Build Your House On The Rock

June 2, 2002 Matthew 7:15-28

15 "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

21 "Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he 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 perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, `I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

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,

Several months ago I had driven by a “house for sale” sign right west of Wanamaker School on 10th Street. When I saw this sign posted, it looked like the dream house for me. The first thing I considered was price. I figured that the price would be right - because it was a real dump - the grounds were all full of refuse and the house looked run down. But the location was nice. There were at least several acres of land available with woods surrounding it - and the house itself was built up on a hill. It wasn’t far from church and right near school.

Location is very important when it comes to choosing a house to live in, right? Location determines price. If your house is in a bad location you might have to drive too far to work or might have flooding in your basement. If you’re in the right location, your house could sky rocket in value. Jesus states that location is all important when building your spiritual house as well. As a matter of fact, the location of where you decide to build your spiritual house has life or death consequences - eternal ones. And so Jesus encourages us to build our houses on the Rock - Jesus Christ.

Build Your House on the Rock

I. By practicing what Jesus preached

I’ve never personally built a house. I’ve had it explained to me and seen pictures of how it is done. Let me tell you, it doesn’t seem like something I’d want to do for a living. Even with all of the modern day equipment that is available today, you still need to haul cement, nail forms together, lift bricks and wood, and do a lot of detail work as well. I was amazed at how much work it just took to put up a room in our basement.

Jesus wants us to think in terms of building a house when it comes to being and living as a Christian. If you’ve ever stopped to think about how we do it, there’s something missing, isn’t there? We put a lot of work and effort into building up a nice foundation - making sure our kids are well grounded in Scriptures through eighth grade. But then for some reason we tend to have a mind set that since the foundation is poured the house doesn’t need to be built. It’s like we’re happy to live in basements. Sure, we could live in a basement and survive just fine. That’s how my wife’s grandmother grew up. But after a while they decided to build up and expand on the house - life would be better that way. That’s how God wants our spiritual homes to be - continual projects in the making. When building a house, it takes time and effort. If you only spent one hour a week building a house, it would take a long time to ever finish that house. If someone only spent one hour a week building his house, you would have to conclude that either it was not a priority in his life or he was lazy. Would God say the same of us? Are you content to live in the basement with just a foundation - coming to church once a week or month and being content with that? Do you have a desire to build up your spiritual home? Or do you live with the mind set that since you went through Bible Information Class or confirmation you’ve done “enough”?