Discipleship is Directional- Build My Life (Obeying Jesus) #3; Build your Life #29

INTRO: Did anyone travel this week for Thanksgiving? How did you get where you were going? If you knew how to get where you were going, then you probably just got in your car & went. But if you didn’t know, you probably put the address into a GPS, and it gave you directions for where you were going. If you took a wrong turn, or got off track somewhere, that annoying voice came up and said “recalculating.”

As we are near the end of our Sermon on the Mount series, it’s time to put the destination in the GPS and see if we’re still on the right path.Are we headed to the destination we intended? Are we going the right direction to get there? Do we need to recalculate?

Matthew 7:13–23, Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

21“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is talking to His disciples.Two aspects of being a disciple are (1) learning, & (2) following. Jesus has been teaching His disciples, but decision time is coming. It’s not enough to hear, you will have to do. It’s not enough to learn, you have to follow. Discipleship is directional, it is to follow Jesus in three ways:

1. Discipleship is to go the Way of the CROSS. Vss. 13-14

Notice the two ways in vss. 13-14. Jesus instructs His disciples to enter the narrow gate instead of the wide (broad) gate. The broad way (spacious, roomy) leads to destruction. A lot of people can fit through that gate, stand shoulder to shoulder on that way, many go in that direction, & it leads to their destruction. ILL: imagine a 6-lane superhighway with bumper-to-bumper traffic; but across the median is sparsely traveled, little 1 lane road headed up into the hills.

By contrast, the narrow gate (not wide, confined)is a difficult way (difficult- oppress, afflict; sense of to be narrowed = limited in breadth), there’s pretty much room for one, it leads to life.

We don’t have to push the text very far to prove- Jesus is the gate. 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.

Jesus is the way. John 14:6, Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Jesus’ followers must bear the cross. Luke 9:23, Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”

The way of the cross is narrow- there’s just room for you to go through. The way of the cross is exclusive- there aren’t many ways, there’s just one way. The way of the cross is difficult- there will be suffering, there will be affliction.

Now, I know what you may be thinking- why would anyone choose this narrow, difficult way of living when you can live wide open, just live it up?Out on the superhighway of life with the world at your fingertips, why would you not choose that? Because of the destination.

It’s true, the cross is an instrument of death. The cross does mean dying to oneself every day, but the end is life. The other way may be wide open right now, full of people with room to spare, but the end is death.

Proverbs 14:12 & Proverbs 16:25, There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Which way will you go? If you choose to follow Jesus, discipleship is to go the way of the cross.

2. Discipleship is to go the Way of CAUTION. Vss. 15-20

In vs. 15, Jesus gives a warning. To beware is to be on one’s guard, to be cautious, wary, alert. The warning is about false prophets (i.e., false = pseudo). There cannot be something that is false if there isn’t something that is true. Through Moses, God said He would raise up prophets to speak His words to His people (Deut 18:15-22). Jesus is the ultimate truth-teller, the fulfillment of The Prophet. A pseudo prophet speaks lies.

2 Peter 2 has a lot to say about these false prophets: they are destructive(1-3), doomed (4-11); depraved (12-17); deceptive (18-22), & they drag others down with them. Discipleship requires caution because it’s hard to tell the difference between true & false prophets- they both look like sheep. But one is a true sheep while the other is a wolf dressed up like a sheep. How can you tell the difference between the two?

Jesus tells us how to recognize false prophets- by what they produce.Vs. 16-20 are marked off by the words “you will know them by their fruits”(16) and “by their fruits you will know them” (20). Jesus switches analogies from a wolf in sheep’s clothing to trees & fruit. Thorn bushes don’t make grapes, & thistles don’t make figs. Good trees don’t bear bad fruit, & bad trees don’t bear good fruit.

In Vss. 17-18, there two different “bads”. The bad tree (rotten, worthless, not in good condition, damaged or decayed), produces fruit that is bad (evil, wicked). Remember, we’re talking about people, not trees, so, what is the fruit? Contrast between the works of the flesh & the fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:19–24, Now the works of the flesh are evident: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. The difference between a true disciple & a false prophet is that they bear the fruit of the Spirit rather than producing the works of the flesh. Which side sounds more like you?

Jesus says that those who do not bear good fruit will be cut down & thrown into fire. The reference is to the judgment (vss. 21-23). It repeats what John the Baptist said in Matt 3:8-10, Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance… 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Good fruit is the fruit of repentance. Those who do not repent & therefore do not produce good fruit are destroyed. If you follow Jesus, be careful, discipleship is the way of caution.

3. Discipleship is the Way of the KINGDOM. Vss. 21-23

This whole teaching is bracketed by the word “enter.” Jesus told His disciples to “enter the narrow gate” in vs. 13 but says in vs. 21 that not everyone who calls Him “Lord, Lord” will “enter” the kingdom of heaven. There are those who expect to enter the kingdom who will not enter the kingdom because their words do not match God’s will. They pay lip service to Christ’s Lordship, but their lives do not reflect it.

By all appearances, these are sheep & not wolves, good trees not bad, true prophets & not false prophets, but the judgment will declare something different. The three activities are associated with the prophetic office- prophesied in Your Name, cast out demons in your Name, done many wonders in Your Name; but they must be the false prophets of vs. 15. Why do we say this?

Jesus declares- I never knew you; a phrase that communicates disassociation or estrangement, i.e., a lack of relationship.

E.g., Acts 19:13, (when Paul was in Ephesus) there were some itinerant Jewish exorcists who took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits- “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Even they recognized their own disassociation. He was Paul’s Jesus, but not theirs.

One group- the 7 sons of Scevatried to exorcise an evil spirit in Jesus’ name. The evil spirit said- Jesus I know, Paul I know; but who are you? Then he jumped on them & overpowered them; they fled naked & wounded. It would be funny if it wasn’t so scary. They wanted to use Jesus’ name without knowing Jesus. They wanted the benefits of Jesus’ name without bowing to the name of Jesus.

There are many people living like this right now. They profess the Name of Jesus, but they do not know Him. They claim to do things in His Name, but it’s for their name. They appear to be law abiding but they engage in lawlessness (open rebellion). Their Day of Regret will come.

Matthew 13:40–42, Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Can I ask you- what is your relationship with Jesus? Do you have one? Have you professed His Name? Have you committed yourself to be His disciple- a learner and a follower of Jesus? If so, there is a way to live.

In fact, there are only 2 ways to live: 1) the way of Jesus (the righteous), & 2) the way of the world (ungodly). Psalm 1:6, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Which way are you on? According to the Bible, we are all already on the path to death because we are all sinners. Rom 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; Rom 6:23, For the wages of sin is death… Eph 2:1 says we are all dead in trespasses and sins & are walking according to the course of this world… Matt 7:13, broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it...

ILL: We are walking this broad way, & a lot of people are on it.As we walk this way, we meet somebody walking towards us- it’s Jesus. We meet him in this way, & He changes the course of our life. He changes our direction & with it, our destination. One way leads to destruction, the other to eternal life.

Discipleship is directional! It begins when you start walking with Jesus, but you must keep walking with Him, moving in His direction- the way of the cross. You can move away from Him, can’t you, but that’s not discipleship- the way of caution.

Eugene Peterson- “Discipleship is a long obedience in the same direction.” Discipleship is the way of the kingdom.

Which direction are you going?