Bad Foundations
Today we’ll talk about foundations. You don’t need to be in the construction business to know that the foundation of a building matters. It’s a fairly expensive part of the house-building process, but you can’t take shortcuts or you’ll end up with windows that stick, drywall cracks in corners, and expensive repair bills.
My brother-in-law, who is a structural engineer, once told me of a developer who wanted to sell lots for an exclusive new neighborhood in an area that was once a wetland. He added tons of dirt, put in roads, and sold the lots for people to build $700,000 homes. Then the spring rains came, and the houses started popping up because of the water pressure in the soil!
Probably the most famous example of the importance of a proper foundation is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was built in the 12th century on soft soil and has been leaning ever since its construction – almost 900 years!
When you are going to build a big, heavy, expensive structure, you must make sure that its base is set on something solid that won’t allow it to move or shift. You must spend the time and the money to dig down deep, and you add concrete and rebar, and you make sure your foundation will not shift no matter what the weather brings.
A house built right on the Gulf of Mexico coast proved the need for a good foundation when it was the only home on that coastline to survive Hurricane Michael (category 5) with almost no damage. When the images of this house were shown on the Internet, people wondered what made it special. It turns out that the owner had demanded pilings driven 40 feet into the ground to create a sure foundation. The rain came; the water rose; and the wind blew; and this house stood firm – literally!
That is exactly what our “Story Time with Jesus” is about today. Jesus tells us that there are two ways you can build your life: build wisely on a solid foundation; or build foolishly on shifting sand and suffer the losses when you can’t survive the storms of life.
The Parable
We’re going into the seventh chapter of Matthew and will pick up at the very end of Jesus’s famous Sermon on the Mount. This is the longest single teaching from Jesus we have in any of the Gospels, and Jesus purposely concludes his teaching with this parable. He’s encouraging the large crowd following Him to do more than just listen to His message and then go home thinking, “Wow! That sure was good!” but not actually change the way they live.
Matthew 7:24-27 – [Jesus speaking.] 24“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. 25The 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. 26But 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. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
How Houses Were Built
Before we jump into what Jesus was trying to convey with this message, let’s take a moment to understand how houses were built in that area at the time Jesus taught.
I used to imagine that this story was about selecting the right area to build a house: on a chunk of exposed rock vs. on sandy soul. But then I learned that in the area around Galilee, where Jesus and his dad were carpenters, the soil is sandy and can be very hard in hot summers. When the spring rains come, though, much like Iowa clay, the soil turns into something altogether different. In the 1970s, archeology crews around Galilee found that houses from the time of Jesus had foundations up to ten feet deep, extending through the sand until they reached bedrock.
Jesus wasn’t talking just about selecting the right spot to build your house, but about the effort and intentionality you put into making sure your house is built in a way that will last. Sure, you could build more quickly and easily on the sand, and most of the year your house would be just fine. However, if you wanted to make sure your house stayed standing no matter what the weather brings, you would have to take the time and pay the cost to dig down deep, all the way to bedrock. You gave your house that solid foundation.
Two Approaches to Life; Two Types of Builders
Now that we know how houses were built in Bible times, we can identify the two types of people Jesus is describing with this parable and, ultimately, what He is teaching us.
In this story Jesus is saying that everyone is a builder. Every person falls into one of two categories: listen and obey, or listen and ignore. And while we may not be building houses, we are all building our lives, which include our hopes, our dreams, our families, our relationships, our belongings, our legacy, and even our souls. Each of us has a life to build, and it’s up to us which type of builder we will be. How will we go about constructing our lives?
The difference between these two types of people – these two types of builders – is not the type of houses they are building. Everyone is building their own life. The difference is the foundation they are building their lives on, and the results of that foundation.
Wise People Obey Jesus’s Teaching and Withstand the Storms.
First, we see in the passage that people who hear and obey the words of Jesus are like the wise builder. Wise people obey. Back in Jesus’s day, it was common for people to listen to various philosophers go on and on about life. There was a great exchange of ideas going on in the Roman Empire; but despite all the many words that were spoken, not many lives were changed.
That’s not Jesus’s expectation, though, for people who are like the wise builder. He says that wisdom means you actually DO something with the teaching. You allow it to transform how you live and, as a result, who you become.
Even if the teaching is challenging, even if it goes against what others are doing or what you would have considered wise in the past, Jesus is calling you to believe what He is saying, trust that His commands are for your good, and do it. The Apostle James emphasizes this in his letter:
James 1:22 – Do not merely listened to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
It sounds so simple, and yet obedience is so rare. It’s so much easier to do what you want and not submit to how someone else tells you to live. That’s why Jesus says that obedience in life is like the builder who builds on solid rock. Both require intentional effort. Neither is easy, but both yield future results.
Next, there’s something that might have caught Jesus’s audience by surprise. They would have expected Him to talk about the Torah, the Old Testament law. They had memorized such verses spoken by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 6:1-2 – These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe . . . so that you . . . may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.
Instead, Jesus told them to obey HIS words and HIS teachings in this Sermon on the Mount, which includes:
- Commands to hunger and thirst after righteousness; to be peacemakers; to be salt and light.
- Teachings that anger is the equivalent of murder, and lust is the same as adultery.
- Directives to turn the other cheek, to love your enemy, to stop worrying, and to stop judging others.
- And the repeated refrain: “You have heard that it was said . . . but
I say to you. . . .”
Jesus taught with an authority that was unexpected by the people and unappreciated by the religious leaders – an authority that pointed everyone to Himself. At the end of this sermon that touches all of the human experience, Jesus bluntly teaches through this parable, “Don’t just listen, but actually DO what I say.”
All through Jesus’s life He teaches that obedience is critical. That’s why in one of His last conversations with His disciples before He was arrested, He tied their love for Him to their obedience to Him.
John 14:21 – Whoever has MY commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me.
The result of obedience to Jesus’s teaching is that you will withstand the storms. Just like the house the wise man builds on the rock – the house that can take the rain and the rising streams and the blowing wind without falling – so is the life of the person who builds on obedience to Jesus’s teaching.
Notice that storms come to both the wise builders and the foolish builders. That’s just part of life; you never get out of the storms. People will misunderstand you; accidents will happen; and tragedy reaches everyone. However, when you have taken the time and put your energy into developing that solid foundation of a faith in Jesus and obedience to how He teaches you to live, then you will survive whatever life throws at you.
Furthermore, sometimes the analogy of floods refers to God’s final judgment. Not only does the person who obeys Jesus’s teaching weather the trials and troubles of life, but they remain standing at God’s final judgment, commended as a “good and faithful servant.”
Foolish People Ignore Jesus’s Instructions, and Their Lives Crash.
Unfortunately, not everyone builds the ideal life. Jesus knows that there are others in the crowd who have just heard His sermon and will respond in a very different way. They might nod approvingly, but they ignore His teachings.
They take the easy way out, never doing the hard work of digging a proper foundation for their lives. For most of life, nobody can tell the difference. They might go to church occasionally and try to do kind acts for others. To the watching world they appear to be upstanding Christians, but being a Christian and ignoring how Jesus tells us to live makes no sense.
What is more common is to want to follow Jesus but to lack the self-control and to constantly fall into the trap of repetitive sin. They feel there is no way out. Maybe that’s you today and you love Jesus but are stuck in a loop of sin. I encourage you to stop trying with your own might. Instead, lean into the power God has given you – the power of the Spirit. Pray for God to intercede and support you. Pray for Him to take away your delight in the sin and to change your heart. God saved you by His grace, and by His mercy and forgiveness He will help you out of your pit of sin. You may try and fail, but you show your commitment by TRYING!
For those who never really try to obey Jesus, their inaction proves that their foundation is on shifting sand. Exactly what they have based their lives on is really beside the point. It could be comfort or status or success or the tyranny of family demands; but whatever it is, it isn’t Jesus and His commands to love God and love others.
When difficulty or tragedy strikes and everything comes crashing down, those without Jesus come to ruin. Everything they thought they had is wiped out.
Some people might argue with that point and say that plenty of people without Jesus survive the trials of life just fine. I can’t say every single non-Christian will be wiped out at some point. We do know, however, that the Bible teaches principles, and often the people who base their lives on inferior foundations find themselves struggling through self-inflicted pain.
Additionally, as I already stated, a heavenly storm is coming. Each of us will face eternal judgment, and all people who are not firmly rooted in Jesus will find themselves being rejected by God. They will be cast out of His presence forever, deemed wicked and lazy servants, no matter how successful their lives were or how kind they were to others.
It’s not enough to call Jesus a good teacher or a great prophet. It’s not even enough to be astonished by Jesus as the crowds of people were at the end of His sermon. We must be obedient to Jesus. We must faithfully follow Him.
This has been the message throughout His sermon. He’s not just trying to give us a list of rules. He’s trying to make us new people because of the love of God, through the power of God, by the grace of God, and for the glory of God.
This week I want each of you to take time to evaluate your own life. Are you obediently striving to follow Jesus? Or are you picking and choosing what to obey and what to ignore? Or, worse yet, are you just living according to your own rules and trusting that He will forgive your sins anyway?
Yes, we are saved by grace through faith, but part of an activated faith should drive you to obedience. Anything less that obedience might raise questions as to whether you have actually put your faith in Jesus and His teachings.
Make a choice today about where your foundation will be built. Choose to build on Jesus and His teachings. No other foundation will last.
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