REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain: moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Key verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy” (Heb. 10:14).
TEACHING GOAL: To show that religious activity and confession in Christ’s name do not guarantee eternal salvation.
SONG
The Wise Man Built His House
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the wise man’s house stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the foolish man’s house went “splat!” [clap hands once]
So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
And the blessings will come down
Oh, the blessings come down
As your prayers go up
The blessings come down
As your prayers go up
REVIEW:
In 7:21-23 we saw that “The will of my Father” was to list to the Son, which means obey what he is saying in SOM. We also saw that they great danger warned against was self-delusion for the individuals referred to in the text claimed to know the Savior but He did not know them. In fact they were incredulous when they learned that even though they were zealous in serving they were not members of His kingdom.
STUDY TEXT:
“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. 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. 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” (Mt. 7:24-27)
INTRODUCTION:
In the “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke 16:46-48 our Lord combines the “Why do you call me Lord! Lord! and do not what I say” with our present text of building on a solid foundation. From that alone we can see that Mt. 7:21-23 is closely connected in thought and application to Mt. 7:24-27. He is really zeroing in on the same theme … doing the will of the Father.
“Therefore” vs. 24 certainly goes back to 7:21-23 but it could encompass the whole Sermon, it could go back all the way to 5:3. So don’t under-estimate the importance of “therefore.” Therefore, based on all that I have taught …. and then the punch line, the application line.
In this parable Jesus is comparing “Professed” followers with “True” followers. So he is not comparing Christians with non-Christians. In this parable there is no interest in non-Christians. This is a parable just for Christians.
The two houses we will be looking at are the metaphors for two men’s religious lives.
OUTLINE:
SO HOW WISE ARE WE?
1. Similarity of the Two Houses
2. Foundation of the Two Houses
3. Putting Words into Practice
4. The Blessings of Obedience
5. A Look at the Storm
6. Destruction
7. A Look at the Fool
8. A True Wise Man
9. Reviewing the Level of Our Wisdom – (CWQ Test)
JUST HOW WISE ARE WE? – Part 1
I. SIMILARITY OF THE TWO HOUSES
To the casual observer, because the foundation is not seen, the houses would look very similar. Generally you cannot see a foundation of a house just by looking at it.
The men who built the two houses were possibly excellent craftsmen. The houses probably looked alike. One wasn’t Victorian and the other Modern Ranch. In those days they probably looked almost identical. Also they were probably in close proximity as to location.
If Jesus was painting a picture for the East Valley Christian community both houses would have at least a two car garage, three bedrooms, tile roofs, southwest front yard, vaulted ceiling, swimming pool etc. You would stand in front of the two houses and because they were so identical your first question would be re cost. They would be that identical.
The purpose of both men was the same, to provide a good shelter for their family. Obviously both expected their houses to stand in the time of a storm. No one builds a house with the expectation it will blow down during the first rain storm.
The implied point in the parable is that from outward appearances the two houses appeared identical.
II. FOUNDATION OF THE TWO HOUSES
Real estate agents say that there are three keys to determine the value of a house: location, location, location.
We all have heard the problem of fissures sometimes called sinkholes in the East Valley. Who would want to buy a house where it may be built over a possible sinkhole?
A multi-million dollar house on Malibu beach won’t be worth much if it has a poor foundation, is built in a bad location.
ILL: In 1174 the Italian architect Bonnano began work on what would become his most famous project: A bell tower for the local Cathedral. The tower was to be eight-stories and 185 feet high. There was just one “little” problem: builders quickly discovered that the soil was much softer than they had anticipated, and the foundation was too shallow to hold the structure. And sure enough, before long the bell tower began to tilt… and it continued to tilt… until finally the architect and the builders realized that nothing could be done to make what became known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa straight again.
It took 176 years to complete and many attempts were made to compensate for the “tilt.” The foundation was shored up; the upper levels were even built at an angle to try to make the top of the tower look straight. Nothing worked. The tower has stood for over 800 years, but leans about 17 feet away from where it should be and was closed in 1990 for fear that it would fall and cause loss of life and injury. The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a vivid reminder that foundations may well be hidden but they are essential. As we come to the end of this series of studies in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus brings us to his application, our take away and he challenges us to check our foundations before it is too late.
In 1990 the Tower was closed because it was in real danger of toppling over. But an international team of architects and engineers got to work to solve the problem. They took 12 years and spent $25 million to reduce the tilt by 45 centimeters. It still leans today but not by as much as it used to. Opened again in 2001, you can climb the 284 steps to the top, admire a fine view over Pisa and the surrounding countryside. But now tourists are limited to groups of 30 people at a time and you have to book in advance. Engineers say it should now survive for another 200 years at least. (Stephen Sizer from the web)
Jesus was a carpenter and probably worked on building a few houses and/or was aware of the need for solid foundations. This would have been a topic of discussion among carpenters, builders.
QUESTION: Why would people avoid building on a solid foundation?
Time consuming, costly, more effort, more materials, slower progress, not visible anyway so who cares.
The word for rock in our text is petra and it means a large outcropping of rock, a large expanse of bedrock. This means rock that is solid, stable and unmovable.
ILL: A Discovery Channel program talked about building of the Alaska Highway during WW II and mentioned that the builders had to make sure they drove piling through the permafrost, sometimes as thick as 30 feet, to get to the bedrock. To enable them to do this they used steam to melt the permafrost in order to get the piling into the ground. Obviously this took more time, work and effort.
It is interesting in the Sermon on the Plain, the parallel text in Luke 6:46 it says the wise man is like a man “. . . . who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.”
QUESTION: Why do Christians build their lives without a solid foundation?
-
They are in a hurry to build
-
Don’t want to put effort into building their spiritual / Christian lives.
-
Only concerned about appearances
-
It cost too much, too much self-sacrifice and limiting of personal desires.
QUESTION: How would we describe people who built a house without a solid foundation? What is one word that we would use for them?
III. PUTTING OUR LORD’S WORDS INTO PRACTICE
Building on the rock foundation is equated by Jesus with “. . . hear[ing] these words of mine and put[ting] them into practice . . .”
Practicing “these words of mine” is no more than “doing the will of the Father” in vs. 21.
It is obvious that if Jesus is not God the conclusion that not practicing the Words of Jesus leads to destruction is arrogant!
Building a House is Similar to Building a Life.
ILL: Gloria graciously moved into our house after we married. She had the outside painted. Then we painted the inside. The a new air-conditioner and over the year new gates, new roof, new carpet, new overhead fans, trees trimmed, hot tub, landscaping in the back, and some new furniture etc.
READING: The house built on the rock is the life of obedience, the life Jesus has been explaining throughout the Sermon on the Mount. It is the life that has a scriptural view of itself, as described in the Beatitudes. It is the life that has a scriptural view of the world, and sees itself as God’s means of preserving and enlightening the world while not being a part of it. It is the life that has the divine view of Scripture and that determines not to alter God’s Word in the slightest degree. It is a life that is concerned about internal righteousness rather than external form. It is a life that has a godly attitude toward what is said and what is done, toward motives, things, money, and other people. It is a life of genuineness rather than hypocrisy, and of God’s righteousness rather than self-righteousness. (John MacArthur, 484)
You get the idea that practicing the words of Jesus is as difficult and as important as digging down to bedrock when building a foundation.
Remember we are in the Building Process Everyday
We are all in the process of building our life and every act of obedience strengthens our foundation, like adding another rock to the foundation.
All acts of obedience strengthen the foundation, all acts to avoid obedience only effect the appearance.
“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before.” (C.S. Lewis)
Intellectual Knowledge & Verbal Profession are not Substitutes for Obedience.
The Words of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount are not meant for office cubicles and coffee mugs. They are meant to be obeyed.
“One of the great traps people often fall into with the Sermon on the Mount is that they pick out and quote favorite parts, but ignore the parts that they don’t like. Here Jesus is calling us to put into action all that He has said.” (From the Web, Bethany Bible Church, June 26, 2005)
We are going to spend several weeks reviewing 60 basic life style changes / commands in the Sermon on the Mount.
Hearing sermons, being in a Bible Study, memorizing Scripture, buying Christian literature, singing in the choir, teaching a Sunday School class, meditating on the Word are not the keys to building a solid foundation for our lives. Obedience to the commands of Christ is the key.
“What Jesus is stressing, however, is that those who truly hear the gospel and profess faith will always obey him, expressing their faith in their works.” (John Stott, 209)
TABLE DEBATE: The only validation we can ever have of salvation is a life of obedience. (John MacArthur)
Have two tables take the Pro position and seek to buttress their position with logic and Scripture.
Have two tables take the Con position and seek to show that MacArthur’s statement is unsupportable by logic and Scripture.
SONG
The Wise Man Built His House
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
The wise man built his house upon the rock
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the wise man’s house stood firm.
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
The foolish man built his house upon the sand
And the rain came tumbling down
Oh, the rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
The rain came down
And the floods came up
And the foolish man’s house went “splat!” [clap hands once]
So, build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
Build your house on the Lord Jesus Christ
And the blessings will come down
Oh, the blessings come down
As your prayers go up
The blessings come down
As your prayers go up
QUESTION: What is wrong with the content of the song?
SO WHAT???
1. It is quite easy to delude ourselves and deceive others as to the true quality of our Christian life.
2. Building our lives on the solid foundation of obedience to the words of the Lord Jesus demands time and effort and is certainly costly in the sense of the emotional energy expended.
3. Building our spiritual lives is similar to building a house and if we let up our spiritual lives can fall into disrepair.
4. In the building of our Christian lives, our spiritual lives, there is absolutely no substitute for obedience to the commands of Christ.
5. The bottom line proof of being a follower of Christ is obedience to the Word of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount.