It's Not As Easy as it Looks

Many listening then assumed that their identity as Jews, the location in God’s Promised Land, and their religious adherence to the statues given by God to Moses that they were all that God wanted them to be. Many hearing these words now consider their identity (I’m an American, therefore a Christian, my whole family is Christian), their geographical location (isn’t the USA the ‘real’ Promised Land (‘The City on a Hill’), and we live decent, law-abiding lives as assurance that they are right where God wants them to be.

What is a life that flourishes? How does one tell the difference between a life that is flourishing and one headed for destruction? Drive the streets of our area and you can just tell. The neighborhoods tell the difference

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20, HCSB).

1. ENTER vs 13-14

The kingdom Jesus spoke of was not the kingdom they anticipated.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord!’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’ Then I will announce to them, ‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’” (Matthew 7:21–23, HCSB).

2. BEWARE – vs 15-23

How is one to tell the difference? Even in the first century there were Jewish and non-Jewish teachers circulating in the countryside seeking to build an audience, seeking to find a way to develop funding for full-time teaching. How was one to tell the difference?

First, watch out for wolves dressed as sheep.

Second, what kind of fruit comes from the tree?

Third, how does Sunday match Monday - Saturday?

3. CHOOSE

I like the way Eugene Peterson translates this passage in the Message: ““These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on. If you work these words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter who built his house on solid rock.” (Matthew 7:24, The Message).

Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it. What will you do? Will you hold back? If you get into the habit of doing something physically, you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination. And the same is true spiritually. Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender. Yet we tend to say, “Yes, but— suppose I do obey God in this matter, what about…?” Or we say, “Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark.”

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits. If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark. In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold on to or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says. Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

By the test of common sense, Jesus Christ’s statements may seem mad, but when you test them by the trial of faith, your findings will fill your spirit with the awesome fact that they are the very words of God. Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it. We act like pagans in a crisis— only one out of an entire crowd is daring enough to invest his faith in the character of God.[1]

[1] https://utmost.org/yes%e2%80%94-but/, accessed on 3/25/21.

Will we be those who are ‘daring enough’ to invest our faith in the character and nature of our God? Will we obey – even when it means choosing the narrow and difficult path? Will we diligently persist – even when others promise immediate success as the world identifies success? Will we invest in building our lives on the foundation of God – His character and nature as revealed in His Word?

Jesus is inviting us to enter His Kingdom, to carefully evaluate all that we see and hear around us, and to invest in building on His presence, His promise, His power to protect. It’s now up to us…

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