The Badness of Being Good!
Matthew 7:13-29
by Jim Westmoreland
There is an old saying that goes, "it's not what you know,
it's who you know." But that's not exactly true. It's not who you
know, it's who knows you! For example, it doesn't matter if you know the
salesman who can get you a good deal on a car, but it really matters if he knows you well
enough to give you a good deal.
The same is true in our relationship with God. It's not enough to know that God gives us
salvation through Jesus, what really matters is that God knows us because we have received
His gift of salvation through faith in Jesus.
And that's the foundation that we need to rest upon. The foolish person will rest upon his
own foundation, rest on his own accomplishments, his own deeds, his own goodness. But, the
wise person rests upon God's foundation, knowing that it is God's accomplishment that
saves us, God's deeds which bring us forgiveness and eternal life, and it is God's word
which fulfills everlasting promises.
And that is what our scripture in Matthew 7 is about today. It is about "The Badness
of Being Good!" This passage comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus'
teaching in this section includes the Beatitudes, relationships, the nature of prayer, the
Model Prayer (often called the Lord's Prayer), worry, judging others, and concludes with
this section that involves decisions. In vs. 13-29 there are two gates,
two trees and two foundations.
Many interpret this choice as being between being serious and half-hearted, that the
temptation is to try to get by with the least commitment and service. This problem
obviously exists in the attitudes of some people. There is a story about a pastor who was
standing at the front door to shake hands with people as they left the sanctuary after
worship. One man that rarely came was pulled to the side by this pastor who said,
"You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The man said, "I'm already in
the Army of the Lord, Pastor." The pastor said, "How come I don't see you
except at Christmas and Easter?" The man whispered back, "I'm in the secret
service."
Sadly, there are those who take their commitment to follow Christ and to be a part of His
church sort of like being in the secret service. Though it is true that God is not
confined to a place and He can be worshiped anywhere,
Jesus calls us to follow Him before others (publicly), and He calls us to be a part of His
church to strengthen and support one another. Paul wrote that we should build up one
another in the Body of Christ. The writer of Hebrews wrote for us not to forsake coming
together in the Lord. If I were to take the attitude that church is not "where I'm
at" and "I can just worship God as well alone, out in nature, listening to
records," then I would be fearful that God's words for me might be similar to 7:23
"I never knew you, depart from Me . . ."
The choice involved in these three analogies involving the gates, the trees and the
builders is a choice involving life or death. It is important that we understand the
choice. Though the imagery seems vague at first it becomes clearer as we examine what is
said. In v. 13-14 there is a wide gate we may enter and travel on a broad way. This choice
leads to destruction. However, there is a small gate followed by a narrow (not necessarily
straight) way. This choice leads to life, but few enter the narrow gate.
This section, like the rest of the Sermon on the Mount, is addressed to Jesus' disciples,
not the multitudes. So, what are the two options a follower of Christ faces? Through the
years many have suggested that the term for "narrow" in v.14 refers to
persecution. Thus, the narrow way may represent a serious, committed, cross-bearing kind
of discipleship while the broad way represents a kind of compromised,
"discipleship-lite" kind of commitment. Notice that Jesus is not calling his
disciples to press along the narrow way, but rather to choose the small
gate that leads to the narrow way. Sometimes, I get confused and mistakenly take the wrong
exit off an Interstate Hwy. The exit ramp is the gate. If I take the wrong one, I'll be
going the wrong way. Jesus wants us to know that the decision to choose the path that
leads to destruction occurs early. It occurs before we get on the broad
way. It occurs when we first choose and go through the wide gate. If we never went through
that gate, then, we wouldn't be where it would take us, would we?
The small gate that leads to salvation is best understood as the small gate of "being
obedient in faith." By faith in Jesus we have a "right standing" before
God. We have not achieved righteousness, despite how good we think we are. Our
righteousness is said to be imputed through Christ as a gift of grace through faith.
Now, what is the opposite of this choice? It is the spirit of trusting in the Law, which
Jesus confronted throughout His ministry, primarily with the scribes and Pharisees. The
wide gate is trusting in our own goodness, our own obedience, to justify us before God.
This helps us to understand the seriousness and destructiveness in the "Badness of
Being Good."
In v. 15-23 the two trees illustrate the problem of false prophets. There fruit gives them
away. It is the Pharisees, the legalists of the day that claim to be religious and call
out, "Lord, Lord." It was the religious establishment that Jesus was in most
conflict with. Righteousness, which is based on keeping all the rules is no different than
the person who never seriously follows Christ but just tries to "be good." The
true believer is the one who "does the will of the Father" through
identification with Christ.
In Matthew 23 Jesus strongly attacks all attempts at legalism and self-justification.
Their "fruit" gives them away. Jesus said they "strain out gnats, but
swallow camels," which suggests that they redesign the law so they can claim to keep
it. They focus on insect law while ignoring justice, love, compassion, and mercy. Grace
does not produce nit-picky, legalistic disciples!
Several years ago a lady who was helping me prepare letters for mailing in a Stewardship
emphasis drew me aside and said, "I've got a question for you. Since my husband and I
tithed on our savings and retirement contributions, we don't have to tithe on our
retirement income, do we?" Looking back at what I believe was really a Spirit-led
response to a legalistic kind of question, I quickly replied, "You wouldn't need to
tithe on the principle, only the interest." And she walked away saying, "Oh, I
hadn't thought of that."
There is a spirit of legalism that motivates some of our trying to "do or be
good." That spirit is the wide gate we are told to avoid. True believers are those
who trust Christ who stands in our place and gives us a right standing with God as a gift
of grace. The two claims are between those who claim the benefits of God's mercy in
Christ, by grace through faith, and those who claim right standing on the basis of their
ongoing effort to do the will of God.
The last example Jesus gives us is a description of two builders who had to decide where
to build their houses, on the sand or on a rock. Again, it is a contrast between the way
of perfect righteousness and the way of self-righteousness. On the day of judgement one
will stand and one will fall.
Perhaps Jesus is thinking of the houses being built beside and in a Palestinian wadi,
a ravine with steep sides. Dry in the summer, it turns into a raging torrent when the
rains come. The "wise man" prepares for what is to come by going to the effort
of building on the side of the ravine, but the "foolish man" does not think
ahead and so takes the easy way. When we describe a house, we are likely
to talk about the color of the paint, the number of bedrooms or the layout of the kitchen.
Jesus speaks of nothing but the foundation. The thing that distinguishes this house from
other houses is that, being built on a strong foundation, it can survive the worst
imaginable weather. Its strength was established at the beginning--with the laying of the
foundation.
We should note that the house is not spared from storms. Its survival
does not depend on being sheltered from storms. The metaphor suggests that God does not
shelter Christians from life's storms of illness, accidents, death, job loss, etc. While
our faith can reduce our stress-level and our prayers can, in some circumstances, lead to
miraculous cures, Christians must be prepared to live through the storms and tragedies
that are common to humankind.
The firm foundation is not our achievements, but our complete faith in Jesus. The world
says to rely on a good education, a diversified investment portfolio, careful risk
management through insurance, exercise, a proper diet, an annual checkup. Only God's grace
is adequate to stand the storms of life and to help us to receive His love and
forgiveness.
In the Sermon the Mount Jesus tells us that it is those who "hunger and thirst after
righteousness" who will be filled. Those who claim to do righteousness
will always fall short and "will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." So,
for the disciples, there are two ways. One leads to life and the other to death; one
achieves our eternal security in the presence of God and one leads us toward the
"great crash." There is the way of law obedience and there is the way of grace
through faith. The wise person chooses the small gate of righteousness gained through
faith.
Remember, it's not what you know or who you know that is
important. What is most important is who knows you! That's the foundation
that we need, to rest upon God's foundation, knowing that it is Jesus' life and sacrifice
that saves us, not what we've achieved, done or said. We have to really trust God and rely
on the adequacy of God's grace to save us, rather than trusting the "Badness of being
Good."
The choice of the narrow gate, the good fruit of the tree, or the solid foundation is to
choose to be grace people rather than critical, self-justifying legalists
who think of their standing with God on the basis of what they have done.
Philip Yancy said it well, "There is nothing we can do to make God love us more.
There is nothing we can do to make God love us less."