Tests for True Righteousness - 3 (Matthew 7: P18)

As we look at the tests for true righteousness as described by Jesus in Matthew 7, we will look at the third test today

Read Matthew 7: 24 - 29

The third way you can determine if your righteousness surpasses the righteousness exhibited by the professional religious leaders of Jesus' day (Matthew 5:20)  ... check your foundation.  

The scribes and Pharisees built their righteousness on their own goodness ... their own ability to make the rules and then keep them ... to the exclusion of things that God had directed.  So it seems that their lives were built on the foundation of themselves.  

Jesus comes along and announces that that foundation won't hold ... not when the storms come ... not when the hurricanes blow in ... not when the floods wash through.  Those lives built upon the foundation of self will fall.  They cannot stand.  Self-righteousness cannot stand.  Ever.  It may look good for awhile.  But it is only a facade.

There are houses in New Jersey and New York right now (November, 2012) that could not stand up under Hurricane Sandy which hit their region at the end of October ...they could not weather the onslaught of wind and rain and water surges.  But some did!  That is the point that Jesus makes in these verses.  Build your "life" so that it can withstand the storms.  There is only one way ...

Jesus tells us ... the foundation for a life that can stand is ... "to hear His words and to act on them."  Place yourself securely "in Jesus" His righteousness is the only righteousness that can stand before God.  I must wear His ... none of my own.  And by placing myself "in Him" ... my foundation is as secure as the very person of the living Lord.  

There is an old hymn that follows a progression through its verses.  It depicts the transformation that we all must take if we desire to build solid foundations upon Jesus.  The progression is:

All of self ..... none of Thee

Some of self ...... some of Thee

until we can reach 

None of self .... and all of Thee.

It doesn't mean you will be spared the hard storms in your life.  They come to both the righteous and the unrighteous.  The difference?  Your life will stand ... your future is secure ... you are wise.  

So build well ...

Lord, please show us where we are building on the false foundation of self.  We choose, again right now, to submit fully to your Lordship.  As we hear you speak to us through your word, give us the will and the courage to act on what you say.  We do want our lives secure in your hands ... and not our own.  No more excuses ... no more rationalizations.  Grant us the grace to build well.  And it is only through your Son, Jesus.