Jesus’ story of two builders is well known. One built on the solid rock and the other built on sand. When the storm came, the house on the rock stood, but the house on the sand collapsed. There are several interesting ways we can apply the lesson of this story.
The cliché, the sands of time, is meant to picture time like
sand flowing through an hourglass. Those who deny God’s singular role in
creation have attempted to convince us that over time, a very, very long time,
all the complexities of our universe came into being by chance occurrence. All
true scientists who have no philosophical axe to grind now realize that
explanation of the origin of all things is impossible. They have discovered
that the things we see are so incredibly complex and interwoven that no amount
of time and chance can explain them. The evolution house built on the sands of
time has collapsed.
The Jewish religious leaders in Jesus’ day had built their
hopes for Messiah on the sand of their traditions. Jesus
told them they searched the Scriptures but missed Him. He
said they valued their traditions above the Word. The same kind of thing
happens today. Some people tend to hang on every word some popular preacher
speaks while never checking to see if the message agrees with what the Bible
teaches. The
Bereans were commended because even though they heard from an Apostle, they
went home and searched the Scriptures, the rock of truth, to see if he was
telling them the truth or throwing sand.
We might be prone to build sandcastles when it comes to our
understanding of the Bible. A deep study of the Word can pay rich rewards. For
example, there is a curious incident recorded in three of the Gospels about a
woman with a chronic ailment who thought if she touched Jesus’ robe, she would
be healed. Matthew
records the incident: “Just then, a woman who had suffered from bleeding
for twelve years approached from behind and touched the end of his robe, for
she said to herself, ‘If I can just touch his robe, I’ll be made well.’ Jesus
turned and saw her. ‘Have courage, daughter,’ he said. ‘Your faith has saved
you.’ And the woman was made well from that moment.”
We moderns wonder
where such a ridiculous idea came from. Because historical context is an
essential part of the bedrock of proper biblical interpretation, it must always
be considered. In this case, a deeper knowledge of Jewish thought in the first
century reveals that devout Jews believed that the holy things of God could
literally transmit God’s holiness to others by touching them. This was one of
the reasons for the strict regulations regarding temple fixtures and utensils.
Noone but the priests were allowed to touch them, and the priests were not
allowed to take them from the temple.
Consider what happened to Uzzah when David was taking the
ark of the covenant back to Israel. Uzzah touched the holy ark and was
instantly stuck dead by God. God had told Moses to make provisions for carrying
the ark, and Uzzah violated them. It is obvious that much of the record we have
concerning God’s dealing with Israel is meant to stress His holiness – His
separateness from His creation. If we build our theology on a foundation made
weak by lack of biblical knowledge, our house is bound to collapse at some
point. As Uzzah learned, you don’t want to mess with a holy God.
Another example of houses built on sand is friendships built
on other than heart-to-heart ties. Paul
warns believers not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. Here
is A.W. Tozer on the subject: “Even though radically different from each
other, two persons may enjoy the closest friendship for a lifetime; for it is
not a requisite of friendship that the participants be alike in all things; it
is enough that they be alike at the points where their personalities touch.
Harmony is likeness at points of contact, and friendship is likeness where
hearts merge. [Italics mine]
“For this reason, the whole idea of the divine-human
friendship is logical enough and entirely credible. The infinite God and the
finite man can merge their personalities in the tenderest, most satisfying
friendship. In such relationship there is no idea of equality; only of likeness
where the heart of man meets the heart of God! This likeness is possible
because God at the first made man in His own image and is now remaking men in
the image that was lost by sin.”
As Tozer points out, it is not just our human friendships
that cry out for heart connections; our relationship with God must be
essentially heart-to-heart. Throughout the Old Testament and often in the New,
the heart is referred to as the deepest part of our human self. The Apostle Paul expands our understanding of
who we are by explaining that the Spirit of God speaks to our human spirit
after it has been reborn or made alive. Heart-to-heart becomes spirit-to-Spirit
for Paul. He constantly admonishes believers to walk in, be led by, pray in,
sing in the spirit [or Spirit]. Jesus
supports this reality telling the Samaritan woman that God desires those
who will worship Him “in spirit and in truth.”
When Jesus told the parable of the two builders, His context
was centered on hearing His word. He said, “Everyone who hears these words of
mine and does them [italics mine] will be like a wise man who built his
house on the rock.” As
James said later, it is the doing, not the hearing only that builds on the
right foundation. Paul cautions us that everything pertaining to this world is
temporary and will one day be destroyed, whereas things of the spirit – built
on the Rock – remain forever. Check your life to see what it is built on.
Related posts: Read This
Or Die; Light
Shining in Darkness; Through
the Bible in Seven Minutes; The
Presence of God
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