Matthew 7-8; Psalm 84

Matthew 7

Matthew chapter 7 is the conclusion to the “Sermon on the Mount.”  ALL of Matthew’s gospel points to Jesus – the coming king.  Matthew’s primary audience is the Jew – who is steeped in the Mosaic Law.  Christian readers refer to this as “Kingdom living.”

Chapter 5 describes “holiness.”  Chapter 6 introduces the question of our motivation for holiness along with a view toward the heavenlies:

·         Matt 6:1 "Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them” NIV

·         Matt 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life…” NIV

Chapter 7 is basically saying, “Don’t worry about the next guy; worry about yourself” in the context of your eternal destiny.

Matthew 7:1-6 - Do not judge hypocritically in the spirit of condemnation.  Rather, the N.T. discusses our judging in the sense of helping.  (Gal 6:1-2)

Matthew 7:7-12 – “Ask, Seek, Knock”  The context here does not suggest a “gimme, gimme, gimme” kind of prayer.  Look at “The Lord’s Prayer” in chapter 6 à”Thy kingdom come.”  How do I enter God’s kingdom?  Through salvation!  Luke’s “Ask, Seek, Knock” version gives us the key by adding “Holy Spirit” to the text: Luke 11:13 “how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" NIV

Matthew 7:13-14 - The Narrow Gate  What or WHO is the gate?  Jesus! He said, “I am the gate” Jn 10:9.  He said, “I am the way” Jn 14:6  ONE way to the kingdom is not remarkable.  Any way at all is remarkable since all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.  Is 64:6

Matthew 7:15-23 - False Prophets  Having the “saved by grace” message, we need to be on the lookout for phonies (Gal 1:6-9).

Matthew 7:24-27 - The Wise Builder  The Wise Builder  Secure in our salvation and guided in our motivation for kingdom living, we should focus our attention to rewards at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor 3:11-15).

I have a tune stuck in my head; and maybe it will stick in yours:

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly lean on Jesus' Name

On Christ the solid Rock I stand

ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND

ALL OTHER GROUND IS SINKING SAND

Matthew 8

The healing of the leper typifies Matt 5:17: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” NIV  Leprosy was incurable until the 20th century.  In Bible times it was an incurable disease where death was a certainty.  Thus, leprosy is a picture of SIN.  Christ came to heal our infirmities (Matt 8:17).  In this passage, He went beyond that by pointing the healed leper to the priest (Lv 13) as yet another fulfillment of the Law. Note: if the healed leper went, the priest should have gotten the clue that Jesus was the Messiah because no one after Miriam to this point had ever been healed of leprosy in Israel.

The Bible never says whether the centurion’s servant was Jew or Gentile; but the centurion (A Roman officer) was certainly a Gentile. Jesus came to save ALL PEOPLES – Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, slave or free.  Consider the Canaanite woman in Matt 5:21-28 who begged for athe healing of her Gentile daughter: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”

The two healings show Christ’s salvation through faith (Matt 8:2; Matt 8:10).  The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law shows how Jesus prepares us for service (“she got up and began to wait on him.”) Everyone of us is endowed with spiritual gifts.  In her case, it was the gift of hospitality.  Jesus can remove barriers (maybe excuses?) for not serving.

The inquiring teacher and the disciples on the stormy lake speak volumes to Christians.  If the teacher’s father were already dead, the teacher would not be on the scene with Jesus.  In effect, the teacher was asking for some “procrastination time.”  “NOW is the accepted time, NOW is the day of salvation” – 2 Cor 6:2.  The stormy lake is a scene within Christian service.  The disciples “left their nets and followed Him”; but Christian service is not always “smooth sailing.” In Matt 14:28-32.  Peter did an extraordinary thing (he walked on water).  We too can do extraordinary things when we keep our eyes on Jesus.  But when we consider the wind and the waves, we can falter.  Jesus simply asks, “Why did you doubt?”

Finally, two demon-possessed men were exorcised.  Several points here:

·         The demons know and believe in Christ – James 2:19

·         The Gadarene people seemed more concerned with their loss of pigs than the reclamation of the two men.

The teacher, the disciples, and the Gadarenes all dealt with faith, doubt, and priorities.  What about you?  To borrow a phrase from an old radio program, “Walk with the King today and be a blessing.”

Psalm 84

Ps 84:10 “Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.”  When David wrote this, there was no temple and no indwelling of the Holy Spirit (that came on Pentecost).  Psalm 84 was written when David was on the lam – being chased by his son Absalom – so no home to speak of.  So what courts was he yearning for?  What was his spiritual state?


David had already repented of his sins of Bathsheba and Urriah (Psalm 51) and was now experiencing the punishment foretold by Nathan in 2 Sam 12. “the sword will never depart from your house!”  David is not backslidden in this psalm looking for a restored fellowship.  He is already in fellowship – searching for an even better relationship with God.  Consider verse 2: “My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.”


Now look at OUR window of time.  We don’t have a Jerusalem temple but we do have the indwelling Holy Spirit (Eph 4:30).  So what is OUR application:

·         Each of us is a temple – if we are saved:

1 Cor 6:19-20Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. NIV

·         Our congregation is a temple:

2 Cor 6:16 For we [plural] are the temple [singular] of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." NIV

Eph 2:19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. NIV

·         There is a temple in the heavenlies:

Rev 21:22-27 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.  NIV

So we can yearn for any/all of the above:  a closer walk, a tighter community of believers, a return of Jesus Christ (Rev 22:20).


Similar to David, the Apostle John saw a lot of life: from fisherman to disciple to an aged pastor.  He saw the miracles of Jesus; he laid his head on Christ’s breast.  But then Jesus went home to His Father.  John too yearned for the courts of the Lord and wants that yearning to be shared with us:

1 John 1:1-7 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched — this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to make our joy complete. 

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  NIV

~John Skrabak