Matthew 7
7
1 #
Lk 6.37-38; Mk 4.24; Rom 2.1; 14.10. “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. 3#Lk 6.41-42. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5You 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.
6“Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.
7 #
Lk 11.9-13; Mk 11.24; Jn 15.7; 16.23-24; Jas 4.3; 1 Jn 3.22; 5.14. “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? 11If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 12#Lk 6.31. So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
13 #
Lk 13.23-24; Jer 21.8; Deut 30.19; Jn 14.6; 10.7. “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy,#7.13 Other ancient authorities read for the way is wide and easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
15 #
Mt 24.11,24; Ezek 22.27; 1 Jn 4.1; Jn 10.12. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16#Lk 6.43-44; Mt 12.33-35; Mt 3.10; Jas 3.12; Lk 13.7. You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? 17So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. 18A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Thus you will know them by their fruits.
21 #
Lk 6.46. “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22#Lk 13.26-27; Mt 25.12; Ps 6.8. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers.’
24 #
Lk 6.47-49; Jas 1.22-25. “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; 25and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; 27and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
28 #
Mk 1.22; Lk 4.32; Mt 11.1; 13.53; 19.1; 26.1. And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
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Matthew 7: RSV
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Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
Matthew 7
7
Don’t tell other people they are bad
1Jesus said to the people, “Don’t say to anybody, ‘You are bad,’ and then God will not say to you, ‘You are bad.’ 2God will judge you the same way as you judge other people. If you are easy on other people, God will be easy on you. But if you are hard on other people, God will be hard on you.#Mark 4:24
3-5You shouldn’t always try to tell other people they are doing bad things. First, you have to think about all the bad things that you do, and you have to stop doing those bad things. Then maybe you can help other people to stop doing bad things too. Maybe you are doing lots of bad things, and your friend is just doing one little bad thing. If you are still doing lots of bad things, you can’t help them stop doing that little bad thing. It’s like this. All those bad things you do are making you blind, like you have a big bit of wood in your eye. And maybe your friend is just doing one little thing wrong, like they just have a little splinter of wood in their eye. You have to take that big bit of wood out of your eye, so that you can see properly, then maybe you can help your friend get that little splinter out of their eye.”
6Jesus kept on talking to them. He said, “There are some things that belong to God. Don’t give those things to people that don’t like God. Those people are like dogs. If you give them God’s things, they will rubbish them, and then they will turn around and bite you, just like dogs. And some of God’s things are really special. Don’t give them to people that don’t know that those things are special. They will rubbish those things. They will be just like pigs that don’t know good things. They will walk on them and push them into the mud.”
Keep asking God, and he will give you what you need
7Jesus kept on teaching the people. He said, “Whenever you need something, you have to keep asking God for it, and he will give it to you. Keep looking for whatever you need, and God will let you find it. Maybe something will block you, so you can’t get what you need, like there is a door that is shut and you can’t get through it. Well, then keep on knocking at that door, and God will open it for you. 8Everyone that asks God for something will get it. Everyone that looks for something will find it. God will open the door for everyone that knocks on it.
9It’s like this. If your son asks you for some bread, will you give him a stone? No way. 10Or if your son asks you for a fish, will you give him a cheeky snake? No way. 11You see, you might be bad, but you give good things to your kids. Well, your father in heaven is a lot better than you. He is always good, so he will always give good things to people that ask him.”
This is what God’s law is all about
12Jesus said, “You know the way you want other people to treat you. Well, you have to treat other people that same way. You have to live like that all the time. That is a short way of saying the message that is in God’s book. It is what God’s law is all about, and it is what God got his men to write about in his book. You have to always treat other people the same way that you want people to treat you.”#Luke 6:31
You have to follow the right track
13-14Then Jesus told them this picture story about how to live. He said, “It is like there are 2 tracks in life, and each track has its own gate. One gate is big and wide, but the other gate is a narrow little gate. It is hard to get through that little gate, and only a few people get through it. Listen, you have to go through that little gate. If you want to live with God for ever, you have to pick that little gate and go through it, and you have to follow its track. Its track is a narrow little track, and it is hard to walk on. But if you go that way, you will live with God for ever. The other gate is wide and easy to go through, and its track is wide and easy to walk on. A lot of people go that way. They go through that wide gate and walk along that easy track. But that track goes to the wrong place, and God will finish up those people.”
Be careful of people that say they have a message from God
15Then Jesus told them, “Always be careful. Don’t believe everybody. There are some people that reckon they are telling you a message from God, but they are liars. They try to get you to think they are like sheep, like they are soft and will not give you any trouble. But really, they are like wild dingoes. They will give you trouble, like dingoes hurt sheep. If you believe their words, then you will get lots of trouble. 16If you look at the things these people do, you can find out if they are talking true words, or if they are liars.”
Then Jesus told a picture story. He said, “Think about the trees that give us fruit to eat. We can’t get good fruit from rubbish trees. We can’t get grapes from rubbish plants. 17Good fruit grows on a good tree. Rubbish fruit grows on a rubbish tree. 18A good tree can’t make bad fruit. A bad tree can’t make good fruit. 19If a farmer has a tree that only makes rubbish fruit, he will cut down that tree and burn it in a fire.#Matthew 3:10; Luke 3:9 20So, to find out if a person is good or bad, look at what they do. A good person does good things. And a bad person does bad things.”#Matthew 12:33
God will only have the people that do what he wants
21And Jesus said, “Lots of people call me, ‘My leader and my boss,’ but some of them will never be in God’s family. God will only have people that do what he wants them to do. God will have those people in his family, but not the other people. God is my father in heaven. 22One day, God will get me to judge everybody, and some people will say to me, ‘You are my leader and my boss. We used your power to tell people your messages, and to force bad spirits out of people, and to do a lot of other great things.’ 23Then I will tell them, ‘I don’t know you mob. You are bad. You don’t do what God wants. So get away from me.’ ”#Psalm 6:8
Be wise and do what Jesus says
24Then Jesus told them 2 more picture stories. He said, “If you listen to my message, and if you do what I say, you are like a wise man that built his house on hard rock. 25Then a lot of rain came and made big flood waters that flowed along really fast, and that water hit that house, and strong winds blew hard against that house. But that house didn’t fall down. He built it on hard rock, so it stayed strong. You see, if you do what I say, you will be like the wise man in that picture story.
26But if you hear my message and you don’t do what I say, you are like a stupid man that built his house on soft sand. 27Then a lot of rain came and made big flood waters that flowed along really fast, and that water hit that house, and strong winds blew hard against that house. Then that house fell down, and it broke up into little bits. You see, if you don’t do what I say, you will be like the stupid man in that picture story.”
28Then Jesus finished talking to that big mob of people. They were really surprised as they listened to what he told them. 29You see, they knew he told them God’s word properly. He knew what he was talking about. Their law teachers never talked like that.#Mark 1:22; Luke 4:32
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