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In a loud and distracted world, Christian formation requires more than delivering biblical information. It calls people to listen to Jesus, receive His life, and put His words into practice. In Kingdom Wisdom Part 9, a message from Keys Vineyard on Matthew 7:24–27, the central question is not simply whether people have heard Christ’s words, but whether His voice is shaping how they live.

Jesus’ closing illustration in the Sermon on the Mount begins with a foundational statement: “Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24). Before Jesus speaks about houses, foundations, rain, streams, wind, and collapse, He speaks about hearing. That order matters for pastors, ministry leaders, and every Christian seeking to build a life that endures.

The challenge is especially relevant for churches that offer sermons, classes, podcasts, small groups, books, online resources, and endless opportunities to learn. These can be genuine gifts. Yet knowledge about the Christian life is not the same as being formed by Jesus. Leaders must continually help people move from collecting religious information to becoming attentive to the voice of Christ.

Everyone Is Listening to Someone

Every person is being formed by voices. Cable news, social media, advertisements, friends, coworkers, popular culture, and internal thoughts all communicate messages about what matters. They tell people what success should look like, what they should fear, what will make them happy, where security can be found, and what gives life meaning.

These messages often shape people before they recognize what is happening. Romans 12:2 warns believers not to conform to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. Paul’s warning is not merely about avoiding a list of cultural influences. It recognizes that the world has patterns of thought and evaluation that can quietly become normal for Christians as well.

Words have formative power. Encouraging words spoken years ago can still strengthen a person’s confidence and direction. Hurtful words can also remain lodged in someone’s memory and affect how they see themselves. The sermon’s pastoral point is simple and significant: words shape us. Jesus invites His people to let His words become the defining voice in their lives.

For leaders, this means discipleship should regularly include discernment. People need help naming the voices that are shaping their assumptions. A church can ask honest questions: What messages are influencing our understanding of security? What voices are teaching us how to respond to conflict? What is forming our view of success, significance, fear, or identity? These questions create space for people to recognize why listening to Jesus is not an abstract spiritual discipline but a daily necessity.

What Is the Difference Between Hearing Jesus and Listening to Jesus?

It is possible to hear words without truly receiving them. A person may be physically present in a conversation, hear every sentence, and still be mentally occupied with something else. The same can happen with Scripture. Christians can read familiar passages, hear preaching, know Bible stories, and still fail to pause long enough to consider what Jesus is personally saying.

This is why the account of Martha and Mary is so important. In Luke 10:38–42, Martha is occupied with preparations while Mary sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to Him. Jesus does not condemn service itself. Rather, He identifies that Mary has chosen what is better: being with Him, listening to Him, and receiving from Him.

Churches need both service and stillness. Ministry activity matters, but Christian activity cannot replace Christian relationship. Leaders are often particularly vulnerable here. The work of planning, caring, preaching, organizing, responding, and serving can become so consuming that leaders stop making space to listen to Jesus. A ministry calendar may be full while a leader’s inner life becomes thin.

Healthy leadership therefore includes practices that make room for attentiveness: unhurried Scripture reading, prayerful reflection, quiet before God, and honest response. These are not productivity techniques. They are ways of remaining with the One whose words give life. Those seeking practical encouragement for sustaining ministry with a Christ-centered focus may also benefit from resources at Church Encourager.

Why Are Jesus’ Words Different From Every Other Voice?

Jesus does not present His teaching as one helpful perspective among many. In Matthew 7:24, He says, “these words of mine.” He speaks as King. Throughout the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has described life under the Father’s reign: humility, mercy, forgiveness, prayer, generosity, trust, love, discernment, the narrow way, good fruit, and knowing Him.

His invitation is therefore not merely, “Consider this advice.” It is, “Build your life on My words.”

Peter recognized this when Jesus asked whether the disciples also wanted to leave Him. Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Jesus is not simply a teacher with useful information. His words carry life.

John 10:27 adds another essential dimension: “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Listening, being known, and following belong together. Biblical listening is relational. It is not passive intake of content; it is the response of people who belong to the Good Shepherd.

For ministry leaders, this changes the goal of teaching. The aim is not only to explain a passage accurately, although careful explanation matters. The aim is to help people encounter the living Christ through His Word and respond to Him in trust. Biblical study should cultivate both understanding and attentiveness. Those looking for further opportunities to grow in careful engagement with Scripture can explore Online Bible Institute.

How Does Listening to Jesus Shape Everyday Obedience?

Jesus joins hearing with practice: the wise person hears His words and puts them into practice. James makes the same point in James 1:22–25. He warns against merely listening to the Word without doing what it says, comparing that response to someone who looks in a mirror and walks away without responding to what was seen.

The warning is not that Christians must work harder in order to earn God’s approval. The sermon carefully emphasizes that obedience is the ordinary fruit of genuinely listening to Jesus. When people hear His voice, trust Him, and receive His life, they begin to respond.

Often that response is ordinary rather than dramatic. Jesus says forgive, and His people begin learning to forgive. He says not to worry, and they bring their anxieties to the Father. He says love your enemies, and they learn to respond differently to difficult people. He says seek first the Kingdom, and their priorities begin to change. He says to treat others as they would want to be treated, and they begin treating people differently.

Church leaders can make this connection clear by asking application questions that are concrete rather than vague. Instead of ending a message with “Try harder this week,” ask, “What is one next response Jesus may be inviting you to make today?” This helps people see that obedience is not a performance of religious effort. It is a response to the voice of the King.

How Can Churches Move From Information to Formation?

Matthew 7 repeatedly presents contrasting paths: two roads, two kinds of trees, two responses to Jesus, and then two builders. The sermon connects these contrasts to two fundamentally different ways of approaching life. One says, “I will decide what is true, what is good, and what will give me life.” The other says, “Father, I trust Your wisdom more than my own.”

Churches live in an age of almost unlimited information. People can access sermons from around the world, books, videos, podcasts, teachers, and Bible study resources. These can serve the church well. Yet the danger remains: believers can become knowledgeable about Christianity without allowing Jesus to shape the way they live.

Information becomes formative when it is received prayerfully, remembered personally, and practiced concretely. One simple pattern is to choose one teaching of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount for a week. A person might focus on mercy, loving enemies, not worrying, seeking first the Kingdom, or treating others as they would want to be treated. Read the teaching slowly. Think about it. Pray about it. Then ask, “Jesus, what would it look like for me to live this today?”

Leaders can model this by giving people time to be still, turn off distractions, and focus on Jesus. In a noisy world, stillness is not empty space. It is room to listen. As the sermon concludes, the call is to move beyond merely hearing Christ’s words so that they may reach the heart and shape a life built on the solid rock.

Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.

Ministry Leadership Begins with Knowing Jesus, Not Proving Ourselves

Matthew 7:21–23 is one of Jesus’ most searching warnings for pastors, ministry leaders, and every Christian who serves in His name. Jesus describes people who use the right language, claim meaningful spiritual activity, and point to visible accomplishments—yet hear the devastating words, “I never knew you.”

The issue is not that ministry, spiritual gifts, obedience, or service are unimportant. Jesus is not dismissing faithful work. He is exposing the danger of building our confidence on what we have done for Him while neglecting life with Him. As this message in the Kingdom Wisdom sermon series emphasizes, religious activity can never replace genuine relationship with Jesus.

For leaders, this is a needed word. It is possible to preach, organize, counsel, lead worship, pray for people, build programs, and carry substantial responsibility while slowly losing the habit of simply being with Christ. The call of Matthew 7 is not to abandon ministry, but to recover its proper source: abiding in Jesus.

What Does Matthew 7:21–23 Warn Ministry Leaders About?

Jesus says:

“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.”

He continues by describing those who appeal to prophecy, deliverance, and miracles done in His name. Their defense is not indifference or obvious irreligion. They claim significant spiritual activity. Yet Jesus’ final assessment is not that they lacked results, influence, giftedness, or public success. He says, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23).

This passage must be read in the flow of the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7 has presented consequential contrasts: two gates, two roads, two destinations, and two kinds of fruit. Jesus now goes deeper. A person may look religious on the surface, speak the vocabulary of faith, and participate in remarkable activity while still missing the life found in relationship with Him.

That warning should create humility, not anxiety-driven performance. Jesus is not describing sincere believers who struggle, fail, repent, and keep returning to Him. He is warning against claiming His name while living apart from His authority. The question is not whether a believer has ever stumbled. The question is whether we are learning to live under the reign of Jesus rather than using religious accomplishment to establish ourselves.

Why Saying “Lord” Is Not the Same as Living Under Jesus’ Lordship

Calling Jesus “Lord” matters. Confession is not insignificant. But Jesus teaches that the language of faith is not the same thing as knowing the Lord of our faith. People can know when to say “Amen,” sing worship songs, quote Bible verses, and give familiar answers without growing in communion with Christ.

For those in ministry, this distinction is especially important because we regularly use the language of faith publicly. We speak about God, explain Scripture, lead prayer, and invite others to trust Jesus. Those are holy responsibilities. But ministry language can become so familiar that leaders forget to bring their own hearts honestly before the Lord.

Calling Jesus Lord gains its meaning as we learn to live with Jesus as Lord. That kind of relationship includes listening, responding, repenting, trusting, and yielding our lives to Him. It is not merely correct theology stated from a platform; it is a life increasingly shaped by the character and authority of Christ.

Can Impressive Ministry Activity Exist Without Spiritual Intimacy?

Jesus’ answer is sobering: yes. The people in Matthew 7 point to spiritually impressive works. Yet visible activity is not automatically evidence of spiritual intimacy. This does not mean we should become suspicious of every gift, ministry, or testimony. It means we should not confuse gifts with maturity, outcomes with abiding, or public usefulness with private surrender.

The sermon makes an important distinction: the power is in the name of Jesus, not in human accomplishment. The name of Jesus is above every name, and there is power in His name. Leaders therefore have no reason to boast as though spiritual fruit originated with us. We are recipients and servants of grace.

Paul makes a related point in 1 Corinthians 13:1–3. Eloquence, prophetic insight, faith, generosity, and sacrifice can amount to nothing without love. The Christian life is not ultimately measured by how impressive we appear. It is about Christ’s life being formed in us.

This is a vital leadership diagnostic. We may be busy doing things we believe Jesus wants done, while neglecting what the preacher called “the glorious opportunity to just be with Jesus.” Relationships require time and attention. It can feel easier to ask for a list of rules, tasks, or measurable outcomes. But rule-following cannot replace the relationship for which we were created.

Leaders seeking encouragement in the daily work of shepherding others may also benefit from the pastoral resources at Church Encourager. Healthy encouragement does not flatter performance; it helps people return to the presence and grace of Jesus.

What Is the Father’s Will in Matthew 7?

When Jesus says that only those who do the Father’s will enter the kingdom of heaven, many readers immediately feel pressure to do more, work harder, or become more religious. But the wider teaching of Jesus directs us first toward receiving and trusting the Son.

In John 6:40, Jesus says, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life.” The Father’s will begins with looking to Jesus, believing in Him, receiving His life, and learning to live under His loving reign.

This does not make obedience optional. It puts obedience in its proper order. Obedience is the expression of relationship, not an attempt to earn one. Ministry leaders need this order continually restored because leadership environments can make work feel like proof of worthiness. But our standing does not rest in our output. We serve from relationship with Christ, not for the right to have one.

John 15:4–5 gives the central image: Jesus is the vine, and His people are the branches. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. “Apart from me you can do nothing.” Kingdom life is not something we independently produce and then present to Jesus. We receive His life, remain in Him, and see His life bear fruit through us.

How Can Leaders Measure Faithfulness Without Becoming Performance-Driven?

Church leaders need wise ways to evaluate ministry. Attendance, generosity, volunteer engagement, and organizational health can provide useful information. But none of these measurements can answer the deepest question: Are we abiding in Christ?

The better questions are relational and formative. Are we spending time with Jesus, or are we only busy on His behalf? Are we measuring our spiritual lives primarily by activity or by relationship? Is our life increasingly reflecting Jesus’ character in love, patience, humility, grace, and trust?

These questions do not eliminate practical leadership responsibilities. They ensure that practical responsibilities remain connected to the life of God. For church teams looking to think carefully about sustainable, Christ-centered ministry practices, Church Consultant provides a helpful context for leadership development shaped by the life of the local church.

Jesus describes eternal life relationally in John 17:3: knowing “the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” Eternal life is not merely knowing about God or accomplishing things in His name. It is knowing Him.

Life Is Received, Not Achieved

Matthew 7 presents two different approaches to Jesus. One says, “Lord, look at everything I have done for you.” The other says, “Lord, apart from you, I can do nothing.” One tries to establish standing through religious accomplishment. The other receives life through relationship with Christ.

The sermon captures this contrast in a concise phrase: “Life is received not achieved.” That is not a call to passivity. It is an invitation to stop trying to create spiritual life independently. We are invited to receive the life of God, abide in Christ, and then do the next right thing He places before us.

For leaders, this may require a simple but serious return to practices that make room for relationship: talking with Jesus, listening for Him, reading Scripture, bringing our motives into the light, receiving prayer, and allowing Him to reshape the hidden parts of our lives. The goal is not to perform spirituality more effectively. The goal is to know Jesus and live from His life.

A simple prayer for this week is: “Jesus, I don’t just want to do things or good things. I want to know you and live from your life.”

That prayer leads us back to the center. Jesus has done everything necessary to make relationship with God possible through the cross and resurrection. He invites us to say yes, follow Him, remain in Him, and bear fruit that comes from His life rather than our striving.

Steve Lawes is a Church Consultant and also provides coaching for pastors, churches, ministries and church planters.