Cornerstone

The Bible repeatedly challenges us to consider how we live. Rather than an endless maze of possibilities, we find these divine wake up calls more like forks in the road that reduce all of life’s vast complexities down to only two choices. 

Psalm 1 opens the Hebrew hymnal by presenting the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked – one way leading to blessing and the other to perishing – one way like a flourishing, fruitful tree thriving by the stream and the other like an empty piece of chaff blown away by the wind.  

Likewise, the Epistles frequently contrast the life captivated by worldly pursuits with the one focused on the heavenly. Jesus Himself taught us about the very popular broad way and the less-traveled narrow way as well as the impossibility of trying to serve two masters.  

It’s all about wise choices. 

We are warned in Scripture to be careful about what we sow – whether to the flesh or to the Spirit – because a harvest of consequence is coming from which we shall also reap. We are cautioned not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by renewing our minds and setting them on things above and not on earthly things. We are counseled not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth, but in heaven because our hearts are eternally tethered to where our treasures lie.  

But Jesus used a particularly vivid and gripping word picture to conclude His most famous sermon – The Sermon on the Mount. He told a story about two men who wanted to build houses. Both men heard what Jesus said and both went away to build – one built on rock and the other on sand. Digging deep to find solid rock took way more time and probably left a few blisters whereas building on the sand was much simpler and expedient.  

Once completed, I’m guessing both houses looked pretty good to the passing observer – that is, until the storm came, the waters rose and the torrent pounded against both houses. When the skies cleared and the waters retreated, only one house stood: the house constructed on the rock because it had been well and wisely built. The fellow who built his house on the ground without any foundation lost everything as the torrent swept it away.  

The eternal destiny of our souls rests in our choice of foundations.  

Interestingly, both men heard the same sermon and both got the same construction advice from Jesus, but only one built according to what he had heard. Jesus masterfully exposed the potentially wide chasm between hearing and doing – between the head and the heart – between foolishness and wisdom – between death and life.  

I don’t know about you, but if I were going to preach the greatest sermon of all time, I don’t think I would end it with “and the ruin of that house was great” (Luke 6:49). Then again, I’m not Jesus and Jesus wasn’t concerned about getting a standing ovation or hearing the roar of applause. He was so deeply burdened for our salvation – whether we are building our houses on rock or sand – that He laid down His life to become that foundation.   

A storm is coming, but only one man’s house will stand: the one who acted on the Words of Jesus – the one who built on the Rock – the only Sure Foundation – the Cornerstone – Jesus Christ.

Please join me as we consider the words of Jesus and examine the foundation of our lives in this Scriptural journey called Cornerstone. Watch here.