The Heart of It All

Kingdom Heart Sermon Series

We come to the end of our Kingdom Heart sermon series, our focus on how Jesus wants to teach us how to live within Kingdom of God, which means having heartfelt love for all, loving God, loving neighbor

Though next week we’ll be continuing in sense, circle back to look at one particular part of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus teaches us to pray - the Lord’s Prayer

But today, we want to wrap it all up, as Jesus gives us summary of what having a Kingdom Heart is all about

Prayer / Matthew 7:13-20

“The Road Not Taken” poem by Robert Frost

Incredibly popular poem written by Robert Frost, I suspect you at least recognize some of the lines

though it’s interpretation is in doubt as to way it’s normally understood (boldness of taking road less traveled), it does illustrate one central point…that when we come to fork in road, we have to choose

We cannot take two divergent paths, we must choose and take one or the other

And that’s exactly Jesus’ point here in first of three images Jesus offers us in this part of Sermon on Mount

Choice between entering narrow gate and taking narrow road (that Jesus says leads to life) versus taking the wide gate that leads to broad road, that Jesus says leads to destruction.

We’re going to walk through each of these three images: narrow gate / road versus wide gate / road, sheep in wolves’ clothing and then trees and their fruit - to see what Jesus is teaching us about having Kingdom Hearts.

So first, narrow path versus wide path

Wide gate and road is default path

When I was at UT, one of my last semesters, I realized I need another English class, one with writing component, which I had not registered for.

Now, this was long enough ago that computers were just coming into use - but not for class registration. So, to add class you had to go in person to that department.

So, I went to the English department, took a look at line, and turned around immediately. The line stretched out of the office area, down the hallway, where students were just sitting and waiting (literally, sitting), waiting for someone to come drop an English class so they could add it.

I could be waiting there forever to no avail. But I needed that class. As I was looking through all options of English classes that had writing classes, there was one class that caught my eye, class on Italian films (I was Radio-TV-Film major). Turns out that class was also listed in Italian department.

So, I walked across to building across the South Mall where there was tiny little office that housed both the Italian and French departments and where nobody was in line and added that writing class immediately. So, if you ever want to have discussion about Italian films, I’m in.

So often in life, we just go along with crowd. We don’t give it much thought, just go along with what everyone else is doing. The default.

But one of the things that Jesus is making clear here is that that will never work when it comes to following him. When Jesus contrasts these two gates and roads they lead to, wide gate, broad is default road. That’s one most people take. That’s road crowd just ambles along, often without even realizing there’s another option, another road you can take. The road that Jesus tells us, is one only a few find.

Only a few find narrow gate and enter it. Finding it suggests that they were looking for it. Which is exactly what Jesus has been teaching us all along: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.

What this clearly tells us is that if we are not intentional about looking for and entering narrow gate in order to take narrow road, we’ll just amble along wide road with rest of crowd. We’ll just end up sitting and waiting outside the English department to no avail.

To be a follower of Jesus is, by definition, to actively seek after Jesus, it requires being engaged in intentional discipleship - making choice to follow Jesus. That means we have to make changes about how we are living our lives.

Which is exactly what Jesus is inviting us to do. Dallas Willard writes that Jesus’ basic message in Gospels is this, “Rethink your life in the light of the fact that the Kingdom of the heavens is now open to all.”

In other words: I’ve revealed this truth to you, Kingdom of the heavens is here, now, available to you. And it is way to life. Will you change direction of your life and take this path. Will you rethink the way you are living your life in light of this truth?

That’s what it means to repent. When Jesus says, repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand, that’s exactly what he’s asking us to do.

And am I willing to change the way I’m living my life. To walk a different path - in this case, to enter narrow gate and walk the narrow road instead of the wide gate and broad road.

C.S. Lewis has wonderful way of expressing it: We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world it's pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistakes. We're on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.

And this choosing involves not just what direction we’re headed, but what we take with us.

John Stott says that if you consider a narrow gate, going through narrow gate requires that you let things go - can’t take it all with you.

On our backpacking trip at the beginning of the summer, right as we were coming off the mountain, at very end of trail, we were crossing this meadow area, had some wooden fencing along it - at one point, we had to go through a gate, a very narrow opening as it turned out (clearly designed to keep critters in or out, not sure which).

Last thing we wanted to do at that point, was take off our backpacks - but opening was too narrow, couldn’t get through with backpack on (ok, to be honest, Larry managed, but only because we helped push him through)

Point is, gate that is narrow demands that you let go in order to pass through.

Jesus has been teaching us all along here what we must be willing to let go of: Let go of anger and contempt toward others. To let go of lust, to seeing others simply as objects for our own physical pleasure. To let go of our desire to get back of others (and embrace willingness to love all others). To let go of desire of approval of others. To let go of earthly treasures (which is exactly what he told rich young ruler). To let go of trying to fix others by shaming or condemning them.

It’s only when we make intentional decision to stop taking wide road, turn around, go through narrow gate (which means we’ve got to start shedding some things) can we begin to follow in way of Jesus.

Which brings us to second image. Any time you’re following road, path, you need signs that you’re still on path. Wide roads are easy enough to follow, doesn’t take much thought or attention (why they are default ones). But narrow trails you have to be paying attention, to follow right way. Which is exactly what Jesus is pointing us toward in his second image, which is wolf in sheep’s clothing.

This is image for false prophets. A prophet is someone who speaks God’s word, his truth. A false prophet is someone who speaks other than God’s word, speaks falsely about who God is, teaches in way that goes against God’s truth.

Image here paints picture of hidden danger - wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing would look safe, innocent…just a sheep, nothing to be worried about. But in reality, it’s wolf, dangerous predator, out to use sheep for his own vile purposes.

I don’t know if you’ve seen controversy about new movie that just started playing on Netflix, film called “Cuties”. It’s set in France, about a young girl from Senegal, 11 years old, who comes from very conservative (fundamentalist) Muslim family (her dad is bringing a second wife back from Senegal). Young girl is angry, upset with this. Through social media, she discovers dance troupes for girls, she starts getting involved with that.

If you read some of the descriptions, you’d think this could be wonderful film - powerful story about the pressure young girls face on social media, and their involvement with a free-spirited dance troupe.

Go to Rotten Tomatoes, film review site, it has 88% approval ratings from critics, who talk about what an important work it is, empowering young girls. Except those reviews, those descriptions, are wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Same Rotten Tomatoes site shows that among public, there’s only 3% approval rating. Most of the reviews are listed as 1 star, and they repeat the same thing over and over again…this movie sexually exploits young girls. Because what they describe as “free-spirited dance troupe” is actually dance troupe with skimpy outfits dancing provocatively, with sexualized dance moves, like twerking. The movie has a Mature rating on Netflix. And it’s story about 11 year old girls.

Now, to be fair, director was actually trying to make point of the hypersexualization of our culture. She made it explicit in order to make viewer uncomfortable, pointing out how damaging this is to young girls today. She was pointing to wolf in sheep’s clothing of freedom of sexual expression and how prevalent it is on so much of social media today. Problem is with how explicit she made it.

Who we listen to, what we watch, who we read - matters. Some words lead to destruction. And they are all more dangerous because they appear innocent, they look like sheep - but they are wolves.

C.S. Lewis in Screwtape Letters: It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick. Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one--the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.

Notice how Lewis is describing wide road, road you’re taking and you don’t even realize it - gentle slope, soft (not rocky), no markers, just keep making you’re way. It’s default road.

If we’re not attentive to who we’re listening to, we all-too-easily veer onto that path. I love fact that he mentions cards - seemingly innocent activity (it’s not murder).

But his point is not that cards are evil, but they become distraction, life lived unexamined. We just keep ambling along.

We just play our cards and watch our TV shows and engage in our social media and listen to our news and just gradually make our way down that path.

And God seems absent from world, because it becomes life where he doesn’t seem necessary. We can’t hear Shepherd if we’re constantly listening to other sheep (or as it often turns out, sheep in wolves’ clothing).

All this, of course is why we Shepherd. Good Shepherd, who will help us discern what’s true and right and what is not. Jesus is true prophet. He teaches true Words of God, words of life.

Right now, where are you hearing voice of Jesus in your life? I certainly hope it’s here, on Sunday mornings, but I certainly hope it’s much more than that, too.

What does that look like for you on daily basis? This is all about living in reality of Kingdom of God! We don’t want to miss out on that because of cards or sports or social media or politics or whatever case might be.

In our PCCLife Group we’ve been practicing spiritual exercises to learn to do just that.

First week we wrote letter to God

Second week as we sought to develop prayer-filled life, we all engaged in spiritual exercise rooted in prayer: 5 to 10 minutes in silent prayer, 5 to 10 minutes in daily prayer, reading selections from devotional book.

This week, we’re practicing exercises to nurture virtuous life - a couple of us are going to be engaging in partial fast, others are committed to spending day attentive to how we use our words (no negative talk!), another person an hour in prayer seeking guidance of Holy Spirit.

There are some many wonderful ways to quiet ourselves before Jesus, to listen to his words, put them into practice. This is how we follow Jesus through narrow gate and on narrow road.

Those are first two images: the roads - which path will we take, sheep in wolves’ clothing - whose voice are we listening to. Last image is that of trees and fruit they bear.

Tree and Its Fruit - simple idea, that you can tell what kind of tree it is by fruit that it bears.

Jesus points out that thornbushes produce thorns. They do not produce grapes. And thistles produce thistles, not figs. Fig trees produce figs.

Bad trees produce bad fruit and good trees produce good fruit. Pretty simple.

Jesus is, once again, pointing us toward our hearts - toward true inner goodness. Everything he’s been teaching has been to help us become good people

Using image here, Jesus wants us to become good trees, who naturally produce good fruit

That’s what he’s been doing all along: Because a heart that is full of anger, contempt, lustfulness, A heart that lives for approval of others or treasures earthly things will produce harmful things: Condemnation, deceitful words, revenge, worry, self-righteousness.

A bad tree produces bad fruit.

This is why when we find ourselves getting angry easily or making biting comments or filled with worry or wanting to point out wrong in everyone or rejoicing over other’s misfortune…it’s time to do heart check.

Heart that is filled with agape, with that kind of divine love, heartfelt love for all others - will produce very different fruit: joy, faithfulness, peace, self control, ready forgiveness, generous giving, eager and joyful service.

Heart that is like Jesus. That is road to life, that’s narrow road, is to grow more and more to having that kind of heart. Kingdom Heart.

At end of day, this is what it means to be Christian, follower of Jesus

This is what Jesus is teaching us here. Everything in New Testament points us in this direction. As Dallas Willard points out, it is always this:

Inward transformation by discipleship of Jesus. We are changed from inside out - move from being bad to good tree, move from having hearts dominated by anger, contempt, lusts to having heartfelt love for all. What it means to be “born again”.

This happens because we intentionally follow Jesus. We seek and find that narrow gate, take that narrow road. We listen to his voice, his teachings, and we put them into practice.

Central point of reference is always divine kind of love, agape. This heartfelt love for all others becomes core of our personality - who we are. We have Kingdom Hearts. We are good trees.

Out of that core personality, out of that heartfelt love for all others, deeds naturally flow. We’re not doing them for show, to look good for others or to alleviate guilt or we think it’s going to earn points with God, we do them because that is who we are.

There is no other way - this is narrow gate / narrow road

if you’re not following it, you’re on wrong path (as C.S. Lewis says, going back is the quickest way off)

have to be listening to Jesus -we must be with him. Must listen and put it into practice.

When we do, we will be transformed - become truly good. New hearts. Know life Jesus wants for us.

As Robert Frost so aptly reminds us, that when we come to fork in road, we must choose. Can’t go both ways. And I hope that it’s true for us: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.