“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25″And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26″Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27″The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell–and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
Today’s verses can only be read after understanding Wednesday & Thursday’s posts about living the Kingdom of Heaven life through obedience to Jesus and today we’ll finish discussing the Sermon on the Mount.
Why did Jesus say that listening and acting on His instruction is like a wise man building on rock? The man who builds his house on rock takes more care in the foundation of his home. It takes more effort for him to find the right spot. He might have to spend more effort digging down so that the foundation of his house is firmly on that rock. This all takes time and effort and when he is doing this work, the weather is sunny and nice and it would be a lot more fun to simply relax and enjoy the sun. Instead, he puts the hard work in before the time when it’s needed. He is seen as wise when the rains come and those who did not put this extra work in are washed away, but he is safely in his house built on the strong foundation.
How is this relevant?We spoke previously about gaining treasure for ourselves in our eternal Heavenly home while here on earth. These years on earth fly by. They are here today and gone tomorrow. Jesus is saying that by submitting our lives and following Him in every way that He calls us, we might be giving up something that seems fun or valuable in the now (such as relaxing in the sun), but that in giving our life over to Him, we are gaining eternal rewards that will be enjoyed forever.
We are to live this life mindful of the fact that we are merely building a foundation for our eternal life. This is not easy because the life that we see and feel seems much more real than the spiritual life that we only briefly experience. Yet, a day is coming when everything that is seen and unseen will be burned away. God will make new Heavens and a new earth and we will live there forever. Most of the life that we have lived here (those parts lived according to our sinful nature) will be gone. I actually believe that we either won’t remember most of this life, or that it will be so insignificant a memory that it doesn’t really impact our eternal lives at all. The reason I believe this is that there is no suffering in the afterlife, and how can this be if we have loved ones suffering apart from God, while we are with Him? (Okay, not just a theory, I looked it up and apparently we won’t remember these things. (Isaiah 65:17-19))
So we have a limited time here, but only those works that are done in obedience to God will have eternal value for us. Jesus uses the metaphor of a flood. Peter speaks of fire and heat (2Peter 3:5-13) destroying this earth and the works that we spend so much of our life doing. Then God will create the new Heavens and earth.
Jesus is telling us that this huge storm is coming and He is inviting us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, that we might be saved from the destruction. Monday we’ll go deeper into this and also look at how other scriptures teach us what to do with our lives.
Will you invite others to participate here?