August 24 Hard Sayings – not everyone
Mt 7:21-29
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21
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven,
but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will
say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in
your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I
will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ 24
“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. 25 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. 26 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. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds
blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” 28 When
Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching,
29 because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the
law.
Series info -Tail end of HARD CANDY -
Unwrapping the Hard Sayings
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Just
as a reminder of why we called it that PIC OF JAWBREAKER
Some
things seem impossible to digest, but you can over time.
Some
of the things Jesus says sound crazy hard to us.
Difficult
to digest.
Hard sayings are hard.
It would be really nice to get a
redirect here with Jesus.
Jesus
why did you say this? what did you really mean?
Did
you really mean to send them away?
if
so, what do I do with verses like Mk 9
38 “Teacher,” said John,
“we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop,
because he was not one of us.” 39 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a miracle
in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, 40 for whoever is not against us is for us. 41 Truly I tell you, anyone who gives you a cup of water
in my name because you belong to the Messiah will certainly not lose their
reward.
This
passage seems contradictory to the mark 9 passage.
In
one, they do miracles and are in, in another, they are out.
There
are other difficult passages
In
Mt 10:9-10 he sends out disciples……. 9 “Do
not get any gold or silver or copper to take with you in your belts— 10 no
bag for the journey or extra shirt or sandals or a staff, for the worker is
worth his keep.
But
In Luke
22:36 - He said to them, “But now if you have
a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don’t have a sword, sell your
cloak and buy one.”
Some
things are hard to know. Maybe we can’t know it all.
We
like to take particular situations and turn them into universals.
Probably
not a good idea.
Lets get back to the passage today
We
like the story of the house on rock vs. sand
What
bothers us is that Not everyone's going to get in?
we
don't ever like to hear the words "NO."
My
friend rob bell
How
can some people not get in? it is difficult for many………
Here
Jesus doesn't recognize people who are doing Jesus-y things??
How
CRAZY is that??!??!?!?!?!?!?
And
Even performing MIRACLES isn't
enough???
TANGENT:
prophecy - predicting AND
calling people out on their sins & redirecting them to God
driving
out demons
- DRIVING OUT DEMONS ...
miracles -
to
these people doing amazing things-Jesus says: away from me, evil doers
Doesn't
sound like Jesus, right?
But
Jesus is getting at something important here.
If
you were to list some of your pet peeves, what they are?
Traffic-
computer issues? Slow lines –
laziness
– pet poop in all the wrong places
For
Jesus, His pet peeve was hypocrisy.
In
Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story about the sheep & goats
Read Matthew 25:31-40 -- see on screen
31 “When the Son of Man
comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious
throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he
will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep
from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the
goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his
right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the
kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For
I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I
needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in
prison and you came to visit me.’37 “Then the righteous will
answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give
you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and
invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did
we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply,
‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and
sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Sheep help others in need:
the hungry, thirsty, sick, imprisoned
Goats don't seem to do
anything, but they look a lot like sheep
sheep
do what Jesus asks w/o knowing He's even there
the
righteous are self unaware
visit
those in prison ... feed the hungry ... clothe the naked
goats
don't do anything – lived for themselves
Some of Jesus' harshest words is
for HYPOCRITICAL BEHAVIOR
He
lays the Pharisees open in mt 23
6
principles of hypocrisy
1.
Telling
others they are out of the kingdom
2.
Converting
people to religion instead of Jesus
3.
Valuing
the building/temple over God
4.
Giving
a tenth of all but neglecting justice, mercy and faithfulness
You should have practiced the latter, without
neglecting the former. 24 You blind
guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.
5.
The
outside is clean but the inside is full of selfishness
6.
Pretending
to honor God and his messengers but really living for themselves
Some people say that Christians are
hypocrites
We
don't take kindly to being called a hypocrite.
And
we don’t want to be one
What is a hypocrite?
It
is not someone with a problem, weakness or stain.
It
is someone who has those things and acts like they dont
There
are lots of noisy Christians in our world
Jesus
is not interested in flash and reported miracles
He
is not interested in smoke and mirrors or magic
Tom
boehm and the peter popoff revival at Kemper
No one has to pretend for Jesus.
He
is looking for the normal, the authentic
Jesus
calls us to examine our
hearts
intentions
& motivations
True
spirituality is based in normal things not supernatural things
He
is looking for people who are doing the basic caring
I like to be positive.
See
the good.
Who is in, who is out
Some
people use this passage as a negative.
---
They
use it to say who is in and who is out.
They
of course, are always in.
when
they draw a line, you are usually out.
Jesus
included many more people than most think He would include.
The
thief on the cross
Jesus
ran with drunkards and sinners.
Where have you built your house?
On
selfishness or on loving God and loving others?
Read
v. 24-25 -- see on screen
24
“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. 25 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.
The
storms of life come to each of us.
We
are not promised a rose garden – there will be dark valleys
But
we are not alone, in those valleys. We have a shepherd with us.
Some people do religious things
That
is not what Jesus is about.
When
we are in love with God, so we live a certain way.
It
is a natural flow of who we are.
It
just comes out
Loving
God and loving others
John
Wesley said, no one is saved by works, but no one is saved without them.
There
are so many counter intuitive things in the bible
Who
ever is greatest among you shall be your servant Mt 23:11
Jesus
isn’t looking for the mighty, the flashy, the important.
Whoever
is greatest is the one who serves
So, Yes there are some hard sayings
And
in this life we will not know it all
I
had a nice visit with a young man last week -ready to give up on God
Because
other Christians told him who was out.
I
told him it is not up to us. It is up to god
People
don’t get to black ball us
Jesus
told us to judge not, so we wont be judged.
A person can build their house on the
sand
if they like
A
person can build their life on selfishness
A
person can build it on being self-righteous about who is in our out
But
The storms of life sweep that stuff away
Jesus
gives us this promise –
Build
your house on the rock. Love god and love your neighbor
Build
your house on the rock
And
you will find joy and hope in this life,, and the next.
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