her battle came to an end a couple of weeks ago. It was hard to watch her physical body change over the last few years, it was even tougher to watch her three teenagers deal with their mother walking through this but what amazed through the entire fight, and all the physical issues that came with it, was that Crystal grew closer and closer to God through it all. She became more peaceful, more caring, and it just grabbed your heart to watch someone suffer physically like that but draw closer to God through it all. Her storm was so intense, and her foundation came out in the storm and through that time she inspired people, and impacted a lot of people for Christ. As I spent time with people at her services it really touched me, to listen to so many people that she impacted in her life as she walked through that terrible storm. Her foundation came out, and it was clear she built her life on Christ.
If you want to know if you are actually putting Jesus’ words into practice or not, look at how you respond to the storms, the challenges of life, that is when it comes out…and that is probably the worst time to realize that your foundation isn’t what it should be. I wonder how the foolish builder felt as the storm hit and his house came crashing down…
Matthew 7:24 “These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock. 25 Rain poured down, the river flooded, a tornado hit — but nothing moved that house. It was fixed to the rock. 26 “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. 27 When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” MSG
There is so much for us to take from Jesus’ words here…and I wonder if in a way Jesus didn’t teach this feeling an awful lot like I do as I talk to my teenagers about how to live life. Hoping that they are able to take the teaching and apply it, because as a loving Father you never want to see your children get into the storms and then realize what they should have been doing all along right? This is so important and is why all summer long you have heard me bringing these talks back to grabbing hold of these words and taking them right into our work week, our school week, our relationships and our community.
This really is my passion for us as we start to close down this series, next week as we wrap up the series we will see how the people reacted with such excitement from listening to Jesus teach, but it has to be more than an emotional moment on a Sunday morning, as Jesus said there in verse 26…
“26 But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. 27 When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” Jesus
The foundation matters. But if you think about it, the foundation might be the most boring part of anything though right? I mean is anyone excited when a building’s foundation is being dug? No, it’s a pretty boring part of construction, it’s exciting when we actually see the building go up into the air right? I see this in every aspect of life. I talk to my kids a lot about saving money…boring! Well it’s boring now, but 40 years from now you will be happy you did it! My daughter Sydney loves soccer, and I tell my daughter to practice her soccer in the back yard…boring! It may be boring in the backyard and exciting in the game, but if you don’t have the right foundation the games just won’t be so fun will they! I talked to our people doing the Run for God with us about this when it comes to fitness. Yes it’s fun to work out when we are all together on a Sunday night, but you need to do the foundational things throughout the week for fitness, eat right, and exercise all week long when no one is looking…that is boring but if you want to run that 5k in November you need to be building the foundation now! Do you see it? Well in every area I just spoke of the foundation matters, so the question of the day becomes this. What are you building your foundation on? Are you even working on a strong foundation? This is so important…it may not feel important today, but it will feel important when the storms of life hit you…and I think Jesus is helping us see that those storms will come and when they do they will expose what is really going on in our lives.
So how are you doing with this? I want you thinking this through right now. We must look at the foundation of our lives…that foundation needs to be Jesus. He has laid out for us a way to live our lives, and when we apply His teaching to our lives we will experience everything He came to offer us as His disciples! But it starts with building the right foundation. Maybe it even starts before that with recognizing you need a strong foundation. Life is so busy, so cluttered, and we all have so much going on around us all the time that I think it’s easy to forget about the boring old, foundational things of life. Things like spending time with God each day. Reading our Bibles. Resting. Praying. This stuff may slip your mind. Because it isn’t really the exciting things. It reminds me of things like my rain spouting on my home. I never think about cleaning my gutters when it is nice and sunny out. Do you know when I seem to remember that my gutters need cleaned out? Yeah, it’s when it is raining and I see the water running out over them, and have to clean water out of my basement! Life is like that too. There is so much going on and it isn’t easy to stay focused on what matters when things are just gliding along. It isn’t like God is screaming for our attention is he? It seems like everything in life is though doesn’t it? It’s easy to lose sight of the foundations of life, that can easily happen in this world we live in with so much going on, but storms are coming. Tough times will hit…and I promise you, God will come into the forefront of your mind then. We must be like the wise builder and build our lives on Him. Our foundation is so important, and often is the last thing on our minds but the time will come when it will be needed, and when that day comes, it is so important than our foundation is Christ. I wanted to end today with this thought from Paul on just how important the foundation should be, and what it should be built on.
1 Corinthians 3:10 By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13 his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14 If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15 If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. NIV
It’s through the fires, the storms that we will see what we are standing on, and the beauty of being a disciple of Jesus is that we are standing on Him. He is our rock, our salvation, and He is in the storms with us. So as we leave here today I want you asking yourself. Are you able to take Jesus’ words and apply them to your life? Are you able to build them into your homes, your schools, your work, your relationships? If these words just stay here, in church on a Sunday morning, or if they just stay nice sayings on a t-shirt or bumper sticker but don’t become part of who you are it will come out. Don’t get me wrong you will look fine in church, and out in public, and everything will appear just fine, but the storm is coming and that is when the foundation matters.
Our foundation must be God, if you are struggling with how to build that foundation, or if you want to take steps to start living differently please talk to me after the service…because this is what it is all about. Life change. Transformation that comes as we take Jesus’ words for more than just information…It’s when we take these words and they become part of our lives.
The foundation matters and your foundation will come out and be revealed through the tough times of life that we all face. This is what Jesus is saying “Hey, these words I just gave you, they are words for you to live by!” So as you leave here that is the challenge, to actually live them out this week and beyond…like a wise builder who built his house on the rock, the foundation matters.