The comparison in Matthew 7 between the narrow gate and the wide gate is NOT referring to good people vs bad people. And the contrast between the tree that bears good fruit and the tree that bears bad fruit is NOT talking about the person who goes to church vs the person who sleeps in on Sundays. And yes, you guessed it, the difference between the man who builds his house on the rock and the man who builds his house on the sand is NOT about whether or not you participate in the Big 5 (drink beer, smoke cigs, cuss, chew, and date the girls that do). Everyone of the comparisons in Matthew 7 are about the Gospel. Let that sink in a moment….
The Sermon on the Mount, which is the backdrop for the 3 comparisons in Matthew 7, is not a sermon about how bad people should be good- but about religious people repenting of their self-righteousness! In His sermon, Jesus was calling out people who were giving to the needy, praying and fasting (Matthew 6:1-18). That is an enormous truth to see in correctly interpreting the passage. He is not telling irreligious people to become religious, but religious people to trust in the Gospel! Tragically, many today have turned Jesus into a Moralist and not a Gospel-Centered Preacher and the way we interpret and teach the comparisons in Matthew 7 is a prime example of this.
Of all the things Tim Keller has helped me see, and there have been many- this has to be in the top 3! I thank God for him and the insight he has into Gospel-centered ministry!
Below is a comparison of Religion and the Gospel by Tim Keller from Between the Times:
RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.
THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.
RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.
RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.
THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.
RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.
THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.
RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.
RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.
THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.
RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.
THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.
RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’
THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.
RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.
THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.
Britten
1. The supreme object of the work of evangelism is to glorify God, not to save souls.