CHOOSING A FOUNDATION
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell ... and great was its fall.”
(Matthew 7: 24-27 – NAS)
Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with the analogy of two men who have built houses; one built on the solid foundation of rock, while the other built his house on sand. And He indicates that those who hear His words and act on them are the ones who choose to build on the solid foundation.
Some months before I moved to Los Angeles, a science magazine had done an article on the nature of earthquakes in the Los Angeles area. It was not just about the number of fault lines that ran through the region. It included a discussion of the difference the type of ground made in how buildings endured the effects of the shaking. The article explained the combinations of ground surfaces in the area: the hills and mountains were, by and large, bedrock. These areas are generally stable, even during quakes, in that unless the foundation was on top an actual fault (large or small), although the structure might shake or sway, the foundation was more likely to remain sound. In the flatter areas of the basin, however, the ground was sedimentary, the settling of particles eroded and then deposited in the flats. When the flatter regions experienced earthquakes, the shaking sets all the sand particles vibrating. They shift and move as if they had become saturated with water. It’s called liquefaction. It is more detrimental to foundations, because the sifting may not be consistent underneath a foundation. The foundation can break under the weight of the structure standing on it and the changed conditions of the ground upon which it was laid.
This article fascinated me. And as I made my plans for my move, I studied which areas were on bedrock and which were regions of sedimentary basins. I ended up choosing to live in an area in the hills. The building I live in has endured quakes and shakes, and the motion of the swaying has occasionally introduced cracks in the wall. But thankfully, it has endured well all these years I have lived here.
For me, the analogy of the houses built on rock or sand has had an everyday practical meaning. It has meant something very exact and consequential to the matter of keeping a roof over my head.
But Jesus is talking about far more than practical geological studies before housing construction.
Jesus is speaking to the choices we make in how we ground our lives, what we choose as the foundation for our decisions and behaviors. In particular, He wants us to pay attention to what we are basing our actions upon.
He has just spent considerable time giving us instruction on how to truly be the Children of God. He has explained the attitudes and behaviors that belong to those who earnestly follow Him. And now He tells us that if we have heard and put into practice what He has explained, we shall stand secure. By becoming the person described positively in the Sermon, we will be able to withstand the rains, floods and shaking winds of life, because we are grounded on God.
What foundation could give us greater security than that?
None that I know of.
Why then do we find it so difficult to hold to these guidelines?
Sandy places are appealing. They are generally flat, wide open. This expansion of space invites us to settle in easily.
On the television show Survivor, groups of people (usually two groups) are placed on the beach areas of an island, and they are expected to make their own camps. They often have to construct their shelters themselves, using very few tools. The difficulty of the task is such that frequently (especially in the earliest seasons) a “tribe” would select an area that was wide open and flat. They would overlook the fact that the site was wide open and flat because it was the open end of a dry wash, even though the flow marks of past water streams could easily be seen in the patterns of the sand. So, of course, when rainstorms came, many of these campsites suffered disasters of various sorts.
The “house” had been built on sand. There was not a reliable foundation.
Working with bedrock is not always easy. Neither is trying to stick to the guidelines that Jesus has given us. We become so focused on taking care of the responsibilities the world puts on us, that we give short attention to the things Jesus has told us are most important – how we interact with God Himself and how we care for those around us. We slide into a mindset that puts being a person of the Beatitudes second to earning the money for our rent and food. We let our anxieties lead us into willful servitude to the Master named Money.
If we choose to be servants of the Almighty God, we gain a powerful Master, yes. But we also gain a Heavenly Father, who loves us dearly, watches over us, protects us and provides for us – so long as we trust Him. The rewards of being God’s Children require us to believe that He sees so much more of what we need now and what we will need in the future than we can imagine for ourselves. The life Jesus has described asks us to let go of our anxieties about maintaining the basics of life, so that we are ready to do our jobs as servants of the Lord. God is the Good Master and Loving Father.
Is it easy?
Of course not. “If it were easy, everybody would be doing it!”
In the months I have spent working my way through the Sermon on the Mount, I have been living hand-to-mouth. My expenses have been met by such a variety of means that it astonishes me. And yet, they have been met, by the grace of God. Even so, at this moment, the next round of bill-paying has bred the mice of anxiety and the little rodents scurry around nibbling away at my calm and trust. No, being the person Jesus has described in the Sermon is not easy. Every day is a challenge. But the Lord has proven His faithfulness, time and again.
This, then, is the solid rock foundation to build your house upon, this Sermon, exemplified in the person of Jesus. Against winds and floods it will stand true.
This, then, is the measure of my life, the standard I choose to build with, the materials I make my floors and walls from.
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell ... and great was its fall.”
(Matthew 7: 24-27 – NAS)
Jesus concludes the Sermon on the Mount with the analogy of two men who have built houses; one built on the solid foundation of rock, while the other built his house on sand. And He indicates that those who hear His words and act on them are the ones who choose to build on the solid foundation.
Some months before I moved to Los Angeles, a science magazine had done an article on the nature of earthquakes in the Los Angeles area. It was not just about the number of fault lines that ran through the region. It included a discussion of the difference the type of ground made in how buildings endured the effects of the shaking. The article explained the combinations of ground surfaces in the area: the hills and mountains were, by and large, bedrock. These areas are generally stable, even during quakes, in that unless the foundation was on top an actual fault (large or small), although the structure might shake or sway, the foundation was more likely to remain sound. In the flatter areas of the basin, however, the ground was sedimentary, the settling of particles eroded and then deposited in the flats. When the flatter regions experienced earthquakes, the shaking sets all the sand particles vibrating. They shift and move as if they had become saturated with water. It’s called liquefaction. It is more detrimental to foundations, because the sifting may not be consistent underneath a foundation. The foundation can break under the weight of the structure standing on it and the changed conditions of the ground upon which it was laid.
This article fascinated me. And as I made my plans for my move, I studied which areas were on bedrock and which were regions of sedimentary basins. I ended up choosing to live in an area in the hills. The building I live in has endured quakes and shakes, and the motion of the swaying has occasionally introduced cracks in the wall. But thankfully, it has endured well all these years I have lived here.
For me, the analogy of the houses built on rock or sand has had an everyday practical meaning. It has meant something very exact and consequential to the matter of keeping a roof over my head.
But Jesus is talking about far more than practical geological studies before housing construction.
Jesus is speaking to the choices we make in how we ground our lives, what we choose as the foundation for our decisions and behaviors. In particular, He wants us to pay attention to what we are basing our actions upon.
He has just spent considerable time giving us instruction on how to truly be the Children of God. He has explained the attitudes and behaviors that belong to those who earnestly follow Him. And now He tells us that if we have heard and put into practice what He has explained, we shall stand secure. By becoming the person described positively in the Sermon, we will be able to withstand the rains, floods and shaking winds of life, because we are grounded on God.
What foundation could give us greater security than that?
None that I know of.
Why then do we find it so difficult to hold to these guidelines?
Sandy places are appealing. They are generally flat, wide open. This expansion of space invites us to settle in easily.
On the television show Survivor, groups of people (usually two groups) are placed on the beach areas of an island, and they are expected to make their own camps. They often have to construct their shelters themselves, using very few tools. The difficulty of the task is such that frequently (especially in the earliest seasons) a “tribe” would select an area that was wide open and flat. They would overlook the fact that the site was wide open and flat because it was the open end of a dry wash, even though the flow marks of past water streams could easily be seen in the patterns of the sand. So, of course, when rainstorms came, many of these campsites suffered disasters of various sorts.
The “house” had been built on sand. There was not a reliable foundation.
Working with bedrock is not always easy. Neither is trying to stick to the guidelines that Jesus has given us. We become so focused on taking care of the responsibilities the world puts on us, that we give short attention to the things Jesus has told us are most important – how we interact with God Himself and how we care for those around us. We slide into a mindset that puts being a person of the Beatitudes second to earning the money for our rent and food. We let our anxieties lead us into willful servitude to the Master named Money.
If we choose to be servants of the Almighty God, we gain a powerful Master, yes. But we also gain a Heavenly Father, who loves us dearly, watches over us, protects us and provides for us – so long as we trust Him. The rewards of being God’s Children require us to believe that He sees so much more of what we need now and what we will need in the future than we can imagine for ourselves. The life Jesus has described asks us to let go of our anxieties about maintaining the basics of life, so that we are ready to do our jobs as servants of the Lord. God is the Good Master and Loving Father.
Is it easy?
Of course not. “If it were easy, everybody would be doing it!”
In the months I have spent working my way through the Sermon on the Mount, I have been living hand-to-mouth. My expenses have been met by such a variety of means that it astonishes me. And yet, they have been met, by the grace of God. Even so, at this moment, the next round of bill-paying has bred the mice of anxiety and the little rodents scurry around nibbling away at my calm and trust. No, being the person Jesus has described in the Sermon is not easy. Every day is a challenge. But the Lord has proven His faithfulness, time and again.
This, then, is the solid rock foundation to build your house upon, this Sermon, exemplified in the person of Jesus. Against winds and floods it will stand true.
This, then, is the measure of my life, the standard I choose to build with, the materials I make my floors and walls from.
Labels: Matthew 7, Sermon on the Mount, Trust
posted by Sarah | 8:39 AM
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