A New Way of Being: 10 Lessons From the Sermon on the MountSample

Day 10: Being Wise

In today’s passages, Jesus gives a call to all who will follow up. He tells his disciples to listen because a decision must be made. We can either trust in an unreliable foundation made of sand to build our lives upon, or we can establish our lives upon the firm foundation of Jesus and his kingdom.

The purpose of Jesus’ final illustration is to identify what kind of foundation we should establish our lives upon. When you think about your own life, what are you building everything upon? It would be very easy to end these 10 days of devotional study in the Sermon the Mount and merely acknowledge Jesus’ words as being true. We could even agree his teaching has been challenging and that we should attempt to live differently because of it. But if that is our response to the Sermon on the Mount, we have missed the point of discipleship. 

The truth is we cannot accomplish what Jesus has told us to do in the Sermon on the Mount on our own. As disciples, we are weak and often fall prey to temptation and sin. We must entrust our present lives and futures to Jesus. To simply try harder to do what Jesus said and force ourselves to behave in the way Jesus instructed would be like trying to build a skyscraper upon sand according to Jesus.

In Jerusalem, in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, there is a stone, that for centuries, Christians have believed to be the place where the cross stood. In the hallway, directly outside the small chapel displaying this important rock, is the evidence of what at one time was an ancient rock quarry. The white stone bears similarity to the stones used at the temple complex. The scrapings and markings made by tools are clearly visible, but the stone quarry was abandoned.

In Isaiah’s prophecy, God declares, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation” (Isa 28:16). Peter acknowledges this prophecy before the Jewish leaders saying, “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11).

The stone quarry that was rejected, became the very cornerstone of God’s people. As a disciple, will you build your life upon your plans, skills, or hopes? Or will you agree with Edward Mote’s famous hymn: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness….On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.”

Questions to Ponder:

Is Jesus the foundation of my life? How will I entrust myself to him more fully as a disciple?