Matthew 7:24-29
I love the children’s story of the “Three Little Pigs.” If you remember the first pig built his house out of straw and the wolf huffed and puffed and blew his house down. The second pig built his house out of sticks and the wolf huffed and puffed and blew his house down also. The third little pig was the smartest of the three, he built his out of bricks and the wolf could not blow it down.
Every time I read the Sermon on the Mount, when I get to the last part on the “Wise and Foolish Builders” in Matthew 7:24-27, I think of “The Three Little Pigs.” "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." As Christians we have a spiritual foundation and that foundation is built on Jesus Christ.
When our spiritual foundation is being built it is very similar to a house foundation. The first thing that needs to be done is layout the building and dig the hole, getting it on grade to the right elevation. God does this to the lost person, it is called conviction. The next thing is setting the forms for the footing and set the rebar inside the forms. Rebar reinforces the concrete, it makes it stronger. We do this by sharing Christ, this is called witnessing. Our strength comes from the Holy Spirit when we tell others about Jesus.
Once the concrete truck arrives on the jobsite we are ready to place the concrete in the forms. Now concrete is made up of four things: sand, stone, cement and water. Too much of either one would cause the concrete to fail. It is kind of like making a cake, if you put too much of one ingredient in or forget to put an ingredient in, the cake turns out bad. All concrete sets up differently; it depends on the weather conditions, how it is place in the forms and if any additives were added to the mix. God calls and God saves on God’s time, like the concrete we can’t rush things.
The concrete making up our spiritual foundation has ingredients. Our Spiritual foundation is based on faith in Jesus Christ and what He has done for us on the cross. Our Spiritual foundation ingredients are found in 2 Peter 1:5-9, “For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.” In Colossians 3:12-14 there are more ingredients listed as well. “Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”
After all the concrete is poured and the forms are stripped off and loaded onto the truck we are ready to start building our house. We still have one thing to do before we start laying out the floor joists and laying sheets of plywood for the floor. We have to backfill with dirt around the foundation and have adequate drainage. I heard a story once of someone who built a house. He finished everything including carpet and trim. He forgot to do two things: 1) put gutters on the roof, 2) backfill around the foundation. When the rains came, water collected around the foundation. The pressure of the water caused the foundation and house to collapse.
As a Christian we need to backfill our spiritual foundation with scripture. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness. So that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In 1st Peter 3:15 it says, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as LORD, always be prepared to give an account to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have.” The footing that is the base of our spiritual foundation is Jesus Christ. Romans 10:9-10, 13 says,” That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” And verse 13 says, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." With our spiritual foundation with Jesus Christ as the footing or base we won’t have to worry when the rain comes down, and the streams rise, and the winds blow and beat against our house because our spiritual house is built on the Rock and it won’t fall.
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