Category: Matthew 7

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Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: What we build our lives on

The gospels

And so we come to the end of the Sermons on the Mount and the Plain.

Both end the same way, with a challenge. Essentially, Jesus sums it up by saying,

Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46)

In other words, if you call me ‘Lord,’ but don’t do what I say, can you really say I am your Lord?

One person put it this way, “Either Jesus is Lord of all in your life, or he isn’t Lord at all.”

And it’s very true. Jesus is either Lord of your life, or he isn’t. There is no in-between.

Jesus then gives his very famous illustration of the house built on rock, and the house built on sand.

He tells us that if we hear his words and do them, we are like the person that digs down deep into the ground and lays their foundation on rock. And because we do so, because we have a stable foundation, when the storms of life come, our house will stand.

But if we hear his words and do not obey, we are building our lives on sand.

What is sand like? Always shifting. That’s what the thought patterns of this world are like. Always shifting.

Morals and values in this world are constantly changing. Things that were considered abominable 50 years ago are being celebrated as good. Things that were considered good are now considered passé.

But when we build our lives on shifting sand, our foundation is not stable, and when the storms of life come, our house will collapse.

How about you? Are you building your house on rock? Are you not only hearing the words of Jesus, but putting them into practice?

Or are you instead being conformed to the pattern of this world?

Are you building your house on rock, or on shifting sand?

In short, is Jesus truly your Lord?

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Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: Testing those you listen to

Matthew

After Jesus tells us to go through the narrow gate that leads to salvation, he gives us a warning.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

People often associate prophets as those who issue out predictions of the future. But true prophets of God did much more than that. They confronted people with the words of God.

You see this throughout the Old Testament. People like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel.

You also see in the Old Testament many of the types of people Jesus warns against here. People who looked good. Who sounded good. Who seemed spiritual. But who spoke words straight from hell, leading people down the broad road that leads to destruction.

Unfortunately, there are people like this in the church today. People who claim to speak the words of God but corrupt the very words he says.

The question then becomes, “How do we tell the true prophet from the false prophet when they look so alike.”

Jesus tells us the answer.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?

Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:17-20)

In short, we need to test the fruit that they produce. There are two types of fruit that prophets and teachers produce.

The fruit of their lives is one. Are they living the things they teach? Or are they mere hypocrites.

This is not to say that they must be perfect in order to teach. But they should be continually growing and maturing in their faith. And hopefully, as they speak, they are honest about what their areas of struggle are.

But there’s another kind of fruit. The fruit of what they teach. What is coming out of their mouths? Is it consistent with the Word of God? Or is it not?

As teachers, they are responsible to teach the Word accurately. To study to show themselves approved, workmen who don’t need to be ashamed, accurately interpreting the Word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

But as hearers of the Word, we are to test what they teach.

That is what the Bereans did in the book of Acts. They did not simply listen to the words of Paul. They tested it by what scripture said when they went home.

And when they found that what Paul said matched up with scripture, they believed. (Acts 17:11-12)

We ought to do the same. Test what the teachers and pastors say. And if their teaching matches what scripture teaches, accept it, and obey. If not, reject it.

Many teachers today claim Jesus as their Lord. And most do. But some will come before Christ someday saying,

Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? (Matthew 7:22)

But Jesus will reply,

I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers! (Matthew 7:23)

And unfortunately, those who blindly followed these teachers will be swept right along into hell with them.

Why? Because they never tested what they were taught.

How about you? Do you test what you hear? Do you test what you read? Or do you just blindly follow?

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Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: When being broadminded is not such a good thing

Matthew

A common criticism the world has of the Christian is, “Why do you have to be so narrow minded? Why can you be more broadminded? Why does Jesus have to be the only way to heaven?”

But there are some things we simply can’t be broadminded about. We certainly can’t be broadminded when it comes to mathematics.

If a student takes a test, and says that 2+2=10, and the teacher marks it wrong, can the student argue with the teacher saying, “Come on, let’s be broadminded about this. 10, 4, it’s not so different.”

We also can’t be broadminded about medical procedures.

Imagine you have a bad kidney and it has to be removed. The doctor knocks you out and when you wake up, not only is your kidney still there, but one of your teeth is missing.

You ask the doctor, “What happened to my tooth? You were supposed to remove my kidney.”

The doctor says, “Oh, tooth, kidney, it’s all the same. You’ve got to be broadminded about these things.”

Well, if we can’t be broadminded about these things, how much less can we be broadminded when it comes to eternal life. Especially when Jesus says,

Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)

Jesus makes it clear that you cannot come to God on your own terms. You must come to him on his.

A person once put it this way: “You can either go to heaven God’s way or to hell your own.”

What is God’s way? Jesus tells us,

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Let’s put it another way.

If there were another way to heaven besides Jesus, would God have forced him to go to the cross? How can we spit on the cross of Christ by seeking another way to God? How can we spit on the gift of God this way?

Being broadminded can be a good thing. But not when it comes to eternal life.

How about you? Are you seeking eternal life on God’s terms? Or your own?

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Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: Doing good, not just avoiding evil

The gospels

I find the placement of the “Golden Rule” a little jarring in Matthew. It doesn’t seem to quite fit, particularly with the “Therefore” at the beginning of it.

I suppose it’s pointing back to the totality of Jesus’ message up to that point.

In Luke, the placement of this rule is much more seamless. It comes right after Jesus talks about loving your enemies, doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you, praying for those who mistreat you, not responding to insult with insult, and being generous.

Jesus sums all of this up by saying,

Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke 6:31)

In other cultures, we see a similar rule. “Don’t do to others what you would not like them to do to you.”

What is the main difference between this rule and the one Jesus gave?

Jesus’ rule is much harder to do. It actually requires action. It’s relatively easy not to do evil to another. Just avoid them. If you never deal with them, there’s no way you can do evil to them.

But you can’t do good to another while avoiding all contact with them. You actually have to do something. To reach out. Even though they hate you. Even though they insult you. Even though they try to take advantage of you.

That’s hard. But that’s the kind of people God calls us to be.

As God’s child, it is not enough to just not do evil. God calls us to do good. To be a light, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. To be salt that flavors the world around us.

And what better way is there to do that than to do good to those who don’t deserve it.

It’s the kind of love that this world finds hard to understand and almost impossible to do (if not impossible).

But a Christian who is plugged into Jesus can. Why? Because the love of Jesus is being poured into their lives to the point that it simply must overflow to those around them.

How about you? Are you simply avoiding doing evil? Or are you going out with the love Jesus has poured into your life and touching the people around you?

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Luke Luke 11 Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: The Father who gives good gifts…generously

The gospels

In America, there are some Bible teachers that say that if you want something from God, just claim it in Jesus name, and he has to give it to you.

For a lot of these people, God is like their personal genie. But God is no genie. He doesn’t have to do anything he doesn’t want to do. And whether people believe it or not, he doesn’t always want to give you what you want.

One key phrase we see in Matthew is that God gives “good gifts to those who ask him.” (Matthew 7:11)

Sometimes, though, we ask for things, and God knows they are not good for us. We ask for something thinking it’s bread, but it’s really a stone. Will God give us that stone?

Other times, we’ll ask for a fish when it’s really a serpent. Will he give us that serpent? Of course not. He is a good Father. He would never do that to us.

With that in mind, we can be bold in asking things of God, knowing that if something is good for us, he will give it to us in his timing. But if something is bad for us, he will tell us no.

So Jesus tells us,

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. (Luke 11:9-10)

Too often, we don’t receive because we don’t ask. We worry, “Am I being selfish? Shouldn’t I be praying about other things? Surely there are more important things to pray for than what I want.”

I think there are two points to be made here.

Number one, God is more generous than we realize. He loves us and wants to give his children good gifts.

Jesus talks in Luke of a person who only drags himself out of bed because his neighbor keeps pounding on the door asking for some bread.

Far from saying that God has to be pestered consistently before he will answer, Jesus is contrasting God with the man in the story.

Jesus was saying, “If that man, though he is tired, will drag himself out of bed because his neighbor keeps pounding on the door, how much more will God gladly answer the prayers of those who come to his door?”

The second point is this: God wants us to know him better. To learn to trust him. To know his goodness towards us. And asking is part of that process.

As we ask, we start to find out more of what his will is for our lives. We start to understand from his answers just what is good and what is not so good for us.

And through the yeses and nos and the results that come from his answers, we learn to trust God’s judgment and wisdom.

But if we never ask, we’ll never learn these things.

So ask. Seek. Knock. More doors will be opened than you expect.

And more importantly, you’ll find yourself in a closer relationship with God as you understand him and his will more.

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Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: Wasting your breath

Matthew

I mentioned in the last blog that while Jesus warns us against hypocritical judging, he does call us to rebuke people who are in sin.

But when we do so, we should keep something else in mind: who we’re rebuking.

Jesus says here,

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. (Matthew 7:6)

What is Jesus saying here? He’s saying that there are some people you are just wasting your breath with if you try to rebuke them.

They simply don’t want to hear what God has to say, and if you try to tell them, they’ll rip you apart. So Jesus says, “Don’t bother.”

Solomon put it this way,

Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. (Proverbs 9:8)

This is also true in sharing the gospel.

There are some people that you share the gospel with, and instead of being receptive or interested, they simply mock you. In that case, leave that person in the hands of God. You did your job.

The responsibility now lies with that person to do something with the Word you’ve given them. You are not required to keep tossing them the pearls of the gospel.

It can be hard to watch a person you love mock the gospel. Or harden their hearts to the word of God.

But once you’ve done your responsibility and shared his Word with them, if they reject it and make it clear that they don’t want to hear it, there’s nothing left to do but pray for them. Because at that point, only God can change their hearts, not you.

Who are you casting your pearls to?

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Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: Hypocritical judging

The gospels

One of my favorite comedy groups when I was growing up was Isaac Air Freight. (Does anyone still remember them?)

They did a lot of Christian comedy sketches, and one that’s always stuck with me was one called “Final Minutes” which was loosely based on “60 Minutes.”

In it, they interviewed a couple called “The Loggers.” They were Christians, who had a very “unique” characteristic. They literally had logs sticking out of their eyes.

Because of that, they were constantly knocking things down with them. And all the while, they’d criticize other people.

When the interviewer asked them about the logs in their eyes, they both asked innocently, “What logs?”

“Well,” the interviewer said, “There are these huge logs in your eyes. You’re constantly knocking things down with them.”

“Hmmm…they never seemed to bother us before.”

And that’s exactly how a lot of Christians are today. They are constantly criticizing others, while failing to see their own faults.

Jesus tells us, “You think you’re the one to help the blind by judging and criticizing them. But you can’t even see the problems in your own life. Their problems are but a speck compared to the logs in your own life.

You’re blind, and you don’t even know it. And if you who are blind try to lead others who are blind, you’ll both fall into the pit.

You think you’re a teacher for the ignorant. But your students will become like you, taking in all the faults that you don’t even know you have.” (Luke 6:39-40)

He caps it by saying,

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. (Luke 6:42)

What is Jesus’ point? I think the main point is humility.

One of the biggest planks in people’s eyes is pride.

There are times when we need to confront our brothers and sisters about their sin. Jesus commands us to do that. (Matthew 18:15)

The apostles reiterate it in the epistles. (Galatians 6:1)

But with what attitude do we do it? With pride? With an attitude of, “I am better than you.”

Or with a humble and gentle spirit that realizes that you need God’s grace and mercy as much as they do.

So before you rebuke someone, ask God, “What sins are in my life? What logs are in my eyes? I can’t help others if I myself am blind.

Am I suffering from pride? Am I suffering from unforgiveness? Am I suffering from the very vices the person I’m criticizing is suffering from?”

And as God reveals these things to you, repent.

If you cannot come to a person in full humility at your own weaknesses and need for God’s mercy, you should probably put off confronting them until you can.

Because even if they learn from you to avoid the sin you criticize them for, they’ll also learn pride, hypocrisy, and every other sin you’re carrying with you.

As Jesus said,

A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. (Luke 6:40)

What logs are in your eyes?

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Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 7

Sermon on the Mount: When we judge others

The gospels

It is so easy to judge others for their shortcomings. To rail on them for their character or their deeds. It’s especially easy to do so when they’ve hurt us.

I think it’s very interesting that in the Lukan account, Jesus puts this teaching right after talking about loving your enemies and showing mercy to those who curse you or mistreat you. He says concerning them,

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (Luke 6:36)

Right after that, he talks about judging others, saying,

Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Luke 6:37)

In other words, when people hurt you, don’t condemn them. It’s quite frankly, not your place. That’s God’s place. Instead, God says to forgive them.

Forgiveness, in a lot of ways, is more for you than it is for another person.

As I think I’ve mentioned before, when you hold on to unforgiveness in your life, it chains you to your past. It keeps you from moving into the future God desires for you.

So God says to let go of your hurt and forgive. That the other person would actually change because of your forgiveness would be a bonus but is not guaranteed.

(The Pharisees and Sadducees certainly didn’t change despite Jesus’ prayer for their forgiveness.)

And of course, this comes back to the Lord’s prayer where we say, “Forgive us as we forgive those who sin against us.”

Jesus then tells us exactly what will happen if we don’t. If instead we pour out judgment and condemnation on others for what they’ve done to us.

He said,

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.

For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Luke 6:38)

A lot of people take this verse and use it in reference to giving offerings. But this is not what Jesus is talking about at all. The whole context of this passage is judging others and showing mercy.

The picture here is of a farmer pouring out grain into a bag to sell it.

It’s a little hard to picture for us nowadays, but think about trash bags. How do we fill them?

Well, first we put some trash in. When it starts getting full, what do we do? We shake it a bit to let the trash settle to the bottom, and then put in more trash.

When shaking no longer works, we push down the trash so that we can get more of it in. Of course the point comes where we can’t put in any more trash and it starts to overflow.

So what Jesus is saying is that if you pour out judgment and condemnation on others, it will be poured out on you.

It will be pressed down and shaken so that more judgment and condemnation can be poured out in your life to the point of overflow.

If, on the other hand, you pour out mercy and forgiveness on others, mercy and forgiveness will be pressed down, shaken, and overflow in your life.

What do you want poured into your life?