Today's random flood of thoughts

A friend recently told me how the study of the book of Matthew has been impacting them so greatly that after studying the book for a month or more, they have yet to move beyond Chapter 7.  Well, I was finishing one study and ready to begin another.  I began the study today, but instead of beginning in chapter 1, I thought I would read 7, then begin my actual study.  

Here it is for you to read:

Matthew 7 (NKJV)

DO NOT JUDGE

 ¹ “Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
⁶ “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

KEEP ASKING, SEEKING, KNOCKING

  
⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

THE NARROW WAY

  
¹³ “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ¹⁴ Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

YOU WILL KNOW THEM BY THEIR FRUITS

  
¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a 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 is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I NEVER KNEW YOU

  
²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

BUILD ON THE ROCK

  
²⁴ “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. 
²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.” 
²⁸ And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, ²⁹ for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

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Matthew 7 is a chapter so full of the teachings of Jesus, you cannot help but do a lengthy study of it.  We have all read it.  We can quote so many parts of it...  I would think it's probably one of the most quoted or at least, paraphrased texts in the whole Bible.  I also think it's one of the least practiced...  translation" here.  He tells us exactly what to do and the Jesus leaves no room for bartering, no room for "loose translation".  He tells it like it is, what we should be doing, and the clear consequences for not obeying.

Often we find ourselves focusing on the "do not judge" portion of this text, which is good, but don't let it be only focus as you study this chapter.

Read & study the ENTIRE text.

Pray about it.

Let's begin applying it to our daily lives.

Jesus never sugar - coated anything. He didn't give away the ipad / macbook equivalent of His day to draw a crowd. He simply preached the truth and practiced that which he preached.

The only "relevancy" Jesus ever worried about was preaching things relevant to the day's culture. He NEVER tried to make Himself, nor His teachings comfortable for everyone to hear. He simply spoke the Truth.

Hundreds, even thousands turned a deaf ear to him, but there were many who listened. Who stayed. Who followed.

Will YOU take up your cross and follow Him? Or are you too worried about fitting into a sugarcoated mold?

Relevancy is necessary.

But we must be careful, friends...

Too many times we are calling things we do necessary because they are "relevant" to today's society, not realizing that we have confused the definition of relevancy & reflection.