Two Kinds of Builders
We had our final morning Bible Study this week at my local church before breaking for the summer. It’s always bittersweet when we wrap up another year of Bible Study. Bitter, because those women are family to one another. We’ve been together for years at this point, and pressing pause for 2 months is a stretch for women who weekly interact. But it is sweet, because we complete another study in God’s Word. This semester, we walked through the book of James following it with a study on The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. It wasn’t without challenge and hard lessons, but I watched women continue to show up week after week even after really hard teachings on divorce, anger, repentance, finances, and more. It all felt like it was leading somewhere, but I couldn’t exactly see where the lessons we were learning together were headed until I was teaching the end of Matthew 7.
The last section of Jesus’ sermon gives the contrast of two kinds. Two kinds of gates - narrow & wide (Matt. 7:13-14); Two kinds of fruits - healthy & unhealthy (good & bad, Matt. 7:15-23); Two kinds of builders - wise & foolish (Matt. 7:24-27). He gives compelling arguments for choosing to recognize the better way in all three metaphors, but he comes to the end of the sermon with the third parable that felt like an invitation to stick with him. An invitation that was inclusive if we’d only be willing to accept the call.
“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 the 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 the house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24-27, ESV
There are four things to notice here - who, what, where, and why.
Who?
Everyone. Who hears. Who does (verse 24).
The mark of wisdom is obedience.
Everyone. Who hears. Who does not (verse 26).
The mark of foolishness is disobedience.
Interestingly enough, the subject was the same - everyone who hears. Jesus wasn’t worried about keeping his words within the family, only allowing a select few to hear. He included anyone in his invitation to hear what he had to say. But how they decided to respond was on them. Once they heard, they had two options - to obey or disobey.
James’ letter in the New Testament is a mirror to this famous sermon, so it doesn’t come as a shock when we see similarities in what James is teaching & what Jesus taught, such as James 1:22-25, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
The emphasis, then, is not on hearing the words of Jesus but doing the words of Jesus.
This begs the question - what?
What were the words of Jesus? He said a lot of things, are we supposed to obey them all? In a word, yes. But if we’re looking contextually in regard to this particular discourse, we’re reminded of what Jesus’ message is…
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’” Matthew 4:17, ESV
All of his words point to this message - a message of repentance & the announcement of the kingdom. Everything Jesus is doing & saying is in an effort to restore broken, sinful people so they may enter & participate in the kingdom of heaven that he is establishing. We like to make it complicated, but it’s really very simple. Saving sinners and living for a better kingdom.
The metaphor continues in giving us a picture of a wise builder versus a foolish builder and where each chooses to build their house. One being on the rock, and the other on the sand. While this seems rather simpleminded and common to us - I mean, who in their right mind would choose to build their house on the foundation of sand? It doesn’t make sense - it meant something to Jesus’ audience. They were likely looking over the Sea of Galilee in this moment, and wise builders in that day knew that in order to build a house in that area they would need to dig deep beneath the sand to get to the bedrock in order to establish a strong foundation. They knew that during summer months, the sand was hard on the surface - having the appearance of strength, security, stability but was ultimately weak and insufficient.
Whereas, a foolish builder couldn’t see past the surface of “hard sand” and would begin his build. It had what he needed at the time, yet wouldn’t be able to withstand the pressure that was to come. Overtime, the sand would loosen and the inevitable storms would come, and eventually the house would fall. Let’s not be fooled into thinking that the fall was a result of the house not being built well. This isn’t a “Three Little Pigs” story where the house was built of sticks and straw and the Big Bad Wolf only had to “huff and puff” to blow the house down.
This kind of builder could have used all the right tools to build his house, and it wouldn’t have mattered because the foundation was faulty.
Here’s the thing - we’re all building houses. Houses of faith, to be specific. We’re probably even using the right tools - commitment to the local church, participation in small group, personal quiet time, Scripture memorization, being a good neighbor, tithing, practicing spiritual disciplines, not swearing, being an upstanding citizen, the list could keep going. But if we’re building on the shaky foundation of -
a religious establishment or institution,
our education,
self-exaltation,
self-righteousness,
our career,
approval,
…the house is going to crumble.
It matters where you build your house. Why? As I’m writing this, rain is pouring down outside. The sky has gotten dark, only every so often the strike of lightening lighting it up followed by a clap of thunder so loud I’m afraid it’ll wake my kids up from their naps. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good stretch of rain, and although I’m not thrilled it’s at the start of the girls being out for the summer, it was unavoidable.
Storms seems to be that way. Inconvenient, unwelcome, and inevitable.
In the contrast between the wise & foolish, both were victims of the wind, rain, and floods. The wind doesn’t regard where it blows & who endures the miscarriage, broken marriage, loss of a loved one. Rain & floods don’t consider a preference on where they downpour the betrayal of a friend, the increased depression & anxiety, or the diagnosis. They just come in force. And if a house is going to withstand, it depends on the foundation.
I think it is worth noting that for ancient builders for them to get to the firm bedrock it required digging. Digging until they reached the bottom - maybe what one might describe as the core of a person. It’s hard not to remember Jesus’ entire message here - “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This digging can be a representation of repentance where we get beneath the sand that looks like apathy, the dirt of complacency & comfortability, the pride taking the form of gravel in our hearts all in an effort to find a firm, steady, and strong rock.
It is here that we can build a faith that will stand the test of time, the schemes of the Enemy, and the winds of the world. And we will be glad.