February 10, 2017
Matthew 7:24-27
(All scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated.)
When my wife and I bought our house in 1990, it was livable, but needed complete remodeling if we were going to make it our home. We rented it out for ten years to a lady and her family who needed a basic place to live. We took the house over for our own home in 2000 and began our remodeling. It was more like rebuilding! For further damage had been done over the decade by our tenant and her animals. I rebuilt the house from the foundation up – adding a five-car garage with an apartment above it (every guy needs a five car-garage, especially when he has a love for antique automobiles!) I mentioned that I rebuilt from the foundation up, because the basement was damp, moldy, had a cracked floor, and had barely enough height for me in which to stand upright. That foundation may have been fine when the house was built in 1904, but over the years it had deteriorated, and problems resulted!
Jesus spoke in Matthew 7:24 through 27 concerning having a proper foundation:
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. Now 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.
I see two scenarios to which this spiritual treatment of our foundation applies:
• The first is pretty obvious. The house that was founded on the rock stood solid – even in the face of rain, floods, and wind ! Remembering that, according to I Corinthians 10:4, “…that Rock was Christ…”, what does Jesus further reveal about this foundation? It is also doing these sayings of the Lord! James tells us in James 1:22 through 25 to be careful concerning this matter:
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 im-
mediately forgets what kind of a man he was. But he who looks into the
perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but
a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
Jesus summarized this thought in Luke 11:28: “…blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
You can hear the Word (the gospel) and miss the central truth of it – commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord! Too many who occupy a pew on Sunday morning fall into this category. You have to have the foundation of the Word in your life if your are going to live out the spiritual life at all! As Paul tells us in I Corinthians 3:11, “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Let’s further define the Word (according to the testimony of Scripture):
✞ It is the written Word of God – the Scriptures! In I Peter 1:25, Peter is quoting Isaiah 40:8 when he writes, “‘…the word of the LORD endures forever.’ Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.” So the gospel, spoken and/or written is the word of the LORD.
✞ It is also the living Word of God – Jesus Christ! For “…in the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God….And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1, 14 – see Revelation 19:13).
Make sure Jesus Christ is your Savior, your Lord! Any other foundation is really no foundation, and will only bring ruin to what you are trying to build by your life!
• The second scenario is a deteriorating foundation! This is how my opening example of our house applies. Over the years the foundation deteriorated. And it ended up compromising the integrity of the whole house. If we are not careful, we can let the foundation of Jesus Christ deteriorate in our lives! Not that Jesus ever deteriorates! But the attention, care and maintenance we give our Christian foundation can go downhill!
✞ We can have a burning desire to live for the Lord when we are first saved, but – like the Laodiceans of Revelation 3:15-17 – we can become lukewarm in our faith! And that is unacceptable to the One who bought and paid for us! (See I Corinthians 6:19, 20; I Peter 1:18, 19).
✞ Our Christian disciplines can become neglected! Our commitment to read and study the Bible can slip (see Colossians 3:16); prayer time can be shortened and even stopped (see Luke 18:1; I Thessalonians 5:18); church attendance can falter (see Hebrews 10:24, 25); witnessing can be neglected (see Mark 16:15; Acts 1:8; II Timothy 4:2); giving of time, talents, and treasure can decrease and even cease (see Luke 6:38). We can become backsliders to the dangerous point of seeming to “…crucify again…the Son of God, and put Him to open shame.” (Hebrews 6:6).
So what do we do when we need Foundation Repair? The One who is the foundation (see I Corinthians 3:11), is also the One we need to call for repairs! First, call the right number – God’s phone number listed in Jeremiah 33:3! “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” And when you have Him ‘on the line’, tell the Lord what is written in Psalm 139:23 and 24:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxious
thoughts; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the
way everlasting.
If this is asked sincerely, Jesus will be right there to fix the foundation and put the structure of your life back on Himself – solid, strong, and true!