The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders
WHY do you do what you do?
Why do you get up in the morning, why do you go to school, why do you choose the TV shows that you choose or the games that you play?
I can imagine that your answer would be “because mum and dad tell me I have to.” But what about the things that you can choose? After school activities, sport, who your friends are, what you eat.
The answer that almost everyone in the world would say is: because it makes me happy.
And we all want to be happy right?
Today’s parable focuses on what the basis is for all of our decisions in life, all of our actions in life, all of our thoughts and opinions and what happens if you base your decisions on something worthwhile compared to what happens when you base your decisions on something that is unwise.
The parable today may get you to re-think WHY you make the choices that you do, and as you get older and are able to make more and more choices, you will be able to re-think your WHY even more.
What do you think?
When you come to making decisions in your life, what kind of things would be motivating you?
Q. Why do you go to school? Because it’s the law. Because you have to.
Q. When you are at home after school what do you do when you get to choose and why? Watch TV? Play computer games? Read a book? Because it is fun and relaxing.
Q. If you go out after school, where do you go and why? Sport? Music practise? Do you do it because it is fun or because it is good for you?
Q. If you go to church, why do you do that?
Bible Passage: Matthew 7:24-27
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
Story Time!
The Leaning Tower Of Pisa is a bell tower in Italy. Construction began on it about 900 years ago.
The foundations could only be about 3m deep because there is water if you dig any deeper.
After the construction of the first storey, the building started to sink on the southern side. So they stopped building.
They had a solution! Build each column and step taller on the south side than the north side!
The Tower of Pisa kept sinking! The builder gave up.
A hundred years later another builder come along and had a go at building another storeys; the 5th storey. He made the southern columns an inch taller again, but it was still sinking and he gave up.
30 years later another builder gave it a go and added the 6th and 7th storeys. Almost a hundred years after that, a final builder constructed the final storey with the bell in it and a spiral staircase, and he made the steps on the staircase higher on the southern side.
Overall it took 200 years to build the Tower Of Pisa, and 14,000 tonnes of marble, and it is still leaning! Many times builders have had to come and look at the foundations and attempt to correct the lean so that it doesn’t collapse altogether.
Your life is like a building. Everything you do is adding to the building of your life. All your actions, all your words, even all of your thoughts are contributing to this building. Is it a strong building? Is it a mansion? Is it a good quality building? A good mansion will be built with godly attributes like good deeds, faith, love, peace, kindness. A weak building will be built with sins like being selfish, being hateful, cheating your way through life, lying or stealing.
But the building isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing about a building is it’s foundations. What are you building your life on? Building your life on Jesus is like building on something solid like concrete or rock. Building your life on being happy or living for money or friends and family is not so sturdy. It is like building your life on sand.
The most important questions: What is the reason for you building your life the way you do? What are you building your life on?
A long time ago it was said:
Bible Passage: Psalm 118:22
“The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”
Bible Passage: Acts 4:11
Paul says that “This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.”
Bible Passage: 1 Peter 2:4
Peter says: “Come to Jesus Christ. He is the living stone that people have rejected, but which God has chosen and highly honoured. And now you are living stones that are being used to build a spiritual house.” You are the walls of the building!
Bible Passage: 1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Paul says: “God was kind and let me become an expert builder. I laid a foundation on which others have built. But we must each be careful how we build, because Christ is the only foundation.Whatever we build on that foundation will be tested by fire on the day of judgment. Then everyone will find out if we have used gold, silver, and precious stones, or wood, hay, and straw. We will be rewarded if our building is left standing. But if it is destroyed by the fire, we will lose everything. Yet we ourselves will be saved, like someone escaping from flames.”
Even if you build a small building, even if it is dodgy, if it is built on a good foundation, then you’re ok. If you don’t do too much in your life that shows that you follow God, but still have Jesus as your foundation, then you are still much better off than someone who does great things in life but does not build their life on Jesus as a foundation.
Why do I spend half a day every week making these episodes? Because Jesus is my WHY. He is my foundation in life. Jesus is the reason why I produce The Word On The Street, he is the reason I go to church and bible study, he is the reason why I read my bible and pray and want to be as healthy as I can and why I want to teach my kids to follow him too.
Question Time!
How do you get Jesus to be the foundation of your life?
How do you build a solid life on Jesus?
