God’s Building Code

The earthquake measured a powerful 7.2 on the Richter scale. It struck without warning in the middle of January and the city of Kobe, Japan was rocked to its foundations.

It took just 20 seconds, but in that brief instant, over 5,000 people lost their lives. 300,000 more were forced into the streets in the depths of the winter, their houses ruined. 50,000 buildings were destroyed.

The Japanese had always thought that they were ready for an earthquake of this magnitude. The Japanese islands are subject to severe earthquakes. In 1923, the city of Tokyo had been hit by a major quake that killed 140,000 people. Japan still commemorates that disaster every Sept. 1.

So the Japanese have taken careful precautions in the way they build their buildings. Their civic engineers have developed strict design requirements in order to minimize the damage that an earthquake could cause.

When a medium-sized quake hit Los Angeles, in 1993, Japanese officials traveled to California to survey the damage. They returned to Japan assuring their people that the same thing couldn’t happen to them because their building codes were so much more advanced than those in America.

But the Kobe quake proved them wrong—dead wrong. Much of the harbor area of the city of Kobe was devastated because it was built on soft, sandy soil rather than rock. In an earthquake, groundwater is forced into this soil under tremendous pressure, and it turns into something that has the consistency of jello. Any building built on such a foundation will come crashing down, no matter how well it has been designed. It cannot stand because its foundation is unstable.

Jesus talks about this very thing in Matthew 7. He tells us how to build our lives so that they have strength and stability. And the foundation is the key. Let’s read his words in Mt.7:24ff:

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 streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, 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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

This passage is the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount. It comes at the end of a section where Jesus presents us with several sets of alternatives:

- two roads: one leads to life; the other leads to destruction

- two trees: one produces good fruit; the other, bad.

- two groups of people: one group enters the kingdom of heaven, the other group is turned away, even though they make extravagant claims about themselves.

- two builders: one builds a house that stands; the other builds a house that comes crashing down.

Jesus is obviously talking about spiritual things here. But as he so often does, he casts spiritual truth in terms of a concrete illustration from everyday life. He’s talking about the way that we respond to his teaching.

He’s just given perhaps the greatest Sermon ever preached. A few hundred people heard it when he gave it, but countless millions have read it in the 2,000 years since. What is their response going to be?

Jesus says it’s going to be like one of two builders who set out to build a house. There are several similarities about these builders.

1. They both wanted to build a house.

We are all builders, in a sense, because we all want to make something of our lives, don’t we? Each one of us has within us a certain drive that makes us want to know that our life really matters—that it is meaningful, that it is making an impact. We all want to leave our mark on the world in some way, whether it is through our family, or through our work, or through our relationships.

Our lives are like a building—a house that we set out to build. Both these builders set out to build a house.

2. They both heard the words of Jesus.

Jesus is speaking here to people who are familiar with him. He’s not talking to people who have never heard of him, or have never heard his words. He’s talking to people who have just listened to the sermon he has just preached, or people who have just read his words as recorded by Matthew.

Some people hear the Sermon, or read it, and it makes a profound impact on their lives. Others hear it, or read it, and it makes no effect on them. But they are all exposed to his words, to his teaching.

There are many people in the church today who hear the words—the teachings—of Jesus. Some of them are profoundly changed by that teaching; but others don’t seem to be influenced, or affected by it at all. It doesn’t seem to make any impression on them. They’ve heard the words, but the words haven’t penetrated.

3. The houses of both builders were subject to the same storms.

Both houses were subject to the same identical stresses: Jesus says in the case of both men “the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against” the house that each built.

There is a sort of false teaching in some circles of the church that says that if you are a follower of Jesus, you will be protected from the storms of life. You’l never have to go through any hardship or pain. You’ll never get sick; you’ll never lose your job; you’ll never have problems, because Jesus wants you to be happy all the time. That is a completely unbiblical picture.

Christians do lose their jobs. Christians do get cancer. Christians do get treated unfairly, and do get killed in car accidents. Because we live in a sinful world and we are not immune from those things happening to us. It has nothing to do with how spiritual you are, or how much faith you have.

God calls us to endure the same storms that unbelievers face, but to walk through them with our heads held high, so that the world will see that we are different—that we have hope, because we know that God loves us.

Habakkuk was a man who knew what it was to live through desperate times. His nation was about to be invaded and crushed by an enemy nation. Yet even in the prospect of that, he could say…

Habakkuk 3:17-18 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Both these builders, in Jesus’ story, went through the same storms.

What was different about them? Two things: the way they built their foundation, and the final destiny of their houses.

The wise man built his house upon the rock; the foolish man built his house upon the sand. Now why do you think they did that? Well for one thing, it’s a lot easier to build on sand than on rock.

I’m not much of a builder, but I’ve dug a few postholes in my time. I put in a fence up in Canada once. Had to dig about 12 postholes. The ground was very hard clay, and believe me, it was hard work to dig. It took me a couple of days.

But over on Long Island, I built a deck on the back of our house there. I had to dig 14 postholes for the footings of the deck. It was so much easier because on Long Island, you go through about a foot of topsoil, then there’s nothing but sand after that. Took me a couple of hours to do all 14 holes.

The foolish man built his house on the sand because it was easier. He didn’t even bother putting in a foundation. He built literally on top of the sand. Just smoothed it over and began to build. Now think about that. When you put in a foundation on a house, what do you have to do?

Well, the first thing you have to do is dig a hole, right? And to dig a hole, you have to disturb what is already there. There’s rocks and tree roots and boulders—things that have been sitting there for a long time. You have to remove the dirt that’s there, and replace it with your foundation. That’s a lot of work!

And you end up with a big pile of dirt that you have to get rid of. That’s even more work! Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just leave everything in place, smooth over the surface, and begin to build your house? Well, the foolish man must have thought so, because that’s what he did.

Now I want you to imagine that these two builders are working alongside each other. Whose house do you think goes up more quickly? Right, the foolish man’s house. It goes up faster, because he didn’t bother with a foundation.

The wise man is over here on the rock, drilling and digging and clawing out his foundation, and it’s taking a lot of time. Several days go by, and all he’s got to show for his work is a big ugly hole in the ground, and an even uglier pile of dirt and rock. Actually, his building site is looking worse every day instead of looking better!

But meanwhile, the foolish man is over here on the sand. It only takes him a couple of hours on the first morning to smooth over the surface, and then he starts to build. He’s got the lower level already framed in and he’s working on the upper storey. Pretty soon, he’s putting in the sheet rock, and then he’s got the vinyl siding on, and the windows are in, the roof is shingled.

Before you know it, he’s starting to landscape his house. And the neighbors are coming by and admiring his place. And they look over at the guy who’s still struggling with his foundation, and they just laugh and shake their heads.

But Jesus said “everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house 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.”

One man chooses the hard way, the disciplined way, the longer way; the other man chooses the quick-fix, the easy way, the softer way.

The issue revolves around our obedience to the words of Jesus. If you want to be a wise builder, you’ll obey the words of Jesus—you’ll put them into practice in your life. And that takes time and trouble.

When you start to obey the words of Jesus, you’ll find that you’ll have to start struggling with some real big, heavy boulders that have been sitting undisturbed in your life for a long time. When you take seriously the word of God, you’ll have some pretty serious excavating to do.

But if you want the easy way out, you’ll just listen to the words of Jesus, and say “Oh isn’t that nice. Isn’t Jesus’ a wonderful teacher?” And then you’ll go and do your own thing. And your house will go up so much quicker and so much easier. But it’ll be built on sand.

The issue is hearing and doing. It’s listening and obeying. Many people sit in church week after week and just soak up Bible teaching. They’re hearing it, but they’re not doing it.

James 1:22 –25 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Biblical knowledge has to translate into biblical action. Christian theory has to become Christian practice. Your theology has to become your lifestyle. Obedience is the key.

When Jesus gave us the Great Commission, he told us to make disciples of all nations, and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. He didn’t say “teach them everything I have commanded you” he said “teach them to obey everything I have commanded you”. Because without obedience, you don’t have a true follower of Jesus Christ.

When you hear and obey the words of Jesus, you will be building your life on the rock. Your life will have a solid foundation and strength to ride out the storms that will come. Because into every life, some rain must fall.

In Matthew 7 you have two builders and two houses, but you also have two storms.

On Oct. 17, 1989 the San Francisco Bay Area was hit by a major earthquake that measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale. Most Americans remember it because it came just prior to the third game of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and the Oakland A’s, and that was about all the inconvenience we experienced.

But it sure wasn’t that way in the Bay area. Over 60 people lost their lives, 14,000 people were made homeless, and the damage amounted to over 7 billion dollars.

One area in particular was the focus of the worst devastation. Houses and buildings in the posh Marina district simply collapsed when the earthquake hit. I’m sure you remember the pictures of the cars and trucks that were crushed by the buildings that had fallen on top of them.

The reason that the Marina district suffered so heavily was that it had been built on landfill. Those expensive buildings, those luxurious homes had been built on an unstable foundation. When the earth began to move, that landfill turned to jello under those buildings, and they simply collapsed.

If you have been a hearer of the Word but not a doer of it, your house will collapse when the storms come. But if you have been diligently putting into practice the teaching of Scripture, your life will have resilience and durability and strength in the midst of the storm.

And people will see your testimony as you go through the hard times and it will make a deep impression on them.

1 Peter 1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

Joni Earickson, Corrie ten Boom, Nien Cheng, Dave Dravecky, Chuck Colson, Dennis Byrd. Those are people who have gone through terrible storms. As a teenager, Joni Earickson dove into the Chesapeake Bay one day, hit the bottom and came up a quadriplegic. But she didn’t lose her faith.

Corrie ten Boom was caught helping Jews in Holland in the Second World War and sent to a Nazi concentration camp. She watched her sister die there. But she didn’t lose her faith.

Nien Cheng was jailed by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution in China. She spent six years in solitary confinement, during which time her only daughter was executed. But she didn’t lose her faith.

Dave Dravecky was a big league pitcher who got cancer in his pitching arm. He lost his career and his livelihood. But he didn’t lose his faith.

Chuck Colson went from having an office next to the President of the United States to being a prisoner in a federal jail cell. He lost his career, his reputation, and many of his friends. But he didn’t lose his faith.

Dennis Byrd was a big, tough defensive tackle for the New York Jets. One day in the heat of a game, he collided with a teammate and broke his neck. He was paralyzed from the neck down. He lost the ability to ever play football again. But he didn’t lose his faith.

When you build on the rock, your house will stand in the storm. Rock solid.