Part 14 - Ask, seek, and knock; the narrow gate; false prophets; building on the rock
Sermon on the Mount
The Christian Character
Matthew 5:3 - 7:27
(Cf. Luke 6:20-49)
This is Part 14 in a 14-part series of studies I call “The Christian Character” as described by Jesus to a crowd of people on a Galilean hillside as he delivered what is more familiarly known as the “Sermon on the Mount.”
The 14 parts are as follows:
Part 1 - Introduction
Part 2 - Beatitudes – the poor in spirit
Part 3 - Beatitudes – those who mourn
Part 4 - Beatitudes – the meek, and those who hunger and thirst
Part 5 - Beatitudes – the merciful and the pure in heart
Part 6 - Beatitudes – peacemakers
Part 7 - Beatitudes – the persecuted and insulted
Part 8 - Salt of the earth and light of the world
Part 9 - Righteousness exceeding that of the scribes and Pharisees; divorce, oaths
Part 10 - Eye for eye, loving neighbor and hating enemy, being perfect
Part 11 - Three things to do, not to be seen by men and a model prayer
Part 12 - Laying up treasures, eye is the lamp of the body, serving two masters
Part 13 - Do not judge, do not give what is holy to dogs and pigs
Part 14 - Ask, seek, and knock; the narrow gate; false prophets; building on the rock
Review of last week
In the 7th chapter of Matthew, still teaching within the broad framework of Christian (Christlike) character Jesus turned his attention to judging:
Matthew 7:1-2 ESV “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
I suggested last week that most of us are of a divided mind about judging. On the one hand, we think if it right and proper –in fact our duty - to judge others in some sense, and point out their shortcomings, because we only do so for their own good. Or that’s what we tell ourselves.
Shall we take his plain, direct, and easily understood commandment on its face? By not speaking to any exceptions, does Jesus mean there are no exceptions? Or should we look at judging as a nuanced matter, to be applied within certain appropriate circumstances?
We find ourselves in a corn maze of questions about how we can and should recognize others’ sins, and act on that knowledge – yet not judge, lest we be judged?
Judge is from the Greek krino, (pr. kree'-no) which means to distinguish, i.e. decide (mentally or judicially); by implication to try, condemn, punish, avenge, conclude, determine, esteem, sue at law, ordain, call in question, or pronounce sentence. This definition of the word “judge” (in both the original and our language) shows that it is a very elastic word, stretching around several meanings depending on the situation at hand.
As a case in point, doesn’t another person’s sin place a responsibility on us to proactively condemn his actions for his own good? As James wrote:
James 5:19-20 ESV My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.
How can we do what James says without “judging” the one who is sinning in some way? And isn’t it an act of protective love to – in this way – judge others who are sinning?
Let us take the question to the bible. There we find that Jesus tells us not to judge, yet other passages tell us to do things that require the application of judgment. One such is Jesus’ exhortation later in this same chapter, “Beware of false prophets,” as he says, “by their fruits you shall know them.” How are we to recognize and beware of false prophets except by judging their fruit?
But when Jesus said in Matt 7:1-5 that we are not to judge, it can’t mean nothing. What does Jesus want us not to do? Does he not want us to even observe and detect flaws in other people, some of whom are diametrically opposed to the doctrines Jesus and his apostles taught?
There is a difference between being (1) a person of a judgmental temperament seeking and finding pleasure in pointing out others’ shortcomings, and (2) perceiving that a brother or sister is following a dangerous course and - as privately and lovingly as possible - encourage them toward a better path in the interest of being pleasing to the Lord and securing their salvation. Finding that boundary must be done in every situation where another person is – or so we believe – following a destructive course, applying judgment and diplomacy.
Still reviewing last week, read on:
Matt 7:3-4 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.
There is a natural human tendency to want to “fix” people in whom we perceive a defect. At that very moment, the person we want to “fix” may be thinking about “fixing” us. And the fault they see in us, to which we are blind, may far exceed the thing we believe needs correction in the other person.
In the beatitudes, Jesus said:
Blessed are the meek … merciful … peacemakers.
These are not the beatitudes of a person of judgmental temperament.
Continue our review from last week.
Matthew 7:6 ESV “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
My understanding is that this pertains to people who do not want the words of truth, grace, and salvation; and who by their rejection set themselves in opposition to God, his holiness and sovereignty, and the teachings of Jesus and the apostles.
In sending out the twelve disciples with authority over unclean spirits, he gave them instructions which included this:
Mark 6:10-11 ESV And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”
It isn’t a question of whether those people weren’t worth every effort to save them from the flames of everlasting torment. It’s a recognition of reality: You cannot force-feed the gospel and the blessings of the Christian life to people who just don’t want to hear it. We can present the gospel in the most appealing and persuasive way, but we cannot control others’ acceptance or rejection of it. Some people are dedicated, unyielding rebels, and they will reject the gospel. Just as the dog and the hog do not recognize the beauty of pearls, the two-legged ones have no appreciation of holy things.
Then what are we not to give to these “dogs” and “hogs” (i.e., that which is holy, and pearls)?
Pearls? Where have we seen pearls spoken of figuratively?
Matt 13:45-46 – (a very short parable)
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The man sold everything that was second-best in order to obtain the best. What is the pearl in this parable? The gospel, which is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes. Why is it so precious? The precious pearl the man desired so fervently to possess symbolizes the way into the eternal city. Look at Revelation 21:21 –
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
Whatever your nationality, background, educational status, prosperity, health, or a dozen other variables, your way into the eternal city is by means of a pearl. The king and the beggar go into the city through a gate. The gate is a pearl.
Clearly, some people are unwilling to receive the implanted word. With eye-rolls, deflecting, and vicious mockery and ill-treatment of you, and the things you count most precious, the scoffers can wound, and maybe kill you. This teaching presents a practical difficulty of communication and patience that confronts every Christian.
End of review
As Jesus approached the end of his discourse on the Galilean hillside, he gives yet another surprising and puzzling teaching:
Matthew 7:7-11 ESV “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
We talked a few weeks ago about prayer when we were examining Jesus’ doctrine about praying for the purpose of being seen and appearing to be religious. For such ones, the appearance is the beginning and end of the reward. Here Jesus introduces a new aspect of interaction with God.
Speaking to his disciples as they passed by the fruitless fig tree – now withered – this happened:
Mark 11:21-24 ESV And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
He seems to say there’s nothing God won’t do if you merely ask. Is that really Jesus’ meaning?
It reminds me of a story in the wild west about the cowboy that rode into a town seriously threatened by drought. The town came together and decided to have a chain prayer, and when the cowboy’s turn came to say the words, he decided that instead of praying for rain, he would take a short cut and pray for all the things they needed. “Lord, give us barrels of flour, ... barrels of potatoes, ... barrels of corn, ... barrels of tomatoes, ... barrels of cabbage, ... barrels of onions, ... barrels of salt, ... barrels of pepper.”
One of the men of the town nudged the cowboy and said, “Way too much pepper, Cowboy.”
Has your experience always been that every time you ask something of God, you get exactly what you asked for, you find the very thing you seek, and that every closed door is opened if you knock? (Ask for hands up.)
The experience of every person here reveals that we are not granted every request.
We need to understand whether Jesus promises that, in every situation, our requests will be blindly granted – no qualifiers, conditions, or limitations - or if instead, he is laying down a broad principle. Or that it is true within a certain frame of reference but untrue outside of it. For if we do not understand what Jesus means, we are likely to have false expectations certain to fail, and we will wonder what is wrong – and perhaps blame ourselves for not believing firmly enough that our request will be granted.
Is a lack of intensity in belief on our part always the reason when our requests are denied – or might something else be the reason? What is going on when we ask, seek, and knock, and whatever we seek is not forthcoming?
James gives one answer:
James 4:1-3 ESV What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.
This scripture is applicable within the intended frame of reference. A thing can be true within the intended frame of reference, but false outside that framework. While the reason James gave his readers was true about the persons James wrote this letter to, I suggest that James’ answer is not universally applicable. On a worldwide scale across the centuries, more is more involved than James intended to answer in this letter. Specifically, he wrote to the 12 tribes in the dispersion - people James knew a lot about. The fact that some of them were driven by their lusts and passions to make selfish requests does not necessarily mean that you have been driven by your lusts when you pray for a gravely ill sick one to recover – and they die anyway. But if your prayers are driven by your own lusts and passions, the teaching is applicable to you.
Isaiah wrote God’s own words about God’s very thoughts:
Isaiah 55:7-9 ESV let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Sometimes a parent denies a child’s request. God knows better than we what we need, what we desire, and what is fit for us. We should never suppose that God would bid us to pray, and then give us what would be hurtful.
God is not an automaton, recklessly obeying our requests, no matter how misguided and selfish. Nor is Jesus, by giving this assurance on the mountain, making God our servant! Then does Jesus’ statement, “Ask and you shall receive...” suggest that when we ask God for something it is set aside - not because we ask for the purpose of feeding our lusts - but because it conflicts with a higher purpose, or overrides the protective care of a Father for a child? It seems so.
The desires of men do not supersede the wisdom and the plans of God.
Let’s consider where the scriptures tell us exactly that.
• Jesus prayed, “If it is possible, let this cup pass from me, yet not as I will, but your will be done.” (Matthew 26:39)
• Paul (relate the story in 2 Cor 12:1f - Paul (v8) three times requested that it be removed. Instead, the Lord told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
God will always answer our prayers. He answers in the way a wise, loving parent responds to the requests of a child--sometimes by supplying something better than was requested, and sometimes by denying it altogether.
Then does praying make any difference, or does God give us what we ask only if it is what he was going to do anyway, even if we didn’t ask? Do we have any influence with God?
James 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Yes, we have influence with God, but these passages do not suggest that our wants and wishes obligate God to fulfill every request as a demand as if we are the master and he the servant.
Continuing with probably the most familiar part of the sermon, Jesus says:
Matthew 7:12 ESV “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
The word “So” in ESV (“therefore” on other translations) is actually in the text, from a word that means, “accordingly,” or “likewise then.” The conjunction “so” shows that this statement is related to what Jesus had most recently said. It is the conclusion to which Jesus’ prior teaching in the sermon on the mount leads.
Jesus’ teaching - commonly called “the golden rule” refers to Lev 19:18 -
ESV You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
The second great commandment is the same ethic as what Jesus said on the mountain. There is no daylight between loving our neighbor as ourselves and – as Jesus says - doing to others as we wish them to do unto us. Loving is the force that drives the doing.
An illustration of how not to act toward our neighbor is given by James (2:2-10), where he speak of treating a man who comes into the meeting in shabby clothes. If we treat such a one with less dignity than a rich man who comes into the assembly, we are not applying “the royal law,” which says,
Love your neighbor as yourself.
This rule of life is more than an ethic which says, “What is harmful to another, I will not do.” “Do no harm” is a cardinal rule of practice for physicians (and nurses and others in the medical profession?). “Do no harm” is benign, but it is only the negative side of this rule. It’s important, but it’s not the only decision a physician has to make. A physician whose only rule is “do no harm” would not help a patient for fear of violating that ethic.
To practice the rule positively, you must not only be harmless, but beneficial to others.
Setting aside self-interest, actively do for others what we would have them do for us.
Jesus continues:
Matthew 7:13-14 ESV Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. (14) For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Does Jesus mean a huge number of people are destined for hell while only a handful are destined for heaven? Does this teaching answer that?
Comparatively, yes. But there may be millions who will occupy the new Jerusalem. Nothing is more certain than this: countless sinless aborted fetuses will rise to everlasting life when the Lord returns.
Jesus simply says the path to destruction is easier to find and easier to walk than the path that leads to life. The path to life requires self-discipline and commitment. Most people take the easier path.
What is in the narrow way? Jesus showed it to us - both in the sermon and in his life. The narrow way is:
· Poverty of spirit
· Meekness
· Mourning
· Purity of heart
· Peacemaking
· Mercy
· Blessedness when reviled and persecuted
· Not just avoiding murder, but avoiding hatred
· Not just avoiding adultery, but correcting lust in our heart
· Setting things right with a brother who has something against us
· Turning the other cheek to an evil person
· Going the second mile when required to go only one
· Loving your enemies
· Doing righteous acts for their blessings, not for admiration
· Storing our treasures in heaven
· Not being filled with care over the things of this life--food, drink, clothing--but seeking first the kingdom
Jesus is the way. Near the end of his life, Jesus told his disciples:
John 14:4-6 ESV …you know the way to where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Jesus IS the narrow way that he demonstrated by LIVING that narrow way.
Jesus warns that there are dangers. He spoke about false prophets:
Matthew 7:15-20 ESV “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
What is a prophet?
The Greek word for prophet is prophetes, which is derived from the Greek pro meaning before, or advance, and phemin, meaning say, or declare. Consistent with the literal meaning of the word, we often associate a prophet with supernatural prediction of future events, and prophets demonstrated that phenomenon to confirm that they were directly connected with God.
There are two kinds of prophets in the New Testament:
• foretelling prophets, who had the gift of receiving supernatural revelations – some of which had to do with future events that could not be know by natural means.
• proclaiming prophets – sometimes called “teachers” proclaimed the revealed word not learned by revelation, but learned from those apostles or prophets who received it directly by revelation.
The word in Matt 7:15 for false prophet is pseudoprophetes, which means an imitation prophet, or pretender.
False prophets go way back:
Acts 13:1-2 ESV Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Their work (Barnabas and Saul and others such as John Mark, Silas, and Timothy) was principally in the area north of what we know as the Mediteranean Sea, preaching the gospel and establishing churches. They did it in three tours, the second and third times re-visiting some chuches established earlier, and extending into new frontiers.
They encountered false prophets on their first tour.
Acts 13:6-12 ESV When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
Like wolves in sheep’s clothing, false prophets are disguised. A false prophet looks and talks like a Christian, showing little to arouse our suspicion or concern.
Their falseness is subtle.
• In the days of foretelling prophets, it was a matter of whether the predicted thing happened. That’s hardly a means of identifying false prophets today.
• Teaching is false if it produces bad fruit. There is an indissoluble link between belief and life.
“As a man thinks in his heart, so he is” so wrote Solomon.
What a person is, he will ultimately reveal by actions.
A prophet is false if his teaching and life do not show the sweet fruit borne of the beatitudes – another way of saying the “fruit” of the Spirit:
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
There is continuity of the pictures in the Bible. The good fruit Jesus speaks of, that comes from “good trees,” is no different from the fruit written of by Paul, which he calls the fruit of the spirit. Jesus showed that thorns and thistles are the fruit” of false prophets. Where there are thorns and thistles, look for a false prophet.
• A prophet is false if his teaching produces a religion based on the traditions of men.
Mark 7:5-8 ESV And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
Is Jesus talking about honest mistakes in teaching?
I’ll explain the reason for the question. Forgive me for using a personal experience to illustrate, but as you will see, this is no self-compliment. I was given an opportunity to speak before assembled Christians before I was tall enough to be seen behind the pulpit, so I stood at the communion table. Today, there is no telling what I said to those kind and patient souls in my home congregation.
In my late teens, I was in a bible training school, and part of that was to go to nearby small towns and “preach” to the people, partly because the practice was good for those churches and partly as training for me and others who similarly had appointments. I still have most of the notes I used. I shudder when I look at them now.
How I bruised the ears of those good, longsuffering people whose only mistake was to allow me to speak to them. I made a lot of mistakes! I taught some things I now know were wrong!
I may yet be mistaken about some things (perhaps something I say today).
If I declare something that is false, while genuinely believing it to be right…
am I a false prophet?
Acts 18:24-26 ESV “Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. He had been instructed in the way of the Lord. And being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.”
Was Apollos a false prophet? Was he a person such as Jesus described as those “in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” or “a bad tree” which “cannot bring forth good fruit?
Before you answer, let’s compare Apollos with Bar-Jesus, who the writer of Acts says is a false prophet (Acts 13:6-12 - which we read earlier)
Why did Apollos get so much softer treatment than Bar-Jesus? Was it insignificant that Apollos’ teaching omitted baptism in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the remission of sins? Aquila and Priscilla did not reproach Apollos as a false prophet. They recognized that he was a teacher who himself was in need of teaching, which they lovingly supplied.
Jesus’ summation of the sermon:
Matt 7:21-27 Read (Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' …)
Does anyone not understand these verses?
It is practically impossible to read these verses and not understand them. Jesus spoke with such clarity and force that any attempt by me to try to explain, illustrate, or emphasize it more effectively than Jesus did would subtract from it, not add to it. So we simply read the words of Jesus and let the power that is in them do its work.
It is left for us to not only understand, but to apply the teaching.
Wrap-up of the series:
You can read the sermon out loud in about 13 minutes without hurrying.
We’ve talked about it for 14 class periods, and haven’t come close to exhausting all it says to us. It is the most comprehensive teaching of Jesus – much of it reflected in other teaching both by Jesus and others.
Some scriptures were written by apostles and others who knew Jesus personally, some by others who learned from them. All is inspired. All is inerrant. But only Jesus’ words are the direct words of diety. All other scripture is to be understood in the light of Jesus’ words.
Jesus’ words are true north. He said about himself, “I am the truth.”
Jesus laid out the character of anyone who will follow him, for in this sermon he described his own character.
The beatitudes are the taproot of Christian character.
