Today’s gospel reading about the wise and foolish builders is a story that most of us are familiar with.
And it speaks to us in two ways. It speaks to us about surviving the trials and tribulations of life, but it also speaks to us about standing and surviving God’s judgement.
And this morning I’d like to look at both of these strands.
To set this parable in context, Jesus is surrounded by a great multitude of people. Having healed many of them he then delivers a big chunk of teaching which is commonly called his sermon on the plain. And he ends his teaching with this parable.
So, Jesus is concerned as to whether people are actually taking on board what he is saying.
Lots of people like coming to see him - to be healed, to hear his teaching, and perhaps see a few miracles. No doubt it makes quite a nice day out. But how many of these people actually then go away and put his teaching into practice?
As he says in verse 46; “why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you?”
Many of these people are happy to call him Lord, but don’t then actually do what he tells them to do.
And this can be true of us today. We can read our bibles and come to church and make all the right noises but are we actively trying to put Jesus’ teaching into practice in our lives?
Are we making every effort to live in the way that we know God would like us to?
Are we as it says on the beam above me – ‘doers of God’s word’? Do we – with the help of the Holy Spirit - do our best to love God and to love our neighbour?
Do we seek to bless others that we may be blessed?
Do we give generously of our time and money – that we may receive generously?
Do we try and control our tongues? Do we actively - as our Old Testament reading tells us to - try and obey God’s commandments and “observe them diligently – so that it may go well with us?”
You see to ignore God’s word and his teaching is to ignore God himself.
Whereas to love God is to obey his commandments. As Jesus says in John’s gospel - “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
To exalt God’s word and his teaching in our lives – in other words to hold it in high regard – is to exalt God in our lives.
This is why, if we claim to be Christians it is so important to immerse ourselves in the bible – in God’s word – to soak ourselves in it.
Again as our Old Testament reading puts it – to recite God’s word to our children, to talk about it at home, to reflect on it and write it down.
To base our lives on God’s word and to seek to live it out.
And Jesus is saying that if we do this – we will be placing our lives on a firm foundation.
Of course, just as digging deep foundations for a house involves hard work and effort – so does seeking to love God and demonstrating this by trying to live our lives in obedience to him.
And if we’re really going to try to love our neighbour as ourself – as the Good Samaritan found out – this will likely involve effort, inconvenience and expense.
It will involve putting our own plans aside and making time to actively help other people.
Digging deep foundations – and building our lives on rock – on Jesus and his teaching - requires dedication and the focus of our whole lives.
Each day we need to be turning to God and asking for his help to live as we know he would like us to.
To help us live clean lives. To help us bite our tongues and not say things we know we shouldn’t. To help us to resist temptation. To help us turn the other cheek and be peace makers.
Of course we’ll fall short and fail – but God is most interested in the attitude of our hearts and our desire to at least try and live lovingly.
It can be especially hard to forgive people who have hurt us or our loved ones - and we will likely need to pray persistently for God’s help to do this – particularly if we’ve been badly hurt.
But if we choose not to forgive - we will find that our own lives are spoiled by bitterness and anger.
The bible tells us we should thank and praise God even when life is tough because he loves us and is always working for our good – but this too can be hard.
It takes commitment to read our bibles each day and to try and live it out.
It’s much easier to live to please ourselves – but if we do this we’ll find we’re building our lives on sand.
The thing is though that the more we base our lives on Jesus and his teaching – as this parable makes clear - the better we will be able to stand up when life bowls us a curve ball – when the trials and tribulations of life assail us.
The better we will be able not only to survive difficult times but actually to remain confident, steadfast and even cheerful through them, because we have a strong faith in God and know that he is in control of our situation and loves us.
God has helped and comforted me through difficult times on several occasions - simply by speaking to me through bible verses or by giving me a great sense of peace about something.
Years ago when Mary and I were first married we had to leave the house we were renting because the owner died and his family wanted to sell it.
We prayed that God would help us find a new place to live but the only house we could find which we could afford, was a real mess with filthy carpets, mildew on the walls upstairs, and tons of rubbish in the garden.
Mary who was heavily pregnant, was really upset by our predicament. I went to Lamberhust church and sat on a bench in the graveyard. I wanted to pray but I was so chewed up I couldn’t.
As I sat there, suddenly a tremendous peace came over me and I knew everything was going to be OK. With the help of friends we cleaned the house up and painted and re-carpeted it with offcuts and it turned out fine.
And several years ago - when I was really fearful of being ill after I’d had a nasty lump removed from under my arm, God comforted me with the words of Psalm 41.
He said to me – ‘Joseph, I will protect you and preserve your life. I will not abandon you to the power of your enemies.
I will help you when you are sick and will restore you to health.’
It is easy to be a lazy Christian and to treat God like a spiritual headache pill – and come running back to Him as things start to get difficult.
But if we do this we shouldn’t be surprised if problems and difficulties then start to overwhelm us.
The other aspect of this parable that we need to be aware of is judgement. The life built on rock – on Jesus – stands when the flood – when judgement comes.
The first man who hears Jesus’ teaching and acts on it, survives the day of judgement.
He has taken Jesus seriously, repented, and made the effort to put his words into practise. He is able to stand on the day of judgement, because his life is built on a firm foundation, on God himself.
The second man has also heard Jesus teaching but he has failed to act on it or put it into practise. When judgement comes his life is swept away because it has no foundation.
Jesus words are supremely important because how we respond to them will determine whether we stand or fall on the day of judgement.
What he says is of eternal significance to our lives. Most of us don’t like to think about judgement. We prefer to think of Jesus patting children on the head and carrying cuddly baby lambs.
But the bible tells us that God has set a day when he will judge everyone – and on that day some will stand and some will fall.
When God judged the world in the time of Noah and sent the flood – the only safe place to be was inside the Ark.
All those who were outside the Ark were swept away in the flood waters.
And today in the world – where there is so much evil and hatred and bad news - the only really safe place to be is in Christ Jesus.
What this means in practice is making our peace with God and welcoming Jesus into our hearts and lives.
It means recognising that we need to be saved and put right with God – because we do sin – because we do fall short.
We all fail to love those around us and to honour God as we should. And however nice or kind we may be - we don’t measure up to God’s perfect standard.
God doesn’t enjoy judging people – but He is just. He can’t just turn a blind eye when people’s lives are destroyed by hatred and greed and malice. There is a price to pay for sin.
And this of course is why Jesus died for us. He never sinned or fell short. He led a perfect life and then willingly offered that perfect life for us on the cross.
And on the cross he took all our sin and failure to love others – himself - and was punished in our place – so that God would no longer have any cause to be angry with us
And when we accept Jesus into our lives - God places us in Christ Jesus. We become God’s children and members of God’s family - the church.
When the flood waters of judgment come we will stand – because our lives are built on Jesus and what he has done for us.
We will stand because we have believed in the Lord Jesus – and he has already been judged and punished in our place.
And when death comes – we need have no fear because we know that we belong to God; that we are his beloved children and that Jesus has rescued us from judgment and put us right with God for ever.
There’s a bible verse in the book of Revelation that says; “behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he shall eat with me.”
So, if you haven’t yet put your life on rock, Jesus is standing at the door of your life right now – and knocking. He’s saying please open the door of your heart and let me in.
I love you and I want you to be mine. I know everything about your life and I know what’s best for you.
If you let me in, I will change your life for the better. I will put your life on rock and you will stand; you will stand in life and you will stand when I come again to judge the world because you will be mine and belong to me.
I’m going to end my talk now with a time of quiet prayer and reflection when we can share what is on our hearts with God.
If you do want to open the door of your life to Jesus, just tell him. Say to him ‘Lord Jesus please come into my life. Save me and make me yours.’
So, let’s all pray quietly for a few moments.
