[00:00:01] Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching from God's Word you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to Him. If you're ever in the Madison, Alabama area, we'd love for you to worship with us on Sundays at 8:30 or 10:30am if you have any other questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, find
[email protected] be sure to also check out our Bible study podcast, Madison Church of Christ Bible Studies. Thanks again for stopping by.
[00:00:38] A few years ago, I walked onto the campus of Faulkner University, and I was an incoming freshman. They had this thing called orientation where the freshmen and the transfer students arrive on campus about a week before.
[00:00:52] I looked kind of like this.
[00:00:56] I really miss hair. Especially in the summer when I walked on campus, there was a lot of excitement. There was a lot. For reference, this was roughly the year 2000. And David Hargett, technically, he put it on the Internet, so that assumes permission in my book.
[00:01:15] So I walked onto campus. I was excited. I knew a handful of people, I knew several upperclassmen, but I only knew just three or four folks that were in the freshman class. So that first week was a lot of new things.
[00:01:27] And the emotions I remember during that time, as I mentioned, were excitement, but a little bit of anxiousness of not knowing quite what to expect.
[00:01:36] I've been on retreats before for weekends, been on mission trips for weeks with people my age, but never for an entire semester. We're talking multiple months.
[00:01:45] What is this whole new living arrangement gonna look like?
[00:01:49] I think maybe. Of course, it's an analogy. So it kind of. Kind of falls short, just like the squeaky voice. Sometimes I think, sometimes maybe this is what this crowd anticipated. As they're listening to Jesus, they get like this little glimpse, and maybe there's some uncertainty because he's talking about this new kingdom, this, this little orientation sermon where they're kind of figuring out, what is he really saying here. He's referenced all these things that we've known from the old law. You have heard that it was said, but I'm telling you what, what the law was supposed to point your hearts to.
[00:02:20] And as I was a freshman trying to figure out excitedly what the future held, maybe that's kind of what's going on through the hearts and the minds of the folks that are hearing this sermon for the very first time. We, of Course, have the benefit, thousands of years later, to listen to a sermon that's probably been sermonized more than any sermon ever.
[00:02:39] And as we've gone through the Sermon on the Mount, we move into this what I would refer to as the as we stand and sing portion Jesus sermon. Now, don't get too excited. We got a ways to go before we get to that part. But turn with me to Matthew, chapter seven, beginning in verse one.
[00:02:54] Judge not that you not be judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye?
[00:03:11] You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give to dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
[00:03:27] Now, perhaps one of the most misunderstood and misapplied passages in all of Scripture comes from right here. And it's really just two words. Judge not.
[00:03:37] A lot of times people put a period there, but there's a comma.
[00:03:41] Judge not, lest you be judged with the same judgment that you use now in the Greek language. It's a little bit. Has a little bit more nuance than the English language oftentimes. And so we kind of have two levels to this word. This word chrono or kreno in the Greek. The first one is a judgment. And we do this all the time. We make little judgments. We just whether we're going to go left or right at the stoplight, we make a judgment of whether or not we're going to talk to someone or not talk to someone. And these judgments are sort of surface level.
[00:04:13] It's really unavoidable. We make a decision when to stand up, when to sit down. We do that hundreds of thousands of times a day. But there's this other part of this word that is a different kind of judgment. Maybe a better word would be condemn.
[00:04:26] And that goes beyond just making a quick judgment about a person or a thing. And that goes a lot deeper, that tries to anticipate their motive.
[00:04:36] And that goes into an area, as we talked about in our Bible class this morning, that's beyond the reach of human intuition. And Understanding God understands the hearts of people. People do not understand the hearts of people.
[00:04:49] Oftentimes we make a judgment on someone based off of our interaction with them. But we have no idea what's going on internally and in their hearts, in their minds, we don't know what causes them to say what they said or do what they did.
[00:05:02] And so we make that one judgment. And forever and always, that's how we see them.
[00:05:07] We are not God. We put ourselves in a place where we think we are God. And Jesus alludes to this. Look in verse five. Again, he says, you hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
[00:05:22] This word hypocrite is interesting as well. It literally means to play, act, to be an actor.
[00:05:28] So when we go beyond just a surface level judgment based off of only the evidence we have, and we enter into this place of condemnation where our contempt is usually what guides us further and further into that condemnation. Contempt because of an interaction, because of what they look like or sound like or what they've done or said.
[00:05:46] Well, then we're play acting.
[00:05:48] We playact as God. As one commentator said, the temptation to look down on each other for our moral failures is itself a temptation to play God.
[00:05:58] This is a territory where we do not belong.
[00:06:02] And we live in a digital age, which you knew I'd have to bring in the digital age at some point. We live in an age where it's just so easy, it is so convenient and so accessible to spew out this not a surface judgment, but a condemnation of other people because of who they look like or who they sound like because of where they're from or where they're not from.
[00:06:26] In the midst of the Sermon on the Mount, the introduction of the kingdom of God to God's people, to the Jews. Now remember his audience. This is not. He's not preaching directly to us. He's preaching directly in this moment to the nation of Israel, to the Jews that were gathered there to hear him, who in just a few chapters, especially once we get to the Book of Acts, we're going to see that this gospel, this kingdom that he's talking about has opened up to everyone. But here in this moment, he's speaking to the Jews whom the kingdom was given to first.
[00:06:57] They are going to be challenged directly in their prejudice, be challenged directly in their judgments.
[00:07:02] And it's very likely, because he's already referenced them earlier in this sermon, that he's maybe he has a couple of groups in mind, perhaps the scribes, the Pharisees or the Sadducees.
[00:07:12] And if that's the case, then if you look, just turn one page over to chapter 10.
[00:07:16] In verse 5, he says, these 12 Jesus sent out instructing them go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no towns of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep, the house of Israel. He's starting here with Israel in a couple of verses. He's going to use a term here that may be a little confusing to us.
[00:07:33] It may not make a lot of sense, and it may sound harsh. In verse 6, do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. There's an interesting literary structure here. It's used throughout the Bible. It's kind of an Abba structure. So a being give the dogs, don't give the dogs what is holy.
[00:07:52] Part B is don't throw your pearls before the pigs. Dogs are not necessarily seen the way we see dogs today. We see dogs sometimes in an unhealthy manner. But I got in trouble with the pet people last week with their class on Wednesday, so we'll move on off of that.
[00:08:09] In this day and age, and quite honestly, in this part of the world still, if you see a dog running around the street, it's not necessarily a. The first thought is not domesticated dogs. The first thought is the mangy mutt, right?
[00:08:21] It's the dog that roams the neighborhood. That when you see the dog out there, the kids get to come inside.
[00:08:26] That's kind of what they have in mind. And oftentimes this is used as a derogatory term for those that are outside of Israel.
[00:08:33] Do not cast your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot. The pigs would trample the pearls. The dogs would turn to attack you.
[00:08:41] Maybe in this moment, because the Gospel is not yet given to the rest of the world, perhaps in this moment, Jesus is alluding to the fact that there are going to be people that will hear the message of this kingdom, and they are not going to respond favorably.
[00:08:59] Perhaps he's alluding to right now. I want you to understand, I'm talking to you and those of you who have taken pride in being the chosen one of God to be a part of the chosen nation, but you haven't quite been living up to that choosing.
[00:09:15] Perhaps we start inward first.
[00:09:18] When you go to correct someone and you've got something on your face, it's kind of like going to somebody say, well, you got something in your teeth, while at the same time you, you've got food all over your face. It's kind of like my 3 year old telling me, hey, dad, you got something in your tooth. Well, buddy, thanks. You got like appetizer sampler right there, my friend.
[00:09:34] When we do that, when we know that we have something in our life that's not right and we try to hold someone else accountable, well, we're now looked at with a little bit of contempt. We're looked at with inconsistency.
[00:09:47] What God said, what Christ is saying here is when you go to correct someone, he's not saying don't judge them.
[00:09:52] He's saying, look inward first.
[00:09:55] Remove the things in your life that are inconsistent. Hold yourself to the same measure. I think what happens oftentimes is when we look at someone else, we kind of have this holy contempt measurement scale. And then when we look at ourselves in the mirror, we have this other one's like, close enough.
[00:10:13] That's not the way this works.
[00:10:15] We're going to allude back and forth to the letter of James often this morning. You see it all throughout the Sermon on the Mount, which makes sense. James eventually learned to pay attention to his brother Jesus.
[00:10:25] But James says, the guy walks up into a mirror, he looks and he looks into the perfect law of liberty, but he doesn't make a change and he walks away. Oh man, what a waste.
[00:10:35] You get up in the morning and you see something on your face and you do nothing. You make no effort to change that and you walk away from that mirror. Well, that's a little silly.
[00:10:43] When we look into the perfect law of liberty, we can't help but be changed. We can't help but see the standard of Christ, not ourselves. So when we measure, excuse me, we take this measurement, we go to judge someone else, their actions.
[00:10:56] We can't judge based off of our measurements, based off of our human instincts. We have to judge based solely off of this new kingdom that Jesus is talking about. What happens then when we do that, when we consider our own motives first, when we consider our own behavior and our own words before we confront another person.
[00:11:15] Well, a lot of really good things first, we begin to align our own motives with God's motives.
[00:11:22] In 1st Timothy 2, verses 3 through 4. If you remember, a couple of years ago, we printed hundreds of these little post its post it pads. I still have a few of them. I love them. It's a great reminder. 1, 2, 3, 4.
[00:11:33] This is good. And it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and and to come to the knowledge of the truth. James 1 again reflects this in verses 19 and 20. Know this, my beloved brothers. Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.
[00:11:55] We are not called to be gotcha people.
[00:11:59] And just the opposite. In 2 Timothy chapter 2 we read, the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to everyone, able to teach patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.
[00:12:11] God may perhaps grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil after being captured by him to do his will. If we find ourselves moving through this life looking for those gotcha moments, then we will find ourselves being transformed into something that is not the image of Christ.
[00:12:29] In Romans 2 it says, do you suppose, oh man, you who judge those who practice such things, and then you do you do them yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Do you presume on the riches and the kindness and forbearance and patience of God, knowing that his kindness was meant to lead you to repentance? God's motives are very different from ours. God's motives are like complete, pure, complete purity, complete lack of gotcha there. God is absolutely a God that will bring judgment.
[00:13:02] But what we read throughout the New Testament and even in the Old Testament, it's reflected there, is that the heart of God is that all men come to know the truth, that all men will be reconciled to Him. Paul would say that we have a ministry of reconciliation. As believers. Our job is not to be more right than the person next to us. Our job is to be right with God. And our job is to help others be right with God. Because ultimately the character of the kingdom, this kingdom mindset, is rooted in the character of God, not man.
[00:13:32] So judge cautiously, judge with wisdom and with righteous judgment. Judge with the measure of the gospel, not with the measure of your personal experience or your personal bias or your personal comfort or discomfort.
[00:13:46] We judge according to the gospel of Christ.
[00:13:49] You see, the kingdom minded judgment. When we have this mindset, it's not about those gotcha moments. It's about being, being in and bringing people into that right relationship. Our mindset, if it's of the earth, if it's. Paul would use this word carnal a lot. The carnal man, it's at war with the spirit.
[00:14:07] Only one of these mindsets is in accordance with the Spirit. Paul would write in Galatians to walk, if we live according to the Spirit, so then let us walk in step with the Spirit. Let us have the mind of Christ.
[00:14:18] Our judgments are based off of his righteousness.
[00:14:22] And if we have judgments that drift into this condemnation world, it's not the same.
[00:14:26] We need to understand, just as his audience there was coming to understand, as they were bringing, as Christ was bringing into clarity, what this new kingdom was going to be like. It's not the same as the earthly kingdom. They cannot be the same.
[00:14:38] He would go on to say, render unto Caesar what is his. Are you standing there in the garden and someone pulls out a sword? He's like, listen, man, my kingdom is not of this world. It's not of swords. If it was, don't you think I could have called a legion of angels?
[00:14:50] That's a real quick fix.
[00:14:52] But that's not what this is about.
[00:14:55] Remember, they're at the beginning. They're just starting to learn. They're getting the appetizer sampler here, and they're trying to figure out exactly where he's going with this. Look with me in verse seven, ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and the one who seeks finds. To the one who knocks, it will be opened. Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone and. Or if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a serpent. If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give good things to those who seek him?
[00:15:27] So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
[00:15:33] If you read a little bit of commentary, you'll understand that the original language here kind of reads a little bit more like this. Ask and keep on asking. It's a perpetual motion kind of thing. And it will be given to you. Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives. And everyone who keeps on seeking will find. And to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.
[00:16:00] No good father would pull when a son asks for a gift, would give him a snake instead of a rock, or, excuse me, a snake instead of what he asked for, or if he asked for a fish, give him a serpent.
[00:16:11] When he asks for bread, he's not going to give him A stone. I wonder if when Jesus was in the desert, the very first temptation from Satan was, if you're so great, turn this stone into bread.
[00:16:23] I wonder if that was a little bit of an illusion here. I have no idea if it is or not, but it seems interesting.
[00:16:29] God is a good God.
[00:16:31] Jesus describes him as a good father. He is in this role of giving his children what they need.
[00:16:37] And if you know he's going to give you what you need, then ask.
[00:16:41] Prayer is a tricky thing in my life. It has gone all over the place at times. I kind of viewed it as my divine Amazon wish list where God, I want this and this and this and this and this and this and this.
[00:16:53] But I've learned as I've gotten older, it's not all about the this and the that's and the these and the those. It's also about character.
[00:17:00] It's not always about circumstance when it comes to prayer, but it's about relationship.
[00:17:06] And I understand that I have access to the Creator of all. I have access to the one who is implementing this new kingdom, who invites me into this kingdom.
[00:17:16] And yet still I refuse. So often a day goes by or a half a day goes by and there's no mention of God in my mind or in my heart. Just kind of go about my day. And I think what I'm actually doing there is. Is I'm comfortable enough to where there's no crisis or there's no perceived imminent danger. So I kind of feel like it's the life jacket that's over there on the side of the boat. I don't really like to put the life jacket on. I put it on whenever the Coast Guard comes by or the police. And then I kind of put it away right, because it's a little uncomfortable. I don't want to rely on it. I want to kind of move about the way I want to, uninhibited.
[00:17:53] What I realize as I get older is I gotta live in that life jacket because God is the one that sustains me. There's a perceived safety oftentimes that only gets rattled when things go very, very south for us. And in that crisis, in that moment of desperation, we cry out, God, only you can save me. When in reality, he's the only one that could have ever saved us and that is continually saving us.
[00:18:17] Ask and keep on asking.
[00:18:20] Seek and keep on seeking. Knock and keep on knocking. Your good Father will give you the good things that you need. Remember the beginning. We'll go just one chapter or two ahead and we talk about how God says, look at the birds, the bird. Listen, man, this comes alive every year about this time in my house. There's a spot on my porch where God blesses this particular group of birds immensely. And I wish he'd stop it.
[00:18:43] Like, they have found the Costco of the aviary world, and they keep bringing it on my front porch and I gotta clean it up. He provides for them over and over again in abundance. And yet I find myself going, oh, man, all this stuff I have, it's so stressful to maintain and to keep, and at the same time, I need and I want more. I use that word, need really loosely.
[00:19:05] But my father, who is a good father, will give me what I need.
[00:19:10] I think Craig Beale was the first I heard to show this, articulate this illustration. He said, with Job, Satan took everything away. But perhaps Here in the 21st century, in this land of abundance, Satan's strategy has kind of flipped a little bit where he. He gives us everything we desire, which helps us to think then that whatever we desire is what we should have and what we deserve.
[00:19:33] And those are not the same.
[00:19:36] When we don't get what we feel like we deserve, we get angry.
[00:19:41] God says, ask for what you need. I will give you that. And then some.
[00:19:47] Find comfort, find peace, be content with who I am. It's not just about the stuff. It's about who God is in that relationship. He's gonna get real personal here in just a moment. James would say this about the idea of generosity, Kingdom generosity. He says, if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.
[00:20:13] God is a generous God. And we oftentimes think of generosity in the terms of money and things.
[00:20:20] But what if we reflected the generosity of God in our judgment of other people?
[00:20:26] I say that I want justice, and I do want some form of a justice system here in this life.
[00:20:31] But on the day of Judgment, I beg for mercy.
[00:20:35] James would say that mercy triumphs over judgment.
[00:20:38] Judgment is much heavier than mercy in Matthew 7.
[00:20:44] So whatever you wish that others would do to you, then you also do to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
[00:20:52] The judgment that I want is mercy.
[00:20:55] So my first reaction to the people in my life and the opportunities that God puts before me has got to become mercy.
[00:21:03] Accountability is there, encouragement is there, but it just Seems like this default setting of the kingdom mindset is one that leans Godward, which means there's also room for mercy in our judgments.
[00:21:17] In Matthew 22, we read Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law. And he said to him, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is, like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.
[00:21:34] If you go through Scriptures, I think there's a very common theme that you will see in every interaction and every intention of Jesus life here on this earth. And that is to give of self.
[00:21:45] As he's giving this sermon, the people he's talking to have no idea what the future holds. We have the benefit of seeing the whole. We see the whole movie, but they don't know that yet.
[00:21:55] But I gotta believe Jesus does. And he knows that it's going to end with him on a cross. Or at least that's the intermission. There's a second part there. Spoiler alert. That's pretty great.
[00:22:04] It won't make any sense to them until they're looking at it in the rear view just like we are.
[00:22:09] Jesus did not come to abolish the law.
[00:22:12] He did not come to discount the prophets. He came to fulfill both of those.
[00:22:19] The reason that he came to fulfill them is that they pointed to him the whole time.
[00:22:23] This is the challenge that we see.
[00:22:26] This is the golden rule, but highlighted in blue. Forgot to take that one out. In Matthew chapter five, he says, I didn't come to abolish the law, but I came to fulfill the law. In John 13:35, he says, by this all people will know that you're my disciples if you have love for one another.
[00:22:40] In order for us to look like Jesus, who came to fulfill the law and the prophets, and how we relate to one another, that's our reflection of him. The distinctive nature of God's people is found in how we treat one another, how we give of self, how we love of one another, how we hold each other accountable according to the Gospel, and how we give each other grace when we fall short of that, how we seek out reconciliation.
[00:23:03] That's how we reflect Jesus, who then was a reflection and a culmination of the Law and the prophets. This is the challenge that the Pharisees had. The law and the prophets were never meant to be the destination, but in their mind, the law was their identity. The law was the destination. Unwavering unchanging, that developed a very legalistic approach, so that when Jesus came, there was zero receptivity from those groups.
[00:23:28] They stopped at the law. The law and the prophets were never meant to be the destination. They were to discipline and to point.
[00:23:36] Point people godward, point people to Jesus. And here he is giving the orientation to this new kingdom for the people that will receive it, beginning with the Jews, beginning in Jerusalem, moving to Judea, Samaria and the rest of the world.
[00:23:53] Turn with me to Matthew, chapter 7. Now in verse 13. Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction. And those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard. That leads to life, and those who find it are few. Beware the false prophets, though, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
[00:24:14] You will recognize them by their fruits are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. Not everyone who says unto me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does will excuse me, the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and cast out demons in your name and do mighty works in your name? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
[00:24:54] Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
[00:24:58] Jesus moves into a series of warnings. Here again, he's moving into the as we stand and sing, but not before he gets a couple of points across.
[00:25:08] These warnings provoked discernment in his hearers. He says, be weary of the road. Be weary. I know Robert Frost. Several years ago, Bob Frost, to many of us in the literary world, wrote this poem called Two Roads Diverged in a Wood, and I took the one less travel. I'm not saying that Robert Frost plagiarized because he can't defend himself today. But I am saying that Jesus proposed these two options many, many years before that poem was written.
[00:25:38] There are two options here, and one. One is wide, one is very easy to find. One actually takes zero effort to drift down, and there are many who find it. But what exactly does he say?
[00:25:51] He says that gate is wide and the way is easy. That leads to destruction and those who enter by it are many. But there's this other gate. It's kind of off to the side. It's a little bit hidden. It's difficult. It's narrow.
[00:26:03] It's not fun, necessarily. It's not comfortable.
[00:26:07] It's not easy. This new kingdom is going to be difficult.
[00:26:12] This new kingdom involves choices, and we have to make those choices. We have to exercise discernment. To choose the narrow, difficult way that has high spiritual value or the easy way which has no spiritual value. That. That's discernment. It's not just is this good or bad, it's seeing these two options that are both pretty good. Which one has the greatest spiritual value? Oftentimes that's the one that's more difficult.
[00:26:34] But that's okay.
[00:26:36] He never said it was gonna be easy. That was never a part. You don't listen to the Sermon on the Mount and go, oh, man, it's gonna be a cakewalk.
[00:26:43] Just the opposite.
[00:26:44] Discernment is something that's developed and cultivated. It's coupled with wisdom, and it leads us to eternal life.
[00:26:52] He also says it's difficult because there's going to be wolves, there's going to be false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. They're going to look like, and kind of sound like it at first, that they believe the same things that you do, that they're teaching the same things that are in Scripture. Jesus teaching of this new kingdom was a threat.
[00:27:10] It wasn't received by everyone. In fact, it was rejected by a lot of people.
[00:27:16] Jesus is not putting flowers and bows on this. He's being extremely transparent.
[00:27:22] The reality is it's gonna be difficult because some people want the glory, but they want the glory for themselves.
[00:27:30] Some people wanna stand between reflecting God and being seen as God.
[00:27:34] They're gonna come in, you're gonna recognize them, though. There's a way to find this out. There's a way to sniff out who is not of this kingdom.
[00:27:42] And that's from the fruit that they bear are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles. So every healthy tree bears good fruit. See, that's why he wasn't saying in verse one, don't judge at all. Because now he's telling you you should judge.
[00:27:55] He's telling his audience to exercise good judgment. There's going to be challenges to this kingdom in the very near future. You're going to see that. You're going to experience that. I think we still see and experience some of Those things today, people who are challenged by the gospel, people who are threatened by the gospel, people who give Jesus zero credit, people who don't believe he is who he says he is.
[00:28:18] We shouldn't be surprised when we encounter those people.
[00:28:22] He's telling his audience here, don't be surprised. Beware, exercise, discernment.
[00:28:28] And then lastly, the kingdom. It's evident.
[00:28:31] Just look at the fruit that they bear. Just look and see what their life is producing here. Because eventually, if someone is all about self, that will become known, that will be made very clear, oftentimes in a very glorious blaze of terrible hurt.
[00:28:47] We don't have to look very far to find podcasts that will recount religious leaders who have created this following and then crumbled because of their moral shortcomings. We don't have to go very far to see politicians or to see athletes or celebrities. And most likely, many of us don't have to go very far in our family tree or in our life experience to find other people that we thought were this one thing that proved to be this other thing. So why, why does he say this? Well, he started with, make sure that our measurement is calibrated to the Gospel. There's room for grace. But when someone isn't, doesn't think they need grace, well, that person is now this wolf in sheep's clothing that's trying to appear something that he really or she really is not.
[00:29:33] So kingdom, discernment, where he leads them and then he moves into these gates. One thing that gets brought up a lot, especially when I was in college, was this idea that the struggle between salvation being freely given and us participating in some way in that salvation, what is our part of that? I ran across a quote several years ago by Dallas Willard where he said, grace is not opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning.
[00:29:57] I think there's a lot of clarity in that. There is a free gift offered that we have no control. We had no contribution to that. That was all Jesus. That was all God's plan.
[00:30:07] But our response to that, remember what we read in Timothy? Our response to that is meant to draw us to repentance. It's not to take advantage of that. It's not to be dismissive of that. It's not to say, all right, I'm saved, so I can do whatever I want. Romans, chapter six. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God loves to give grace. I kind of enjoy sinning. Should I keep doing that so he can give more grace? Absolutely not.
[00:30:31] God's grace is meant to lead us to repentance. How can we know who are the true prophets? We look at their fruit. John 15. How can we avoid being false prophets? We stay connected to the true vine. Turn with me there. In the Gospel of John, Jesus has this discourse of being the true vine.
[00:30:49] We went through some of these sayings of Jesus not that long ago in a sermon series In John chapter 15, beginning in verse one, he says, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit, he takes away. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, Neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch. And he withers. And their branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.
[00:31:37] Doesn't that sound a little bit like what good Father doesn't give his Son what he needs?
[00:31:43] This is my Father. Excuse me. By this my Father is glorified that you bear much fruit and prove to be my disciples.
[00:31:52] You see, there's a lot of overlap in the teachings of Jesus. And the more we read the Gospels in conjunction with one another, the more we see the fuller picture being created here. The more we read the letters and the epistles and the history there In Acts, we see this fuller picture of this beautiful kingdom.
[00:32:08] But this kingdom is only accessed in the Father.
[00:32:11] We come to the Father through Jesus the Son. He's getting there.
[00:32:15] Back to chapter seven, beginning in verse 24.
[00:32:21] Excuse me, before we get there, we skipped a little section here. Verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom, but the one who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven. On that day, many will say to me, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, Cast out demons in your name, do mighty works in your name. And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. I have in my mind this us and them, like the them, are the people that hate God. The people that live lives that have no concern for spiritual things. But this is more concerning for me, this is a little disturbing because these people say, lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name?
[00:32:58] Did we not cast out demons in your name? Did we not do many mighty works in your name? They were doing the things that that other prophets seemed to be doing. They were doing the things that seemed to be kingdom kind of things.
[00:33:13] I think it's very possible for us to be a part of the activities of the church and to be around members of the church without actively knowing Jesus.
[00:33:23] There's a knowledge element here that's going to become very, very important because how does he close that part there? He says, depart from me. I never knew you.
[00:33:34] Simon in the Book of Acts wanted to purchase the gift of the Holy Spirit. He wanted to be a part of those things going on. That's different than receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. It's not for purchase.
[00:33:45] The Christian life makes for a miserable hobby, an absolute miserable hobby.
[00:33:52] It's not enough to just do the things of the church.
[00:33:56] There is an element of knowing God and God knowing us.
[00:34:01] While the first reaction here is a little disturbing, there is confidence that comes from that. Because he says, everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
[00:34:13] If you're like me, you learned the song many, many years ago. Wise man built his house upon the rock. And we sing it in chapel at MKC here pretty much weekly.
[00:34:22] Rain comes pouring down, the floods come up. Foolish man's house goes splat.
[00:34:27] There you go. And we do it 17 times louder and louder and louder and then splat.
[00:34:32] And it's fun and it's on a kid level.
[00:34:35] And my fear is that my understanding of this has stayed in that fun kid level.
[00:34:41] Because when a man's house goes splat in real life, it's a very different experience.
[00:34:49] Let's go back to the Book of James real quick. But be doers of the word and not hearers, only deceiving yourselves. Chapter one, verse 22. What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him in chapter two and then a little bit further along in verse 18. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
[00:35:10] There's going to be fruit that we can examine. When someone is walking in the way of Christ in 1st John 5:2. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments and his Commandments are not burdensome. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Jesus answered him, if anyone loves me, he'll keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. The words of God, his commandments all the way back to the Old Testament, to the first giving of the law, were meant to lead to life.
[00:35:42] We kind of see that word law, or we see the words of God sometimes as restrictive, but they're meant to lead us to freedom, to liberty. There's an independence there in Christ. We think of independence just as our own being, our own person. Right. That's more of a, like, contemporary geopolitical mindset. That's not the mindset of this new kingdom.
[00:36:03] The only freedom that we can have and exercise and experience is in Christ.
[00:36:09] We're all building this house, this life that we have together.
[00:36:13] If we feel like God's words and commandments are burdensome to us, then I would challenge whether or not you know who God is.
[00:36:23] My kids would tell you that my commands to them are burdensome. But my hope and my prayer is that also as they get older, they will see wisdom and value.
[00:36:33] It's a remarkable thing. As I've gotten older, especially once I had kids, my parents have somehow gotten much wiser.
[00:36:40] I don't know where that wisdom was when I was a kid, because everything didn't make sense there. But now there's some clarity because I'm on the other end of it, because I have more life experience, because my perspective has changed. I've grown. I'm not staying in the same place. I can't do that. I don't want to do that. To be a part of this kingdom, you don't stay in the same place. To walk in step with the Spirit means that there's an implied action taking place. Sometimes we fight that change, that transformation that God is trying to work in our lives, and we work against that and we resist that. We align ourselves more with the Pharisees. When we do that, we align ourselves more with the people who rejected Jesus than those who embrace this new time of transition, this new kingdom. The kingdom mind has to be changed, and it cannot be set on the things of this earth. We have to see the word of God not as oppressive, not as something that limits our love and joy, but to take Jesus at his word. I came that they may have life and have life, abundance. Not an abundance of things in this life, but life abundantly. That is the life that we are after. As he closes with this illustration that maybe sometimes we spend too much time seeing it, not enough time thinking on it deeply as adults.
[00:37:48] The common characteristic is a house. Both men built a house. Each one of us are building a house, so to speak, with this life that we live with, this time that we have on earth.
[00:37:57] The difference is in the foundation. Sand is divided, it's loose, it's granular.
[00:38:03] A rock is one. It is solid, it is secure, it is good for building.
[00:38:09] It is resilient.
[00:38:11] Because when the rains come and the floods come up, rains come down and the floods come up, still that foundation will stay there. And even if there's damage to the house, there's still a place to rebuild.
[00:38:22] And sometimes that happens in life. Storms of life come and they devastate not just the physical homes that we have, but. But the way we've seen life.
[00:38:30] But when the foundation is still this kingdom, this new kingdom mindset, then we are able to rebuild. And oftentimes God doesn't just put pieces back together. He creates something completely different with the pieces that we have.
[00:38:44] That's what he does. He creates. We assemble sometimes, but he creates ingredients. He creates the beginning part of that. We have to lean into that, not away from it.
[00:38:55] When Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority and not as their scribes. There was something different, and they stood in awe.
[00:39:09] I can only assume that the Greek should have been translated as. As we stand and sing at this part.
[00:39:15] But this is how he closes.
[00:39:17] He closes with this analogy.
[00:39:20] Success, resilience, stability, and utter devastation.
[00:39:26] I think there's no coincidence there. I think those are the options that we have.
[00:39:31] We can build in this kingdom. We can be a part of what God is building in our life.
[00:39:37] We can seek his will. We can walk in step with the Spirit as He changes us from the inside out. And perhaps our from Jerusalem to Judea, Samaria is from me, Jason, to Jason's home and his family, to Jason's friends, to Jason's, the strangers that Jason will come in contact with. There's this scaling up of the gospel to take it as we go, to take this message of this new kingdom. We will find an audience. We will find people that are seeking in this community and in communities all around the world. I believe that deeply how transformed he is, my living. Can they see a difference? Maybe that's part of the problem, is that I kind of blend in that city set upon a Hill. Well, the hill sometimes is empty because I make my house among the valleys because it's easier, because that way takes zero effort. Because that way I don't have to look different. I don't have to endure discomfort. We live in a very comfortable age of humanity, and we live in a neck of the woods where we have some comforts that not everybody has. And sometimes I think we wake up in the morning and we just have this underlying contentment that we already have heaven on earth.
[00:40:49] And if you think you live in heaven on earth, then there's no need for any other kind of heaven.
[00:40:53] That is not the kingdom that Jesus came, lived, died, was buried, was resurrected and appeared for. He came for us to be a part of this new kingdom, just as he's telling his audience here. Listen, children of Israel, it's about to get really crazy. This is what you need to know now. As we move on into the rest of Jesus life, and particularly as we get into the Book of Acts, as we've just wrapped up that study on Sundays, we're going to see that it was never intended to end with the law and the prophets. The law and the prophets are now fulfilled. The question is, for us today, are we going to embrace that? Are we going to be a part of what Jesus has called us to be, a part of his new kingdom? That invitation that he's enacting right here throughout the Gospel of Matthew is the same invitation that you get to respond to today. If you've been thinking about God, but you realize that your house is not being built on stable, firm foundation. It's built on the successes or failures of your life. It's been built on other people. It's been built on anything other than the Gospel of Jesus. Well, this morning you have an opportunity to make that right, to make a change, to change that mind, to begin seeing life through the lens of. Of the kingdom of God. If you're struggling, if you're hurting, we've had some families that have endured immense pain over the last several weeks and months, and probably many more that we don't even know about.
[00:42:10] Well, today is a great opportunity to make those things known, not just before the throne of God, but before your brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow kingdom heirs, so that we can not just pray for you, but we can pray with you this morning if you have a need whatsoever. Won't you please come as we stand and as we sing.
