Fruitful Kingdom Living

Today we conclude our study of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus has clearly laid out what it means to be a member of the Kingdom of Heaven. In chapter 5, he spelled out the character and integrity of His citizens. Citizens of heaven are humble, aware of their natural-born sinfulness, have recognised and received the blessedness of God, and they depend fully and completely upon Him as they live their new lives in Christ. They love God’s law, not only the letter of it, but the spirit behind it for that is how we truly love God and neighbour.

In chapter six, Jesus reminded us of who we truly live for: we live under the watchful eyes of God our Father. We live for Him, and we constantly have to remind ourselves of this true reality. We are, according to our natural-born sinful nature, conditioned to live to be seen by men. We look for earthly rewards. But for those who have faith in Jesus Christ know that our sins are pardoned, and that He has made us new creations in Him, and He has given us a new, true nature. That’s the nature we cultivate, feed, focus on, and nurture. The reality though, is that we continue to deal with our old nature, we daily put it to death, and live only for Christ.

Chapter seven began with a teaching on judging others. Christian culture today has, in many ways, adopted the culture of the world around us, which says, “Do not judge, lest you be judged. We learned last week that, yes, we are to judge others, soberly, and with the knowledge that for every speck of sin in others, there’s a plank of sin in us. We must first deal with our own sin in prayer, then we can help others with their sin.

Jesus concludes His sermon by tying all things together. This is the application section. Having learned all the facts, now we get to apply them. To the disciples and the crowd, having heard what real faithfulness to God looks like, having heard how to truly live, truly obey, truly serve, pray and fast, having heard how to live before our Father in heaven, Jesus invites them to live it out.

Good Trees Produce Good Fruit

As we saw last week Sunday afternoon, in John 15, good trees produce good fruit. I just need to say this straight—you’re either in Christ or you’re not, there’s no in between. Those who are in Christ will bear good fruit. Those who are not in Christ will bear bad fruit. Those who are in Christ, will be honest about their sin, they won’t be perfect, they won’t always respond graciously when confronted, but they will come around because they are in Christ. They can’t help but eventually confess, repent, and change.

But those who are not in Christ, won’t bear good fruit. And Jesus is real and up front about it. So, we are to look for and “beware of false prophets, who come to us in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” This is reality. There are only two camps, those who are in Christ, and those who are not. Some who are not in Christ find their ways into churches, and they make a huge mess of everything. Many of them find their way into leadership positions and they begin to do things very much like the Pharisees. They begin to create extra rules and extra ways that people have to prove themselves to be worthy of salvation. They’ll do things like preventing people from participating in communion—instead of simply coming to the table in faith, they’ll lay on all kinds of qualifiers, like having a vision, or proving one’s attendance, or maintaining a certain level of giving.

Jesus requires us to judge. He warns us that such people are in churches. He says, be very aware of their presence in the church. They look like sheep. They will act like sheep until they get hungry. Then, their hunger for power, control, their own sinful nature comes out. We will know them by their fruits because they will not be demonstrating the character: heart, mind and will of Christ. We need to be aware of them, so that when we see them, when we discover them in the church, we can address them. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

I’m sure we can all agree that we’re aware of bad trees producing bad fruit in churches. We’ve probably also seen councils and congregations who refuse to deal with these ravenous wolves. They are allowed to keep up their destructive behaviour while the leaders and the congregations wait for them to change. But Jesus makes it clear, bad fruit comes from bad trees. Bad fruit means they are not grafted into the true vine—Jesus Christ. The only right thing to do with bad fruit is to expel it, get rid of it.

Does Jesus Know Me

Jesus gives us a second way to discover who is or is not in the kingdom of heaven. This time, we can approach this in two ways. We can first ask the question, “Does Jesus know me?” And we can then ask, “Does Jesus know my fellow believer?” Let’s look at the first question, does Jesus know me?

Do you ever wonder if you are really saved? Do you ever question whether or not Jesus really died for you? These are important questions to ask! It is better to ask, than to assume. The answer to this question is found in how we respond to Jesus. If we respond to Jesus as described in Matthew 5:1-12, then we can be sure that we are really saved. We will acknowledge that we are poor in spirit, we will mourn our sin, we are meek, we hunger and thirst for righteousness, we are merciful, we are pure in heart, we are peacemakers, we are persecuted. In short, we make much of God and little of us.

In contrast, many will say to Jesus, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name.” These sound like amazing acts of faith, don’t they? But do these things demonstrate the heart of God? Do these things demonstrate the laying down of one’s life for others? Are these examples of good deeds, prayer and fasting that Jesus gave us in chapter 6? No, none of these things indicate the transformative power of the Holy Spirit within the heart and life of the individual.

To them Jesus says, “I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” This is a serious teaching. It is the same condemnation that Jesus gives to the scribes, Pharisees and the leaders who outwardly had all the appearance of zeal and righteousness, but in their hearts, there was no change, no connection to God.

We all know where you’ve come from, our upbringing, the teaching we’ve received. So much of it has emphasised the external, the bits and pieces that can be seen on the outside, essentially, what can be seen by men. God is interested in our hearts. God is concerned about our character. Make no mistake, character influences the outside, the parts seen by men. But if the emphasis has been on the outside, without making a connection to the heart, then the danger is that we have many people walking around who are externally doing the right things, but internally, in their hearts they don’t know God, and God doesn’t know them.

So how do we get to the heart of the matter. We have to believe with our minds, and confess in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. It means forgetting what we’ve learned in the past about doing this, doing that. It means simply surrendering to the goodness of God’s incredible grace. It means realising that the old way of doing things—the Pharisaical and legalistic way of doing things is like building a house on sand. It is constantly shifting and changing, and collapsing because it is built upon the ever changing whims of men.

Build on the Word of God

Rather than building our lives on the external rules and regulations—”these things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:23). Build on the Word of God! The Word of God is solid bedrock. It doesn’t shift and change with the whims of the world. The Word of God clearly teaches that marriage is between one man and one woman. Without the bedrock Word of God, we’d be just like the culture around us, shifting and changing and compromising.

Now, here’s what Jesus is really getting at. Each Christian person must be wholly dependent upon the Word of God. Church is great, being together is wonderful, but the Word of God is everything. The day after Jesus fed the 5000, thousands showed up again, to get more food. Jesus took the opportunity to teach them that He is the bread of life. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever’” ( John 6:53-58).

Many who heard Jesus say this, stopped following him and went away. Turning to His disciples, he asked, “Do you also want to go away?” Simon Peter answered for all of them, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Jn 6:67-69).

That’s why the Word of God is so important. Without it, we cannot know Jesus, the Word, the light, the way, the truth and the life. Without it, life has no meaning. This Jesus, he is the Rock, the solid foundation, the cornerstone, upon which we build our lives. There is no other.

Everyone who, by the Holy Spirit, hears Jesus sayings, that is, this Sermon on the Mount, recognises the true authority in His teaching. Everyone who hears it and does it will live eternally. True belief is followed by true action. Faith produces deeds, deeds don’t produce faith. Believing in Jesus results in a change in your life. Having recognised your sinfulness, you seek a Saviour. Having found Jesus, you live for Him, you build your life on Him. Having been saved through the work of the Holy Spirit, you now live your life in the Holy Spirit. He builds you into His house, His home. Amen.