Build your Life on the Rock
As crucial as it is for buildings to have a deep and solid foundation, especially those that stand tall, what we as spiritual beings are building our lives on has far greater implication in this life and in the life to come. A newly constructed house can look great from the outside and it might even look beautiful on the inside. But it’s what you can’t see that will determine the stability of the structure and its ability to withstand outside forces, like a storm.
Likewise, it’s not our outward religious activities that will determine the spiritual stability of our lives or our ability to withstand the storms of life, rather it’s whether we are building our lives on a foundation that cannot be shaken, namely on Jesus, and the truth and promises of His word.
To illustrate what a true disciple is like, a disciple who truly knows Jesus as Lord, a disciple whose devotion can pass the test of the trials of life, Jesus said:
In contrast to a house that was built on the ground without a solid foundation and that could not withstand the flood, Jesus gives a picture of a house that was built on a rock. To lay this foundation required digging deep into the ground.
It’s important to note that in verse 46, Jesus uses three key words to describe what a true disciple does who is pictured by the house that was built on an unshakable foundation:
A true disciple, firstly, comes to Jesus. What do you turn to when you feel anxious, stressed out, or when you’re facing challenges? How do you make key life decisions?
Although Jesus is not physically present like He was during His earthly ministry, through the indwelling Holy Spirit and the access believers have to God in prayer by the blood of Jesus, we can encounter Jesus.
A true disciple comes to Jesus continually not only for His daily bread, but because Jesus is the bread of life. A true disciple draws strength from being with Jesus, by experiencing fellowship and communion with Him.
Secondly, true disciples not only come to Jesus, they hear or listen to His word attentively. We will never have a strong faith, a faith that will enable us to withstand the storms of life, a faith that can trust God to accomplish His kingdom work unless we are setting aside time to listen attentively to His word. As the Apostle Paul explained:
We are living in a day and age where people, young and old, are more distracted than ever before. Additionally, people’s attention spans also seem to be decreasing. And if you add to these factors societies decreasing appetite for the word of God or outright aversion to it, the task of a preacher has never been more challenging.
Why do so many professing Christians today have little appetite and short attention spans for the word of God which is unbecoming of a growing disciple of Jesus? In addition to our sinful natures, which we all must contend with, I want to suggest to you that technologies, like smart phones, may not be making us smarter, but dumber.
In His book, The Anxious Generation (How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness) the author writes:
I submit to you that giving a smartphone to a child or even a teen, especially without any controls or accountability, is as harmful to a child’s development as heroin. And the truth is for many adults, it is their heroin.
If listening to the word attentively is fundamental to a growing disciple, in addition to putting down our smartphones, or turning them into dumb phones, what must we do to develop good listening skills?
“Pray for the preacher and for yourself,†suggests Kent Hughes. “Come prepared to listen, understanding that listening is work. The will to concentrate is fundamental. We cannot listen to God’s Word the way we watch TV—kicked back with a bag of chips in hand or pleasant daydreams occupying our minds. Keep your Bible open to the sermon text and turn to the other passages that are cited. Take notes. One of the curious by-products of the Great Awakening in America was a sudden interest in shorthand. It was not unusual to see men and women, quill pens in hand, carrying portable inkwells as they hurried to a preaching service on the village green.â€
Let me add, if the only time you crack open your bible is on Sunday morning, you won’t have much of an appetite for the word of God.
Thirdly, in addition to coming to Jesus dependently, and listening to His word attentively, true disciples obey His voice faithfully. Again, Jesus said, “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:†Luke 6:46
As important as it is to read and listen to the word of God, you are not building your life on a solid foundation, a foundation that can withstand the storms of life, if you’re not obeying the word. You cannot be truly blessed by the word unless you obey the word.
Obedience to the word brings you into a deeper understanding of spiritual realities, a deeper fellowship with God, and increases your capacity to do more for God. (Matthew 13:11-13; 1 Peter 2:1-3)
Now in contrast to a wise builder who hears and obeys, a foolish builder hears but does not obey. Jesus continues:
Like the two houses in the parable of Jesus, authentic disciples and inauthentic disciples attending religious services may all look identical from a distance.
How can we know who is genuine and who is not? When living for Jesus costs us, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, when the winds of life begin to blow and the floods begin to rise, that’s when we find out.
Let me be clear, Jesus is not saying that entrance into the kingdom is earned by our obedience, but rather our obedience will show the genuineness of our faith. When we only seek Jesus to make our lives better on this earth, and are not willing to stand for Him, especially in challenging times, this can be evidence that we’ve never been born again—that we’ve never been made alive unto God by receiving Jesus by faith as Savior and Lord.
Moreover, although all true disciples have the same spiritual inheritance, the same access to the Father, and the same Holy Spirit, not all believers avail themselves of the fullness of the blessings of Christ.
Some Christians have deeper roots in Christ because they dig deeper into the word, and they draw nearer to Christ in prayer. And the result is that they gain greater strength to stand for Christ. They experience peace even in the midst of the storms of life. (Isaiah 26:3-4)
Are you building your life on solid rock or on sinking sand? Like the song, can you say, “Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand?â€
He will never fail us. Let us come to Him continually, listen to His word attentively, and obey His voice wholeheartedly. Let’s go deeper to climb higher.
In your service,
Pastor Marco
Likewise, it’s not our outward religious activities that will determine the spiritual stability of our lives or our ability to withstand the storms of life, rather it’s whether we are building our lives on a foundation that cannot be shaken, namely on Jesus, and the truth and promises of His word.
To illustrate what a true disciple is like, a disciple who truly knows Jesus as Lord, a disciple whose devotion can pass the test of the trials of life, Jesus said:
“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.†Luke 6:47-48
In contrast to a house that was built on the ground without a solid foundation and that could not withstand the flood, Jesus gives a picture of a house that was built on a rock. To lay this foundation required digging deep into the ground.
It’s important to note that in verse 46, Jesus uses three key words to describe what a true disciple does who is pictured by the house that was built on an unshakable foundation:
“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:â€
A true disciple, firstly, comes to Jesus. What do you turn to when you feel anxious, stressed out, or when you’re facing challenges? How do you make key life decisions?
Although Jesus is not physically present like He was during His earthly ministry, through the indwelling Holy Spirit and the access believers have to God in prayer by the blood of Jesus, we can encounter Jesus.
A true disciple comes to Jesus continually not only for His daily bread, but because Jesus is the bread of life. A true disciple draws strength from being with Jesus, by experiencing fellowship and communion with Him.
Secondly, true disciples not only come to Jesus, they hear or listen to His word attentively. We will never have a strong faith, a faith that will enable us to withstand the storms of life, a faith that can trust God to accomplish His kingdom work unless we are setting aside time to listen attentively to His word. As the Apostle Paul explained:
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.†Romans 1-:17
We are living in a day and age where people, young and old, are more distracted than ever before. Additionally, people’s attention spans also seem to be decreasing. And if you add to these factors societies decreasing appetite for the word of God or outright aversion to it, the task of a preacher has never been more challenging.
Why do so many professing Christians today have little appetite and short attention spans for the word of God which is unbecoming of a growing disciple of Jesus? In addition to our sinful natures, which we all must contend with, I want to suggest to you that technologies, like smart phones, may not be making us smarter, but dumber.
In His book, The Anxious Generation (How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness) the author writes:
“At the turn of the millennium, technology companies created a set of world-changing products that took advantage of the rapidly growing internet. There was a widely shared sense of techno-optimism; these products made life easier, more fun, and more productive. Coming soon after the fall of the Iron Curtain, it felt like the dawn of a new age. The founders of these companies were hailed as heroes, geniuses, and global benefactors who, like Prometheus, brought gifts from the gods to humanity.
But the tech industry wasn’t just transforming life for adults. It began transforming life for children too. Children and adolescents had been watching a lot of television since the 1950s, but the new technologies were far more portable, personalized, and engaging than anything that came before. Parents discovered this truth early, as I did in 2008, when my two-year-old son mastered the touch-and-swipe interface of my first iPhone. Many parents were relieved to find that a smartphone or tablet could keep a child happily engaged and quiet for hours. Was this safe? Nobody knew, but because everyone else was doing it, everyone just assumed that it must be okay.
Yet the companies had done little or no research on the mental health effects of their products on children and adolescents, and they shared no data with researchers studying the health effects. When faced with growing evidence that their products were harming young people, they mostly engaged in denial, and public relations campaigns.
Companies that strive to maximize “engagement†by using psychological tricks to keep young people clicking were the worst offenders. They hooked children during vulnerable developmental stages, while their brains were rapidly rewiring in response to incoming stimulation. This included social media companies, which inflicted their greatest damage on girls, and video game companies and pornography sites, which sank their hooks deepest into boys. By designing a firehose of addictive content that entered through kids’ eyes and ears, and by displacing physical play and in-person socializing, these companies have rewired childhood and changed human development on an almost unimaginable scale.â€
Time will not allow me to share what the research shows regarding how a phone-based childhood disrupts child development, but to summarize, the author described four foundational harms: “sleep deprivation, social deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction.â€
I submit to you that giving a smartphone to a child or even a teen, especially without any controls or accountability, is as harmful to a child’s development as heroin. And the truth is for many adults, it is their heroin.
If listening to the word attentively is fundamental to a growing disciple, in addition to putting down our smartphones, or turning them into dumb phones, what must we do to develop good listening skills?
“Pray for the preacher and for yourself,†suggests Kent Hughes. “Come prepared to listen, understanding that listening is work. The will to concentrate is fundamental. We cannot listen to God’s Word the way we watch TV—kicked back with a bag of chips in hand or pleasant daydreams occupying our minds. Keep your Bible open to the sermon text and turn to the other passages that are cited. Take notes. One of the curious by-products of the Great Awakening in America was a sudden interest in shorthand. It was not unusual to see men and women, quill pens in hand, carrying portable inkwells as they hurried to a preaching service on the village green.â€
Let me add, if the only time you crack open your bible is on Sunday morning, you won’t have much of an appetite for the word of God.
Thirdly, in addition to coming to Jesus dependently, and listening to His word attentively, true disciples obey His voice faithfully. Again, Jesus said, “Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like:†Luke 6:46
As important as it is to read and listen to the word of God, you are not building your life on a solid foundation, a foundation that can withstand the storms of life, if you’re not obeying the word. You cannot be truly blessed by the word unless you obey the word.
Obedience to the word brings you into a deeper understanding of spiritual realities, a deeper fellowship with God, and increases your capacity to do more for God. (Matthew 13:11-13; 1 Peter 2:1-3)
Now in contrast to a wise builder who hears and obeys, a foolish builder hears but does not obey. Jesus continues:
“But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.†Luke 6:46-49
Like the two houses in the parable of Jesus, authentic disciples and inauthentic disciples attending religious services may all look identical from a distance.
How can we know who is genuine and who is not? When living for Jesus costs us, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, when the winds of life begin to blow and the floods begin to rise, that’s when we find out.
“When the storm comes, the difference between the one who merely heard the word and the one who actually build their life on the word is revealed.†Begg
Let me be clear, Jesus is not saying that entrance into the kingdom is earned by our obedience, but rather our obedience will show the genuineness of our faith. When we only seek Jesus to make our lives better on this earth, and are not willing to stand for Him, especially in challenging times, this can be evidence that we’ve never been born again—that we’ve never been made alive unto God by receiving Jesus by faith as Savior and Lord.
Moreover, although all true disciples have the same spiritual inheritance, the same access to the Father, and the same Holy Spirit, not all believers avail themselves of the fullness of the blessings of Christ.
Some Christians have deeper roots in Christ because they dig deeper into the word, and they draw nearer to Christ in prayer. And the result is that they gain greater strength to stand for Christ. They experience peace even in the midst of the storms of life. (Isaiah 26:3-4)
Are you building your life on solid rock or on sinking sand? Like the song, can you say, “Christ is my firm foundation, the rock on which I stand?â€
He will never fail us. Let us come to Him continually, listen to His word attentively, and obey His voice wholeheartedly. Let’s go deeper to climb higher.
In your service,
Pastor Marco