The Way to Life: Sunday October 30th

If you look at the world, you might think there are many ways to do life - especially religion, or the life of faith. However, as Jesus wraps up the Sermon on the Mount, he says something startling: that in fact there are only two ways, and only one that you really want to be on.

This Sunday Morning we'll continue our series in Matthew's  Gospel, and look at The Way to Life. You can download sermon summary notes in English here.

Or you can read them below:

The Way to Life

Matthew 7:13-29

Jesus closes the Sermon on the Mount by asking us to decide: will we follow the prevailing culture of the day, or live as part of his kingdom and counter-culture?

Two Ways

Jesus describes two different paths that you can take in life. He begins with the path you don’t want to be on. It’s easy to get on, it doesn’t ask anything of you. You can behave however you want and believe whatever you want on this path. No wonder there’s a crowd on it! But it ends in destruction.

The other path is hard. It’s restricting. There’s a cost involved. So who would take it? Those who know it ends in life, that the cost is worth it. Jesus urges us to enter this path.

Two Dangers

The first danger is from false teachers. What they teach is wrong. They also come disguised: they tell us what we want to hear, that the easy way is the way to life. That makes them dangerous: they can rob us of the very thing we are looking for: life.

But Jesus says you can recognise them by their fruit: the fruit of their character, their conduct, and the content of their teaching.

The second danger is false followers. Someone can be all talk, and no walk. They can be orthodox in their theology, fervent in their spirituality; even supernatural, but there’s no evidence of them living like citizens of Christ’s counter-cultural kingdom.

Two Builders

Jesus finishes his sermon with the parable of the two builders. It’s the person who hears what Jesus says and lives this way, who builds his life on the rock. A person’s ‘faith’ can be all intellectual: a hearer of God’s word, but not doing it. The storms of life, of death and final judgment reveal what we built on. Build on Christ and obedience to him and your life will stand.

The trouble is we can hear that and think, “Have I done enough?” But if our gaze shifts off Jesus and onto ourselves, we really are on shaky ground.

One Lord and Saviour

The people recognise Jesus authority. It is the authority of Christ the Lord, who is the ultimate king, Judge, and standard we are judged by. But he is also the one with the power to save. It is being known by him that makes us safe.

Jesus is the only one who has ever perfectly walked the hard and narrow way of obedience to God. He walked it for us. At the cross he suffered, and was crushed, for our failure to live and walk right. The storm of eternal judgment fell in him, instead of us. But because he had perfectly walked the path of obedience, God raised him from the dead. Now we can walk keeping our eyes fixed on him. And knowing his love for us gives us the desire, not just to hear his words, but to do them.