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BE A WISE BUILDER

Luke 6:37-49

Key Verse: 6:47-48

“I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice.  He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”

In the last passage Jesus chose his twelve disciples and began to train them. He taught them that as disciples, they should have a different attitude from the world. The attitude of a disciple is that when we are humbled, we are blessed. Also he taught them the core of living as a disciple; it is to practice sacrificial love, even toward the unthankful and wicked. Jesus promises that those who practice this will have a great reward in heaven. In this passage Jesus continues, urging his disciples to overcome all kinds of hypocrisy and to practice his words from the heart. If we do this, Jesus said we will be really wise builders in life. May God help us to be wise builders by hearing Jesus’ words and putting them into practice.

I.             Measure for measure (37-38).

Let’s continue to look at Jesus’ teaching. Let’s read verse 37. “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” This is a most famous verse. What is Jesus really talking about when he says, “Do not judge”? He’s talking about our tendency to use our own standard to decide who is good and who is bad. It doesn’t mean we cannot say what sin is; the Bible says very clearly what sin is. But we always want to condemn others with our critical spirit, judging their actions one by one, despising certain people and dismissing them as worthless. Why do we do this?

Of course, we do it to feel good about ourselves, by saying that we are better than others. But often when we judge others we make a big mistake, because we judge only by outward appearances, without knowing the facts. The great evangelist Charles Spurgeon and his wife used to sell eggs that their chickens laid. They would not give the eggs away. They would not even give eggs to their close relatives, but made them buy the eggs. As a result, some people said that the Spurgeons were greedy and selfish. They accepted the criticisms without defending themselves. Only after Mrs. Spurgeon died was the rest of the story revealed: all the profits from the sale of the eggs went to support two poor elderly widows. People had judged and criticized them by outward appearance only.

Most of all, we must not judge others because in fact we are not better than others. We are all fallen sinners. The Bible says, “...there is no one righteous, not even one.” If any of us is going to enter the kingdom of heaven, we will need bucketloads of mercy. So if we want to have hope of receiving mercy, we had better show mercy. Everyone who condemns others must live in fear of being condemned himself. No one can stand up under even his own standard of judgment, much less God’s. But Jesus gives us a precious promise: “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.” (37) If we are of a forgiving spirit, we ourselves will reap the benefit of it and have great peace.

Jesus is better than us; he is the Son of God. But he did not judge or condemn others. Instead, he embraced all kinds of sinners with the power of forgiveness and gave them new lives. Our God does not want to judge us by all our failings, even though he has a right to. Rather, he sent his own Son to die on the cross so that sinners could be justified when they believe in Jesus. So we should imitate God’s way of dealing.

Now look at verse 38. “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” The concept that what we do comes back to us also applies to giving. Jesus wants us to give generously by faith that it will come back to us in full measure. If you give to others generously, God will not forget your generous heart, and will give back to you abundantly. One missionary wondered why he never received gifts from people when they came to visit from overseas, even though all other coworkers received gifts. Then he realized it was because he never gave any gifts to anyone. Once he started to send gifts to others overseas, then he finally received some gifts from others.

Jesus was very, very generous. Jesus spent his life for sinners. The best that he had, he gave to the least. So Jesus also wants us to give love, give our time, give our patience for others without holding back. This is the opposite of what the world tells us to do. The world says, “Watch out for yourself, or you’ll get cheated.” But Jesus promised us that a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be poured into our laps. It means that when we give generously, we never have to fear that we ourselves will be shorted or cheated out of our fair portion. Let’s remember that after Jesus laid down his life for us, God repaid him by raising him from the dead and gave him the name that is above every name. Let’s pray for a generous spirit. Let’s forgive and give by faith, because with the measure we use it will be measured to us.

II.            First take the plank out of your eye (39-45).

In this part Jesus wants to warn his disciples very clearly about hypocrisy. Look at verses 39 and 40. “He also told them this parable: ‘Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?  A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.’”

Here Jesus is telling his disciples to be very careful who they follow. In another place Jesus called the Pharisees “blind guides.” Because these religious leaders of Israel were corrupted, the  people of Israel were wandering like sheep without shepherds and really messing up their lives. In fact, everyone needs spiritual training and life training. We need to learn from a teacher. But if we follow hypocrites, we will become hypocrites too. It’s a universal principle that people become like their teacher.

Today there is the idea that everyone can find his own way. But the real result is that people only end up following so many blind guides. This world is full of blind guides. When people don’t have a good shepherd, beer commercials become their guide for finding good fellowship. The TV dramas become their guide for finding a wife or husband. Atheistic professors become their guide for a world view. What blind guides! If these things are our life guides, should we be surprised if we fall into a pit?

Verse 40b gives the educational goal of training. It says, “Everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Basically, the student does not become different from his teacher. So we must be careful who and what we allow to teach us. Basically, we must be sure that we have Jesus as our teacher. We have to let Jesus train us more than we let our classmates or the internet train us. If we do, we will have a great result in our lives; we will become like Jesus. We have to pray that students may be turned away from so many blind guides and have shepherds who can train them and help them learn from Jesus.  Then they can be fully trained and be like Jesus.

Look at verses 41-42. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” This parable is also related to the problem of judging. There is a sinful tendency for us to look at others’ small weaknesses, but pay no attention to the glaring problems we have. A speck of sawdust in one's eye is irritating and needs to be removed, but it is not fatal. On the other hand, a plank in one’s eye is serious and would require immediate emergency care. One should be more concerned about a plank in his own eye than about a speck of sawdust in another’s eye. One shepherd told his wife, “Honey, you left the milk out once.” But he himself always leaves his socks and all kinds of food all over the house all the time.

In this parable, a plank might represent our big sin problem or deep unbelief, while a speck might represent some character flaw or unsanctified habit that we see in others. Jesus said in verse 42b, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” What do we need to do first? We need to take the plank out of our own eye.

How can we remove the plank from our own eye? Maybe you know the answer; it’s to repent. Instead of looking at others’ small weaknesses, we need to repent of our own sins. This is our first order of business. We should not think we can see anything clearly while there is a plank in our eye! Of course, it’s much more difficult to remove a large foreign object lodged in our eye socket than to remove a small speck. It could be a painful operation. Often, our big, obvious life problem is often the last thing we find in ourselves. This is why removing our plank is not something we can really do in our human power. Real, profound repentance is the work of the Holy Spirit. We have to pray for the grace of repentance, and a genuinely contrite heart, to see our plank of sin, to see Jesus’ cross, and to throw out our plank with a decisive decision.

Jesus promised that after we have removed the plank from our own eye, we will then see clearly to remove the speck from our brother’s eye. (42) Jesus doesn’t want us to ignore others who need help; he wants us to grow as shepherds who can be used to remove the planks and specks from others’ eyes―mainly planks. In order to be a shepherd who can truly help others, clear spiritual vision is so important. We have to pray for the grace of repentance to solve our life problem with the word of God, so we can live as shepherds for others.

Seeing clearly doesn’t come from head knowledge, but from a humble and contrite heart that can remove our own plank. We have to remember daily what kind of sinners we are and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul wrote, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” (1 Ti 1:15) Paul always remembered what kind of sinner he was and the wonderful grace of Jesus. Then, each day he could decide to live as a new creation, throwing out any planks. Then he could be a good shepherd to many kinds of people. Let us remember the wonderful grace of Jesus given to us so we can see clearly to take care of those who need good shepherds.

Look at verses 43-45. “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.  The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

In raising disciples, Jesus did not focus on specks; he did not focus his effort on improving his disciples’ appearances or their table manners. Jesus wanted to transform their hearts into good hearts. Good fruit comes from a good heart. Love does not come out of a hateful heart. Joy does not come out of a bitter heart. Peace does not come out of a vengeful heart. An evil heart cannot suddenly start manufacturing good fruit, any more than a banana tree can suddenly decide to start making apples. Maybe if he tries really hard he can make a red banana, but that’s it.

So the real issue is whether we have a good heart or an evil heart. Do we have good hearts or evil hearts? In fact, none of us has a good heart by nature, because we are all sinners with corrupted hearts. But Jesus can create a new and good heart in us through his word. It happens when we hear his word with repentance and faith. So Jesus told his disciples, “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” (Jn 15:3) We are really hopeless sinners, but when we study the word of God with sincere repentance, the word of God comes in, purifies us and creates in us a clean and good heart. That is our hope for bearing good fruit in our lives.

Jesus also referred to the human heart as a place where things are stored up. “The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart...” (45a) What comes out in our words and our actions can only be what is already stored up in our heart. We cannot bring out something different than what is stored up in our heart. Rather, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks, either words of life of words of death. In the world of computers, this principle is called “garbage in, garbage out.” So we have to take responsibility for what we store up in our heart. Most of all, we have to store the word of God in our hearts. It is just like Psalm 119 says, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” (Ps 119:11) Let’s pray that we may not try to manufacture fake fruit, but rather store up good things in our tree.

III.           The wise and foolish builders (46-49).

Look at verse 46. “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?” The disciples had just heard Jesus’ words, “Do not judge,” “Forgive”, and “...first take the plank out of your eye....” But hearing was not enough. They needed to practice these teachings in their daily lives. Who are the real hypocrites? The real hypocrites are those who call Jesus “Lord” with their lips, but do not do what he says. To help his disciples understand the importance of practicing his word, he tells a parable about two builders—a wise builder and a foolish builder. Look at verses 47 and 48. “I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.”

The wise builder in the parable is the one who digs down deep until he hits rock. Then, and only then, he starts to build on that rock. He may have to dig a long time before he hits rock. It requires patience and effort before seeing any results. When you dig deep, you have to get rid of a lot of useless dirt. If you don’t hit rock right away, you just have to keep digging deeper and deeper until you hit the rock. The wise builder has to get up early, sweat all day, and go to bed late. It requires a lot of hard work, even though the foundation is not even the visible part of the house.

How can we be build our lives on a good foundation? Jesus himself is the rock, the only solid foundation. But to really build our lives on Jesus, we have to dig down deep. Jesus said we must come to him, hear him, and practice his words. Putting Jesus’ words into practice is a long term struggle, like digging and digging and digging; it’s a lifestyle of digging. First, we study the Bible and write testimonies to dig out the application of Jesus’ words to our lives. Then, we practice. It’s not necessary to try to practice many words at once and be scatterbrained. Practicing even one word every day is enough. Still is not easy. To master even one concept you have to practice it a thousand times. We practice Jesus’ discipleship command by struggling to invite one student to Bible study again and again, even though it would be easier to just leave them alone. Every new semester, we start digging again. We struggle to find five loaves and two fish for a new challenge in world mission every day. In our church, this is what we try to help each other do. It’s really a digging life, putting one word of God into practice throughout our lives. It’s not easy to keep struggling to practice one word of God for 10, 20, or 40 years. But in the end it will be more than worth the cost. Why? Because we can overcome the torrents of life.

The torrents of life come to everyone; no one can avoid facing events that are like floods and torrents. The quality of everyone’s building work must be tested in the floods of life. Perhaps a torrent takes away your job, or you lose a good friend because of misunderstanding, or your child is sick or rebellious. There is one torrent that everyone must face, with no exceptions. That torrent is death, followed by God’s judgment. If our life can stand up before God on the day of judgment, we will be allowed into the eternal kingdom of heaven. So it’s most important for us to be aware of how we are building our life. According to verse 48b, when the torrent struck the house built on the rock, it could not shake that house, because it was well-built. When we build our lives on the Lord Jesus Christ, we can withstand any storm of life because our lives are firmly rooted on the solid rock. Nothing, not even death, can shake us. Our life and what we worked for will remain forever.

Look at verse 49. “But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” This foolish builder neglected foundation work, working only on the part of the house one can see. Perhaps the house built without a foundation looked the same outwardly as the one built on the foundation. Surely, it cost less and there was a lot less work involved. The foolish builder finished his house early and could relax on his deck and throw a lot of parties. He laughed at the one building on the foundation, saying, “Look at me, enjoying life, while you are still working on that foundation.”

According to verse 49, the foolish builder does hear Jesus’ words; but he does not come to Jesus put them into practice. This shows that the alternative to the deep-digging life is the superficial or cultural Christian life. The foolish builder has superficial Bible study and doesn’t bother to get up early to pray. He barely reads his Bible and doesn’t write testimonies. He just shows up to church on Sunday and hangs out with his friends, but there is no struggle to really repent from his heart. He never accepts one word of Jesus deeply nor puts Jesus’ word into practice with his own personal faith. If you examine his daily life, from the time he gets up to the time he goes to bed, he only focuses on building up the visible parts of life. He is indeed building a house, but it is a house without a foundation. He is totally neglecting the foundation work. Perhaps the house can last for a while, looking good on the outside. But what is the result? No matter how good they look, the life that such a person builds is a most flimsy and superficial shack. Perhaps no human being can tell there is something wrong with the house. But we cannot fool God. The Lord can see that there is no foundation.

What happened to the foolish builder’s house? Look at verse 49b. “The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” One way or another, the flood eventually comes to the foolish builder’s house, and there is no foundation to hold it firm against the torrent. The foolish man was so impatient and thought he could build something for himself with only his own ability, without digging for the foundation. What a fool! What if we only get up every day and try to do what we have to do without even a little digging to seek God’s help? The foolish man’s house collapses quickly and is swept away by the torrents and completely destroyed. The foolish builder could not withstand the destructive torrents of life or the final torrent of death and God’s judgment. If our life cannot withstand the torrent of the judgment, we will be swept away forever and everything we have built will be a loss.

It’s not easy for us to focus on the foundation work because that’s not the visible part. Of course, your physics teacher will not give you an A just because you wrote a testimony every week. You have to study hard too. But digging out God’s word is seeking the foundation. Jesus is the foundation of studying and the foundation of life and eternity. Nobody can make you do this. We can always find an easy way if we want, doing only the visible parts. It’s up to us to build our life with the true foundation.

Are you a wise builder or a foolish builder? Only the life built on Jesus by putting his word into practice can withstand the torrents of life and the torrent of judgment. May God help us to be wise builders who build on the foundation of Jesus the Rock by hearing his words and obeying them from our hearts.