Matthew 7:24–27

3 Sunday after Pentecost

Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

²⁴"Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵And 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. ²⁶And 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. ²⁷And 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."

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ: As many of you are aware, one of my hobbies is studying and sometimes chasing violent storms, especially if they show any promise of producing a tornado. This spring has been an ideal environment for the genesis of tornadic storms across the central portion of our country. Just a few days ago we reached the annual average for tornadoes in this country and through the tornado season. In fact, so far this year we have had over twice the number of tornado reports as the normal for this date. While tornadoes can be exciting to watch and an intriguing puzzle trying to determine in advance where one will occur, they can also be tragic for people who are in their path. In fact, one of the main reasons I watch for them is to alert the authorities so that warnings can be issued and alarms sounded as soon as possible in order to save lives. Unfortunately, this year we have already seen double the average number of annual tornado deaths in this country and we still have a long way to go. I am saddened by this statistic which only makes me realize how much more we need to do in order to predict and detect tornadoes early.

The safest place to be during a tornado is indoors in a safe shelter. However, even then safety depends on the construction of the shelter you are in. For instance, the 8 people killed on April 20, 2004 in Utica, Illinois, were all in a tornado shelter; they were in the basement of a massive, brick building determined to be a safe place. However, the building was over 100 years old and what once was a solid foundation with solid walls had, by 2008, become a broken foundation with cracked walls. The structure collapsed and tons of bricks came crashing down on top of the people taking refuge in the basement. Meanwhile a newly constructed school just a block away with a solid foundation and steel-reinforced walls was also hit but barely scathed.

The foundation makes all the difference. Jesus knew this and he used this as a sermon illustration in his Sermon on the Mount. He told of two men who built houses; one on a solid rock foundation and the other on sand. When the storms came, the winds blew, the rain poured down, the house built on solid rock stood firm, but the one on sand came crashing down, just like in the Utica storm. The man who built his house on the rock was the wise man who heard and did the words of Jesus, while the other man was the fool who also heard Jesus' words but did not do them.

What was Jesus talking about and who are these two men? First we note that this statement is the conclusion to what is known today as the Sermon on the Mount. This Sermon was preached by Jesus when he went up on the mountain and sat down and his disciples came to him. He was preaching to his disciples; believers. He was preaching to people like us here this morning; people who already knew Jesus, who confessed faith in him; who claimed to be his disciples. This sermon is, for the most part, a description of the life that he wants his followers to live. He is telling them what he expects of us; how we, as believers, are to live.

While there is not time to read the entire Sermon, let's look at a few highlights to get the overall gist of the sermon. After an introduction, he continues by saying that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. He commands us to let our light shine before others so that they may see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven. He is giving us law; telling us how we are to live. He is telling us what good works he expects from his people. He then emphasizes that the law of God cannot be changed or abolished. We cannot escape out from under it or from its demands. He says not a single iota (that's the Greek letter equivalent to our letter i) nor a single dot will pass from the law until all the law is accomplished.

Now those are pretty stern words. He is telling us to take God's law seriously. God means what he says. There will be a judgment. We will be held accountable for what we do and how we live. And there will be punishment for those who do not fulfill all that the law requires. He who does not do the words of Jesus will be like the fool whose house fell down and he was destroyed.

The problem is that man is us! For what does Jesus tell us in his sermon? He said things like "do not kill your brother, do not even be angry with him or you will be liable for judgment." He said, "Do not insult your brother or call him a fool or you shall be liable to the fire of hell." He says "do not commit adultery, in fact, don't even look at another person with lust in your thoughts or mind" or you will be guilty of adultery before God. He said that when you and your brother have a disagreement, settle it before coming to the altar to worship or you shall be cast into prison. He says, "Do not get divorced, except in the case of sexual immorality."

Then it got even tougher. He says we must love not only our neighbor, but we must love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. He goes on to say don't not judge others or you will be judged double. Do not worry or be anxious for material things. To sum it all up he says that we "must be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect." That's just a sample of what the Sermon on the Mount tells us. But the conclusion is obvious: none of us has ever done all of these things. None of us has loved our neighbor as ourselves. None of us has ever loved our enemy. All of us have been angry with our brother. All of us have committed murder and adultery in our hearts and minds. None of us has been perfect as our Father in heaven. None of us even could be no matter how hard we try. The bottom line is that all of us are the fools who built our house on sand and when temptations come, and doubt ensues, and worry and anxiety overwhelm us, or our neighbor offends and we don't forgive, we shall be like the house that fell and great will be the fall. And he is not talking about our physical house or life in this world, he is talking about our eternal home; he is talking about the eternal judgment of God. It is no good to say, "God would not destroy us. We don't have to worry about keeping his law." He destroyed the Israelite nation for their sin. His chosen people were crushed and his city of Jerusalem torn down to the ground in his anger and judgment. Jeremiah said; "It is a waste, without man and without beast. The cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast." Yes, like the house of the unwise man, great was the fall of Jerusalem.

So then, who is the wise man? Who is the man who has done all these words of Jesus and fulfilled all his laws? Is there no way I could do it? There is no one who has ever done all the works of God's law except Jesus himself. There is one, and only one who can claim to have heard and done all the words of which Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount. And that is Jesus Christ.

Jesus said that not one iota or dot will pass from the law until it is accomplished. Jesus accomplished it. Jesus fulfilled all the demands of God's law and all its requirements. Jesus was completely and perfectly obedient to his Father. Who has loved his neighbor as himself? Jesus alone. Who has loved his enemy? Jesus alone. Who has never lied, cheated, been proud, hated his brother, refused to forgive, or lusted for the pleasures of this world? Jesus and none else. The law has been accomplished. The words of Christ have been done and all commands have been fulfilled. They were fulfilled by Jesus!

But so what? What does this have to do with us? Jesus came into the world to fulfill the law for us. He fulfilled God's demand for perfection for us; in our place; so that his perfect obedience goes on our record. God tells us in the book of Romans: "Just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience (Adam) the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience (Jesus) the many will be made righteous." God also says, "For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God."

Christ was perfectly righteous and innocent, but his righteousness counts for us. His perfect obedience to God's law counts for us as if we were the ones who were perfectly obedient to God.

And when he gave us his righteousness, Jesus took our sins for himself. Jesus took our sin in his body to the cross. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree," says I Peter. There on the cross he bore our sin in his flesh and put it to death in his body when he was crucified. When Jesus died on the cross, our sin died with him. When Jesus was buried in the tomb, our sin was buried in the tomb. When Jesus was raised from the dead, we were raised to eternal life with him and our sin is left dead and forgotten in that empty tomb. As Jesus was raised from the ashes of death, so God raised Jerusalem from the ashes after he had destroyed it and it was rebuilt. As Isaiah says, "Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will raise up the former devastations, and they will repair the ruined cities." The temple on Zion was re-built even grander than the first one. The second temple had even greater honor than the first.

So too with us. Jesus said the wise man built his house on the rock. More than that, the wise man's house is a new house built by Jesus himself. Just as he raised Jerusalem from the ashes, he raises us to life. If we are the foolish man whose house crashed to the ground, Jesus is the wise man who built a new house for us built on the solid foundation of the rock. Paul says in Romans 6: "Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."

So while we are the foolish man who built our house on the sand by not doing the words of Christ, Christ himself was the wise man who built a house for us on the firm rock of his perfect obedience to the law of God. His obedience counts for us. On account of Christ's death on the cross God forgives our sin. On account of Christ's perfect obedience as our substitute God declares us righteous and holy. Holiness is a gift from God. Holiness is not what we do or strive for, it is not a process which we work at, it is what Christ did for us. It is a gift from God.

What does it mean to hear and do the words of Jesus? It means to hear and believe Jesus words; the Gospel. Jesus word is the Gospel of forgiveness. Jesus' word is the word that says, "Your sins are paid for and forgiven by my death on the cross." His word is the word of absolution that says, "I forgive you all your sins." Doing Jesus' words is nothing other than believing them. Doing Jesus' words is trusting that when Jesus says, "I forgive you all your sins," they are indeed forgiven. God does not lie. When he says "You are righteous in my sight and have eternal life," this verdict makes us legally righteous. His words are trustworthy. Even though we might not feel his presence, or we are discouraged or depressed, we have his sure, objective, truth; the Gospel; the declaration that our sins are forgiven and that all who believe it have eternal life.

Jesus does not stop talking and we don't stop doing his words. Jesus today does his words through us, not by our power or might or work, but Jesus himself continues to love his neighbor through us. Through us he helps our neighbor in need, he feeds the hungry, he clothes the naked, he heals the sick and binds up the wounded, and he shelters the homeless. Jesus continues to speak his words today. He speaks his Gospel through us; He speaks the words of forgiveness and absolution. When we call our fallen world to repent and believe that their sins are forgiven, it is Jesus speaking through us. When we absolve the sins of the penitent sinner, it is Jesus absolving them. When we carry the Gospel to all nations and make disciples by baptizing them and teaching them to observe all things that he has commanded, it is Jesus offering his forgiveness and newness of life to all who believe this promise.

The words of Jesus give us life. The words of Jesus are the firm foundation of our faith. Jesus himself is the rock of salvation; the chief cornerstone; the one who builds our house for us in his kingdom; a house that will never fall no matter what storms may come into our lives.

Amen.