Be Real Together:

Take a few minutes to catch up, tell stories, and laugh together. Trust and friendship take time to build. If you’re launching a new DNA, one person should tell their story — what do we need to know about you? Next week, have another person in your DNA share their story.

Read Together:

Matthew 7:13-23 CSB
¹³ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁵ Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶ By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹ Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day,”Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” 23 Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

Grow Together: Observe and Apply

In Matthew 6-7, Jesus challenges his listeners on heart motivations and the behaviors that often follow. Throughout the sermon Jesus has been showing us the difference between his disciples and the rest of the world. Though much of this sermon is practical, exciting, positive, Jesus saves his harshest rebuke until the end.

There is only one way we obtain salvation and that is through the person and work of Jesus Christ crucified on our behalf. We cannot fake our way into the kingdom, so Jesus gives us three warnings to remember in the moments we try.

Warning 1: There is a path that leads to life and a path that leads to destruction.

Matthew 7:13-14 // ¹³ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Jesus presents two pictures in these verses: two pathways and two gates that either lead to death or life.

On the one hand, Jesus describes the wide gate and the broad road. He describes a pathway that many will walk on and a gate that many will enter through for ease of use. So easy, in fact, we could call this path our default position. The pursuit of comfort, pleasure, satisfaction, all of these things we hope we obtain when we live a life for ourselves, are the promises of the wide gate and the broad path. According to Jesus, the wide path is the one that leads to destruction, because it doesn’t deliver what it promises.

Proverbs 14:12 // There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.

On the other hand, Jesus present the narrow gate and the narrow road, which is his way of illustrating a life of following after him. He invites us to walk the narrow path and enter through the narrow gate, because this is the gate that leads to life. The challenge is that only a few will truly find it, because the narrow path is not the easy path.

Following Jesus involves making difficult decisions. We have to choose say YES to being saved by the work of Jesus on the cross, not by our own good works. We have to choose say YES to repenting of our sin. We are choosing to say YES to a life of denying ourselves, taking up our own cross, and following Jesus. We’re chooseing to say YES to the potential of persecution. We’re choosing to say YES to following Jesus’ teachings, aligning with his Kingdom values and principles, even when we don’t feel inclined to. On the broad road, there are no restrictions, but on the narrow road, our life’s mission is to bring glory to God, not ourselves.

John 14:6 // Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
Acts 4:12 // There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.
1 Tim 2:5 // For there is one God and one mediator between God and humanity, the man Christ Jesus.

Are you on the narrow path?

Warning 2: Don’t be fooled; not everyone is producing good fruit.

Matthew 7:15 CSB // Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

In the same way that we need to be careful what path we’re on, it also matters which spiritual teachers and moral guides we follow. As it turns out, there are enemies along the path, but they’re not always easy to identify.

They often look like us, dress like us, speak like us, think like us. They might serve in ministries that we are serving in. Outwardly religious, inwardly malicious, their desire is not to serve God, but to serve themselves.

So, how do we test the fruit? Commentator David Guzik gives us a few pointers:

We should pay attention to the manner of living a teacher shows. Do they show righteousness, humility, and faithfulness in the way they live? Do they seem to make everything about themselves, or do their lives point to Jesus?
We should pay attention to the content of their teaching. Is it true fruit from God’s Word, or is it man-centered, appealing to ears that want to be tickled? Have they supposedly discovered a new doctrine that was somehow missed for thousands of years of Christian history? Do they emphasize physical blessings over spiritual ones?
We should pay attention to the effect of their teaching. Are people growing in Jesus or merely being entertained, and eventually falling away?

What voices are you listening to that you need to stop listening to?

Warning 3: Only those who know and are known by Jesus will enter the Kingdom.

Matthew 7:21-23 CSB // ²¹ Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?” ²³ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”

In case there was any doubt left in his audience about whether the narrow path leads to eternal life, Jesus drives home the reality that fake followers will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus says only those who do the will of his Father who is in heaven will enter the kingdom of heaven (v. 21). What’s the will of the Father? Primarily it is believing in Jesus Christ.

John 6:28-29 CSB // ²⁸ “What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. ²⁹ Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”

It’s not just about what we say with our mouths or what we do with our hands that will save us a place in eternity, it’s about what we believe in our hearts. It’s about relationship with and faith in Jesus himself.

In the end it all comes down to Jesus. He is gate through which we enter. He is the path that we follow. He is our ultimate destination.

Are you more concerned with your work for God or your relationship with him?

Pray Together:

Thank you, Jesus, that you were and are not like us.
You were perfect, sinless, blameless in all you did, making it possible for you to die on our behalf.
Thank you for choosing to walk the narrow despite all those who were against you.

Help us to do the same; NOT as proof of our worthiness of this salvation, but in gratitude and remembrance of what you have done for us.
Help us to put our full trust in you on this narrow path.
We love you.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.