A Tale of Two Foundations

Two buildings are pictured below. Both of them are famous, but for very different reasons.

Construction on the Leaning Tower of Pisa (pictured left) began in 1173, and the tower began to sink as second floor was being built in 1178. The reason was pretty simple: the 3-meter foundation was placed on unstable soil.

The construction was halted for about 100 years due to war, which allowed the soil to partially settle and saved the tower from collapse. Engineers began building again, making the rooms on one side of the tower taller than the other. This gave the Leaning Tower of Pisa a curved shape, but it didn’t solve the problem—the lean of the tower kept getting worse, making it a danger to the public. Numerous attempts were made to stabilize this structure over the years—some of which actually worsened its condition.

It took over a decade of work to get the tower stabilized. The final project began in 1990 and was completed in 2001. Seventy tons of soil had to be removed in order to adjust the angle of the building and keep it from falling over.

The Taipei 101 Tower, located in Taiwan, is an astounding 1,667 feet tall. The building was the tallest in the world upon its completion in 2004.

The foundation of the Taipei 101 Tower is just as impressive as the building itself. The soil directly underneath the tower is actually inadequate to support the massive structure. But geologists discovered a layer of solid bedrock about 260 feet underneath the soft earth. The builders placed 382 concrete piles deep in the soil—each pile weighing somewhere between 1,100 to 1,460 tons. They poured 30,000 yards of concrete on top of these piles to form the foundation of the Taipei 101 Tower. Creating this foundation took 15 months.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa, built on a poor foundation, began to sink after only the second floor was built. The Taipei 101 Tower, built with a proper foundation, has 101 floors and has easily withstood both earthquakes and typhoons. One tower is famous for being an architectural blunder; the other stands as a testament to modern ingenuity. The right foundation makes a big difference!

Jesus used the foundation analogy in one of his most well-known parables:

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

Matthew 7:24-27

This parable is part of a message most commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). Multitudes had come to hear this amazing teacher and worker of miracles. Jesus shocked His listeners by telling them that superficial self-righteousness was not acceptable to a Holy God (Matthew 5:20). He went on describe a way of life that can only come from a renewed heart.

Jesus ended His sermon with an illustration that simultaneously delivers a promise and a warning. Those who believe and apply what they hear will benefit eternally. Those who disregard His message do so at their own peril.

Think about it this way: according to Jesus, we are all building something–our lives. Every decision you make, every relationship you begin or end, every habit you develop–it all ultimately adds up to the sum that is your life.

But what we build is only as good as the foundation it is placed upon. And the right foundation, according to Jesus, can be summarized in one word: obedience.

Jesus is not saying that we earn our way into heaven by following His commands. Instead He means that those who have truly put their faith in Him will be inclined to obey Him. None of us obey perfectly, but trusting Him as Savior brings a new nature and a desire to make Him Lord of our lives.

Jesus urged his listeners to choose their foundation carefully. Not all foundations are equal, and not all will survive the test. And let’s be clear: regardless of what/where you build, your foundation will be tested.

Trials, for example, will test your foundation. All of us will inevitably face a severe test in our lifetime. It may be something like the death of a loved one or a life-threatening illness. Life will eventually take something that’s dear to us, forcing us to face the fleeting nature of anything we cling to in this all-too temporary world.

Time will also test our foundation. The days and months will pass by relentlessly. Blink and a decade will pass by. Blink again and you’ll be in the final years of your life. We will either look back on a life that was well-lived through obedience to Christ or on a series of regrets, missed opportunities, and wasted time.

Finally, and most importantly, eternity will test our foundation. One day our time on this earth will come to an end. We will face God and enter into eternity as people who have prepared wisely or as those who have lived foolishly.

Following Jesus, just like building a solid foundation, is not easy. But there’s something much more difficult than following Jesus: the consequences of disobedience. Notice how Jesus describes the fate of the foolish builder’s house in verse twenty-seven: “and great was the fall of it.”

You have a choice. You can be like the wise man who built his house on a solid foundation or like the foolish man who built on the sand.

Choose wisely!

Pictures of The Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Taipei 101 Tower are both courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

When God Wrecks Your Plans

Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
    but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21

“How many of you know what it’s like to have God wreck your plans?”

I asked this question while preaching a couple of weeks ago. Several hands were raised, and even more smiled and nodded. This is one of those nearly universal Christian experiences. Our lives rarely go exactly the way we thought they would, and we find ourselves wrestling with God for answers–answers that He doesn’t always seem eager to give.

Let’s be honest: sometimes God wrecks our plans because we never included Him in the first place. Our plans were motivated by selfish ambition, foolish desires, or some other toxic source. Sometimes our faithful Father lovingly disrupts our lives in order to expose our idols and offer us an opportunity to repent. Hopefully we get the message and start over with godly priorities.

But this is not always the case. God reserves the right to do as He pleases, even with our best intentions. I can think of no better example than Paul’s itinerary, found in Romans 15.

I hope to see you in passing as I go to Spain, and to be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints.

Romans 15:24-25

Paul had been preaching for around 25 years by the time he wrote Romans. He had planted churches in several of the urban centers on the eastern side of the Roman Empire. Paul now had his sights on Spain, the western edge of the Roman Empire.

His plan was to stop by Jerusalem to bring financial aid to the believers there (money he had collected from other churches). From there he would pass through Rome and spend some time with the church there before heading to Spain.

That was Paul’s plan. It was prayerfully created and energized by Paul’s ambition to preach Christ where His name had never been heard (Romans 15:20-21).

But God shipwrecked Paul’s plan–literally. He encountered hostile opposition in Jerusalem and was placed in Roman custody for his own protection. He appealed his case to Caesar before the Roman authorities. They granted his request and arranged for a sailboat to take him to Rome. The boat encountered a storm strong enough to crash it upon a reef. Paul and his fellow prisoners swam for their lives or rode planks to the shores of Malta.

Paul eventually made it to Rome, but his stay was not brief. He spent two years under house arrest, preaching and teaching those who came to visit him.

The events I’ve just described (recorded in Acts 21-28) were clearly not what Paul had in mind.

We don’t know, in fact, if Paul ever made it to Spain as he had planned. Here’s what we do know: Paul wrote the “prison letters” during this time of house arrest in Rome. These letters are recorded in our New Testament: Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. These scriptures have blessed and instructed millions of believers–far beyond the geographical borders of Spain and long after the Roman Empire had fallen. God, as always, knew exactly what He was doing with His trusted servant.

This quote comes to mind:

God places His saints where they will bring the most glory to Him, and we are totally incapable of judging where that may be.

-Oswald Chambers

Lord, teach us to trust in Your greater purpose–even when this requires You to change, disrupt, or even destroy our plans.

Grace for your Worst Moment

I remember watching a show called ABC’s Wide World of Sports when I was growing up. The introduction to the show included this line: “the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat.” A ski jumper would crash as a demonstration of the later statement.

I have since learned the skier’s name is Vinko Bogataj. He is a Yugoslavian painter who participated in a world ski championship in 1970. He was 22 at the time of the incident. He lost his balance as he approached the launching point, falling off the side and into a retaining fence. The accident sent him to the hospital with a mild concussion and a broken ankle.

A producer for ABC interviewed Bogataj in 1980 for a special anniversary edition of the show. “When we told him he’s been on the program ever since 1970,” said the producer, “he couldn’t believe it. He had been appearing on Television 130 times a year.”

Bogataj has apparently gone on to live a good life. He married, raised two daughters, and became an award-winning painter. He even enjoyed a certain celebrity status from the accident (he came to America a few times for guest appearances). He is now in his 70’s. Regardless, he is most famous for what was probably the worst few seconds of his life.

Reading Bogataj’s story makes me thankful that my worst moments were not captured on video (good thing I grew up in a world without ubiquitous cell phone cameras).

I suppose Vinko Bogataj’s accident is already fading from our collective consciousness (Wide World of Sports was discontinued in 1997). One of Jesus’ followers, however, had his worst moment recorded in the Gospels for all the world to read:

Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came up to him and said, “You also were with Jesus the Galilean.” But he denied it before them all, saying, “I do not know what you mean.” And when he went out to the entrance, another servant girl saw him, and she said to the bystanders, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” And again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.” After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you too are one of them, for your accent betrays you.” Then he began to invoke a curse on himself and to swear, “I do not know the man.” And immediately the rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the saying of Jesus, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly.

–Matthew 26:69-75

Peter and the other disciples had been warned. Jesus, in fact, told him that the enemy would shake all of the disciples to their core (Luke 22:31-34) and that they would scatter (Matthew 26:31).

But Peter stubbornly insisted that he would stand strong, even if the others did not. He considered his own self-assessment to be more accurate than the words of the Lord. I’ve repeated this warning to my congregation:

It’s a dangerous thing to overestimate your strength.
It’s a dangerous thing to underestimate your weakness; your ability to fall into sin.

Peter was capable of doing something worse than he ever imagined. He claimed he didn’t know Jesus, and each denial became more emphatic (he essentially called God as his witness while lying). This man who had walked with Jesus for three years did not have the strength to answer a slave girl and some random bystanders.

The sound of the rooster made Peter aware of his failure: he had denied the Lord three times!

This is one of the many times I’m grateful for the truthfulness of the Scriptures. The lives of the people God uses are more complicated than highlight reels of victories. They failed God, just like we do.

I’m even more grateful when I read the Gospel accounts of Peter’s restoration. Peter would preach boldly at Pentecost and became a pillar the church. According to Christian tradition, Peter was martyred by crucifixion. He insisted on being hung upside-down, saying he was unworthy to die in the same manner as the Lord.

God’s grace is greater than your worst failure.

The Anointing of Jesus: an opportunity seized

Matthew records one of the final meals of Jesus’ earthly life:

Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.

Matthew 26:6-7

A woman we know as Mary of Bethany lavished Jesus with a gift. This gift was extravagant in more than one way:

It was extravagant in value: John’s Gospel tells us this the perfume was pure nard. This was a costly ingredient that came from India. Mark’s gospel tells us it was worth 300 denarii–imagine giving or receiving a gift that was worth a whole year’s salary. This likely the most valuable item Mary had ever owned.

It was extravagant in sacrifice: The flask was made of alabaster, a semi-transparent product from Egypt. This material, resembling marble, made the best containers for preserving fragrances. The jar/flask was sealed to prevent evaporation, then the neck of the container would be broken in order to apply the contents. Once used it would be completely spent, never to be reused again.

It was extravagant in amount: It wasn’t unusual to put a few drops of oil or fragrance on dinner guests in the ancient world. But this was a complete anointing. The contents of the container were emptied on the Lord. Matthew mentions his head; John mentions His feet (both accounts are true–note that Jesus mentions his “body” in verse 12).

Tragically, the disciples failed to see the beauty in this moment:

The disciples were indignant when they saw this. “What a waste!” they said. “It could have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor.”

But Jesus, aware of this, replied, “Why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial.”

Matthew 26:8-12

Jesus was not instructing them (or us) to neglect the poor. But He praised Mary for choosing that which was of supreme importance: He would not be with them much longer.

We don’t know exactly how much Mary understood about Jesus’ impending death. Clearly she knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bless Him.

We would do well to understand this truth about our spiritual lives: some opportunities, when not seized, are lost forever.

I have lost count of the number of times I’ve heard someone express regret that he did not commit to the Lord in his youth. Time and energy that could have gone to Kingdom work were wasted on that which is all too fleeting. God graciously gives us second chances, of course, but He does not replace wasted time. Mary understood this.

This story ends with an incredible promise:

I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.

Matthew 26:13

Jesus’ prediction came true: three of the four Gospels record Mary’s act. Kings and kingdoms have been forgotten over the course of two thousand years, but this beautiful gesture still speaks to all of us who have heard the gospel. No service to the King goes unnoticed!

Lord, I pray that I never miss another opportunity to bless You and build Your kingdom.