Matthew chapter 7 (sermon on the mount # 3)

Matthew 7 continues Jesus' warning to hypocrites.
Verses 1-6 talk about judging others. Jesus is very stern here by saying "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." This verse is often taken out of context and is used as an argument for Christians to simply 'not judge' other people. This is not what Jesus is referring to here. What I believe He is saying is that in spite of our responcibility to live in a way which is righteous, in a way which He has just described, we are not to view ourselves as Holy. It is only His righteousness which can atone our sin, and as such we should only jusdge others with His Spirit, not with a 'code of practice' or 'law'. Since we are imperfect by these standards it is hypocritical for us to expect anyone else to stand up to them either. "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." This verse is drawing attention to the fact that often it is easy to excuse our own faults and find fault which are 'worse', and need attention in someone else. Rather we should leave the judging about righteousness to Him and worry only about our own sins. This is not an excuse however, to ignore Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another." as we should encourage and be accountable to each other.

Asking, Seeking, Knocking...
Verses 7 & 8 are the famous "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened." This verse is often heard being preached on the street corner, or in churches as evidence that a sinner can 'chose' Jesus, if a sinner asks, seeks or knocks, Jesus will then answer, be found, or open Himself to them. While I do not want to get into the Arminian vs Calvinist debate here, for the sake of context however, I believe this verse is often misused. Jesus is NOT talking about salvation here but rather gifts from God, spiritual gifts or blessings. The very next paragraph expands the asking, seeking, and knocking theme with "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" If a believer asks, seeks or knocks for a gift or blessing from God it will be granted. Yet again though we are to seek the gift / blessing for His glory, not our own.

Jesus then nicely sums up the Mosaic law for His listeners with the simple yet powerful statement, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you." How we treat others reveals our character, thus it also reveals our eternal destiny. At least since a sermon of John Wesley in 1750 this has been called the "Golden Rule", over a millennium earlier, a Christian Roman emperor allegedly engraved the saying on his wall in gold. This rule was a widespread principle of ancient ethics. The positive form , as stated here by Jesus, of the rule appears as early as Homer and recurs in Herodotus, Isocrates and Seneca. The negative form "And what you hate, do not do to anyone" appears in writings by Tobit, Philo and elsewhere. The principle also appears in cultures totally isolated from the ancient Mediterranean; it appears in Confucian teaching from sixth-century B.C. China. That others would discover this same principle should not surprise us, because one of the most natural foundations for ethics is for a person to value others as oneself.

Jesus then uses the analogy of a wide and narrow gate to emphasise the difficulty of living a Christian life. Following Christ is the hard, narrow, less used way while the easy, wide and heavily travelled way leads to destruction.

We are now compelled to judge by Jesus, even though we were warned against it earlier. Jesus gives us the measure by which we can judge others and the measure by which He judges us. A tree is judged by its fruit. Not by good works, not by knowledge of Him but by bearing good fruit alone are we to judge and be judged. Not even performing miracles and crying out to Jesus as Lord is enough, but what is the 'fruit' mentioned? Galations 5: 22-23 tells us that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." These of themselves are nice qualities which anyone may have, but if you replace each comma with "of Christ" we get a better view of what the fruit of His Spirit is. "The fruit of the Spirit is [the] love [of Christ, the] joy [of Christ, the] peace [of Christ, the] patience [of Christ, the] kindness [of Christ, the] goodness [of Christ, the] faithfulness [of Christ, the] gentleness [of Christ] and [the] self-control [of Christ]." The result is a set of virtues impossible to emulate without His Spirit dwelling within us.

Jesus ends His sermon with a fairly easy to understand parable, and one which I love.
"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 that 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 sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash." Only a life built on Him will truly survive, and an eternity without Him will crumble.

Matthew finishes this chapter with the reaction of those listening to Jesus. They were amazed at His teachings and His authority. A fitting reaction to this most perfect of sermons.