This morning, we continue our journey through the parables of Christ, and in light of the weather we’ve been having lately, I thought it would be appropriate to consider one that has to do with rain.
"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. 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?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ’I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
"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. 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. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." – Matthew 7:21-27
Here Jesus is speaking of the absolute necessity of building your life on the right kind of foundation. Because the foundation is what holds everything up, it’s what holds everything together. No matter what quality of materials you use; no matter how carefully you join the frame together; no matter how skilled your craftsmen may be – if the foundation isn’t solid and stable, your “house” will lack integrity. Over time, cracks will develop in the walls. The windows will stick. The roof will leak. And sooner or later, the storms of life will bring it crashing down, and everything you’ve worked so hard to build will be lost.
This past December, the “Leaning Tower of Pisa” was finally reopened to the public, after having been closed for almost a dozen years. During that time, engineers completed a 25 million dollar renovation project designed to stabilize the tower. They removed 110 tons of dirt, and reduced its famous lean by about sixteen inches. Why was this necessary? Because the tower has been tilting further and further away from vertical for hundreds of years, to the point that the top of the 185-foot tower was seventeen feet further south than the bottom, and Italian authorities were concerned that if nothing was done, it would soon collapse. What was the problem? Bad design? Poor workmanship? An inferior grade of marble? No. The problem was what was underneath. The sandy soil on which the city of Pisa was built was just not stable enough to support a monument of this size. The tower had no firm foundation.
In order for you and I to avoid that problem, I’d like to look more closely at the main characters in the parable. First of all, note that there are only two builders in the story; only two alternatives. When it comes to matters of ultimate truth, there are really only two options. You’re either trusting in Christ, obeying his commands, following his example – or you’re not. One way leads to life and salvation, the other leads to death and eternal destruction. Now, the world would have you believe otherwise. The world says you have a myriad of choices; that there are many ways of being a spiritual person – Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Mormonism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Native American spirituality, Wicca, etc, etc. In our culture, people tend to follow a “buffet” approach to religion, picking and choosing elements from various traditions which they find personally meaningful. But God doesn’t see it that way. According to the Bible, there aren’t many ways, all of them more or less equally valid and equally beneficial. According to the Bible, there are only two ways – Christ and everything else. One way leads to life; the other leads to death.
Does that mean there is no value at all in other systems of belief? No, not at all. Most of the various religions and philosophies in the world contain at least a kernel of truth. The problem is that the kernels of truth are mixed in with a great deal of falsehood. Sometimes that falsehood is obvious and easy to discern, and sometimes it’s not. But regardless, every other approach to life will eventually lead you astray. It will betray you, make a fool of you, destroy you. Because every other approach to life will lead you away from Christ and away from the truth. And not only that; not only are other religions and non-Christian philosophies unreliable, they’re also unnecessary. We don’t need them.
For as Peter writes, “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” – 2 Peter 1:3
Knowing Christ gives us everything we need to navigate our way through life. Everything. There is nothing we can obtain through the study of Eastern mysticism, or Zen Buddhism, or New Age philosophy, or any other path to so-called “enlightenment” – nothing we can gain through them that will make us one iota more spiritually advanced than studying Christ. There is nothing of spiritual value anywhere in this world which cannot be learned and experienced through Christ. He is completely sufficient. To put it another way, if a person were to spend their whole life traveling to every part of the earth, studying under the masters of every form of spirituality known to man, he or she would understand less of the truth at the end of their life than the person who simply stayed home and read their Bible and followed Christ. Do you understand what I’m saying? All right. Let’s go on.
Now, the man who built his house on the sand did a lot of things right. For instance, he was evidently diligent, energetic, a hard worker. It’s no easy thing to put up a house, and especially not in those days, with no power tools or Home Depot. He had to carry stone, and cut wood, and form bricks out of clay. It probably took him weeks and months of backbreaking labor. He didn’t quit; he persevered until the structure was complete. Yet in the end, all his hard work was for nothing.
I point that out because we often confuse activity with godliness. We assume that if someone is hard-working and energetic, they must be a sincere Christian. They must be close to God if they’re doing so much “for the Lord”. And so we make ministry involvement the mark of spirituality. But that’s a mistake. Because all of that activity and service may be built upon a foundation of sand. They could be doing all those things for all the wrong reasons. It may not be obvious what those reasons are; just as it may not be obvious what kind of foundation is underneath a house. But in the end, the true motivation will become apparent. Friends, even the most costly service and the most strenuous labors won’t save you, if the foundational motivation is something other than love.
What other kinds of motivations are there? Well, pride for one. Some people like to be involved in church activities because of the praise and recognition they receive. They like being in the spotlight, they like having people thank them and affirm their gifts. And this motivation is certainly not restricted to laypeople; it includes pastors as well. How do you recognize it? A key sign that someone is acting out of pride is what happens if their service isn’t noticed, or if (God forbid) they even get criticized. What happens then? They become angry; they sulk; they threaten to quit, they leave the church. Now, if their motivation had truly been to serve, they might be disappointed to learn that their attempts had been unsuccessful. But this kind of bitter, resentful reaction reveals that it was really all about them from the beginning, and not about the people they were supposedly serving.
Or how about self-righteousness as a motive for activity? This one can produce some really exemplary workers, the kind of people who get recognized at banquets and who receive lots of plaques and awards. But their primary reason for doing all the things they do may be to earn God’s favor; demonstrating that they deserve God’s blessings. Their intention may be to prove – to God, to themselves, and to others – that they are at least a little bit better than the people around them. How can you identify this motivation, this faulty foundation? Listen. If you hear yourself complaining about how much you’re doing versus how little the others are doing, then self-righteousness is somewhere in the mix. If that’s the case, then repent. Confess your sin. Acknowledge that you can do nothing to make yourself acceptable to God. And place your trust and confidence entirely in Him, rather than in your own works or merit.
Now, please understand that I’m not criticizing active service; far from it. In fact, we make that a requirement for church membership. But I am suggesting that you examine your heart. Ask yourself; what is my foundational motivation in doing this? Is it a sincere love for Christ and for his people? Or is it something else? Pride, or self-righteousness, or habit, or duty, or people-pleasing? If your answer is “something else,” then you may be in danger of a spiritual collapse.
The point I’m making is not limited to church life. It applies to any kind of work and any kind of service – a wife serving her husband, or parents serving their children. It applies to serving family members, or friends, or neighbors. In fact, it applies to everything we do, from the time we get up in the morning to the time we lay down at night. Are you working, and are you serving, out of love? Just being active and diligent and hard-working isn’t enough. The foundation of it all, the motivation for it all, has to be a love for Christ; or else in God’s eyes it has no value. Let me put it another way. Anything you or I do which cannot be traced back to our love for Christ will eventually become worthless. That’s the only motivation that pleases God; the only one that has value.
Consider also that the house built on the sand was a good, solid structure; one that to all appearances was well-built. It didn’t fall down right away. It wasn’t obviously defective. As long as the weather was good, it was perfectly adequate. It wasn’t until the heavy rains came that it collapsed. I highlight this because, just as this man’s diligence was no sign he was doing the right thing, neither was the apparent success of his labors. Yes, he managed to accomplish something which looked impressive and worthwhile. But that didn’t mean that he was in good shape. Because underneath it all, just waiting for the first real storm, was that hidden weakness, that lack of a true foundation.
It is possible to accomplish a great deal in this world without Christ. You can build a business or a career. You can make money. You can have a reasonably good marriage. You can develop a wide circle of friends. You can do good things – give money to charity, coach Little League, be a Big Brother, adopt a third-world baby, do pro-bono legal work for the poor, volunteer at a retirement home. You can have a good time and enjoy life. You can do many big, important, impressive, and admirable things. But eventually, a storm will come along which will bring it all tumbling down.
Now, for some people, the storm never comes along in this life. They have little or no interest in religion, and yet they do things, and have things, and enjoy life and go to their grave happy. For them, the storm that finally destroys everything, including their souls, will be the final judgement. And when that judgment comes, the only thing that will matter to me or you is whether we are in Christ, whether by faith we have received his forgiveness and his righteousness. If you have, then you will stand. If not, then you’ll be swept away into everlasting punishment and destruction, along with everything you’ve ever done. Listen to these passages which describe that terrible day:
"So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place. Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it. As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through." – Isaiah 28:15-19
"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. . . ’ Then he will say to those on his left, ’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . ’ "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." – Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46
There may be some here today who know themselves to be outside of Christ. And to you I say, stop building your life on sand. Prepare yourself for the storms of life, and for that final storm, which will sweep away everyone and everything which isn’t founded on Christ. Turn from your sin; place your trust in Christ for forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Don’t delay a minute longer, because you don’t know when that storm will hit. All you know is that it will come, and that it will be terrible for those without a firm foundation.
On the other hand, I know that most of you consider yourselves to be in Christ, and are expecting that the final judgement will leave you standing. I hope you’re right. But I have a warning. Don’t be complacent. Don’t assume that just because you claim Christ as your Lord, you will be received by him on that day. What matters is whether your life demonstrates that a genuine change of heart has taken place, a change that comes through faith in Christ, and is accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit. Remember that earlier in today’s passage, we heard Christ speak these chilling words:
"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." – Matthew 7:21
Make sure that you’re not deceived; that you don’t claim to follow Christ while in your heart you are following your own desires and inclinations.
Finally, let’s look at the wise builder. Recall how Jesus describes him:
"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. 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."
– Matthew 7:24-25
How did this man differ from the foolish man? Did he work harder? No. Did he use better materials? Not necessarily. The only difference was in the foundation he chose to build on. But that made all the difference in the world. Even the most terrible, frightful storm could not destroy that house.
I’ve spoken already of the final application of this passage; the fact that those who are in Christ will pass through the “storm” of his final judgement untouched and unharmed. But these words hold a promise for us in this life as well. If we belong to Christ; if our lives are built upon faith in Him, and obedience to His commands, and fellowship with Him through the Spirit, then there is literally nothing that can separate us from him. The storms of life may rage, we may become frightened and fearful, we may even come close to despair. But no matter what happens, our faith cannot be destroyed; we cannot lose Christ or be lost by Him. Listen to these precious promises:
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear." – 1 Corinthians 10:13
"My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one." – John 10:27-30
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. "
– Romans 8:38-39
They key thing to remember, when the storms of life threaten – when the sky grows black, and the wind starts to howl, and the rain pours down – the key thing to remember is that it isn’t a matter of us holding on to Christ. It’s not a matter of our strength at all. It’s a matter of Christ holding on to us. And he has promised that he will hold on to us, no matter what happens, both now and throughout eternity.
In closing, let me ask: which builder are you, the wise or the foolish? Are you building your life on Christ? Is He your foundation? Or are you relying on something else, or someone else, to get you through the storms of life and the judgement to come? If that’s the case, you’re in great peril. I urge you, come to Christ, even today. Don’t delay any longer. Confess your sins to him in prayer; accept his forgiveness; put your trust and confidence in him for salvation and eternal life.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
