MOST PEOPLE BUILD THEIR houses on the sand; I’m sure of it. Not their houses, of course. Not really. But their lives. By which I mean, most people don’t listen to Jesus when they think about what goes into living, or what ought to.
When I was a kid, my dad would tell me to do something. It could be just about anything: wait in a certain place, do my homework, get to my chores, clean my room, whatever. And I would hear him tell me, but that didn’t mean I always did it. And when he would come to check on me, to see whether I had completed the task he had laid out for me, only to find that I hadn’t even started, you know what he would say? In a rather frustrated tone, he would ask, “Didn’t you hear what I said?”
Now, he knew before he asked that, yes, I had heard every word. It wasn’t my hearing that was the problem. And he knew it. But when he asked, had I heard him, what he meant was that to hear is to obey.
Jesus makes this clear in his parable when he says, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man” (emphasis added). Simply hearing is not enough; we have to put what we have heard into practice. It is the path to wisdom. The person who doesn’t—that is, as Jesus says, “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them”—he or she is plunging into folly.
James addresses this same matter in his little book near the end of the New Testament. “Be doers of the word,” he says, “and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” I mean, who is a bigger fool that the person who lies to himself and believes the lie? James goes on: “If anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer that forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (Jas. 1:22ff.).
Blessed, you see. The Bible speaks with one voice on this issue. Hear what Jesus says and then do what you have heard—put it into practice—and you will be blessed.
But either people don’t believe that, or they don’t consider the blessing worth the effort—because most people are like me as a young kid. We hear what Jesus says, but we don’t do it. We’re like the proverbial “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.”
Why would anyone do this? Why would anyone build a house on sand—which is to ask, Why would anyone build a life on an unstable foundation?
When you think about it, the answer’s not hard to come by. Constructing a life without much forethought is just easier. Isn’t it? You don’t have to think about what you’re doing; you just do what feels good at the time. The less thought given to it, the less hassle. The less planning, the less worry. The less energy, the less fatigue. “Eat, drink, be merry,” were the words of a foolish man in another of Jesus’ parables (Luke 12:19). Building your house on sand or your life on fantasy is easy, and it may in fact be fun—for the time being.
A house built on sand also looks just as good as a house built on rock. Or, it can. In fact, it can look better. And if appearance is all that matters, what’s the fuss? But if there’s something else to consider, then…. But, oh, we don’t consider anything else. Ease, pleasure, outward appearances. These are things you don’t even have to choose. They choose you.
And if life had no friction, if there were nothing to put what you’ve made of your life to the test, then, yeah, you’d be good. No worries at all. But there’s that pesky matter of the rainfall…and the rising floodwaters…and the winds that blow and beat against your house—I mean, your life.
What did Jesus say happened to the house built on the sand? When the storm came up, “it fell”—and not only that, but “great was the fall of it.” In other words, there wasn’t just a little structural damage; the house was washed away and reduced to rubble. You want that to be the outcome of your life?
Well, no. But does that mean you have to listen to Jesus? Do what he says? And all that? The answer is yes, of course. But even knowing that, a whole lot of people resist the plain truth. Remember what James says: hear the word and fail to act on it—it means you’re deceiving yourself.
But still, people do that. I suppose it’s because their poorly constructed life is just…familiar. And the life built on the rock isn’t. And you know what they say: better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. Not that that’s necessarily true, but holding on to a lie is a lot easier than you might think. And many people find it preferable.
Because—face it! Building on the rock, that is, fashioning your life after Jesus’ teaching, requires something of you. It requires more thought, more effort. If you’re going to be an intentional follower of Jesus, you have to learn certain things, and remember them, and put them into practice…even when it is costly or, at best, inconvenient to do so. And you have to sustain this pattern over time. Which brings up the “D” word: Discipline.
And you know, some people might not think they have it in them. Of course, the thing about Christianity is: If you’re a Christian, you have in you the One who has it in Him to make life on the rock succeed.
So, what does it look like to build your life on the rock? Let me just mention five things. One: If you’re building your life on Jesus’ teachings, you’re going to give attention not only to the exterior part of life but to the interior part as well. You will have an inner life. And it’s important that you do. Because what you do outwardly is fueled by what you think inwardly. Belief leads to behavior. So, you know what you believe, and you maintain those beliefs. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance”—the inner part of you—“for from it flow the springs of life”—the outer part of you.
Two: Not only do you cultivate and nurture your inner life, but you also take an eternal perspective on things. Most people just consider things from a temporal point of view, but life on the rock means keeping in mind that there’s more to life than this life…and living like it. Charles Wesley once penned the words, “A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify, a never-dying soul to save and fit it for the sky. Arm me with jealous care, as in Thy sight to live. And, oh, Thy servant, Lord, prepare, a strict account to give.” Ah, that account we have to give to the Lord. You think tax day is important. Magnify its importance about a billion-fold, and you might get an idea how important Judgment Day is—and how important it is to be ready for it.
A third factor in building your life on the rock: You re-order your priorities. I know a bunch of folks who put self first, and I’m not above telling you that I struggle with that myself. But if I’m going to follow the teachings of Jesus—well, you know—it’s got to unfold like the kids’ song about joy: “J-o-y. J-o-y. This is what it means: Jesus first and yourself last and others in between.”
Fourth. You know this stuff. You’ve got to build into your life time for God. Each and every day. You leave God out of your day, you’re not building on the rock. You may think your little construction project is secure, but let a storm come up. Let the wind blow. You may as well be on the tempest-tossed sea with your sails flapping free.
You’ll notice that Jesus didn’t promise that, if you build on the rock—if you order your life around His teachings—there wouldn’t be trials. In his little parable, the rain fell and the floods rose and the wind blew against the house on the rock as surely as it did against the house on sand. But the house on the rock stood and weathered the storm, while the house on the sand didn’t.
If that’s not a good enough reason to follow Jesus’ teachings, I don’t know what is. But good as it is, it’s not the only reason. I can think of three more. In the end, a life lived for Jesus is much more rewarding than a life lived for any other cause. I mean literally. No one in heaven is going to care about your golf score or how much money you had in the bank, what car you drove or where you lived. Those things are fine, but your reward in heaven will have more to do with the time you spent in prayer, the kingdom work you did, the sacrifices you made for Jesus, the beauty not of your frame but of your spirit, the love you gave, the kindness you showed, the souls you won.
Besides all that, living for Jesus is what you were made for. You were created to give glory to God. Look who I’m telling. You’re all Presbyterians…or, most of you are. And you know the drill. The “chief end of man” and all that. Glorifying God. That’s what you were made for!
And you know what? There’s nothing more satisfying. The truth is: either way you go—live for Jesus or live for yourself—life will always leave you wanting more. The difference is: living for yourself will produce diminishing returns. You may get more and more of what you want, but it will never be enough. Life lived for Jesus—you will always want more, and there will always be more of Jesus to get. But you will never feel empty.
Most people will. Most people will build their “house” (you know what I mean) on the sand. They will live for immediate gratification rather than long-term satisfaction. They will always have their own wants and needs in view and seldom consider the wants and needs of others. They will relegate God to the margins of life.
But, I pray, not you. Even if you have built your house on the sand, it’s not too late. Today you can make the change that makes the difference. You can be like the wise man who built his house on the rock. Leave behind the familiar, the easy, the mindless normalcy of a wasted life. Turn your face to the driving rain and the piercing wind, and plant your feet firmly on Him who is the Rock of Ages. And you will stand. “A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.” For you were wise. You not only heard Jesus; you did what He said.
