Builders, Foundations and Storms
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1True and False Disciples
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
The Wise and Foolish Builders
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.”
28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.
Sermon preached at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Thursday Communion 3 December 2009
Introduction
There are three things that JC speaks about in this text. They are the foundations of life, secondly the storms of life and3rdly the stability of life.
Foundations
1st He says that THE FOUNDATIONS OF LIFE CONSIST OF THE GROUND ON WHICH YOU BUILD. There are a lot of different types of soil on which contractors can build, limestone, bedrock, or chalk. But Jesus says there are only two types to build your life on. You either build your life on rock or you build it on sand. There is no other option given to us. The largest mausoleum in the world Taj Mahal built 1632 to 1645 by 20,000 men in construction -built to last, built on rock. Jesus, when speaking on the building of life, often used the image of a rock - in building your life, what you build your life on determines your durability. The Leaning Tower of Pisa built from 1173 to 1372, the 12-story, marble tower is 17 feet out of line built on ‘sand’ - A life that is built on shaky soil will be an unstable life. Take note of this first eg. Jesus said that a wise man came and built a house on rock. That part of the country where Jesus lived and from where He was preaching was rocky terrain. He recognized that rock was a prime base for building - because there was also sand all around that terrain. In verse 26, Christ said, "but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish person." There were dry river beds in Palestine. They were leveled-out by streams and rivers. The land around those dry river beds was extremely flat. No preparation of the land was necessary. This foolish builder thought, "I’ll save time, I’ll save money and I‘ll save energy in putting it right here where the ground is already flat."
There is another difference here. The wise builder went to more trouble in building. It takes time to dig down into the substratum of rock. The foolish man fooled himself by raising the walls while the wise man was raising the foundation. When these two houses were finished, they looked the same. The difference was in their foundation. Our future is determined by the foundation on which we choose to build and the choices we make. Greek philosopher Aristotle said that, "choice, not chance, determines human destiny."
Storms
2nd Storms of life. NB THE STORMS OF LIFE CONFRONT EVERY HUMAN BEING. Jesus said both men, the wise man and the foolish man were surprised by the suddenness of the storm. It doesn’t matter what your background is, your class, your achievements; we are all confronted with life’s storms. A phone call, test results, a car crash, storms are no respecters of persons. V25, v27 (repeated account of the storm effective writing).
Look at the intensity of the storm. The storms Jesus spoke of are described with deliberate accuracy and similarity. Jesus used five conjunctions to show the intensity of the storm. In our English translations we lose this intensity. It reads like this: "And the rain came down and the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house and yet it did not fall." We need not go far to see the intensity of life’s storms. Our lives are obliterated at times by the intensity of the storms that confront each and every one of us. We are not exempt from storms of life. That’s the intensity of the storm. They come at us from all directions. We’ve looked at the foundations of life and the storms of life, but there is also the stability of life… the bedrock
Stability
3rd THE STABILITY OF LIFE IS IN THE ROCK. In other words, the ground upon which we build determines the stability of life.
All the materials we use in building are important, the brick and the roof tiles. But the material is not as important as the ROCK.
That is comforting to me, because it tells me that the stability of my life does not rest on my physical frame but on the rock itself. The wise builder does not get the credit for his durable construction. The credit goes to the rock. The teachings of Christ, the truth of Christ, Christ Himself is the rock.
[Illustration] When I take my kids to the beach the first thing they do is build a sand castle. But the first wave comes and the castle is gone.
The life that is built on sand collapses.
At the age of 23 I thought my stability was my job, my sport, my youthful strength but in an instant (a car crash on 30/5/1979) all of the above was proved to be shifting sand and when everything else was crumbling I found that I had one stable rock which I had trusted in since I was a boy - the Rock was Jesus. "
‘On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand.’
A humorous story……..Recently, I read a report to a State Industrial Commission on a man injured while in the act of repairing a chimney.
He wrote, "when I got to the building, I found that the hurricane had knocked some bricks off the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the chimney, there were a lot of bricks left over. I hoisted the barrel back up again and secured the rope at the bottom, and then went and filled the barrel with the surplus bricks. Then I went to the bottom and unhooked the rope.
Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was heavier than I was, and before I knew what was happening, the barrel came down, lifting me off the ground. I decided to hang on and halfway up, I met the barrel coming down and received a severe blow to the shoulder.
I then continued to the top, banging my head against a beam and getting my finger jammed in the pulley.
When the barrel hit the ground, it toppled over, allowing the bricks to spill out. I was heavier than the empty barrel, and so I started down again at high speed.
Halfway down, I met the barrel coming up and received a severe injury to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the bricks that had spilt, getting several painful cuts from the sharp edges. At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of the rope. The barrel then came down, giving me another heavy blow on the head and putting me in hospital."
