MAtt 7:12-14
Notes
Transcript
Handout
In this section Jesus is showing us two sides of the same coin. We will hear what it means to live a flourishing life but see that the flourishing life needs to be attached to something.
The sermon on the mount, as a whole, is coming toward a conclusion. And it will begin to feel like a conclusion. Jesus will get more pointed, more specific. We will hear Him bring three different warnings. The tone shifts a little bit.
But we are still connected to the same theme, that Jesus is pointing to what a flourishing life looks like and that following Him helps us to understand and live it out.
But the flourishing life is not about getting life right or winning in life.
The flourishing life is about finding where life is.
That the flourishing life is not about generating life ourselves. It is about following into it and reflecting what we find.
Jesus talks about how we live out the good life. IT looks like all the things we have talked about. But the good life is not just one act on another. It is not just working harder to live better. We have this ideas of what a good life looks like. Jesus gives us a picture of that in our passage. But we are reminded that it does not just work to be more loving or to act more generous toward people.
This is the difference between the map and the territory. What we think shows us the lay of the land is not actually how it works out in real life. We see the good map of the golden rule. But when it comes down to practicing it, we recognize that the territory is not the same.
When I went hiking with my kids a couple months ago. I picked out a map based on a few principles:
1- drive from home.
2- scenery
3- total distance hiked.
I wanted to hike about 14-18 miles in two days. I had my youngest two kids with me so didn’t want to over do it.
SO I found a map that reflected those ideas.
But I did not read the reviews
I did not take into account the difficulty.
The first picture is the map. Looks nice.
But now look at it. What do you see that I didn’t think about?
Elevation
I didn’t see the 1800 feet of elevation we had to climb
But there were other surprises. I didn’t see the thunderstorm that was not on the weather map.
I didn’t see slippery rocks.
I didn’t see falling. I didn’t see tired kids and grumpy adults.
I realized that I didn’t see the entire territory. I couldn’t see the whole landscape.
I missed the difficulty of the trail even though I saw the trail.
So we need to hear the map. but we need to consider the trail. JEsus is going to show us the map, how it is we are called to live out life. to act out what we know. But the map is not the territory.
That is how we will see Jesus finish out the sotm. Showing us not just the map but guiding us into the territory.
Jesus shows us how to live but He is also life itself
Jesus shows us how to live but He is also life itself
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
It’s beautiful. It’s likely the highest ideal that humans can live in together.
The Golden rule is, without Christ, pragmatic humanism. It works in the sense that we mutually agree to care for the other as if we were being cared for.
It is a good starting point. It is the right map. But what happens when we cannot mutually agree? What happens when we live at less than what we would rightfully wish for other?
We need the work of Christ.
The golden rule is a good way to live. It is always a good design for life. But we cannot mistake the map for the territory.
Jesus moral claims are the right map. They help us to see, they help us to understand. But His moral claims are not the territory. We can see the life we want to lead but once we start putting our feet on the path, we realize that we need more than a map and a direction.
We have to get our orders right. Moral behavior is not Christianity. Christianity defines and gives contour to moral behavior. But morality does not assume the narrow road.
. we need someone to guide us in the territory.
That’s why Jesus can follow up with this:
“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.
The way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few.
Following Christ is hard. It grates against the culture. It grates against my own desires. It grates against my own way. But it doesn’t grate against my soul. Following Christ is the understanding that my soul and my life are in line. But we hear these words and we think about them like a map.
Work harder? Got it.
We often interpret the narrow road as simply try harder work more.
The narrow road is not about trying harder. It is about finding the right road.
We default to trying harder because we still think we hold onto the right solution. That whatever solution we have come up with is obviously right. And our application of that is, if it doesn’t work, just to try harder. But try harder is rarely a better way to do things.
Jesusa narrow road shows us that we can't try harder to the kingdom of God
we will not find life through trying harder. We will miss the narrow road.
Trying harder puts us on the wide path, the wide gate, the easy way, because it all depends on us and our work and our ways and our actions. But they lead to destruction because they exhaust every resource. We end up breaking things around us when we insist on our path, our road, our action.
It is the difference between a road and a path in
Wendell Berry in World ending fire, a native hill writes,
“A path is little more than a habit that comes with knowledge of a place. It is a sort of ritual of familiarity. As a form, it is a form of contact with a known landscape. It is not destructive. It is the perfect adaptation, through experience and familiarity, of movement to place; it obeys the natural contours; such obstacles as it meets it goes around. A road, on the other hand, even the most primitive road, embodies a resistance against the landscape. Its reason is not simply the necessity for movement, but haste. Its wish is to avoid contact with the landscape; it seeks so far as possible to go over the country, rather than through it;
When we just live a try harder life, we have no other option than to move in haste. TO avoid contact because we just don’t have time.
We need to move off of the wide path as quickly as possible, that way leads to destruction.
If the wide gate or path is about trying harder than the narrow gate or roads is rather about resting more easily in Christ.That forgiveness and eternal life is found in Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ alone.
And this is where we need to remember that there’s a difference again between the map and the territory. The map is a picture of what the flourishing life looks like and it represents how life functions in Christ. But we have to remember that we need someone to guide us in the territory
We are a moral community and try to live out the ethic of Christ. But We are not simply a moral community.
Yes Jesus promoted a moral life, grounded in love of neighbor and self. If we miss that we miss what Christianity looks like
But if that’s all we understand about Jesus and His work in our lives, we miss what Christianity is
The church is a peculiar people.
You see this in the teachings of Jesus. Jesus is not merely a great moral teacher. Usually when I hear that from people it is assumed that they have not read the Scriptures. He is a great moral teacher. But He also made great claims on who He was. He claimed to be God. He claimed to be the water of life, the bread of life, the shepherd of our souls.
Jesus did not just give us a great way to live, He is life itself.
But the way is a narrow road. It is hard. But not hard for trying hard. Hard because we have to realize that on the narrow road it is not about our work but Christs
Narrow road can't take anything with you. Like walking down a narrow hall. Or like getting into a small car. Nothing can follow. Same w narrow road. Only you not your interests or actions.
It’s a narrow road and not everyone can follow. Like the rich young ruler. He could not let go. He could not walk through the gate, he was holding too much.
when we’re holding too much
But what a relief for us in Christ. The heavy lifting is not ours. It is Christ’s.
It is such good news that we can let Christ do the heavy lifting. That He can bear the weight of our sins. Because we sure can’t.
Remember what Jesus tells us in John 14:1-7
“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Listen to Thomas’ reply. He wanted the directions. We don’t know where to go. Jesus reassures him, and us.
I am the way.
Part of the wide road is that we want to figure it out. We want to know where to go. We want to keep our options open. We want choices and our own answers. But Christ shows us He is the choice.
The narrow road means we have to let go what we think has led us this far.
What is it that won’t fit down the narrow road that leads to life? What do you have to set down?
And when that happens, how will Christ pick you up?
Jesus will lead us into the territory.
We are promised that we have seen the Way. The next time you experience a sense of loss, or the map feels different from the territory, call out to your Guide, the very person of Christ. To lead you. We will never need better roads, we will always need a better guide. Trust the better guide.
Five Discussion Questions
1. What are some ways in which we mistake “the map” for “the territory” in our lives? How might this influence our understanding of what it means to follow Christ?
2. The narrow road is described as difficult but not because of “trying harder.” What are some things we may need to let go of to walk this path more freely? How do we experience freedom through Christ on this journey?
3. How does the concept of relying on Christ, rather than personal effort alone, reshape our understanding of the “good life” or “flourishing life”? In what ways is this idea countercultural?
4. The Golden Rule is often seen as a foundation for moral behavior. How does Jesus’ approach to this rule differ, especially when it comes to times we “cannot mutually agree” on what is right?
5. In what ways does Christ’s role as “the way” provide assurance and guidance when our lives feel uncertain or difficult? How might this differ from simply following a set of rules or principles?
