Matthew 7:13-20 - Tests

7:13,14

There are many who will try and make the gospel “easy”, by lessening the moral demands, or saying we can give in to persecutors. Such a route will be popular, but leads only to destruction. Conversely the gate to life is small and leads along a narrow way. Few will find it. So we should not be surprised or discouraged if we seem to be on a lonely road.

7:15-20

There will be false prophets, they will be dressed in sheep’s clothing, adopting a sort of pseudo- Christianity. The give away will be the fruit of their lives, such people cannot produce anything good, we should not listen to such people. The fruit of someone's life, not their words, are a true test.

Matthew 7:7-12 - ASk, seek, knock

7:7,8

We should “ask, seek and knock”. We are not to be passive. God wants us to ask, seek and knock. We should pray, we should seek answers. Note that Jesus says “for everyone who asks receives”, We will be successful.

7:9-12

Jesus then gives his justification for this. He likens the situation to a father and son. A father would not maltreat a son, neither will God maltreat us. Note the casual words “though you are evil”. God is good and is for us. As well as a teaching on prayer, Jesus also draws a lesson on how we would treat each other.

Matthew 7:1-6 - Get your own house in order

7:1,2

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.”This does NOT mean not saying something is right or wrong, but it does mean that we cannot say that someone else is better or worse than others. If we consider someone to be worse than us, then God will use the same criteria against us, and we will not come off well.

7:3-5

We must be most concerned with our own righteousness (or lack of it), we must be more concerned about getting ourselves right, than getting others right. Having a judgemental attitude is often an indicator that we ourselves have problems.

7:6

This is a difficult verse.Dogs is a term that Jews sometimes used to refer to Gentiles, and pigs were unclean animals. Perhaps Jesus is saying be careful about whom we share spiritual truths with, for they will not understand and it will not produce a good reaction. If we look at it in the immediate context then perhaps it is a warning that just telling people what is wrong with them will do no good.