Allen Raynor Weblog:
“Building on the Solid Rock” (Pt. 2)
(April 23, 2019)
The foolish,
according to Jesus, do not build on the rock but rather on the sand. Matthew 7:26-27 says “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.”
Lots of
things have been poorly built, carelessly built, and foolishly built over
time. Some have purposefully been built
to appear to be something they are
not. Movie props are meant to fool,
deceive, or create a fantasy. They are
easily built, erected, and taken down.
They lack the structural integrity of real buildings; however if you
look at them “strait-on” they can look like the real thing, especially with the
help of camera angles and lighting. They
serve a particular purpose and are then dismantled. They are not built to stand the test of time
or have permanence. Yet, many lives are
built in such a way that they are little more than movie props, facades, or
fantasies.
The foolish,
according to Jesus, are the ones who build their lives, their hopes, and their dreams
on shifting sand and unstable earth ready to be washed away or blown over when
storms come. They lack resistance,
strength, and quality. They may even be
beautiful but they lack the foundation that really
gives support and strength. Storms comes
when tragedy strikes, or things occur that cannot be easily explained such as
death, illness, job loss, financial loss, home loss, etc. When many stand before God in final judgment
it will then be realized they did not build their lives on Christ and His Words
and He will say to them “Depart from Me, I never knew you.” Lots and lots of people will one day find themselves
separated from God for all eternity in Hell who built their lives on something
else other than Christ and His Words; the firm foundation.
There is an
important distinction to be made here.
In this parable, Jesus is pointing to His Words; specifically the sermon
He has just preached. There is a call
for action in response to His Words. I
like the point that commentator Charles Price makes when he says “The wise man
who built his house on the rock was the man who ‘hears these words of mine and
puts them into practice’ (vs. 24). The
foolish man who built his house on sand was the man who ‘hears these words of
mine and does not put them into
practice’ (vs. 26). The rock is
obedience. The sand is disobedience.”
(Charles Price; Matthew: The King and His
Kingdom; FOTBS; 148)
Anyone who
has the physical ability to hear can hear, but not all will obey. Hearing with only physical ears is not
enough. Christ’s Words must be heard
with spiritual ears and then acted upon accordingly. Not everyone who says “Lord, Lord” will enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. Not every church
member will inherit eternal life. Church
membership may be only part of the “prop” to fool and deceive. It is the people who actually believe Jesus’
Words, to the point of obedience, that will inherit eternal life. Those who do not believe will be
condemned. In John 3:20-21 we read “For
everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest
his deeds should be exposed. But he who
does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that
they have been done in God.” The Words
of Jesus represent our hope. We follow
Jesus because we realize there is not salvation in any other. How appropriate are the words of the hymn
writer John Rippon published in 1787 “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the
Lord is laid for your faith in His excellent Word; what more could He say than
to you He hath said; to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled.” The last stanza says “The soul that on Jesus
who hath leaned for repose I will not, I will not desert to his foes; that
soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I’ll never, no never, no never
forsake!”
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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