(Matthew 7: 21 – 29)

21"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' 23Then 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. 25The 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. 26But 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. 27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." 28When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, 29because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

One of the ways that Jesus taught was by telling stories. These parables would generally have a central point of meaning and he would explain this to his disciples. Otherwise the responsibility for interpretation was left up to those listening. This story-based approach meant people could respond to Jesus as a person rather than simply learning right and wrong in a rule based religion.

Jesus was a carpenter; he knew a lot about construction. He told a story about two houses being built to make the point about how easy it is for us to hear things, listen to them, agree with them and then to go out and not to do one thing about them. He told this story to show the necessity of doing as well as hearing (walk the talk and talk the walk). It is not enough to know; it is not enough to agree. Every word is given that we may use it, put it into action and make it a part of the structure as we build a life.

Jesus was not always an easy man to be with. In this parable he cuts underneath the responses that people have towards him and asks whether what he says has made any difference to how they live their lives. People who hear Jesus’ words and puts them into practice are like the wise man who built his house on the rock; everyone who hears his words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. You might consider me invasive if you were to do the same thing with you. What might you feel if you came to complement my sermon and I turned around and say “fine, but what are you going to do about it? Don’t waste my time or yours if you are not going to take it seriously!” If you like what I am saying but you do nothing about it then you are worse off than you were before – apathy (an absence of wonder) is a worse sin than pride (selfish approach to life). When someone is proud they are at least doing something, all be it for selfish motives; when someone is apathetic it means that they can not be bothered (If you spot the cynicism then you will have found the apathy).

We live in a society where feelings rather than actions become our test of authenticity. One of the reasons that the tragic story of Madeleine McCann (like the death of Diana) is so compulsive is that we can feel involved without having to do anything about it. Macintyre (1990) talks of us living in a society of ‘emotivism’; this is the idea that all judgements are nothing but expressions of preference, attitude or feeling. It is not what we say that counts but rather it is what we do. It is not what we hear that counts but rather it is what we do with what we hear.

Truth is not just a consumer choice. There is such a thing as right and wrong behavior. There is no appreciation in this story for moral ambiguity: there are only two ways of living--the right way and the wrong way. Although here, Jesus does not call them right and wrong; he calls them wise and foolish.

There are two points to building a strong foundation to our lives:

Truth will out. Soap operas generate energy because people have secrets from each other. The suspense comes in us wondering whether people will find out. In soap land they always do find out and there is some dramatic denouement. In Coronation Street Leanne Battersby returns from Spain with a surprising storyline, when she admits to making a living as a prostitute while living aboard! Leanne sets her sights on factory boss Liam Connor. The suspense to the story comes in whether he will find out about her situation. (Placements – a bad start would always unravel). The same is true of life where people sit on secrets that gnaw away at them for years

Actions have consequences: bad decisions will catch up with us. (As we sow so shall we reap (Gal 6); our deeds, good or bad, will repay us in kind). Apart from Jesus Christ these consequences can only rebound on us or on someone we love; this can happen across generations and does not necessarily finish in one single lifetime. What Christ does in the incarnation is to gather up all of these negative consequences and take them on himself. Otherwise the story of our lives will unfold accordingly

This parable can be miscast in people’s minds. It is a story about builders rather than a story about houses. A house is a static image. Everyone of us is building a house. It's a life-time job building a house of personality and character. Everything we do, every word we speak, every thought goes into the structure and becomes part of the life we build. We may think our deeds, actions and experiences are scattered and unrelated but they are uniquely fitted, nailed, cemented together.

Every person must live with himself. That's certainly true. He can never get away from himself