Building a Life on Christ's Unshakeable Foundation

Jesus is the rock to build and structure your life around. And so we saw basically that you either build your life on Jesus or you trip over him. Jesus does not give us this kind of middle ground of him being a good teacher. Him being someone's got, you know, some good stuff. You should a little Jesus is good for your life. Jesus comes as the way, the truth, and the life and that no one comes to the father except through him. [00:20:40]

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 steam, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall. Why? 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. [00:21:35]

If we say that we are building our life upon Christ, it means that we share the values or the priorities of the rock, it's not just the the mental kind of affirmation of yes, I believe in Jesus. Instead, it's it's this idea that if I'm going to build my life on something, the very reason I'm building my life upon it is because it's trustworthy. It is reliable. And therefore the the values and the priorities of the rock should be our shared priorities. [00:23:10]

When we talk about building our life upon something reliable, something that withstands the test of time and the storms that inevitably arise in life, what we're talking about is not the mental agreement that Jesus is reliable. We're talking about our life, the house being built on the rock. It is sharing the same values and foundation what the rock values we value. [00:23:59]

Matthew 6:33 he says this that you are to seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. Most of us are familiar with the Lord's prayer. Our father who art in heaven hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come and your will be done. What does it look like for God's kingdom to come to earth? What does it look like for us to live in the kingdom of God? [00:24:39]

So when it talks here about seeking first his kingdom, we're really talking about whose priorities are we seeking to implement. What matters today? Who's in charge? And here Jesus says that we are to seek first of first priority that what God wants done is what occurs in our life. To seek first the kingdom is to pursue the values of Jesus in our lives. [00:26:13]

The idea of righteousness is um what is right in the eyes of God. Now we live in a world where we kind of make up our own set of values as we go. We have the if it feels good, do it. We have that as long as you don't hurt anybody, it's okay. And we have rejected culturally the idea that there is any sense of right or wrong absolutes. Well, to seek first his kingdom is to seek first his righteousness. [00:26:52]

Mark 12:30 and 31, Jesus is asked, "What's the most important command?" And his answer is, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." Now, every Jewish person would have been expecting that exact answer. This is the shama. The Lord our God is one, and you will love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. [00:27:48]

But the surprise came when he says, "The second is this. Love your neighbor as yourself." That was the change. That was the the surprise. And then their minds were blown when he said this. There is no commandment greater than these. What Jesus does here is he takes the command to love God and the command to love your neighbor and he puts them together. He says there's only one command. You can't do one without the other. [00:28:16]

You see, the king invites us into his kingdom. And what does it look like when the kingdom of God comes in your home and in your life? And what will it ultimately look like when God's kingdom is fulfilled here on earth? What you see on the screen is what it will look like. You will love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and you will love your neighbor as yourself. [00:28:41]

We should never speak of our love for God without also connecting it to our love of neighbor. You see, we've made a mistake in Christianity. We've separated these commands and Jesus put them together. We've said we can love God but not love our neighbor. We can grow in love for God while not growing in love for neighbor. And Jesus says they're combined. You can't separate them. They go together. One proves the other. [00:29:22]

So we see here that what God the king wants in his kingdom is love for him and love for our neighbor. So these are the priorities when we talk about building our life on the rock. What we're saying is that we are we are going to shape our lives around the priorities and the values of Jesus Christ. But shared priorities are not enough. [00:29:50]

Shared priorities produce daily actions. This uh last week I was having some conversations and and someone said something that caught my eye as I was preparing for this sermon series. They said, "Pastor, it was a tough decision, but it was an easy decision." I thought, "Well, how could that be? How can you have a tough decision, but also an easy decision? And here's how there were priorities and those priorities while hard made the decision simple..." [00:30:21]

I fear that the way our American Christian culture reads this parable is like this. Matthew 7:24. Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and understands the importance of building on the rock is a wise man. You see, we live in a world where we have so much knowledge available to us that we have confused being smart with being wise. Being smart is getting the right answer on the test. Being wise is knowing how to live your life. [00:32:10]

See values and priorities are meant to be lived and practiced. Jesus does not say that it just because you understand it is wise to build your life on the rock does not mean that you are wise. You see Jesus said that it is the one who hears his words and puts them into practice. He is the one who is a wise man. It is the habits of our life that determine whether or not we are wise. [00:34:10]

Wisdom, wisdom is knowing what to do next. Given an understanding of the facts and the circumstances. You see, in the Bible, very seldom are young people ever considered to be wise. And here's why. because they are too young to have developed a pattern of life that someone could look at and see how they live, see how they make decisions. Now, don't get me wrong, just because you're old, that does not make you wise. [00:36:39]

But being young, just because you know the right answer is not what wisdom is. Wisdom is living your life and building your life upon the rock. And we see this in James 1 22 where the apostle says, "Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourself. Do what it says." You see, he is referring to the same idea that Jesus presented that the wise man, it's not that he knows to build his life on the rock. [00:37:09]

It's that the wise man has built his life on the rock has chosen and created patterns of living built around the priorities and the values of Jesus Christ. James here says that we deceive ourselves when we know what we know the right answer but we refuse to implement the right answer. We refuse to practice it. And the only solution to selfdeception, the only solution to selfdeception is to do what it says. [00:37:51]

So how do we build our life on the rock? Well, we first recognize the values and the priorities of Jesus. What matters? Jesus made it very clear. We like to complicate it, but it's really clear. Love God and love others. And then we develop a way of living, a pattern of life, habits where we implement those priorities and those values into our lives. [00:38:31]

One of the saddest statements I ever heard was Steve Jobs as before he died he was working with an autobiographer to write his story and he says this. My hope is that my son can get to know me through this book. I thought, "My hope is that my kids will not need to read a book to get to know their dad." You see, often in our society, we are looking straight ahead. And straight ahead is the size of the retirement account and the house that we own and the career and the corner office and the success and the popularity. [00:39:53]

Will they speak of my accomplishments and the money I made and the success and how popular I was witty and creative? Or will they share how I loved God and loved them and my love impacted their life? That is what it means to have your life reflect the greatest command. It is not to live for what the world considers to be success or popularity. It is to live a life where we are influencing others in the way of Jesus so that they see in us God's kingdom has come and his will is being done in our life. [00:41:30]

How much of what you know is demonstrated through how you live? So often in Christianity, we must deconstruct the false ideas that we have about God in following Jesus. You see, in Christianity, we have equated knowledge and information with transformation. If we could just have everybody learn more about God, then everything would be okay. But that's not the case. Followers of Jesus are typically educated well beyond their level of obedience. [00:43:59]