Build on the Rock
Jesus tells us what happens when a life is built one way versus another. For three chapters, He has described life in the kingdom of God. He has spoken about the heart, about righteousness, about prayer, money, anxiety, relationships, and obedience. Now He brings it all to a close with a picture that is both simple and unsettling at the same time.
There are two builders, two houses, and one storm. And the difference between the two houses isn’t obvious at first.
Storms prove what our lives are truly built on.
Matthew 7:24 – Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
Jesus gives us a picture that would have been immediately clear to His original audience. In that part of the world, houses were often built during the dry season. The ground would be hard on the surface but soft underneath. If you built quickly and didn’t dig down to bedrock, everything could look fine for a while. But when the rains came and the grounds became saturated, houses that weren’t anchored properly collapsed.
That’s the point Jesus is making. The difference between the wise and foolish builders isn’t visible at first. Both build houses. Both choose locations. Both finish their work. From the outside, there’s no reason to assume one house will fail and the other will stand. The difference is underground. It’s foundational. It’s important what we build our lives on.
Then Jesus describes the storm:
Matthew 7:25a – And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house
Jesus uses the same language for both builders. It’s the same storm. The same pressure they’re facing. The same conditions. The storms of life don’t discriminate. Hardships come to everyone.
That matters because we’re often tempted to think obedience should protect us from hardship. If we’re just a good enough Christian or just have enough faith we won’t face difficulty. But Scripture never promises that. What it promises is stability in the middle of it. Faith doesn’t cancel storms. It prepares you for them.
Storms come in different forms. Sometimes they’re external: Loss, illness, financial pressure, relational conflict. Sometimes they’re internal: Doubt, fear, temptation, discouragement. And eventually there’s the final storm of standing before God. We will all face judgment before God. In every one of these cases, storms don’t create foundations. They expose them. What your life is built on will be exposed. There’s no faking it. That’s why Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount this way. He’s saying, everything I’ve just taught you will either hold you up or be ignored, and when pressure comes (and it will!) the truth will be evident. The storm reveals what you’ve really trusted.
Matthew 7:25b – but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
Notice too that Jesus is talking to people who’ve heard His words. The foolish builder isn’t ignorant. He’s informed. He hears the same words as the wise builder. The issue isn’t lack of exposure to truth. It’s lack of response to it. Only a life built on obedience to Jesus will stand when the storms come. Only a life that bows its knee to Jesus will stand in judgment on that last day before Him. There’s no faking it. It begins right now where we are.
We must be people of the Word. (Bible-centered in everything.)
Think about the phrase in verses 24 and 26, “Everyone who hears these words of mine.” Jesus isn’t talking about general religious ideas or vague moral platitudes. He’s referring to what He’s said. And He said a lot! I love what the end of the book of John says about all that Jesus said:
John 21:25 – Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.
We’re going to press into this in depth next week, but Jesus speak with absolute authority. And here is why it is important: To hear Jesus is to hear God. That’s how Matthew has framed Jesus’ ministry from the beginning. He speaks with authority because He is, personally, the revelation of God. Everything He says is God’s Word. And it must be obeyed.
This is why we say we want to be “Bible-centered in everything.” Not Bible adjacent. Not Bible influenced. Bible-centered. That means Scripture isn’t something we consult when we need advice. It’s not something we just throw up on the screen every now and then and then have an inspirational message. No. It’s the foundation everything else rests on. Our beliefs, our decisions, our priorities, our ethics, our worship, our mission. Everything.
Being people of the Word doesn’t just mean owning a Bible or agreeing with it. It means submitting to it. It means letting it shape us. Letting it correct us (our actions and our thinking). Letting it confront us when we’re wrong and comfort us when we’re weak.
I think the beginning of the book of Joshua shows this well. Joshua was told not to turn from the Book of the Law to the right or to the left.
Joshua 1:6-9 – 6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Devotion to God’s Word was about survival for Joshua. God knew drifting from His Word would eventually lead to defeat, even if things looked fine for a while. They couldn’t obtain victory in the Promised Land apart from explicit obedience to every detail of God’s Word—not veering to the right or to the left.
But, if we're really being honest with ourselves, the biggest danger many of us face as isn't so much blatant rebellion against God's Word. It’s more subtle than that. It's neglect. We hold the Bible in high regard in our hearts, but how often is it truly at the center of our lives?
Think about it, we find ourselves listening more steadily to other voices (podcasts, online celebrity pastors, the influencers who seem to have all the answers). And before we know it, those voices start to shape our thoughts and beliefs more than Scripture does. It's a slippery slope.
Our feelings often more weight than the truth of God’s Word. We say things like, “God’s Word can’t mean that,” or “God wouldn’t be that way,” and we make our understanding shape God’s Word instead of letting the Word shape our understanding. So many voices creep in over God’s Word, including our own, and over time, the foundation shifts, and it’s often without being noticed.
A church that isn’t Bible-centered may look strong for a season. It may draw crowds. It may quote the Bible and put it on big led screens. A life that isn’t Bible-centered may feel stable for a while. It may go to church and sit in a pew. But when pressure comes, what we’re built on becomes clear.
We must apply God’s Word in every area of our lives.
In response to both phrases in verses 24 and 26 of “everyone who hears these words of mine,” Jesus follows it up with action or inaction. Jesus draws a sharp line here. The wise builder hears and does. The foolish builder hears and doesn’t do. Obedience is the difference. That doesn’t mean perfection. That means a life that seeks alignment to God’s Word.
This is where Jesus presses hardest. He doesn’t allow a middle category. There’s no builder who hears and intends to obey later. No builder who hears and agrees but doesn’t act. There are only those who respond and those who don’t. Delayed obedience is disobedience.
That includes sins of commission and sins of omission. We tend to focus on what we shouldn’t do, but Scripture also calls us to do what God commands. Love your neighbor. Forgive others. Pray. Give generously. Seek reconciliation. Trust God. Jesus taught that when He said in Matthew 25:31-40:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
James later echoes this teaching when he says hearing without doing is self-deception.
James 1:22 – But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 2:17, 26 – 17 So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead… 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
Faith that isn’t centered on active obedience to God’s Word isn’t living and active faith. It’s dead faith.
The narrative of Josiah in the Bible makes this strikingly clear for us, especially if we find ourselves in the position feeling like we’ve wasted our lives up to this point chasing other things.
2 Kings 22:11-13 – 11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. 12 And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 13 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.”
2 Kings 23:1-3 – 1 Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.
When the Book of the Law is found, Josiah doesn’t treat it as interesting information to add to the pantheon of voices that surround him. No, He grieves. He takes responsibility. Then you know what he does? He acts. He gathers the people. He reads the Word aloud to all of them. They together renew covenant obedience with God, centered on obedience to His Word.
That’s the pattern Jesus expects. Hearing leads to doing, centered on God’s Word. Jesus isn’t asking for partial obedience. He’s calling for lives shaped by His Word in every area.
A life built on Christ will last for all eternity.
Notice there are two outcomes to the two houses. We see them in verses 25 and 27. One stands and one falls. Jesus says the house built on the rock didn’t fall. The one built on sand collapsed completely. “And great was the fall of it.” One stands. One doesn’t. And the one that falls, its fall is devastating.
Throughout Scripture, God is described as a rock. He is faithful. Unchanging. Secure. In the New Testament, that imagery finds fulfillment in Christ. He’s referred to as the cornerstone. Jesus is our solid foundation. He’s the Word made flesh. To build on the rock is to build on Christ Himself.
Everything else eventually fails. Careers end. Bodies weaken. Possessions fade. Even religious activity collapses if it isn’t rooted in Christ Himself. Only what’s built on Him lasts.
1 John 2:15-17 – 15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
C. T. Studd once said as the repeating refrain in a poem, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” That captures what Jesus is teaching here. Everything built on anything else eventually gives way.
Jesus ends the sermon on the mount this way because love warns of impending harm. He’s not trying to frighten people into His kingdom. He’s exposing them to reality. The question He leaves us with is simple and searching and we all must ask ourselves today. What are you building on? Not what do you know? Not what do you claim to believe? Not how good of a person are you? But what are you obedient to? If the answer is anything other than the Word of God, the Word made flesh, than it’s time to repent as King Josiah did and reorient your life around His Word and become Bible-centered in everything.
Storms will come. Some in this life. One at the end of it. The only foundation that stands is Christ. So hear His words. And do them.
