DAY FIFTY-SEVEN (PART TWO): 

The Sermon on the Mount 

Matthew 7:1-29

I'm back! Now on to chapter 7, the last part of the Sermon on the Mount. 

Jesus warned His hearers about the dangers of hasty and unjust judgment. Jesus didn't mean that it is never appropriate to judge someone. He said in John 7:24, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment." Jesus said that the way some people judge is that they try to remove a speck from someone else's eye while they have beams coming out of their eyes! We see the sins of others far more readily than our own. Deal with your own sins honestly before God and maybe then you'll be qualified to help your brother with his little problem.

"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."

"Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." Jesus taught us to pray to our Heavenly Father about our situations and our needs. He gives us three steps to follow. First, ask. Philippians 4:6 says, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." Then seek. it's not enough just to ask the Lord for something. We must then actively seek it. More important, we need to seek Him. God will lead us to the answer if we will look actively. Then knock. Be persistent! Jesus told of a man who had unexpected guests and had no bread. He went over and knocked on his neighbor's door. The neighbor told him to go away, because everyone was in bed. But he kept on knocking...and knocking...and knocking. Finally his neighbor came downstairs and gave him some bread. Jesus said, "I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs." (Luke 11:8) Don't give up when the answer doesn't come immediately. And don't feel that God must not love you if He doesn't answer quickly or in the way you'd like. Jesus asked if there were any among the crowd who, when their child asked for bread would him a stone? Or if he asked for a fish would you give him a snake instead? No! "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 ask him!"

We come now to what we call the Golden Rule: "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." We shorten it to "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you." Virtually every religion has the Golden Rule in some form. Nearly all of them state it negatively: don't do to others what you wouldn't want them to do to you. Jesus stated it positively, and that makes it much broader. We must do more than just not hurt others. We must actively seek and promote their good. This is a very demanding standard, and if everyone lived by it our world would be a wonderful place! But Jesus replaced it with a yet higher standard when He told His disciples, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." We must now love one another with the same love God has for us. Jesus said that this kind of love will show the world that we Christians are different, and they will want what we have.

Jesus then warned His hearers that there's just one way into the kingdom of heaven, through the narrow gate. That gate is Jesus Himself. Jesus said in John 10:9, " I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture," and in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." This sounds harsh and bigoted today. What about those who haven't even heard of Jesus and the gospel message? God will deal justly with those who haven't heard. He will judge them by what they did with what they knew of God. (See Romans 2:12-16) And what about the other religions? Is one as good as another? Do all the roads lead to the top of the mountain? How God will judge others is beyond my pay grade. But Abraham said "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?" (Genesis 19:25) I believe He does and He will do what is just. But let us not assume that everyone is heaven-bound. The Bible doesn't teach that. There is a judgment coming and an eternity separated from God waiting for some. That's why we need to share our faith with love and respect.

Jesus then warned of false prophets, whom He called wolves in sheep's clothing. A prophet, you'll recall, is someone who speaks forth God's message. There are some prophets who claim to hear from God who have not. Jesus said that we would know them by their fruits. Does a prophet (or any other religious leader) demonstrate "...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control?" (The fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23) Or do you see things like "...sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies?" (the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21) Leaders like Jim Jones and David Korresh exhibited the latter, and this should have been a warning to their followers.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." What an important verse! That bears a lot more attention than we can give it in our study. This means that merely mouthing an affirmation of faith, and even doing some good works does not make you a Christian. If Jesus has changed your life, your lifestyle will show that.

Jesus ended His Sermon on the Mount with a story of two homeowners. One dug down below the sand to build his foundation on the rock below. The other opted for quick and easy construction and built his house on top of the sand. When the storms came the house on the sand washed away but the house on the rock stood. Jesus said that those who listen to His words and keeps them have built their lives on the rock, and they will not be moved.

Jesus blew His listeners away! They had never heard anything like this before. "...he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes." The scribes and Pharisees never made any claims of their own. They always pointed to past teachers to support their teachings. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus said over and over "You have heard it said..." and "But I say to you..." He spoke with authority because He was THE authority!

Sorry this took so long. When looking for pictures I saw a PowerPoint slide that said this was the beginning of a 27-sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount. 27 sermons worth, in these two posts! On to today's lesson!