After my first year of college, I decided school wasn’t for me—nope, I was just ‘over it’. Through an employment agency, I took a job as the secretary of the vice president of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance in downtown San Francisco. Our office was located on the 28th floor of a 55-story building in the financial district, 555 California Street. Eighteen years old, walking to and from the train station I commonly walked by new building sites - structures at various stages of construction. (pictured) Oft the familiar pile-driving machines were hard at work pounding posts deep into the ground to make sure the foundations were solid, able to support yet another high-rise building.
Foundations. Jesus concludes his Sermon on the Plain that afternoon with these words: “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you? Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.” Luke 6.46-49
What was Jesus saying to his disciples? He is clearly drawing a distinction between those who hear Jesus' words, then ignore them, and those who heed his words to obey them. From whence cometh two questions:
->Are you living a life of obedience to God?
->Why do you do what you do? After all, your choices are based on something.
It is true: our choices are defined by what we value most… our priorities and loyalties, our pleasures and comforts, and whether or not we revere God and desire to honor him above all. As Jesus points out, these choices are emblematic of the foundation upon which we build our lives, whether it is a solid one or a shifting one.
As though peering through the lens of Jesus’ words ‘Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them’ we ought look back at the values Jesus has espoused on the plain that day. [a link for Luke 6, two Bible translations: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206&version=NLT;ESV].
Part of the reason people walked for miles to see and hear Jesus was that He was different than any teacher of the day! He loved, healed and taught a revolutionary new way of life: loving our enemies, and showing it with giving unselfishly, living with mercy, compassion and forgiveness. These distinctives have not changed - we are to be a set-apart people in the family of God.
Back to the pile-driving machine in San Francisco; it provides a great illustration for us as Jesus indicates the one who builds a strong foundation is the one who first digs deep, then builds on the rock. In Matthew's gospel, Jesus refers to the builder on the rock as 'wise'. hmmm... For you and I to build our lives on that which lasts, that which will stand--especially when life's storms batter us--we will have to dig deep into the Word of God, and then determine to follow God with all of who we are.
I think of those who are being battered by the storm just now, wondering if the waters just might consume them. Receive the words of Almighty God: When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43.2
A life lived for Christ, in obedience to His Word has a firm foundation; it is strong and sure because He is our strength, our hope and our solid ground! Well, listen to Christ Alone with my girl Allison Krauss: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16KYvfIc2bE.
Oh, and p.s. I did go back to college, but that's another story.
Let's be like the wise man,
Christine
Luke, #32