Two Gates, Two Trees and Two Houses: Jesus’ Clear Warnings
One of my favorite things about studying the Bible is Jesus’ illustrations. He was a terrific storyteller, often using parables to convey important messages in a memorable way. Take, for example, Matthew chapter 7, when Jesus compared two types of gates—a narrow gate and a wide gate; two types of trees—one that produces good fruit, the other bad fruit; and finally, two houses—one built on rock, the other on sand.
These stories are actually warnings to us.
Two Gates
Beginning in Matthew 7:13, Jesus tells us that there are two gates, or two paths that we can follow as we live our lives.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, NASB).
In this passage, which is part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is speaking to a large crowd about how the Jewish religious leaders were leading them astray. These leaders and many of the Jewish people were more interested in appearing outwardly to be religious by practicing rituals that others could see. They were using the wide gate, which signifies a dependence on ourselves and obtaining our own self-righteousness and salvation through trying to do things outwardly to impress others, rather than total dependence upon God, and recognizing that everything good is a gift from Him. These Jewish religious leaders and their followers totally missed that Jesus was the Messiah who was written about in the Old Testament. They didn’t recognize that they needed a savior, as they thought they were righteous enough by doing outwardly things. The wide gate represents our culture today, characterized by being self-dependent, self-absorbed (me, me, me) and wanting to appear outwardly better than everyone else. This is driven by social media. It also is comprised of every one of the world’s religions, other than true Christianity, that teach that if you are just good enough, and do certain things, and practice certain rituals and sacraments, you just might earn your way and make it to be with God for eternity.
The narrow gate that Jesus was referring to is a personal relationship with God, not doing a bunch of religious rituals and sacraments to try and earn your way to heaven. It is accepting the free gift of your salvation by realizing you are a hopeless sinner who can’t get right with God on your own, and can only get right with God by placing your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It means not wasting any more time and energy trying to appear outwardly in a way to be accepted by the culture, but rather asking the Holy Spirit to live in you, to change your heart, and transform you into the person God made you to be. God sees the inward appearance of our heart, not our outward appearance to others.
Which gate are you trying to pass through, the narrow gate of a deep personal relationship with Jesus as your Lord and Savior, or the wide gate of acceptance by today’s culture (which Jesus told us leads to destruction)?
Two Trees
Now let’s look at Jesus’ second warning as communicated through the comparison of two trees.
“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20, NASB).
Jesus talked about false prophets and wolves that appear as sheep before He talked about the two different types of trees. What He was talking about is deception. The false prophet is one who appears to be speaking for God, but he is a deceiver. A false prophet doesn’t speak for God at all, and tries to deceive you and pull you away from God.
Jesus described these false prophets as a wolf dressed in sheep’s clothing. These people who existed in Jesus’ time and are present today, even in some of our churches. They use black highlighters on the verses in the Bible that are contrary to our culture, and tell the congregation what they want to hear in keeping with the culture. Jesus is telling us to beware of those people, even though they may appear religious on the outside. They will deceive you and pull you away from the true Word of God.
In the same way, a tree can’t deceive for very long. Once the season for bearing fruit arrives, we’ll know what kind of tree it is. Jesus is warning us to beware of people who appear on the outside to be religious, and perhaps even appear to be followers of Christ, but are not and will lead us astray.
We can never really know anyone else’s heart and we’re not called to judge others. We can observe others, however, and if they are trying to sway you into unbiblical beliefs or if there isn’t evidence of good fruit and saving faith in their life, you need pray for them and be careful not to be drawn into false beliefs by them.
Even more importantly, we can reflect on our own lives. What fruit do you most often produce? We’re all still sinners—all of us stumble from time to time. As Christians, though, our hearts have been transformed by the Holy Spirit living inside us. If we have true saving faith, we should have fruit that we produce in our lives to evidence that transformation. So what fruit are you producing? Do others know you are a Christian by your fruit? Ask the Holy Spirit to help you continue to transform and produce good fruit.
Two Houses
Jesus’ final warning in this passage is communicated through a comparison of two houses, one built on rock and one built on sand.
“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and slammed against that house; and it fell -- and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27, NASB).
Jesus’ final warning and challenge to us in this chapter is that it’s up to each of us to exercise our free will and choose between life with Him or a life of destruction. Jesus is saying that anyone who knows that there will be a coming judgment of all mankind, but ignores Jesus’ teachings, choosing to live their life focused on their own selfish desires and acceptance by the culture, is as foolish as a person who builds their house on the sand.
If you notice in Jesus’ parable, both builders were exposed to Jesus’ teachings, but only one obeyed what he heard. Jesus called the first builder wise. Jesus called the second builder foolish, emphasizing that he would suffer hardships not only in this life, but he would also suffer eternal separation from God.
These parables in Matthew 7 remind us of what an honor and privilege it is to have Jesus Christ as our rock, our foundation, and our Lord and our Savior, giving us the gift of forgiveness and our salvation, which we don’t deserve and can never earn. As Christians, we must be willing to ask the Holy Spirit to transform us and remove our selfish desires and pride, and help us to live a life of obedience to God. God can and will change our desires and hearts if let Him.