Build Your House on the Rock (Matthew 7:24-29)

Build Your House on the Rock

 

Matthew 7:24-29

 

There is a thing called “virtual reality.” This is 3D environment that simulates the real world. In virtual reality, the user can have experiences similar to those in the real world through interacting with the simulated environment using special devices such as helmets and goggles. The purposes of virtual reality were originally to train people engaged in high-risk works such as airplane pilots and medical experts, to demonstrate the operation of complicate machines or manufacturing processes, and so on. Accordingly, the best concern of virtual reality developers was how to implement 3D environment close to the real world. In other words, the foundation of virtual reality was the real world. With the advance of technology, however, virtual reality is becoming more “realistic” than the real world. Now virtual reality is not seeking to simulate the real world as it is. Rather, it is seeking to create a world “more real” than the real world. It surpasses the real world. It is more exciting and fantastic. Everything is possible here. In virtual reality, people can explore underground dungeons, travel through the galaxies, meet a beautiful princess or a mighty warrior, and do many things beyond our imaginations. Now, instead of helping people live the real world, virtual world is providing shelters to people who want to escape from troubles in the real world. The fake has replaced the real.

 

In the spiritual world, namely, in the real world, God alone is the only absolute reality. All the other beings come from God and return to Him. The world we live in is merely the shadow of God’s glory that is testifying to God’s goodness and His almighty power. And we humans are the most shining part of the shadow. It is because God created man in His image. This means that people have God’s DNA. God often encourages us to imitate God. In Leviticus 11:45, God says to Israel, “I am the LORD, who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore, be holy, because I am holy.” Jesus also says to his disciples, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48), and “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36). This means that God is the foundation of our being and life. We must work hard to learn and imitate God so that we become like Him in every way. However, Devil planted a vain hope “to be like God.” The Devil’s temptation was not to imitate God but to push Him out and take God’s position. The Devil is saying to us that we become the absolute reality and ourselves become the foundation of our own life and happiness. The shadow is replacing the glory.

 

Today’s text is the concluding part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave many words of life about the kingdom of heaven. And finally, he says, “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 streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” And he adds, “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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” According to this word, “these words of mine,” namely, Jesus’ words given to his disciples are the unshakable and unchangeable rock, and therefore, become the foundation on which we can build up our life. And building on this rock means hearing Jesus’ words and putting them into practice. In this sermon, I would like to think about the “foundation.” In 1Corinthians 3:10-11, St. Paul said, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” According to this word, Jesus Christ is the foundation, and other than this, there is no foundation. Through what he has said and what he has done for us, Jesus became the foundation on which we can build up our life.

 

Jesus says that everyone who hears his words and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. Hearing the words and putting them into practice is not easy. Like what Jesus said in 7:13-14, it is like “entering through the narrow gate” and “walking through the narrow road.” Why is it hard to hear Jesus’ words and put them into practice? It is because for many years we have built our house on wrong foundations. It is because we took false virtual reality for a real world lasting forever, and dreamed a false hope of being as high as God. When we review the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7, we can see that Jesus is demolishing our wrong foundations, and building new foundations. Thus, without accepting these new foundations, it is impossible for us to hear Jesus’ words and put them in to practice. In the sense that we have to change the foundation of our lives, each of Jesus’ teachings is a great challenge to us. I would like to share a few of the foundations we need to change, which we can find in the Sermon on the Mount.

 

First, we should act in “love.” The essence of our life of faith is love. Jesus says, “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift” (Matthew 5:23-24). Jesus is saying that “offering to God” cannot replace “love to brothers.” And he says that we should do the work of love “right now” without delaying for any good excuse. Going further, Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you’” (5:43-44). By saying, “Love your enemies,” Jesus took from us “every reason for not loving.” Now there is no situation where we don’t have to love, and there is no one whom we don’t have to love. That is, we must love all and always, we must do good for all and always, and we must pray for all and always. For the person who hears Jesus’ words and put them into practice, the most crucial foundation of his life is “love.” In Galatians 5:6, St. Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.” For the Jews, circumcision was one of the significant religious signs that distinguished them from the Gentiles and lifted them high up to the throne of God. But Paul said that such circumcision has no value in Christ Jesus. The only thing that God acknowledges and counts in Jesus Christ is “faith expressed through love.” This means that love is the core nature of the faith that we have toward God in Jesus Christ. And if our faith is not expressed through love to brothers and love to enemies, it is not faith at all. Every element of our life should be imbued with love. And we should not allow the dwelling of anything against the love such as hatred, envy, jealousy, pride, selfishness, and all kinds of evil desires. We should learn and practice the pure love that Jesus showed us.

 

Second, we should live not before people but before God. Jesus says, “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven” (6:1). Jesus says that even if we hear the words and put them into practice, we will not have any reward from God if it is to show off our righteousness to others. “Doing in front of others for seeking self-glory” is, however good, fruitless “hypocrisy” in God’s eye. For the worse, it is stealing God’s glory. Jesus says that when we do something good, we should do it secretly, not letting our left hand know that our right hand is doing. And he says, then, our Father in heaven will reward us. We have the deep-rooted nature of seeking “self-glory.” Because of this, we tend to ignore God who is seeing us in secret, and to seek people’s praises. In contrast, the life of Jesus Christ was thoroughly toward God the Father. Jesus obeyed God’s will in silence, waiting for God’s time. Seeing Jesus as such, Jesus’ brothers pushed him, “No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world” (John 7:4). But Jesus’ purpose of life was not becoming an outstanding public figure. Rather, it was the exact opposite. It was “doing God’s will and finishing His work” (John 4:34). Jesus did this in secret. So nobody knew what Jesus was doing until he died on the cross. It was because Jesus lived in front of God who is seeing in secret, and he wanted only rewards from God. In the same way, we can hear Jesus’ words and put them into practice only when we live before God who is seeing in secret and seek rewards from God. Until we stand before the Lord in the last day, we should not even think about “self-glory.” And we should do God’s will in secret, expecting the crown from God.

 

Third, we should follow God’s words, not human teachings. Jesus said to the disciples, “I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were the most moral and religious teachers and leaders of the Jews. Based on their teachings and acts, the Jews would have judged what is right and what is wrong, and what is allowed and what is not allowed. But Jesus says to his disciples that their righteousness should surpass that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. Jesus is teaching them “far higher standards of God.” Instead of the old teaching, “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment,” Jesus says, “Anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court, and anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell” (5:21-22). Instead of the old teaching, “You shall not commit adultery,” Jesus says, “Anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (5:27-28). In order to refute Jesus’ teaching against divorce, the Pharisees questioned, “did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Then, Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning” (Matthew 19:5-9). Even the teachings of the greatest teachers, even that of Moses, cannot supersede God’s holy words. Still, people pay attention to human teachings rather than hearing and obeying God’s words. It is because they don’t want to repent their desires. In 2Timothy 4:3-4, St. Paul says, “For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” This is true. Instead of listening to the truthful word of God and repenting their wrong desires, people keep many teachers who are telling what they want to hear, and with the misleading teachings, their sins are justified and grow deeper. Jesus says, “Until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” and “Anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven” (5:18-19). This is true. The teaching of the greatest pastor cannot replace God’s words. Therefore, we should always go back to the word of God. And we should hear, obey, and teach the word as it is.

 

Lastly, our life and happiness doesn’t come from money but from God. Jesus says, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money” (6:24). Jesus also says, “Do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (6:31-32). Some say that man is an “economic animal (Homo Economicus).” It is because people always seek economic benefits through the lowest cost and highest income. There was a pastor who had been taking care of the elderly at a nursing home. He said he had stopped the work a while ago. I asked what made him stop the service. He said that there was no more fund for the program. He did many good jobs for the elderly, but the master ruling him behind his good works was not God but Money. This is not a shame in this age of capitalism. All of us acknowledge the power of money, seek it, and live under its rule. Even Jesus calls Money “a master” comparable to God. Truly money exercises “divine power” over human souls. God wants to be our sole master. It is because the Lord is the only one who gives us life and makes it to the full. Only through God, we can sustain our life and enjoy it happily. Just by being able to despise money, we are already noble free citizens of heaven, holy children of God, and powerful disciples of Jesus Christ. As such a free, holy and powerful being, we can hear the words of Jesus Christ and put them into practice. With this, we are moving into the eternal life and blessings from God.

 

Jesus says, “Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (6:33). We cannot obey this word if we stand on wrong foundations, expressing our Christian faith not through love but through religious performance, acting not for God’s eye but for people’s eye, following not God’s words but human teachings, and trusting not in God but in Money. Jesus is the pure model of “one who hears the words and puts them into practice.” In fact, Jesus himself is the Word. John 1:14a says, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us is exactly what should happen in us as well. When our heart is poor, the Word comes in. When the Word dominates our heart, it also dominates our body and all its members. Jesus says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away” and “If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away” (5:29-30). We have only one holy foundation of our life, which is Jesus Christ, and there is no room for others. May the Lord help us stand firmly on this holy ground, and build our house on Jesus and His words!