Two Ways to Live

Today’s sermon in church was very convicting. There was much truth in it. I will try to summarize. I have to warn you though that this might not be half as pleasant to read as my other blogs. It’s a lot more serious and a lot more important.

Reference: Matthew 7:13-29

Before that, a short flashback. Let’s look back at Matthew 5:1-2.
“His (Jesus) disciples came to him and he began to teach them.”

Jesus’ teaching begins here in Chapter 5 and goes straight through till the end of Chapter 7. From Chapter 5, we know that he was addressing the disciples (followers or believers).

Now, in Chapter 7:13-29, two ways of life are addressed in three different ways:

Instance 1: Verse 13
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Instance 2: Verse 15-23
“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’”

Instance 3: Verse 24-27
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against the house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

All this time, Jesus was addressing the disciples and he pointed out two ways of life to his followers - the comfortable ‘Christian’ life versus the difficult Christian life which is according to God’s Word. Do we stay in out comfort zone and hear only what we want to hear? “By their fruit you will recognize them”.

Then in Hebrews 10:26,
“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

Yet, hope still remains, for Romans 7:19-25 says this:
“For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.”

At the end, we are in no place to judge. That’s God’s job. This sermon hit me with something new and that’s why I’ve decided to share it. It gave me something to think about. On Judgment day, what will God say to me?