In 1174 the Italian architect Bonnano Pisano began work on what would become his most famous project - a bell tower for the Cathedral of the city of Pisa. But after construction had progressed to the second floor several years later, the tower began to sink and tilt due to the fact that the foundation was only 3 meters thick and it had been set in unstable subsoil. Over the next 170 years or so, as the construction took place in several different phases, there were a number of attempts to fix the problem, including building the upper floors with one side taller than the other in order to account for the tilt. As a result the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” is actually curved.
In 1990 the tower was closed to the public and for the next decade a number of measures were taken to slightly straighten the tower and to stabilize the building. It was finally reopened again in 2001.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa demonstrates quite clearly what happens when a building is constructed without the proper foundation. As we come to the end of our study of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus makes the case that the same thing is true spiritually. If we want our lives to be stable and sturdy, we must begin with a strong foundation. Let’s read the concluding words of Jesus’ message.
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 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. 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. 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.
Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV)
As Jesus speaks here about rain and floods and wind, He is obviously using figurative language that pictures the difficulties that we face in life. These storms take on a number of forms and they can involve physical, emotional and spiritual issues. But the good news is that Jesus provides us with some principles that we can apply in order to weather those storms of life.
This is a pretty straight forward passage so we can move pretty quickly through the observations that we can draw from it.
SOME OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE STORMS OF LIFE
1. Everyone experiences the storms of life
One of the first things we note is that both the wise and the foolish builder are subject to the same forces of rain, floods and wind. As we have pointed out frequently during our journey through the Sermon on the Mount, being a Christ follower does not provide us with immunity against the difficulties that we will inevitably face in life. In fact, Jesus made that very clear with His words earlier in His sermon:
…For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 5:45 (ESV)
The storms that come into our lives are neither a source of justification or condemnation. We can’t use them to prove that someone is either living for God or living for self. That is one reason Jesus had earlier warned about being judgmental.
It is instructive that Jesus doesn’t focus here on the cause of the storms. I’m convinced that is because He doesn’t want us to spend all our time debating why the storms occur. Instead, He wants us to focus on building the right foundation, so that when the storms come, we will be prepared.
Thirty years ago, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a very popular book titled When Bad Things Happen to Good People. Unfortunately in that book, Rabbi Kushner came to some very unbiblical conclusions about the nature of God. But as dangerous as those conclusions were, the even greater danger posed by his book was that by even asking the question he took people’s focus away from the real issue. Instead of arguing about why bad things happen, Jesus is much more concerned that we take the proper steps to make sure we are prepared when they come.
2. Surviving the storms requires building on the right foundation
The only distinction that Jesus makes between the two houses is the foundation on which they are built. Other than that there is nothing to distinguish one house from the other. So the obvious conclusion that we are to make is that surviving the storms of life is dependent primarily on building the right foundation.
One option is to build on a foundation of sand. If you’ve ever been to the beach and built a sand castle, you have seen first had how that works out. No matter how well you build that castle eventually the waves will come and wash it away.
The other option is to build on the rock. After attempting to dig holes in the yard at our house in order to plant some trees and other plants, I’m pretty confident our house is going to stay where it is for a long time because there is nothing but rock beneath it.
The apostle Paul expands on this principle in his first letter to the church in Corinth:
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3:10-11 (ESV)
There is no doubt that the foundation of rock is none other than Jesus Himself. Anything else that we try to use as a foundation for our lives is sand. Not surprisingly, Jesus confirms this very same principle again later in His ministry:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18 (ESV)
The rock that Jesus is referring to here is not, as some claim it to be, Peter, but rather Himself. There is a subtle word play here that we don’t pick up in English very well. The name Peter in Greek is “petros” which describes a piece of rock or a stone. The word translated “rock”, which is the very same word we find in our passage in Matthew 7 is “petra” which describes a large, unmovable mass of rock.
So Jesus points to Peter and says to him, “You are a stone,” and then He points to Himself and says, “but I am an unmovable mass of rock and it is on this unmovable mass of rock that I am going to build my church.”
So once again, Jesus is making it clear that only He is that foundation of rock on which we are to build our lives. Jesus goes on to give us even greater insight on how we are to make Him that foundation of rock so that we can weather the storms of life.
3. The right foundation requires both belief and action
Another thing that the wise and the foolish builder both have in common is that they both hear the words of Jesus. In fact, they both even continually listen to His words and consider what they hear. But the difference comes in what they do after they hear Jesus’ words.
The foolish builder just goes on His way. His life never changes as a result of what he hears. Unfortunately that seems to describe a large percentage of people who consistently come to church week after week. Every week they hear the words of Jesus, but sadly, those words never impact how they live their lives the other 167 hours during the week. And then when the storms of life inevitably come, they get mad at God and blame Him because they aren’t prepared to weather those storms.
The wise builder also hears the words of Jesus. But he then takes the additional step of actually putting those words into practice in his life. He attempts to live his daily life in a manner that is consistent with what he is learning about Jesus. His relationship with Jesus goes well beyond just an hour at church once a week. And when the storms come, he is prepared to weather those storms.
Jesus’ half brother James does a great job of describing this relationship between what we believe and what we do. As I’ve mentioned before, it seems likely that James heard Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount because his entire epistle is based on Jesus’ teaching from that sermon.
Go ahead and turn to James 2 and follow along as I read beginning in verse 14:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe - and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” - and he was called a friend of God.
James 2:14-23 (ESV)
It is clearly not enough to just believe the words of Jesus. James points out that even the demons do that. They even believe it enough that they shudder. But that isn’t enough to help anyone weather the storms of life. Our belief has to be backed up by our actions.
The example of Abraham cited by James really illustrates this point quite well, doesn’t it? It was Abrahams’ belief – his faith – that made him righteous before God. But faith is really only faith when it is accompanied by action. As James writes, his faith was “completed” by his works. Had Abraham only said he had faith but refused to lay his son Isaac on the altar as God had commanded, it wouldn’t have been genuine faith.
If we want to weather the storms of life by building on the foundation of rock, then we must not only hear and consider the words of Jesus, we must put them into practice.
4. Being prepared for the storms of life requires proper construction and constant maintenance
The verb “does” in verse 24 is in the present tense, which means that Jesus is speaking here of a lifestyle of continually doing the will of God – not just a one time action.
In building a house, a proper foundation is certainly essential, but it is also important that the rest of the construction which is placed on top of that foundation is completed properly.
In 1992, a TV camera crew was on assignment in Southern Florida filming the widespread destruction of Hurricane Andrew. In one scene, amid the devastation and debris stood one house on its foundation. The owner was cleaning up the yard when the reporter approached.
“Sir, why is your house the only one standing?” asked the reporter. “How did you manage to escape the severe damage of the hurricane?”
“I built the house myself,” the man replied. “I also built it according to Florida State building code. When the code called for 2x6 trusses, I used 2x6 trusses. I was told that a house built according to code could withstand a hurricane. I did, and it did.”
Earlier we looked at the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3. As Paul continues writing, he makes it clear that same principle applies in the spiritual realm as well as in the physical realm:
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw - each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 (ESV)
Not only must we start with the foundation of Jesus, we must build on that foundation with those things that will last – the gold, silver and precious stones. That is certainly consistent with what Jesus taught earlier in the sermon when He encouraged His followers to invest their lives in the lives of other people rather than focusing on the wood, hay and straw of material riches that will one day pass away.
And even once the initial construction on a house is complete, the work is still not done. In order to keep the house in good condition, constant maintenance is required – cleaning, patching, painting, and trimming. Eventually certain items like carpet wear out and have to be replaced.
Our spiritual lives are like that, too. It is not enough to just make Jesus our foundation by committing our lives to Him and then just sit back and rest on our laurels. We have to constantly be building and maintaining our relationship with Him by doing what He calls us to do.
If there was ever anyone who could have felt like he had arrived and no longer needed to build and maintain His walk with Jesus, it would have to be Paul. But near the end of his ministry and his life, here’s what he wrote:
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you.
Philippians 3:12-15 (ESV)
Even at the end of his life, Paul was still working hard to develop and maintain his walk with Jesus. That’s why he was able to weather all the storms of life that he faced in his life – and we know from the Biblical accounts that there were many.
This is really a pretty simple, straightforward message this morning. So I’m not going to try and stretch this out in order to fill up the time. But even though the words of Jesus here are easy to understand, they are certainly much more difficult to apply.
We began our series on the Sermon on the Mount on August 28 and including the five messages on kingdom stewardship, we have had 16 messages on the Sermon on the Mount prior to this morning. And there are some of you, actually a pretty good number of you, who have been here for every one of those messages. But what really matters this morning is not whether you have heard all those messages. The real issue is how much of what you have learned have you put into practice?
• Does your life bear more evidence today of a “beatitude attitude” than it did 16 weeks ago?
• Are you more effective as salt and light today than you were 16 weeks ago?
• Have you developed a love for the heart of the law that is more mature than it was 16 weeks ago?
• Is your prayer life more focused on Jesus and His kingdom today than it was 16 weeks ago?
• Are you a more faithful steward of the resources that God has entrusted to you than you were 16 weeks ago?
• Have you matured in your ability to judge without being judgmental in the last 16 weeks?
• Are you doing a better job of living by the “Golden Rule” today than you were 16 weeks ago?
• Have you developed your ability to be an effective spiritual fruit inspector and discern false teaching in the last 16 weeks?
• Have you genuinely entered by the narrow gate and do you know Jesus better than you knew Him 16 weeks ago?
Obviously none of us can do any of those things perfectly. But if you’re further along in applying the words of Jesus today than you were 16 weeks ago, then you’ll be much more prepared to weather the storms of life than you were back then. But if all you’ve done is to hear the words of Jesus and haven’t at least made an effort to apply them in your life, then watch out! Because if that is the case, you’ve built your life on a foundation of sand and it’s going to come crumbling down when the storms of life inevitably come.
Only you and God can honestly evaluate how well you’ve done in applying the words of Jesus for these last 16 weeks. I certainly can’t do that by just looking at the outside. Only you and Jesus know your heart.
In a moment, Susan will come to sing for our offering time, but before she does that, I want to give all of us a few minutes to spend some time in prayer, asking God to help us make an honest evaluation of whether we’re building our lives on the rock of Jesus or on some other foundation of sand. And then let’s ask God to help us apply the words of Jesus in our lives. I’m pretty sure that is a prayer that He would delight in answering.
