These readings are at the tail end of Jesus’ Sermon on the mount which occupies Matthew chapters 5-7. Verses 15-18 are warnings about false prophets who externally seem to be obedient God’s law but do not produce good fruit. In Jesus’ context it would be people to proclaim to follow him but do not actually do as he requires.

21 “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Jesus says that not everyone who says he is Lord will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but those who actually follow out the will of the Father who is in heaven. Those who actually do the will of the Father will in fact call Jesus Lord but Jesus is stressing that just claiming he is Lord is not enough, you must also do the Fathers will. Jesus clarifies in other passages that the Fathers will is his so follow him is to follow the Father. It has become rather mainstream in the man-made Christian denominations to actually stress the complete opposite of this.

The Greek word for “does” is poieō which means “to make” or “to do” in Matthews Gospel it always refers to physical outward actions. For example Matthew 1:24 “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife,” or Matthew 3:3 “For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’”

All the context points to this being an external, outward action, a simple intellectual or verbal pronouncement of faith is not enough. You must do the will of the Father as well as acknowledge Jesus as Lord.

24 “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock;

25 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Jesus goes on to say that everyone who actually abides by this teaching of his and does them will be like “a wise man who built his house upon the rock”. Jesus is comparing the unity of intellectual assent and works of God the sure building practice of solid foundations for housebuilding. This implies that those who only say “Lord, Lord” are building on unsure ground.

He describes a scenario where the rain falls and a flood occurs along with gales of wind that beat upon the house but since it has a solid foundation in both believing and doing, it does not fall. The rock foundation does not promise that the rain and winds wont come but that you will survive them.

26 And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand;

27 and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”

To make his point as clear as possible Jesus uses the same scenario but explains what occurs when a person listens to his word but does not do what he tells. They are like man who does not build upon solid foundations, but on sand. Jesus does not pick something slightly less solid than rock, he picks sand one of the most infirm surfaces to build except maybe for water. The house the is built on sand cannot survive the rain, floods and wind. “It fell; and great was the fall of it”. Jesus stresses that the action of just saying “Lord, Lord” isn’t just a minor slip up but something that causes a major fall.

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