Built To Last

The Jesus Way, that has been the name of our summer series in the Sermon on the Mount. Good morning, my name is René, another one of the pastors here at Twin Lakes Church. So I get to start with a story. Way back in 1174, an Italian architect named Bonanno Pisano started what would become his most famous work, and that's just a fun name to say. Bonanno Pisano. Let's say that together, shall we? Bonanno Pisano. That's just so lyrical. Where was I? Yes, 1174. He began a beautiful bell tower that was freestanding right next to a church, and the design was really quite striking. You may be able to guess what city this bell tower was in, the city of Pisa. That's right. There was one little problem with his design. It was the soil. It was much softer than they had anticipated, and before long it began to lean. And experts say one day the leaning tower of Pisa will actually fall to the ground. The good news is, for now, tourists can take amusing selfies.

So, you know, the tower is beautiful, but it had a bad foundation. And in case you think, "Yeah, those ignorant people in the 1100s, I've got two words for you, Millennium Tower in San Francisco." Actually from the top to the bottom, it's a much taller tower, of course, but from the top to the bottom it leans out even further than the tower of Pisa at this point. Why? Well, they tried putting pilings only down into the sand. They thought that would suffice for the foundation, but now they've had to start retrofitting with new pilings that go all the way to bedrock to try to stop the lean. What they needed to do from the beginning was build on the rock.

Now, meanwhile, 12 miles into the ocean off the coast of Scotland stands the Bell Rock Lighthouse. It's 115 feet tall. It is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. Storms have been crashing into it. Forget this, 217 years, but still it stands. Why? One word, foundation. It is built on a shallow rock that is in the middle of the sea. Get this. The foundation masonry was built to such a high standard that it has not had to have been replaced or even adapted in 217 years of being in the middle of the ocean. Almost incredible.

Now, I don't know about you, but when it comes to the storms of life, I don't want to be Pisa. I want to be the Bell Rock Lighthouse. And so let's talk about it. Built to last is our final message in the Jesus Way series, and I'm kind of sad about that. It's a 17-week long journey through the most famous speech in history. Jesus Christ's most quoted, most famous speech, it's called the Sermon on the Mount. And I have loved this series all about the Jesus way to live. What Jesus said was the truly blessed life. How to live the rich life God wants us to have. How to live life as ambassadors of the kingdom of heaven.

Quick recap. Jesus has said things like, "Let your light shine through your good works." Stay faithful in mind indeed. Love your enemies. Pray for your enemies. Bless your enemies. Practice nonviolence. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't live for money, but for the kingdom of heaven. Don't worry. Instead, trust God as your loving father. Don't judge people. And to sum it all up, really, he's saying this is the principle. Treat others as you would want to be treated.

Now, this has all been leading up to something. The whole Sermon on the Mount, this whole series, has really been leading up to this moment. Jesus Christ's conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, he tells a story in just four sentences. And the question is this. This is this challenge. Now that he's told us all this, do I actually intend to live this way? You know, I can think all that stuff that Jesus said, "Yeah, don't judge people, man. Don't be a hypocrite. It's beautiful. It's groovy." But do I actually intend to do what Jesus taught? Do I intend to follow him? Will I become his disciple or not?

And here's the way Jesus throws this down. This is his concluding, like, mic drop story. It's in Matthew 7:24. He says, "Therefore," like, here's the wrap-up to everything I've just said, "Everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. The rain came down. The streams rose. The winds blew and beat against that house. Yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the," what? "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 millennium tower on the sand. The rain came down. The streams rose. And the winds blew and beat against that house. And it fell with a great crash."

Even Jesus is done with his speech, with that challenge. This video went viral just two weeks or so ago on August 20th, this summer, rough seas from Hurricane Ernesto surged onto the beach in North Carolina and lifted this house right off its foundation and swept it into the sea. Because like a lot of beach homes, it was built not on a slab but on a pier and post foundation right into the sand and it just got lifted right off of it. Now thankfully no lives were lost, but wow.

Now by contrast, down in Florida, another family's new home survived another recent storm virtually untouched. Hurricane Michael made landfall here at this beach with winds up to 155 miles per hour. And this house stood while almost the entire surrounding neighborhood was blown away. I recently watched an interview with the owners. They said they decided to go above and beyond the building code. They said this, "You know, the additions weren't very expensive, but they were totally worth it. I guess so." They said, "Hurricanes happened and so we intended to build it to survive." And that is exactly what Jesus is talking about.

Storms happen in life. The unexpected phone call, the scary diagnosis, the broken relationship, the loss, the death. Maybe you walked in in the middle of a storm right now and you're seeking stability, an anchor. And if you're not in a storm, you will be. And Jesus says, "All the things I've just said live this way because this is the kind of life when you consistently live this way, it leads to peace and stability, emotionally, spiritually, psychologically, even physically in a world where you are going to experience storms."

I just kind of want to say it's kind of like credits at the end of this series. I have been indebted all series long to work by people like Ray Prichard, Dallas Willard, John Orberg, Scott McKnight, and many more on the Sermon on the Mount. But in this concluding story, they all point out how Jesus is asking me to consider three things. And you can jot these down in your notes if you got them. The first one is obvious, everybody builds a house. Everybody builds a house. And you could really replace the word house with the word life. Everybody is building a life one day at a time.

How am I going to spend my time today? What words am I going to use today? How will I respond to provocation today? What people and influencers both in person and virtually will I allow to shape me today? Whether you are wise or foolish, you are building your life. Now listen, I want to really make something clear. Please note that Jesus does not say, "Here's a story about a good man and an evil man." And Jesus doesn't even say, "Here's a story about a saved man and an unsaved man." No, it's a story about a wise and a foolish man.

In fact, they're apparently wise and foolish followers of Jesus. They're wise and foolish in the way they are applying what they are both hearing from Jesus Christ because they both hear His words. This is a story about wisdom and how to live a good life, not about going to heaven. It's really a story about heaven coming down to earth and how to live life like you're in the kingdom of heaven.

You know, I point this out because some people think of obedience to Jesus in a kind of a legalistic way, which means, "Oh, I better do these things so I'll go to heaven." The Bible never teaches that. Listen, I want to make something clear. The only reason anybody's ever getting into heaven is by God's grace. Amen? Which is available freely to all because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sins on the cross, which we'll remember at communion.

So obedience to Jesus in the Jesus way is, "I do these things He taught, not so God will like me or not so I'll go to heaven, but because it's just a wiser way to live." Jesus loves us and He taught us the best way to live. It's a better life. You know, I've noticed often when people come up to me and they say, "Pastor, I want to ask you a question about something that I want to do." And especially if it's younger people, they want to ask me whether or not something that they want to do is a sin or not so that they know if it's okay or not for them to do it.

And before I answer, I say, "Well, let me just point something out. Most of the time in life, the question to ask is actually not, 'Is this a sin or not?' Or even, 'Is this legal or illegal?' But is this wise or foolish?" It may not be a sin. It may not even be illegal, but it may be very unwise. Like I read a blog this week where they asked people, "What is the most foolish thing you did as a kid?" And I just have to tell you, even just the title of the blog brought back a lot of memories personally.

Like I once tried to see how far I could ride my bike down my street over in San Jose when I grew up with my eyes closed. And I found out it's about 15 seconds and about 15 stitches. But here are some of the other responses online. "Yeah, I once dropped a firecracker in a glass wine bottle and then stood over it to see what would happen next." Somebody else wrote, "I'd seen those movies where people tie bedsheets together to climb out of their windows to sneak out at night. I was 12 and thought that seemed very feasible. So I tied a bunch of sheets together, went out from my second-story bedroom window, started off really well until one sheet came undone, and I fell directly 20 feet into a big bush of stinging metals." One more. And why do kids even do these things? My sister and I were jumping up and down on the bed and I was pretending to smoke a cigarette with a nail. One big bounce later, I swallowed the nail, "Hello, hospital."

Now are these things illegal? No. Are these things sinful? No. Are they foolish? Yes, yes. There are so many things you can do that are not illegal and maybe not even sinful, but very foolish. And this is what Jesus is talking about. Put another way, Jesus never really seems that interested in teaching about what are the bare minimum entrance requirements for heaven. While we tend to evangelize that way honestly, right, just pray this prayer and you're in. Jesus is talking to Christians here. He's saying, "Christian, you hear my words. Now are you a wise or a foolish builder?" Because everybody is building a house and everybody faces a storm. Everybody.

Did you notice Jesus didn't say, "Yeah, one of those guys really deserved the storm." Both the wise man and the foolish man had a storm go against their house and it was apparently the exact same storm. As John Orpurg says, "This is not a story about storm avoidance because there's actually no way to do storm avoidance. Not by having more money, not by being really smart, not by even having a lot of faith in Jesus. The storms will still come." Sometimes I think, "I shouldn't have to deal with yet another storm. I'm a nice person. I love Jesus. I'm kind to cats. What did I do to deserve this?"

Well, you probably didn't do anything to deserve this. Hurricanes just happen. Everybody builds a house. Everybody faces a storm. And number three, everybody chooses a foundation. Everyone. Rock or sand? Jesus says it's really ultimately a binary choice. So I was reading this week about the Colosseum in Rome. It was finished in the year 80 AD. It's been hit by 11 major earthquakes, two fires, and a direct lightning strike. It's now 56 years shy of a 2,000-year-old structure. And yet the basic structure is still sound enough to host major concerts despite the fact that it's built right in possibly the swampiest land in Rome.

These were the wetlands of the Tiber River, and it's all sand going way, way down deep. So how did it survive? Well, the original builders excavated through the sandy gravel all the way down to bedrock and built 40-foot-deep concrete foundations, which have never had to have been replaced or repaired. Incredible. And modern engineers say this is why it survived. It was actually invented concrete construction, and this style of construction was going on all over Israel when Jesus was saying these words. So people got what he was talking about.

And here in California, we understand this too. It seems every winter, our storms wash away roads and homes. And you may not know this, but Israel has the exact same climate as California on so many levels, but heavy winter storms and very dry, hot summers. So they understood exactly what Jesus was saying. Wise people build on rock, fools build on sand. So here's the big question. What does Jesus mean by rock? Well there are verses in the Bible like this, Psalm 18:2, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock." Or in the New Testament, Acts 4:11, "Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone." So definitely there is a sense where generally speaking, God is my rock. Jesus is my anchor, my cornerstone.

And we need to build our lives on him. We sing songs about that. It's beautiful, and I totally believe that. But what does that mean? Sometimes that is so general that almost everybody could kind of agree with that. That's right, man. Jesus is just our ride. I love that song by the Dubuis brothers. It's super cool. But what does it mean to say, "You're building your life on the rock, Jesus Christ"? Well Jesus says, "I'll tell you what it means to me." He gets very, very specific here by what he means by building your life on the rock.

He says, "Everyone who hears these words of mine, these words, the words he's just finished saying, the words in the Sermon on the Mount, 'Love your enemies, don't worry, do you want others,' as you would have them to do. And really all the words he is going to say as well. Anybody who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice, and puts them into practice is a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rock is actually doing what Jesus said, "When I love my enemies and pray for them and ask God to bless them." Wow.

Daily, Jesus is saying, "You're actually building your foundation on a rock because you're not allowing grudges and resentments to erode the foundation of your life. When I pray in the manner that he taught me to do daily, that's building my foundation on the rock and that is going to give me stability when the storms strike. When I choose not to worry on the daily, but to trust God as a loving Father who's going to give me good gifts, that is building on the rock. That's a firm foundation."

Man, I've got to tell you as a pastor, I've seen so many individuals and families go through tough times and those who build with this foundation go through storms. It doesn't seem to matter how much Bible knowledge people know, by the way, which is exactly Jesus' point. It's, have they been inculcating all of this into their daily lives? They'll still go through storms, but they're not destroyed by them. My dear friend, Dan Adronie, just passed away last week. Twenty-five years ago, he almost died. I remember it well. He was in a coma here at Dominican for over two months.

During his time in the coma, he had both legs amputated from his hips down and much more. He went from an able-bodied athletic guy to a special needs paraplegic guy. He woke up to that. But astonishingly from day one, his attitude was just amazing. I actually was the first person besides the medical staff to see him when he woke up from his coma. And I went into his room and I said, "Dan, buddy, how are you doing?" And this is the first thing he said to me. He goes, "Well, René, I woke up, looked down and realized I'm not half the man I used to be." That was the first thing he said to me, honest to goodness. Just an amazing attitude. And he turned what any one of us would have seen as just a devastation into a profound international special needs gospel ministry.

He told me one time, "I just believe what the Bible says, like in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who are the called according to his purpose." The storms hit him hard, but he had established a firm foundation. So that's what building on the rock is. On the other hand, what are some foundations of sand? We got to know so that we can avoid them. Well, Jesus specifically says, "Bible knowledge without practice." Right? Ever know any Bible geniuses who are just jerks? That's what he's talking about, right? But there's more than this. How about building your life on secondary doctrinal issues, right? When people say, "If we abandon this, then all the rest of our faith crumbles."

Over my years as a pastor, I have heard that dozens of times about things that actually Jesus says are not the foundation, like the foundation of our faith is the King James version of the Bible. I just was talking to somebody yesterday who told me that when he speaks at certain churches, they tell him in advance, "Listen, you can only quote from the King James Bible." So this is still a thing. If we abandon this for any modern translation, the whole thing crumbles. Or church organization. This is a big one for some people, unless you are a congregational church or unless you are an elder rule church. Your church is out of God's will. It's all going to crumble. That is the foundation for everything else.

Or the exact interpretation of the end times. If you don't believe that Jesus is going to come back in this manner and the rapture is going to happen before the tribulation, but not before a complete restoration of the temple in Jerusalem, well, then you're practically not even a Christian. Or the exact interpretation of origins. If you don't believe that the earth is 12,000 years old, then it all the rest crumbles into dust. And I could go on. There are dozens more of these. I mean, so many more. But they try to make these things the foundation.

Now, here's the problem. You may believe those things. That's no problem. If you really believe that having an elder rule church or whatever is important. But if you make any of those things the foundation of the faith and everything's going to crumble if you don't read the King James Version, then what's going to happen? You're going to tell that to your kids or to your students. If you don't believe this about that, then the whole faith crumbles. What happens when that student goes to college and becomes convinced that the earth is in fact billions of years old or that the King James Version includes verses from medieval manuscripts that weren't probably in the original Bible or any of those points? Then what you told them was their foundation crumbles.

And so they do what you told them. They abandon the whole rest of the faith because my foundation is now crumbling. What happens is you have built a house of cards on secondary issues. And when the wind blows, the storms come, the whole thing collapses. And that's totally unnecessary because Jesus said the foundation is not any of those things. It is hearing His words and putting them into daily practice. Like I used to tell our own kids, we're not churchians and we're not Bibleians and we're not rapturians. We are Christians. We follow Christ. He's the foundation.

Now of course there are other foundations of sand. Achievement. Achievements are very rewarding and even important. They're part of the building. They make the building beautiful, but they're a bad foundation. Or pop culture. I'll just believe whatever's popular today. Problem. What's popular today won't be popular tomorrow. Basing your life on pop culture is like building a house on a constantly moving foundation or emotions. We're told this all the time, you know, from songs to Disney movies, go with your heart, follow your heart, go with what you feel. But of course if you live by your feelings, you're going to spend your life manipulated by your moods.

Or politics. I have seen so many people, you can support whatever political cause you want. As a pastor my concern is, one of my concerns about this is that I've seen so many people disillusioned by politics and leave the faith because of politics. Because political winds change. Political parties change. Political candidates can change. They're not a good foundation. Really Jesus never changes. That's the only solid foundation.

Now the good news is if you've built your life on any of those things, you can change your foundation. That's really possible. This past week I went onto the website of Wolf Construction. Their specialty is moving entire buildings so that the owners can build a better foundation. They lift the whole thing up like this mountain cabin which had no foundation whatsoever, but it can now have a modern foundation, same house, but now it's going to last. And you can change your foundation too.

So let's bring this home. I love the reaction to the crowd. It says, "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as one who had authority and not as their teachers of the law." I love this because it means there was something about Jesus when he said these things. There was a charisma. There was an authority. There was something there that you were like, "Not only is he a good speaker, but that's the truth." You were mesmerized and convinced.

Here's the good news. Jesus is still amazing. Jesus is still authoritative because Jesus still lives. Amen? We're not following the teachings of somebody who died 2,000 years ago. We're following the teachings of somebody who will never leave you and never forsake you and will strengthen you as you seek to follow him. This is really the bottom line here. Jesus is asking, "Will I become Jesus's disciple or not? Will I do the stuff he said?"

By the way, that's why this is such a great weekend to have Connect Expo because what you've got out there are a bunch of ministries here at Twin Lakes Church who are doing exactly what Jesus taught. Jesus taught that we should feed the hungry. You've got ministries out there feeding the hungry. Jesus taught that we should help the poor. You've got ministries. Jesus taught you should visit those in prison. You've got a prison ministry represented out there in the lobby. It's amazing if you're looking for, "Yeah, you know what? I've been thinking about doing something like that. I don't know how to visit people in jail. It's kind of scary, but it intrigues me. I don't know how to help people who need meals brought to them. I love to cook." Well, guess what? All these people have figured all of that bureaucracy and red tape out, and they're just looking for people to join them in their existing ministry.

Now, I just want to focus. It's kind of a preview of our next series on one word here, the word "disciple." Jesus is asking me to be a disciple. We hear that and we think, "I can't be a disciple. That sounds intense. That sounds scary. That sounds serious. That sounds next level. I don't want to be a disciple. I'll just be a Christian." But here's something that might blow your mind. Jesus never said, "Become a Christian to anybody." In fact, that word "Christian" is only in the Bible three times in the book of Acts. Jesus never used it.

My point is the word "disciple" is in the Bible 269 times. This is what Jesus called people to be, his disciples, meaning student, learner, follower, maybe the best word, apprentice, an apprentice to Jesus to learn how to live like that. But that's kind of an intimidating idea, isn't it? One of the things I've noticed that keeps people from this, some people, true, are simply unwilling. But for most people, it's, "I'm unable. I'm unqualified. I'm unfit. I'm no saint. I'm inconsistent. I'm unsure. I've got my doubts. I'm no disciple. I've got to get my life straightened out before I could even call myself a disciple of Jesus."

Well, what do you think the first disciples of Jesus were like? They were a mess, especially the very most famous of them all, Simon Peter. He was all of these things. At times, he was inconsistent. He was very imperfect. But Jesus knew that, and Jesus kept saying to him, "Keep following with all of his flaws." How many of you are encouraged by that? Because I certainly am. And this is why we're starting this new series, "Flawed Follower," all about Simon Peter and how he learned to follow Jesus.

As Mark said, seven-week series. I wrote this new book for it. The weekly sermons will tie into each of the seven chapters of the book, small groups you can sign up for, short videos that were filmed on location. Now, I just want to make something that this is important for me to say. I personally do not make a dime from this. A hundred percent of the money goes to the church. I wasn't paid any extra to do this. It's just part of my ministry here at the church. I just want to establish that because it frees me up a little bit to plug this. There's no personal benefit from this to me.

I just want to, you know, effectuate the building of a firm foundation for us so we can be a church of disciples. You know, I encourage you to build a firm foundation of Jesus' words by joining us for this "Flawed Follower" series. I know you'll be encouraged that Jesus chooses very flawed followers, just like you and just like me. But let me wrap up with this. You can be a disciple of Jesus. You can be. You can learn not just to love Jesus, but to live the way Jesus taught us and modeled for us, no matter what you've done in your past.

I'll close with this. One of the most famous unfinished buildings in human history, probably, is what's called the Palace of the Soviets in Moscow. What happened was, during the height of Stalin's rule, this is when hundreds of churches were destroyed to proclaim a new atheist communist state, the central cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow was actually blown up. And plans were made to replace it with what they called the Palace of the Soviets. This was going to be a massive government building to be topped with a gigantic 30-foot, a rather 30-story high statue of Lenin. This would have been much higher than even the Empire State Building. It would have been the tallest building in the world at the time.

And construction actually began in 1938, but it was abandoned. Didn't go anywhere. And the foundation ended up being used as a public swimming pool in Moscow until the 1990s, when somebody bought it and the foundation was re-excavated and reworked and strengthened. And now that foundation supports the rebuilt cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Here's my point. It doesn't matter what you have built in your life so far. Maybe you had a foundation of faith that you exploded, and then you decided to try to build something else, and that didn't go anywhere either. You can change your foundation, and you can build your life by the power of the Holy Spirit into a beautiful home for Christ the Savior when you live the Jesus way.

Let's pray together. Would you bow your heads with me? You know, Jesus challenged his listeners to a decision with their heads still bowed. I just want to point out, he's challenging you and me today. Will you be his disciples, his followers, and not just his hearers? And if that reflects your heart, pray this in your heart with me. Lord, I want to live the Jesus way in every circumstance. I want to build my foundation on you and what you taught. But please give me the strength. I'm continually tempted to follow my way instead of yours. Teach me to trust that your way is always better than my way, that it's the way to life.

And now as we move into communion, I praise you for the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross. Let this transform the way I follow you daily. Help me to love others the way you loved me unconditionally, remembering the sacrifice of Christ. I pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.