Picking up where we left  off, we are continuing with the things that Jesus actually said and did.   Let's continue:

Matt. 6:1-18 – Jesus told His followers not to do acts of righteousness to be seen by others. He used giving, prayer and fasting as examples, but this would apply to any “good deeds” that one might do. He told His followers not to let other people know when they gave. He told them to pray privately(note: He was not discouraging public prayer, but rather He was discouraging praying in public to be seen by others). And when they were fasting, they should not make it look like they were fasting. He did not want people going around looking terrible, so others would ask what was going on, allowing them to effectively brag about their fasting. “Look how pious I am.” This concept can touch on a wide variety of activities, but the foundational concern of Jesus is to make sure that people were not doing good things to be seen, and praised, by others for those good acts.

Matt. 6:19-24 – Jesus told people not to focus on accumulating wealth/treasure in this world. He was not telling people to live impoverished lives, but rather to get them to focus on spiritual things over physical things. Salvation is WAY more important than stuff. But this also touches on our understanding of what others need. It is really easy to look at a poor person and think about their physical needs. But Jesus would ask, “Is that person living in sin? Have they been saved from their sins?” If the answer is that they have not been saved from their sins, Jesus would want us to be MORE concerned about their spiritual poverty than their physical poverty. Yet, most people in the religious world would look at their physical needs ahead of their spiritual needs. That is exactly what Jesus does not want us to do. He wants us to focus on spiritual needs . . . especially salvation, but anything related to spiritual matters. Physical needs are easy to see, but that is NOT what Jesus wants us to focus on.

Matt. 6:25-34 – Following His previous point, Jesus told His followers not to worry about physical things like food, drink and clothing. Most people spend a lot of time worrying about these things. Instead, we are supposed to be concerned with pursuing the kingdom of Jesus and His righteousness(i.e. being like Jesus). That is what we are supposed to focus on.

Matt. 7:1-6 – Jesus tells us not to judge others. This is a common issue that many people bring up, but they limit what Jesus said. He did not just say not to judge others. Instead, He said to make sure you don’t have a bigger problem than the other person. The example Jesus uses is of a person with a plank in their eye trying to help someone to get a speck out of their eye. Instead, Jesus said to remove the plank in your own eye, THEN you can help the other person to take a speck out of their eye. You are still identifying a problem(i.e. sin) in the other person’s life. You are still telling them about it. And you are still helping them to get rid of it.

Matt 7:7-12 – Jesus tells people if they need something, they should ask God for it. This sounds great, but Jesus then proceeds to tell them that they are evil(v. 11). He makes the point that if you, being evil, will give good gifts to your children, surely God, Who is entirely good, will give good gifts to His children(i.e. the followers of Jesus). When we think about Jesus, I doubt most people think of Jesus as being someone who would call them evil. But that is exactly what He did. When we sin, we become evil. It’s not a pleasant thought, but it is the truth.

Matt. 7:13-14 – Jesus tells people that most people will go to hell(i.e. the wide gate that leads to destruction). He also states that few will go to heaven(i.e. the narrow gate that leads to life(eternal)). This is clearly something that nobody wants to hear, but Jesus said it.

Matt. 7:15 – 20 – Jesus warned people against false prophets. They will look harmless(i.e. like sheep), but they are deadly(i.e. like wolves). He then proceeded to tell us how we would know if they were a sheep or a wolf: by the fruit they produced. If they produced good fruit, they were a sheep. If they produced bad fruit, they were a wolf. This means we need to be able to distinguish between good fruit and bad fruit. Good fruit would be something that agreed with what Jesus tells us to do. If the fruit looks good, because it is something we like, that does not mean it is good fruit. If it brings people to worship assemblies, that does not mean it is good fruit.

Matt. 7:21 – 27 – Jesus said that people who call him “Lord” are not necessarily His followers. At the time of judgment, there would be people who claimed to do great things for Jesus, but Jesus would tell them that He never knew them. Why? Because they did not do the will of His Father. We can’t just think that Jesus is a great person. We can’t just tell others He is great, or even that He is God. That is NOT good enough. We need to do the will of His Father. He continues this point by stating that you have to be a do-er, not just a hear-er. It is easy to hear the truth. It is actual work to follow the truth. Jesus tells us we need to follow(i.e. act/do). If we do not take action, if we just believe, we will be lost. We will not be with Him in heaven for all eternity. The entirety of the Sermon on the Mount is a call to action. Yes, our way of thinking needs to be transformed, but if it ends there, it is futile. We need to put that new way of thinking into action. If we do not, we will be doomed along with the many(7:13), instead of being saved with the few(7:14).

Matt. 7:28-29 – The people listening to Jesus recognized that He taught with authority. He wasn’t merely teaching God’s message, as others were attempting to do. Jesus WAS God’s message. And because of that, we need to listen AND we need to do what that message says.

The next article will go much faster, as the Sermon on the Mount is very dense with things that Jesus said.