How Firm A Foundation
TCF Sermon
March 11, 2007
I want to start this morning by showing you a few pictures. This is a plague of many homeowners in the Tulsa area. It’s especially a problem when we have the kind of prolonged drought we’ve had in the past few years here.
Now, when we moved into our house, we had, I think, five piers already under the front of the house, which is more than 30 years old. That’s because before we moved in, the house’s foundation sagged some. Within a year of moving in, we had another three piers put in on the side of the house. Near the end of each summer, the first several years we lived here, I’d see cracks develop in our kitchen and laundry room. Our front door would also get a little bit tight, but it wasn’t a real problem. By the end of the fall, when the normal fall rain came, those cracks would close up and be gone for another year. We’d get winter precip, we’d get our usual heavier spring rains, and the cracks would be almost, or completely invisible, at least until we experienced our usual hot, dry summer, and by August they’d be back for a few months.
We’ve lived in our house for eleven years now, and this was the pattern. Up until about two years ago that is. The last two or three spring seasons haven’t been nearly as rainy as usual, summer’s been typically dry, and the fall and winter seasons haven’t brought nearly as much rain as usual. That all adds up to a real rain deficit, which means very dry soil around my house, which means my house is moving, and not only making these cracks more permanent, but it’s creating new problems – cracks in many other parts of the house that were never there before, a front door that only opens with great difficulty, etc.
Now, I’ve done everything I know to do to alleviate the problem, short of hiring a foundation company to put in more piers. So don’t come and tell me, gee, Bill, you need to keep your foundation watered in the summer. I’ve done that – you should have seen our water bill this past summer. I keep hoping we’ll have an extended season of rain, because in the past, it’s made a real difference in the problem.
But thus far, we’ve just lived with the inconveniences it has caused, hoping it won’t cause more permanent damage. If you brought your Bibles this morning, turn with me to Luke 6 – we’ll see the connection here as we go along.
Luke 6:46-49 (NIV) 46 "Why do you call me, ’Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."
I’ve been thinking a lot about foundations in recent weeks. There are two reasons for that. One is the pictures I just showed you. That’s another story, and it may be a costly fix, when I can grit my teeth and make myself get someone in who can fix it.
But the other is what we’re going to look at this morning. It seems that many of the messages God has brought to us in recent months, come down to foundational truths, and I find myself being reminded of how important that these foundational truths are to what God is speaking to us as individuals and as a church body.
Just two examples – from the first messages of the New Year. On the first Sunday in January, I spoke about hope, and I believe the Lord showed us clearly that the hope of salvation is the basis for any hope we have. It is the foundation on which all other hopes are built. We cannot hope in anything unless we have the hope of eternal life. Without that, we’re building our hope on sinking sand.
The following week, the second Sunday in January, Gordon preached, and many responded to the Word that week. I began to think about why that was – what was it about Gordon’s message that struck such a chord with the body here?
There were certainly many things about Gordon’s message that spoke to people that Sunday. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that many if not most people were responding to some things that were really basic. They were foundational truths, truths on which we all know we must build our faith, and the practical outworking of our faith.
That’s the line of thinking that led me to this passage of scripture this morning. It’s clear from this well-known story we just read, found not just in the Luke passage we just looked at, but also in Matthew 7:24-27, that the foundation of our lives as followers of Christ, must be built on the Word of God.
Jesus, after all, speaks of the one who hears His words. But there’s an important thing here that we cannot afford to miss, and let’s get to this right up front, and look at it in more detail as we go along. In describing both the wise builder, who built his house on rock, and whose house could stand up against the storms and floods of life, and then in describing the foolish builder, who built his house on a foundation of shifting sand or soil, whose house was destined to be destroyed…
in both these builders, we see that they heard Jesus’ words.
Verse 47 of Luke 6, speaking of the wise builder: “those who hear my words.”
Verse 49 speaks of the foolish builder as “the one who has heard.”
So, the wise and foolish builders have something in common, don’t they? Both the wise and the foolish builder heard the words of Jesus. But, if that’s true, we cannot just say that a devoted follower of Christ has a firm foundation because He hears, or even knows, the Word of God. That’s a problem, isn’t it? Because, isn’t that how we tend to think of it? Let’s be honest – we often stop there with this idea. First of all, no one in their right minds wants to be like the foolish builder. So, we think of ourselves, “I hear and know the Word of God, so my foundation must be like the wise builder, the one who built his house on the rock.”
If we hear and know the Word of God, then we must be ready for eternity, we must be ready for the floods and storms of life, we must be ready for anything. Because after all, isn’t the Word of God our foundation? In a sense, that’s true. In a very real sense, the Word of God is our foundation. It’s our source of truth, of hope, of comfort, of peace, of direction. It’s living and active in our lives, and it penetrates and convicts and encourages.
But, at least according to this parable told by Jesus, the Word of God is only the material from which our foundation is built. The Word is the rock, but our foundation is not built on the rock unless….unless we obey. Unless we “do what Jesus says.”
Why else would Jesus begin this section with this probing question in verse 46:
46 "Why do you call me, ’Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
In other words, the rock is available as a foundation to build on, but we must choose to build on it, rather than our own foolish choices. In the Matthew passage, just before where Jesus leads into the parable of the wise and foolish builders, Jesus makes just as strong a point as in the parable, and it’s directly related to it.
Matthew 7:21-23 (NIV) 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!’
After which, Jesus says in verse 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.”
So, we see that the “therefore” in verse 24, which leads into the parable of the wise and foolish builder, is there for this reason: to illustrate that saying to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, “ and even doing what might be considered miracles in His name, is not the same thing as hearing His words and obeying His words.
Outward expression is not nearly so important as obedience (v. 46). It is not enough to call Jesus Lord, Lord. A believer must do what He says. Those who hear His words and act on them are secure—like a man building a house... on rock (vv. 47-48), and those who hear His words and do not act on them are destroyed—like a man who built a house... without a foundation (v. 49). —Bible Knowledge Commentary
It’s important for us to remember when Jesus spoke this parable. It was at the end of His most famous, perhaps His most significant, sermon of His earthly ministry. It was the Sermon on the Mount. If you want to read it for yourself, go to Matthew 5:1, where Jesus began this sermon with the Beatitudes, and read all the way through Matthew 7:29, which describes the response of the crowd which was there to hear this sermon.
When we think of how Jesus closed this sermon, it’s important for us to remember that this is the same sermon in which Jesus said things like:
Matthew 7:3-5 (NIV) 3 "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ’Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
It’s the same sermon in which Jesus said:
Matthew 6:24 (NIV) 24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
The same sermon in which Jesus said:
Matthew 6:1 (NIV) 1 "Be careful not to do your ’acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:7-8 (NIV) 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Matthew 5:14-16 (NIV) 14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
So, when we think of how sermons end, and we think of the meat – the really rich, thought-provoking, sometimes convicting, sometimes encouraging words, that are part of a good sermon, here’s the sermon with more meat than any sermon you’ve ever heard, and this parable of the wise and foolish builder was the finale. This was the “altar call” or response, part of the sermon. This was the closing in which Jesus was calling for a response from those who heard the sermon that day.
Jesus was saying, OK, now think of all that I’ve just said. Anyone who hears and obeys, or puts into practice, the words I’ve said, is like the wise man who built his house on the rock. That context is very important for us to grasp. Jesus closes His sermon with a parable that drives home the importance of obedience. It is not enough to hear these sayings; we must put them into practice. We cannot be just hearers of the word, as James says, we must be doers.
The disciple who hears and does Jesus’ commands is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. His house (or his life) has a solid foundation and, when it is battered by rain and winds, which is absolutely inevitable in this life, it will not fall.
The person who hears Jesus’ sayings and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. This man will not be able to stand against the storms of adversity: when the rain descended and the winds blew, the house fell because it had no solid base.
If a person lives according to the principles of the Sermon on the Mount, the world calls him a fool; Jesus calls him a wise man. Believers Bible Commentary
So, the story helps to illustrate Jesus probing question in verse 46:
“Why do you call me Lord, and not do what I say?”
The word Lord means master. If we call Jesus Lord, and really understand and believe what we’re saying, we’re saying He has complete authority over our lives. We’re saying we belong to Him. We’re saying that we’re willing to do, even obligated to do, whatever He asks of us, and to not do what He asks us not to do.
To call Him Lord and then to fail to obey Him is absurdly contradictory. A mere professed acknowledgment of His lordship is not enough. True love and faith involve obedience. We don’t really love Him and we don’t really believe on Him if we don’t do what He says. Believer’s Bible Commentary
Matthew Henry wrote:
If we comply not with the will of God, we mock Christ in calling him Lord, as those did who put on him a gorgeous robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews. Saying and doing are two things
That’s a convicting way to think of it – comparing our disobedient selves with those who mocked Jesus by calling Him King of the Jews even as they were crucifying Him. That’s what calling Jesus Lord of our lives, without the correspondent obedience to Him in our lives, is really like.
We don’t really believe something, whether or not we say we believe it, unless it results in some action, or some change in our lives. Think about this for a moment. Genuine belief leads to action. When we really believe something, we inevitably must follow through with it in some way or it calls into question whether or not we really believe it.
If we really believe that the lion in our path will kill us, it will lead to action. We’ll either kill it first if we have a gun, before it kills us, or we’ll try to escape it, if we don’t. Belief leads to action. If we believe that eating poison will kill us, we won’t eat poison, even in small amounts. If we believe that using a hammer to pound a nail into a wall will actually drive the nail into the wall, believing it isn’t enough alone, is it? We have to use the hammer to drive the nail into the wall. We must put action to that belief.
If we believe that all of our possessions belong to God, we will act on it by giving as He instructs us. If we believe that we must forgive our brothers who offend us, we will forgive when we have that conviction of the Holy Spirit.
So, we cannot rightly call Jesus Lord unless we do what He says. The Greek tense of this passage indicates not an isolated act (of obedience), but a lifetime of doing.
James echoed this thought.
James 1:22 (NIV) 22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Jesus reinforced this idea in:
Luke 11:28 (NIV) 28 He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
To do Christ’s sayings is conscientiously to abstain from the sins that he forbids, and to perform the duties that he requires. Our thoughts and affections, our words and actions, the temper of our minds, and the tenour of our lives, must be conformable to the gospel of Christ; that is the doing he requires. All the sayings of Christ, not only the laws he has enacted, but the truths he has revealed, must be done by us. They are a light, not only to our eyes, but to our feet, and are designed not only to inform our judgments, but to reform our hearts and lives Matthew Henry
Hearing Jesus’ words without obeying them is like building a house with no foundation. Of course, this doesn’t also mean that when we sin once, we’ve ruined our foundation, or that we’re building on sand. It’s clear that we do sin, and it’s clear that when we do sin, there is forgiveness and restoration (1 John 1:8-10).
So, just as this passage is talking about being characterized by a lifestyle of obedience, it’s being characterized by a sinful lifestyle that is labeled as disobedience, and thus foolish building on the sand.
Both sets of people (represented by the two builders) have heard the teaching. Both will experience the same difficulties. What distinguishes the two is that only the first does what Jesus has taught. Building on the foundation means both hearing and obeying Jesus’ teaching. A lawless lifestyle rests on a foundation which is no foundation, and thus has neither basis for living nor protection from destruction.
Baker Bible Commentary
From the outside, each house, the one built by the wise builder, and the one built by the foolish builder, looks secure. So we’re dealing with an inward attitude here, aren’t we? The Lord looks at the heart, and He knows a heart of obedience. That’s why He could see the Pharisees for what they were. They were concerned about how the outside of the house looked, and did a good job keeping up appearances. But their house was built on sand, and Jesus knew it.
Only storms reveal the quality of the work of the two builders. The greatest storm is eschatological, but Jesus’ words about the two houses need not be thus restricted. The point is that the wise person builds to withstand anything.
What wisdom consists of is clear. A wise person represents those who put Jesus’ words into practice; they too are building to withstand anything. Those who pretend to have faith, who have a merely intellectual commitment, or who enjoy Jesus in small doses are foolish builders. When the storms of life come, their structures fool no one, above all not God.
The sermon ends with what has been implicit throughout it – the demand for radical submission to the exclusive Lordship of Jesus, who fulfills the Law and the Prophets and warns the disobedient that the alternative to total obedience, true righteousness and life in the Kingdom, is rebellion, a life that is self-centered, and eternal damnation.
- Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary
The foundation we build our life on is absolutely critical to what kinds of followers of Christ we will be, or maybe whether we’re His followers at all. It takes two key things:
1. hearing the Word of God
2. responding in obedience to God’s Word
Without these two things, our foundations are likely to crack, and everything built on top of those foundations is then at risk. Without this firm foundation, our lives are subject not just to the storms of life, which is a constant reality, but to the destructive effects of those storms.
With this firm foundation, however, we’ll be battered, we’ll see floods, we’ll see wind and rain, but our house will stand. Our foundation will hold up all the rest of our spiritual house, because it’s built on the rock of the Word of God, and on our obedience to His Word. There’s an old hymn that used to begin the radio programs of J Vernon McGee. He was a radio preacher who did the program called Thru the Bible, and I remember when I worked at a Christian radio station in Memphis, this was his opening music. This hymn was sung at the fun¬er¬als of Amer¬i¬can pres¬i¬dents The¬o¬dore Roo¬se¬velt and Wood¬row Wil¬son, and Amer¬i¬can Ci¬vil War gen¬er¬al Robert E. Lee. Then Fernando Ortega did a more recent version of this song.
The beginning goes like this:
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say, than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
What’s falling apart in your life? Do you have cracks in your walls or floors or ceiling? Do you have parts of your spiritual house that are shaky? If so, chances are, it’s because your foundation isn’t strong. The only way our foundations can be strong is to hear the Word of God, and to obey it.
We can’t hear the Word of God unless we’re consistent to read it, and to hear it preached. The Word must be a huge component of our daily lives. But hearing is only the first step. Once we’ve heard what God clearly speaks, we must obey.
Then, our spiritual lives are built to withstand anything life throws at us, anything the enemy throws at us, because our lives are built on the rock.
Pray
