Good morning, Friends! I’m so glad to see you all this morning!
We started reading the Sermon on the Mount about 6 weeks ago. Today we’re going to finish it.
Over the last 6 weeks, Jesus talked about prayer, about letting go of anxiety, about not judging. He’s talked about choosing to live by the spirit of the law, and not just the letter. Last week we read the wonderful words, “Seek, and you will find; ask, and it will be given; knock, and the door will open.”
The big question in this final section of the Sermon on the Mount is, “How do you tell the genuine Christians from the fakers? How do you tell people who are really following Jesus, from the people who just say they’re following him? How do you tell the authentic prophets who we should be listening to, from the glad-handers and the phonies? And for that matter, how do I tell if I, myself, am on the right path, or if I’m only kidding myself?
Those are all important questions. They’re important because it’s not enough just to talk a good game. We really want to know who to listen to, how to tell, how not to be fooled.
That’s what this final section of the Sermon on the Mount is all about. How do we know we’re on the right road? How do we know if the person we’re listening to is the real McCoy?
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.
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.
By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, 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.
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you doers of evil!’
Matthew 7:13-23
Actually, the first thing Jesus says has to do with us, and not with other people. And the advice that he gives is, “Don’t take the easy way out!”
He says: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. The gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few...”
If you’re ever in doubt, always ask whether it would be easier to do it one way, or the other. Even though you don’t want to go looking for trouble, always ask yourself whether the easy way, the way that’s lying right in front of you, is the right way.
It’s easy to yell at other people, or to blame them. That anger button is always close at hand. It’s a much harder thing, to try to listen and to understand the other person. And the hardest thing, when you don’t agree with somebody else, is to just let them be themselves, and go ahead and do what you think is right in a loving way.
That’s just an example. Jesus says that the easy way is often the wrong way out. It’s the way that leads to death.
It’s as though there’s a big, wide road, an eight-lane superhighway, that leads to death and destruction. That road gets plenty of funding, and people keep adding to it. They’re always building new on-ramps and interchanges to the highway of death, because you wouldn’t want anyone to be inconvenienced and not be able to get on to it easily.
When they talk about the world being more complicated, a lot of what that means is that we’ve created new ways to hurt each other, and cheat each other. A whole lot of the complexity of the world just means adding on to the superhighway that runs on greed and selfishness.
You ever hear people talk about living in the fast lane? You ever hear that phrase before? People living with all the extra money and horsepower they have. And if we’re not careful, we find ourselves envying them, when we ought to be pitying them. A lot of people in the fast lane are just taking the express route to burning their souls out. And it’s easy. It’s easy to believe that more money will make us happy, that more power will help us change the world. It’s an easy trap for us to fall into.
That principle of narrow gate and the hard way, versus the wide and well-trodden path and the easy way out, is what Jesus wants us to remember. Because easy answers and easy actions are often deadly. They destroy relationships, and fellowships, and organizations, and even nations. Go figure it out for yourself.
The second basic principle for discovering “who’s the real McCoy” is also a familiar one. I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying, “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing…”
Actually, if you remember, there’s more to it than that. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves…”
That’s something else we’ve all heard before. And again, you can make up your own examples. There are true preachers, and there are false preachers. There are true guides and mentors, and there are bogus ones. There are, we hope, authentic national leaders, men and women who of principle who can truly lead our people and reform our institutions. And there are, as we know too well, counterfeit leaders, fake leaders, politicians and spokespeople who talk a good game, but who don’t really care about anyone but themselves.
The trouble is, how do you tell the real ones? People who are out to cheat you, don’t usually advertise it. They tell you how sincere they are. They make promises that are so great that you want to believe in them. Maybe they almost believe them, themselves.
Some people are true shepherds, and some people only pretend to be. How can you tell the difference?
Jesus once said, “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep, and my sheep know me…Other people come only to steal and kill and destroy; I came so that they might have life, and have it abundantly...” And he said, “I am the good shepherd; and I lay down my life for my sheep...” (John 10:14, 10-11)
If someone is out for your money, sooner or later, they’re going to show it. If someone is out for your wallet, they’re going to try to make you think you’re going to get rich. But someone who is really following in the footsteps of Jesus, is going to do what Jesus did. “I am the good shepherd; and I lay down my life for my sheep…”
The third test Jesus suggests, for telling the good guys from the bad ones, is by their fruits. “A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit...”
Sometimes it isn’t easy picking out the rotten apples. But if you plant one, and you get a whole tree full of bad-tasting apples, you can figure it out.
That principle of knowing things by their fruits has a lot of application. I read somewhere once that you never really know whether you’re doing a good job as a parent or not. Most parents spend a lot of time worrying about it. The way to tell, is to see how our kids turn out. If my kids turn out OK, then I guess I was an OK parent.
But even more than that: I read one time, that the only way to tell if you were a good parent, is to see how your kids raise their children. If your kids can be good parents, then you were a good parent. That’s a little bit harder to wait around for.
But the principle of knowing the roots by the fruits is always a good one. If you want to know whether an idea is a good one, wait and see what kind of fruit it bears.
Paul said that the Holy Spirit unites, makes peace, is faithful, patient, gentle, self-controlled, and brings love and joy wherever it goes.
The unholy spirit is uncontrolled and unprincipled, impure, worships idols, stirs up anger, quarrels, is divisive, envious and a whole long list of things that are pretty obvious. (Galatians 5:19-23)
And then Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to me, `Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those people who do the will of my Father who is in heaven…”
That’s a hard message to hear. It means that a lot of people who call themselves Christians, aren’t really Jesus’ friends at all. A lot of people who say they’re bringing us the official word from God or from the Bible, are delivering some other message altogether. Just because you wave the Bible and quote the right verses and make the right sounds, doesn’t mean you’re really on the right wavelength.
As Jesus said, some people will say, “Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and cast out all sorts of demons in your name, and do all sorts of great things in your name?” And Jesus forecast that he would say to them, “I never knew you; get away from me, you doers of evil…”
A lot of people even had their doubts about Jesus. They didn’t know whether to believe in him, or not. Even John the Baptist, who we usually think of as one of Jesus’ first and strongest supporters, had a lot of questions in his mind. He sent some people to Jesus and asked, “Are you the one? How do we know?”
And Jesus told the messengers, “Go back and tell John what you yourselves hear and see right now. Blind people receive their sight. Lame people walk. People who were untouchable are made clean. People who were deaf can hear. People who once were dead are alive again. People who are poor are being told good news. And what joy if you see all this, and you don’t turn away...” (Matthew 11:2-6)
The real test, says Jesus, is whether the things that God wants to happen, are really happening. If people are forgiving and being forgiven, God is here. If people who are hurt are being healed, then it’s God who is responsible. If people are truly making peace, then they are children of God.
It’s not enough simply to go by the name of being a Christian. Lots of people do that, who Jesus is never going to acknowledge.
Jesus once said that there are people who are prostitutes and tax collectors who will be going to the head of the line, not just people who have been coming to church all their lives. There’s going to be a lot of surprises.
The real test is whether we take the hard road, the narrow path that leads to life, instead of the comfortable and easy road that leads people to death.
The real test isn’t whether somebody looks right, or sounds right, but what’s in their heart. If they’re out to rip you off, sooner or later, it’s going to show. That’s what you look for.
A good shepherd, a genuine shepherd, is one who comes to bring other people life, and who lays down their own life for others.
You can always tell the McIntoshes and the Golden Delicious from the sour crab apples that are rotten at the core, by the fruit that they bear. A good tree, a good idea, a good plan, will bear good fruit. One that isn’t, won’t. Anybody can tell.
And the people who are really Jesus’ friends, aren’t just the people who use his name. They’re the ones who do what Jesus says.
When people are being healed, when they’re being set free, when they’re being made whole, then God is here. When people are getting out of the quicksand and re-building their lives on the solid rock, they’re listening to Jesus.