The Wise and Foolish Builders

Updated: 27 June 2015

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Today's story from the Bible goes right back to the beginning. Really, they all do, for it is really all one giant story.

(Here is the background to my sketch)

Scene 1 - Out of the Garden

When God made the world (and the entire universe too) He made a man and a woman.(read about it in Genesis, the 1st book of the Bible. Genesis means "Beginning") The man and the woman were wonderful, perfect, beautiful and happy in God's care and love. They lived in a garden full of all good things, and no bad things. Everything was theirs, except for one tree and its fruit, which God said they must not touch nor eat. Will they do what He told them? Sadly, very sadly (the saddest tale in all the world), they did not. They did not trust God, and they took and ate the fruit.

They became very frightened, and felt really bad (they were really bad too) and had to leave their garden home, out into the wide world, which had now become wild, dark, difficult and dangerous. It was all because they did not "DO WHAT HE TELLS YOU". That's what the whole title of the sketch is, as you will see later. How sad! But it gets worse. We are all the children of their children's children's children, and we are just the same.

we want to take, not give
we want to lie, not tell the truth
we hurt others, instead of helping them
we fight others, instead of playing with them
we laugh at others, instead of comforting them
we call names, instead of being friends with others
we hate others ("I'll kill you!"), instead of loving them
But God still loved them (and you and me), and gave them a promise, like a great signpost, that one day they and their children would come HOME again. God's promise, that filled them with HOPE, was that one day someone born from their children's children's children, would come to set things right again.

Scene 2 - The Promised Day Comes

After very many years, at just the right time, someone did come. He was born to a country girl, a virgin named Mary, but his father was God Himself. He grew up as a good child, but no one heard much about him till he was a full-grown man. Then one day, when there was a big problem at a family wedding, Mary his mother said to the waiters "DO WHATEVER HE (Jesus) TELLS YOU" John chapter 2 verse 5 (and that is what we need to do to - He has the right because He made us. He loves us, and He has done something very wonderful for us - we will get to that later in the week).

Scene 3 - A Story of Wise and Foolish Builders

Jesus went on to tell the people many wonderful things, and some hard things, and huge crowds came to hear him. (Read them in Matthew's gospel, chapters 5, 6 and 7. There is a shorter telling of them in Luke's Gospel, chapter 6, verses 20 to 45)

At the end, he told them a story (a parable - that is a pretend story with a very important, and true, meaning. Read it in Luke chapter 6, verses 46 to 49). He told them about 2 men building houses. One man was wise, and the other a fool. (a puzzle - what is the most important part of a house, yet is invisible? The wise man knows the answer, but not the fool. Think about it before you look at the answer)

The wise man worked very HARD, digging down deep till he came to solid rock, firm and strong enough to hold his house up. Like him, if we want to do what Jesus tells us we must work hard too. It is hard work loving instead of hating, giving instead of taking, helping instead of hurting, truth-telling instead of lying.

The fool's work was very EASY as he just laid the bricks of his house on the sand. No sweat! His house was up and finished, and he was swinging in his hammock under a palm tree while the wise man was still digging! Its always easier to go with the crowd and do what everyone else is doing, like telling lies, cheating, swearing, name-calling, hating, and hurting others.

Scene 4 - The Finished Houses

They look the same don't they?

Is there any difference between the house built by the wise man (who is like the man who heard Jesus's words and DID them) and the house built by the fool (who is like the man who heard Jesus's words but did NOT do them)?

Jesus was talking about you and me. He was not really giving house-building lessons.

Jesus was talking about how to build your life. You need to listen to Him (His words are in the Bible). You need to build your life on GOD. He is strong enough to hold you up forever. Jesus said that if you do what He tells you, you will be like the man building on solid rock.

You have to build your life on something. If it is not God, and what He says, then you will end up trying to build your life on "ME". (No, not me, but on your "me") Your "me", and your "me", and since it is your life you are trying to build, your "ME" you are trying to build, it will never work in the end. It's like trying to build a house on its own roof! It's like trying to get a piggy-back ride on your own back - it can never work. It is like the man who built his house on the soft sand.

How are you building your life?

Are you listening to Jesus, and doing what He says? Or are you hearing, but not doing?

are you trusting God to be your strong foundation?
are you building good habits, not bad ones?
are you trying to be truthful, and not lying?
are you trying to love, and not hate?
are you trying to help, and not hurt?
are you filling your mouth with good words, and not bad ones?
are you learning to give rather than take?
are you learning to comfort others, and not laugh at them?
Or are you just play-acting, playing "Let's pretend!" like a house with no foundation?

Disaster Strikes!

Jesus said that one day a violent rain-storm came on the 2 houses. The creek overflowed with swirling water, and the wind blew like a hurricane. The house on the sand collapsed, and was swept clean away, along with the sand it was built upon. But the house on the rock stood firm.

This is still a dark, difficult, dangerous world, and one day God's great storm will come. What are you building your life upon? Who are you trusting? Jesus, God's Son, or your own weak self? Building on your own weak "ME"?

Trust in Jesus, build on Him. He is the only sure path to true happiness, and to our true home.

The Whole Picture, nearly finished...

and complete at last.

DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU

Click here for a download-able PDF version

Answer

Yes, there is a difference! The wise man's house was built on something sure and solid. It's FOUNDATION, even though you can't see it, is firmly standing on solid rock. The fool's house is just on the loose sand.

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