The Wise Foundation: June 1, 2008
Keith J. Andrews
All Scriptures marked ESV: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Ordinary Time/Third Sunday after Pentecost (Green)
Matthew 7:21-29
In St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana Sheriff Jack Stephens has a home on the Gulf Coast directly in the path of Hurricane Katrina. During hurricane, Katrina his house survived 20 foot waves and 145 MPH winds, while the other homes in the neighborhood were completely destroyed.
What was the difference? The house is built 21 feet in the air with hurricane resistant construction. (www.bae.lsu.edu)
This morning, we are looking at a somewhat familiar passage from Matthew 7:21-27. This passage tells the story of the man who built his house on a rock and the man who built his house on the sand.
This passage helps us to rethink what foundation we are building our lives on—is it rock or is it shifting sand?
I pray this morning that we will walk away this morning with a fresh understanding of where our foundation is laid.
Look with me to Matthew 7:21-27
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
(Mt 7:21-27, ESV).
I want you to:
1. Consider the Builder
The Bible says in this passage that the wise man built his house on the rock and the foolish man built his house on the sand.
Proverbs 1: 7 says:
5 Let the wise hear and increase in learning,
and the one who understands obtain guidance,
6 to understand a proverb and a saying,
the words of the wise and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Pr 1:5-7, ESV)
There is a difference between the wise and the foolish. The wise seek knowledge, but the fool is the one who hates wisdom and instruction.
There is a lot of hatred toward wisdom and understanding in today’s world. We are supposed to be an enlightened age, where we know so much and we understand so many things—but the Bible says that we are fools! The Bible says that the Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and, in to many cases, we purposely remove God from our understanding and from our discussions and we cross Him off as irrelevant and impractical. We are fools. And we know nothing.
Most of us remember the star of Tool Time, Tim “the Tool man” Taylor. This character from the TV show “Home Improvement” brought many laughs during his time on television. Frequently, he would be shown completely destroying part of the house, a project in his garage, or a demonstration for his TV show.
Are we not the same? We parade around like we know so much, but in reality we know very little.
But, the wise hear and increase in learning. They are constantly asking for other opinions and further guidance. They begin with the fear of the Lord and move outward.
Will you seek to be a wise man or a foolish man? Will you be caught complacent in your understanding of the God and His interaction with the world. Or will you be constantly learning, seeking to understand what God is doing around you?
Now,
2. Consider the House
While the story speaks of two houses both contain the same thing. Contained in these houses were the lives of these two men.
They both could have had family inside. They both had memories. They both contain all of their earthly possessions.
When I’m traveling, I like to go to visit old homes. I like to see how the people truly lived and how they spent their time.
One of my favorites is the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. At the Biltmore Estate, they have renovated many of the rooms that the family once used when the home was first built. There is a bowling alley, a swimming pool, many different bedrooms, a library, and, my favorite, a study. Much of the house still is not even open to the public, but the parts that are open to the public give the visitor a view of how the Vanderbilt’s lived their lives in the late 1800s.
While gazing at the Biltmore House, I can imagine what the life was like living in mansion—the parties, the guests, the children, and the quiet private moments of the family. In these places, you can see what was important to the people who lived there—you can see their life.
Jesus wisely uses the analogy of a house to describe the person’s life. A house is where we live, how we live, and contains all that is important. The house represents who you are. It represents your status in life and it represents how you will live in the future.
The same is true now as we watch MTV cribs and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
Do you think it matters how the foundation of this house is built? Absolutely! We would not want our house to fall.
What about our lives? What is contained in your life that is important? Is your life built on a firm foundation?
What will happen when a storm hits?
Let us,
3. Consider the Storm
In verse 25 and again in verse 27, Jesus describes the storm in an almost exact way he said;
“And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house,” (Mt 7:27a, ESV)
Today is the first day of the Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins today. And there is already a Tropical Storm out in the Gulf of Mexico.
I grew up in South Carolina, where we witness the somewhat frequent occurrence of Tropical Storms and Hurricanes hitting the coastline. Hurricanes have since become an interest of mine.
For several years, I taped the Weather Channel Hurricane coverage. I recently converted them over to DVD and was able to watch them. In those broadcasts, I was reminded of the power of the Hurricanes that come across the land.
The rains fall, the floods come, and the winds blow and beat against that houses that stand in the way. Many are destroyed, some are able to survive, but these stand among the destruction that surrounds them.
The same is true in our personal lives. There will be storms. The rain will come. The floods will come. The winds will come.
We all will face tragedy of some sort in our lives. People have different types of storms—but this doesn’t negate their magnitude in the people’s lives.
When we are in the midst of a storm, we can feel ourselves becoming soaked in the despair of the moment, flooded with pain, confusion, and self doubt, and we feel beat up by the winds of the world.
During the storm is not the time to build a firm foundation—it is before.
I often use the analogy of a PT test when I am counseling Soldiers as they move through these storms in their lives.
If you show up for a PT test without having done PT for several months or years, you would not expect to do very well. In the same way, if you have neglected your Bible reading, your prayer life, and your attending church for months or years, you may have some difficulty getting through the tests as they come your way.
So, what kind of storm are you facing today? Is your house on the right foundation?
Let’s take a moment, then, to:
4. Consider the Foundation
In this story, the two men each build foundation for their house—one made of sand, the other of rock.
The foundation made from rock withstood the storm. The foundation made of sand shifted during the storm and fell.
I was reminded of the story of the three little pigs, who were visited by the Big Bad Wolf.
The first pig made his house of hay, the second made his house of twigs. When the wolf came, he blew their house down, “with a huff and a puff.”
But, the third pig, built his house out of bricks. The wolf could not blow his house down.
We can see the resemblance of both stories, but the truth of the matter is that there is a right way and a wrong way to lay a foundation.
When building a home, there are codes and laws to make sure that your house won’t fall on top of you. These same principles apply to building a stronger home in hurricane areas and earthquake areas, they just make them stronger.
We don’t doubt the necessity of these principles and laws. They have been demonstrated time and time again to work. They are trusted.
When Jesus says that there is a right way and a wrong way to build the foundations of our lives, we debate it. We say that maybe that is true for you but not true for me.
However, Jesus makes it clear that:
Verse 26 and 27:
…everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
He is saying that if we hear his words and do not do them, we are fools.
We must build our lives on the proper foundation.
Conclusion
Many times when this passage is studied, people have focused on obedience. They teach that we must follow specific rules, do certain things, or act a certain way.
But a closer look at the passage reveals that obedience has nothing to do with it at all.
We must look at the first two verses if we are truly going to get the point of this passage.
In Matthew 7:21-23, Jesus says;
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Mt. 7:21-23, ESV)
He then tells the story of the wise man and foolish man.
The foundation is not doing the right thing—not at all. If you look at it closely, you will see that the people Jesus was talking about where doing the right thing and they will say to Jesus
“…‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ (Mt. 7:22b, ESV)
His response is
‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Mt. 7:23b, ESV)
He wasn’t concerned about how much they DID, he was concerned about whether or not they KNEW Him.
Do you know Jesus this morning?
Jesus truly wants to know you. He died on a cross to make that possible.
You see, all of us are sinners. And that sin separates us from a loving God. The punishment for this sin is death and separation from God for eternity.
Jesus took that punishment for us. He willingly died on a cross to pay for our sin.
All we must do is to accept that payment and choose to know Christ as our Savior.
That is how we begin to build our foundation.
That is how we do the will of the Father who is in heaven and enter the kingdom of heaven.
Not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Eph 2:8-9, ESV)
We build it on the knowledge and the dependence on Christ as our Salvation.
And I invite you to do that today. Let us pray.
