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.

Matthew 7:24

[H]e is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built.

Luke 6:48

Growing up, spending a lot of time in Matthew, I sort of got the impression from Matthew 7:24, that listening to and following Jesus was kind of like considering real estate on the beach.  You have sandy portions and you have rocky portions.  In some places, there are only dunes, and in other places, namely, upon Jesus, there is a rock sticking out, and it is at this place that one should build their house, rather than upon the sand.  The “choice”, if you will, was simply to follow the instructions or to live a different way, which, of course, would be wrong, and result in failure.

Eventually, I correlated my background mental impression with the similar verse in Luke 6.  Except here, reading a little closer, noticed that the same metaphor is used, but with one slight alteration.  Here, the writer includes an additional clause that the Matthew account didn’t.  Luke’s Gospel includes the phrase “who dug deep“.  Surely, Jesus probably gave this form of address in nearly every city he went to.  It may well be that it was given one way to one group, and another way to another.  The point, however, is that the imagination of mine, with rock and sand in different places, is *NOT* actually what Jesus intended.

These words “dug deep” indicate that, instead of simply picking where to build, we are each given a piece of real estate, a little bit of Earth, and we decide how to manage it.  We do not pick and chose the lump of clay so much as allow a foundation to be prepared.

The words of the Sermon on the Mount are direct, bold, and to the point.  Some phrases seem hard to miss, while other seem to lay out there as if there is more to understand.

What I have found is that the Word searches, pierces, and divides me.  Some people would say that the Sermon on the Mount is not intended to be lived, that it merely demonstrates our inability to live the righteousness of the law even more than the original did, or some other such conjecture.  The danger of such a phrase, of course, comes at Jesus’ own warning, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?  Blessed rather are those that hear my words and do them.

Romans 8 explains our dilemma.  What the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God DID by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.

Yet, the “Million Dollar Question” still remains, why do blood-bought, washed sinners behave contrary to their 2 Corinthians 5:17, new creation nature?

Consider Peter, when Jesus told Him to come out onto the waves and walk on the sea with Himself.  Peter did for a while, and then doubted.  The doubt was obvious.  So, Jesus asked the most pertinent question.  Peter, Why did you doubt?  Matthew 14:31.

You see, Jesus wanted Peter to see what was going on inside of his own heart.  He wanted Peter to see the duplicity, the doubt, and the shades of double-mindedness going on with himself.  Do not forget, that Jesus said, when the eye is single, the whole body is full of light (Matthew 6:22), and that word single is ‘without-folds’.  Whenever we let other thoughts come in other than the truth, they cause us to begin to sink in our faith.  Whenever we let fear intimidate us, on any level, the enemy begins to have dominion and mastery over us.  For Peter, the difference was as simple as being either dry or wet!

In order to get to the Rock, Christ, His Spirit, and His anointing, we must allow His words to work through us.  When we find ourselves unjustly angry, we must allow the Spirit to divide, separate, and to go deep within us, and let Him reveal ourselves to us.  It is precisely that we cannot walk the words of the Sermon on the Mount without living by the Spirit, that we must use them as a universal guide to know when we are relying on our own strength.  It is their purpose, for in attempting to live them, and continuing to seek Him in the full gravity of them, He will show us how to live by Himself.

Beyond our own strength, there is another.  Beyond our own ability to persevere, He is able.  It is precisely when we reach the end of ourselves that He is most able to move.  His strength is made perfect in our weakness.  When we are no longer able, He can.  When we do not see it, He always has.  When we rely on our own strength, He waits.  What better way to make us reliant upon Him alone as our all sufficient Father?

You see, if we build on any other foundation, our strength will fail.  But, as His Spirit rises us within us, and His Spirit overflows us, and our decisions are fully based upon that, we are unstoppable.  When we flow with the power that raised Christ from the dead with us (Romans 8:11), we have overcome the world.  Even by our Faith!

Dig Deep!