07.27.08
Instruction to Those Who Enter the Kingdom (Matthew 7:7-23) [Part 2]
2 – True Righteousness (Matt. 7:12; Luke 6:31, 43-45)
After addressing the things that the Pharisees taught as being fitting of true righteousness (and knocking them down), Jesus now describes what the character of true righteousness really looks like. If you want to be righteous, then you must do for others what you would want others to do if the situation were reversed. If we treated our neighbors like ourselves, then no neighbor would be mistreated.
Of interest here is that Christ – while not demanding the righteousness of the Pharisees – demanded the righteousness of the law, for what He was teaching was a summary of the righteous requirements of the law.
So, we are to jettison the things that were taught (or piled on) by the religious leaders of that day and actually follow the letter and intent of the law. An interesting thought! What would that mean for us today? How much of God’s word do you have in you? Enough to be righteous as you follow it? Or do you just listen to what others say and do your best to follow their words and examples? If that is the case, how do you know you’re following the right thing?
3 – The way of access (Matt. 7:13-14)
At this point Jesus points out there is a difference between what He is teaching and what the religious leaders were teaching; a confrontation of two diverse interpretations of what God demanded for acceptance into His presence. Which way should be chosen? Jesus exhorts His hearers (and us) to enter through the narrow way – by hearing His word and accepting His person.
Make no mistake, the narrow path was just that – narrow and uneasy to follow because it was less traveled. As were the requirements Jesus was laying out – they were hard, but were of God. And not much has changed today. We hear that God is love (and He is), that there are many ways to find Him (that’s a lie, He’s not lost and can be seen in creation but only can be ‘found’ in the person of Jesus Christ). Many things are espoused, but God and His requirements have never changed. Who is at the end of your chosen path?
4 – Warning to False Teachers (Matt. 7:15-23)
Here Jesus labels the Pharisees. Most of us don’t like to be labeled (democrat or republican, fundamentalist or liberal, metrosexual, homophobic, etc.). Imagine you are a Pharisee listening to Jesus say verse 15 – false prophets. The Pharisees claimed to be God’s representatives with His message to instruct the nation in His way…right…. Appearances can be deceiving.
So, how can someone tell the difference? The way to tell a false prophet from a true prophet was his life. The Pharisees were to be judged by their fruits. If they were righteous, they would be producing fruit that was righteous. But the proof was in the pudding – looking at the bad fruit they were producing showed that nether they or their system was righteous.
Jesus pronounced judgment on the false system He is rejecting. In verse 19 we see a pronouncement of judgment and that should follow to those that chose to follow the flawed system as well.
Along with this you may notice that lip service is not enough. Look at verse 21 (“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven). Again, this may seem to be a hard saying, but if we’re not fully committed and devoted to only one master, what are we committing or committed to? If it’s not the truth, it (logically) must be something false. Looking through history, it’s hard to tell why wars were fought. Umm, ok, perhaps it is easy! There were opposing sides, and they fought over something that was important at the time. This is the very thing Christ is pointing out here – choose your side! When Jesus ushers in His kingdom, it will be in spite of Pharisaic opposition to the King. And when folks come with the thinking that they too belong because they served in some capacity to the way other men taught them…there will be disappointment. The only way to get in is by putting faith in the person of Christ alone.
