The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock

By Elaine Poproski

This Sunday marks the end of our 11 week series through the Sermon on the Mount. If you missed any of the sermons, or are just looking for a refresher, you can find them posted on our website (www.walmer.ca) under the worship heading.

Last Sunday, Heather Weir lead us through some difficult words about false prophets, wolves in sheeps’ clothing, and those who declare, “Lord, Lord,” but to whom Jesus responds, “I never knew you.” Heather assigned us some homework. Have you done yours yet? She invited us to spend time in Galatians 5, particularly verses 19 to 25. These verses offer a clue to the difference between those who are truly sheep and those who are only disguised as sheep. She challenged us to talk with God about the fruit in our lives – those things that need to diminish and those that need to increase. She also encouraged us to spend some time in 1 Kings 22, reading the story of King Jehoshaphat, his entourage of false prophets and his one true prophet.

This coming Sunday, the words from the sermon are a bit more familiar, perhaps, than those Heather unpacked for us last week. There’s even an old Sunday School song about this week’s passage. Do you know it? The wise man built his house upon the rock, his house upon the rock, his house upon the rock…  One of the challenges when we read stories and metaphors with which we’re overly familiar is that we skim through them, assuming we already know their lessons. We ignore the layers of meaning that we are better equipped to dig into with adulthood and, hopefully, a greater spiritual maturity than when we were children. This Sunday, we’ll be considering this closing metaphor of the Sermon on the Mount under the subheading from Matthew 7:13-14 in which Jesus likens discipleship to a narrow gate or a hard road. You’ll notice some similar themes to those brought up by Heather last week. And so, in preparation for Sunday, I invite you to do what Heather invited you to do at the close of her sermon last week. In particular, I invite you to spend some time in prayer around Galatians 5:19-25. Open yourself up to God’s conviction and God’s encouragement. Allow yourself to use whichever metaphors work best in that time of prayer – fruit, sheep & wolves, or houses on sand or rock. In what ways does your discipleship of Jesus honour Jesus and in what ways does it not?