Matthew 7: 13-23 “Get Real!” 02-21-21

Weddings and funeral make for great blooper material – that is if you’re a pastor and not the bride or the family of the deceased. I heard about a funeral that a young pastor officiated at in California. He had only been a pastor a couple of years when a young man named Andrew whom he had ministered suddenly died. The family, especially Andrew’s grandmother asked if he would lead them in worship and also at the graveside service. He was told that at the grave there would be the “releasing of the doves” part of the service. He had no idea about the ceremony that included doves. The funeral service was attended by over 400 people. The procession to the cemetery was very long and when they arrived, this pastor walked ahead of the casket. Amid the tears, he then shared Scripture and had more memories of Andrew’s faith and personality. He had done some research about the meaning of the dove ceremony and shared that the dove represented Andrew’s spirit. Then remembering Paul’s words said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. When we release this dove, it will fly up into the sky just like Andrew’s spirit has gone to be with Jesus.” He then nodded at the man who was in charge of the dove which indicated that it was time to release the dove. The dove was in a brown paper bag with the words DOVE written on it. Some thoughtful person had poked two holes in the bag so the dove could breath. Gently, the man held the dove in his hands and let it go where it fluttered just above the people’s head as they all ducked. Moments later, a hawk that had been eyeing the “dove ceremony” jumped on its back and ate it, leaving a trail of feathers. There was a collective gasp as people couldn’t believe what had just happened. And then the questions started: What did this say about Andrew? Was this some omen about something from his past that no one knew about? Is he really in hell? This young pastor had no answers. He muttered some words, offered a quick prayer and left.

The questions were good ones. Honest one. Just moments before, everyone believed that Andrew was in heaven but after the hawk incident, a few started to wonder where Andrew’s spirit was now. It was very confusing. How do you know for sure, what real in life? If I said to you, “The rest of February, March and April is never going to get below 55 degrees F. you’d probably say, “Get real, pastor.” Or if someone said to you, “Prairie Meadows is the most spiritual place to be in Des Moines” you’d likely say, “Get real!” When we say, “Get real” we’re really saying: “I don’t believe you. Tell me something that is true.” If you look up the word “real” in the dictionary you’ll see this definition: “Actually being or existing. Not imaginary but actual. Not artificial but genuine.” The opposite of real is phony. We’ve all been exposed to things that are not real. When you watch a movie and you see an explosion or plane crash and someone being trapped in the middle of it, you know that it’s not a real scene because there are all sorts of computer generated methods that make things look real. We’ve got virtual reality that isn’t real. So much of Hollywood and the entertainment industry is based on taking the fake and making it appear real. I’m not saying this is bad when it comes to entertainment but if it carries over into other areas of our life it is wrong.

For example, when it comes to your personality or your character and how people look at you, it is very important that you are seen as a real person, not as fake or phony. The same is true of your faith, it’s very important that it is real and not imaginary, phony or fake. 1. WHEN IT COMES TO FAITH, ONLY GOD KNOWS HOW REAL YOU ARE. I believe there is a test to determine how real a person’s faith is: it’s if you’re willing to die for Jesus. It’s the test of martyrdom and it goes way back to the time of the first disciples of Jesus. After the resurrection, all of them were willing to be put to death rather than walk away from the faith. If someone put a gun to your head and said, “Renounce Jesus or die.” What would you do?

As Jesus closes out the sermon on the Mount, we hear Him say in verses 13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” It doesn’t sound fair, does it? If Jesus died for all of us and He wants us all to be with Him in heaven, why would He make the gate or road so narrow? The reason is that The easiest way is not always the best. Have you ever set out to do something and you discovered that it was going to take a lot longer to do than you thought? And you had to make a decision: do it the right way or take a shortcut and hope that no one would notice. Once the Holy Spirit has entered our heart, there’s a decision that we have to make: are we going to continue to follow Christ and be His disciple wherever He leads us? If we do, there’s no shortcut and the road won’t always be wide or easy to follow. Other choices will come along and be more appealing or more comfortable or perhaps even more logical. Whether it involves work, school activities, sports, your friends—we’re always going to have to make a choice: is Jesus going to be the most important person in my life or not. If not, then you’ll be heading down one of the roads to destruction. There’s only one path that will lead to true joy and that’s the road to heaven. Jesus Himself said in John chapter six, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through Me.” Notice that Jesus didn’t say that He was one of many roads, He is the only road!

In order to make His point even more clear, Jesus gives us a warning in verse 15: “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them…” We don’t have prophets today as they did back in Jesus’ day so by today’s standards, who would a false prophet be? Anyone who leads you to do the wrong thing whether it’s by words or actions. Jesus warns that people can appear to be genuine and sincere but their heart is deceptive and the problem is that you and I can’t tell by a quick glance. That’s why He wants us to check their fruit. In the final analysis, a tree cannot hide what it is. If you’re around a person who has an impressive resume or has a lot of charisma or charm—these things don’t really matter. These are external things. What matters is what is on the inside so here’s a good test of character: when you’re around someone and you wonder if he/she is a Christian. After this individual has finished talking, if you are thinking more about him/her than you are Jesus, there’s a problem. Anyone who minimizes Christ and glorifies himself that’s a sure sign of trouble. 2. FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF PEOPLE ARE NOT ALWAYS ACCURATE.

Let’s take this a step further. How do you know if someone at work, or a friend at school, or someone here at church is really good for you? You’ve probably never wondered about this unless you had a friend turn on you and make your life miserable. The problem is that we can’t always tell at first whether someone is a genuine and sincere Christian or whether he/she’s an evil influence. Counterfeit Christians, like counterfeit twenty dollar bills are not easily detected, it takes a trained and discerning eye. The difference can be very subtle. Let me show you by means of a comparison. If I went to Hyvee, WalMart or Fareway and got some groceries and pulled up to one of the checkout lanes, unloaded them and when it came time to pay, I handed them a twenty-dollar bill that was oversized, was yellow and had Marsha’s picture in the middle of it, would anyone be fooled? No. But if I pulled out a crisp, perfectly shaped, green piece of paper that bore all the marks of currency, felt like a twenty and looked like a twenty with the picture of Andrew Jackson in the center, I could fool many people. The same thing is true of individuals who appear to have good motives, but who can lead us away from the Lord. So Jesus encourages us to carefully analyze what the person is doing, in other words, look at his/her fruit. This means that He wants us to take a good look at people we hang around with. Are there any who deliberately are living in a way that contradicts what the Bible says? If you continue to be around people like this, the chances are good that you’ll end up doing the same things that they do.

He wants us to do the right thing, not just talk about doing the right thing that’s why in verse 21 He closes our text with some tough words: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” You don’t have to have the gift of discernment to figure out who Jesus is talking about here. It’s the Pharisees, the same group of people He cautioned His disciples not to mimic in chapter 6. Think of what Jesus is saying. He points to a group of people who say the right things by calling him Lord. Then even seem to do the right things – like prophesy, drive out demons and do man miracle – all while invoking the Name of Jesus. But when everything is said and done, Jesus says He never knew them. Talk about complicated!!! If I read this right, Hell will have some parking spaces reserved for people who pastored churches or had thriving ministries, maybe even sang in the choir and served as an elder. He’s not talking about prostitutes or other terrible sinners – He’s address money-giving, synagogue-attending, Scripture-memorizing, law-abiding, so-called good people He says He never knew. Looks can be deceiving!

Let me tell you about a young man named Anthony from Atlanta who grew up in church. He was an amazing basketball player to announced that he was going to try out for the Georgia Tech basketball team. Every day he went to tryouts. He wowed the coaches with his speed and agility. His ability to hand the ball, drive to the hole, and shoot a long-range jump shot impressed the head coach so much that at the end of tryouts, he told Anthony he was on the team! A few days later, however, the coach told Anthony that as great a basketball player as he was, he couldn’t be on the team any longer because he had never enrolled in school! He never had plans to be a student – he didn’t think anyone would check on his status! He was dressed like a Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket but wasn’t one. If I read Jesus right here in Matthew 7, the same will be said for a lot of people who think they are Christians but in reality, are not. 3. JESUS IS MORE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR WALK THAN OUR TALK. Jesus words should shock us. I find them to be some of the most unsettling in the Bible! The reason why His words are so unsettling is that they do violence to the notion that I can claim I have experienced God’s performance-free love without having my life change one bit!

That’s why Jesus says there are only two gates: a broad one and an arrow one and two kinds of trees: those that produce fruit and those that don’t. All of Matthew 7 can be summed up in one word: TWO. Not three or twenty- seven, just two! We’re either walking on the narrow or wide path. There are too many Christians today who try to offer a third alternative that says: “Do whatever makes you happen, show up to church, say a few prayers, read the Bible occasionally and Jesus will help you pull of “Project You.” Jesus is helping us realize this morning that life is not about us it’s about Him, our Savior rescuing us from ourselves! Third-way theology doesn’t lament over sin. Jesus is not arguing for perfection but repentance. Let’s not forget who He’s talking to: His disciples! Peter would disown Him times. The rest, except for John would abandon Him at the cross. Over and over they were reprimanded ford their lack of faith and pride. The disciples were deeply flawed people, yet all but Judas ventured through the narrow gate, blemishes and all. This encourages me because I’m in daily need of fresh grace! I praise God that “His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is [His] faithfulness!” Lamentations 3:22-23.

Everyone sins! Those who aren’t in relationship with Jesus do as well as those of us who are walking in God’s performance-free love. The most importance different is summed up in a word called: repentance! So really there’s good news and bad news. Let me give you the bad news first. The bad news is that you can fake being a Christian. You can actually pretend to be this close to God by coming to church and being nice every so often and no one will know that you’re faking it, except God. You can pretend to say your prayers and give God glory in everything you do and no one will know that you’re not sincere—except the Lord. Most of us at one time or another have faked being a strong Christian. However, I know of nothing that will make you feel more hollow and miserable, than putting on a mask and pretending to be somebody you really aren’t. That’s the bad news. The good news is that God will never give up on you or me. Sin doesn’t disqualify you or me from serving the Lord; it opens wide the doors for sorrow and repentance! Just as King David, who committed adultery and murder repented, so can the Holy Spirit change us! You can walk away from God and He will still love you and will do everything in His power to bring you back. That’s why it’s crucial to remember our baptism daily and to look to the cross where we are reminded of the cleansing power of forgiveness that comes through Jesus blood.

A few years ago, a Chicago police officer was invited to speak to a group of Christian teenagers. This is what he said: “As I look at you today, I’m reminded of the day when I stood before the Lord on my confirmation day and promised never to walk away from the Lord. I had a close friend named Joe who also was confirmed that same day. We did everything together: played ball, went to movies, stayed overnight at each other’s house, took Driver’s Ed, went to the same parties, we even chased girls together. When you saw him you saw me…we were like Mutt and Jeff. But then one day, we began to drift apart. I called him on the phone but there was no answer. He lived only four blocks away so I walked over and I saw his car in the driveway so I knew he had to be home. The door was unlocked and I went in and found Joe and two other kids counting money. Immediately I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I don’t know where they got the money and I didn’t want to know, I just left. From that moment on, we were no longer close. We made different choices: I chose my church and Joe chose the streets. I chose to surround myself with Christian friends while Joe became a part of a gang. I chose to graduate from high school and to go to college, Joe chose not to. I chose to work while Joe couldn’t find a job. I became a police officer. Joe became a burglar. Now, I think I need to remind you that we were friends, we were neighbors, we were buddies. But the major difference between us was the choices we made. I chose to follow Christ and Joe did not.

According to Jesus, the choice is still the same. There are only two roads: one leads to eternal life, the other to destruction. If you died tonight, which road would you be on? The answer to this question doesn’t depend on how good you are but whether you continue to kneel at the foot of the cross and receive Christ’s love, mercy and grace. We’re not going to get to heaven by our good looks or by what we say or do. The only way is through simple faith in Jesus our Savior.