Good Works and Good Fruit

Intro

Recap

Ok, now everybody go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Matthew 7:7-11 for our Bible passage tonight. And a quick recap:

What is this section of Scripture we’re studying called?

Who gave the sermon?

Why is the mount significant?

Instructions given to God’s people on how to live in relationship with him

The indicative (what is stated about us) comes before the imperative (what we are told to do)

Scripture Reading

Matthew 7:12–20 ESV

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. “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. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

There are 3 main things I want to quickly discuss before we go into groups.

The Golden Rule

Matthew 7:12 ““So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

You’ve probably heard this before, and we commonly call it the Golden Rule.

It’s a rule of morality when it comes to our relationships with others. We should do the things for others that we would like done for us, and we should not do things to others that we wouldn’t want done.

Remember Jesus is addressing his disciples here. So we as people who are transformed by God can use this as a good tool to know how to fulfil God’s will in the way we act towards other people.

We have the Holy Spirit inside of us, and he is the source of truth guiding us to make these assessments.

All of God’s laws about how to relate to other people can be summed up in this way.

This is another way of saying “Love your neighbor as yourself”

The Narrow Gate and The Wide Gate

Jesus says there are two paths with two destinations.

The one path is attractive. It’s easy, not demanding, and it seems like everybody is travelling on that road. And the gate that it leads to is a wide, easy gate to walk through. But the gate lets you into eternal punishment. Death lies at the end of that road.

The other path is less attractive. It looks much more difficult to walk on and far fewer people are taking it. The gate at the end of the path is narrow too, meaning that fewer people are going through it. But everlasting life is on the other side and you’re rewarded with heaven.

So know that the path Christ calls us to is not an easy one. It’s a path of difficultly because it’s full of self-sacrifice, self-denial, and serving God rather than serving yourself. But the reward is life.

You may be tempted to take the easy road, to seek to make your own life here easy and pain free. You may seek to choose yourself over serving God. But that’s the easy path with the wide gate, and it only leads to death.

So know that God calls you to take up your cross and follow Jesus. You must die to yourself, and life for Jesus. That’s no easy task, but it’s the one that brings the reward.

False Prophets

Jesus warns us also about false prophets. These are people who would claim to speak the words of God, giving you instruction and telling you things about life, but they aren’t really speaking the truth.

Elsewhere in Scripture we’re warned of false teachers. It’s essentially the same thing. False teachers are those who are giving instructions about what God says and how God wants us to live.

And we need to know that these people, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing, will try to look like us on the outside. Externally they will seem perfectly safe, but inside their motives are selfish and will lead to the destruction of others.

The way to recognize these people is to look at their life. Does their life show that they have been transformed by God? Can you easily recognize the Holy Spirit working in them and through them. If not, then they may be a false teacher.

False Teachers On Social Media

I think it’s especially important for me to share with you that you need to be on guard especially even now, because there are tons of people who are “teaching” on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube that are false teachers. And the thing is, because they’re doing it through a screen you can’t see their lives that well. That’s one of the things that makes it even more dangerous in our day and age.

That’s why it’s important to know your Bible. Be in the Word daily. Fill your mind with the truth of Scripture. You need to know it. The reality is that for most teens, they’re more biblically illiterate than ever before. I challenge you to be different from your peers. Know the Bible. Seek the truth from the written word of God, not videos and social media.

Do you know the Secret Service is the agency in charge of handling counterfeit money? The way they’re trained to recognize a counterfeit is not by learning what a counterfeit looks like, but by knowing through and through what a genuine bill looks like. Then they recognize when something is off.

The same principle applies to us and recognizing false teachers. We need to know the word of God so well, that we’ll recognize when someone is saying something that doesn’t align with Scripture. And we’ll also be able to recognize when someone is living in a way that is not what God wants from us, because we’ll know what his Word says about how we should live.

You’ll recognize false prophets by the fruit of their lives. They will be misaligned with what God says. So train yourself to recognize that.