Building One's Faith
By: Eric Craft
Tags: Christianity, Spirituality, Christian Living, Jesus, Religion

“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.” (Matthew 7:24–27, ESV)

Storms of our lives

Anyone who has lived can tell you that life has some difficult things in it. Unaffectionately we call these hard times in our lives “storms” because we feel as though we are adrift at sea and the wind and the rain are tossing us around.

The people Jesus was speaking to were no strangers to hardship. These early followers of Jesus, specifically the people at the Sermon On The Mount had been sick, demon-possessed, and had all kinds of different afflictions.

These people are kind of like me and you. I guess that you, reading this are struggling with something. Maybe doubt, insecurity, anxiety or fear. Maybe sickness, something you’ve done that you don’t think you can be forgiven for, someone hurt you, maybe you are going through a storm.

The Sermon On The Mount ends here.

Jesus uses this entire sermon to change the perspective of the crowds around Him and He ends with this call.

Jesus begins to talk about the foundation that ones faith is built upon

Jesus tells the crowd that what they do with his words matters. This is not something that is just for the crowd however, this is a call to us today as well.

Because when the storms of life hit us, our foundation matters.

Ignoring Jesus’ message

Jesus compares those who don’t listen to his words and do what He commands as people who build their life on the sand. Jesus when He proclaims good news to this group of people, He doesn’t just want them to hear it. He doesn’t just want them to sit and listen to it and walk away talking about how great of a message it was, they want him to walk away and live a life where their perspective has been changed.

But, some of them won’t. Some of us won’t. Some of us will ignore the kingdom of God. Some of us won’t read God’s word, Some of us won’t take the time to pray. And some of us will read God’s word, and pray and go to church and tithe, but we won’t live out his kingdom. We will listen to everything God has to say but we won’t actually change our lives.

And when the storm comes we will be blown down, just like the man whose house was built on the sand. Jesus even ends with talking about how great the fall was.

If we are ignoring the better life that Jesus has to offer and we aren’t remaining in him then when the storms of life come we will be knocked over pretty quickly.

Jesus’ message is invitational

The man who built his house on the rocks had a solid foundation. His house wasn’t blown over when the storms of life came. Jesus here is trying to help make sure that the crowd of people know that his word is not something that you listen to, but its something that you get to be apart of. The biggest part of our faith is that it is something you and I have to live out.

This man whose house was built on the rock remained in Jesus. Not only did He listened to the words of Jesus but He lived them out.

The story of Jesus is not one where He just saves us, but it is one where He invites us.

The book of James, written by a disciple of Jesus, echos this idea.

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14–15, ESV)

You and I are to build our faith upon Jesus word. Our foundation matters for when the storms of life come our way. But it’s not enough to just be in God’s word or pray and worship him, our faith should be lived out.