The King's Church in Ilford
The Man That Built his House Upon a Flood Plain!
Reading: Matthew 7:24-27
When we started this series, it was out of a desire to move on from the milk of the Gospel to Solid Food. We were asking what is the meat of what it means to be a Christian? How do we stop being part of the problem, and start becoming part of the solution? These questions are good ones; but as we get to the end, we discover that the stakes (excuse the pun!) are far higher than we thought at first. Jesus is not talking simply of living a constructive life while we're here on earth. His message concerns eternity as well.
Jesus confronts us with two alternatives - to be Wise or Foolish. In our Post-Modern world, where it's OK to believe what you like, and are thus offered an array of choices of supermarket proportions, Jesus words seem incredibly narrow, intolerant, and out of place. If it's any encouragement, it was just the same in His day. There was a startling array of Greek philosophies to believe, and different gods to worship. Nevertheless, Jesus is saying that what it boils down to is: His Teaching vs. Every Other Teaching. In a culture where it was said that if you have two Jews, you'll have three opinions - this would have seemed arrogant to the point of megalomania - unless it was true.
Jesus is still speaking to all of us. We're all trying to get a life - as the saying goes. Jesus' challenge to us is whether we're building that life on the rock of Jesus' teaching, or on the sand of worldly mindsets. Most of us want to have a strong family around us, a good, loving home, an interesting job, and enough money to pay the bills. Peace, purpose, and a secure future. These are the sort of things we're all striving for. We're building to last. Nobody wants their life to fall apart around them.
So both groups are building. Both groups are going to have storms as well. All of sooner or later are going to face pressures in life. These include suffering, sickness, bereavement, disappointment, and misunderstanding, trials and temptations, doubts and satanic attacks. Ultimately all of us will face death and the trial of God's judgement. We should remember that the most terrifying of statements about judgement and hell came from the lips of Jesus himself. How will the lives we are building, stand in the face of these trials?
The third thing these two groups have in common is that both have the chance to respond. Both the wise and the foolish hear the words of Jesus. What makes the difference is not the hearing, but the doing. Today millions of people still hear the teachings of Jesus, usually at school in spite of attempts to suppress it. Millions have their own Bibles. If it was included on the bestseller lists, the Bible would come out top every week. It's still the most popular book in the world. Many sit in churches week after week. One church leader said to me this last week that some of his members had asked for some deeper teaching. His response was, "When you start doing the simpler stuff you've already heard, I'll give you something deeper." You may have heard it said that our problem is not the parts of the Bible we don't understand; it's putting into practice the parts we do understand!"
So both these houses look the same from the outside, but there are some fundamental differences - enough for one builder to be called Wise, and the other Foolish. In the Bible, the wise and the foolish have particular meanings. JB Philips translated 'wisdom' as the 'ability to see life from God's point of view'. So the one who is wise realises he is accountable to God, and lives life accordingly. On the other hand, Psalm 41 tells us of "The fool (who) says in his heart, 'There is no God'". So from the Bible's point of view, the fool is one who lives life as if God doesn't exist. Foolish indeed! As someone said, "If you live life in the belief God doesn't exist - you'd better be right!" The difference is foundational. If we were to put this story into a modern setting, we'd speak of the man who built his house on a flood plain, as opposed to the man who built on higher ground; the difference becomes stark and terrifying.
The wise man thinks carefully about what he is going to build on, and where. He wants to build something that will last. The foolish man doesn't think ahead. He lives for the moment. He wants to get something up quick, do a flash job, and get on with enjoying life. He finds a site that looks attractive; and doesn't investigate whether it's good ground, or whether it's mud and liable to flood. A foolish person thinks only of immediate pleasure from money, sex, power or going out with his mates. It's foolish to go through life without asking the foundational questions about why we are here, and what the point of life is. If we don't ask these questions, we'll never know if our plans are right or wrong, good or bad. If we don't know what life is for, we'll use it wrongly.
My favourite breakfast cereal is Shredded Wheat; but when it first came out on the market many years ago, it was served up at an international Scout Camp. Later that morning, there was a complaint from the Nigerian Scouts, "These new pan-scrubbers are useless!"
How often we hear it said that it's not until we're under pressure that we find out what we're really like. And it's the storms of life that will test what we're building. For the wise man and the foolish man, the outcomes were very different. One house stood firm, and the other was wrecked, and it fell with a great crash. For many people, the trials come in this life, but others may think they've escaped only to find their trial comes on the Day of Judgement. What is certain, says Jesus, is that those trials will come.
Jesus warns us, not to frighten us, but because He loves us and wants us to avoid the crash. Jesus' promise is that a life built on the rock that is Christ and His Words will withstand, not only the storms of life, but also the Day of Judgement. We are not promised a trouble-free life - quite the opposite. Jesus assured us, "In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Persecution is likely to increase. Paul could speak of being flogged, imprisoned, stoned, shipwrecked; of being tired, cold, hungry and thirsty - all for the sake of the gospel. Then he writes, "I consider our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2Cor 4:17-18) Paul knew that, as Jesus had promised, a life built on Him would stand not only in this life, but for all eternity. The wise man takes the long view.
The key difference is that the Wise Man not only hears the words of Jesus, he puts them into practice. The Foolish Man hears them, but doesn't act on them. This doesn't mean that we can, in any way, earn our way into Heaven by our good works. That would be to deny the rest of Scripture, which tells us in Eph 2: 9 that "Salvation is a free gift, and not of works.."
Nor does it mean that the person who puts Jesus' words into practice will lead a sinless life. 1John 1:8 tells us clearly: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
What it does mean is that hearing is not enough if you want to withstand the storms of life. We have to do what Jesus says. This will first mean Repentance. The SOTM has been described a "terrifying call to repentance". As we look at the standards Jesus set, we see how desperately far short we fall. We cry out to God for mercy, and turn our backs on our old way of life with its lack of love, unforgiveness, anger, lust and pride.
Secondly, we realise we cannot save ourselves, and that we desperately need a Saviour. This is the challenge of the gospel to people's pride. Stop trying to get to Heaven by your own efforts, and put your trust in Jesus only. This was why Jesus came to earth and died on the cross - so that we could be forgiven and set free from sin. Some people think there are surely some things they can do. I think it was John Piper who put this into perspective when he said, "I cannot cross from one side of the room to the other unless Jesus (who sustains all things) gives me the grace to draw breath."
Thirdly, we recognise that even once we're forgiven the past, we still cannot live out Jesus words without the help and power of the Holy Spirit. He alone can change us. We need to give Him the space to do so, and the first step to that is to stop trying to do it ourselves. Living this life is God's gift of grace to us. We're saved by his grace, and we live the life by his grace. Don't start in grace and go on to live by law. That's what the Galatians did, and Paul rebuked them strongly.
This message is for people here today who know that they have not come to Christ in repentance, to trust Him alone for forgiveness and to put them right with God. It's also for Believers who may be trusting in Christ to get them to Heaven, but you know you've been building your life down her on something other than Jesus' teaching. So now's your chance for you to repent also.
And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Psalm 19:1