Episode 66 Matthew 7 People, Gates & Foundations

Dan: (00:00)
Hi, everyone. And welcome to training for life redeemed. I am your host, Dan, and I’m with my dad, David Jackson. We’re continuing to look through the book of Matthew. We are gonna finish off the sermon on the Mount today. We’re looking at chapter seven of Matthew Dad so far in the sermon on the Mount. We’ve had the whole blessing we’ve had. You’ve heard that it was said that he’s talked about, you know, making sure that the good things you do and you, yeah. You’re keeping your eye on God seeking his kingdom first, really, and not seeking the approval of others, cuz that is generally gonna lead you towards a life of anxiety and struggle, trying to constantly get other people’s approval and worrying about food and life, et cetera. He then starts to talk about this idea of not judging others to start chapter seven. Can you explain why? Why is this here in, in this sermon? Yeah. And what do we pull from it?

David: (00:56)
Yeah, I think that verse chapter seven verse one is probably the most misused verse. One of the most misused verses in the Bible. everybody who does the wrong thing, when you call him up says, don’t judge me. You know, judge, not that you’ve be not judged. They quote that verse and you go, well, actually, mate, let’s go and do a word study on judging and we’ll find that God commands his people to exercise, right Judgment. Yeah. but we exercise that right judgment within the body of Christ. We don’t run around exercising that kind of judgment on those who are outside the church. those who are outside of the church, we go and explain to them how they can be forgiven. We’re not out there to condemn we’re out there to call people to repentance. Yeah. But within the church we will hold each other accountable. and Jesus commands us to do so. He’s gonna tell us later on how to do that. But the reason this is here is we’ve just come through this passage that talks about seeking the approval of others. And of course, if you live in a world where you seek the approval of others, you’re in a culture where you are constantly being judged

Dan: (02:08)
And judging others

David: (02:09)
And judging others, it’s a competition, you know, and the way you win the competition is by putting everybody else down so that somehow you get your head above them. and you’ve only gotta look at the way people do that to know it doesn’t work. when you push other people’s down, people down, you go with them. so this is a destructive lifestyle and, and Jesus is gonna go on here. And he’s gonna say, if you choose to get involved in that competition where you put other people down and other people all are putting, you know, you’re seeking their approval, you’re gonna throw away the whole kingdom of God. and so you, you come down to this little verse, and I’m gonna get you to do some talking about this one. so don’t give what’s holy to dogs. Don’t throw your pearls before swine. We, when we interpret that verse

Dan: (03:06)
So often MIS yeah.

David: (03:08)
When, when people read that verse, that’s almost saying join the competition the way we read it. You know, I I’m so wise I’m so a clever, I’m not going to bother teaching you my wisdom. Cause you are so dumb and you are so low.

Dan: (03:25)
Oh, you’re so oppositional to the gospel. So often people take it as the, the Pearl is the gospel and I’m not gonna present the gospel before you, because you clearly rejected it already. And so we’ll just move on to the next person. Just

David: (03:38)
And you’re just obnoxious Not just, I don’t like you.

Dan: (03:40)
Where, where does Jesus have that anywhere else in his teaching to teach, to, to stop teaching someone, the gospel.

David: (03:47)
If, if they drive you outta town, by all means, leave, shake the dust off. But they’ve gotta make that call to tell you to go away. Mm. But in this case, I, it just, it reminds me how many times have you heard teacher walk out of a class saying, you know, I’ve been throwing my pearls before. It’s, that’s not how we want you to talk about people.

Dan: (04:08)
No.

David: (04:09)
So tell me that you, knowing that you’ve done a lot of work on that,

Dan: (04:14)
So my main thing is that when you’re looking at interpreting any passage in the Bible is to look at the context that it’s in. And I think this is in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount and a Pearl is essentially a treasure. Yes. And this whole, through the whole way through chapter six, Jesus has been saying, you know, don’t throw out your treasures, basically. He’s saying, you know, if you do your prayers before everyone, your reward you’ve gotten and you lose your treasures in heaven. Yeah. If you giving all your money away in public, you’re getting your reward from everyone else. Therefore you lose your reward in heaven. And you know, that reward is the kingdom of God. Like it’s, this is living with God in his presence.

David: (04:52)
It’s the Pearl of great price.

Dan: (04:54)
He’s I see Jesus here. What he’s saying is don’t take the kingdom of God that you are seeking and that you’re meant to be keeping your eyes on and Chuck it out. Yeah. Like this is an idea of just you’re taking the kingdom and you’re chucking it before pigs and dogs, words for Gentiles generally for Jews. So you’re chucking it out to those who are not Christian, you’re seeking a worldly process instead of seeking the kingdom of God, which you said, you know, five verses earlier.

David: (05:24)
Yeah. You’re, you’re swapping the kingdom of God. God’s approval. Where, where you, your focus is on the king. You’re going out into the Gentile world and looking for what they want to sell you as the great pride Pearl of great price. And Jesus says just a few chapters over the, you know, the kingdom of heaven is like a Pearl of great price. You sell everything to get that Pearl don’t throw that out. and you throw that out when you get into this whole dynamic of the, the world’s approval versus God’s approval. and that, that is just so, so destructive. Yeah. And then he finishes that with this, what we call the golden rule, which is about, you know, stop looking at what you can get out of people and start looking at what people need and what people need is the kingdom of God. And they need all the things that God has showered on you as a disciple of Jesus. Mm. So stop sitting there thinking more. Can I get for me and start looking at them and, and delivering to them, the blessings that you have been so hungry to get that God has given you.

Dan: (06:33)
Yeah. And like even the, the prayer bit there, like, if you are the approval of people, you’re losing treasure, but this is talking about, you know, asking, it’ll be given to you, you know, it’s like, if you’re seeking the kingdom, then you’re gonna get a much greater treasure than what you can get down here. Yeah. You far away and

David: (06:54)
You, you ask the world for their approval. You ask the old for, you know, gimme, gimme, gimme your money and everything else. and you end up with a pile of rubbish. It it’s rotting garbage. Mm. You go to your heavenly father and he will deal with what you actually need. He will, he’s got a plan for your life. He’ll open the doors. he’ll move mountains. this, this is God, who’s got it all in under control. And that crowd out there whose approval you think you need to get the doors open, they can’t deliver. they’re gonna lead you into a garbage heap, so, you know, turn, get it right.

Dan: (07:36)
So then have the wider than narrow gate talking about, you know, it’s hard to get to the kingdom to stay that path your whole life. It’s easier to go the other way. and then it leads into this idea of a tree and a fruit and how you can, you know, talk about misquoting. This do not judge. Then we have, you can judge a tree by what kind of fruit of produces.

David: (07:57)
Yeah.

Dan: (07:58)
so can you give us a bit more of an idea of how we use that now and how Jesus was using it to help his disciples?

David: (08:06)
Yeah. Jesus, God describes. So you start off with the garden of Eden, as God’s plantation with his people in the garden of Eden and God, you know, wandering around in the garden, visiting with his people, then they leave the garden. They end up in a wilderness in a desert. You’ve seen Jesus in the Judean desert with the devil. Yeah. so we’ve destroyed the environment that God gave us. And he describes Israel as the plantation of God. He’s going to plant his people back in his world and regrow paradise, around them. So that great commission that he gave Adam, that original commission be fruitful, multiply, Fill the earth, subdue it and rule over it to the glory of God that that’s now gonna happen again in Jesus. Yep. So let’s go and see if you take the kingdom of God person living out the kingdom of God instructions, what sort of garden do you grow?

David: (09:07)
Is it a garden of peace or is it garden of poisonous thorns and thistles and, and snakes and stuff. So you can tell ’em by their fruit, is this edible or is it poisonous? and if you’re looking for the approval of men, you’re gonna end up taking on fruit that is destructive. If you are going to be the kind of person God is restoring, then your lifestyle is gonna to bring Shalom, wholeness, peace restoration, to anybody who comes in touch with you. they’ll see what God has done to change and transform, and they’re gonna want it. And, and you, and I both know, you look around, you know, the families and the world. You look in the, in your school community at the different families and the stories that come and go, and you go, I can see where God’s at work.

David: (10:03)
I can see the restoration and I can see some of the choices people make and where it’s gonna go. And these are heart-breaking, and this is wow. So, you know, you get that the narrow gate, and the wide gate, you know, there’ll be lots of people who go down the toilet. Yeah. you won’t be popular. You’re swimming against the current of your culture and your, your people. But if you go this route, God’s route God’s way, then we re you restore Eden and you’d go back to paradise. and he’s not just talking about the second coming, you know, new creation. He’s talking about your life right here and now. and I think by their fruit, you can see where God’s been at work to bring peace and wholeness. And if you’ve got eyes to see, that’s where you want to go

Dan: (10:56)
For that, the sermon on the Mount finishes with the very famous story of wise man and a foolish man. And it’s got a very lovely song that goes along with it. Yeah. so

David: (11:09)
Do people still sing that song?

Dan: (11:10)
Ah, yeah. Oh, good. I believe they do. I run kids church at my church and we sing it.

David: (11:15)
Excellent.

Dan: (11:16)
So why is he finishing with this? Like it’s a, you know, where you build your house or your foundations that you’re using to build your house. Yeah. And how long it lasts. Why is this where he finishes?

David: (11:29)
The you’ve just built a house. The longest process in building a house is the foundations. And you, you look at, I dunno, you look at whatever you’ve laid down as that foundation, whatever goes above that, you can knock down, replace no problem. But those foundations, if they start moving, you’re in trouble. and the contrast between a rock and a and sand is about as good as it gets here in Sydney. We’ve had storms and there’s a whole Beachside suburb where rich people built their house on the sand because they wanted to be accessible to the beach. And this, this storm came through and basically ate their whole backyard. and the houses are sliding into the sand and you’re going, you know, yeah. You know, this, this was the place the real estate agent said to go, cause, look at the view and you, yeah, there’s the view going straight down the path.

David: (12:35)
So that works for life. So when, when I was a young man and I looked at all the families around me that were, looked like a bomb had hit them, divorce, rape, domestic violence, adultery, you name it alcoholism. It was all around the place. and, and I, I looked at that and I thought I’ve been born into a culture that is terribly destructive. this is the 1950s. you make your own conclusions about now, but looking at that and going, I don’t want my life going there. Now that might mean I have to break with the culture of my whole family, my wider family. I might have to make different decisions. I might have to stand in front of parents and say, I’m going a different route to you. I still remember the day I, when I told my mother I was getting baptized and she burst into tears, wasn’t what we did for you Good enough.

David: (13:39)
And I said, no, you know, and gave her a big hug. there’s a reason why I want to base my life on obeying Jesus, not on whatever the culture was I was born into. so to build on that foundation, to read my Bible and find out what that foundation looks like. so it was fascinating. I mean, you, you found the same, you walk through Israel, the, the, you know, or any country really. And when hundreds of years have gone past and thousands of years have gone past what’s left of the culture in physical culture, in archeology, the foundations. And we, we are walking over the foundations and using that to figure out how to rebuild. What was once there, those foundations last. And one of the things I discovered in the Bible and you are discovering too, is that the decisions you make, especially the decisions you make in high school in those years impact your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren. these are powerful decisions. Those foundations don’t stop with one generation. so Jesus is saying, go back to Torah, go back to the scriptures, get your eyes on God, your heavenly father, look to Jesus to get to, to undo the damage and get you through. Now, you’re a disciple. You’re a trainee build on that foundation. Yeah. The old, the old Puritans had a statement, which they used to say, improve your baptism and what, and the word improve in the old English was what we use for home improvements.

Dan: (15:22)
Yeah.

David: (15:23)
So they’re saying you, you’ve made a commitment build on that commitment. Don’t go off to the side, within that framework. So, you know, Phil Jensen turned that into two ways to live, and that’s been a blessing to many

Dan: (15:40)
Well that that sermon finishes with the, at the very end with the crowd being amazed at the way Jesus is teaching. He’s not teaching the way that everyone else does. And I think, you know, he’s teaching is one with, because he is the Son of Man who has come with authority. And I think really it’s a, it’s a fitting place for us to finish with, with

David: (15:59)
That, I’ll hold that up. This is the Mishnah, this is how the rabbis taught. And it was all about quoting old rabbis so that your opinion had their approval. And, and there’s, I mean, it’s 1100 pages of rabbi So, and so said this but rabbit. So, and I can quote, you know, I’m agreeing with the great ones. Yeah. And we’ve lost sight of God in the whole package.

Dan: (16:25)
Yeah. So Jesus definitely cuts through that without quoting anyone except for God. Yep. so that, that brings us to the end of this episode episode and to the end of the Sermon on the Mount, if you would like to come and grab the study notes, please head over to trainingforliferedeemed.com/66. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review. We’d love to read that and make sure you hit the subscribe button, come back and join us. When we look at Matthew chapter eight,