SCRIPTURE READING | Matthew 7:24-27 (NIV)
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. 25 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. 26 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. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
TO BOLDLY GO – BUILDING WISE | Pastor Thanael Certa-Werner
Today we’re beginning our new sermon series titled, To Boldly Go! where we’re looking at six parables in which Jesus teaches us how to live into our faith and to do so boldly. This week we’re looking at building wise and the parable which we’re looking at gives us some great insight on what it means to build wise. But first, let’s practice our new memory verse:
For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIV)
It is a show all about a couple, Chip and Joanna Gaines, who live in Texas and own a company which takes old, worn-down houses and fixes them up. Every person knows that the best part of the show is when the couple who is purchasing the house tells the Gaines which one to get and to start renovating. Watching Chip tear down walls with a sledgehammer, or rip through counter tops makes any guy wish that they could be there with him. But everyone who watches the show also knows that if there’s a crack in the wall going from the floor to the ceiling, or worse if the floor is slanted, there’s trouble a-coming.
Sure enough, as soon as Joanna sees that, she sends Chip under the house to take a look, because these are clear signs a what? That’s right, they are clear signs of a bad foundation. After a hundred years of standing, some of these foundations are tired, worn out, and starting to crumble. As they give way and shrink, they allow the floors to sag and cause the walls to crack. If this isn’t treated, the end result will be a pile of rubble.
Jesus uses the same imagery in the parable which we are looking at today to give us an idea of how important a good foundation is in our lives. In the same way, some people have good foundations which help them to stay standing when flood waters come pouring towards them – when life becomes so hard that it threatens to take you down at the knees. But then there are other people who have shaky foundations, ones which have slowly been crumbling away, gnawed at by years of doubt and neglect. Worst of all, there are people who are living without any real foundation whatsoever. Their lives are really more of houses built on stilts buried into sand.
The problem for these people, with crumbling or no foundation is that they seem fine and dandy until small problems start to hit them. Things like, loosing their wallet, or slipping on the ice can start to shake the house. These small things keep shifting the house, creating more cracks and more erosion until a flood hits. They lose their job, a loved one dies, or a pandemic shuts down the world and then they’re completely washed away.
In moments like these, like the one we’re in now, is when we can clearly see who has a solid foundation and who does not. And it is in moments like this where we need a solid foundation to keep us from losing it and to keep us going strong. In fact, right now we are seeing just how many people have shaky, if any foundations. People are losing their minds over having to be at home together for a long time, over losing their jobs, their loved ones, their security, or just being able to go into stores without wearing a mask. The threat of death is undoing many of us – the reality is that we can clearly now see how quickly such a small thing is unraveling our entire society!
In Milwaukee County, there have been 23,144 cases of positive coronavirus tests, and of those 23,144 – 479 people have died. That means that 2% of people who contract the coronavirus die because of it. Now, I don’t mean to downplay what is happening. I want to be sensitive. There is reason to be cautious, especially when dealing with those who are at greatest of risk. That is why we take precautions here at Bethany-Calvary. But, many people have completely lost sight of what is true – what is really happening. And in fact, we are witnessing what people have really built their lives upon – their loved ones, their families, their jobs, their money, and even their country and their political parties. But the problem is that these are all pits of sand – not solid foundations.
It’s hard to hear this, especially right now. It is even hard to say this. American culture puts families at the forefront of everything. Family comes first, right? We live in a world where the free market – people spending money and buying things – is our cornerstone and where the freedom to live as we want is at our heart. But the reality is that Jesus is calling us to be more than all of that.
Jesus says that the true foundation is not independence, but dependence. True foundations are built of the sacrifice of family, work, money, and power to being servants of Christ. In fact, the proper term which is in the Greek is slaves. But we’re Americans and we don’t believe that anyone should be slaves to anything. In reality, when we see someone who is incredibly devoted to their faith, we call them Jesus-freaks. Or even brainwashed. Because no one is that devoted to their faith is normal.
But Jesus is calling us away from normal. Look around us. There are riots on the streets, corruption in our organizations, mental breakdowns surrounding us. Right now, it is normal to be on medication to make it to where you can have some semblance of value in your life. It is normal to have problems in your life. It’s normal to get drunk after a hard day, to be so in debt that you can never pay it off, and to be so stressed that you have to be medicated to function. Why, on earth, do we want to be like that?
I know this is hard to hear because many of the things which we’re talking about might apply to you. You might be one of those people who have a shaky foundation – I know that for a long time, I was. In fact, there are moments where I inspect what I’m building my life on and I realize that I’ve started to build on sand. One of the hardest aspects of being a Christian is being wrong.
When we sign up to follow Christ, we sign up to follow. This means that we are no longer leading our own lives but following in the footsteps of Christ. It also means that when we start stepping away from where He is leading, we want to be told that we are stepping away.
Following Jesus and building our lives upon Him as our foundation means that we acknowledge that we aren’t enough. Our thoughts and our beliefs are tempting foundations on which to build our lives. The thought that we are enough, the thought that we are worthy, the thought that we deserve good lives are all corruptions of truth. They are all sand which this country has built its very soul upon. But Christ shows us the real truth, that we are not enough. We can’t handle everything which comes our way. We aren’t worthy. In fact, all we’re worthy of is death. We don’t deserve good lives, because we don’t deserve anything at all. The fact that we think we deserve something just because we exist shows you the cancer which has taken over our thoughts.
Following Jesus means realizing that all of that is true and then realizing how much more valuable that makes the gifts which God has given us. Even though we are not enough, we can depend upon Jesus, God’s word, and His guidance to see us through anything. We don’t have to be enough with Jesus. Even though we are not worthy, it doesn’t matter because Jesus paid the price to make us worthy. Even though we don’t deserve a good life, God has given us one. There will be struggles and hard times, but with our foundation built solely on Christ and His word, we can weather any storm which comes our way.
Following Christ means building our foundation on Him and working on it daily. It took 200 years to build the Great Wall of China and it has stood for 400 years. The reality is that following Christ takes humility and work. Building our foundation on Him isn’t something which is ever really done, but something which we constantly do. And when we do, we can live into our call as Christians being bold in the fact that no matter what comes our way, we don’t have to be enough, we have been made worthy, and we have life because Christ is our foundation. And we can weather any storm with Him.