Matthew 7.24-27
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
We live in serious times, and we face significant challenges. Indeed, we are in the midst of an escalating storm that has momentous spiritual, social, political, economic, and personal consequences.
Contemporary society has normalized belief systems and behavior patterns that range from the disruptive to the terribly destructive. But as difficult as the issues of the present might be, they are merely harbingers of even greater challenges that lie ahead. Our responses today are a trial run for the even graver tests that are surely to come.
The forces of deceit and darkness are raging across our nation and seeking to destroy the principles and standards upon which America was founded. It is a violent storm, and at the heart of the tempest is a focus on the denial of objective truth. In particular, the storm seeks to eliminate from our nation the truths of the Christian faith.
It is essential that Christians — individually and collectively as the church — stand strong in the midst of the storm. In the Matthew passage above, Jesus tells us that our ability to stand strong in the face of the tempest is determined by the foundation upon which our lives are built. Again, this is true for individual Christians, and it is true for the Christian community.
Jesus says that the strength of our foundation depends on two things: Hear the word of God and do the word of God. It is important to note in Jesus’ illustration that when the storm comes, the house that falls is built on a foundation of sand, which the Lord describes as those people and groups who hear the word but don’t do the word.
Sadly, there are an uncomfortable number of professing Christians today who hear but don’t do. This isn’t a new challenge, as the early church had the same issue:
“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves … the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.” (James 1.22, 25)
Adversity — the storms of life — will test the strength of your foundation. Storms will test the extent to which you act in a way that is consistent with your belief system. Storms will test not simply what you profess, but what you practice.
Please note that in this parable both the wise man and the foolish man heard the words of Jesus; however, the foolish man did not obey the words of the Lord. He chose to build his life on ideas and behaviors contrary to God’s truth. The rock is obedience to the truth. The sand is failure to obey the truth. The storm is the test.
The postmodern left controls the ideas and institutions that are shaping America in our generation. Their claim is that God is irrelevant or nonexistent, truth is subjective and radically personal, historic Christianity is backwards and oppressive, and the core principles of America’s founding are at best outdated and at worst racist and tyrannical.
This is the spiritual and social storm raging all around us. The rains are falling, the floods are rising, the winds are blowing and beating on our house. The question that remains to be answered is this: Is our house built on the rock or is it built on sand? The storm will tell.
“If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.” (Proverbs 24.10)
On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand/Oh Praise The Name- Crossroads Music
