Discernment about People

Well, if you are new, let me kind of let you know what we've been doing so far this year.

We are spending our entire year going through the book of Matthew.

And we're doing something called following Jesus.

We are going literally through the entire book from now until the end of the year.

We're just trying to understand Jesus more.

We want to know him.

Not just know about him, but we really want to know him.

And so we're trying to explore this in a way that helps everything come to life for us, that helps us just understand where he is and who he's talking to and what's going on around him.

Because the clearer Jesus becomes, the more we know Jesus, the more we understand who God really is, who we really are.

I mean, he is the answer.

He is the one that we're looking for.

We don't need something, we need someone, and that someone is Jesus.

Now, to help us follow Jesus as literally as we can, we've been looking at a lot of maps so that we can kind of orient ourselves with where Jesus is, what's going on in the world around him.

So let's kind of start with our main map.

This is uh this is the part of the world that Jesus is in, right?

We've got the Mediterranean Sea, we've got the Dead Sea down there, Sea of Galilee, that is Israel.

If we zoom in a little bit, this is the area that Jesus really spends his time.

And uh we see that, and we see, okay, there's there's rivers, there's seas, but if you read the Bible, you don't just see landmarks in terms of of lakes or oceans or things like that.

You see a lot of region names.

And so uh this might help you understand this if you're familiar with scripture.

We see like Galilee, Samaria, Judea.

These are places that you read about Jesus being in.

And so as you ever, if you ever read through your Bible, you read through the stories of Jesus, the gospels, you'll hear a lot about Jesus is in Galilee, then they went to Samaria.

This kind of helps you understand where they are.

And where we've been for the last few weeks is in one place.

We're just outside of a city called Capernaum, which is toward the top of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus is preaching this message, and people are coming from all over the place to hear from Jesus.

His fame has spread because of the miracles that he's done, but now people are coming to him to hear what he has to say, to see what he can do.

Some of those people are coming because they are desperate.

They've heard that Jesus can perform miracles, they are sick, they have loved ones who are sick, and Jesus is their only hope.

Some people are curious, they've heard about Jesus, he's captivated their interest, they want to know more.

Some people are skeptical.

They think Jesus is a heretic and they're there to find something, to hear something that they can use to condemn him and to kind of put him away.

There's all different types of people.

But they've all come to hear from Jesus.

And Jesus gives this message.

We see it in our Bibles in Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

It's often called the Sermon on the Mount.

It is the by far the most famous single teaching that Jesus has.

And if you're familiar with the Sermon on the Mount, you'll know that it's it's surprising.

In many ways, it's very much like Jesus, that every single time you think you know where he's going, he takes a turn.

And you find yourself in an unexpected place.

That's how Jesus is, by the way.

Every time you think you have Jesus completely figured out, something happens and you're like, whoa, I didn't realize, I didn't realize this about Jesus.

I didn't realize this is something he said or something that he does.

Like, he's tough to figure out because he's God.

And God should be tough to figure out.

To the people who thought they understood everything about God, the people that thought they were God experts, the Sermon on the Mount was perplexing.

To the people who thought they were far from God, that God must look down on them, that they must be so far from where he would want them to be, the Sermon on the Mount was encouraging and comforting.

It was challenging, convicting, but at the same time gentle.

It's just, it's amazing.

And we've called this little mini-series within our year of following Jesus, learning to walk, because essentially, what Jesus is doing here with the Sermon on the Mount, He's teaching us a whole new way to live.

And it's kind of like you're a kid again learning to walk for the very first time.

You're not very confident, you're not very sure, and you are certain to have a few stumbles as you try to figure it out.

And Jesus is showing us a way of life that is very different than the way of life that the world prescribes.

And he wants us to try it, he wants us to do it, and he knows that we're gonna have to sort of stumble through it until we grow and mature, but it's worth it because the life that he has is it's unlike anything else this world can offer.

So we sort of have to learn to walk again.

Let me give you some examples of just how perplexing this message has been, how amazing, how incredible.

He begins in Matthew chapter five with something called the Beatitudes, and these are statements of blessings.

He says, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against against you because of me.

Now, these statements to us are very familiar.

I mean, people have been talking about them for a few thousand years now.

And if you've grown up in church, you've heard that he's a bunch.

Even if you haven't grown up in church, you're new to it, you've probably heard something like this before.

But the people who heard it for the very first time, this would have blown their minds.

It would have gone against everything they had thought went along with God's blessings.

It would have completely upended their expectations because about 150 years before Jesus, there was another famous rabbi.

And his name was actually Jesus as well.

His name was Jesus Ben Sirach, and he's still well known to this day.

And he gave his own set of beatitudes, statements of blessings.

This is about 150 years before Jesus, but look at the difference.

Ben Sirach said, Blessed are those who rejoice in their children.

Blessed are those who live to see the downfall of their foes.

Blessed is the man who lives with an intelligent wife.

Blessed are those who have not made a slip of the tongue.

Blessed are those who do not have to serve someone inferior to them.

Blessed are those who have gained good sense.

Blessed are those who speak to attentive listeners.

Blessed are those who have gained wisdom, but no one is more blessed than the person who fears the Lord.

These last few statements that I just read, these statements of blessing, these were famous.

And so as soon as Jesus starts going through his blessed are these, blessed are those, everyone's thinking about that.

But the the second list, the older list, it basically says, Blessed are those whom life is going well for.

Like you know that God is with you when life is going well.

When your circumstances are good, when you're in a good marriage, when your kids are doing great, when you're when you're promoted in your job, when you're doing better than everybody else, you know that God has blessed you.

And then Jesus comes and he says, No, blessed are the poor in spirit.

Blessed are the meek, blessed are the mourners, people who have lost.

And Jesus starts by saying, Listen, God's blessings and his love, it is for everyone.

It's not just for those whom life seems to be going really well for, it's for everyone.

And if you feel like someone who's been on the outside looking in when it comes to the goodness of God and the blessings of God, I'm telling you, God is for you.

Jesus starts that way.

And then he continues and he challenges so many well-established ideas of the right way to live.

Like he says, hey, love your enemies.

Pray for your enemies.

I mean, how many of us this week have spent time praying for our enemies?

I mean, obviously I have every day because I'm you know a pastor and it's just that's what I do.

But no, like, no, we don't do that.

But Jesus tells us to.

And we don't think about it much, but at least I don't, Jesus did that.

Jesus would have spent so much time praying for the very people that stood against him.

In fact, on the cross, oh, way down the line, spoiler alert.

Uh on the cross, as he's being killed, he prays to God the Father.

He says, Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing.

So he prayed for his enemies and he challenges us to do the same.

He says, crazy things like in Matthew chapter 7, verse 12, do to others whatever you would like them to do to you.

Matthew 7:12

Now, many of us grew up with this being on like posters in school, and this was called the golden rule.

But Jesus is the first person who ever said that.

Now, there were sayings prior to Jesus that were a version of this, but they were always put in the negative.

It would say things like, Don't do to someone what you wouldn't want them to do to you.

Like, so don't steal from someone because you wouldn't want someone to steal from you.

Don't, don't punch someone in the face.

You would not want to get punched in the face.

Those had been around for forever, but no one had ever taken the proactive stance and said, No, I want you proactively to do for someone what you would hope someone would do for you.

I mean, if we actually live that way, if we thought about it, like, man, what would I, what would bless me today?

What would I love for someone to do for me today?

And then we just go, well, I'm gonna go do that for someone else.

That's how Jesus is calling us to live.

This is not the way the world has us live.

He kind of raises the bar and shows us that there's a higher possibility of what human beings can actually do and how human beings can actually live.

Last week we spent a lot of time looking at Jesus challenging us in this message to examine our own hearts, to become very familiar with our own motives, to not just be people who do the right thing, but to be people who do the right thing for the right reason.

Not so that people are impressed by us, not so that we feel good about ourselves, but just because the Lord has called us to live a certain way, and we're just trying to honor God in the way that we live.

And then he kind of finishes that section with a very famous statement, Matthew chapter 7, verses 1 through 5.

Matthew 7:1–5

He says, Do not judge others and you will not be judged, for you will be treated as you treat others.

The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

And why worry about a speck in your friend's eye when you have a log in your own?

How can you think of saying to your friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye when you can't see past the log in your own eye?

Hypocrite.

First get rid of the log in your own eye, and then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye.

Jesus says, we should be so focused on dealing with our own stuff that we're not very worried about other people's stuff.

And we don't judge them.

In fact, the moment we feel tempted to judge and say, you ought to be X, Y, or Z, we stop and go, Man, what is it within me that needs to change?

I'm gonna deal with that first.

And I found that if I actually live that way, I don't actually get around to judging people because I have too much to deal with in my own life.

I'm too busy working on this stuff to deal with everybody else's.

So Jesus challenges us not to judge.

And that's where we left off last week.

And today we're gonna go through pretty much the rest of Matthew chapter 7, and it's interesting, it takes a turn, a surprising turn.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Because right after Jesus tells us not to judge, he then pivots a little bit and says, Now I want you to be very careful about the people that you allow to have influence in your life.

And it's interesting because in our, in our day and age, in our culture, when we talk about not judging, that very often becomes synonymous with just labeling everything as good.

So our idea sometimes in modern culture is that if I'm gonna be a non-judgmental person, that means I've got to be someone who just says everything that everyone is doing is fine.

And that's not what Jesus teaches.

Because if we're right, if we we think about it the right way, that's actually a form of judgment.

Because if I if I say that everything is good, I am judging it, and I am I'm acting as if I have the authority to declare what is good and what is not, good.

Only God really has that authority.

And so Jesus tells us not to judge, do not be judgmental people, but then he turns and he says, now be very careful about the people that you have around you.

It's interesting because it's not the way you think it would go, but that's how Jesus is.

And so we're gonna look at four sort of challenges that Jesus gives us as he wraps up this message that he has when it comes to being careful, to being cautious about the people that we have the closest in our lives.

And specifically, he says that we should be careful with who we trust, we should be careful with who we ask, we should be careful with who we listen to, and finally, we should be careful with who we we build upon.

So it's who we trust, who we ask, who we listen to, who we build upon.

I've been thinking a lot this week about how vital this is.

And how actually it's really good for us to be cautious when it comes to the people that we trust, that we listen to, those kinds of things.

It's different than love.

Like love is something that we're supposed to do when it comes to everyone.

Like we're supposed to love everyone.

We are supposed to love with zero discernment.

Like, are you a human being?

Are you breathing?

I love you.

It's that simple.

Because you're someone that God has created, and you're someone that God has created with the capacity to know Him and to be part of His kingdom in this world.

And if so, if you're alive, I love you.

That should be our attitude when it comes to love.

I may not agree with you, I may not understand you, I may not see things the same way that you see things, but I love you and I'll do anything I can to help you and to serve you.

We are supposed to love like that, indiscriminate, completely and totally.

But trust is different.

We're supposed to be liberal in our love, but cautious when it comes to trust.

And we're gonna see that.

I've experienced that by the way.

I remember when I was the youth pastor here, I was the youth pastor for seven years, I've been in this role now for 10.

Um, in my very first year leading the youth, I had this mom that showed up with her teenage daughter, and she was just obviously concerned.

And she's dropping her daughter off, she doesn't know this place, her daughter got invited by some friends, she hadn't really heard much about us, and we were a very new church.

We were a very different church.

When we first started, I mean, 20 years ago, this was not the norm in Cherokee County as far as like how we do things.

And so there was a lot of skepticism, and it's just it is the way it is, it's it's the way it was.

So, like she has this obvious look on her face of concern.

And she finds one of our volunteers and says, Yeah, my daughter's here for the first time.

I just I need to know more about what's going on here.

Uh, can I please talk to who's in charge?

So that volunteer goes, gets me, brings me to this lady, and I say, Hey ma'am, I'm Justin, and she goes, You know, I'm so sorry, but I really need to talk to an adult.

Now, in her defense, and guys, I'm gonna tell you on the front end, I'm putting myself out there a little bit, so just be kind.

In her defense, um, I'll show you a picture of what I looked like when I first started working here.

I was 23 years old.

I could have passed for 16.

Okay?

So just laugh if you want, but no, you're treading on my heart.

Okay, I'm just joking, I don't care.

Alright, so this was what I looked like when I first started, this was my very first.

You guys can leave that up for a second.

I've been here a long time.

I showed this to my oldest last night.

And he just stared at it on my phone.

Someone sent this to me.

I actually think it's like a form of blackmail a few years ago.

Um he had five questions.

My oldest looked at this picture and he had five questions.

He said, What are you sitting on?

That was a flame chair.

We called it the hot seat.

And if you were sitting on the hot seat, you could you had to answer any question anyone asked of you.

And so the kids were, it was like their way of kind of roasting me and initiating me.

And like uh one of them asked, Hey, what's the most embarrassing thing about like you when you were in school?

And I had to answer that question.

And so I'll move on because you don't want to know the answer to that one.

Um I'll tell you.

I went to bed every night till I was in the eighth grade.

I don't care, okay?

It's fine.

I stopped, I stopped, it's fine, it's good.

Um it's just it's my story, it's my life.

Any other bedwetters from your childhood in the room?

Y'all don't want to do it.

Yeah.

Here we go, Carlos.

Me and you.

Here we go.

Rubber sheets.

It's just the way life went.

Growing up.

I'm always a little scared it's gonna come back one day, but I think I'm good at this point in time.

It's been a long time.

All right.

So that was question one.

What are you sitting on?

It was the hot seat.

He's like, What are you wearing?

Specifically said, What are those jeans?

Those are the baggiest jeans I've ever seen.

And I'm like, son, it's gonna come back.

Trust me, a few years from now, be wearing the same jeans.

Just it's the way fashion works.

He said, What is that shirt?

Then he said, What is wrong with your hair?

Why do you have frosted tips?

You know, I was like, there was this band called InSync, and they were a big deal, and it was just like, well, is it a thing?

And then this was his final question.

He said this.

I'm not making this up last night.

He said, What was mom thinking?

I was like, dude, I've been asking that question for 20-something years.

Like, I don't know.

I don't know.

She's way out of my league.

I get it.

She always was.

So this is what, this is what that mom saw when she came to talk to someone about, like, you know, her child, will her child be safe?

Will her child be taught things that are good and wholesome?

And I get it.

I get it.

Like, we've all had those moments where we see, you guys can, it's it's time for that picture to go away.

Uh go ahead and take that down.

We've all had those moments where we see someone, and we're not trying to be judgmental, but we have reservations.

Like I remember the first time I had a doctor who was significantly younger than me.

That was interesting.

Now that's like the norm.

But but I remember I had something going on my shoulder, and I went to see this orthopedist, and they had done some x-rays, and this guy comes in, and I mean, guys, I'm not saying he was Doogie Hauser from that show in the 80s, but like he could have been.

And he tells me, he's like, hey, Mr.

McTear, you know, this is what's going on.

We we we think you're fine, and just be careful.

And I remember having this thought, like, hey, that's nice, man, but like, can I talk to the real doctor?

Like, I just want to be, and that's how I felt.

And so the reality is we have we find this fine line that Jesus helps us navigate with this teaching.

I'm so excited to go through it.

And it's this fine line between not being judgmental, not putting ourselves above people and dismissing people and thinking that we somehow have the authority or the knowledge to tell people who they are and who they're not.

But then at the same time, still being discerning.

Because the people that you allow to have influence in your life affect your life greatly.

And Jesus challenges us to be very careful and very cautious.

And so let's start with the first one.

Jesus teaches us to be cautious with who we trust.

With who we trust.

And he does this in a pretty intense way.

Again, Jesus will catch you off guard.

So right after Jesus says, immediately after he says, hey, like deal with this, deal with the log in your own eye before you worry about the speck in someone else's.

This is what he says next.

Don't waste what is holy on people who are unholy.

I'm like, that seems a little judgmental.

Don't throw your pearls to pigs.

They will trample the pearls and then turn and attack you.

So Jesus goes in a it's a different direction than you think it's going.

He's like, don't be a judgmental, but don't you give to like don't give holy things to unholy people.

Like, what is he talking about?

And again, he's not talking about love.

He's talking about trust.

He says, don't throw pearls to pigs.

Like, that would be a silly thing to do, right?

To give pigs pearls.

Like, what are pigs going to do with pearls?

They're not going to trust them, they're not going to cherish them, they're not going to understand their value, right?

They're not going to treasure them, they're just going to destroy them.

And Jesus is saying, when it comes to the matters of the heart, when it comes to those deepest parts of who you are, be really careful with who you entrust with that.

We see this kind of play out in Jesus' life in John chapter 2.

John 2 · chapter mention

It says that because of the miraculous signs that Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him.

But Jesus didn't trust them because he knew all about people.

No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person's heart.

When you really consider this, it just makes Jesus even more impressive.

Because when you consider how much love Jesus showed people, how much compassion Jesus showed people.

All the times that people tested Jesus and challenged Jesus and yet he served them, his own disciples over and over again, and he healed them and he taught them.

We tend as people only to do those kinds of things, only to go that far with people that we really trust.

People earn our trust and then we we show them that level of love.

But the fact that Jesus showed people that much love and kindness and compassion and he didn't even trust them.

Like he knew that so many of them would betray him and turn away from him and reject him, and yet he still showed that much love and devotion.

That blows me away.

That is not how humans normally operate, but Jesus is different.

Jesus was very careful with who he trusted.

He was careless with his love, but careful with his trust.

This is actually one of the reasons that he taught the way that he did.

In Matthew chapter 13, his disciples asked him, Why do you use parables when you talk to people?

Matthew 13 · chapter mention

And he replied, You are permitted to understand the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but others are not.

To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.

But for those who are not listening, Even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.

That is why I use these parables.

For they look, but they don't really see.

They hear, but they don't really listen or understand.

Even Jesus is telling his disciples here that look, I hold things back from those that I don't fully trust.

He said, So I'm I'm using these parables, I'm saying these things to everyone else.

And those who are truly curious, those who desperately want to know the Lord and want to know about God, I'm gonna pull the curtain back for them and I'm gonna give them more.

More understanding, more explanation, more insight.

And this is something that we as people have to model in our lives.

We have to follow this just for our own benefit.

It is so important for us to be very careful with who we pull the curtain back to and allow to see those sort of those deep and vulnerable parts of our lives.

We have to be careful.

Not fearful, not fearful, but but careful.

Because not everyone's gonna know what to do with that.

Not everyone's gonna know how to handle those important, intimate parts of what we're dealing with, maybe our struggles, our issues.

And so just this last couple weeks, it's been interesting because I don't get on social media that often.

Um the only thing I have is Facebook, and I really just have Facebook mainly because I've used it as like a photo album for my children for all these years.

And so that's just where I go to put like the photos and the videos.

But every once in a while, when I get on it, I'll scroll and I get sucked into that like everybody else.

And it's amazing to me sometimes the things that people will post.

And like how I mean, I'm a pretty open person.

Like, y'all, if you've gone to church here for a while, you know that.

Like my wife has told me that I'm too open on this stage.

I mean, you know that I wet the bed till I was in the eighth grade.

You know that.

You can all use that against me.

See if I care.

I don't.

But man, I'll I'll I'll get on social media sometimes and see people.

Whew, okay, wow, you are you're just putting that out there for everybody.

You know?

And sometimes it's performative and it's clearly intended for people to get on and like show sympathy and all that.

But there have been times where I've I've read things, I'm like, man, you're you're either being incredibly brave, but my discernment is that you're actually being incredibly foolish because you are opening up a part of your life to everyone.

And it is like what Jesus said, it's like throwing pearls before pigs.

Everyone doesn't care, doesn't have the wisdom, the compassion, the frame of reference to actually be helpful to you or to honor that, and you're putting yourself in a position where someone can take that.

I mean, it's just, again, it's either incredibly brave, but it certainly isn't cautious.

And Jesus does tell us that when it comes to opening ourselves up and sharing those those deep parts of us, trust has to be a part of that equation.

That we have to be very careful with who we trust.

We love everyone.

Love is given freely, but trust is is earned.

And we should take that into consideration whenever we we go about who we reveal ourselves to.

We don't want to be paranoid and think everyone can't be trusted, but we have to be discerning.

Let's move on.

Jesus says, not only should we be careful with who we trust, but we should be careful with who we ask.

Like, have you ever asked the wrong person for advice?

And you knew it as soon as they started talking?

You're like, oh no, how do I get out of this conversation?

It's interesting when it when it comes to the people that we typically go to, and we don't even think about it always in these terms, like, I'm I'm seeking something from you.

A lot of times we're seeking validation.

We've made a decision, we're thinking about making a decision, but maybe we're not 100% sure that it's right, so we're going to someone who we think will validate the decision that we're making, which is very different than going to someone and saying, Do you think I'm making the wrong decision?

Like, for real?

Sometimes, I'll be honest, I'm like this too.

Sometimes I recognize, I hate it when this happens, but I recognize that I'm only asking a person this question because I already know what answer they're gonna give me and it's gonna make me feel good.

Am I the only one that does that?

Alright, good.

Because I do it.

You know, it's like if you go to ask for advice from someone who isn't good at the part of life that you're asking for advice about.

This happens to people all the time because it's like, I think we know that if we go to someone for advice and it happens to be a part of life that they've really struggled with or are struggling with, that there's camaraderie there and there's understanding there, but there's probably not wisdom there to help get us in a different place.

But Jesus says this when it comes to the people that we should ask, or specifically the person we should ask.

He says, keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for.

Keep on seeking and you will find, keep on knocking, and the door will be open to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to everyone who knocks, the door will be open.

You parents.

If your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead?

Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake?

Of course not.

So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him?

He says that we should ask God, like God the Father, we should be people who ask him for everything that we need.

And I've actually found a lot of really passionate Jesus followers actually struggle with this.

And sometimes it's this sort of skewed idea of not wanting to come off to God as being ungrateful for what they have.

Or they'll do sort of a comparison where they're like, well, I just don't want to ask God for this in my life when I know there's other people who are struggling with so much more.

But Jesus doesn't tell us that.

Jesus never says, hey, before you ask God for anything, look around you and make sure that there aren't other people who are in more desperate need than you.

And if there are, you better not ask.

That's not what Jesus says.

He actually tells us the opposite.

He says, Go to God, ask the Father for what you need.

Recognize that God is more willing to give than we often are to ask.

That we have a God who loves us.

And sometimes his answers to our prayers aren't what we would want.

Sometimes what he offers us is not exactly what we ask for.

But we all understand that dynamic.

I mean, I have kids that will ask for certain things for their birthday or for Christmas, and I'm like, no, I'm not getting you that.

No, no way.

I love you.

I just know that what you're asking for is not what you think that it is.

And so even me as a father will sometimes in discernment go, no, we're gonna, I know that's what you want, but trust me, it's not really what you want.

And God's like that, but he's perfect at that, or we might get it wrong.

But he tells us, ask.

Ask.

And ask God.

Go to God first.

James puts it this way: if you need wisdom, ask our generous God and He will give it to you.

He will not rebuke you for asking.

God will never be upset with you for asking.

Think about that.

That is not true in my life.

There are things that my children ask for, and it makes me angry.

There's times where I look at my kids because kids are persistent when it comes to asking, and I'll be like, hey, please don't ask me about that again.

I've already told you the answer.

I've already told you.

And then they'll come to me 10 minutes later and ask again.

I'm like, what did I say?

And I feel pretty justified in my frustration in those moments, but I'm not reflecting God the Father when I'm acting that way because Scripture tells me that God will never rebuke us for asking.

So if you need something, ask God.

And Jesus says, by the way, keep on asking.

And then ask again and ask some more.

And like keep on knocking.

Like just keep doing it.

We have a we have this kid that lives behind us, and he's awesome.

He's about a year away from my third child in age, so they're they're buddies.

And this, I mean, this kid is the most polite, he's the sweetest kid.

Uh, great family.

And he will come to the door and ring the doorbell.

Persistently at my house.

You know, it is like ding-dong, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.

He's just hitting that button.

And then I'll open the door and I'll see him and I can see who it is, you know, through the window, it's kind of hazy, you know, a little opaque.

And I'm like, I'm like, hey dude, are you here to you want to play with Judah?

And he's like, yeah.

And their school schedules are different.

He goes to a different school.

So I'm like, well, Judah's gonna be home in like just a little bit.

He's like, 20 minutes?

He'll ask me specifics.

And I'm like, ah, you know, somewhere he's like, I'll be back in 20 minutes.

And he'll just go back to his house.

And 20 minutes later, and you know what he does when he comes back?

Rings that doorbell over and over again.

And it's funny because that's sort of the picture that we're given here in how we should be to God.

Like we should be like a child that just can consistently, persistently, maybe even annoyingly, asks.

And so, what I'm not gonna tell you is that everything you ever ask for will be given to you.

I mean, some of what Jesus says here kind of indicates that, but there's more nuance to it than that.

We see that in other places in Scripture.

But what I will tell you is that God will never be upset with you for asking.

And so, if you need something in your life, before you ask anyone else, ask God.

Like it's easy for us to go to other people first, whether it's it's wisdom, advice, maybe it's some type of help in some specific area of your life, but before you ask anyone else, ask God and ask him often a lot, like be annoying.

But ask the right person.

We'll move on in just a second.

We have a rule on our staff.

We don't have that many rules.

Like we're not a very rule-laden organization, but we do have this one rule, and it's never complain down.

Like if you're frustrated about some part of your job, never complain down.

Because if you complain down, that person can't do anything to help you.

They just don't have any authority or power to do it.

Instead, complain up.

Like come to me or come to someone else who's who's over you and say, hey, this is what I'm frustrated with, because that person actually has the authority and power to do something about it.

And when it comes to life, we spend a lot of our time kind of complaining down or asking people that really don't have the ability to help us, and we could go to the Father and ask him and know that he has exactly what we need and trust him when it comes to the timing and manner in which he gives it to us.

So be careful with who you ask, but make sure that you ask the Lord.

This next section is probably the most intense.

And it's all about who you listen to.

And Jesus says this beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves.

You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way that they act.

Can you pick up grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?

A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.

A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.

Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.

On judgment day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, we prophesied in your name, we cast out demons in your name, we perform many miracles in your name, but I will reply, I never knew you.

Get away from me, you who break God's laws.

This is a very light-hearted little section.

Okay.

Has anyone here, and this takes a little bit of bravery to admit this, has anyone here ever read this and worried that that's going to be you at all?

Like, I don't want to be the one that he says, depart from me?

Okay.

In my experience, the people who are worried about that are not the people who he's warning against.

Right?

Because it's if this is one of those sections that we need to break down a little bit.

Because what he's not trying to do is strike terror and fear into all of us that, like, you think you're going to heaven?

You're probably not.

That's not what Jesus is saying here.

Surprise.

It's interesting.

He says, beware of false prophets, beware of false teachers.

There's actually a lot of warnings in Scripture regarding false teachers.

And the world's been full of them since the beginning of time.

It's full of them today.

There are all kinds of false teachers.

Let me name for you the top five false teachers in America, right?

I'm just joking.

I'm just joking.

I'm just joking.

Oh man.

No, it's interesting because it tells us a few things throughout scripture.

We'll go through this fast, that kind of help us understand if we're dealing with potentially a false teacher, a false prophet, or not.

One of the things it talks about later on in the New Testament is people who tickle other people's ears, which is not a literal thing.

Uh but it means that people just who tell you what you want to hear.

Like if someone speaks from God and from the perspective of God, and they never say anything that challenges you.

It's only what you would already want to hear, be careful there.

Like it's good, we need to get encouraged and we need to get riled up sometimes, and it's really important.

Like when you come here, I hope you don't leave here feeling heavier.

I hope you leave here feeling lighter.

Like nine times out of ten.

But that one time out of ten, we probably should leave here going, like, man, I kind of wish I didn't go to church today.

Because now I've got to wrestle with this, I've got to deal with this, and I didn't, this wasn't even on my radar when I walked in this morning, and now I have to, oh, I've got to forgive this person.

I've got to deal with this sin in my life in a different way, I've got to take it more seriously.

I've got, I've got to work on stuff.

But if someone only tells you what you want to hear, scripture tells us to be very careful.

On the flip side, if if a teacher is extremely controlling, if it's shame and it's guilt, very often that's a way to manipulate and control.

If the person that is teaching it, if all they do is like hammer into you and make you feel like a failure, and that puts you in a position where you feel like you have to constantly do more to earn more and all that, that's going to be indicative of false teaching.

Scripture often talks about how false teaching, uh, this is in 1 Peter especially, uh, first or 2 Peter, I think it's actually 2 Peter, where it connects it to monetary gain.

If someone is teaching and they're using sort of the gospel, they're using Jesus as a platform for wealth, and it's always connected with giving and with money and with more, like, whew, that's very, like, steer clear of that.

There's all this warning about false teaching.

We could go on and give more and more references to ways you can kind of identify false teachers, but the main point here for Jesus is not to give us a list of all the things that help us identify it, but it is to have a heart that's careful.

When it comes to the people that we listen to, because Jesus says there will be many false prophets.

And do not receive from them.

Do not eat that fruit.

And we can look at this and go, Jesus, it seems a little judgmental.

You just told us not to judge.

Well, here's the deal: Jesus says that any tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down, thrown into the fire on judgment day.

Like God will judge the world.

He's the one who has that authority.

Jesus can judge, not me.

Now, if we were the ones that decided, you know what, that person's wrong, I'm gonna chop that tree down.

That is being judgmental.

We don't have the right to do that.

We got our own stuff to deal with, as we talked about last week.

But look, I may not chop the tree down, that's fine, but I don't have to eat the fruit.

Does that make sense?

Like, it's okay for me to look at someone and hear something that someone is saying in really any avenue of life and be like, man, that doesn't seem right.

And you know what?

I I don't know enough, because I'm not God, to judge that person, to label that person, to, you know, chop that tree down, so to speak.

But I'm not gonna eat that fruit.

I'm not gonna listen to those words.

I'm not gonna sit under that teaching because that it doesn't hit me right.

It doesn't seem like it lines up with Jesus.

It definitely doesn't line up with Scripture.

Like all those kind of alarm bells go off.

You say, you know what, I I don't have to judge that person, I don't have to tell everyone they're they're evil, they're bad.

I'm not I'm not the one that has that right, but I'm not gonna eat that fruit.

I'm gonna be really careful when it comes to who I who I listen to.

Now, just want to deal with this last part before we move on.

We're almost done.

Jesus has this line here where he says, Not everyone who calls out to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

I mean, I joked about it a minute ago.

It's not really a laughing matter, I guess, but um.

That is something I've known many believers, genuine, awesome believers, who have read that and been filled with fear.

And a lot of that fear probably comes from just normal human insecurity.

But also, if you've grown up in a church environment that kind of leaned into fear and you sort of always felt like, you know, hey, you're on shaky ground.

Very performance-oriented religion is like that.

Recognize that Jesus is saying this statement connected to the idea of false teachers.

Because the interesting thing about false teachers is that some of the people who would be labeled false teachers potentially might be some of the people who have the best resumes.

Like some of the people who, I mean, I can't, some of the people who uh who could possibly be in the false teacher category, that doesn't mean that they don't have an amazing list of things that they've been involved with and done.

And so Jesus is sort of saying, hey, like, it is about your heart.

So beware of false teachers.

And if you're like, well, that person can't be a false teacher because look at look at how popular they are, look at how much influence they have, look at how big their church is, look at blah, blah, blah.

Jesus is like, hey, be careful about that.

It's not about that stuff, it's about the heart.

And again, in my experience, the people who read this and are like, oh, I hope that's not me, generally that's indicative that you're you're probably okay.

I'd say you're because you have a humble heart and you have a deep desire for that not to be you, because that means you want to know the Lord.

And so if that's ever a scripture that's given you pause or given you fear, just consider those things.

And if if you love Jesus, like if you love Jesus, he loves you.

And so don't spend a lot of time fretting about whether or not this is you.

Um now, if if you are a false teacher, any false teachers in the room?

Okay, if you're not really okay.

If you are one of those, then this this verse should scare you immensely.

Um but if you're not, it should scare you less.

Okay, let's move on.

Last who that we should be really, really careful about is who we build upon.

Who we build upon.

Now, it's it's interesting, we don't typically think of building on people.

But maybe another way for us to put this is who we base our lives upon.

Like who do you base your life on?

I always think about it this way, especially when it comes to people that I would I would listen to, that I would put myself underneath, that I would consider that person a teacher.

You know, their thoughts, their ideas, their words become the kind of basis for how I see the world.

So I'm basing my own thinking on them.

And this becomes really interesting in a world that has so many voices, and we have so much access to so many voices.

There's always a podcast or some interview or some kind of famous person that's prominent that's out there, and I've fallen into the trap many times where I get like on a kick and I'm listening to this one person a lot, like a lot.

Maybe it's a political person, maybe it's someone who's in kind of like the you know life improvement category, and I'm like, that person's got some really interesting ideas, and I'm all about that person, and pretty soon I start to hear in my own thoughts that person's words.

I start to hear in my own thoughts like that person's voice.

And when that happens, I'm like, whoa, I've I gotta back up.

Because I realize I'm starting to base my own thinking on what that person says, what that person does.

And we gotta be really careful with who we build on, with who we allow to be the basis for how we see the world.

But Jesus tells us this in Matthew chapter 7 as we wrap up.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

He says, Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise.

Like a person who builds a house on solid rock.

And though the rain comes in torrents and the flood waters rise and the winds beat against that house, it will not collapse because it is built on bedrock.

But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey it is foolish.

Like a person who builds a house on sand, and when the rains and the floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.

Jesus tells us in this moment to build our lives on him.

That we should be so careful with who we we build our lives on.

And guys, recognize that at this point in history, man, there are some prominent, like historical thinkers that people are all about.

There were a few rabbis in Jesus' day in the Jewish community that to this day are some of the most famous rabbis in history.

And so in the Jewish world, those are the guys that you listen to.

And Jesus is saying, like, not to build your lives on what they say.

This is a point in history when men like Socrates and Plato were very close in like the historical rearview mirror.

And so their words and their teachings in the Greek world, everyone was like listening to them, and Jesus is not saying, hey, they had it right, build your life on what they say.

Jesus says that we should build our lives on Him, on what He says, on what He teaches.

And then if we do what He says, we're like people who build our lives on a solid foundation.

But if we choose something else, if we ignore Jesus or we sort of downsize Jesus and we build our lives on anything else, it's like we're building our lives on sand.

That is a bold thing to say.

Can we just acknowledge that?

Like if I stood here and said, guys, if you don't do what I say, you might as well just call it quits.

Like if you don't put into practice what I I say, you're building your lives on sin.

Can you imagine how audacious that would be?

By the way, if I ever say that, you should leave this church immediately.

You should go somewhere else.

Like, pretty much anywhere else, okay?

Like, but Jesus said that.

He said that.

Jesus is very certain about who he is.

He knows who he is.

We talked about this a few weeks in his temptation.

Jesus does not struggle with security when it comes to who he actually is.

He is the answer and he knows it.

And he would be so unloving if he knew that he was the answer for our lives and didn't tell us to follow him and to listen to him.

But he does.

And it is bold and it is audacious, but it is true.

When I look at my life, if not for the things that Jesus has said, if not for his teachings and the way that he leads me, my life would be such a different life.

There's so many relationships that would be utterly broken.

Because I would never have forgiven.

I wouldn't have the ability to forgive myself for my own issues and my own sins and understand grace.

I'd still be stuck in shame and guilt and that horrible cycle.

I would look at the world and I'd be so angry all the time.

If I didn't listen to Jesus, I would look at what's happening in the world and just be filled with rage because it's so obvious to me that so many things in our world are just wrong.

Like, stop it.

But Jesus saw people living differently, and scripture says that he was filled with compassion, for he realized that they were like sheep without a shepherd.

Instead of getting angry with them, he says, What can I do to teach them and to help them?

Actually, the only time he really got super angry is when he walked into a church setting and it was way off.

And he's like, This should not be.

But the teachings of Jesus, if you build your life and you base your life on them, they keep you from getting all bent out of shape every time you see something in the world that bothers you.

They safeguard your own heart and your own relationships because mercy and forgiveness and grace, it's always a part of the equation, and so restoration is always possible.

Even your most broken relationships have the capacity to be fully restored because of Jesus and the work that He does in your heart.

You get truth, actual truth, real truth, that has stood the test of time.

And so Jesus says that we should be careful, we should be cautious, be very careful with who we trust, be very careful with who we ask.

Ask God, ask the right person, be really careful with who we listen to, and especially be careful with who we build our lives on.

And then he says, look, all the answer to all of that is me.

He says, trust me.

Ask me.

Listen to me and build your life on me.

And when you do that, your life is built on solid rock.

Even if it feels shaky, even if storms come, even if things aren't going the way that you think they ought to be going, if your life is built on Jesus, you are built on the strongest foundation that has ever existed.

And that should give you confidence and hope.

So with all that said, we're going to take Lord's Supper.

And we've got several people getting baptized this morning.

So after Lord's Supper, stick around for just a few minutes because we've got to celebrate with our brothers and sisters getting baptized.

If you're new to his hands, we take this little meal every week, usually right here at the end of the message, sometimes earlier.

And if you missed it when you walked in, there are uh tables with little cups of bread and juice, and you're all welcome to take part in this.

So this meal, it's always like the embodiment of what we're talking about.

It's amazing how often I don't have to think hard to see how this connect to what we just said.

Because ultimately, this is about Jesus' sacrifice, right?

This is his body and blood, right?

His body was given to us on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins, his blood was spilled to wash our sins away.

In the Old Testament, blood was always a part of sin being forgiven, and Jesus gives us his blood, he doesn't demand our own.

But this really, at the end of the day, boils down to a question of who?

Who do I trust?

I trust Jesus.

Because he's earned my trust.

I mean, what else would he have to do to prove to me how much he loves me and cares about me?

He gave me his life.

He died for me on the cross.

I trust him.

Who do I ask?

I ask Jesus for what I need.

Because there's nothing that Jesus doesn't have, there's no wisdom that he doesn't have, there's no power that he doesn't have.

Because connected to this little moment is his resurrection from the dead itself.

Jesus can do anything, he can conquer anything, and when I have a need in my life, I can have confidence that Jesus has the answer, that Jesus is the answer.

Who do I listen to?

I listen to Jesus.

Jesus says that you judge a tree by its fruit.

It's by someone's actions.

And who else could claim to have acted in a way that would even begin to compare to Jesus?

Not only did he say amazing things, and not only does he challenge me to live differently, but he he walked it out, he lived it out.

He served people, he helped people, he forgave people, he healed people, he loved people.

He is a, look, if he's not a good tree, nothing is.

And so we we listen to Jesus and man, who do I build my life on?

Him.

In fact, this sacrifice, this moment, this is what my life is built on.

This is my hope.

To realize that the number one factor in where I stand with God is not my own performance.

It is not my own, my own sin versus failure ratio.

That's not a good ratio.

Or my own righteousness versus sin rate, whatever you want, you know what I'm saying.

It's not, it's not about me, it's not what I've done, it's not my resume.

That's not the foundation for my hope when it comes to where I stand with God.

The foundation for my hope is what Jesus did.

It's the hope that I have that his death was enough, that his sacrifice was enough.

And now nothing else is required of me.

And so, this little meal that we're about to take, this sort of embodies everything we've talked about.

And it's a reminder for us to trust him, to ask him, to listen to him, and to base every part of our lives on him.

Because no one else compares.

And so that said, let's take the bread and let's pray together.

Father, we thank you so much for this piece of bread.

And we thank you, Lord, for what it represents, what it means.

This is your body broken, given up as a sacrifice for us on the cross.

And Lord, this is a strong enough foundation for us to build our lives upon, and we thank you for it.

Let's take the bread.

Let's pray for the juice.

Father, we thank you for this juice.

This is your blood poured out as a willing sacrifice, Lord, to purify us, to cover our sins, to wash them away, and to leave us blameless and spotless before you.