Matthew 7v13-20

Here are my notes and the questions from last nights LightHouse:


1. How do you spot false teaching? What are its distinguishing marks?

2. How is being a Christian today counter cultural? Where does it lead to conflict? How do you respond to that conflict?

As Jesus teaches his disciples the crowd are watching on and listening in, but Jesus teaching is for the disciples, it is the manifesto of the kingdom for those who follow the King. But Jesus doesn’t just want fickle followers who give up when things are difficult he wants faithful followers who will live out their conviction about him being the king of the kingdom. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount he has been teaching about the counter culture of the kingdom, and we saw (7-12)he calls on them to recognise the resources of the kingdom and pray to their heavenly Father. But a counter culture will always face conflict as it battles against the predominant culture which it is counter to. Jesus has already warned that the citizens of the kingdom will face persecution (5:10), insults and slander(5:11) and will have enemies which it is to love(5:44). Jesus doesn’t sugar coat discipleship, the dangers inherent in it or the challenges it will bring, but he calls disciples to faithfully follow him.

1. Faithfully Follow
What does Jesus call on the disciples to do? (13)”Enter through the narrow gate.” But what is the narrow gate. Turn to Psalm 118:19-24, the Psalm praises God for his love which endures forever, the Psalmist writes:

“Open for me the gates of the righteous;
I will enter and give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD through which the righteous may enter.
I will give you thanks, for you answered me;
you have become my salvation.”

It is a cry for God to save by granting entry to those who are righteous by their faith in his provision of salvation. The gate is the means of entering into his presence, only the righteous can enter in. And look at the next verse:

“The Stone the builders have rejected has become the cornerstone.” A verse that is picked up of Jesus, Jesus is both the cornerstone which is rejected by some and the gate through which the faithful can enter and be saved. Jesus is the gate, he is the one in whom we become righteous because we are given his righteousness and so we can be citizens of the kingdom. In John 10 Jesus tells us that the gate is himself.

Back to Matthew 7, Jesus is calling on the disciples to put their trust in him, he is the only way to enter the kingdom of God. He explains why this is so important in (13-14) as he compares and contrasts the two different ways to live, and notice that there are only two; two gates, two paths, two peoples and two destinations. There is no third way, they are also not two ways but one destination, they are not different paths that lead to the same place. But the picture is of a choice to be made, a response to be determined, and a future to be faced.

The two ways to live which Jesus sets out are very different. One is easy to enter because the gate is wide, there is no immediate cost to enter it you don’t have to leave things behind or put things down to get in the gate and the way itself is easy it is broad; tolerant and pretty much anything goes, it is also popular with lots of people going that way and living similarly. But **what does Jesus say about its destination? It is destruction.

What about the other way? It is narrow and therefore harder to get through, just think about Jesus claims elsewhere about leaving everything to follow him; that is what they disciples have just done at the end of ch4. It is a narrow road, it isn’t broad and easy but brings opposition and persecution. Fewer people take it, it will not be the way of the majority, **but what is its destination? It leads to life.

Jesus has been teaching them about the counter culture of the kingdom, how distinctively they are to live as his people under his kingship. It will mean living differently from the world and culture around them and will bring them into conflict with the culture. But says Jesus enter through the narrow gate and keep on the path because it leads to life.

Faithfully follow even as you face opposition and persecution, endure, persevere, keep on going even though the way is hard and others think you foolish for not living like them.

Remember here Jesus at this stage of his ministry is surrounded by crowds, (5:1), look at (8:1) large crowds follow him, but Jesus knows they will leave, that most of them won’t enter through the gate and walk the narrow way. They are on the wide way. And increasingly the two roads and two peoples will clash and hostility and opposition will increase and he wants his people to expect it. Living as a citizen of the kingdom, living out Jesus counter culture will be thought of as narrow and restrictive by those on the wide road.

Just think about it today and how that is seen in people’s thoughts on faith and heaven, we live in a broad age, when anything, any belief is enough, when it is viewed as restrictive and narrow to say there is only one way, to claim that all paths don’t lead to heaven. When to live out this distinctive counter culture produces mocking, incredulity and anger. When society pressures us into thinking of the counter culture of the kingdom as isolationist, intolerant, narrow, boring and as a ‘can’t do’ culture so that it can pressurise us into abandoning it in favour of the broad anything goes culture.

But Jesus isn’t saying this narrow path is restrictive or boring or a can’t do culture. We mustn’t isolate this from its Sermon on the Mount context. This narrow way is the path of the blessed, those who know the favour of a loving God and who will receive all the things promised(5:3-10), it is the culture of the children of God who know him as their heavenly father, the community who entrust themselves to God knowing he cares for their every need and are therefore liberated from anxiety. To be God’s child is to be what we were made to be, it is not a kingdom of can’t do but a kingdom of can do. It is radically different not because it is restrictive but because it lives to please God not to please self, it is a kingdom under the rule of king Jesus not under the rule of sin disguised as self rule.

Faithfully Follow.

2. Don’t be put off faithfully following
Having called on his disciples to stay the course, to walk the path, to endure and attain life. Jesus now instructs them **to do what? “Watch out for false prophets.”

If one danger is giving up because of the opposition and difficulty of living counter culturally another is in listening to those whose teaching is wrong. That word false can also mean lying, be on your guard, or be on the look out, beware of lying prophets, those who teach the bible wrongly. What is the expectation Jesus sets up? There will be false prophets so expect it and be ready to spot them.

And in the history of the early church those words prove true, Paul echoes them in Acts 20 warning the Ephesian elders that even from inside the church there will be wolves, in 2 Corinthians he confronts those who claim to be super-apostles and are teaching wrongly, in Galatians he writes to call the church to confront false teaching, Timothy and Titus are called to do the same. Peter too warns the church of false prophets and teachers among them, as does John in his letters and Jude. And in Revelation as John records Jesus warnings to the churches both Pergamum and Thyatira are warned about tolerating false teachers. False teachers are dangerous because they lead us off the path, shipwrecking faiths, so how do we spot them?

Jesus gives them three things to be on the look out for to help them spot false teachers.

a. Don’t go by initial appearance
That is Jesus first thing(15) you can’t always spot them initially. **How do they look? “They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” A wolf that looks like a wolf, smells like a wolf and growls like a wolf gets nowhere near the sheep. But there is a deliberateness to this disguise. You can’t tell just by looking at them or listening to them initially what they are like. They will look like a disciple, talk like a disciple, and walk like a disciple. Don’t let initial appearance deceive you, because a wolf is always dangerous and destructive, and ultimately has only one aim for the sheep.

Jesus gives a great illustration using tress. There was a thistle that looked like a fig tree and a buckthorn which could be mistaken for grapes. These trees looked alike until you got up close and saw their fruit. Jesus then backs this point up with the observation that bad or diseased trees bear bad or evil fruit whilst a good tree can’t, a diseased tree bears evil fruit and a good tree good fruit. This teaching on trees takes place in a sandwich, (16, 20)by their fruits you will recognise them.

Jesus is saying we know whether someone is a good teacher by the fruit they produce, but what does this fruit look like?

b. Test #1 – Fruit of their teaching
The fruit that a teacher produces is their teaching. Is their teaching good, in terms of does it fit with what Jesus is teaching? Think about that in terms of the Sermon on the Mount. Does their teaching call people to humbly seek after righteousness, does it call people to all the attributes Jesus calls us to, does it emphasize the cost of discipleship, does it point people to Christ alone as the way of salvation, does it emphasize the need for repentance and ongoing change, does it seek to challenge and encourage as we deal with sin in the light of the gospel?

False teaching denies the things Jesus taught. It denies Jesus is the Messiah, God made man who died in our place for our sin as our substitute, that he was physically resurrected and ascended to rule at his Father’s right hand until he returns. False teaching denies the need for repentance and counter cultural living and opposition now as we wait for our Saviour’s return.

False teaching redefines sin so that what the Bible says is bad is good or permissible. False teaching denies God’s justice in judging sin.

It is not false teaching just because it disagrees with us on a secondary issue like baptism, gifts of the spirit, etc... We must not elevate such things to primary status. False teaching is where someone is deliberately, not mistakenly, denying what the gospel affirms as central about the gospel.

c. Test #2 – Fruit seen in their living
A diseased tree will produce evil fruit, in other words you will see the consequences in their living. Elsewhere we see the connection between misunderstanding the gospel and immoral living. This means we spot good or lying teachers by knowing them and being able to see their lives – not just their cultivated public image. Are they trying to live out the kingdom values? Are they battling with sin? Or are they content and cosy with immorality in their living?

I think there are a few very practical implications of that for us as individuals and as churches:
- Listen carefully, don’t go into auto-pilot when listening to someone teach the bible
- Be asking questions of their teaching – where did that come from, is that what the verse says?
- Make sure they are using, explaining and referencing the bible
- Have your bible open in front of you as they teach
- How do they respond to being asked questions about a passage?

For churches:
- Don’t rush to appoint leaders. It takes time to learn about someone’s life and teaching, not an initially weekend impression.  Interestingly in the New Testament leaders were appointed from within not brought in.
- It is better to have someone people know well, or whom some people can vouch for their integrity and beliefs.

Notice finally what this verse doesn’t say, it doesn’t say be critical and refuse the teaching of all teachers. Welcome good teaching, let it bear fruit in you as well as seeing it in them, but look out for bad teaching and lying teachers.

Be Faithful followers enduring to reach home.


1. Where do you feel the counter cultural nature of the kingdom of Jesus? How can we encourage one another to follow faithfully?

2. What areas of teaching must we not compromise on? What areas of teaching may we compromise on?

3. How ought we to respond to good teaching? How ought we to respond to bad teaching?