Matt 7:13-27 “THE WAY”

He wondered have you ever wondered what Matthew 7 is really about?

gates – ways – foundations – false prophets of the world – entanglement – alignment

As you dive in deeper there are some concerning words that are sure to raise an eyebrow. But what Jesus is saying is that “false prophets” are those who propagate the ways and the systems of the world and bring them into the church and entangle God’s people. Those who Jesus never knew are those who are entangled and aren’t walking the better way, but walking the entangled way. Jesus makes a point of showing that there are those who know Jesus but then those that claim to know him but don’t follow him.

7:13-14
7:15-20
7:21-23
7:24-27

When we look at the genre of the literary style we see that it’s a chiasm the beginning and the end are the same and the two in the middle are the same it’s broken up in this way:

Matt 7:13 Narrow Gate – The place where the blind have no idea what lies ahead. The narrow path (gate) is the Hebrew word mish’ol, the word is found in the Torah only once, in the story of Balaam’s donkey in Numbers 22. The Angel of the Lord (a title used in the Old Testament often considered as the pre-incarnation theophany of the Messiah) once stood in the narrow space. The Narrow Gate is synonymous with those that can’t see the way of Jesus. The result was violence. Balaam almost beating his donkey to death to get what he wants (materialism using the name of the LORD). The way of Jesus is peaceful and subversive, not violent and angry.

Matt 7:14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Today we don’t really like the idea of “narrow gates”; the implication is that some of us are blind to the “truth.” In this regard, Christianity as a religion (not at the level of each individual) has often become “supernatural commercialism” (Heschel’s brilliant phrase¹) tied to what sells. It is a picture of the worldly entanglement of the church. It is self-interest par excellence because it promotes as religion exactly those objectives that make us feel good. Often is the name of Jesus we end up doing things that are opposite of His Ways. We create paradigms of “Christianity” that are far more aligned with the ways of the world than the ways of Jesus, but we want to rubber stamp a Jesus label on it. Jesus calls this spiritual blindness. When we choose to be in debt to a slave like work week, extravagant homes, and are financed to the hilt with credit cards, cars, boats, and materialism we show the motives of our heart. Jesus doesn’t call us to live this way. Jesus lived simply and calls us to walk in His image. He didn’t appear to own a home, a donkey (car), or be overly concerned with any other material things. He didn’t even seem to want any money. Judas carried the money, that should actually speak volumes. When it came time to pay a tax his father provided from a fish.

Matt 7:15-20 You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?

Fruits – The Bible is clear that we shouldn’t be judgmental but rather test by fruitfulness. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering; all that good stuff we recognize as the hallmarks of a follower. The commission is to be set a part from the ways of the world.

Matt 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’”.

Our works–

I believe bates was strongly influenced by Heschel. “It is clear here that the salvific pistis [faith] action is closely aligned with obedience so that it cannot be separated from it. . . . the gospel is purposed toward bringing about the practical obedience characteristic of allegiance to a king. . .”²

Bates shows that the rhetoric of Paul’s letters and the gospels must be understood within the socio-political environment of the first century, and in that environment allegiance to a king was in some ways deemed contrary to the Way of Jesus. Jesus has expectations of allegiance and obedience. The King expects results being aligned to His kingdom not the kingdoms of the world.

Watchman Nee once said that human beings have the propensity to create sustainable good works without the anointing and on-going involvement of the Spirit.³ Good things do not necessarily please God. TOV (good) was just the start, God was looking for a partnership in covenant obedience. Be obedient to the little things and the master will entrust you with the greater things of the kingdom. Bathe your life in Spirit-saturated works. Your time, treasure, talent, and testimony point to the “ways” of your heart. Then God’s joyful celebration in His completed desire will be yours too. -The Heart of Psalm 37:4.

Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we . . “ Matthew 7:22 Jesus is not talking about intentions. He’s talking about real actions. These people stand before Him and points to precisely the things that we would count as worthy of the kingdom and entangle you to the world.

never knew you – “The truth of being human is gratitude, the secret of existence is appreciation, its significance is revealed in reciprocity.”⁴ Anomia in Greek is lawlessness. In Hebraic thought this is whatever is contrary to Torah. Torah is nomos. Whatever is not Torah is anomos. The Torah pointed people to the coming JESUS. Know Torah, know Jesus. Does anyone know what the Torah was about? Devotion.

7:24-27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

Heschel reminds us: “Only those who live spiritually on edge will be able to go beyond the shore without longing for the certainties established on the artificial rock of our speculation.”⁵ “Longing for the certainties.” That is the hardest part of following Jesus is a modern world. The materialisms are too great. We want assurances, comfort, we don’t like reliance or faith, we want to know that we all can make our own way. We don’t need faith, an Acts 2 community or quite frankly Jesus. We have become our own gods.

It is my opinion faith is the opposite of certainty and that makes faith hard. All of your relationships are built on trust. None are certain. Jesus is certain, but asks us to have faith and be part of this community.

Walking the way is hard in our modern world, but it is what Jesus asks. It reminds me of John 6 when the disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Seems pretty narrow minded, doesn’t it?

This article was written by Dr. Will Ryan and Dr. Matt Mouzakis