An Alternative Community - Closing Message

Recap: We’ve been talking the last few months from the Sermon on the mount. We’ve been working our way through the sermon. We said that it is, in a sense, the guidelines from Jesus for his new community. Like Moses in the Old Testament goes up the mountain and brings down the word of God and the guidelines for Israel, Jesus goes up the mountain and teaches the people God’s guidelines for this new group, the Church.

He starts off with what type of people we should be.

He then moves into lengthy passages on Prayer, fasting, giving, how we should treat our enemies, how we should deal with the needy, how we should relate to our money, and how we should deal with worry and anxiety.

Opening Story/Illustration:

Transition to the Text: Tonight I want to go back to the beginning of Chapter 7 and hit a verse we looked at a few weeks ago. This verse is sort of going to set up the rest of the chapter and the end of the sermon.

Text: ,

Matthew 7:12–28 ESV

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 “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. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,

Matthew 7:1–2 ESV

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Matthew 7:1–2 ESV

1 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

Matthew 7:12–28 ESV

12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 “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. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. 15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ 24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,

Transition to Points: Jesus here tells us not to judge. We talked several weeks ago about this passage and we won’t rehash all of that, but there is a key difference between judgement as condemnation and judgment as discernment. As Christians we are supposed to discern or judge things that are right and wrong and deal with them appropriately. Jesus closes this sermon by asking us to judge or discern a few things.

Exercise discernment in how you treat others -

Matthew 7:12 ESV

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

Jesus says here to treat others the way that we would want to be treated.

This means we have to think about others and their situation, put ourselves in their shoes and ask the question - “What would we want to happen here?”

This has a direct connection to what we talked about a few weeks ago - That God is good. we are called to be good and treat others well.

Discussion: If you had to grade yourself on this - 1-10, how are you doing in your treatment of others? Are you treating them the way you would want to be treated? Not the way you deserve to be treated, but the way you want to be treated.

Discussion: Why do you think it’s often so hard to apply this verse?

Exercise discernment in choices you make -

Matthew 7:13–14 ESV

13 “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. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Jesus points out here that there is a way of living that most people follow, but it is the wrong way.

Jesus reminds us that following him often means taking the road less traveled. The more difficult path.

Notice the parallel here with the end of the chapter - Jesus presents two ways of living - The narrow road or the wide road, the wise builder or the foolish builder.

Discussion: What is the “narrow gate” Jesus calls us to walk through?

It is following Jesus and his way.

It is a way that is not always easy!

Discussion: Was there ever a time in your life when you had to choose between the right way and the easy way? Which way did you choose? Tell us about it.

Discussion: Do you think even in Church, there are many people trying to take the easy way?

Exercise discernment in who you follow -

Matthew 7:15–23 ESV

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. 21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Jesus reminds us here that we must be careful who we follow. Not everyone who claims to know Jesus actually knows him.

Jesus tells us that signs, wonders, good speaking, and talent aren’t what matter.

Jesus tells us we must look at the fruit from people’s lives.

Discussion: What do you think Jesus means here by “Fruit?” What is good fruit? What is bad fruit?

Discussion: How do we discern the type of fruit people’s lives and ministries are producing?

Thoughts regarding Fruit:

Does this person remind me of the character of Jesus?

What do the people who have been influenced by this person or ministry look like?

We need to discern between abilities and charismatic personalities and the grace that draws us to Jesus.

We need to discern between

It’s possible to preach well and have extraordinary powers and yet miss Jesus

Exercise discernment in what you build your life on -

Matthew 7:24–27 ESV

24 “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

This is, perhaps my favorite part of the sermon.

Jesus’ concluding remarks are a reminder that what matters isn’t just hearing His teaching, but actually putting them into practice.

There are two people in this story.

Both build houses

They probably used the same material - They may have even used the same floorplan.

The only difference in the two was the foundation.

There are two types of people in Church and there were two types of people in Jesus’ audience.

Both attended and heard God’s word

They go through the same motions and on the outside they may even look very similar.

But one will walk away and put Jesus’ words into practice. One will walk away and ignore them.

Only one survives when the storm comes.

Jesus concludes his sermon like any good preacher - Go and actually do what I’ve said. Put it into practice.

If you were sick and the dr. prescribed you medicine and you went to the pharmacy and got it filled, but then you went home and set it in your medicine cabinet and didn’t take it - would you get any better? NO! For it to work, you have to take it.

For God’s word to work, for what Jesus says to actually work in your life, you have to do it.

Spend some time over the next few weeks rereading . Pray. Ask God how it applies to your life. Go live it out!

An Alternative Community - Closing Message

Intro

Points

Conclusion