“Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built” Luke 6:46–49
Good sermons frequently conclude with a call to action, so we are not surprised to find that Jesus ended His Sermon on the Plain with an exhortation to do something. As we see in today’s passage, Christ did not leave His hearers to guess at how they should respond to His teaching, and by extension He does not leave later readers such as us to guess either. Luke 6:46–49 tells us very clearly that we are to build our lives on our Lord’s instruction by putting His words into practice.
Jesus begins by asking why we would call Him “Lord” if we do not do what He says (Luke 6:46). Clearly, He intends us to see that we cannot truly honor Him with our words only but that we must serve Him with our lives. The old covenant prophets often castigated the ancient Jews for honoring God with their lips while having hearts that were far from Him (e.g., see Isa. 29:13–14), and Christ’s question of His disciples in Luke 6:46 stands in this tradition. We do not truly recognize His lordship unless we do what He says. This is a lesson we cannot hear too often in our day when many people still profess trust in Christ but seem to have little concern to obey Him.
The Lord follows up His question in Luke 6:46 with a parable that demonstrates obedience to Jesus as the wisest choice we could ever make. In the land of Israel, because of the dry conditions, there are many wadis, or seasonal rivers. For much of the year, these rivers are completely dry and fill with water only during the two annual periods of rain. This creates the prospect of flash flooding when the rivers suddenly fill with water and overflow. Homes built on shaky foundations are apt to be washed away during these floods, but those that are constructed on secure foundations can stand.
Jesus bases His parable in verses 47–49 on this reality. Those who hear His words but disobey them are like the person who builds his house on an insecure foundation. Ultimately, his efforts come to naught because the floodwaters wash his house away. On the other hand, to hear and obey Jesus makes one like the man who builds his house on a secure foundation. When the flood comes, his house stands firm. The point is simple: only those who hear and obey Jesus endure unto eternal life. This is not, of course, because our good works merit eternal life or make us righteous in God’s sight but because obedience to Christ is the necessary, inevitable fruit of saving faith, which alone lays hold of salvation (Luke 6:43–45; Eph. 2:8–10; James 2:14–26).
CORAM DEO Living before the face of God Dr. R.C. Sproul writes in his commentary on Luke, “If you build your house on the Word of God and you build your house on Jesus Christ, the everlasting Rock, even a tsunami cannot ruin your life.” True disciples of Jesus show that they trust in Him by seeking to obey Him and repenting when they fall short. It is impossible to have Jesus as Savior if we are not endeavoring to follow Him as Lord.
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