Doing The Right Thing The Wrong Way Part 2 Series

Doing the right thing the wrong way Pt 2

Two men who built houses

Introduction

A. We are continuing our sermon series on “Doing the right thing the wrong way.” The Bible is full of stories where two people do the same thing, but one does it the right way the other does it the wrong way. Two men believed in God and prayed, one did it the wrong way and one did it the right way. Two men who did the right thing and offered sacrifices to God, but one did it the wrong way and one did it the right way. Two people who questioned God, one did it the right way and one did it the wrong way. There are also many stories of people who tried to do the right thing but did it the wrong way, like when King David wanted to bring the Ark of God into Jerusalem and he went about it the wrong way. Or when Moses tried to correct the nation of Israel because of their complaining but he went about it the wrong way.

B. It is so easy to do the right thing the wrong way. This is especially true of church going people or Christians. We want to do the right thing but we don’t always do it the right way. We’re faced with this dilemma every day. The boss finds out that Susie made the same clerical error once again. She sends out material to your customers with the same misspelled word. The right thing is to correct her so she won’t do it again. The wrong way is to yell at her and make her cry. The right thing “done wrong.” But we’re good at excusing this kind of bad behavior. “I’m the Boss; I have the right and the responsibility to demand the right products from my people.” “I’m the parent I have the right and the responsibility to teach my children to be good.” Think of how many times we’ve heard those words. We think we’re good at identifying the “right thing” very quickly, but we’re often blind to the “right way” of doing them. This happens in business, politics, in our homes and yes, even in religion

C. Last week we talked about the two men who prayed. They both did the right thing. They prayed, but one prayed the right way and the other did the right thing but did it the wrong way. If you want to hear our Sunday sermons or watch them you can go to our website or our Mobil app and download them.

D. Today we shall be looking at two men who built a house, one did it the wrong way and one did it the right way. We are going to start in the gospel of Matthew but before we do…

Honor God’s Word

2 Tim 2:15 “Study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that does not need to be ashamed, and become someone who can rightly divide the word of truth.”

A. Studying God’s Word means taking the time to read it and think about it. Sometimes it means to read it over and over and over. Also memorizing it is a great way to study it. When you memorize it, I truly believe that God gives you understanding of it.

B. Read Matthew 7:24-29.

Both men did the right thing. They listened to Jesus’ words.

A. Both men listened to Jesus. This is a good thing. But one did it the right way and one did it the wrong way. They apparently liked to hear what Jesus had to say. They respected Jesus as a good teacher. According to Jesus, one man listened to Jesus’ teachings and OBEYED Jesus’s words. The other man listened to Jesus’ teachings but did NOT obey Jesus words. He left saying, “I’m not ready, I will think about it.” Or, “That was interesting, etc.” This is sort of how some people leave here on Sunday. We read God’s Word, they hear it, but the ‘doing’ just never seems to happen, they never get around to it. We like to keep Jesus locked up just for Sunday. We don’t like Him getting involved in our home lives, or in our finances or in our relationships.

B. It is one thing to listen to Jesus’ words but it is another thing to ‘really’ listen to Jesus’ words. When we ‘really’ listen to Jesus words, we do them! If we believe He was truly God’s Son then we don’t listen to His Words and say, “Well let me think about it. I am not sure I agree with Him.” Or “I don’t like what He is saying.” Either we listen to Him speaking the heart and mind of God or we are not going to listen to Him at all. We can’t pick and chose which of His words we like and which ones we don’t like.