Message
Matthew 7:13-27
Saying “Lord, Lord” Is Not Enough
Imagine a scene in heaven.
It is the day of judgement and you are confident about the outcome.
You are standing before the Judge - “Why should you be allowed to enter an eternity of heavenly joy?”
Because I prophesied in your name.
Because I evicted demons and performed miracles.
Because I lead a sing-a-long at the retirement village.
Because I was generous in my tithing.
Because I visited the homeless.
There is a moment of silence before the verdict.
… …
I don’t know you. Away from me you evildoer!.
What!? How can the Judge just dismiss the case like that?
These are good acts and actions.
What could be more spiritual than removing demons and performing miracles … in the name of Jesus.
Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven
That is a hard saying isn’t it.
But we need to hear it. Because the reality is that there are too many people under the illusion that they are Christians - when in fact they are not.
How many times have we met a person - someone who has been coming to church for 10, 20, 50 years. But their confession is, “I have only really understood what it means to be a Christian for the last few years”.
I know of pastors … people who have been preaching for years. Pastors who have baptised others who have come to faith under their ministry. They testify that they really didn’t know who Jesus was in the early part of their ministry.
After all didn’t Judas do all these works - and more.
Yet look what happened to him.
It is a hard saying - and one that is going to cause shock waves, especially on judgement day. So let’s have a closer look so we can understand. And like all the hard sayings we need to keep in mind the context.
Matthew 7:13-27
Throughout this section there are a whole heap of “twos” going on here.
And Jesus uses these “twos” to show us what this hard saying is all about.
Two Gates and Paths
There is no such thing as a road that goes no-where.
Nor is it possible to go on a journey without reaching some sort of destination.
Imagine you’re a parent and you say to your kids, “We are going to Dreamworld”. They get all excited and talk about it for weeks. On the day everyone is up early and you make your way down there and arrive at 10:00am. And you’re sitting in the car in the carpark and you say to your kids, “Ok, we have been to Dreamworld now we are going home”.
What sort of parent would you be? (Actually it would be kind of funny – wouldn’t it).
But the point of driving to Dreamworld ... the point of the journey ... is to get out of the car, go and enjoy the rides, eat too much food, and watch all the shows.
Every journey has a destination – and you go to that destination for a purpose.
Jesus is making the same point.
There is a wide gate
Wide gates are inviting and easy to get through. With wide gate you don’t need to offload any baggage and you can bring a whole heap of stuff through them. The wide gate can accommodate all, without anyone having to make any real sacrifices.
You don’t have to change. You can do live your way.
You can make the rules. It has no restrictions.
The wide gate tolerates many and is very, very attractive.
Especially because beyond the wide gate there is a broad road. There is room for everyone on the broad road; and there are no boundaries. So going down this road is fun and everyone is on it and they all seem to be having a great time. Since it is the popular road we can do all sorts of crazy things because everyone else is doing it as well. It is the easy road.
In contrast you have the narrow gate and the narrow road. Going down this path takes much more effort.
In Germany you can visit the Woolve Run Spring Cave. The cave entrance is a narrow opening, mostly under water so you need diving equipment for the first 1,000m. However, once you get past the entrance the cave goes on for a total of 6,497m. In this section there called Wubadrom which is one of the biggest cave chambers in the world.
If you want to get into this cave it is going to take a lot of effort, planning, as well as a willingness to become fit. You’re going to have to deny yourself many things.
Basically that is what the narrow gate is all about.
There is no room for chasing after the world and its pleasure, no room for unforgiving spirits, and there is no room for the self-righteous.
It is only as we submit to the demands of the Son of God that we know what it means to enter. The gate is narrow because many will not chose to enter through it.
If you are going to enter in the narrow gate, Jesus must be first in your life.
Entering through the narrow gate means entering into a life of commitment.
We say Lord Lord … didn’t we …
In response Jesus says, “If you want me to know you, you need to be sure you are on the right road.”
Are you on the road where you are not really making much of a sacrifice?
Or are you on the road that demands commitment?
Look at the road you travelled last week. What sort of road was it?
… …
There are two roads
But there are also two trees.
Two Trees and Fruits
To see the choice Jesus is putting before us we need to understand what Jesus means when He uses the description “good” and “bad”.
Our first inclination is to think in terms of perfect verses rotten. We have been to the Batlow Apple Packing Factory. In that Factory apples were graded into categories.
• Top grade apples were exported.
• Second grade apples went to mainland Australia.
• Third grade apples went to Tasmania.
• Fourth grade apples were used by pig farmers.
• Beyond that they were rotten and thrown away.
Each grade was still edible and in most cases still tasted pretty good unless it was rotten. It is a way of determining what is “good” and what is “bad” … but that is not what Jesus has in mind when He talks about “good” and “bad”.
I don’t know if anyone has ever eaten a cashew-fruit. A cashew nut grows on the end of the fruit. Cashew nuts are delicious. Cashew fruit is rubbery and very tart. When you bite into it all the saliva is sucked out of your mouth. Fourth grade apples - the ones you give to pigs - are better than export quality cashew fruit.
The trees can be healthy.
The fruit can be ripe.
But in the end cashew fruit is bad, and apples are good.
That is what Jesus has in mind when He says every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
When it comes to living in this world the big issue here is, “Which tree do you belong to?”
You see there was a man who was a good sailor.
He was always the first to get up and never had to be woken for his watch.
He was skilled at sailing and knowledgeable about the weather and the stars.
He was nice and friendly and all the crew liked him very much.
He was a good sailor. But, if you stepped back a little and had a look at the whole ship, you would see a problem.
He was sailing under the flag of the skull and crossbone.
He was a good sailor but he was a rebel and a pirate – sailing under the wrong flag.
We live in a world where there are a lot of nice not-yet-believing people.
They are kind to their families and their neighbours.
They volunteer to help at the school and are members of the P&C Association.
When charities knock on their door they are generous.
When things go wrong or people hurt them they are still patient and caring.
They don’t smoke, or drink, or gamble.
They are good citizens.
In fact, sometimes we even say of them, “They are nicer than … some Christians we know.”
We say Lord Lord … didn’t we …
And Jesus responds, “Didn’t you what? Didn’t you just basically behave like so many not-yet-believers whose actions are just as outstanding, or sometimes even more outstanding, than some Christians you know?”
What makes your actions different to theirs?
So Jesus is getting us to ask ourselves a serious question, “Are you hanging off the right tree?”
“Or are you just an export quality fruit hanging off the wrong tree?”
The flag you need to sail under is called the “Kingdom of Jesus”.
And all the good acts in the world are not going to make a scrap of difference in the end.
There are two roads
There are two trees
There are also two builders.
Two Builders and the Results
I want you to picture these two buildings. Both seem attractive and clean. Both are made from the same material – mud bricks for the walls, thatched grass for the roof. Indeed they could even be the same size and shape. But there is one significant difference between them.
One house has been built by a fool. He started in summertime when the ground was hard and dry. The foolish man saw the bright and sunny days and thought they would never end. So he didn’t worry about a foundation, he just smoothed out a place on the sand and started building. The foolish builder constructs the house as though he is pitching a tent.
The other house has been built by a wise man. He knows the sunny days will not always be there. He takes into consideration the storm and wind and rising waters. He digs through the sand until he reaches rock. His house takes longer to complete then the man next door.
Sometimes, while he was working on his house, he thought he could hear the fool laughing about his careful preparations. But the wise man continued until his house was also finished.
For all intents and purposes the houses look the same ... but there is one big difference.
One gives the illusion of being sturdy. One is actually sturdy.
You find out which one it is when the difficulties come.
You can just imagine the foolish man in his house can’t you, as the rains begin to fall. He’s sitting at the table reading the paper. Soon he hears a little trickling noise as water starts coming under the bricks. Then the roof starts leaking. Soon everything is covered in water.
His wife is running around in the house yelling, “Do something, do something”.
But what can he do? The few pots and pans catching the water are useless. Within minutes he is standing in the rain. The place where his house once stood has been washed clean, like a wave on the beach which demolishes every sand castle in its path.
When it comes to Christianity it is easy to create the illusion
• “Lord I come to church. I also help in Kid’s Church.”
• “Lord I read the Bible. I have even memorised verses.”
• “Lord I can say all the right things. I have big theological words I can use.”
We can say the right things.
We can do the right things.
We can act the right way.
But what is the foundation that we are standing on?
And, at the end of the day, the only person who can answer that question … is you.
That is what makes this such a hard saying.
Because, ultimately, Lord, Lord didn’t we is not enough.
I could look at you, and on the basis of what I see. I could determine that you have entered the narrow gate, and are walking on the arrow road.
But when I don’t see you, when you hang out with non-believing friends, you actually love playing on the broad path.
Or maybe you have learnt how to get hold of fake apples. You’re a cashew fruit tree. But along the way you have brought the plastic fruit - some of us who are older will remember that fruit bowls (yes we used to put out bowls of plastic fruit) - and you have this fruit on your tree. It looks like your fruit is good. But your roots are a cashew tree.
Away from me you evildoers it is a hard saying because Jesus is getting us to stop and think.
Have we really understood?
Or is our Christian life just a really good imitation?
Because when it comes to faith it is not just possible to fool others
… You can actually fool yourself.
Lord, Lord … didn’t we
And there are all these people expecting Jesus to say, “Well done good and faithful servant.”
But instead they will hear one of the worst phrases that will ever come into their ears.
Where the Judge of all brings down His verdict. Away from me your evildoers.
So how do you know you are not fooling yourself?
In a way the answer is simple.
Is your Christianity based on what you do?
Or is your Christianity based on what Christ has done?
That is the question I want you to take away.
Think about it.
Pray about it.
Be really sure that you have not been just fooling yourself.
Because ultimately there are only two destinations.
One starts with … well done good and faithful servant.
The other starts with … away from me your evildoers.
Prayer
