No Cookie Cutter Houses

Matthew 7:21-27

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?^’23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

     Have you ever noticed that in the Bible there are no cookie cutter houses or homes? A cookie cutter house is something that military housing and Killeen should be very familiar with. Designers come up with a good design, supposedly, and then they replicate it over and over again.

     In the Bible, there is no typical family. In fact, it's pretty hard to come up with a Biblical example of any stereotypical family, especially one of a Father, Mother, Son and Daughter, so often thought of in the American Family. In fact, that scenario is now a minority in today's America. Some houses are Single Alone, Never Married, Widowed, Divorced. Others are Single Together, either Roommates, Not Married Yet, Not Ever Going to Be Married.

     Then there are Houses with Single Moms, Single Dads, Married With Kids, Married No Kids.

     Or there are Homes with Extended Family Members (cousins, grandparents, relatives), and Homes with family and friends.

     If you look at the families and houses in the Bible, you will find that many of them would be deemed "dysfunctional" by our definitions. I believe Lydia in the book of Acts was a single mom raising her children in Macedonia, yet she became the first European Convert in Acts 16:14-15. Paul (and Jesus for that matter) was Single, likely a Widower or some even think he was Divorced, perhaps his wife left him after his conversion, since members of the Pharisees were typically married and Paul had been a Pharisee. Peter was married. Timothy was raised with his mother and grandmother close by but his father was not mentioned.

    If you look in the Old Testament, the houses there were even more diverse (to say the least). Whatever our house and home look like, in all of our varieties and different stages of life, God wants us to have one Foundation, one Rock on which to build it upon. That Rock is Jesus, our Cornerstone. That foundation will be strong.

     How do we build upon that Rock? By hearing and doing the words and commandments He has said. In fact in John 14, Jesus says this:

²¹ He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.... ²³ If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.

     God relates to us as a family unit, whatever form it takes.