Ravi Zacharias, a well-known Christian author had a lecture a few years ago at Ohio State University.  As he was driven to the lecture, the car passed the new Wexner Art Center, and the driver said, "This is our new art building.  It's designed in the post-modernist view of reality.  The building has no pattern, the staircases go nowhere, and the pillars support nothing.  The architect designed it to reflect modern life, which to him goes nowhere and makes no sense."  Zacharias asked the driver, "What about the foundation?"  He said, "Well, you still need a good foundation!"

          That building is life without Jesus Christ - it goes nowhere and makes no sense, yet it still has a foundation.  All us people base our lives on something.  If we build our lives on the rock-solid foundation of Jesus Christ, we will have strength for difficult times.  If we build our lives on the sands of the latest trends and changing morals, our lives will be shallow and empty.  A life built on anything other than the Rock of Jesus Christ is a life that is going nowhere and making no sense.

          Why is it that some people can go through tremendous trials and come through stronger for their trials, whereas others crash and burn?  What do some people have that holds them up in the storms of life?  Jesus put his finger squarely on the answer in today's text:  "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."

          Alcatraz, that federal prison in the San Francisco harbor, is still called "The Rock".  It was isolating, humiliating and cruel to all.  Just hearing the word "Alcatraz" sent chills down the backs of criminals for decades.  That rock called Alcatraz was unforgiving, but the Rock called Christ is totally different.  He is completely forgiving;  He is warm, loving and accepting.  Life in Christ the Rock is solid and stable, something that begins good and gets better with time.

          Jesus said the wise man is the one who hears His words and puts them into practice.  What words was He referring too?  First, He was speaking of the Sermon on the Mount, His great discourse on the life of a Christian disciple.  Matthew chapters 5-7 are all about trusting God and surrendering your life to someone who's greater than you.  Willingness to surrender to Jesus, to put aside your pride and live for God, is the foundation of all Christian life.  It's the greatest thing a person can do.

          Secondly, Jesus was referring to the message of the Gospel, that God loved this wretched, sinful world so much that He sent His only Son to die for it.  When we "put the Gospel into practice", it should change us.  Of course, we can hear the Gospel and not put it into practice, letting it slide off our souls, like water off a duck's back.  We know it's there, but don't think it applies to us.  But the Gospel changes those who really hear it.  If we accept the Good News of Jesus, the rest of life can be lived without fear, because we have started with the right foundation.

          In 1174 the Italian architect Bonnano Pisano began work on what would become his most famous project:  A standing bell tower for the city Cathedral that was to be 185 feet tall.  There was just one "little" problem:  builders discovered that the soil was much softer than they had anticipated, and the foundation was far too shallow to adequately hold the structure!  And sure enough, before long the whole structure had begun to tilt... and it continued to tilt... until finally the architect and the builders realized that nothing could be done to make the Leaning Tower of Pisa straight again.  It took 176 years to build the Tower of Pisa, and during that time many things were done to try and compensate for the "tilt."  Foundation was shored up;  the upper levels were even built at an angle to try to make the top of the tower look straight.  Nothing worked.  The Leaning Tower of Pisa still stands after 800 years, but it is 18 feet off center.  One day, experts say, it will fall, all because it wasn't built on the right foundation.

          I need not explain what that tower symbolizes.  So many people are planting their lives on shifting clay and soft earth that they're leaning more with each day.  Huge debt, questionable lifestyles, foolish philosophies and ignoring God have pulled people out of center.  It's just a matter of time till they fall over.

          So how can we get our lives centered on Christ the Rock?  How can we build our lives so they won't fall down?  The first way is through studying God's Word.

          Last week I drove past the construction site of some new stores on the north side of Castle Rock, and I saw them doing something significant.  Huge earthmovers were pushing the spongy clay off to the side and replacing it with a gravel base.  When new buildings are placed on top of this solid base, they will stand and the walls won't crack.

          If our Lord saw those earthmovers, He would say that's a fine example why we should study the teachings of God, not just the teachings of mankind.  Paul tells us to be "rooted and grounded in Him, strengthened in the faith as we are taught." (Colossians 2:7)   That will only happen if we open our Bibles often, look at His Word often and learn from God often.  First things first - study of God's Word often!

          The second way to build our lives on the Rock is through personal repentance.  Only through daily faith and daily commitment to Jesus can we remain standing and not get blown over.  Christians today are involved in a spiritual war.  We're bombarded with evils that lure us away from God.  Newspapers and TV tempt us away from the Truth.  Work and school tempt us to compromise our values.  Repentance is the way to renewal.  When we daily approach the Lord in prayer and ask His forgiveness, He gives us a new start.  When we daily ask Him to help us overcome the evil around us, He will give us strength.  When we turn from harmful ways to God, He will help us.  That's repentance, the best way to build our lives on the Rock.

          The third way, especially here at Epiphany, is through more space.  If you haven't already noticed, our church is running out of room.  God is making us grow.  We need more classrooms and more nursery space.  Early next year, we'll add another Sunday morning worship service, but a few years after that, we'll need a larger Worship Center.  Last summer we gave out a questionnaire about adult Bible study and found the majority prefers more Sunday morning classes.  If we have more space to study the Bible on Sundays, our church will grow stronger on the Rock.

          This week I will be asking our Church Council to take some steps to increase our space, and their first question may be, "How can we afford it?"  I think we can't afford not to do it.  We must do something and soon, even if it's through modular units for temporary space.  And we can afford it, we can do it.  We may need around $50,000 to add more space and make needed improvements, like a new fence around the house, a playground, a ramp for the front of Epiphany House, a storage shed and perhaps a temporary building.  I know the Lord will provide for our needs as He has in the past.  Building our church on the solid Rock of Jesus means adding more room.  May the Lord provide generous people to make this happen.

          Fourteen years ago during the World Series, a massive earthquake rocked the San Francisco bay area.  When it was over, the people discovered something important.  Buildings built on solid ground sustained much less damage than those built on "filled in" areas.  The south pier of the Golden Gate Bridge sits directly on top of the San Andreas fault, yet it was undamaged because the bridge rests on a rock.  But do you remember that double-decker freeway in Oakland that collapsed?  That road was built on land that had been filled in.  It all looked safe until the earth shook.

          Our world too, will look safe until something shakes it.  Then we will find out what we have based our lives on.  Unless we are committed to build our lives upon Jesus and His Word, to put into practice what He tells us, we will live empty lives filled in with hollow human notions.  Without standing on the Rock, we will continue to be dissatisfied with life and have no sense of real accomplishment.  But if we study the Word and daily commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, we will be able to overcome.  And if we begin now to add some space where we can meet and grow in God's grace, we will surely get the job done.  Bible study, repentance, adding room to meet - thus we will build our lives on Christ the Rock.  May our Lord move us to do just that, and to trust completely His Good News of everlasting life.  Amen

Copyright © 2003 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.