11/17/24 - Follow or not

So now that our presidential election is over

I thought i would bring up a little history this morning

I used to love to watch the State of the Union speeches from the past

some of the greatest quotes come from state of the union speeches

Abraham Lincoln in 1862 said

“The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation. … In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth. Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just—a way which if followed the world will forever applaud and God must forever bless.”

“President Washington began this tradition in 1790 after reminding the Nation that the destiny of self-government and the ‘preservation of the sacred fire of liberty’ is ‘finally staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.’ For our friends in the press, who place a high premium on accuracy, let me say: I did not actually hear George Washington say that.” - Ronald Reagan, Jan. 26, 1982

Or when Richard Nixon said famously a quote that didn’t age well in his speech

“One year of Watergate is enough.” - Richard Nixon, 1974

A year later he would be impeached

In the modern era, after every State of the Union

The opposition political party gets to speak

which is usually in direct opposition to the President’s speech

because giving the other person’s opinion is a great way to unify our country

But my all-time favorite part

is the mainstream media’s examination of the speech following it all

the anchors will bring in English majors, professors, political analysts

professors, retired professors, former military leaders

pundants, activists, people off of the street, mother’s, father’s, and family pets

all measuring how many times a word is said

the inflection of the voice of whichever speech they analyse

how many times one side of congress stood and clapped

and how many times the other sat and scowled

it’s a commentary on the whole speech

and most of the time, the media never reflects

of what was actually said or the authority of the office of where it came from

Ironically, and somewhat prophetically, they missed the point

considering the statistical low ratings of the state of the union lately

there weren’t many people that cared

what anyone had to say on the state of the union

and especially what the media had to say about the President’s speech

Similar to that

We have reached the final verses of this chapter

and although these verses aren’t part of Jesus Sermon on the Mount

it’s fitting to end the series about choices here

Choices

We’ve finally made it

This week is the media reaction to Jesus sermon

maybe similar to the media reaction to the state of the union

or perhaps the lunch conversation after any sermon.

We get an insight into what people were thinking

following this magnanimous sermon

given by the Son of God

What did Jesus say?

What was the reaction of the crowd listening?

What was the opposition response?

How should we respond to all that we’ve been hearing over the past year and a half?

Today, is a simple outline in the bulletin

IF you get nothing out of the message today

at least take the outline home

and use it to read through the Bible every day

and ask the same questions to yourself

as you read God’s Word

All of the questions about responses is summarized into two verses of scripture

What does the passage say?

Matthew 7:28–29 (CSB)

28 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,

29 because he was teaching them like one who had authority, and not like their scribes.

What does the passage mean?

Let’s break this down into simple words and define them

Verse 28 says that the crowds were amazed

what does that really mean?

Let’s take this word by word

It said that the crowds were astonished or amazed

Amazed - astonished, overwhelmed

These folks were totally dumbfounded at what they just heard

they had never heard such comprehensive, insightful, words of wisdom, depth, insight, and profundity

This was real, straightforward and fearless

not just the words of application

but someone that called out the scribes and the Pharisees

They had never heard the fearful warning about turning away from God

They had never heard such a powerful description of righteousness

and a repeated condemnation against self-righteousness

There were some that were amazed at the fact

that Jesus had just called out all the religious leaders

No one had the audacity to stand up to the religious leaders of the time

These people had power and control and authority

to make life miserable

which, you would think,

is exactly the opposite of what a religious leader should do

and that’s the point

Why on earth would a religious leader make their people miserable?

Of course, back in that time

the Jewish people didn’t have the authority

to just vote out a leader they didn’t like

or they thought were going astray theologically

also, religious leaders were in it for life

and didn’t use places as stepping stones in ministry

to add to their resume

or just leave when things got hard

These leaders had a lot of authority

because the population of Israel at the time

was predominantly Jews

even the Romans who had the political and governmental rule

still catered to the Jewish population to some extent

because there were more of them than there were of the Romans in the city

However, The things Jesus said and the way He said them

made it impossible for the leaders to refute

and irritating to those in authority listening

and to those who weren’t there

mostly the higher echelon of leaders

they got the information second hand

which only made it worse

Ever play the telephone game as kids?

the game where one person says something at one end of the line

and it gets repeated down the line

and in the end it sound nothing like what was said at the beginning?

It’s a cute kids game for sure

we play that game as adults only it’s called gossip

Jesus was sharing this information

It was then repeated by those with emotional enthusiasm

to those up the line

until it got to the religious leaders

by then it had been so bent out of shape

and mostly different from what was actually said

that they were infuriated by what they heard

The irony of that is

Jesus wasn’t holding back to begin with

so there may not have ben much difference from what was originally said

to what they heard in the end that infuriated them

because Jesus was sharing the simple truth of God’s Word

without any additions.

What were they infuriated and amazed at?

His Teaching - It wasn’t just what Jesus said, but how he said it

This wasn’t just someone lecturing on the side of the hill

this was preaching at it’s finest

with authority and power

He was preaching as if He were the King

mandating things with the authority of a ruler

This was someone speaking with iron in their words

He was quoting scripture from the law and the prophets

as if He knew what they had said

and without stuttering or giving an opinion

things recognizable to the people and the leaders

you have heard it was said, but I tell you...

Jesus was saying things that were direct contradiction

to whatever the scribes were teaching

The verse says he was teaching with authority

Authority - power, force, ability, privilege, freedom, dominion

And that He was not teaching as the scribes

not as the scribes - the teachers and experts in the law

how did the scribes teach differently than how Jesus taught?

The scribes knew the law

they could quote scripture, mostly

One of my daily practices is to memorize scripture

I do this because as I get older,

I find myself slipping a little bit in my memory

to be perfectly transparent

when Christy Smith came forward last week to be a member

I totally spaced her name

being a seasoned public speaker I can play that off

however, I apologized to her and asked for her forgiveness

and now reveal to you publically my faults and failures

Anyway, I try to memorize scripture

aznd I learned how to do it through a group called the Navigators

I have small cards that I read from over and over

then I write it down over and over

The goal is to get it perfectly

and when I do, I add another scripture

There are days that I get it mostly right

but after I write it down in my journal

I go back and check it

because one word out of place can change the meaning of the verse I am trying to memorize

and to memorize it wrong

may impact the times I need to use it in ministry

How hard would it have been for the scribes to take a word and replace it with another word

to change the meaning of the verse?

Not only would they quote scripture but

they could share things from Jewish teachers or from tradition

They spent much of their teaching using other resources to back up their interpretation

and there’s nothing wrong with using other sources to back up what you are trying to say

as long as they say the same thing as the original word of God

The scribes would also use a lot of interpretation involving tradition

There’s nothing wrong with tradition until tradition becomes the authority

Much of Paul’s ministry would be fighting with the authority of tradition

When the Judiazers would come and try to tell people

that the tradition of the elders also had to be included

for people to be saved

he would share the truth of the Word of God

and ONLY the Word of God

to show that there is no other authority

The scribes had law books that would set alongside of the copies of the Torah

The MIshnah was a book of extrabiblical laws

617 extra biblical laws

These laws were believed by Rabbis and tradition

to have been given to Moses alongside the Word of God

Jesus taught the same scripture

but also it’s application in real life

and never quoted a human author or tradition

unless it was to prove it wrong

Jesus spoke with a confidence that He was bringing God’s Word

with a freshness in it

and for a new generation and new era in human history

When the crowd heard it

They thought it was either presumptuous or heretical preaching

or that He was the a true spokesman from God

that should not be ignored

What does the passage mean to me?

The people on the hillside stood and listened with astonishment

But what they really needed was not to be astonished but to believe and obey

Jesus wasn’t teaching them for their amazement

He wasn’t just giving them information

He was trying to give them salvation

He didn’t just show them the narrow way and the narrow gate

He pleaded them to enter into it

But most of the people only watched and listened

They only heard and considered

but they never decided

after they left the hillside, many people followed

until it got hard and went against the culture

However, by not deciding, they decided

by not making a decision they decided to maintain their life

rather than live their life

and remain on the wide broad road leading to destruction

People can quote scripture all day long

but do they ever apply it to their lives

and follow through in obedience?

C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity shared what the attitude is of many who hear the gospel message

Matthew, vols. 1-4 (The MacArthur New Testament Commentary) Response to the Sermon

When I was a child I often had toothache, and I knew that if I went to my mother she would give me something which would deaden the pain for that night and let me get to sleep. But I did not go to my mother—at least, not till the pain became very bad. And the reason I did not go was this. I did not doubt she would give me the aspirin: but I knew she would also do something else. I knew she would take me to the dentist next morning. I could not get what I wanted out of her without getting something more, which I did not want. I wanted immediate relief from pain: but I could not get it without having my teeth set permanently right. And I knew those dentists; I knew they started fiddling about with all sorts of other teeth which had not yet begun to ache. They would not let sleeping dogs lie.

It is that sort of thinking that keeps many people out of the Kingdom

The price is more than they want to pay

Lewis goes on to say, in the imagined words of Christ

You have free will, and if you choose, You can push me away

but if you do not push Me away

understand that I am going to see this job through.

I will never rest, nor let you rest

until you are literally perfect

until My Father can say without reservation

that He is well pleased with you

as He said He was well pleased with Me.

This is an examination for his followers

we can try to lie to ourselves all day long

about what a great follower of Jesus we are

but when the rubber meets the road

how authentic is you commitment to Him?

because someday, we will all be called to account for the words we say about Jesus

Our choice FOR Jesus or AGAINST Jesus doesn’t only have immediate consequences

but eternal consequences as well

This is the choice throughout the whole sermon

The choice is either follow Jesus or don’t

We can either read, listen and know what He says

and obey what He commands

knowing that we’ll make mistakes

because we aren’t perfect people

Or we can choose to ignore what Jesus said

picking and choosing to believe what we want

making ourselves in control

or claiming to be a follower

but not following anything that Jesus said to do

all the Bible study in the world

doesn’t make you a follower of Jesus

all that does is make you a scribe or a scholar

JEsus ended His sermon with a negative tone

building your house on the sand

that leads to total destruction

It’s an amazing ending

and not one that most people would ever dare

but it left an impact

there is only one true choice

and to go any other way

is to not follow the words that were spoken

One of my favorite movies of all time is the movie Tombstone

It’s another western movie about the tales of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday

and a fight against a band of outlaws called the cowboys

funny enough, Wyatt Earp just got done with cleaning up Dodge City

and was looking for a place to settle down and retire

with his family and his extended family and his friend Doc Holliday

One of the most famous lines in it is right after Wyatt Earp

gets into a gunfight with Curly Bill, the leader of the cowboys

The cowboys had just come into town and shot up his brother’s saloon

and killed another one of Wyatt’s brothers

Wyatt and his group went after Curly Bill and gets surrounded

Curly Bill makes some comments and sets Wyatt off into a rage

He ends up walking out in to the creek and just shooting

and taking out all the cowboys there including Curly Bill

After the shootout, one of Wyatt’s group says

You know the rest of the cowboys are coming after us

but If it were my brothers, I’d want revenge too

Doc Holliday says this famous line

, “make no mistake this isn’t revenge, this is a reckoning.”

I had to look up the word reckoning to find out the power behind that word

It means to give an account a settlement

Jesus says in the entire Sermon on the Mount

These are the terms to follow me

You can believe in the words all you want

but it is only those who follow that will enter the narrow gate

You can choose to be with Him or against Him

but make no mistake

You can lie to yourself all you want

for as long as you want

and truly believe that you are good with Jesus

but unless you understand your separation from God

because of the brokenness and sin in your life

and unless you’ve believed that Jesus died and rose for you

and have placed yourself under His authority

and are living in obedience to the best of your ability

one day according to Romans 6:23

Romans 6:23 (CSB)

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There will be a reckoning, an account to settle

and the reckoning will be God demanding an account of your life

and how you followed Jesus

Jesus is the narrow gate and the way out of a reckoning with God

God provided this way so we wouldn’t have to settle our account on our own

which is impossible

But just believing in Jesus and His words isn’t the end

all that is is commenting on His words and missing the point

we have to walk the narrow road with Him