The Sermon on the Mount is, in part, about the Christian’s ethical obligations. Citizens of God’s kingdom must live lives that are distinguished from the unrighteousness of the world. Genuine Christian righteousness is to govern our relationship to the church (5:17-48), acts of piety (6:1-18), material possessions (6:19-34), and our relationships outside the covenant community (7:1-12). In the final few sections of the Sermon, Jesus presses upon us the seriousness of the choices before us. The way of the world is wide and easily accessed. The path of true godliness which leads to life is narrow.

In typical Jewish fashion, Jesus employs dualism to warn us of the consequences of the choices we make. Either we can go the world’s way or we can follow the way that leads to life. He describes the narrow and wide gates (vv. 13-14), false and true prophets (vv. 15-20), and deceived or sincere hearts. In each example we are pressed to the point of decision. Either we will go the way of the Lord and his salvation or we will go the way of the world which leads only to destruction.

False teachers are like trees that produce bad fruit. Ultimately they lead God’s people down paths of unrighteousness and will themselves face the Lord’s judgment. The same is true for those who confess Jesus as Lord while denying that confession in how they live. They will protest that they have done many impressive things in his name but the Lord will cast them away. Their lives contradicted the words they pronounced: “Lord, Lord!” This is a warning for every professing Christian. Does our faith consist of words only? Or is there a real and growing connection between our confession that Jesus is Lord and the way in which we live?