City Life Starter

Written by Megan Meier

The Word

46 “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?47 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: 48 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. 49 But the one who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the stream broke against it, immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Luke 6:46-49 ESV

Reflection

Picture building a house, but without jackhammers, excavators, concrete, bulldozers, or even a plow and oxen. Building a sturdy house in first century Palestine involved strategically digging in the ground until hitting bedrock, or even excavating in rock, with a pickaxe. Here’s a picture of where the bedrock is in relation to the surface:

The layers from the surface to the top of bedrock could range from a few inches to even over one hundred feet (Jesus wasn’t kidding when He instructed us to dig deep)! Imagine shoveling one hundred feet of soil and sediment out of the way. All day. For multiple days. Putting Jesus’ Words into practice involves digging deeply and shoveling a lot of stuff out of the way. The wise man had to shovel his pride, envy, lust, prejudice, hatred, and other junk out of the way to build his foundation in Jesus Christ.

Then the wise man had to drag heavy rocks for the strategically dug ground, if he did not have a wheelbarrow or a neighbor to borrow it from. He might have recruited friends and family to help out, but he would have done the majority of the work. Building a foundation in Jesus is hard work and is never meant to be done completely alone.

Some say the flood represents God’s Final Judgement, some say the flood symbolizes problems and even worldly disasters. The point of this parable isn’t about physical survival, but spiritual survival in the face of conflicts and/or Jesus’ Second Coming. Some manuscripts of Luke 6:48 say “founded upon the rock”. Because the wise man went the extra mile, dug deep within himself, got the sediment of sin out of the way, and built his foundation in Jesus with the help of his fellow Christ-followers, he survived spiritually.  

A house with a weak foundation, or worse, no foundation, will not survive a spiritual storm. The foolish man who built his house without a foundation knew what he was supposed to do, but didn’t. His problem was not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of obedience. Was he lazy or “busy” (Matthew 13:5-7, 20-22)? Whatever the reason, a spiritual disaster came and his house, or life and/or values, were destroyed.

17 “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” James 2:17 ESV

Application

The storms, whether everyday problems, worldly disasters, and God’s Final Judgement, will come, and it’s best to prepare for them. Building a strong foundation in Jesus Christ takes a lot of hard and smart work. Where in your life do you need to dig deep? What do you need to get out of the way? Impatience? Bitterness? Hatred? Don’t be dismissive of these emotions, be curious about them, where did they come from? How did they get there? How can you get them out of the way?

Remember you’re not meant to build your foundation alone, or even get the sediment of sin out of your way by yourself. Tell your Life Group and Micro Group, if you’re not part of either yet, join one, we’d love to have you! You are not alone and are not meant to build your foundation in complete solitude (Ecclesiastes 4:12, Matthew 18:20).

Prayer

Dear Jesus, please help me to put Your Words into practice, let them stay in as my foundation. Let me dig deep within to shovel out what needs to leave my heart to make room for You. Please lead me to other Christ-followers I can be vulnerable with. In Your Name I pray, amen.