Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Building
on the Rock
Matthew
7:13-29
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the
gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through
it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,
and only a few find it.
15 “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you
in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16 By
their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or
figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit,
but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad
fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that
does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20
Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will
enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father
who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your
name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I
never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
24 “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.
25 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. 26 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. 27
The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that
house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When Jesus had finished
saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29
because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the
law.
These
are Jesus’ closing words in His great sermon. Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones,
commenting on these verses says, “Jesus is making a grand and great application
to his sermon. He is stating that the truth has to be taken to life – it has to
be lived. It’s as if Jesus is saying my sermon is finished, now what will you
do?
Jesus
makes it clear that there are choices that we can make and He is the right
choice. Notice: there are two roads – one leads to life and one leads to
destruction. There are two trees – one gives
fruit the other gives failure. There are
two foundations – one will stand and one will fall. The key is to choose Christ – the narrow way,
the tree of life and the sure foundation.
Obedience
is a central theme in Jesus’ closing words.
Hearing the words of Jesus and putting them into practice is the wise
choice. A teacher has two causes of
grief: 1) That no one will hear his message. Or, 2) Many will hear his message,
even admire his message, but will not put it into practice. Perhaps Jesus was thinking about Ezekiel when
he taught that obedience was paramount.
Ezekiel 33: 30-32, 30 “As for you, son of man, your people are talking together
about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, saying to each other,
‘Come and hear the message that has come from the LORD.’ 31
My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to hear your
words, but they do not put them into practice. Their mouths speak of love, but
their hearts are greedy for unjust gain. 32 Indeed,
to them you are nothing more than one who sings love songs with a beautiful
voice and plays an instrument well, for they hear your words but do not put
them into practice.”
I
want to reflect on the last part of Jesus’ sermon in our study today. There are four truths that we should meditate
on from verses 24-27. 1) Everyone is
building something. Not a house, but everyone is building a life. All of us are
construction workers. The follower of
Jesus and His words are building and the person who is not following Jesus and
His words are building. What kind of life are you building? 2) As builders, we
have a choice of foundations. Paul
wrote, “For we are God’s fellow workers;
you are God’s field, God’s building. For no one can lay a foundation other than
the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3: 9, 11). We are God’s building and the foundation is
Jesus. Yet, Jesus says that we can try
to build on some other foundation. Jesus
is clearly teaching that building on His foundation requires obedience to Him. Obedience is not wanting to do something, it’s
actually doing something. 3) All
foundations will be tested. Storms come to the house built on the rock and to
the house built on sand. 4) Only one foundation will stand. Obedience to Jesus
Christ will stand the test of time.
There
are two roads – which road are you travelling on?
There
are two trees – what kind of fruit are you bearing?
There
are two houses – upon what or whom are you building?
At
the end of Jesus’ sermon Matthew records that the crowds were amazed at his
teaching. But were they changed? Did they obey? Did they follow Him? It’s
possible to stand amazed at Jesus’ teaching but not be changed. Change comes when I put into practice His
words.
Prayer:
Jesus, thank you for being an amazing and astonishing teacher. Help me to be an
astonished, obedient follower. I want to put your words into practice. AMEN!
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