Growing up in a beach town most of my life, I spent countless hours in the sand and near the ocean. Like most kids, I enjoyed building sandcastles or pools near the water and then watching what happened when all of my fruitless energy got washed away by a strong wave. As a kid, it was fun; as an adult, it’s just annoying. Why work so hard to build something only to watch it destroyed or washed away?
Jesus asks the same question, posed as a statement in using this metaphor. Hearers are those that only hear the words and build their house on the sand. But doers are those that hear and do whereby building their house on the rock. After three chapters of deep and convicting teaching, Jesus finishes his “lecture series” at the end of Matthew chapter 7 with these words.
24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”
28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.” Matthew 7:24-28
Jesus has just finished a long three chapter teaching to an outdoor crowd of hundreds, maybe thousands of people. If you go back to chapter 5, commonly called The Beatitudes, you see that Jesus has grown popular after calling his first disciples and he now has a following of people from
“Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.” (4:25).
Jesus has obviously made a great first impression and he is building momentum on what it means to be a member of the Kingdom of God. For three chapters he teaches on anger, loving your enemies, almsgiving, the practice of law, prayer, anxiety, and judging others. And then he ends by setting up this image of a man that builds his house upon the rock verse a man that builds his house upon the sand. Jesus says that if we are to merely be hearers of His words of teaching but not actively doing them, we might as well build our house on sand. This would have been sand in the Ancient Near East, not beach sand. But sand is sand; it is fickle. Easy to push the foundation into, but when the water and wind come, it is a disappointment, to say the least. Rock is a much more firm foundation, but hard to build a foundation on; an effort that will be painstaking and sweat-inducing. And yet, the foundation, once built, remains firm when the water and the wind comes.
How is it with your soul? Have you built the foundation on your faith on sand or on rock? Is your faith fickle that was easily constructed around comfort and convenience, or do you have a rock-solid faith that took a labor of love to build but is unwavering? It is one or the other, and I think you know which one Jesus would encourage.
Yesterday, at the pediatrician, Charlie was singing his latest favorite song to the doctor. After he was fully checked and tested for COVID (negative, thank you Jesus) he just started singing the song many of us learned as children. I have included the lyrics below in case it is hard to understand his 3-year old enthusiasm. After watching his rendition of this song, I invite you this week to go back through Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and begin to prayerfully ask God whether you are a hearer or a doer of this word.
Whether or not your faith is built on sand or rock, I invite you to consider taking one part mentioned in these three chapters and moving from a sand foundation to a rock foundation and see what God might do through that transformation in you.
In the name of God the Father, God the Son, And God the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
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 rains came tumbling down
The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
And the house on the rock 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 rains came tumbling down
The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
The rains came down and the floods came up
And the house on the sand went crash