Matthew 7:15-29 - by Don Neuendorf
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a man who built his house on the rock..."
Which words? It's interesting that most Christians today talk about building their house on the rock in the sense of building upon Jesus. Perhaps because Paul says (Romans 9:33) that Jesus is a rock that causes men to stumble, or because he says (1 Corinthians 10:4) that Jesus was the rock in the wilderness that gave water to the Israelites. But is that what Jesus is talking about?...
That doesn't work so well, does it? A rock people stumble over, or the rock that was a spring of water are not suggested as a foundation for a building. That Jesus is the cornerstone, or the keystone of God's building is closer, but still not the same metaphor.
Where does Jesus talk about building on a rock? It's when he calls Simon a rock, isn't it? He changes his name to Peter and says, "On this rock I will build my church." Some think that this is the authority for the papacy, but Lutherans generally interpret Jesus' words to mean that Peter's confession of faith in Jesus as the Savior is the rock, the foundation of the Church.
Now look again at our reading. "Everyone who hears these words of mine" is building his house on a rock. And what are those words? They were Jesus' words of warning against false teachers - wolves in sheeps clothing - people who said "Lord, Lord" but who did not actually have faith in Jesus.
We would like to avoid doctrinal controversies. We would like to say that everyone gets to be right - what's right for me might not be right for you, etc. As long as we're built on Jesus the Rock. But unless we understand and confess the Truth about WHO this Jesus is, what will our foundation be? We have to build on the TRUTH about Jesus, not just our warm feelings about him.