February 3, 2013
Morning Service

Matthew 7:12-29

 

I was 20 years old when my grandfather gave me the talk about growing up and taking my responsibilities serious.  I hope we can all look back and remember the time in our lives when we realized life was for real and it was no longer a game.  I hope this study on the Sermon on the Mount can be one of those times in our spiritual life.  It is indeed time to quit playing games with God and take your faith to the next level.  Jesus is calling us to it.  He is a “rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

 

Last Sunday alone we saw the importance of not judging our brothers, Jesus is the only one capable of doing that.  We are to take care of our own faults first.  Putting forth that judgmental attitude is one of the biggest faults the church portrays to the world.  I believe you all do a wonderful job of making everyone who comes here to worship with us feel very welcome and not feel like they are being judged in any manner.

 

We also saw the importance we should put on our own relationship with God.  It needs to come first and then let our ministry, whatever that is, be an overflow from that relationship.

 

We are to be active in our prayer life.  We are told to ask, seek and knock but most of all trust Him to do what is best for us always.

 

“The Golden Rule”

Mat 7:12 Therefore all things, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets.

·         We are to base our treatment of others upon how we like to be treated.  We have all heard this from our mothers and grandmothers throughout our childhood years.  There is no greater doctrine we can teach that more fulfills what God desires from us than this “golden rule.”

·         If this verse were applied in everyone’s life, the world as we know it would change.  If we all could be selfless enough to look at others with this perspective think how our family, church and community would change. 

·         Jesus says the “Golden Rule” fulfills all that the law and prophets tried to achieve. 

·         It is summed up in simply in following your heart.  Paul agreed as he told the Galatian church:

 

Gal 5:14 For all the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

·         Jesus was asked specifically of what is the greatest commandment.

 

Mat 22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?  (37)  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  (38)  This is the first and great commandment.  (39)  And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  (40)  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

·         Notice how that fits with 6:33, where we are told to seek Him first, then everything else will fall into place.  If we truly love God as we should and have surrendered our heart, soul and mind, we simply trust the Spirit to guide us in our decisions and actions.  Trust your heart to lead you.

 

Mat 7:13-14  Go in through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many there are who go in through it.  (14)  Because narrow is the gate and constricted is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

·         This is a perfect description of our life as a journey.  We choose which way we will go.

o    Do we take the easy path that everyone else is following and live a life of conformity?

o   Do we choose the more difficult path that few are traveling allowing God to transform you?

o   The answer lies in where we want to end up; in a place of destruction or life. 

o   Are you making the effort required to paddle up the river or is life much easier just going with the current?

o   Jesus tells us plainly here that if want to follow Him, we must display faith, discipline and endurance.

 

 

Jesus uses similes in this narrative which remind us of what He said in John’s gospel.

 

John 10:9 I am the gate. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture.

 

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.

o   How do we make it through that narrow path?  We make it only through Christ.

o   The efforts we put forth should be to know and trust Him more, not to earn our salvation.

 

Mat 7:15-20 Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.  (16)  You shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?  (17)  Even so every good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.  (18)  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruits, nor can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  (19)  Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  (20)  Therefore by their fruits you shall know them.

·         Jesus plainly warns us to always be on guard because not everyone who speaks in His name is seeking His will.  They appear to be from God on the outside but underneath they are evil manipulators who prey upon those who are immature, unstable and gullible. Peter describe them like this:

 2Pe 2:17-19 These are wells without water, clouds driven with a tempest, for whom the blackness of darkness is reserved forever.  (18)  For when they speak great swelling words of emptiness, they lure through the lusts of the flesh, by unbridled lust, the ones who were escaping from those who live in error;  (19)  promising them liberty, they themselves are the slaves of corruption. For by whom a person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage.

 

Paul instructed Timothy to be prepared for this situation by knowing the Word.

 2Ti 2:15 Study earnestly to present yourself approved to God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

·         There is NO substitute for reading God’s Word.  It is our roadmap to Heaven.  It is the only way to keep you from being deceived.

·         We are also given how we can properly discern who is a true or false prophet.  Remember discern is to see or understand differences and distinctions.  We do not judge them to be false, but discern them to be.  The criteria we are to discern is from their fruits or actions.

·         Are they producing the good fruits of the Spirit as explained by Paul?

 

Gal 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,  (23)  meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

 

·         Or are they displaying the evil works of the flesh?

 

Gal 5:19-21  Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness,  (20)  idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies,  (21)  envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

 

·         Jesus here instructs us to be “fruit inspectors,” not judges.  We are allowed to look at their lives for evidence that they are truly following Christ and trying to teach His Word.  They certainly will not be perfect, only One ever was, but you will know them by their fruits.

 

The question then needs to be asked of us also; is there enough fruit produced in our lives to prove that we are Christians?  During Paul’s explanation of the communion service, he instructs us to do this every time.

 

1Co 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

o   We are not examining ourselves for perfection (impossible), but for where our heart is.  We are justified only through Christ and found worthy of fellowship with God only through His righteousness.

 

Father I give you my heart, may the fruit I produce be pleasing in Your sight and may it glorify Your Name.