Matthew 07 (Contemporary English Version)
- Don't condemn others, and God won't condemn you.
- God will be as hard on you as you are on others! He will treat you exactly as you treat them.
- You can see the speck in your friend's eye, but you don't notice the log in your own eye.
- How can you say, "My friend, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you don't see the log in your own eye?
- You're nothing but show-offs! First, take the log out of your own eye. Then you can see how to take the speck out of your friend's eye.
- Don't give to dogs what belongs to God. They will only turn and attack you. Don't throw pearls down in front of pigs. They will trample all over them.
- Ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you.
- Everyone who asks will receive. Everyone who searches will find. And the door will be opened for everyone who knocks.
- Would any of you give your hungry child a stone, if the child asked for some bread?
- Would you give your child a snake if the child asked for a fish?
- As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give good things to people who ask.
- Treat others as you want them to treat you. This is what the Law and the Prophets are all about.
- Go in through the narrow gate. The gate to destruction is wide, and the road that leads there is easy to follow. A lot of people go through that gate.
- But the gate to life is very narrow. The road that leads there is so hard to follow that only a few people find it.
- Watch out for false prophets! They dress up like sheep, but inside they are wolves who have come to attack you.
- You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thornbushes.
- A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.
- A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.
- Every tree that produces bad fruit will be chopped down and burned.
- You can tell who the false prophets are by their deeds.
- Not everyone who calls me their Lord will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only the ones who obey my Father in heaven will get in.
- On the day of judgment many will call me their Lord. They will say, "We preached in your name, and in your name we forced out demons and worked many miracles."
- But I will tell them, "I will have nothing to do with you! Get out of my sight, you evil people!"
- Anyone who hears and obeys these teachings of mine is like a wise person who built a house on solid rock.
- Rain poured down, rivers flooded, and winds beat against that house. But it did not fall, because it was built on solid rock.
- Anyone who hears my teachings and doesn't obey them is like a foolish person who built a house on sand.
- The rain poured down, the rivers flooded, and the winds blew and beat against that house. Finally, it fell with a crash.
- When Jesus finished speaking, the crowds were surprised at his teaching.
- He taught them like someone with authority, and not like their teachers of the Law of Moses.
7:1 leads the chapter with the words, "Do not judge, so that you won't be judged." But as we continue to read we recognize He is not saying we should make no judgments at all. Rather His point has to do with evaluating the conduct of others while failing to evaluate our own. 7:2 recognizes we will make judgments but cautions that the measure we use will also be the measure used against us by God. Verse 7 also recognizes the need to make judgments but also applies a caution. That is, we should first consider and address our own issues before pointing out those of someone else.
Verses 7:15-23 not only acknowledge the need to make judgments but tell us we must do so if we are to avoid false prophets. And how do we recognize a false prophet? By his fruit. This means we should not make quick judgments which can only be based on a person's words and appearance. Given enough time, a false prophet will reveal himself by his fruit. A bad tree cannot produce good fruit. The false prophet may imitate good fruit for a while but cannot consistently do so. Besides the eventual slip when the bad fruit will be revealed, the imitation can catch the eye more quickly and put us on the alert. The imitated mannerisms of the false prophet will catch the attention of the observant and discerning rather quickly. Continuing with caution, they will watch for the fruit that is displayed over time.
Concerning prayer, Jesus tells us that the prayers of those who are persistent will be answered, assuring us that our Father in heaven delights in giving good gifts to those who ask. If He delights in giving good gifts, why must we ask, and why with persistence? Why does He not just give them to us? Jesus does not give us those details. However, I wonder if it might have to do with our acknowledgment through prayer of God as the provider of these gifts and if our persistence might determine whether or not our request is simply a whim. After all, God is not our genie.
Using the parable of the two houses, Jesus told his listeners (and also tells us) they should heed His words and act on them. To do so is likened to a house built on a rock and able to withstand the elements. But failure to act on Jesus' words is like a house built on sand that collapses with the first storm. Now Jesus presented the people a dilemma. They were astonished at His teaching because, unlike the scribes, He spoke with authority. The dilemma was whether the people would truly heed Jesus' teaching despite the scorn of their religious leaders. Would they have the courage to follow One who had just come on the scene rather than those they had known their whole lives? As the outcry of the religious leaders against Jesus increasingly grew, leading up to His crucifixion, what were they to think? We have a similar dilemma in a world that increasingly ridicules Jesus and His followers, but we do have the advantage of hindsight. There is a solid historical record, and there is scripture that provides us a validation of the authenticity of Christ.
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