Pastor Aaron Buer continues our Parables series by unpacking Jesus's closing words in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:39-49). Through three vivid pictures—spiritual blindness, good and bad fruit, and two houses built on different foundations—we see that Jesus calls us to more than admiring his teaching. We're challenged to examine who we are following and what's growing within us. Jesus warns that only a life built on obedience to him can withstand life’s storms. This message invites us to move from simply hearing God's truth to putting it into practice, anchoring our lives on the unshakeable foundation of Christ.

Luke 6:39-49

³⁹He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?⁴⁰The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.

⁴¹ “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?⁴²How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

A Tree and Its Fruit

⁴³ “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.⁴⁴Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.⁴⁵A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

The Wise and Foolish Builders

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?⁴⁷As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like.⁴⁸They are 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.⁴⁹But 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.”