Lamp On A Stand, Wise & Foolish Builders

Parable #3 — Matthew 5:14-15 — Lamp on a Stand

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.”

 

Many Judean cities were founded on the summits or sides of mountains, and travelers could see them from afar. Perhaps Jesus pointed to such a city, telling His disciples that they were like it. The city built on an important location can be seen by many eyes over a wide area, representing a disciple’s far-ranging and widespread exposure to others.

Jesus’ illustration of a shining lamp illuminating the home suggests a disciple’s more intimate influence. A Christian’s actions cannot be hidden from the eyes of either our families or the world at large. This being the case, one should live a righteous, holy, humble, and pure life, letting “your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

Parable #4 — Luke 6:47-49 — Wise and Foolish Builders

 

“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 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.

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.”

Here’s the Lord speaking to the most religious people possible, the people in the right religion, Judaism. Jesus says, “The problem is you call me Lord but you don’t do what I say.” That’s the problem. I’m not looking for your curiosity, I’m not looking for your fascination. I’m not looking for your admiration. I’m telling you what it is to be a true follower. But He says it doesn’t mean anything if you don’t do what I say.

What Jesus says is, you have to recognize your sin, see that you are prisoners, blind and oppressed, that you are the poor, that you are the hungry, that you are starving spiritually, that you are the sad over whose lives there should be endless mourning because of your alienation from God. He says, “I’m telling you, you’ve got to look at yourself and see yourself as a sinner, then you’ve got to look at me and see me as your Lord and cry out to God for mercy.”

Jesus gives an illustration that is unforgettable. “The one who comes to Me hears My words and acts upon them,” that’s obedience, “I’ll show you whom he’s like. He’s like a man building a house who dug deep,” that’s kind of the idea of repentance, getting really down to the realities of my own life and down also deep into the truth of God, “and laid a foundation upon the rock.”

Rock is an Old Testament term for God, isn’t it? And foundation is a New Testament term for Christ used a number of times, e.g., 1 Corinthians 3:11. So what you have here is the message of Christ which is about God as the rock, about Christ as the foundation, and the gospel. So whoever builds his life on the gospel, on the great cornerstone of the gospel from Matthew 16, “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God.” That’s the rock bed, cornerstone foundation.

When you go down and you build your life on God in Christ and the gospel, storms of judgment can never move your house. That’s somebody who just doesn’t admire Jesus, but who embraces Him as Lord and Savior.  The key thing here is not to admire Christ, it’s to obey Christ.