Sandcastle

Matthew 7:24
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:”

Lately I’ve been pondering this statement made by Jesus at the end of His Sermon on the Mount. I guess what really sticks out to me is the fact that Jesus says, “...whoever hears...and does...” Since when does Christ, the bringer of Grace, talk about doing things? Then it hit me: Christ is teaching a crowd of people still under the rule of Law. I’m not talking about Roman law, but the Law of Moses, Mount Sinai Law. Just because Christ had been born does not mean that the age of Grace had begun. In fact, it wasn’t until Christ suffered, died, and rose again that His grace was fully unleashed on earth. Up until these words, “It is finished...Father into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” (John 19:30, Luke 23:46) it was an Old Testament society.

I think, too often, too much emphasis is put on the words that Christ spoke and not enough on the time in which He spoke them. We have taken the Sermon on the Mount completely out of context, timewise, and tried to apply it to our lives as some sort of practical life lesson. The truth is that Jesus only gave the sermon to further point out to the crowd their need for a Savior, our need for a Savior. These rules He gave: judge not, go the extra mile, don’t lust with your eyes, don’t kill with your heart, etc., weren’t given as a new set of commandments to live by on top of the old ten that Moses had. Jesus said these things to show the full expectation of the Law and our complete inability to perfectly fulfill even a portion of it. By using Jesus’ sermon as a rule guide for Christian living we (the collective church) have turned natural things into “sins”. Christ said don’t worry. Are you worrying? Have you worried? SINNER!!!

Because Jesus is teaching under Law He is required to use it perfectly, which He does. His close to this incredible message can be summed up like this. Follow all the rules and you’re good; mess up one and you’re guilty of all (Deuteronomy 28:1,15). This has been, and always will be, life under the Law.

Every word that came from the mouth of Jesus was crucially important. Here, at the close of His sermon, He says, (paraphrasing) “Do all of these things that I have said and you’ve built your house on a rock. Not even the greatest storm will be able to move you. If, however, you do not do all of these things, then you have built your house on the sand. The slightest breeze will knock you down.”

Jesus was referring to God’s Law. Perfect fulfillment of the Law, down to the the very concept behind it, is “building your house on a rock”. Jesus wasn’t referring to Himself in this statement, but to the Laws of which He spoke. That rock symbolizes the Ten Commandments. If you are able to perfectly and completely live out the Ten Commandments then all of Deuteronomy 28’s blessings will apply to your life. Health, wealth, strength, stability, blessings in, and blessings out; that’s the result of perfection.

On the contrary, if you do not, then you receive all of Deuteronomy 28’s curses. Sickness, disease, depression, anxiety, fear, enemies, toil, struggle, separation, and loss. This is what building your life on sand, that is, broken rocks looks like. Why did Jesus use rocks and sand? Because they symbolize the expectation and the actualization of Mount Sinai. The Rock is the perfect law given through Moses, by God. The sand is what we made of it. We’ve broken God’s law so many ways that it’s become sand.

Jesus knew what He was doing when He gave the Sermon on the Mount. He knew He was giving impossible tasks. Who among us hasn’t judged another, looked at a nice butt, or thought evil about someone? Who out there has ever always really loved his enemies or gone the extra mile? Who hasn’t worried? When dropping that 10% tithe check in the plate, who has never thought, “God’s gonna bless me for this gift!”? Who among us hasn’t thought about or ever stored up earthly treasures? Who hasn’t done good to get noticed? We’re all guilty of building our houses on the sand. We’re all guilty of making the sand!

Thankfully, God gave us Jesus, who is our Redeemer and Savior. He is our Substitute and our Sacrifice. Everything that Jesus spoke of in His Sermon He did! Jesus fulfilled even the idea of the Law to the utmost perfection. He is altogether lovely. Because of Jesus we have access to the blessings of Deuteronomy 28. Because of Jesus we have been fully released from the curses of Deuteronomy 28. Steve Fee said it best: “It’s all because of Jesus I’m alive!”