September 30, 2001
The Doorway to Heaven – Part 3
INTRODUCTION
Who would have guessed that a series of books “…for Dummies” would sell more than 35 million copies?
You’re probably familiar with these big yellow self-education books. People a lot like you and me purchase them to help us learn more than we do about a particular subject. The series now boasts over 100 separate titles, meaning that there is advice for just about everyone.
Consider a few of the titles:
Bird-Watching for Dummies, Entertaining for Dummies, E-Bay for Dummies, Fishing for Dummies, Investing for Dummies, Law for Dummies, Parenting for Dummies, even Sex for Dummies.
Why has this series been so successful at tapping into people’s desire to learn? One satisfied customer said, “I buy them because they take the intimidation out of the learning process. Whatever the subject matter, they spell it out to me in simple terms. They make the complex understandable, so that even a regular guy like me can ‘get it.’” (Bill Hybels, Making Life Work, p. 15)
The same could be said for the Sermon on the Mount. It takes the ageless, priceless of wisdom of God himself and makes it understandable and accessible to regular people like you and me.
Jesus concludes this Sermon with the statements we witnessed him giving on the video… If you want to follow along in the Bible this morning you can find those verses on page 961-962 in the pew Bible.
In verse 24 of Matthew 7, Jesus says…
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice…
That’s what the past 6 months have been all about. Hearing the words of Jesus and attempting to put them into practice in our daily lives. Easier said than done. Sometimes the words are so penetrating we wish they didn’t hit so close to home. Sometimes what Jesus asks of us appears to be way beyond our mortal abilities. And yet Jesus desires that we both hear the words and practice them.
Each week during this series I’ve tried to encapsulate Jesus’ teaching from the section under consideration into one memorable statement – something that I’ve been calling the “Big Idea”. Sunday by Sunday since back in March, here are the things we have learned from the Sermon on the Mount….here are each of the Big Ideas…
My character will be noticeably different when I welcome the kingdom of God into my life.
I can have joy, even in the midst of suffering for Jesus.
I am salt – my influence on the world depends on my being distinctive, not identical.
I am light – my influence on the world depends on my being visible, not concealed.
With a merely external display of conformance to God’s rules, I will never clear the righteousness bar.
Since anger is serious and dangerous I should take action immediately to avoid it.
When I think right sexually, I will act right sexually.
When I understand God’s intention for marriage I’ll have a new view of divorce.
I must keep my promises and be a person of my word.
When personally wronged or injured I need to respond with an outrageous attitude – like forfeiting my dignity, my comfort, my privacy or my right to ownership – in order to show greater love.
Loving my enemy is a way to show I belong to God.
When I give, God’s approval is what counts.
My prayers are for God’s ears only.
When I fast, I’ll focus exclusively on God.
My stuff is not safe here.
I will invest in things that last forever.
I will let nothing of this earth cloud my vision.
I will live a life of undivided loyalty to Jesus Christ.
Because of my Father’s care, I can stop worrying about everything.
Because God alone does the judging, I am freed up to encourage others in their spiritual journey.
Because God only gives good gifts, I will pray with persistence.
I will take the initiative to do something good for another person.
My journey to heaven begins with a choice at the fork in the road.
To avoid the nightmare of not being recognized by Jesus, I must recognize the truth and live by it.
Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice…
…is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
The house he’s talking about is just a metaphor for our lives. So that means…
Big Idea: Everyone who puts Jesus’ words into practice builds a great life.
God’s wisdom works…Embracing it will result in a house firmly planted on the rock.
To get his point across, Jesus tells an interesting little story about two home-builders. He points out something concerning the builders that is the same as well as something that is different. Out of that we’ll learn a couple of underlying principles that will help us understand how a great life can be built.
TRANSITION: First of all, in the story of the two builders, something is similar. There is a common denominator…do you know what it is?
I. THE COMMON DENOMINATOR – STORMS
Storms know no boundaries. Storms do not pay favorites. Storms are a common experience to every person building a life.
Both builders experienced the same storm.
Notice the similarities (in v. 25 and 27):
The rains came down
The streams rose
The winds blew and beat against the house
Some may look at Jesus’ sermon, and go away thinking, “Wow, that’s really some tough teaching, but if I work at it really hard and follow all of these principles then life will be one blessing after another right? I’ll have life figured out and I’ll be able to avoid the heartaches and hardships that so many others seem to experience. Not exactly.
The reality is, life is full of storms. And storms are no respecter of persons.
At some point…
The rains will still come
The streams will still rise
And the wind will still blow
Don’t be confused. God’s wisdom helps to build great lives. But a great life is not a life without any troubles.
Illustrations…
We may want to ask questions about the storm – why did it come – why was I not spared from its harshness – but instead of focusing on the storm itself, Jesus wants us to notice something that is different in the story.
TRANSITION: When you look at the two builders there is something different about them. It’s a difference that shows up in the lives of people. True, like the builders, we all face storms, but…
II. THE DIFFERENCE – HOW PEOPLE PREPARE
Storms have a strange way of revealing our preparation. We know they are coming – but not everyone is ready when they do.
One of the builders in Jesus’ story built his house on the sand – perhaps some attractive beachfront property. When complete, I’m sure it was a lovely house.
The other man built on rock – possibly just up the hill from the other man’s beachfront sandy property.
If I were film this as a movie, here’s what I would do. I’d show a scene of family one having a picnic out on the beach. Then I’d show family two up on the hilltop having dinner around the dining room table. A fast moving storm would roll in and surprise the family on the beach. They’d gather their lawn chairs and grilling items and make a mad dash for the house.
The family up on the hilltop clears the table and starts to load the dishwasher.
As the beachfront family dries off with towels inside their house the storm starts to get violent. The rain is coming down in sheets. The wind whips the rain against the windows with incredible force. One of the children says, “It’s nasty outside. Glad we made it in when we did.” But then a unusual creaking sound is heard in the direction of the basement. Each of the family members looks down at their feet, wondering what it could be. Their hear it again, only louder. Then all of a sudden a corner of the house gives way and drops. There is a sound of breaking glass, things falling off of shelves, the family screams and is thrown to the floor.
A quick shot of the family up on the hilltop shows that family in the living room. Dad’s in the easy chair reading the paper. Mom is curled up on the sofa with a blanket, reading a book. The children are sitting on the rug playing with toys. In the background there is some quiet classical music coming from the stereo.
Another shot of the family on the beach – a different corner of their house gives way. Screaming, loud noise of storms, things breaking.
Up on the hill – classical music – Mom yawns and turns a page of her book.
Down on the beach – more noise, more screaming.
Up on the hill – a young boy moves his Hot Wheels across the living room.
Down on the beach the Dad yells above the horrible noise, “The whole thing is going to go. Let’s get out of here!” They run for the door and stumble outside, and just after they do the whole house collapses in a heap.
Verse 27 says of the house on the sand, The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against that house, and fell with a great crash.
After the events of September 11, none of us have to imagine anymore what it looks like for a building to fall with a great crash. It’s devastating.
Verse 25 says this of the other house…
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.
Think about Sand…
Shifting
Sliding
Sinking
Think about Rock …
Stationary
Strong
Secure
The casual observer might not have noticed any difference in the two structures. The difference was in the foundation. Foundations are not seen – but storms have a way of making them evident. Storms have a way of revealing our preparation.
ILLUS - Ravi Zacharias, a well-known Christian author and teacher did a lectureship at Ohio State University not too long ago. As he was being driven to the lecture, the car passed the new Wexner Art Center. The driver said, “This is a new art building for the university. It’s a fascinating building because it is designed in the post-modernist view of reality.” Zacharias looked at the building and noticed it had no pattern.
Staircases go nowhere. Pillars support nothing. The architect built the building to reflect life. It goes nowhere and makes no sense.
Zacharias says he turned to the man describing it and asked, “Did they do the same thing with the foundation?” He laughed and said, “You can’t do that with a foundation.”
When you consider a how a great life is built, somewhere underneath it all there has to be bedrock. A foundation that is strong and secure. Once you start tampering with foundations you see serious effects. Yet we live in a culture where foundations are in jeopardy – many are convinced that there are no coherent sets of answers to explain life and define it anymore – they are like a foundation of sand.
The rock is the teaching of Jesus Christ.
TRANSITION: What does this story mean for us? Two underlying principles help us out.
III. THE UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES
#1 - If I am only hearing and reading the truth, I am not ready for life’s storms.
Full preparation has not been made.
#2 - If my foundation is sure, no storm will cause my life to collapse.
Because our foundation is rock. Jesus himself.
What is a great life?
One that hardly ever has troubles and hardships? A life chock full of blessings?
A life built on the expectation of blessing can fall.
Why did you do this to me? Can’t you see I’m in agony here?
But the life of the heart – hears Jesus’ words and puts them into practice – understands that the entire Sermon on the Mount is about going deeper than the externals – that it’s about a life completely surrendered to God – that life is a truly great life. A life that stands firm.
Turn your heart over to me, and then this is what you’re life will begin to look like.
TRANSITION: We’ve learned a lot from the Sermon on the Mount. Learning is one thing. Living by it is quite another.
CONCLUSION
Is the foundation beneath your life absolutely solid?
If it’s on Christ it is.
Is the life you are building eternally reliable?
Storms are sure to come.
The church is really a city of houses built on the rock
So let’s take a moment to pray for each other
