At the end of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:24-27), Jesus instructs His disciples to be careful how they shape their lives and conduct. Lack of attention to the foundation will lead to ruin.
The foundation in this parable is a rock.
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. (Matthew 7:24)
The rock here are the words Jesus has just finished speaking in His Sermon on the Mount.
On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. (Matthew 7:22-23)
The Wise builder hears these words and does them. He is not a man of lawlessness but a man who is building his life on the foundation of God’s law. That’s what building on the Rock is. You take Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount and you apply them carefully and methodically to every area of your life.
The materialist thinks of the world as a thousand or more unrelated pieces of matter. Bunches of unrelated stuff grounded in nothing in particular. Here’s my phone, there’s a tree, a girl, an apricot, a thorn, a watch, a Ferarri.
But as psychologist Jordan Peterson once said somewhere, the world is not made out of mere matter. The world is made out of what matters. And what matters are the words. His words. Words strung together as great, guiding principles and upon which we build and orientate our lives.
This means that what we build into our lives, and the project of building meaningful, sturdy lives, is not a project that should be undertaken without great thought, patience and perseverance. It’s not a rushed job either. In Luke, we read that the wise builder dug in deep to lay his foundations (Luke 6:48).
That being said, it’s not always easy to tell who the wise and foolish builders are. They have a lot in common. Both desire to build and both are industrious. Both live in the same community with the same kinds of circumstances and both are building the same thing – a house.
What is hidden, however, becomes clear in times of adversity.
The foundation of the foolish (The Greek is more severe, “stupid” or, “block head”) builder gives way in hard times, times of testing, times of danger, times of grief or loss. His hopes and his joys begin to crumble as the sand underneath gives way.
The end of this man is devastating and sad and gives us good reason to pay all the more attention to the principles, the standards and the words that govern and shape our lives.
The words upon which we build our world matter.
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount encourages us to take His words, the words right here in the Sermon on the Mount, and use them as a means of examining and testing the foundation of our own lives – before the day of disaster hits.
Setting aside time each day, each week or even each month (we don’t want to rush it), to get alone with Jesus and read the Sermon on the Mount, we would be wise to work our way through the Beatitudes in Matthew chapter five and work our through each point to the end of chapter seven.
As you work through it, thoroughly and carefully look for areas where you can apply Jesus’ rock-solid and reliable words to your home, your work, study, family and church life. Consider what needs to change, strengthen, be done or be undone and so set about the task of exalting Christ in all of life by building your life upon His faithful word, one word at a time.
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