In downtown Columbia, SC, stands a 25-story office building built in the early 80s. I lived in Columbia when it was being built. Whenever I had business downtown, I loved to get caught by the traffic light near the construction site so I could watch the construction move from one phase to another. It was no surprise to me that one of the first things done was digging a huge, deep hole. When the hole was finished, I assumed everything was now ready to start constructing the actual building. But instead, on my next visit to downtown, I watched huge pile-drivers pounded large steel pylons into the ground at various locations in the bottom of the hole. As I sat there pondering the scene, I thought I knew why they did that, but I wanted to check with someone who would know exactly why.
A few days later, while talking to a commercial contractor about what I had seen, he said that the pylons were being driven into the ground until they hit solid rock so that the building would rest firmly on solid rock and not just the soil. He explained if the builder did not take the time to use those pylons to make sure the building was connected to solid rock, it never would stand the tests of time and extreme weather, and especially earthquakes. Firmly-packed ground wouldn’t be a sufficient foundation. Not even steel pylons driven part way into packed dirt would be able to sustain the weight of that structure. No matter how excellent all the steel, and other materials used to enable that building to rise into the sky floor by floor, without a solid rock foundation, the building would never stand the test of time and extreme weather.
Building a life is a lot like building a high-rise office building. Every life is built on some kind of foundation. Realizing that, I want to ask a question. Is your life being built on something stable and strong which will hold up under the storms and pressures of life, or on something that is unstable and will collapse when life gets overwhelming? When the storms of life come, no matter how pretty it looks on the outside, will your life stand firm though shaken by the winds and driving rains of life or will it fall? When Jesus lived on earth, one day He asked a similar question to a crowd gathered on a hillside in Israel to listen to Him teach.
One day as Jesus finished what is called The Sermon on the Mount, He closed with a parable that is found in the New Testament in Matthew 7:24-27 (ESV). There Jesus said, “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.”
Jesus often taught using parables because of their ability to teach simple truths using objects and circumstances found in everyday life. The first truth that Jesus imbedded in this parable is the inherent weakness of a life built on sand and the inherent strength of one built on solid rock. Anyone who has observed the life of a family member, friend, or even themselves, crumble during challenging life circumstances understands that basic life truth. Likewise, anyone who has observed a family member, friend, or even themselves, stand firm during challenging life circumstances understands the importance of building life on a secure foundation.
The second truth that Jesus imbedded in this parable is that only one “rock” will suffice in creating the bedrock necessary to keep a life from crumbling. We discern that from Jesus’ carefully chosen words that the stable house is built on “the rock,” not just “a rock.” Furthermore, when the passage is taken as a whole, Jesus clearly claims to be that one rock. Now a fair question some might ask is, what in the world gives Jesus the right to make such a claim? That right is found in the power and truthfulness of the words Jesus speaks. He said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” His words are The Rock that will keep a life from rocking. He is the Rock because when He speaks, He speaks truthfully. He speaks truthfully because He is The Truth. He is The Rock because He is The truth.
Just like the 25-story building in Columbia required steel pylons to connect to the to rock below it, we need pylons to connect our lives to Jesus the Rock. While there are a number of them, I want to mention three in closing:
- The first is faith in Jesus – trust in His nature, His character, His power, and in the truth of His words. If we are not connected to His truth through faith, His words will have no say in helping us build a life that will stand.
- The second is hearing His words. We must make the effort to see that His words move from the printed page to our hearts and minds. Only then will they do us any good.
- The third is obedience to His words. Jesus’ words only become our rock when we obey them. Until we obey them, they have no power to transform our lives.
A good question to ask ourselves right now is this. This life we’re building, – rock or sand, wise or foolish, stand or fall, “Thus says the Lord” or “It seems to me?”
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