2010-10-24 Pursuing The Right Way

2010-10-24 Pursuing The Right Way

Matthew 7 part 2 Pursuing the right way!

 

We are coming to the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus is continuing to address great subject matter in this sermon.

 

It is truly amazing to see how much Jesus can pack into one sermon.

• We can read this sermon straight through in about 10 minutes, yet there is a vast treasure of things for us to continually look at.

 

I know this sermon is a great sermon by Jesus and I have heard great scholars comment on how great it is and now that I have gone through it for myself I can testify that sermon contains and unfathomable wealth of information, inspiration, and application available for us today.

• And it would be wise for us as Christians to continually meditate on it.

 

We are going to look at 3 aspect of this sermon this morning that will help us to see if we are pursuing the right way in life.

 

This is something we need to give serious consideration to because the bible says that life is but a vapor.

• And it would be tragic to look back at our life and see that it truly was a vapor with no substance at all.

 

As Christians we are going to appear before the Bema seat of Christ and give an account for the talents we have been given.

• Whatever we have done for the kingdom will last and whatever else we have done will be burned up.

 

Jesus was able to say at the end of His life I have glorified You on earth, I have finished the work You have given me to do.

 

Paul was able to say, I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

 

Enoch walked God and pleased God and God just took him one day.

 

So as we look at these points this morning I pray the Spirit would bring the conviction on us to make sure we are pursuing the right way. Amen.

 

V7-11 read-slow;

 

What are we trying to pursue in our life? Are we pursuing the American dream; of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

• Are we pursuing a career, a business, or a hobby?

 

Before I was a Christian I was pursuing a baseball career, believe it or not I was pursuing weight lifting, and I even dabbled in pursuing a music career by playing guitar for a season.

 

But in this section of scripture Jesus is encouraging to pursue something else which is far more important than the American dream and that is the Kingdom of heaven.

• Amen.

 

Jesus has just spent 2 plus chapters teaching us about what the Kingdom of Heaven is truly like and now He is encouraging each and every one of us to make the Kingdom of Heaven our chief pursuit.

 

Jesus has already told us to choose one master, He has told us to make seeking the Kingdom of God our first priority, and now He is telling us to make the kingdom of heaven our chief pursuit.

 

Ask, seek, and knock all describe ways in which we pursue things.

• If I want an answer to a question I will ask.
• If I am looking for someone I will seek them.
• If I want to enter somewhere I will knock at the door.

 

Jesus was pursuing the Luke warm church of Laodicea because He said behold, I stand and the door and knock.

 

Not only is Jesus encouraging us to pursue the kingdom of heaven but He is emphasizing a great and diligent effort in that pursuit.

• We don’t really see it here in the English but the Greek is literally saying Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.
• In other words not only are we to pursue the kingdom of heaven but we are to be aggressive and diligent in our pursuit of it. Amen!

 

Critical point: I do believe this also another critical point in this sermon.

• Jesus has spent the first part of the sermon teaching us about the Kingdom of heaven and now He is encouraging us to pursue it;
• And He will end this sermon by telling us about the dangers that will come to one who does not pursue it.
• Jesus is going to end this sermon by telling of the great fall that came to the man that heard these sayings of Jesus but did not do them.
• In other words he did not pursue the kingdom of heaven.

 

And unfortunately that is the story of many people that start following Jesus.

• They start coming to church and the like it, they start reading their bible and they like it, and they even start serving and like it.
• But because they did not make the kingdom of heaven their chief pursuit they fall away. And they end their life with no substance whatsoever!

 

So in order for us not to be like that foolish builder we must make the kingdom of heaven of our chief pursuit. Amen!

 

David: really was the epitome of this and he fully understood what Jesus is speaking about here.

• In Acts 13:22 God said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.

 

By saying David was a man after My own heart, means he was pursuing God.

• To go after something does not mean you are a pacifist but a pursuer.
• And Jesus wants us to be people that are purposefully pursuing the things of God.

 

Psalm 27: there are two places in Psalm 27 where we see even more of David’s heart.

• Psalm 27:8 David said, When You said, Seek My face, my heart said to You, Your face, Lord I will seek.
• Have we ever said that to ourselves?
• Also v4 One thing I have desired of the Lord and that will I seek:
• That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His Temple.

 

Have we ever meditated on the fact of having a heart that wants to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our lives; and to behold the beauty of the Lord; and to inquire in His Temple?

• David’ ultimate pursuit in life was God and His Kingdom.

 

We also see this with the very Temple:

• The bible tells us that while David was sitting in his comfortable house the one thing that was on the forefront of his mind was what kind of a house does God have?
• And we know that God heard and God blessed him by saying I will build you a house.
• And He did with Jesus being born in the city of David, Jesus is from the lineage of David, and Jesus is called the King of David. Amen!

 

Moses is another one that stands out because Moses did not want to go anywhere unless God was going with them. Amen.

• Also there is no other person other than Moses in all of scripture that I can think of who asked to see the glory of God.
• Isaiah saw the glory of God but Moses asked to see it.

 

Paul also understood what Jesus is speaking about.

• Philippians 3:13-14 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead.
• I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

I believe the sons of Korah really state it well what Jesus is saying here.

• Psalm 42:1-2 As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God.
• Their soul was in pursuit of the living God.

 

This is also the text that A.W. Tozer chose for his great book The Pursuit of God.

 

Jesus said I have come to seek and save that which was lost. He was pursuing the things of God.

 

So we need to be a people that are pursuing things of the Kingdom above all else.

 

And we do this each and every day we need to be asking seeking and knocking at the throne of grace in order to get the things that we need.

 

It’s not just about waking up and spending time in our prayer closet though that is very important.

• It’s about asking, seeking, and knocking all day every day; moment by moment.

 

As we go through out our day we are having that constant communion and fellowship with our Father in heaven.

• All day long we are communing with our Father about life, the bible, and how we should act in certain situations

 

Like maybe we have read something in the scripture that stood out to us and we pray and mediate on it all day, because we want that truth planted in our hearts.

 

If our hearts are pursuing things like that we are going to be different and living fruitful Christian lives. Amen!

 

Confidence in our Father: Now we also need to understand that when we pursue the things of the kingdom we are not doing so in vain.

• Jesus has assured us that our Father in heaven will meet our effort.

 

We need to take note that this is the 5^th time in this sermon that Jesus assured us that our Father will meet us in our obedience.

 

And in order for Jesus to prove His point, He contrasts an earthly father with our heavenly Father.

 

Jesus said that earthly fathers are evil yet they can give good things to their children.

 

Evil: sometimes we read this sermon with out really focusing on the words.

• • We need to notice that Jesus has just called us evil.
  • Many people in the world think that Jesus is just cute and cuddly ad if you tell them Jesus called us evil, they would say Jesus would never say anything like that.
  • But they need to read the texts a little closer.

 

Now I agree with Jesus that I am evil, yet despite the fact that I am evil I know how to give good gifts to Caleb.

• I’m not just talking about spoiling him with gifts, but I can instruct him in the right way to live life.
• If some of the most wicked in the world can instruct their children in the right way.

 

And if that is the case Jesus says how much more will Your heavenly Father give to those who ask. Amen.

• I love Jesus’ emphasis on how much more.
• In other words it is incomparable.

 

Spurgeon said: Instead, in comparison to even the best human father, how much more is God a good and loving father. “ ‘How much more!’ says our Lord, and he does not say how much more, but leaves that to our meditations.”

 

Gifts: now unfortunately as Americans when we here the word gifts we right away assume material gifts.

• Material need, and blessing will be a part of what our heavenly Father will give us but deep down we should want the things contained in this sermon.

 

We should want to be the type of Christian that will always go the second mile for a person.

• We should want to be people of our word.
• We should honestly want to store up treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy.
• We should want our light to shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

 

Critical: As I shared last week that at one time I was the President of the Judgmental Super critical club.

• But by the grace of God I am no longer the president, I may still be on the board but I am not the president.

 

And that is the type of gifts that Jesus is looking to give us, things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven.

• Jesus told the woman at the well that He will give her water where she will never thirst again.

 

Why is this so important! I just want to spend a moment and focus in why this is so important.

• Science tells us that nature abhors a vacuum. In other words if there is a void something will look to fill it.
• If we are not pursuing the kingdom of heaven there is a void there that someone and something will be looking to fulfill.

 

And the bible tells us that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking who he may devour.

• If we are not pursuing the things of the kingdom the devil is seeking to fill that void and bring about our destruction.

 

The devil will fill our lives with all kinds of things, good things in order to keep us from pursuing the kingdom of heaven.

 

V12 read-slow; We have now come to what has come to be known as the Golden rule:

 

A.B. Simpson said, this is the law of life by which we can determine for ourselves the right or wrong of any action which may be in doubt.

 

As we look at this command of Jesus I want us notice that it is proactive in its command.

• Proactive means: It is taking the initiative by acting rather than reacting to events.

 

And I love how much of Christianity is a proactive faith and I believe this stems from God Himself.

• We love God because He first loved us.
• When Adam and Eve fell in the garden they did not go looking for God but He came looking for them.
• The last command that Jesus gave was go therefore in all the world and make disciples of all nations.

 

So Jesus wants us as Christians to do to others what we would want them to do to us.

• • Its an active and alive faith.

 

Not for the world: We also need to understand that this is not for the world as it is for us.

• We can as Christians treat those in the world like we would want to be treated, but we don’t want those in the world to treat us as they would want to be treated because the world can come up with some pretty funky stuff.
• You might tell this to your un-believing neighbor and the next day they show up at your house and say I want to do something to you, that I want you to do to me.
• And then we would have to recant!
• So please understand that is primarily for Christians though we can use this for purposes of showing the love of Christ to the world.

 

Secondly we need understand that Jesus is not telling us to act this way because of the reward that might follow.

• Its not; I did this for you now you do this for me; or you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.

 

Jesus designed this command for the purpose of being a blessing and a benefit for our brother and sister in Christ.

 

As Christians we ought to be showing up at church or fellowshipping with one another with the heart of looking to do for others as we would want them to do us.

• • If I want to be blessed at church I am going to be a blessing at church.
• In other words are we actively thinking of ways in which we can bless those in the body of Christ?
• Or are we really listening to people and looking for opportunities for ways in which we can help them?
• Do we have ears to hear what the Spirit is saying?

 

John Lennon: one time John Lennon was talking about the song help that he wrote.

• He said back in the day it was just a song to people, but if he wrote that song later in life people would have been like John whats going on are you all-right?

 

Buying lunch: the other day I went to Loews to get carpet for the church office and as I was going to my car a gentleman asked me if I needed some help and as I looked at him he did not seem to work at Loews but I said sure.

• And as he was coming over he started saying how he is looking to make some money and then I realized he did not work at Loews but just needed some cash.
• And I said to him I am sorry I don’t have any money, he was like you don’t even have a dollar, and I was like no.
• But what I did do was find all the silver change that I had and gave it to him. And as I was ready to leave I thought maybe I can but him lunch I could use a card for that. And as I looked he was still there and I said Mike if you want I can buy you some lunch and he agreed and I went and bought him some lunch.

 

People in the world say: hey I’m not bothering anybody. I mind my own business.

 

As Christians we are not supposed to be noisy but we are supposed to be looking for ways to minister; were not called to mind our own business.

 

Small church: One of the difficult things of being a small church is that Christians show up and say well they don’t have this and they don’t have that and I will believe that people are sincere in what they are looking for and our goal is to meet the needs of the body here.

• But the attitude Jesus is speaking about here is not what can we get out of the church but how can we be a blessing to the church.

 

One of the things that is really going to help our church is when people start embracing the attitude of how can I be a blessing to the church, instead of what can I get out of the church.

• This is true for the entire body of Christ; we need to be looking too serve than to be served. Jesus came to serve not to be served!

 

Blessing to others: Often we don’t come to church because we think we don’t need it which is un-biblical.

• But if we understand what Jesus is saying here than we should come to church in order to be a blessing to others before looking to being blessed ourselves.

 

Instead of waking up Sunday morning and saying, not Pastor Bob again!

• Wake up and say, I wonder who I can bless at church today.

 

Lance Cook said; I love getting answers to prayers; but I also love being an answered prayer. Amen!

• When we look to do for others we can be an answer to their prayer.

 

Hurting people in the church:

• There are so many people hurting in the body of Christ and we do not know it because we don’t have this mindset of looking to do for others.

 

And we also hurt our selves because we don’t want to open up to people about what is going on in our life! We keep things hidden for so long and its only when things finally explode that we reach out for help.

• And because we have waited so long it make it more difficult to help.

 

I can say that I have had so many Christians approach me and say we don’t want to bother you? The church is here to be bothered, if we can’t be bothered than we have no reason of being here.

Just imagine what the church would be if everyone was actively looking to treat others as we want to be treated.

 

Spurgeon: Oh, that all men acted on it, and there would be no slavery, no war, no swearing, no striking, no lying, no robbing; but all would be justice and love! What a kingdom is this which has such a law!”

 

Grace: maybe touch on grace.

 

V13-15 read-slow;

 

We have now come to the first of 4 warning in which Jesus will close the sermon with.

 

There are a couple of things in these verses that people are very uncomfortable with.

 

First: One of the toughest teachings of Christianity that is hard to accept is that there is a road that leads to destruction.

• And to some extent I don’t even think Christians want to accept it.

 

Some of the Christian sects and cults have come up with their own ideas in order to get around the idea that people will be suffer in hell for all eternity.

 

Believe me I am not here to rejoice in the fact that people will end up in hell for all eternity. It breaks my heart.

• The person I loved on this earth the most next to my mother is dead and I am not sure if they are in glory or in torment.
• Also the other night I had a dream about some of my friends and I woke up with the sense that time is running out for them.
• And right now most of my friend and family are on their way to hell unless they repent and believe the gospel.

 

Chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation ends by saying anyone not found written in the Book of life was cast into the lake of fire

 

We could even go to the beginning when God first created man. One of the first commands that God gave was not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

• And God said in the day you eat of it you will surely die.

 

So from cover to cover in the bible it speaks about destruction of people in hell for all eternity

• And Jesus is actually the One who spoke about it the most.

 

Second: the second thing that most people don’t like about this passage is that there is only one right way to get to heaven.

 

Two thousand yrs ago Jesus said there would be conflict between two roads to heaven a broad rd where everyone gets in and a narrow rd where only a few get in.

• And that’s exactly what is taking place today.

 

The world wants to believe there are many roads to heaven, yet when we come in and say there is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ.

• They say we are right wing narrow minded fundamentalist.

 

And when someone calls us narrow minded that is actually a compliment because they are saying we are like Jesus because He said there is only one narrow way!!

 

So the bible is very clear through and through that there is a way to heaven but its only one way and that is through Jesus Christ.

• Once again Jesus Himself said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

 

Jesus in the garden: remember when Jesus was in the garden He prayed to the Father and asked Him if there was any other way other than the cross.

• And Jesus concluded by saying not My will be done but they will be done.
• The death of Jesus is the only way to heaven.

 

All road leads to God: Have you ever heard that statement that All roads to lead to God!

• That statement is true; all roads do lead to God but the problem starts when one gets there.
• If a person shows up before God without personally receiving Jesus Christ as their Savior they will be judged for what they did with their life and then cast into hell for all eternity.

 

Bad job: I also have to say that we as Christians have not done a good job of getting this message out there.

• Right now in the news the issue of Homosexuality is on the forefront.
• And the media paints the picture like we as Christians are pitted against them saying they are an abomination and are all going to hell.

 

And the media speaks like they are some how separate from them. But the reality is all these media people in the news are all going to hell also, unless they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

 

It totally breaks my heart that the people in the media and in the world do not have the correct message that Jesus gave.

 

Ravi Zacharias said: people should not be upset that there is only one way but they should be happy that at least there is a way.

 

Warning: what Jesus is giving here is a warning. And when we give someone a warning that is indicating we love them.

 

Caleb and fries and nuggets; right now Caleb loves eating nuggets and fries yet when they come out of the oven they are very hot and we tell Caleb he has to wait or else they will burn him.

• Yet every now and then he gets one that is a little to hot and he shakes his mouth because it is hot.
• Now it would be absolute wickedness if we simply took the fries and nuggets out of the oven and placed them in front of him to eat without warning him they are hot.

 

So Jesus in His love is warning us that there is a wrong road and a right road.

• Also in His love He is telling us that the right road is going to be the difficult rd.

 

So when we tell the Homosexual, or the adulterer or the fornicator or liar that they are living in sin and they will perish unless they repent we are telling them this because we love them and don’t want them to perish.

 

The believer: But Jesus wants us as believers to really think about what He is saying here.

Jesus is telling us right up front that following Him is not going to be easy.

 

2^nd Timothy 3:12 Paul said: Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.

 

And that is what all of us in this room need to be comforted with, because following Jesus is not the easy way.

• We can’t lie, we can’t cheat, we can’t steal.
• Its not easy loving our enemies, its not easy at times keeping our word, and its not easy not lusting or controlling our anger.
• But this is precisely what Jesus is telling us what we are supposed to do.

 

Hit my car: a couple of months ago I hit someone’s car and I went and told them what I did and it cost me $600.00, but just recently somebody hit our car and they did not tell us.

 

And that is the way of the world. People just do what they want when they want and unless they get busted they will not stop acting that way.

 

But as Christians, we are to be honest, law abiding citizens and that is not always an easy way to live!

 

Persecution: And one of the greatest things we face as Christians is persecution.

• Jesus said they have persecuted Me and they are going to persecute you.

 

Right now many of our brothers and sisters around the world are suffering persecution for following Jesus.

• And if God does not bring revival to our nation we are going to undergo greater degrees of persecution because it is starting all ready.

 

Difficult road is the right road: I just want to end by saying the difficult rd is the right rd.

• First we need to understand that we can’t even go through the narrow gate or the difficult rd without the Spirit of God working in us.

 

But with the Spirit of God working in us it makes the difficult rd the right rd.

• Jesus said if My word abides in you, you shall no the truth and the truth shall set you free.
• I am free because I am no longer a slave to sin. Yes I still sin but it does not rule over me.
• Life is lighter now because I am not lying anymore so I can just tell the truth and go on my way without the burden of wondering what I said to everyone.
• Life is cleaner because I am no longer into pornography, or fornication. I’m not drinking or fighting. The last time I had a drink I believe was in Oct of 96. I just feel clean.

 

The narrow road is the right rd because it helps us to control the flesh that would other wise destroy us.

 

So are we pursuing the right way?

• • It may be narrow, it may difficult, but it is the right way.
  • And in the end we will have much to show for it. Amen!

 

Lets pray!