Recap: "Entering" (Matthew 7:13-29)
“Entering”
Matthew 7:13-29
Questions
Quotes &
Citations
Here’s What You Need to Know
Jesus summons you to enter the Kingdom of God
Ultimately everyone will have to come under his Kingdom authority, which is evident in the way Jesus describes us entering either by the narrow way or the broad way. The former leads to life; the latter to destruction. The destination of both is the Kingdom of God, whose authority, in the words of Thanos, is “inevitable.”
Thankfully Jesus is not like Thanos. He wants us to have life. The Father rejoices to give us the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). But given the risen Jesus brought us to this culmination of the ages, we are faced with the ultimate choice that will seal our destiny: Will we enter the Kingdom and find life?
“How do I find life in God’s Kingdom?”
Choose to follow Jesus, no matter the cost - This way is narrower, more confining, and less popular way. He speaks authoritatively as the Son of God come down from heaven. (Mt 7:13-14)
Test those speaking for God, because some are liars - Spoiler alert: some people masquerade as trying to help you when they really only care about themselves. False prophets really just want an audience and are willing to tell you lies to keep it. Jesus says you’ll know whether they are righteous by looking at the product of their life. (Mt 7:15-20)
Make sure your “faith” includes doing God’s will - Tragically many people think they will enter eternal life because of what they have seen or done in the name of Jesus, when in reality they are not known to Him. To their shock and shame, they will be shut out. Jesus warns us that these people mistake experience for faith; substituting a mere profession of belief for the faith that brings about obedience to the Father’s will. (Mt 7:21-23)
“How Can I Be Sure I’m Secure for Eternity?”
Like many a savvy preacher has done after him, Jesus concludes The Sermon on the Mount with a story that illustrates perfectly how people ought to respond. It’s a well-known parable about the wise and foolish builders. In fact, it is so commonly referenced that we risk trivializing the gravity of its teaching.
As to its meaning, Jesus wants us to understand that only those who put his words into practice will secure their place in God’s Kingdom (Mt 7:24-27). There is a storm (read: judgment) coming that will hit every house (read: life). The security of that house depends upon its foundation (read: the doing of what one has heard Jesus say). In the end, externalities do not matter. Obedient faith does.
So if you want to see where you stand with Jesus, ask yourself, “Am I doing what he says?”
This is not to say that we are saved by or because of our good works. That would be impossible. We are only saved by grace through faith. What it does mean is that the one whose “faith” lacks righteous living should stop presuming that they are saved. What he or she thinks is “faith” may actually be presumptuous.
Jesus is the cornerstone of God’s house and the foundation of His Church. But in this parable, the rock is not Jesus; the firm foundation that survives the storm is the doing of what Jesus says.
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Not all of a pastor’s research can make it into a message. But sometimes there’s some value left to be found on the sermon cutting room floor. So having given the above recap, here’s a few exegetical “off-cuts” from last Sunday’s message. You never know, you just may find a piece that helps it all fit together.
How should I respond to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount?
”Nothing could be more calamitous than to meditate long and hard on Matthew 5:1-7:12 and then to resolve to improve a little. The discipleship which Jesus requires is absolute, radical in the (etymological) sense that it gets to the root of the human conduct and to the root of relationships between God and men. A person either enters the kingdom or he does not. He walks the road that leads to life, or he walks the road that leads to destruction. There is no third alternative. Nothing, nothing at all, could have more crucial significance than following Jesus.”
— D.A. Carson, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, p.129.How is the path to life “narrow”?
”God’s way is not spacious, but confining. Poverty of spirit is not easy; prayer is not easy; righteousness is not easy; transformed God-centered attitudes are not easily achieved. In fact, these things are impossible for us apart from God’s grace. They are alien to much of what is in us and which cries out to be heard; and therefore the re-alignment that is part and parcel of genuine conversion is a confining thing. There is no room for me to set my opinion against the Lord’s, no room to set goals in any way at cross-purposes to his, no room for attachments which vie for the central place the Lord Jesus must have.” — D.A. Carson, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and His Confrontation with the World Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, p.130.How do false prophets operate?
”A false teacher does not announce and advertise himself as a purveyor of lies; on the contrary he claims to be a teacher of the truth. …Not only does he feign piety, but he often uses the language of historic orthodoxy, in order to win acceptance from the gullible, while meaning by it something quite different, something destructive of the very truth he pretends to hold. He also hides behind the cover of high-sounding titles and impressive academic degrees.” — John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount (BST), Inver-Varsity Press. 2008, p.200.”The false prophet is the gifted leader who does not do the will of God in the ordinary elements of life. The false prophet is the preacher, the teacher, the pastor, or the priest who has converted the splendor of a gospel calling into a job done well but whose moral life is indistinguishable from the common person of this world. The false prophet here is the leader who exercises the gifts of the Spirit with a flourish but who flounders at the personal level of following Jesus.” — Scott McKnight, Sermon on the Mount (SoGBCT), Zondervan, 2013, p.269.
Why were the crowds “amazed” at the authority in Jesus’ teaching?
”[Jesus] doesn’t say, ‘Enter the narrow gate by recognizing that you are hopeless and helpless and in need of grace.’ Instead, he flat-out summons people to enter the gate. …Jesus’ isn’t here calling someone mrerely to a better moral life. Rather, his own presence looms in the entire Sermon as the one through whom God speaks, through whom God redeems, and through whom God reigns. So the ‘enter’ demand is a summons to Jesus first and foremost. In other words, discipleship begins at the personal level of a relationship to Jesus as the King and Lord who saves and rules. Connection to Jesus unleashes the grace of God’s bounty.” — Scott McKnight, Sermon on the Mount (SoGBCT), Zondervan, 2013, p.263.What should I do if I fear that I don’t know Jesus personally?
”Come to him. Trust in him. Rest in him. I felt, as I was thinking over this subject, ‘Well, perhaps my Lord does not know me;’ so I made sure that he should, for I sought him there and then; and I exhort you to do the same. If you fear whether you do know him, trust in him this very moment. Then if you have made a mistake, and have not really known him, you will begin to know him now; and if you have known him, you will blessedly renew your acquaintance with him, and the question that has troubled you will disappear…” — Charles Spurgeon, “The Disowned” a sermon delivered on 22 April 1877, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, vol. 48 (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1902).
But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. - Jesus of Nazareth (Mt 7:26-27)
“They knew Christ’s name, but they had not his nature. They quoted his name, but they never copied his example. They had never come to him, and trusted and loved him.”