Building on the Rock:
Christ the King as Our Firm Foundation
(Matthew 7:24-27 Sermon)
You know that feeling when you're assembling furniture from one of those big box stores, and you get to step 47 only to realize you've been building the whole thing backward? Last week, my neighbor Tom knocked on my door holding an instruction manual and what looked like half a bookshelf. "Jon," he said, "I've built this thing three times, and it keeps collapsing."
We went over to his place, and sure enough, there were wood pieces and little metal connectors scattered across his living room floor like a very boring crime scene. The problem wasn't Tom's effort or even his tools. He'd skipped the first page of instructions, the one that shows you how to identify the foundation piece. Everything else was perfectly assembled, but it was all built on the wrong base. When the flood came, none of that mattered if the firm foundation in Christ wasn't right. Jesus ends His Sermon on the Mount foundation story about two builders.
I thought about Tom this week as I prepared for today, Christ the King Sunday, the final sermon in our Kingdom Stewardship series. Because Jesus ends His Sermon on the Mount with a story about two builders, and the difference between them isn't their effort, their materials, or even their blueprints. The difference is what they choose as their foundation.
The Wise and Foolish Builders:
A Parable for Our Lives
Listen to how Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount by teaching about building on the rock—His words as the unshakeable base for life.
"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. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." (Matthew 7:24-27)
This iconic Matthew 7:24-27 passage isn't just a story—it's a blueprint for wise living. Notice something crucial here. Both builders heard the same words. Both builders constructed houses. Both builders faced the same storm. The only difference? One built on rock, the other on sand.
Both the wise and foolish builders heard the same words... but only one chose rock.
Now, if you've lived in Houston for more than five minutes, you know about storms. You know about foundations shifting. After Hurricane Harvey, I helped gut houses in Meyerland where beautiful homes had become shells because the foundation couldn't handle what hit them. These weren't poorly built houses. They were expensive, well crafted, carefully maintained. But when the flood came, none of that mattered if the foundation wasn't right. We finally got it built right... because we started with building on the rock.
Jesus isn't giving construction advice here. He's talking about your life. He's talking about what you're building your identity on, your security on, your future on. And He's crystal clear: there are only two options. Rock or sand. His words put into practice, or His words merely heard and admired.
The Stone Nobody Wanted
Our reading from Psalm 118 adds another layer to this foundation metaphor. The psalmist writes: "The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes.” Jesus quotes this very psalm... knowing He's the Jesus as cornerstone the builders are rejecting.
You want to know something funny about cornerstones? In ancient construction, the cornerstone was often the ugliest stone. It was the one that seemed too irregular, too rough, too ordinary for the pretty parts of the building that everyone would see. But master builders knew something: that ugly, rejected stone was often the strongest. It could bear the weight. It could handle the pressure. It could last when prettier stones would crack.
Jesus quotes this very psalm when the religious leaders question His authority. He knows He's the stone they're rejecting. Too ordinary, this carpenter from Nazareth. Too rough around the edges with His talk of loving enemies and blessing those who persecute you. Too irregular with His habit of eating with tax collectors and calling fishermen to be His inner circle.
But here's what gets me every single time: the stone the builders rejected doesn't just become useful. It becomes the cornerstone. The whole building depends on it. Everything else finds its proper place in relation to it.
On this November 23, 2025, Christ the King Sunday Sermon:
Building on the Rock, we’re not just acknowledging Jesus as a king among many kings. We're declaring Him the cornerstone, the foundation, the one on whom everything else depends.
What We Build On Instead
Let me be honest with you for a minute. Most of us, myself included, have spent significant portions of our lives building on sand. We just call it by different names.
We build on success. "If I can just get that promotion, that raise, that recognition, then I'll know I matter." So we work 70 hour weeks, miss our kids' games, and tell ourselves it's all for them. Then the market shifts, the company restructures, and suddenly that corner office feels like quicksand.
We build on relationships. "If I can just find the right person, keep the right person, change the right person, then I'll be complete." So we pour everything into a human being who, wonderful as they may be, was never designed to bear the weight of being our foundation. And when they inevitably disappoint us, or worse, when they leave, we feel like the storm has washed everything away.
We build on our health, our appearance, our ability to control outcomes. We build on our political party winning, our kids succeeding, our retirement account growing. We build on being needed, being right, being in charge.
And here's the thing: none of these are bad things. Success, relationships, health, security, these are all gifts from God. But they make terrible foundations. They're sand. Shifting, unstable, temporary sand. The storms of life faith don't care about your church attendance... The difference is whether your storms of life faith leaves you standing. Building on rock means doing, not just hearing—obeying Jesus teachings like forgiving when it's hard.
I met with a man last month, let's call him Robert. Successful businessman, beautiful family, serves on three nonprofit boards. By every external measure, Robert had built something impressive. But he came to my office with tears in his eyes. "Pastor," he said, "I feel like I'm drowning in my own life. Everything looks perfect from the outside, but I wake up at 3 AM in a panic. I've built this whole life, and I don't even know what it's for anymore."
Robert had built a mansion on sand. And the first strong wind of midlife was threatening to topple it all.
Kingdom Stewardship:
Building on the Right Foundation
What does it mean to build on Christ the King as our foundation? Because let's be clear: calling Jesus "King" on a Sunday morning in a Presbyterian church in Houston is easy. Living with Him as King when you're stuck in traffic on 610, when your teenager is being impossible, when the diagnosis comes back positive, when your marriage is hanging by a thread, that's different.
But here's what I love about Jesus. He doesn't just demand to be our foundation. He shows us what it looks like. The King of Kings becomes a cornerstone by getting down in the dirt with us.
Think about what we've explored these past seven weeks in the Sermon on the Mount. For seven weeks, we've been talking about kingdom stewardship—how we steward our blessings... on the foundation of Christ the King. The Beatitudes that turn our values upside down, blessing the poor in spirit and the meek. The call to be salt and light, influencing our world not through power but through service. The invitation to store up treasures in heaven rather than chasing what moths and rust destroy. The challenge to seek first the Kingdom, to judge less and mercy more, to ask, seek, and knock with the confidence of children approaching a good Father.
Every one of these teachings is a foundation stone. Not suggestions for a nicer life, but the bedrock reality of how the universe actually works when the King of that universe is in charge. Jesus is uncomfortably clear in Matthew 7:24-27: it's about doing, not just hearing.
What Rock Looks Like on Monday
So what does this look like when you wake up Thursday morning to cook a turkey? What does building on the rock mean when you're sitting in traffic on Monday, or arguing with your spouse on Tuesday, or facing a stack of bills on Wednesday?
First, it means you stop pretending you're the architect. A few years ago, my wife and I decided to renovate our kitchen. I had all these grand ideas. I drew up plans, picked out materials, even started demo one Saturday while she was at her sister's. By the time she got home, I had successfully removed half a wall. The wrong half. The load bearing half.
We had to call in a actual contractor who looked at my handiwork, shook his head, and said, "Well, the good news is we can fix this. The bad news is we need to start over with someone who knows what they're doing."
Building on Christ as King means admitting we need someone who knows what they're doing. It means coming to His words not as suggestions to consider but as blueprints to follow. Not because He's a cosmic killjoy who wants to limit our creativity, but because He's the master builder who knows how houses stand through storms.
Second, building on rock means doing, not just hearing. Jesus is uncomfortably clear about this. It's not enough to nod along on Sunday, to have the Jesus fish on your car, to know all the right answers in Bible study. The wise builder "hears these words of mine and puts them into practice."
You know what this looks like? It looks like actually forgiving your brother even though he doesn't deserve it. It looks like giving generously even when your own budget is tight. It looks like showing up for someone else's crisis even when you have your own problems. It looks like choosing truth when a lie would be easier, choosing service when power is available, choosing love when hate feels justified.
I think about Martha Henderson, one of our members who died last year. Martha wasn't famous. She never preached a sermon, never led a committee, never had her name on a building. But Martha built on rock. Every Tuesday for fifteen years, she drove to Houston's Fifth Ward to tutor kids in reading. When her husband got Alzheimer's, she kept going, arranging care for him so she wouldn't miss her time with those kids. When I asked her why, she said, "Pastor, Jesus said whatever we do for the least of these, we do for Him. Those kids aren't the least of anything, but the world treats them like they are. So I show up."
Martha's house stood through every storm because she didn't just hear Jesus' words about loving the least of these. She put them into practice. She built on rock.
The Storm Is Coming
Can we talk honestly about storms for a minute? Jesus doesn't say "if" the storm comes. He says when. "The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house."
Both houses face the same storm. Following Jesus doesn't give you a weather exemption. In fact, sometimes it feels like the storms get stronger when you start taking Him seriously.
This past year, I've walked with families through unbearable losses. I've sat with marriages that are breaking. I've prayed with people whose bodies are betraying them, whose minds are clouding, whose children are choosing paths that lead to darkness. Good people. Faithful people. People who show up every Sunday and serve every week.
The storm doesn't care about your church attendance. The rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous. The difference isn't the storm. The difference is whether you're still standing when it passes.
Last year, Hurricane season, I got a call from a family in our congregation. Their street was flooding, water creeping toward their door. They were scared, preparing to evacuate. But the wife said something I'll never forget: "Pastor, we're scared about our house, but we're not scared about our home. Our home isn't built on this foundation. It's built on Christ. The house might flood, but we won't be washed away."
That's the difference between building on rock and building on sand. When you build on sand, you are your achievements, you are your relationships, you are your circumstances. When any of those wash away, you wash away with them. But when you build on rock, when Christ the King is your foundation, you can lose everything else and still stand. Because your identity isn't in what you've built. It's in who you're built on. Because Christ the King is our firm foundation in Christ—and what God builds on rock stands forever. The wisdom is in obeying Jesus teachings with it, starting tomorrow.
The King's Authority
Matthew tells us something fascinating about the crowd's reaction to Jesus' teaching. "When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law."
The religious teachers of Jesus' day were like expert commentators. They could tell you what Rabbi Hillel said, what Rabbi Shammai thought, what the tradition taught. They were walking Wikipedia pages of religious information. But they had no authority of their own.
Jesus didn't quote other rabbis. He said, "You have heard it said... but I tell you." He spoke like someone who didn't just know about the house, but who had designed it. Like someone who didn't just understand the storm but controlled it. Like someone who wasn't just teaching about the kingdom but was the King Himself.
This is why Christ the King Sunday matters. We're not just celebrating a nice teacher who had some good ideas about living. We're acknowledging the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. The one who can actually bear the weight of being our foundation.
Kingdom Stewardship
For seven weeks, we've been talking about Kingdom Stewardship. How we steward our blessings, our influence, our resources, our relationships, our prayers, and our trust. But here's what it all comes down to: the most important thing you steward is what you build your life on.
You can be generous with your money but build your security on your bank account. You can serve every week but build your identity on being needed. You can pray eloquently but build your confidence on your own wisdom. You can attend church religiously but build your righteousness on your own goodness.
Or you can take everything, every blessing, every resource, every relationship, every talent, every breath, and build it consciously, deliberately, daily on the foundation of Christ the King.
What Will You Build?
Three days ago, I stood in the sanctuary after everyone had left from our Thursday night service. The light was coming through the windows in that golden way it does in late November. And I thought about all of you, all of us, preparing for Thanksgiving, preparing for the holidays, preparing for another year to end and a new one to begin.
I thought about the young couples trying to build marriages that will last. The parents trying to build families that will thrive. The singles trying to build lives of purpose. The elderly trying to build legacies that matter. The broken trying to rebuild after storms have already hit.
And I wanted to grab each of you and say what I'm saying now: Build on rock. Build on Christ. Not because it's the religious thing to do, but because it's the only thing that works when the storm comes.
Tom, my neighbor with the backwards bookshelf? We finally got it built right. Took us four hours and a lot of laughing at ourselves, but it stands strong now. You know why? We went back to page one. We identified the foundation piece. We built everything else on that.
That's what Jesus is offering us. Not a add on to make our lives a little better. Not a spiritual decoration for an otherwise secular house. He's offering to be the foundation, the cornerstone, the rock on which everything else can stand secure.
The Thanksgiving Table
In four days, you'll sit around a table. Maybe it'll be crowded with family, maybe it'll be quiet with just a few. Maybe you'll feel grateful for abundance, maybe you'll feel the ache of absence. But at that table, you'll have a choice. What will you give thanks for? And more importantly, what are you building on?
Will you give thanks for blessings while building on them for security? Or will you give thanks for blessings while building on the One who gives them?
Will you look at your family, your health, your home, your job, and say "This is my foundation"? Or will you say "These are gifts from my foundation"?
The storm is coming. It always does. Maybe it's already here for you. Maybe you're in the middle of rain and wind and rising water right now. But hear this good news: it's never too late to change your foundation. It's never too late to build on rock.
The Invitation
Jesus ends His sermon with a choice, and so must I. Two builders, two foundations, two outcomes. The wisdom isn't in hearing this message. The wisdom is in doing something with it.
So here's my invitation, my challenge, my plea as your pastor who loves you and wants to see you stand through every storm: Choose the rock. Choose Christ the King. Not just as a Sunday acknowledgment but as a Monday through Saturday foundation.
Start tomorrow. When you wake up, before your feet hit the floor, say "Christ, You are my King. You are my foundation. Today I build on You." When decisions come, ask "What would building on rock look like here?" When storms threaten, remember whose authority you're standing on.
And here's the beautiful promise: the house built on rock doesn't just survive the storm. It stands as a testimony. It becomes a shelter for others who are looking for something solid. It declares to a world built on sand that there is a better way, a stronger foundation, a King worth building on.
We are blessed to bless. We receive to give. And the greatest blessing we've received, the most important thing we can give, is the news that there is a Rock on which to build. His name is Jesus. He is Christ the King. And He is strong enough to hold whatever you need to build.
The Closing
Friends, beloved of God, carriers of the kingdom, as we close this series on Kingdom Stewardship, as we prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving and our souls for Advent, as we stand on the threshold of celebrating the King who came as a baby to become our cornerstone, I leave you with this:
You are building something with your life. Every day, every choice, every priority is another brick in the structure. The question isn't whether you're building. The question is what you're building on.
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. The teacher from Nazareth has become the King of Kings. The stone the builders rejected—the Jesus as cornerstone—has become the King of Kings. The one who died on a cross has become the foundation that cannot be shaken.
Build on Him. Build with confidence. Build with joy. Build knowing that the storm may come, but you will stand.
Because Christ the King is our firm foundation. And what God builds on rock stands forever.
Thanks be to God. And all God's people said: Amen.
We are blessed to bless; we receive to give.
A Few Questions
Have you ever wondered how Presbyterians approach Bible study? Weird question, right. But seriously, have you ever wondered? Here's the answer to that question: Bible Study Near Me: What to Expect at St. John's Weekly Groups. And to go even deeper into it there's this:
Bible Study in Houston: Where to Find Scripture Study That Goes Deeper. Or, if you're feeling a little crazy, maybe even check out this radical topic: Best Non-Mega Church Houston: Why St. John's Presbyterian Offers Real Faith Beyond Hype
