HOW NOT TO BUILD
I grew up around construction and building material people. My family, for several generations, was in lumber and building materials.
In 1998 we opened a new hardware store in Lake Mary. I ran it from the time it opened, until I went to seminary. Part of my responsibility was to try to build business and expand our customer base, so for a while I went around and visited a lot of construction sites.
You can learn a great deal about builders, their values and abilities, if you look at what they build before the caulk and paint go on. I was amazed at how poorly; some of the finest looking houses were actually constructed. Some of those homes had the shoddiest materials in them. Others had good materials, but very poor craftsmanship. Things would be slapped together, jack-legged, and then painted over. I’ve discovered the same thing while working on roofs. The old saying, you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear is very true. If the beginning, if the foundation is not square, if it is not leveled properly, and graded properly, there isn’t much you can do to fix it. It has to start right.
That’s what Jesus is saying here. He says, the building has to begin right, it has to be anchored securely, or it will fall apart. Some folks build on sand and others on rock.
(From a sermon by Gene Gregory, Christians are Abnormal in How They Build, 8/13/2012)