SDCCM Blog

Matthew 7:13—Enter through the narrow gate: for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many that enter through it.

Jesus is teaching an eternal truth that is important for us to grasp. The serpent gave Eve a broad choice in tempting her to eat of the tree. “God knows that in the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). It is clear from Scripture that God always had it in His heart to elevate man, and open his understanding. God’s ways are narrow and time-tested. He proves us, before giving to us greater responsibility. He wants to protect His sons and daughters from the pitfalls which will stop us from experiencing His very best. This is what Paul meant when he said, “No temptation has overtaken you, but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape” (1 Corinthians 10:13). The way of escape for Eve was Adam who had received the Word of God. Instead of turning to her husband, she ate the fruit. Adam’s way of escape was to turn to God, but instead he followed his wife’s choice. They opened the broad way which humans follow. Jesus teaches we must “enter through the narrow gate.” He is that gate! He chooses the cross, rather than an easy way out. He established the narrow gate for all of mankind from that point on.

America has become a “pluralistic” society. This means we have swung open the gate to all of the false religions of the world. The original intent of America’s founding fathers was a “Christian Society,” made up of all the different Christian denominations. Everyone could express their Christian faith as their conscience dictated. The founding fathers knew that only the Christian faith would provide an atmosphere for other religions to survive. America, for many years, honored the narrow gate of the gospel of Christ. In more recent times, the narrow has been rejected and replaced with the broad, leading us down a road of destruction. Only by allowing the Holy Spirit to lead us back to the narrow gate, which is Christ, will our nation and its institutions survive.

Will it be relativism, whatever feels good and right to you, or will it be God’s Laws, which are narrow by worldly standards, but lead to life and that abundantly? The Holy Spirit is present to empower us to choose life.

Father, today I choose life. Life in Christ by obeying Your word through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 7:5 – You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

It is easy to look on another person and evaluate all that is wrong with them. It is very difficult to look inside one’s self and rightly evaluate our own condition. Hypocrisy is a powerful attitude in religious circles and I dare say some hypocrisy is demonic at its core. The religious hypocrites of Jesus’ day had as their father, not Abraham, but the devil (see John 8:44). Those religious leaders had a huge log in their eyes. In fact, Jesus called them blind (see Matthew 23:16-26). Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to remove the log from our eye. He does this by enabling us to be “crucified with Christ.” Only death can cure the self-centered hypocrisy that lives in all of us. “Nevertheless I live.” I live, because the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in me (see Romans 8:11). Now, that being said, “The life that I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). It is only by Jesus’ faith that I can live free from judging others and His faith operates in me by the power of His Holy Spirit.

Paul said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24). He goes on to answer his own question by giving thanks. “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25). Yes, the Holy Spirit of God gives the life of Christ to us and enables us to do what was impossible in our own ability and strength. He helps us to remove the log in our own eye and graces us to help others remove the speck in their eye. That speck is really a log to God, but was a speck to us because of the log which blinded our eye. How wonderful it is to have one’s sight recovered and to look on another without judgment and condemnation, but to see through the eyes of Jesus a new person redeemed by Christ’s precious blood.

Today, let the Holy Spirit do surgery and remove all the obstacles that cause you to be hindered in your sight. Ask God to help you see others as Christ does.

Matthew 6:33 – But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all things will be added to you.

The focus of the New Testament is the kingdom of God and its accompanying righteousness. John the Baptist said, “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). This also was the opening proclamation of Jesus’ ministry as recorded in Matthew 4:7. Throughout the ministry of Jesus, He teaches of the coming Holy Spirit, “Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, from his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” (John 7:37-40). In John chapters 14-16, the focus of Jesus’ conversation with His disciples was about the Holy Spirit and His coming work.

Paul declares that, “the kingdom of God is in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). He also emphasizes that “righteousness, peace, and joy,” is the product of the kingdom’s manifestation. Jesus tells us to “Seek first the kingdom of God.” Is the kingdom of God and His righteousness our first priority? In John 7 He says, “If any thirst.” Seeking God for His will and purpose is an evidence of thirst. Thirst is a physical symptom that manifests when one begins to feel dehydrated. The nation of Israel was “spiritually dehydrated” when Jesus arrived. The Gentiles had no place to drink, being separated from God and His Covenants of promise. Jesus brought to the earth “spiritual bread and spiritual drink.” He prophesied of the coming Holy Spirit in John 7:37, declaring that He would bring the river of “living water” which would flow out of the inner being of those who believe.

Do not look for the river to come from the outside, but understand that the Holy Spirit comes into the believer and will release a river from within. It will be a river of “righteousness, peace and joy” which will satisfy the thirsty soul. Drink deeply of the river today.

Matthew 6:24 – No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

A two-headed creature is always a freak. Jesus is not saying that you cannot be rich and serve God. He is saying you cannot “serve” both God and wealth. It is one thing to have possessions and use them for God’s glory, and quite another to allow possessions to have you. Hold loosely to all you own. It is easy to become emotionally tied to one’s possessions, such as a house, a car, toys, etc. A worthwhile evaluation is to determine what it is that you serve. I serve my family, many in the family of God, and friends. But none are my masters, only God is that. I enjoy my hobby, my house, and the car I drive, but none of those things control me. I am not saying that it would be easy, but if required, they all must go in order to serve the Lord’s larger purpose.

In Luke 6:46 Jesus asked this question of His disciples, “Why call Me ‘Lord, Lord’ and do not what I say?” An employer has the right to expect certain actions from an employee in order to accomplish the task. Our Lord and master Jesus Christ also has certain expectations of our lives. If we call Him Lord and sing about His Lordship, worship Him as the all-worthy one, He can expect us to do all that He has commanded. Serving another is a choice of our free will. Each day we are presented with the opportunity of choosing who and what we will serve.

Jesus was given the opportunity to choose also. In Matthew 4, we find the story recorded of Jesus being led into temptation. The evil one gave Him opportunity to choose what had been given into Satan’s control. Jesus knew by the Word of God, that all these things had been promised to Him in due time. He chose to resist the offer of the enemy for immediate gratification and rather chose to wait for His heavenly Father to give all things to Him.

Today, would you choose to surrender all things to the control of Jesus? Would you wait on God for His timing rather than taking things into your own hands? Let Him be the master by serving His timing and His provisions for His glory. Holy Spirit, I give to you the reigns of my life. Take perfect control!

Matthew 6:22 – The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.

According to a well-known saying, “the eye is the window of the soul”. When I speak with a person, I look them in the eyes. By doing this, it seems I make a better connection with them. As I listen to what they are saying, I am better able to respond when I communicate back with them. If the issues of honesty are involved, by looking a person in the eyes you have a better chance of discerning truth from untruth. In the counseling ministry, eye-to-eye contact is vital to imparting truths that can help set people free. In the deliverance ministry, eye-to-eye contact is vital to casting out demonic entities.

The physical eye, of course, is connected to the brain and affects the emotions and the will. Jesus goes on to say, “If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness” (Matthew 6:23a). How can the eye be bad in the moral sense? When you put together the mind, emotions and will, you essentially have what the Bible speaks of as the “heart,” the innermost region of a person. The physical eye is controlled by what is found in the heart. When the heart chooses to take in darkness it causes the eye to become bad. When the heart is pure, it chooses to take in light and rejects the darkness.

Jesus goes on to say that, “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness” (Matthew 6:23b). What is Jesus saying? The Bible declares that some will call good evil and evil good. “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness” (Isaiah 5:20). There are those who know what is right and true, but still promote darkness in what they say. Many religious leaders in Jesus’ day knew what the scriptures taught, but still added to the Scriptures and put heavy burdens on the people. It is in the “mixture” of religion that light becomes a greater darkness.

Day by day, surrender your eyes to the Lord. Job said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes” (Job 31:1). Ask the Holy Spirit to protect your eyes and thus your soul from darkness and to fill you with light.

Matthew 5:48 – Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

In Matthew 5:21- 47 Jesus deals with relationships on many different levels. The Law forbade murder, but Jesus said, don’t be angry with your brother. If you remember when giving your offering someone has something against you, leave your offering and go get reconciled to your brother. Read through these laws of the kingdom of God and ask the Holy Spirit to help you rise up to the life that our Lord has called us to live. The higher bar is what Jesus calls us to, even the perfection of our heavenly Father. This sounds impossible, but we have the Holy Spirit to help us.

The word perfect translates “mature.” The Lord is looking for mature sons and daughters, those that will allow the life of Christ to be released in them by yielding to the Holy Spirit. We have been led by our flesh for so long that it is strange to think about being led by the Spirit. The only way we can consider being “perfect” is as the Holy Spirit takes control of our mind and we submit to Him in everything.

My experience is that I have to take one situation at a time. This means I must pray about every relationship and submit it to God. Through the Spirit’s empowerment, choose to keep short accounts with people, forgiving quickly, not letting the sun go down on my anger. These things are not easy, but the Holy Spirit will help us if we will stop and ask for His involvement.

In 1 Corinthians 14:20 the apostle says, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature.” Paul is communicating the same view that Jesus is declaring in Matthew 5:48, “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” The New Creation is all about a new way of thinking, God’s way of thinking. It is possible to be mature and live in righteousness, because we have been redeemed from our sin condition to a life of righteousness in the Holy Spirit.

Let the Holy Spirit search you heart and reveal any areas that are childish and not mature. Repent of childish views and attitudes. Then receive His infilling power to grow as a son or daughter of God.