How Solid is your Foundation?  Matthew 7.24-29

“Where were you?”  It was a common question every time you saw someone you knew.  ‘Where were you when the earthquake hit?’  Many folks in the San Francisco Bay Area were in front of their television sets watching the World Series, since the SF Giants were playing the team from across the Bay, the Oakland Athletics.  Me?  I was driving into my parents’ long driveway in Alameda, my hometown about 12 miles east of San Francisco, with both Matthew and Amy in the car.  ‘Mom, what’s going on?’ seven-year-old Matthew asked, having just finished his park league kickball game.  Mind you, we were in a big boat of a car, a 1986 Chevrolet Caprice, right between the house and a fence, and could see the tetherball in front of us swinging, power lines swaying—twas an odd sensation.  We were moving though I had my foot on the brake?  Ah, an earthquake—a big one—the Loma Prieta Earthquake of October, 1989.¹ 

My parents were out of town, so the next thing to do, once I knew we were safe for the moment, was to go in and assess the damage of their old Colonial Revival home—about a hundred years old then.  I looked at plaster, at the bank of stained-glass windows on the stairwell, at the wooden columns and pocket doors, big windows, and well—except for a few possible tiny hair-line cracks, I could not locate any damage.  Yet when I turned on the television, part of the Bay Bridge had collapsed, San Francisco’s Marina district appeared to be on fire, and a section of the nearby Nimitz freeway had pancaked, entombing folks in their cars.  It was chaos.  Oh, the World Series game was cancelled that night, though the television coverage of the massive earthquake was real time—first time ever. 

My mom and dad called from Tennessee to inquire about our safety and their beloved home.  ‘I can’t really find anything—maybe a crack or two in the driveway, but that’s it.’  Why?  Why had their home sustained virtually no damage?  The foundation was solid, and so were the building materials of their big old wooden home. 

Jesus wraps up his long Sermon on the Mount, which we have studied closely—Matthew chapters five through seven—with this message:

“So then, anyone who hears these words of mine and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, and the wind blew hard against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on rock.

“But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not obey them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.  The rain poured down, the rivers flooded over, the wind blew hard against that house, and it fell. And what a terrible fall that was!”

When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowd was amazed at the way he taught. He wasn't like the teachers of the Law; instead, he taught with authority. Matthew 7.24-29

Jesus knew about construction—he was a carpenter with his father, Joseph, through his 20s, remember?  He knew about the importance of a solid foundation—particularly in Palestine with the torrential rains that come twice a year, so it was an apt illustration for first-century teaching, and one with which we can identify today.  We must first build our lives on the truth of Jesus Christ, our solid foundation; second, we must be wise about the building materials we use as our framework of doctrines and beliefs.  For instance, Jesus had just warned about false teaching, back in verse 15; you and I must sift what we are taught to be sure it is true and right before making it part of our faith construct so that we are not building our house on the sand. 

For instance, there was a Christian lady who attended a ‘prosperity’ church² back in my Long Beach street days; she absolutely believed that God wanted her to be wealthy, and in fact, she was claiming that he would deliver to her a brand new black Cadillac Escalade with gold rims.  While her foundation might have been Jesus Christ, she had some crazy beliefs that formed her framework.  The Bible does not promise wealth or a life of ease for the Christian; in fact, Jesus said in this world, we would have trouble.³ 

Who or what forms the foundation of your life, Friend? 

And what beliefs/framework have you built upon the foundation?                                                                                             Are they true, are they right, or are they faulty?                                                                   You will not know the answer unless you spend time and search out the Word of God.

1 - http://www.nbcnews.com/watch/nbcnews-com/loma-prieta-the-earthquake-that-stopped-the-world-series-343009347590

2 - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/opinions/outlook/worst-ideas/prosperity-gospel.html

3 – John 16.33