Storm-Resistant Doers
By Anthony Casperson
8-26-23

Game tutorials are almost a given when you first boot up a new game. They’re important for players who’ve never played the game before in order to teach them its basic mechanics of play. The designers don’t want people being lost in what button to press or how to accomplish some goal, so they give the information little by little until the fundamental aspects of play are understood.

However, there are many who look at tutorials with disdain. Whether it’s because they feel like they’ve played this type of game before and should know the fundamentals of play, or because they “just wanna get on with playing the game,” they blow through the various tutorial messages without paying attention to them. They’re the ones who spend the first twenty minutes of the game going, “Skip. Skip. Skip.”

But quite often, I’ve seen those who skip tutorials come to a point several hours later where they don’t know what to do. They think that all of their options don’t work and then either start to rage at the game or call it stupid. Their ideal for the gameplay is destroyed. Fun leaves quickly when this difficult to overcome moment arrives. And many quit the game entirely.

The thing that such moments have in common is that the required action to overcome the issue was given in the tutorial. If they had just paid attention during those messages and put them into practice, then this moment of difficulty would’ve been completed well. And they could have enjoyed the game as its designers intended.

If we build on the foundation of the fundamental methods of the designer, and put them into practice, then we can overcome. (Or at least cling on tight until the difficulty is over, if this moment is meant to be hard.) There won’t be reason to rage quit, or consider the design stupid, or watch everything crumble to nothing all because we didn’t pay attention and actually do what the designers were telling us.

As we come to the end of our blog series, “Summer on the Mount,” we witness something similar when it comes to Jesus’ words in his sermon from Matthew 7:24-29.

Throughout the past few chapters of Matthew, we’ve seen Jesus teach us the ethics of his kingdom. The way that we who bow before the cross should think and feel and act. We should be people who crave the holiness that our Savior exhibited. Have a righteousness that goes beyond the showmanship of pharisaical loophole finders. And be willing to be corrected just as much as we should correct others who act in error.

But all of this learning is for nothing if we don’t do what Jesus commands.

If we take on this tutorial lesson from Jesus—without sighing while pressing the skip button—and then actually do the things we’ve learned, then we’ll find ourselves as one who has built their house on sturdy bedrock.

When the storms of this life strike, we can cling on to the goodness of our holy God. Find wholeness in the arms of our risen Savior. Discover that we’ve stood through the storm, whenever it finally stops wreaking havoc.

Another way to view this storm isn’t just the difficulties of this life, but also the final judgement of Jesus showcasing those who belong to his kingdom—and those who don’t. Like how Paul would later write, in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15, about building with gold, silver, and precious stones on the firm foundation of Christ so that the fire of judgement will prove the good quality of our deeds.

The storm proves that we have built well on the firm foundation of the teachings of Jesus.

And this requires us to not just hear the teachings—not just call Jesus a good moral teacher—but actually do the things that he commands. Looking at blueprints does nothing unless we begin the building project. This is what Jesus’ half-brother James spoke about in the book bearing his name, when he calls us to not just be hearers of the word, but also doers of the word. When we do the word of our Lord and Savior, we will be blessed through the storm.

Jesus continues in Matthew 7:26-27 by giving us the result of the person who does not build upon the rock of Jesus’ commands—those who build with wood, straw, and hay, as Paul would say in the 1 Corinthians passage.

When the storm comes, they will be found wanting. Everything will crumble to nothing. What little help they thought their deeds could do, will fail. And the game will be over. The difficulties of life leave them to rage or quit. And the final judgement of Jesus will find them with the words, “Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness,” ringing in their heads.

Sure, those who don’t put into practice the teachings of Jesus—or who don’t listen to begin with—might look at ease when everything is clear and good, but it is only a façade. Even a house built out of cardboard can stand on a sunny day. But the day will come when those who don’t build upon the foundation of the teachings of Jesus will find their world crumble.

And let’s pray that the storm which finally forces us to face this truth happens before there’s no chance left to rebuild on the rock of Jesus.

It’s only we who build on the truth of Jesus that will find ourselves able to withstand the storm. The storm-resistant doers will still be there when it’s all over. Everyone else will be left to ruins and dust.

So, it might be good for us to have this blog series through the Sermon on the Mount, but it is as worthless as cardboard if we don’t put these words into practice. If we continue to look for loopholes in the commands of God so that we can be comfortable in our lackadaisical spiritual comfort, the house will fall down around us. If we refuse to accept the gift of judgment that God gives us, then everything we built will be burned up in the fire. And if we don’t listen to the tutorial of walking down the narrow way, we will find ourselves raging when we later discover that our actions led us only to the destruction of the wide and easy way.

If we haven’t yet begun to apply these words of our Savior into our everyday lives, let this be one last word calling you to be a storm-resistant doer. Build on the foundation of Jesus’ commands. And use materials of the kingdom that can last through every fire.

Don’t skip this tutorial.