Choosing the Right Foundation

Today I would like to invite you to consider a parable that is very familiar to all of us, and this parable is found in the book of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24 through 27. The book of Matthew, chapter 7, verses 24 through 27—are we ready, do you have it there? The Word of the Lord says this: “Anyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, I will compare to a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the rivers rose, the winds blew and beat against the house, and it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. But anyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice, I will compare to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the rivers came, the winds blew and struck that house with force, and it fell, and great was its ruin.” We know this Word well, don’t we? We have seen it before, and without a doubt this parable emphasizes how important it is for us to wisely build the foundation of each of our lives. That is what it is emphasizing: we need to be able to do it, to take the time to build on the right foundation, so that our lives may be successful lives, so that our lives may truly attain those things that the Lord has for us.

The success of this process is going to depend—it depends—on two things: first, how we pay attention to the Lord’s words, and second, how we act in light of those words. Are you following me? It is very interesting, my brothers and sisters, because almost every time we read this parable, we tend to lean toward or obviously identify with the wise man, the one who built well. How many of you say yes, that you see yourselves as the wise man? No one is going to identify with the foolish man. It is like, “That man is a fool; I do not identify with him.” But you know what? I began to think about it, and I cannot dismiss either of these two characters. I cannot dismiss them, because the mere fact that Jesus identified them—even though he was drawing a distinction between one and the other—means that, however you look at it, something identifies these two men, and that is the fact that both of them worked hard to build the house they built. Do you agree with me? Both of them worked hard to build the house they built. The fact is that one built on something safer than the other; obviously, that is where the distinction lies. But however you look at it, they both sweated, they both bruised their hands, and they developed calluses while building their houses. Who knows whether both of them bled while building their houses? Who knows whether both of them had to revise their plans and designs on several occasions? Who knows whether both of them had to invest a certain amount of money to build their houses?

But now the issue is that one decided to build on a foundation that was safer than the other. I went to talk with the architect, Glenn Noss, and I wanted to ask him, “Glenn, when you read this parable, what can you tell me?” And he said to me, “Well, Omar, what do you think I am going to tell you? Obviously, it is safer to build on a solid foundation than on a soft one such as sand.” And I was like, “Tell me, tell me—what is the process for doing this?” For example, if a person builds on sand, what does that process have to be like? And he said to me, “Look, for you to make a solid foundation in sand, you have to dig down far enough to find ground that is firmer than the sand on the surface.”

He used the example of building a deck at a house. How many of you have built a deck at your house? You know that, according to code, to build a deck you need a certain number of columns capable of supporting that deck, depending on the area and size of the deck. And those columns have to be sunk to a depth of at least four feet. Those are what they call footings. You have to dig four feet deep to make those concrete piers so that they can provide stability for the decks you want to build.

Okay, that is the issue: when you are building on ground that is mostly soil and sand, you have to go very deep so you can fill those spaces with columns and then build. It is different with rock. When someone builds on rock, the architect was telling me that when an architect or engineer arrives at a place where they see rock protruding from the ground, they say it is good, but that at the same time it is hard and difficult, because it means that the designs for the structure they are going to build have to conform to the shape of those rocks so that they can build on top of them. If it is not done that way, then they have to go through a blasting process, blowing up the rocks in order to smooth and level them to the point where the rocks are even with the surface and they can build on top of that. But even so, what interested me most was that even when you are on rock, you have to drill, bore and make holes, because now a different process is required to make a different kind of hole in the rock and secure whatever you are going to build on that rock.

“You can put it,” the architect told me, “you can put it on top of the rock, on the surface, but that rock is affected by all the vibrations occurring around it. So if it is vibrating on top of the rock, it is going to slide to one side or the other. Therefore, you have to drill the foundations of that house into the rock so that the house can be truly firm and will not move across the surface of that rock.” The insight this brought to my mind was the following, my brothers and sisters: on both kinds of ground, you have to enter into an active relationship with that ground. What I mean is that you have to become familiar with the place you are getting into so you can know what is there.

A person who builds on soil, let us say near a valley, will think that the river is never going to overflow its banks, and then, “I can watch that river flowing from my deck. Wow, how beautiful!” Anyone would be inspired by a view like that. But that is not the everyday picture. You can be sure that if you buy a house in a place like that, the purchase agreement will tell you that you have to have what kind of insurance? Flood insurance. “But how can that be, if the river is, what, 400 meters from my house? That river will never reach this place.” You never know.

There was a reason Jesus said, “And when the rain came down, the rivers came and the winds blew and beat against that house,” that was when whatever was going to happen, happened. You see, the issue is that many times we start building, very confident that we know what we are getting into. And many times we choose a foundation that we think will last long enough. But when we examine it carefully and life’s difficulties arrive, if that foundation is not properly laid, my brothers and sisters, even if the house does not fall, it will crack somewhere. And if it cracks on one side, the floor will become uneven. Have you ever gone into a house where the floor is uneven? I remember when my wife and I bought our first apartment. The first thing we wanted to do was replace the kitchen cabinets, because they were very old cabinets. And when we tore them all out—I was with a friend of mine, Mario Mejía, my sister Anabella’s son—when we removed one from a corner, we saw a crack about two inches wide. We looked at it and said, “Wow, what happened here?” And we realized that the building’s very foundation had shifted on that side. And when I asked the downstairs neighbor, the downstairs neighbor had the same crack. The one below him also had the same crack. And I said, “Wow, this is interesting.”

In order for us to level those cabinets, we had to put an additional board at the end of one wall so that it would look straight, so that to the eye it would not look crooked. But if you looked at the wall behind it, you could tell that it was leaning the other way. But it is interesting how a small crack can throw something out of level, and it all comes down to the foundation on which a person sets out to build. Now, for the person who builds on rock, my brothers and sisters, the story is completely different. The mere fact that he has to make the additional effort to dig and bore where the rock is means, “Okay, I am going to build on top of this rock and enter into interaction with this rock.” This is where the following fact catches my attention: I cannot determine what kind of foundation the rock is going to be. The rock is the one that will determine the kind of foundation I am going to use on that rock. Are you following me, or did I lose you?

I cannot tell the rock, “I want you to be this kind of foundation.” No, the rock is there, and it will tell me, “Well, you want that, but this is what I can give you. You want the front of your house facing the sunrise, but because of how I, the rock, am positioned here, I can allow the entrance of your house to face the sunset instead, not the sunrise, and you have to adjust to what the rock says.” Obviously, Jesus is identifying himself as the rock in this story. But not only that: Jesus is identifying his teaching as the foundation on which to build. Why do I say this? Look at the text; let us go back to the text.

What does verse 24 say? It says, “Therefore, anyone who hears these words of mine”—what words? Let me take you back a little. I promise you I am not going to finish this today; I am going to leave it to be continued. Do you know what words Jesus is referring to? This parable is the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. I do not know whether you had noticed that detail. The Sermon on the Mount begins in chapter 5, so we have three chapters in which the Sermon on the Mount unfolds. Therefore, in other words, Jesus is saying, “Anyone who hears this entire Sermon on the Mount from me and puts it into practice, I will compare to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Do you want me to read you the Sermon on the Mount? I am going to begin talking about a couple of things from the Sermon on the Mount.

You know, the Sermon on the Mount is very interesting, because all of us picture Jesus sitting at the top of this hill, seated on a rock beneath the shade of a tree, with all the people crowding around him and the sea in the background as well. There was Jesus in a beautiful landscape. All the people came, sat down and made themselves comfortable—with their families, among friends or alone. Some lay down on the ground around him, and everyone listened to the things Jesus was sharing with them. And I can tell you that I would venture to say that 90 percent of the Sermon on the Mount was not addressed to all those people who were there, but rather to the disciples who were listening there.

Do you know why? Because what the Sermon on the Mount contains, more than anything else, are the qualities that define a true disciple, a true son or daughter of the Kingdom of God. That is what the Sermon on the Mount contains. It is not necessarily giving advice on how to deal with your son or daughter, how to deal with your husband or wife, or with your male or female neighbor. Rather, Jesus is saying something like, “These qualities I am speaking about here are the qualities that each one of you who have decided to follow me, who have decided to be my disciples, must possess and reflect in your lives. If you manage to live this way, you can be sure that your life will be well built.” That is what Jesus is saying. Later I will talk more about the Sermon on the Mount, but let me sharpen the focus on what Jesus is saying here.

Because while I was preparing and reading this parable of the two foundations, I found that when it speaks of the rain, the winds that blew and the river, obviously, when we read that, it can be interpreted theologically as situations in life: financial problems, illnesses we have to face, losses we have to suffer, and conflicts we have with person X, Y or Z. They are adverse situations that, when they come upon us, will test the kind of character we have. If we fall, it is because we are not well grounded in what we claimed to believe. If we remain standing, it is because we truly decided to believe and to make decisions in light of what Jesus taught us. Now, a second interpretation given to this allegory of the rain, the rivers and the winds that blew also has to do with the day of the Last Judgment.

Somehow, every time Jesus spoke, every time he used an allegory, it contained in some way the idea that, “What I am talking about also has to do with that day of the Last Judgment, when the Lord comes to judge the living and the dead.” Before this, verse 13 says, “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and the road that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter through it. For narrow is the gate and confined the road that leads to life, and few are those who find it.” He is drawing a distinction between two things. The narrow gate—everyone sees it, everyone identifies it and everyone goes through it—the wide one, excuse me. The narrow gate is interesting because it says it is so small, so narrow, that not many can see it.

All the signs point toward the wide gate; the narrow one has a marker that says, “Narrow gate, go this way,” and you have to crouch down, put on your helmet with its light bulb, in order to get through there. Two realities: “By their fruits you will know them.” There are also the people who come to Jesus and say to Him, “Lord, in Your name we preached, cast out demons, carried the message, and prophesied to others,” and Jesus says, “Pfft, I never knew you,” because they claim to have done something, yet they were not actually doing it. Jesus is making a very clear, very specific distinction here, and suddenly He comes out with those words: there are two realities. The one who listens to Me and does what I say will have his life well built, and when that final day comes, when God comes to judge us—parenthesis—Jesus is not saying that our salvation depends on works, because we know very clearly that our salvation is by faith and by grace. Jesus is not saying that; rather, He is saying, “If you have decided to be a member of the Kingdom of God, your life has to reflect what it means to live according to that Kingdom. Your life has to bear the fruits that belong to the Kingdom of God.” Jesus says, “By their fruits you will know them.”

Notice how interesting it is that all these things Jesus is telling them come in order, one after another, until He reaches that final point: when that day comes, what will the Lord find? Will He find that we have built our lives upon a good foundation, or will He find that it went in one ear and out the other, that we did not heed what the Lord says? That is where the difference lies, my brothers and sisters. Whether you want to receive this Word while thinking about a situation you are going through right now, or whether you are thinking about that final day when the Lord comes for each one of us and whether we will truly be among the sheep or the goats, among those who enter or those who leave, I want to make sure that I am building my life upon the promises and teachings of Jesus. This is a long process, and that is why I want to make sure that I am building. I have not finished building my life; you have not finished building your life. You are still in that process.

If you believe that you are not on the right foundation, look, I am going to tell you something. Not long ago I saw a television program—I do not know how many of you have seen it—called Giant Movers, about companies that are responsible for moving entire houses. They lift them with a crane, put them on a truck, take that house from one state to another, and set it down in another place. To me, that is a tremendous illustration. So, if you believe that you are building your house, or that you built your house, on sandy ground and want to move your house to rockier ground, where there is a good solid rock, you should know that you can hire a company called the Church, which has a very large crane and will help lift your house, transport it, and then set it securely upon another foundation that will be safer for you. God wants us to build our lives well, and again, as I said at the beginning, the success of that process, my brothers and sisters, will depend on how we truly apply the words the Lord gives us and make the effort to live according to those words. This is where the Sermon on the Mount comes in—to be continued.

Let us stand, my brothers and sisters, and let us pray. At least I wanted to lay the foundation for you, my brothers and sisters, to give you the base. Where is your house? Okay, my brothers and sisters, I am not talking to you about the house you are going to now; I am talking about your life, your heart. Look, my brothers and sisters, every time I have the opportunity to preach a word like this, I do not want to sound too ornate. I want to preach a Word that makes sense to you, because I believe this Word has the validity and the effectiveness to truly reach that place. If Jesus said it, He said it for a reason. Jesus may have been speaking to thousands of people on that hillside, and although His emphasis was directed more toward His disciples, I am sure that, in one way or another, the rest of the people received whatever was meant for them.

For every one of you who is here, this Word reaches you according to the moment, the stage of life, in which you find yourself. And I want to tell you this: it is never too late to build on the right foundation; it is never too late to build on the right foundation. The architect told me that after someone builds and realizes that there is something wrong with the foundation, it is very difficult to fix it. Technically and structurally speaking, that is very difficult. It is difficult for us as well, because if there are things in our foundation that are not right—phew—there are many things that must be removed in order to reach that foundation and correct it. It is difficult, but not impossible, because if the foundation we are trying to reach is Jesus, Jesus will make sure that we get there. Jesus will make sure to guide you toward the foundation He wants you to have. Jesus will make sure that the plans for the house you are building are adjusted to Him as the foundation, and not necessarily to your own longings and desires. He knows what He wants for you. He knows what He has for you.

So, Lord, based on these words, I ask that each of our hearts may open more and more each day to that impartation that comes from You; that day after day we may pay attention to Your words and, at the same time, apply them to our hearts so that we may live in the light of every one of them. Lord, I say this concerning everything we are as people: our way of thinking, our way of speaking, our way of acting. In every area, Lord, You want them to reflect Your character. So, Father, tonight I beg You, now that we have begun a discussion about these qualities, that in the days to come, Lord, our hearts may open even more, so that we may be sensitive to You, sensitive to Your Voice, and see how we can continue adjusting our lives in the light of Your desires, of Your heart toward ours.

Bless each of my brothers and sisters tonight, Lord. I ask You that as they leave here and prepare to go to their homes, they may leave encouraged and confident, Lord, that they are building their lives upon You, who are the firm rock. If any of them is going through a season in which the rivers are rising and the winds are blowing very hard, if they are afraid that the house might fall, may they remember that You will never let them go. Whether on the heights or in the depths, in calm or in the storm, You are always there to sustain them and strengthen them. May they leave with their heads held high above every situation. I firmly declare, just as Your Word says, that the waters will not overwhelm us and the fire will not burn us, Lord, because You are there. Bless us as we leave this place. Bring us safely to our homes under Your protection, and may this Word continue to echo in our hearts even as we rest tonight. And tomorrow, if You so allow, may we rise with new strength and renewed energy to take hold of whatever tomorrow may bring. We thank You, Jesus. In Your name, amen and amen.