Something we hate to admit is that we are the ones who often create our own setbacks! Yes, we live in a sin-damaged world and sin wreaks havoc on all, but:

Luke 6:46-49 NLT “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

This is a parable of Jesus that also reveals a major setback, one man’s house completely collapses! The context of Jesus’ story is that it was delivered on what is often called the Sermon on the Plain, which is Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ sermon was delivered after Jesus had healed a man with a withered hand. Let’s pick up that thread.

Luke 6:6 -11 NLT On another Sabbath day, a man with a deformed right hand was in the synagogue while Jesus was teaching. 7 The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees watched Jesus closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

Luke 6:8 NLT But Jesus knew their thoughts. He said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” So the man came forward. 9 Then Jesus said to his critics, “I have a question for you. Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath, or is it a day for doing evil? Is this a day to save life or to destroy it?”

Luke 6:10 NLT He looked around at them one by one and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored! 11 At this, the enemies of Jesus were wild with rage and began to discuss what to do with him.

We’ll address how this conflict is linked to our parable in a bit. But after this conflict Jesus went away and spent the entire night in prayer because the next day he was going to select the disciples whom he would especially train, these would be the ones closest to Him throughout His ministry. After choosing them, we read:

Luke 6:17-18 NLT When they came down from the mountain, the disciples stood with Jesus on a large, level area, surrounded by many of his followers and by the crowds. There were people from all over Judea and from Jerusalem and from as far north as the seacoasts of Tyre and Sidon. 18 They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those troubled by evil spirits were healed.

So Jesus was then not only with the 12 disciples, but also with this large crowd of people, and to them Jesus delivered what we call the Sermon on the Plain, Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount. When speaking to this large group, Jesus said:

Sermon on the Plain
Happy Are You (Who):	Woe to You (Who):
Are poor	Are rich
For yours is the kingdom of God.	For you have received your consolation.
Are hungry now	Are full now
For you will be filled.	For you will be hungry.
Weep now	Are laughing now
For you will laugh.	For you will mourn and weep.
When people hate, exclude, revile, defame you on account of the Son of Man.	When all speak well of you
For surely your reward is great in heaven.	For that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Here we see a great reversal of thinking and expectations. Those who we see as happy in this life are not as happy as we imagined, plus, they will not be happy in the future life!

But those whose life we thought miserable here and now are not as bad off as we thought, and in the future, they will be the ones celebrating! Life on our sin-damaged planet is not what it seems. Nor will the outcome of our life here be what it seems now. Why? Because character determines destiny! Jesus says, and He will go on to say more about this:

Luke 6:27-31 NLT “But to you who are willing to listen, I say, love your enemies! Do good to those who hate you. 28 Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who hurt you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, offer the other cheek also. If someone demands your coat, offer your shirt also. 30 Give to anyone who asks; and when things are taken away from you, don’t try to get them back. 31 Do to others as you would like them to do to you.

Then Jesus went on to defend the logic of all this by saying:

Luke 6:35-36 NLT “Love your enemies! Do good to them. Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. 36 You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate.

By describing for us what God is really like and offering us the privilege of becoming like God in character, Jesus is appealing to us to make our own choice in favor of God.

But others held different beliefs about God, and to those Jesus also turned His attention:

Luke 6:39 Then Jesus gave the following illustration: “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch?

The first blind person, the one attempting to guide other blind people, that first blind person seems to represent the Scribes and Pharisees collectively. The second blind person, the one being guided, appears to portray those to whom Jesus was delivering His sermon on the plain.

Jesus was then cautioning the second group to be careful what they accepted from the Scribes and Pharisees—that the Scribes and Pharisees were often blind to the truth about God and the truth from God.

Luke 6:47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it.

Jesus, on the other hand, also wanted His listeners to do more than just listen to what he had to say about God and for God; Jesus wanted His hearers to act on His words!

But in the immediate context we saw Jesus’ earlier Sabbath conflict spilling over into Jesus’ later words, and into the tiny parable about builders. Are you following Jesus’ reasoning?

Let’s rejoin Jesus and the crowd of people listening to Him:

Luke 6:46-49 NLT “So why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say? 47 I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. 48 It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built. 49 But anyone who hears and doesn’t obey is like a person who builds a house right on the ground, without a foundation. When the floods sweep down against that house, it will collapse into a heap of ruins.”

Some textual features of this parable:

Matthew 7:24-27 has a similar parable, and its setting is the Sermon on the Mount. Other passages contain: “Lord, Lord,” see Matthew 7:21-22; 25:11.

Some cultural information regarding Jesus’ parable about the builders:

Building a house on a firm foundation shows common sense. Both God and the Messiah, Jesus, are referred to as a rock or a foundation, and laying a good foundation is considered important in both the OT and NT.

Question

How many texts can you find that label God/Jesus a rock or a foundation, or that speak of the importance of a good foundation? Also, go back and study Jesus’ ongoing reasoning from event to parable, etc.

Doing the truth one knows is a major teaching of Scripture:

Deuteronomy 31:12 NLT Call them all together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns—so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions.

James 1:22-25 NLT But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Ellen White commented on Jesus’ sermon:

Thus Christ set forth the principles of His kingdom, and showed them to be the great rule of life. To impress the lesson, he adds an illustration. It is not enough, He says, to hear My words. By obedience you must make them the foundation of your character. Self is but shifting sand. If you build on human theories and inventions, your house will fall. By the winds of temptation, the tempests of trial, it will be swept away. But these principles that I have given will endure. Receive Me; build on My words. The Desire of Ages, 314:3

Questions

Do you do the good you know to do?

Are you convicted that having a good character is critical? And are you convicted that you must have a good character? In essence, are you convicted that character determines destiny?

Are you also convicted that storms will come to your life, and you must therefore build on a solid foundation, the Rock Jesus Christ?

Are you willing to admit that you created/are responsible for many of your own setbacks?

How will having a good character help you when your setbacks are not of your own making?

When you are in the throes of a setback, how might Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain help?

For those who are willing to listen to contemporary Christian music:

Try Whitney Houston’s cover of Go to the Rock. Listen to Aaron Jeoffrey’s version of it, titled: I Go to the Rock.; listen to Cornerstone by TobyMac. These songs address building on Jesus our Solid Rock!