Following Jesus

Matthew 7:13-27 - The Greatest Sermon: On Solid Ground Doug Partin - The Christian Church - Sept 6, 2020 Have you ever received an advertisement that made you wonder where you wanted to go on vacation? The mountains, the beach, a theme park, museums, shopping, or some combination of them all. You might want to experience high adventure or you might be seeking a relaxing retreat. There are just so many choices, its hard to decide. So, it's a good thing that these advertisers are able to help you make the best choice, right? Some of them will tell you that Santa Fe is the perfect place. In fact, many people, from around the world, choose Santa Fe as part of their vacation destination because of advertising, but I don't think that I'd ever spend my vacation there. It's more a place, at least for me, to go out to eat or shop at Sam's club than a vacation getaway. But it is a great place, so I tend to ignore all those advertizers. But instead of advice on a vacation, perhaps you need help deciding where to go when you are out and about. If you're like most people today, you'd pull out your phone, open up a gps maps app and search something like, "food near me," or "coffee shops near me." It will give you a list of choices, and the ones at the top are usually paid advertisements. So, all you have to do is choose which option is best for you. Even if you had a specific destination in mind, you would still have to make a choice. Let's say that you're in Albuquerque, and you search, "Lot-a-burger, near me." You would have to decide which location you wanted to visit; and when you arrived, you'd have to decide what to order. We face a variety of choices every day, and we get a lot of advice on what we should choose. While some of the choices we face are small, like what kind of drink you want to order at Starbucks, which can be difficult in its own right; other choices are more important, like what sort of career you might want to pursue when you are young; or what person you want to pursue as a spouse. And yet, there are even more important choices than those, but the most important choice you'll ever face is whether you will follow Jesus or not. Most of us have already made that choice, and when we made our decision about that really big thing in our life; it also, in advance, made our decision about a lot of other, seemingly little things, as well. Or at least it should have, and that is what Jesus was talking about as He brought His sermon to a close. He first made it clear that everyone listening to Him would face that ultimate choice of whether they would follow Him or not. He compared it to making a rather simple choice, one of choosing which gate to go through. Most English translations have Jesus saying "enter," but this same Greek word is translated "go" more often than "enter." This comparison of choices would have made sense to those ancient people to whom Jesus spoke. You have to remember that these people were used to going through gates all the time. Nearly every city back then was surrounded by a fortified wall, and the only way into those cities was through a gate. There might be several gates to choose from, but each of those gates, if you were entering, would all lead to the same place, just to different parts of the same city. But in Jesus' comparison, the gates seem to lead to entirely different places, and they would if you going out through a gate to leave one of these ancient cities. In Jesus' metaphor there were only two gates leading out of the city He proposed. He said that: One is narrow, the other is wide. One leads to life, the other to destruction. One is difficult to find, the other easy to find. One is less travelled, and the other is well travelled. Jesus made it crystal clear that these two gates represented whether those to whom He had been preaching would follow His way, as He had just expressed in His sermon, or the way everyone else was already going. No one, in their right mind, would choose a path that led to destruction. And by "destruction" Jesus wasn't talking about minor, self-inflicted sorrows resulting from poor choices about small things. Let's say you are headed to Taos for the day and you stop to get a drink. And afterwards, as you drive along, you think, "You know, I should have chosen the dark roast instead of the pumpkin spice latte. I didn't know if I would like that taste at all when I ordered it, but there is just so much advertising about it, and so many other people in line ordering it, that I wanted to try it; but, when I did, I didn't like it at all, and now I feel like I just wasted my money. And I don't get to enjoy a cup of coffee while I drive like I had hoped to do." We learn about our own preferences from those experiences, and hopefully, we will avoid making the same poor personal choices in the future; but these little learning moments don't really have anything to do with the destination of the road we're travelling; and Jesus was talking about life's final destination, which, by His comparison of it to life meant that destruction is the only other alternative to making it into God's Heavenly Kingdom. Which would have gotten Jesus' Jewish audience's attention, since they had been taught, as a whole, that Israel would be saved, and it was only a few of them who would end up on the wrong road that led to destruction. They didn't think that being on the wrong road was their problem because they'd been taught that Moses had once offered a choice to the children of Israel between life and death. On that occasion, Moses reminded those who were about to cross over into the Promised Land about God's way of living; and then, he challenged them to make a choice as to how they would live. And this crowd to whom Jesus spoke believed that they were continuing to choose life when they followed the laws of Moses which had been handed down to them. However, Jesus' sermon makes it pretty clear that how they had been told to follow the law, and what God's will for them was, were two very different things. Jesus had just revealed to them that this assuming that they had been taught right about how to live life was the very reason why so many of them were going to end up on the wrong road, if they weren't already on it. Why? Because their religious leaders were pointing them toward the wrong gate. As I mentioned earlier, most of the gates in city walls back then were named for the destination of the road that began at the gate, like the Damascus gate which used to be the primary gate in Jerusalem, because it used to be the primary destination for the majority of the people traveling to and from that ancient city. But that changed when the Romans modified Jerusalem's walls; creating a new main gate, the Jaffa Gate, which lead to the port city of Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast. They made that gate wide enough for supply caravans and armies to enter easily. It had become the most used gate because commerce was now connected with the ships carrying goods to the coast, and nearly everything was brought up that way to Jerusalem. However, this new gate just happened to begin above the Hinnon Valley, which, when translated into English means the Valley of Hell. So it was, a large, wide, well-known and well-travelled gate that led to hell. As I said, Jesus' metaphor was rich with meaning for those who first heard it, because they would have known about that connection, although much of that kind of nuance is lost on us. But still, we should at least realize that what would have gotten this crowd's attention was not that Jesus had said that most of them would end up passing through a wide gate, to a wide road, but that the destination of the road they would end up travelling on was destruction. They would have been thinking, "How could that possibly be true?" They were Abraham's descendants, they followed the Law, and they were good people. But Jesus' disciples understood exactly how it could be true, for Jesus had taught them, as He had revealed in this sermon, that most of those people were headed for destruction because their leaders had twisted the law, interpreting it in way, and applying it in a way, that evidenced that "their god was their appetite, their glory was their shame, and they had set their minds of earthly things." (Phil. 3:19) Jesus reminded this crowd who had been listening to Him preach that there would be "prophets" offering them advice as to which gate they were to choose; that is, what kind of life they were to live. And Jesus told them to be on the lookout for "false prophets," which sounds like really good advice. Although these false prophets disguised themselves well; like a wolf in sheep's clothing, Jesus said that they were pretty easy to recognize by their fruits. Just as a bad or good tree (think woody vine) is easy to spot. In many ways these vines look the same, especially from a distance. But some of them produced thorns, while others produced grapes. If you were to take a closer look at these two different kinds of vines, it would be pretty easy to recognize which was the "good" vine, and which was not. It's the same difference as there is between a briar patch and a vineyard. A grapevine can't produce thorns, and the vines in a briar patch can't produce grapes. And, as Jesus said, any good farmer, who was cultivating a vineyard, and came across a briar, would cut it down and throw it into the fire. His implication is clear. You also need to remember that Jesus was still talking about false prophets at this point. He asked the crowd, what if a "recognized" teacher of the law called Him "Lord," would that make His advice reliable? What if he prophesied in Jesus' name? Would they then trust him to give them the right directions? Or what if he cast out demons, or even performed miracles? Jesus said that none of those things meant that this particular leader would give them the right directions that would lead them to the right gate. Jesus told them that they would have to look past that sort of "sheep's clothing," because it was likely that they would discover that these teachers' lives were full of the thorns of unrighteousness, because they were not putting His words into practice. They would discover that they really were wolves. Jesus said, if they were to look at the way these leaders lived their own lives, how they treated the people around them, they would discover that they didn't really know God, much less His Son. So how could they possibly point them in the right direction? It makes you wonder, "What sort of good fruit should we should look for in a leader so we can trust them to point us in the right direction?" That's easy. It is the sort of fruit that is evident in the life of anyone who not only hears Jesus' words, but puts them into practice. We are to look for the sort of fruit that builds a firm foundation that can stand up to the storms of life. Jesus said that everyone who hears His words and acts on them can be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. I guess they didn't have building inspectors back then, or building codes for that matter. We wouldn't let anyone build a house on sand today; but we all understand what Jesus was saying: bad weather happens. Rains fall, and not just the sort that is an answer to prayer, but the kind of storms that get you down on your knees asking for deliverance. The kind of rains that sweep houses away that are not build on a firm foundation. And those traveling on the wrong road are building houses that will be swept away. And if you come to realize, as Jesus was trying to get this crowd to realize, that you are on the wrong road, headed toward sure destruction, it is not too late to get off of it and onto the right road. The quote in verse 23 reveals how to do that. "Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness" comes from Psalm 6. In that Psalm David is pleading with God not to bring His anger or wrath down on Him, which he deserves because he's been on the wrong road, but to be gracious to him. He pleads for God to save Him, not because He is so good, but because of God's lovingkindness. David even laments, "If I get what I deserve. If I have to stay on this road which ends up in Hell, how will I be able to give you thanks at that point? I know that your name is not even mentioned by those who end up there; and I want a future where I can praise You." Then David goes on to describe his sorrow over being on the wrong road. He laments, "I am weary because of my groans. I can't sleep at night, tossing and turning as if I were swimming. My tears are so many that it makes my bed soggy, ruining it. My eyes are wasted away with grief." "All those around me," David said, "who continue to do the same things that now grieve my heart, think that they are walking in Your ways, and they think that I am the crazy one. And they keep encouraging me to follow them." But I tell them, "Depart from me, all you who do iniquity. For the Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord has heard my supplication. The Lord receives my prayers." It is no easy thing to tell traveling companions that we don't want them in our lives anymore because they are headed the wrong way. It is hard to let go of old ways, old habits. But we have to do it. The good news is that we can, as David was, confident that God will hear our prayers when we turn to Him. And He will pour out His grace on us; and He, like a good shepherd, will lead us through the right gate and onto the right road. David didn't want to be on the road with everyone else because he came to realize that it was leading to destruction. He was tired of their encouragement to go the wrong way. He wanted them to leave Him alone and go on without him, because He was turning around, He was headed back to God. In this sermon Jesus called this crowd to turn from their old ways based on their mis-understanding of the law. He called on them to repent, to change the way they thought about things, so they could actually start doing the things the way that Jesus just told them to do them. While we in the church often quote James when talking about "doing," who said, "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, and thereby deceive yourselves." We don't always follow his advice either. If you recall, James said, "If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. (1:22, 26-27) James went on to say, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder. (James 2:14-19) While Jesus, in His sermon, talked about giving to the poor; He spent more time talking about not getting angry, not being anxious, not lusting, and not being self-serving. He talked about being honest, gracious, and forgiving. He talked about connecting with God instead of impressing people when you pray, fast, and give offerings. He talked about expressing your love through acts of service, kindness, and offering forgiveness, even to your enemies. He talked about living in the light, and about being blessed by God. It really is the greatest sermon, because Jesus was directing God's people back to God's ways. But it is hard for God's people to admit that they are on the wrong road. It is still a problem. There are a lot of people who claim to follow Jesus who do not put Jesus' words into practice, or ever intend to do so. And, there are not many today who preach that we should actually do what Jesus said. So they, like the false prophets Jesus warned this crowd about, are pointing people in the wrong direction. I hope that I am one of those voices, directing you toward the narrow gate that leads to life; not just in words, but in how I live, in how I treat you. I'm not always perfect in that, so if I have hurt you in some way, if I have not treated you as I should have done, come and talk to me about it, and I will seek your forgiveness. It is my hope to follow Jesus, and help you do the same. It is also my hope that you are actively leading others to follow Jesus by the way you live your life, because there really are a lot of people, as Jesus said, who think that they are on the right road, but are not. And we should do our best to turn them around, and point them in the right direction. Prayer: Jesus, forgive us when we stray from your ways, for those times when we walk on the wrong road. Thank you for coming to us and showing us the right way. Thank you for freeing us from the sin that so easily entangles us, and for filling us with your Holy Spirit, who empowers us to follow You. Amen.