THIN SPACE
This week in Prayer Hour, we’re going to be checking out the Parables of Jesus – the stories Jesus told about life in his Kingdom.
Today: The Parable of The Wise and Foolish Builders
The parable of the wise and foolish builders
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 that 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 that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it
The Message
Is Jesus just giving out good advice to the construction industry of Judea?
Was Jesus anticipating that in a couple of thousand years a church called PBC would kick off a building refurb?
Or was Jesus talking to something far more foundational in nature, much deeper and more significant?
Exactly what kind of house is Jesus even describing here?
This is a parable that comes at the end of the Sermon on The Mount.
It’s a parable, but a little less like a parable than many others...
We read in Matthew 13: 10-17 why Jesus talks to people in parables
On this occasion it seems conspicuous that He’s a bit more open in what He’s really talking about….
WHY?
Twice Jesus refers to people who have heard his words.
What words is He referring to?
Perhaps the ones He just said…
He just described in the most radical terms ever what His ways are, what the ways of His Kingdom are, how His people are to live!
Jesus describes in this parable, in just a few words, that draw together all the others in the Sermon on The Mount, the absolute foundation of life!
It’s no coincidence that Jesus talks about the wisdom of building on The Rock.
It wasn’t just a useful metaphor to get a point across
Jesus is always deliberate and specific in every word He uses
John 12:49 tells us that Jesus only said what The Father told him to say
Jesus is The Rock He’s describing, The Rock of Salvation!
Jesus is speaking to a huge crowd of Jews
To them, what Jesus said would have been even more transparent than it is for us.
The Rock of Salvation is spread all over the Jewish scriptures, the Tanak, what we call the Old Testament
Read Numbers 20:2-13, and then 1 Corinthians 10:1-5
What we can see from these verses is that Jesus isn’t only interested in that we know He is The Rock, He wants us to know The Rock, to know His ways, his nature!
This is the foundational point Jesus is driving at.
If people don’t start with a correctly aligned vision of who He is, what He is like, How He feels towards us, and base an intimate relationship with Him on those understandings, everything from then onward will be skewed and unstable, like a wall
built with Demolition Dave Dyball’s kinky spirit level!
It might take years, but eventually the statement “and great was the fall of it” will apply
So what do we learn from studying The Rock across the old testament, by reading what He did in the Gospels, by spending time with Him, by trusting Him?
He is GOOD, better than we can ever imagine or even comprehend! All His thoughts toward us are loving toward us, for our welfare, and to prosper us, to give us a joy filled certain future!
If you fancy yourself as a theologian, is the central pillar of your theology the absolute extreme goodness of God?
If it’s not, get back into the secret place with Jesus
Without that strong foundation, any theology can bend and twist in ways Jesus is definitely not impressed with
Church history is littered with tragic examples of what that leads to!
When we study anything in the bible, or approach any situation He leads us into, do we approach it knowing He is Good? If we don’t, we won’t be able to see or to hear Jesus clearly!
So how do we ensure we build our house on The Rock, the house that Jesus wants to move into as Holy Spirit?
We get real with Him, get vulnerable, open and honest (even about the bad things in our lives), we hide nothing, strive to honour Our Father through obedience, get intimate in our love for Him, and hungry in our desire for the limitless more of Him!
Jesus modelled for us how to live life, as a man, emptied out of His divinity, completely dependent on The Father, living by every word of The Father
Jesus wants us to likewise be people of Ephesians 5:1-2
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God
Moses and the Israelites had the opportunity to get to that place with Him about 3500 years ago, but they chose fear over love and disobeyed out of a trust failure
They couldn’t enter the promised land as a result
Let’s strive to not make the same mistake, we can trust Jesus, and we have the benefit of a vastly bigger wealth of testimony that proves His perfect goodness!
Prayer Suggestions
That Holy Spirit would highlight to us any areas of our foundations that He can see are in need attention
That we would have a new, deeper, fuller, squashed in, pressed down, shaken together, joy filled revelation of God’s extreme goodness!
That in our every moment and decision, throughout each and every day, we’d be mindful of the choices we make, that Holy Spirit would empower us with the boldness to only to choose love over fear, and to trust Jesus
That Holy Spirit would gift us the wisdom to never fall for the shame tactics of the devil if we do fall for fear
Worship
I love Your presence - CLICK HERE
Always Good - CLICK HERE
I've Got the Joy Joy Joy - CLICK HERE