Those obeying and not obeying his sayings (Matt. 7:24-27)
“Therefore, everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does them will be like a discreet man who built his house on the rock. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and lashed against that house, but it did not cave in, for it had been founded on the rock. Furthermore, everyone hearing these sayings of mine and not doing them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and struck against that house, and it caved in, and its collapse was great.” (Matthew 7:24-27)
Jesus concludes his sermon with a powerful illustration
It is a make-or-break choice with eternal consequences. And it is his sayings that must be followed. Hearing these saying of Jesus and doing them seems to be the equivalent of doing the will of his Father. To ignore his words therefore will be as disastrous as building ones house on the sand. How foolish indeed for a man to know all there is to know about fine home building, to have gained experience in building strong enduring homes for others, to even instruct other builders, enabling them to launch successful careers, but not apply any of that knowledge when building his own house. Such would be the case with the man that hears Jesus words and getting the sense of them and yet fail to live by them.
The apostle James illustrates it another way:
But be sure you live out the message and do not merely listen to it and so deceive yourselves. For if someone merely listens to the message and does not live it out, he is like someone who gazes at his own face in a mirror. For he gazes at himself and then goes out and immediately forgets what sort of person he was. But the one who peers into the perfect law of liberty and fixes his attention there, and does not become a forgetful listener but one who lives it out – he will be blessed in what he does. (Jas 1:22-25 NET)
When we look at ourselves in a mirror we want to see things that need attention before going out into the world. A mirror is valuable because it allows us to see ourselves as others see us. We want to prevent the embarrassment that would come from someone else pointing out, for example, food caught between our teeth. The Bible allows us to see ourselves as God sees us. How foolish it would be for us to recognize from God’s word that there is something about us that makes us unappealing, unacceptable to him and yet fail to correct it.
Unlike scene 2 in which he warned about false prophets, this parable does not speak about infiltrators entering the congregation. Both men engaged in building a house, represent people who have “heard” Jesus’ teaching, both among his disciples and the crowd. It all comes down to “doing” what Jesus has now set out before them.
In a country where heavy rain can send flash floods surging down the normally dry river beds with devastating effect, his point is easy to visualize. In his first letter to the Corinthians there is a similar illustration given by the apostle Paul:
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw— each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1Co 3:10-15 ESV)
However, in Jesus illustration it is not the suitability of the building material, but the solidity of the foundation that is stressed. It’s as if he is saying: “I am offering you the key to success and it comes with putting into practice all that I have been saying.” The appeal is not unlike that of his Father:
This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel: “I, Jehovah, am your God, The One teaching you to benefit yourself, The One guiding you in the way you should walk. If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Your offspring would be as many as the sand And your descendants as its grains. Their name would never be cut off or annihilated from before me.” (Isaiah 48:17-19)
Apparently it is not enough to love Jesus, or to have faith in him. Unless that love and faith is translated into action no benefit will come.
Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it? (James 2:14)
Later in his illustration of the sheep and the goats this point is emphasized.
For I became hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you received me hospitably; naked and you clothed me. I fell sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ (Matthew 25:35, 36)
As shown here, works of faith would include providing food, water, clothing and hospitality to those less fortunate of Christ’s brothers. The faith that lacks such works is seen to be powerless, ineffective and nothing more than a sham.
Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their adversity and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
(Jas 1:27 NET)If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it? So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.
(Jas 2:15-17 NET)