Sermon
Building For The Future
October 9-10, 1999
Pastor Leighton Sheley

I'll invite you to take your Bibles and open to Matthew chapter 7. We're on Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 and following. It's the story, the parable, the illustration of the wise and foolish builders and the sermon is entitled Building For The Future. Matthew chapter 7 verses 24 and following, "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

You know for the last number of months we as a congregation have been systematically studying the Sermon on the Mount, passage by passage, verse by verse, and sometimes even line by line, and word by word. Our attention to such detail is not only a tribute to the value which we place upon God's word, but it's also of necessity in properly understanding and applying God's word to our lives. You know we are far removed from the culture of the original audience that heard this message. They were of an Eastern culture. We're of a Western culture. They were of an agrarian society. We are predominantly urban or suburban. They were of an exceedingly religious community. We as Americans have a tendency to consider our religion as just one more thing we do in pursuit of self-improvement. 

When Jesus spoke to the original audience the words that He used brought vivid images to their minds and explained kingdom principles. And many of those images are lost upon us as we skim through the Scriptures. In order to fully understand Jesus' words we not only need to give diligence to study and contemplation, but it must be recognized that even after all of our many well intentioned efforts, it is the Holy Spirit that truly teaches us. It's not eloquent words, it's not well crafted sermons, it's not humorous illustrations or any other communication skills or tools. In order for God's word to be realized in our lives, God's Holy Spirit must quicken it or bring it alive within us. 

Now some scholars have proposed that this Sermon on the Mount was really a compilation of many sermons that Jesus spoke over His ministry. And it is possible that that's the case, but it is also possible that it was indeed one message brought to one audience at one time. What we have taken months to hear, this audience heard in one setting. How many times in recent months have we left this place really amazed at what the Holy Spirit has revealed to us? And yet you can imagine how the audience of that day must have felt when sentence after sentence that Jesus was speaking brought light bulbs on, and scales dropped from people's eyes and they understood things that had been obscured to them. 

You can well imagine why the multitudes were amazed at His teaching. Now were amazed is from ekplesso which literally means to be struck out of one's self or to be beside one's self or to be astounded, and it's as though the whole audience that day was looking at Jesus with their mouths gaping wide open and their eyebrows raised and they eyes as wide as saucers. There was none of the murmur of commotion and conversation so typical of a public gathering. The people were not napping in the warm afternoon sun or dreaming of being some place else. The words that Jesus used were so vivid and so powerful and so arresting that there was silence as each one tried to understand and assimilate the treasures of God that had been revealed to them that day. These revelations of God's kingdom were not only profound, but some of them were quite unfamiliar to the members of that audience either because of what they had been taught by the priests of the culture that they had been raised in as a family or because of the belief system that they chose out of mere convenience. 

Jesus' audience that day had come with many misunderstanding. Some of them thought that all that was required to be pleasing and be a part of God's kingdom was to be a child of Abraham, and they were the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but Jesus had just obliterated that misunderstanding. They thought that all that was required to be in good standing with God was being devoutly religious, observing all of the rituals and ceremonies and offerings required by the priests, but Jesus had just increased the requirements for pleasing God by magnitudes. They all thought that all that was really required was that they keep some of the commandments reasonably well. And Jesus said not only must every commandment be kept perfectly, but you can't even think about breaking a commandment. 

They thought that all that was required of them was to look like a good citizen, but Jesus raised that stakes. It's not enough to look like a good citizen; we have to be a good citizen. Now we might look at them from our vantage point 20 centuries removed and say, well how foolish of them, and yet in our century, in our country, many people have similar misunderstandings. Many believe that they are saved simply because of the prayers of a saintly grandmother or because of their family's noble name. Many believe that they're saved because they belong to the right church or the right denomination or they attend mass regularly or they put some money in the offering plate. Many believe they are Christians simply because they're not Muslim or Hindu or Mormon or Jehovah's Witness. Many believe that they're going to get into heaven because they're basically good people who don't steal or kill, except with their eyes and with their mouth. If you look at it, Jesus is addressing just as much the misconceptions of our generation and our culture today as He was those of that audience 2000 years and a half-world removed from us. Never before had such a comprehensive, insightful, deep and powerful message ever been uttered. Never before had the way of salvation been presented in such a clear black and white portrait. No wonder the multitudes were amazed. 

Now the word for ties together with the following statement which states that Jesus was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes. The word authority is from exousia which has to do with power and privilege, and Matthew uses it in several key passages when he presents Jesus as the King. The scribes often used quotes from other scribes or scholars to lend credibility to their theories, but when Jesus spoke He quoted only the Scripture and He spoke as the final authority on truths. No wonder the multitude was amazed. But Jesus didn't address the multitude that day merely to impress or amaze them. What the people needed that day was not to be amazed, but rather to believe; and what the people needed that day was not to walk away evaluating in conversation the merits of the message or the skillfulness of its delivery; they needed to be transformed by the truth of the message, and yet the Scriptures do not record even one conversion. The multitudes were amazed. 

You know, people haven't changed. And how often we as pastors grieve to hear people walking out of morning services chatting lightly about how wonderful the sermon was that day, or complaining that their favorite preacher wasn't the one presenting it. And yet in their own lives they continue day after day, week after week, month after month never evidencing the transforming power of the Holy Spirit of God. They might have come to church to be amazed or amused, but they've missed the whole point, to be confronted by the truth of God's word and be transformed by the work of God's Holy Spirit. And Jesus had just presented the precepts of the kingdom and guidelines for growth. Now the requirements for pleasing God were just enormous. They were outrageous. They were, no one could meet those requirements, and so we might be overwhelmed to the point of despair.

How many times in recent weeks and months have we looked at one of the passages of Jesus' statement and been overwhelmed with the fact at how sinful we really are? We might have thought at one time, well we don't sin too often, maybe once a year, once a month, once a week. We're not that bad, and then we look at what God says in His word; we look at what Jesus says and how clear it is. We find out we sin all the time, every day. We displease God every day, and so we can be overwhelmed to the point of despair, to the point of wanting to give up. And so Jesus encourages that we are not alone in this effort; that God is providing for us all along the way, that we need to keep on asking. We need to keep on seeking, we need to keep on knocking, and God who is the perfect heavenly Father is going to provide and protect. 

Jesus then gives the invitation. He commands us to enter through the narrow gate. There is only one way to God. Enter through the narrow gate. Seek God's way, no other. Jesus warns us to be wary of those who would like to distract us away or push us off of this narrow path that leads to the narrow gate, and He warns us that not everyone who claims to be one of His, not everyone who says, 'Lord, Lord', is really truly saved. They might have all of the appearances and the credentials of being saved, but they are in reality a child of lawlessness. 

And then Jesus provides us one final warning. Jesus warns us to build our lives carefully. "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. "But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: "and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall." What Jesus here is distinguishing is between the obedient and the disobedient hearers. Both have heard the Word of God, but only the obedient hearers are building their lives on the foundation of God's Word. Now the poetry of this passage truly emphasizes the similarities and the differences between those who hear and obey and those who merely hear. 

Let's look at the similarities. First off, both groups have heard the Gospel. Everyone who hears these words of Mine, is a description of both groups. Both have heard the same Gospel message. The second similarity is that they both begin to build a house. Another similarity is that they both experience a storm. Now some have suggested this storm represents the final judgment. Others have suggested it represents the challenges of life. Some commentaries have even suggested the houses must have been in the same neighborhood since they got hit by a storm of the same description, but you know all of this is not essential to the understanding of this passage. 

In every life there are times of calamity and surly the greatest tempest that anyone can experience are those who are not destined for heaven being in the final judgment. The house represents the living of life. The wise man builds his life on these words of Mine, whereas the foolish man does not act upon Christ's words. He's not diligent about building his life in obedience. He tries to take shortcuts and avoid tasks wherever possible. He tries to provide substitutes for God's true demands for obedience. Abraham was called upon to sacrifice his only son whom he loved greatly, and Abraham was obedient. Hebrews chapter 11 declares that faith always results in action, and Abraham's faith was proven by his obedience.

And God sometimes calls each and every one of us to make a sacrifice. It might be a friendship, or a job, or some form of entertainment that distracts us away from Him, or from perceived source of security, comfort, or gain. And the foolish man will always find excuses when Jesus makes demands on his life. He's like the man who said, I will follow wherever You go, but when he hears that foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head, he all of sudden remembers that he needs to go home and burry his father. Or more precisely, wait until his father dies so he can receive the inheritance. Jesus says such a person is unfit for the kingdom of God. The disobedient comfort themselves thinking they have satisfied God's requirement by offering some form of substitute.

We find a story found in the Old Testament, 1 Samuel chapter 15. God has told Saul and the Israelites to go and utterly destroy the Amalekites for their evil, and so Saul and his armies go but they decide to save the king and the best and bring it back. And God reveals this sin to Samuel and sends Samuel to confront Saul, and when Samuel reached him Saul said the Lord bless you, I carried out the Lord's instructions. And Samuel said; if you've carried out the Lord's instructions then how come I hear the bleating of sheep? And what's this lowing of cattle I hear? Weren't you instructed to destroy everything? And Saul comes up with an excuse he said, well, you know we saved the best so we could bring it back and sacrifice it to God. And Samuel says, why didn't you obey the Lord? Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to the voice of the Lord? And so that it's clear to Saul and every generation that follows, Samuel says, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 

God doesn't want our sacrifices. He wants our obedience. In 1 Samuel 15:24 we find out the reason for Saul's failure. Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I have violated the Lord's commandment and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. The reason Saul failed is because he was more afraid of the people than he was of God, and we live with the same pressures today. When God's spirit directs us to confront some form of wrong, isn't it true that our minds are filled with questions like, O dear, what are the people going to think? Or, how is this going to affect my popularity at the office or in the neighborhood? And our concern for how we look in front of people exceeds our concern for pleasing God and those concerns drown out that still small voice that's trying to give us guidance. Building our lives the easy way, avoiding shortcuts, avoiding confrontations, substituting sacrifices for obedience, being concerned more with what people think than pleasing God all contribute to a weak foundation. Now there're some differences here and some have suggested that the difference in foundation was simply a matter of location. One just happened to build on sand and one just happened to build on rock. And perhaps it was an accidental oversight on the foolish builder's part. You know whether it was accidental or intentional, the consequences were the same. There was a saying that we used to have back in high school. It was ignorance is no excuse. 

You know the reality of that statement came home to me one day. It was on my sixteenth birthday. I had just gotten my driver's license. I was driving in Daly City on Junipero Serra going up around the corner above Target. It used to be the city dump. You know I had been on that road, I don't know how many times, but I had never been in the driver's seat. And so maybe I paid more attention when I'm in the driver's seat, but you know it's four lanes wide. It's a highway. There's no cross traffic. Fifty miles an hour is reasonable. Well what I didn't know is that the speed limit there was thirty-five, but I had a kind officer bring it to my attention and I found out that ignorance is no excuse. The consequences were the same. 

Now there's a parallel passage in Luke. It's found in chapter 6. I'm going to invite you to turn there, chapter 6 verses 46 and following. And what the parallel passage in Luke clarifies is that this choice of foundation was not accidental, but rather intentional. Luke 6:46 and following, "But why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord' and not do the things which I say? "Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: "He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake, for it was founded on the rock. "But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great." 

You know it clarifies a couple of things for us. It clarifies even more so than the passage previous the direct relationship between those who say 'Lord, Lord' and do not do what He says and this illustration of the wise and foolish builders. It also clarifies to us that this man, it wasn't an accident. He intentionally did not build his house with a foundation. Now the man that was the wise builder he wasn't in a hurry. He wasn't lazy. He wasn't looking for shortcuts. He was not satisfied until he had dug deep enough to reach rock, bed rock, petra. Now a petra does not mean a stone or a boulder. It means a vast outcropping of rock or a vast expanse of bedrock. It is solid, stable, and unmovable. It's the same petra that's found in Matthew chapter 16. 

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, who do the people say the Son of Man is? And they replied, well some say John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you, He asked, who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered; You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus replied, blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the Gates of Hades will not overcome it. Upon this rock. Upon this petra I will build My church.

Now some in church history have taught that the petra was a reference to Peter. I think the Scriptures reveal Peter's character enough to know that he was not solid and unmovable, but Peter was quite unstable. And when we look at the passage we realize that the rock isn't a reference to Peter. It's a reference to the revelation of God. Jesus said, blessed are you Simon, and then He talks about the revelation of God, and then He says in effect, I'm going to change your name, you are no longer Simon you are now Peter. And then the next statement He says is, and upon this rock, that is, upon this revelation of God, I will build My church. Upon the word of God I will build My church. Upon the will of God I will build My church. It's the word of God that is stable and solid and unmovable. Now in contrast to petra is sand which is loose and unstable. And it actually in certain circumstances becomes like a liquid, like quicksand. The foolish man built his house without even considering a foundation. 

Now let's face it, how much attention do we really give to our foundations? Let me ask another question. When quests come, you probably receive complements on the furniture, the décor, the architecture, the color choice. When was the last time you heard a compliment on your foundation? You know I would venture to say that if you have ever heard a comment, let alone a compliment, about your foundation, it was probably from a general contractor with dollars bills in his eyes. The foundation is not something that gets our attention unless it starts to fail, and it's only then that we begin to appreciate the importance of a good foundation. Now when people are building a home, people who are more interested in 1) their own comfort or 2) impressing others, might have a tendency to skimp on the foundation. You know they might think something like, you know if I could shave a few thousand dollars out of this foundation, fill it with some rocks or some sand or something like that, I can get that Jacuzzi. And then when I come home from work every night I just laze around in that bubbling water, and O wow. And you know it might even make me more popular because if there's somebody I want to meet or somebody I want; I can just invite them over to the Jacuzzi. So they might skimp on the foundation for some of the more luxurious things. 

The shifting sand represents the opinions, speculations, beliefs, religions, and standards of mankind. They're always shifting. They're always changing. Why just a few years ago it was considered perversion from which our children had numerous laws protecting them, and it's now called a civil right. And those who were once called perverts are now protected by the law as they go and promote their lifestyles to our children in the schools. Mankind's standards are always shifting. They're always changing. 

God's standards never change. God's word never changes. God never changes. He is the bedrock. Now the home of the wise man might not have been so large or so lavish as the foolish man. He might not have had that Jacuzzi or some of the other fine things that skimping a little bit on the foundation could buy, but when the storm came his home remained steadfast. The wise man built his house upon the rock. Building upon the rock is the equivalent of obeying God's word.

John declares, 1 John 2:3 and following, Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep Him commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep Him commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked, being obedient even unto death. 

The Apostle Paul states in Titus 1:15 and following, The pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but in works they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work. James writes in chapter 1 verses 22 and following, But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.

Paul described these people as always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth in 2 Timothy 3:7. The most tragic difference between the wise and the foolish builders is their destiny. 

A number of years back you may recall our area got struck with a storm of unusual proportions. There were gusts of wind of over 100 miles an hour. They closed the Golden Gate Bridge to truck traffic. They showed pictures on the news of the Golden Gate Bridge being rocked up and down over twelve feet by these massive gusts of wind. It was really a storm of unusual proportion here in our area. At that time I was living in a mobile home in Pacifica, not very wise, no, no. And I can distinctly remember wrapping my little children up and putting them in the car, and my wife, and driving away from the mobile home and moving in with grandpa and grandma for the duration of that storm. Because I was afraid that we were going to go to sleep and my family and I were going to wake up in another town, or worse yet, not wake up at all. You know they are called mobile homes for a reason. They don't have a firm foundation. I was listening to the radio this week and there were guests on. They were talking about earthquakes and one of them made this statement, he said, you know it's not earthquakes that kill people it's the buildings falling on them is what kills people. Now that's important for us to understand because the implication to this original audience that Jesus was speaking to, it's agrarian, was this, the man, the foolish builder was probably not out in the fields that day because it was storming. He was probably inside that house when it fell, and great was its fall. 

Jesus' final warning ends with a devastating judgment upon the disobedient, and great was its fall. It's not that people have little left, it's that they have nothing left. The greatest tragedy for those who reject Jesus and His word is not that they forfeit the many blessings that we enjoy here on earth, and the many, many blessings that we look forward to in eternity. The greatest tragedy for those who reject Christ is that they're destined for eternal destruction and torment in hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. It is a place of unspeakable agony. Great was its fall. 

I'm going to invite you now to close your eyes and bow your heads because this is a very, very personal time. Perhaps in the last number of minutes the Holy Spirit has been talking to you, whatever fashion it is that He speaks to you, and He's been revealing to you areas in your life that are displeasing to Him; areas where you are being disobedient. James 1:22 says do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says. It is only in obedience that we build a true foundation for the future, for eternity. And as the Scriptures say, choose you this day whom you will serve, choose this day. Lord Your word is so clear and we acknowledge that we are sinners. That each and every one of us do things, think things, say things that displease You every day. And we live lives in disobedience. Forgive us we pray. Thank you Lord that You're not unfaithful to us every though we are often unfaithful to You, that Your mercies are new every morning, for Your promise that You who began a good work in us will be faithful to complete it. Thank you Lord for Your patience with us. Thank you for Your Holy Spirit which works within us changing us and transforming us and making us more into the image of Your Son Jesus Christ. Thank you for Your word which reveals to us Yourself, Your standards, Your love. Thank you Lord. May it be as we go forth from this place today that Your spirit continues to minister to us changing us a little every day. Thank you Lord.

Let's stand. Lord as we look at the task to which You have called us, to be Your ambassadors in this world, to represent You and Your kingdom, we are overwhelmed with its responsibility and the impossibility of the task to which You have called us. Because You are so great and so perfect, and we are so imperfect. And we wonder Lord, how You can possibly be glorified or revealed in us? Truly Lord we depend upon Your Holy Spirit to give us guidance and direction, to open up opportunities to proclaim Your kingdom to friends, to neighbors, to coworkers. Lord give us the wisdom to know what to say, and how to say it, and where to say it, and when to say it so that others might have born within them the desire to know You and love You and serve You and worship You as we do. Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, and together we say, amen. God bless you.