What Kind Of Builder Am I? Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• How many of you here today have been involved in building a house?

• What is one thing that you do not want to do when you build the house or chose the location on which to build?

• You do not want to build your house on a weak foundation. Why?

• Because if you do it does not matter how expensive or what quality of materials you use on the rest of the house because if you have foundation problems, the whole house will have problems.

• I remember a house we looked at when we were moving to Centralia, Missouri. The house was a very pretty home and we were very interested in purchasing it, but then we heard the dreaded words, “This house has foundation problems.”

• TEAL LAKE HOMES

• Jesus is wrapping up the Sermon on the Mount. In this seventh chapter Jesus has spoken to us about the narrow and wide gate, the good and the bad teachers and now Jesus is going to focus our attention on two types of builders.

• As we examine the illustration of the two types of builders we will see that Jesus is making reference to the way we chose to build our lives what will happen to them depending on what we chose to build our lives upon.

• As you listen today, I want you to think about what foundation you are building your life upon.

• Let’s begin with verse 24

• SLIDE #2

• Matthew 7:24 ( ESV ) “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

• The first type of builder we will see is…

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. THE WISE BUILDER

• What criteria does Jesus use as He considers who is a wise builder?

• SLIDE #4

A. What makes one a wise builder?

• There are a couple things we will examine.

• SLIDE #5

1. They hear and they do!

• Jesus tells us that the person who HEARS His words AND ACTS upon them can be compared to a wise builder.

• How many times have we heard people talk about what they are going to do, and then never do it?

• We look at what people’s intentions are. We think that if our intent is to do something, it is as good as doing it!

• We cannot only hear the word, and applaud the word, we are to do what the Word says.

• In James 1:22-25, James speaks on the subject of being a “doer” of the word verses being a “hearer” of the word. James repeats the same idea in James 2:14-20

• SLIDE #6

• James 1:22 ( ESV ) But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

• We deceive ourselves when we just HEAR the Word and do not act upon it!

• SLIDE #7

• Romans 2:13 ( ESV ) For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

• Listen and do! Knowledge only becomes relevant when it is translated into action.

• William Barclay, in his commentary on Matthew said, “There is little point in going to a doctor, unless we are prepared to do the things we hear him say to us. There is little point in going to an expert, unless we are prepared to act upon his advice. And yet there are thousands of people who listen to the teaching of Jesus Christ every Sunday, and who have a very good knowledge of what Jesus taught, and who yet make little or no deliberate attempt to put it into practice. If we are to be in any sense followers of Jesus we must hear and do.”

• Hearing and doing can be summed up with the word obedience!

• The second reason a builder can be considered wise is…

• SLIDE #8

• 2. They choose a great foundation to build upon.

• Jesus says that the wise builder is the one who builds his house upon the rock.

• The word for “rock” does not mean a stone or even a boulder, but a great outcropping of rock, a large expanse of bedrock. It is solid, stable, and unmovable. Sand, by contrast, is loose, unstable, and extremely movable. The land agents selling lots on the sand are the false prophets Jesus has just warned about (vv. 15-20).

• Building on the rock is equivalent to obeying God’s Word.

• What is the rock that we are to build upon if we are going to be a wise builder? It is the Word of God. If we are building our lives upon the Word of God, then we are also building our lives on the rock of Jesus.