A New Way of Following
This is the Way
A few years ago, Star Wars released this series called The Mandalorian. I wouldn’t say I am a die-hard Star Wars fan, but I enjoy it. And this was one of those shows that my son Will and I would watch together.
The Mandalorian was the strong, silent type.
He didn’t say much. He was kind of a lone ranger. He was for hire, and if you paid him enough, he would do the job no matter how dangerous or impossible it seemed.
The reason this show became popular wasn’t because of the Mandalorian, as awesome as he was, but because of this little guy, Grogu.
People called him Baby Yoda. He was cute. Also, the silent type. Grogu didn’t say much; he just looked adorable. The Mandalorian was hired to deliver Grogu to a certain client, but he didn’t feel good about the situation. He did his job, but then he decided to risk everything and go back for the child. Other Mandalorians show up to help him. He is willing to risk everything to save Baby Yoda. They are willing to risk everything to save Baby Yoda.
Why? Because, “This is the way.”
This is what the Mandalorians say over and over again throughout the series. “This is the way.” They have a certain code they follow. A certain way they choose to live.
Two Ways Before Us
The reality is, there are always two ways before us, and we are always having to choose which way we should go.
I remember when I was a kid, I had these books that I really loved to read. They were called “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. You would read part of the story and get to a critical moment. You couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. And it was right at that moment that you would read something like, to see if Johnny lives to see another day and crosses the wooden bridge over the flaming lava pit, turn to page 42. To see what happens if Johnny decides to take the long way to avoid the lava but has to fend off the man-eating piranhas, turn to page 58!
Those are fun stories to read, but they are hard stories to live. All of us have lived the “Choose Your Own Adventure” story.
We have constantly had to decide, do we do this or do that? Do we move here or do we move there? Do we take this job or take that job? Do we say something or remain silent?
We’re constantly faced with the decision: which way should we go?
Here’s the Good News. God has given us a way to live that leads to life. What’s more, He’s given us His Holy Spirit to help us live that life.
The Narrow Way That Leads to Life
Throughout this series, we’ve been working through the Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus presents two ways we can go, and He offers us the choice.
Jesus says,
13 “Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Let me be clear, this decision that Jesus places before us is more important than turning to page 42 or page 58 in the Choose Your Own Adventure Book. This is literally a life and death decision. Eternity hangs in the balance. And God loves you enough to let you choose.
Someone might ask, How can a loving God send anyone to Hell?
The answer is, Jesus has given you the choice. His invitation is for you and me to “Come, Follow Him.” His desire is that no one would perish but that everyone would have everlasting life. He has commissioned us to go into all the world, share the Good News, and baptize people in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He has promised to give us His Spirit to help us. He bled and died and rose again so we could choose to believe. Or you could choose to refuse.
Jesus is calling us to enter through the narrow gate. He is saying, THIS IS THE WAY. This is the way that leads to life. But few find it.
All of the Sermon on the Mount teaches us about the Way, about what life is like on the Way, and what it looks like to walk the Way of the narrow road. As Jesus brings this sermon to a close in chapter 7, He gives His disciples these final reminders about the narrow way.
The Way of Jesus Is Not Judgmentalism
In Matthew 7:1-5, He tells them…
1 “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. 2 For the judgment you give will be the judgment you get, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3 Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye.
Jesus says, His way is not the way of judgmentalism. Of passing harsh judgment on others, all the while ignoring our own faults and failures.
One commentator describes it this way: “Judgmentalism is a social sin; it is the habit of constantly finding fault with what others say and do. It is a disease of the spirit. The critic arrogantly assumes a superiority that entitles him or her to assess the failings of others.” – NT Interpretation.
We are quick to judge, but slow to compassion. We are hypercritical of others, but unable to be honest about our own fears, failures, and faults. The underlying problem here is that this heart posture reflects severe ingratitude.
When you consider how good, how kind, how forgiving, how merciful God has been to you, how can you receive that and then judge others so harshly?
Jesus teaches over and over again, forgive as you have been forgiven. What God does for you, do for others.
Do Unto Others: The Heart of the Way
Jesus calls us to live a different way. In Matthew 7:12, He says…
12 “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
This is the Way!
The law of Moses contained over 600 commands. Then there were the instructions given by the prophets. How could someone remember much less keep every command? Jesus says, “do to others as you would have them do to you.”
In other words, if you just do this, everything else will work out just fine! Again, God has been so good to you. He’s the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Be like Him. Do unto others.
This is the Way!
In Matthew’s gospel, there is a direct connection between what we believe and how we live. We see it over and over again. There is a way that leads to life. And it’s not about earning our salvation, it’s not about doing enough good over here to outweigh the bad over there, it’s about imitating God and following the way of Jesus.
This is the Way!
Watch the Fruit
But Jesus says, “Watch out!”
Matthew 7:15-20:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles? 17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will know them by their fruits.
You might read that and say, Wait a minute! I thought we were not supposed to judge others. The truth is, only Jesus can judge what’s in our hearts. But we can tell if the fruit growing on someone’s tree is good fruit or bad fruit. Our job is to recognize the fruit. It’s God’s job to judge the tree.
How can you tell if the fruit growing from your tree, or someone else’s tree, is good or bad? Is it healthy or diseased? Jesus has taught us this over and over throughout the Sermon on the Mount.
False prophets are in this for their own benefit.
True prophets are in this for others and for God.
False prophets are in this for their own gain.
True prophets live in self-sacrificing ways.
False prophets tell you what you want to hear.
True prophets preach the Word in season and out of season, no matter what.
Knowing Jesus
Jesus says,
Matthew 7:21: Not everyone who prophecies in my name, casts out demons in my name, or does mighty works in my name will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
In all of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, there is this connection between what we do and what we believe. How we live matters in light of what we believe.
Here, Jesus makes it clear: If we don’t know Christ, if we are not in relationship with Christ, Good works cannot get us into heaven!
Matthew 7:22-23: On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Knowing Jesus, that’s what gives us “Blessed Assurance.” Good works, prophesying, casting out demons, many mighty works, they flow from a life of gratitude of knowing and being in relationship with Jesus!
This is the Way!
The question is, which WAY will we choose?
That’s the question that Jesus leaves us with at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus asks the question by ending with one final story.
You’ve probably heard this story before. You’ve probably sung the song if you’ve ever been to VBS. But this isn’t a children’s story. This is serious. This is decision time. Will you follow the way of Jesus, or follow your own way?
Here’s the story. If you’ve heard it a thousand times before, can I ask you to lean in and listen as if it were the first time? And seriously answer the question, Am I following the Way of Jesus, or am I following my own way?
Build Your Life on the Rock
Jesus says, in Matthew 7:24-27:
24 “Everyone, then, who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!”
The problem these two builders faced wasn’t the construction of the house. They knew how to build a house. Both houses were structurally sound. This isn’t the story about one house made out of straw, one house made out of sticks, and one house made out of bricks. No. Both houses are constructed well, as far as we know.
The problem was the location where the house was built. The problem was the foundation beneath the house. Jesus says, the house that was “founded on the rock” was the house that did not fall. When you HEAR the words of Jesus and put them into PRACTICE, you are like the wise builder who founded his house on the ROCK.
This is the Way.
Covered in the Dust of Jesus
So, are you following the WAY of Jesus? Is your life founded on the ROCK? Are you walking with Jesus along the narrow way? Or have you chosen to go your own way?
One of the names, the titles, that Jesus is given in Matthew, Mark, and John, is the name Teacher. Or, Rabbi.
In first century Israel, a Rabbi was a master teacher who would travel from place to place teaching his unique perspective and understanding of the Scriptures as well as his unique way of living it out. These Rabbis would call or invite prospective students who showed great promise and potential to come and follow them. To come and learn from them. These students were called disciples.
In the original language, they were called Talmidim (plural). Talmid (singular).
To be a talmid meant that you were a disciple, a student, a learner, an apprentice to your Rabbi.
As a talmidim you are seeking to follow, learn from, and become like your Rabbi.
If you were a talmidim, you dedicated yourself to learning the ways and the teachings of your Rabbi. To be a talmidim was to sit at the feet of your Rabbi. To be “covered in the dust of your Rabbi.” That saying came from the idea that you followed so closely behind your Rabbi, learning from him as you walked along the path that he walked, that you would be covered at the end of the day by the dirt and dust kicked up by his sandals as you walked with him right behind him.
Here at the beginning of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus is calling disciples to come and follow Him, to be his talmidim. He has started His ministry with this teaching that is all about the Kingdom of Heaven. How He has come to make all things right and all things new.
The question now, for those who have heard the Sermon, is what will you do?
What will you do with Jesus?
Will you choose to follow Jesus? To follow the Way of Jesus? To build your life on the Rock? The firm foundation that is Christ Jesus our Lord?
Or, will you go your own way?
We don’t know how many of those disciples who first heard the Sermon on the Mount chose to follow Him that day. And we may never know this side of Heaven. But I’m more interested in your decision today. Will you choose to follow the way of Jesus?
The Way of Jesus leads to Life.
The way of Jesus leads to eternal life. It’s the narrow Way. But it’s the only way that leads to everlasting life.
Today, if you’re ready to follow the way of Jesus, it means turning from your former way of living. That word turn, it means to repent. To repent of your sin means to turn from your sin and turn towards Jesus. To follow His way instead of your way. To walk with Him every day, not just some days or Sundays. Every day.
The people who heard the sermon Jesus preached that day had an immediate response to His message. Matthew tells us in v28…
28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these words, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.
The people who heard Jesus preach that day were astounded. They had never heard anyone like Him. Never heard anyone preach with that kind of authority. And many of them followed Him.
But not everyone followed Him. And some who did would later turn away.
That was their story. What will your story be?
How will you respond?
Want more from this Series… Click here.
