Last Sunday I preached the final message from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. He eloquently and appropriately ended His teaching with an illustration about two builders. One builder He calls “wise” because he not only hears the words of Jesus but he also puts them into practice. The other builder is not so fortunate…Jesus labels him a “fool” because he hears his words but refuses to practice them. I want to stress three points about this illustration and then I’ll give the Sermon on the Mount a rest for a little while.

First, it all swings on obedience. When Jesus observes that one builder “Hears these words of mind and does them” while the other “hears these words of mind and does not do them” He is referring back to the entire teaching He presented in Matthew 5-7. He is saying that hearing is not enough; just hearing leaves us better informed, but not changed. The aim of God’s truth is to change us, not make us smarter. James echoes this in his letter to the scattered and embittered believing Jews of his time:

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22)

Second, storms will crash into our lives. Jesus is specific, He speaks as straightforward and honest as He can, “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house” (cf. Matthew 7:27). Calamities are an inevitable part of human existence…we cannot escape them. The storm that hits you may not necessarily be like anyone else’s. But you can bet the farm on the fact that storms will come. According to Jesus, only those who have built their lives in obedience to the norms of the kingdom (i.e., Matthew 5-7) will survive.

Third, eternity is at stake. Some who read this may be thinking, “So what.” That is the prevalent attitude in the world today and I am afraid it is also the prevailing attitude in the church. Now, good, church-going, giving, people may not verbally say this, but it is expressed in their nonchalant, ho-hum attitude toward the life Jesus teaches about in the Sermon on the Mount. We must come to grips with the consequences Jesus is teaching about. On one hand, some people’s houses (i.e., their lives) will stand in spite of being hit by torrential problems. He is saying that those lives will make it into heaven in the end. On the other hand, other’s houses will fall (and it will be a great fall), meaning that they will face eternity without God (cf. Matthew 7:19, 23).

Grace & Peace, Scott