Parable of the two builders

AudioArtist said:

I am still struggling with some of the things Jesus taught in the synoptic Gospels, as He seems to imply that our obedience to His words are what will save us on judgement day. I know this cannot be so, considering our righteousness is as filthy rags and the fact we are saved by His blood. We love Him because He first loved us.

So how would you understand this famous parable, in particular? Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount with his Parable of the Two Builders (Matthew 7:21-27):

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I wish I wasn't so crippled by my misunderstanding of passages like these.

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Firstly, great question!

Note that Jesus says that not everyone will be saved, but only those who do God's will.

This, IMO, comes in order. The first thing one has to do is repent, and believe in Christ, the Saviour. The rest of the things to be obeyed, cannot be obeyed, unless this first one is done.

Jesus spoke only what He heard from the Father. The first message He preached is:

Mark 1:15

“The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!"

However, once you repent, and believe then what? does it all stop there? No, we are enjoined to grow and become more and more like Christ in every way. The ultimate goal God has in mind for us, to be like Him, in image and likeness.

How does this happen? After Jesus died, He ascended into Heaven, and asked His Father to send the Spirit, who is now here. When a person repents and believes, the Spirit comes to dwell in that person, transforming the person daily. This is why Paul called the believer a "new creation" (2 Cor 5:17), because we are being renewed amd transformed daily by the Spirit within us.

The Spirit will bring us to a point where obedience to God is possible, and that is the sign that we love the Father, as Jesus said in John 14.

Once we listen and obey (something I believe that can only be down if the Spirit is within us, and we are following His leading), then we are the wise man, who builds on the rock.

AudioArtist said:

I am still struggling with some of the things Jesus taught in the synoptic Gospels, as He seems to imply that our obedience to His words are what will save us on judgement day. I know this cannot be so, considering our righteousness is as filthy rags and the fact we are saved by His blood. We love Him because He first loved us.

So how would you understand this famous parable, in particular? Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount with his Parable of the Two Builders (Matthew 7:21-27):

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I wish I wasn't so crippled by my misunderstanding of passages like these.

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I think part of the problem when it comes to things like this is that people don't distinguish between making mistakes, or struggling to obey, and simply not even trying.

Many people teaching today would have it that you can say Jesus is Lord, and not worry about actually obeying him, because hey! we're not saved by works!
That simply isn't reality. People, not just Christians but all people in general, deceive themselves frequently by the 'good intentions' lie. The basic form of this lie is that what I do doesn't really matter as long as I am a good person on the inside.

I enjoy quoting movies and there is a good one for this point from Batman Begins... "Its not who you are inside, but what you do that defines you."

People deceive themselves when they believe that they can seperate their actions and their choices from who, and what, they are. The entire point of this passage is that calling Jesus Lord means nothing if you won't obey him. The reason for this is that Lordship is defined by obedience, and indeed ownership. To say that someone is your Lord, but then to not subject yourself to their commands and their will is simply a lie.

Now, going back to the first thing I said.. the problem that people run into here is that people seem incapable of seperating a person who is trying to be a servant, and is trying to subject their will to the Lord's will, but is struggling to do so, and a person who is simply doing what they want, ignoring the Lord's commands and his will, or dismissing them, and imagining that everything will be great because they call Jesus Lord.

Personally, I am a good Christian a relatively small percentage of the time... What I mean by that is that I feel like I almost constantly struggle with subjecting my will and my desires to God's will. I frequently fail to do so and I follow my various passions when I know I shouldn't. There are times when I do pretty well, by God's grace, and though I've been a Christian my whole life.. honestly even having those times at all is a big improvement!

There are a couple of scriptures I remember frequently for comfort. #1 is from John's epistles where he says if any of us do sin we have a mediator with the Father, who is Christ Jesus. #2 is where Paul talks about doing the things he hates, and not doing the things he loves. He is talking about the fact that Christians have a war of wills going on inside them. We have a natural, 'soulish' will that is driven by passions and selfishness that tries to drive us to do what it wants. We also have the will of God which is active in us through the Spirit directing us to righteousness, holiness, and knowing God. Those two struggle in us on a daily basis and even men like Peter and Paul who saw Jesus, were inspired by the Holy Spirit, and were taught by God, still struggled with this same inner war.

The point is that you are trying, you are fighting.

Another scripture I often think of here is the man who cried out to Jesus "Lord I believe, help my unbelief!" God does not require you to make yourself righteous. He does not require you to posess amazing faith... All he requires is that you are willing.

What Jesus is talking about here are people who receive his teaching.. they hear his commandments, and they claim to believe and they claim that he is Lord, but then they dismiss what he taught and commanded... or they take the bits they like and discard the bits they don't like. In both cases they usually end up making up their own stuff to replace what Jesus said, and in the end they end up in the same old original sin of defining right and wrong for themselves, essentially making themselves their own Lord.

A good post Simon.

AudioArtist said:

I am still struggling with some of the things Jesus taught in the synoptic Gospels, as He seems to imply that our obedience to His words are what will save us on judgement day. I know this cannot be so, considering our righteousness is as filthy rags and the fact we are saved by His blood. We love Him because He first loved us.

So how would you understand this famous parable, in particular? Jesus concluded the Sermon on the Mount with his Parable of the Two Builders (Matthew 7:21-27):

21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Any input would be greatly appreciated. I wish I wasn't so crippled by my misunderstanding of passages like these.

Click to expand...

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is by Dr. Brad Young and is entitled,
The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation


this book has one goal and one only... it looks again at Jesus parables interpreting explaining them not as messages to Christians by leader head of the Christian faith, but as what they truly are, a Jewish Rabbi speaking to a (predominantly) Jewish audience about Jewish things.

Can be had on AmazonUK for just under £15.

You should see my review on there along with a few others.


Steve

Build your house on the Rock... this isn't about work, it's about trusting your foundations...who is your faith built on? The Rock - Jesus Christ.

The Lord is my banner said:

Build your house on the Rock... this isn't about work, it's about trusting your foundations...who is your faith built on? The Rock - Jesus Christ.

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Perfectly true

Yet if you don't build on said rock, you still have no shelter from the storms of life...

God laid the foundation, we build upon it, the God judges our house with fire...whatever doesn't burn remains...

The Lord is my banner said:

Build your house on the Rock... this isn't about work, it's about trusting your foundations...who is your faith built on? The Rock - Jesus Christ.

Click to expand...

Subscribing

http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/translationResults.cfm?Criteria=%22foundations%22&t=KJV
("foundations")
occurs 32 times in 32 verses in the KJV


Blue Letter Bible - Search Results for KJV
("foundation")
occurs 54 times in 53 verses in the KJV

Blue Letter Bible - Lexicon
Strong's Number G2310 matches the Greek θεμέλιος (themelios), which occurs 16 times in 15 verses in the Greek concordance of the KJV

Young) Hebrews 11:10 for he was looking for the city having the foundations/qemeliouV <2310>, whose artificer and constructor [is] God.

Interesting. I am teaching a small Bible class at school, on the "end times," (subject area their idea) and in the first class one girl said that she was afraid of judgment, citing the sheep and the goats story. First of all, I'm glad to hear that one of these kids admitted to being afraid of judgment. Most just flat out reject the idea that God judges at all! The Bible must be wrong; God's not like that. (sheesh) Later I looked up that scripture and asked the Lord about it, and as I was going to sleep I kept thinking "depart from me for I never knew you." I knew that it was a direction from the Lord to look that up the next morning, and I did, leading me to the above scripture. I believe the Lord was showing me that it is not the deeds that determine salvation; the deeds are only by-products of knowing and being known by Him. A fruit tree if in the right soil, and under the right conditions, will bear fruit, and a person who knows Jesus if planted in Him.... will do good deeds.... and as far as building the house on the rock.... TLIMB has it right....

I second Simon

I used to struggle with this too, though when I see the plain teachings of John, and compare them to the remarks that Paul makes in his letters, it helps me. Even if that didn't help me, I see in Galatians 1 that Christ Himself had taught Paul all that he wrote about, and so not a contradiction exists; and so I can take Paul's letters as much as the Gospel testimonies, because Paul wasn't the author.

talitha said:

Interesting. I am teaching a small Bible class at school, on the "end times," (subject area their idea) and in the first class one girl said that she was afraid of judgment, citing the sheep and the goats story. First of all, I'm glad to hear that one of these kids admitted to being afraid of judgment. Most just flat out reject the idea that God judges at all! The Bible must be wrong; God's not like that. (sheesh) Later I looked up that scripture and asked the Lord about it, and as I was going to sleep I kept thinking "depart from me for I never knew you." I knew that it was a direction from the Lord to look that up the next morning, and I did, leading me to the above scripture. I believe the Lord was showing me that it is not the deeds that determine salvation; the deeds are only by-products of knowing and being known by Him. A fruit tree if in the right soil, and under the right conditions, will bear fruit, and a person who knows Jesus if planted in Him.... will do good deeds.... and as far as building the house on the rock.... TLIMB has it right....

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In my opinion that is only half the story...

Not only are we required to have the right foundation, we must also build upon it. Jesus said that whatever we build will be judged with fire at the end, and if it survives, then it will be counted worthy. If it doesn't, we will still survive, but we'll be like those who survive a fire, only with the clothes on their back.

A fruit tree, in the right soil, under the right conditions, can still FAIL to bear fruit! That is what Jesus was warning about. If we do nto bear fruit, we will not be found worthy. We'll be included with those who say "Lord, Lord" and we still turned away.

If we focus on what can go wrong, it gets very complicated. We have to worry about the foundations, what we build on the foundations, the materials we use, whether it will survive the fire...it can really become work.

If we focus on what is right, becomes very simple. Bear fruit...that's all that is required.

And this is one believer who will do whatever it takes to bear said fruit...

A tree bears fruit because it's a fruit tree. It doesn't have to do mental somersaults trying to fruit. Fruit is a natural consequence of being a fruit tree planted in good soil, watered and with sunshine on it, pruning too when required.

For us, it's who we are that causes us to bear fruit.
And never fear the pruning - Jesus says "You are already clean because of the word I spoke to you." (John 15:3)

cyberlizard said:

I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is by Dr. Brad Young and is entitled,
The Parables: Jewish Tradition and Christian Interpretation


this book has one goal and one only... it looks again at Jesus parables interpreting explaining them not as messages to Christians by leader head of the Christian faith, but as what they truly are, a Jewish Rabbi speaking to a (predominantly) Jewish audience about Jewish things.

Can be had on AmazonUK for just under £15.

You should see my review on there along with a few others.


Steve

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Thanks Steve, I'm going to check this book out.

The Lord is my banner said:

A tree bears fruit because it's a fruit tree. It doesn't have to do mental somersaults trying to fruit. Fruit is a natural consequence of being a fruit tree planted in good soil, watered and with sunshine on it, pruning too when required.

For us, it's who we are that causes us to bear fruit.
And never fear the pruning - Jesus says "You are already clean because of the word I spoke to you." (John 15:3)

Click to expand...

No mental somersaults necessary... just fruit I think if you follow the example of fruit bearing and horticulture metaphors through out the New Testament you will find that some fruit trees do indeed bear no fruit.. some fields, even when they have been watered and tended still produce thorns.

The Lord is my banner said:

A tree bears fruit because it's a fruit tree. It doesn't have to do mental somersaults trying to fruit. Fruit is a natural consequence of being a fruit tree planted in good soil, watered and with sunshine on it, pruning too when required.

For us, it's who we are that causes us to bear fruit.
And never fear the pruning - Jesus says "You are already clean because of the word I spoke to you." (John 15:3)

Click to expand...

Although I admire your sense of optimism, my friend, I can't help but think of Jesus reminder that we are to bear fruit, or will be cut off and burned. If a good tree does not bear fruit, it'll get the exact same treatment as a tree that bears bad fruit, the fire....