Build Your House On The Rock

Matthew 7:24-27

“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.”

What a great way to wrap up the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus says wisdom comes from doing what he says, and in Matthew 5-7, he has given some incredible and challenging commands for living.  When we put those into practice, we have a strong spiritual foundation which will help us focus on Jesus in times of trouble.

There is a fantastic (in my opinion) song by Big Tent Revival called Two Sets of Jones’.  It is a song based on the above verses, and it contrasts two couples against one another, one with faith and one without. “Rothchild was lucky to marry so wealthy, Evelyn bought him a house on the beach. Rueben and Sue, they had nothing but Jesus, and at night they would pray that he’d care for them each.”  I have 4 siblings, and my mom stayed at home while my dad worked each day for most of our upbringing.  There were many times when it would have been accurate to say my parents “had nothing but Jesus”.  We weren’t poor, but we certainly weren’t rich either.  Every time I hear about Rueben and Sue, I think of my parents, and how through all the hard and tumultuous times (there have been many), they’ve never stopped loving Jesus, and how he has never stopped loving them.

Notice in the verses above, rain comes for the house on the rock and the house on the sand.  This is just another reminder that we aren’t to bury our heads like ostriches when trouble comes our way.  Nor can we face those troubles alone.  Christ is to be our foundation, his words are to be on our hearts when we go through hard times.  We must remember that as Christians, our abandonment of the faith will surely come if we do not have a solid foundation.  Have you ever heard someone say they don’t want to hear a Bible verse in times of difficulty?  If we feel a bit of rain and ignore Jesus’s commands and want to bolt from God, it’s described in this verse as foolishness.  If we weren’t really committed to Jesus and the Christian faith when times were good, why on earth would we remain when we experience difficult trials?  I’m not trying to be insensitive to pain, because there are tremendous hardships in life.  How much harder are those difficulties to someone who doesn’t believe God really cares for them?  Pain is a terrifying concept to a secular world.  In tough times as Christians, we should be seeking Jesus, turning to the cross, and thanking God that our hard times in this life are nothing compared to eternity with him.

To quote from the song I mentioned earlier “So what is the point of this story?  What am I trying to say?  Is your life built on the rock of Christ Jesus, or a sandy foundation you’ve managed to lay?  Well needless to say Evelyn left her husband, and sued him for every penny he had.  And I truly wish that those two would find Jesus, before things get worse than they already have…..There’s two sets of Jones’.  Which ones will you be?”

My life was in shambles when I was in 23.  I got out of a bad relationship, and all my selfishness and sin was exposed as a house that had been wrecked on a foundation of sand.  Jesus Christ is the sole reason for my life continuing.  He is the Rock that is my foundation in life.  I have lived most of my life with no foundation.  And I can tell you for a fact that Jesus wants to be in your life, he wants to be your foundation.  Jesus is so much more than legalism or a moral compass or political conservatism.  He’s God.  So the next time we feel rain falling, lets dig into the incorruptible word where we may stand firm.