Matt 7:24-25 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.” NKJV

When you watch a builder build a house, you will find that most houses start off looking the same. Most of them use 2x4s to frame the walls, 2X6s or trusses as floor joists or roof rafters, and sheetrock walls. Once that is done, then the differences in the houses are clearly seen in the design and paint choices in the house.

As Jesus finished the Sermon on the Mount, he challenges all those who listened to his words to do them. We understand that it is not enough to hear the words of God – we must put them into practice in our lives daily. In the church, I am convinced that most of us know what we need to be doing and how we need to be living, but we have a problem living out our faith on a daily basis. It may be that many Christians practice the sin of omission much more than the sins of commission (James 4:17).

As we consider this text even more, we must make the point that the foolish man did work. He built his house. It may have looked exactly like the wise man’s house in every respect. But there was one important difference – the wise man did not build on the foundation of the words of Jesus. While both houses may have looked the same from the outside, the foundation was not the same.

There are many churches throughout America. If you were to look at their buildings, you will find that most of them look the same on the outside. It may be that they have good physical foundations. Yet, the problem is – have they built upon the foundation of the New Testament of Jesus? Are they truly striving to obey the Lord’s words in their worship, terms of admission, leadership and in every way? You see, it may look like a church, act like a church, but if it is not being built upon the words of Jesus, then it is not the church. The foundation will crumble, and one day it will collapse because it was not built upon the words and teachings of Jesus. IT DOES MATTER NOT ONLY THAT WE DO WHAT JESUS SAYS, BUT THAT WE ALSO BUILD UPON HIS WORDS AND TEACHINGS.

In Matthew 15:8-9 Jesus taught the same thing once again, and couched it in different words. Quoting from Isaiah he said, “These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" In Isaiah’s day and in Jesus’ day there were those who were teaching about worship and how men ought to worship, and it was wrong because they were teaching men’s ideas and ways, instead of God’s. They thought it was right, because many teachers were probably teaching the same thing. Satan had deceived them into thinking that the majority had to be right, or because some well known teacher was making the point, it had to be true. Yet, it was enough to make their worship to God in vain. It was enough for Jesus to go on and say that these would be uprooted. Harsh words indeed.

In the church we must make it imperative that we worship God in the way he has authorized, and only in that way. Nothing else will do. We must do, but we must make sure that what we DO is what God has commanded that we do.

In our individual lives, we must not only do, but we must make sure that what we DO is what God has commanded us to do, lest the storms come and tear down our houses that we have labored so hard to build. It does make a difference, and the last thing we want is to be uprooted.