Firm Foundation
Notes
Transcript
There are many important components that go into building a house. The floor plan, the materials used, plumbing, electrical, and so many other decisions are made before construction begins. There is perhaps no greater decision to be made than that of the foundation of the house. The foundation of the house determines what will be placed on top of it. The type of foundation used is dependent on the load it is designed to bear. The larger the structure, the more complicated these things get. Every structure has a foundation. Every foundation interacts with the earth beneath it.
Everyone has built their lives on a foundation. Everyone has a worldview. There is no such thing as a neutral way of looking at the world. The question becomes is the way you look at the world the one that best reflects reality? In this last portion of the sermon on the mount, Jesus presents his audience with a choice between two options.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.
“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
“Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
“The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;
for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Everyone builds their life on a foundation. The question is which foundation have you chosen?
This is the time of response. After everything Jesus has said since chapter 5, he is calling his audience to a decision. Which foundation will you build your life on?
There are two comparisons here. The person who listens and acts on Jesus’ words is compared to a man who builds his house on the rock. The one who does not act on Jesus’ words is like a man who builds his house on sand. These two comparisons also present a contrast. The one who acts is different than the one who does not act. Notice again that the issue comes down to obedience. Notice that both people hear the words of Christ, but only the one who acts on those words has a firm foundation.
The strata determines the structure.
The strata determines the structure.
Jesus is using the contrast between rock and sand to illustrate the stability of a house depending on where it is built. Rock is a way more stable foundation than sand. Rock doesn’t move much. Sand shifts as soon as you apply pressure to it. The house you build on the sandy beach is going to have a different approach than the one you build in the mountains. The strata is the layers of soil or rock underneath the structure. The more stable the strata, the stronger the structure.
Our major cities are filled with skyscrapers. The tallest building in the world is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The foundation of this building is incredible. The concrete slab called the raft is 12 feet thick and it sits on 192 pillars of mixed concrete and steel called piles that descend 164 feet into the ground. It is an engineering marvel in that it is not only the tallest man made structure in the world, but it was built in a desert. You can’t build that kind of structure by pouring a foundation like you would for your home or even our church building. The foundation would not support it. It would topple over. The right structure needs the right foundation, and the strata, that which the structure sits on, determines the sort of structure you can build.
Jesus is saying that the life you live needs a foundation. As I said earlier, everyone has one. There is no life that does not have some foundation. There is heritage, family history, a code of ethics, and much more. You want to build your life on something that will last. Jesus is arguing that his words are the best foundation one can build his or her life on. Everything else is like building a house on sand. You can do it, but it is not wise.
There are people all over the world that do not agree with this next statement. The Bible provides the best foundation for understanding reality. The Christian worldview provides the best explanation for reality. It offers the best explanation for where we come from, how we got here, and where we will ultimately end up. The Bible shows us an uncreated God who exists outside of time and space, speaking those things into existence with extraordinary precision. It reveals a created order that was abandoned by our first ancestors, resulting in chaos. He promised to send someone who could lead us back from the chaos and to the order originally intended. Jesus is the answer to the trouble we see in the world. While trouble remains for now, he promises that those who believe what he said and do it can experience a glimpse of the life to come when there will no longer be a struggle between the perfect created order and chaos. Building our lives on the foundation of Jesus Christ is the only option that will last for an eternity. Everything else is shifting sand.
The foundation you choose determines the storms you can endure.
The foundation you choose determines the storms you can endure.
We all know that there is no such thing as an easy life. Every life has challenges. Every life has conflicts. We all know it is not a matter of if a storm comes, but when. The foundation of your life will be a determining factor in the kinds of storms you can endure. Jesus helps illustrate this by talking about the rain falling and the wind blowing. The house that sat upon the rock still stands while the house on the sand crumbled. They faced the same storms, but one fell while the other stood.
We often refer to the troubles of life as storms. It feels like the rain is beating down on us. We even see in cartoons how someone who is sad walks around with a rain cloud pouring down on them. The fear and anxiety that gets produced in us is reminiscent of riding out bad storms as a kid. Everybody has these moments when things are not peaceful. Life becomes turmoil, and now the safety, security, and comfort you once felt are gone. You’re left wondering what to do. The foundation you have built your life on will either hold you steady or crumble beneath your feet.
What have you staked your life on?
I learned something about the Burj Khalifa. The foundation must remain electrified at all times. If the foundation were not electrified, the salt from the Persian sea would corrode the re-bars in the piles, compromising the structural integrity of the foundation. So the engineers used the same physics that apply to batteries to solve this problem. This process is called electrolysis. By doing this, it prevents the salt from the sea from interacting with the steel and causing corrosion. Therefore, the building stands. But if the supply of electricity were to cease, it could have catastrophic results. The Burj Khalifa is not only subject to the salty sea, but severe wind storms. However, the building was designed to withstand windstorms of up to 150 miles per hour! If the builders had not electrified the foundation, the building would have crumbled by now. But because the foundation is maintained, the building endures.
The foundation you build your life on matters. If you build your life on a weak foundation, then the rains will fall and the winds will come and the structure may crumble. Building your life on the foundation of Jesus and the truth of the gospel helps you weather the storms in all circumstances. Some of you are cancer survivors. Some of you have endured losing a child. Some of you have been impacted by drug and alcohol abuse. Some of you might be going through a storm right now and you are wondering how to handle it. There are moments in all our lives that are “make you or break you” moments. The foundation we build our lives on will determine whether the situation makes us or breaks us.
A foundation built on the nonexistence of God, the denial of miracles, and the denial of an afterlife offers zero hope. A foundation built on anything other than the God of the Bible is to build a foundation on something that will not last. In 1 Samuel 4, the Philistines defeat Israel in battle and capture the ark of the covenant, their most holy possession. In the next chapter, the Philistines place it before a statue of their god, Dagon. The next day, they enter to find the statue of their god has fallen on his face in front of the ark of God. The Philistines stand him back up, and the next day the statue has fallen again, but this time it was smashed to pieces. Every other god but the God of the Bible is a false God. It will crumble because it was not built on the proper foundation. Building your life on the foundation of Jesus and his gospel matters because it is the only foundation that is true!
The foundation Jesus offers is a foundation that looks to resurrection and restoration of a time when heaven and earth are one and the Creator is no longer separated from his creation. The hope of the gospel is that the suffering we experience here on earth will one day end. The loved ones we lose may be seen again. The mistreatment we experience is no greater than that of what Jesus experienced. The struggles we endure will no longer be struggles. Sin will be eradicated. Our Savior will be visible. Our bodies won’t decay. I can endure anything knowing that my God does not lie, nothing has caught him by surprise, and he promises new life to all who believe, beginning now and carrying into eternity.
Do you have the right foundation? Are you maintaining the foundation so that it does not crumble? Just like the builders of the Burj Khalifa have to provide a constant supply of electricity to maintain the foundation of the structure, we must feed our Christian foundation a constant supply of God’s Word to maintain our foundation. If the Burj Khalifa loses its supply of electricity, the foundation is compromised. If we cut off the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives, our foundation crumbles as well.
Are you growing in your relationship with the Lord? Are you maintaining the status quo? Are you ignoring the strengthening of your foundation? I want to encourage you to work on prioritizing hearing from God. Remember that we have access to RightNow Media to help supplement your own reading. They even have road maps that they recommend that cover books of the Bible as well as biblical subjects. The stronger your foundation, the less likely you will crumble. How is your foundation?