Identical twin boys
were born to one of our church families late Thursday night. Thankfully, each
of the newborns is wearing a beanie cap with his name on it! Otherwise it would
be hard to distinguish one from the other. That’s the point of our study today –
discernment. It’s a key to the kingdom.
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notes, not written in a polished or finished manuscript form. To see the video
of this and other sermons:
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An old man
complained that everything in the house was dirty. The dishes. The couch. The
clothes. The walls. The floor. He complained that is, until, while he was
asleep, his wife slipped off his glasses and cleaned them!
Discern – to see clearly, distinguish, spot the
difference, separate the good from the bad, but also to identify and choose the
best over the good and the better.
From Latin discernere,
literally “to separate off,” from cernere “to separate, determine”
(source of English certain).]
Php 1:9 And this I pray,
that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you
may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless
until the day of Christ; 11 having been filled with the fruit of
righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Reading: Matt 7:1-12
“Judge not, lest you be judged.” Many use
these frequently-quoted words of Jesus to say in effect, “You cannot condemn
anything that others do! Any such critique is hate speech, and you are the one
who is wrong!” In fact Jesus warns us against a nitpicking, faultfinding
attitude that maximizes others’ flaws while ignoring our own. He calls us to
discernment.
Matt 7:1-12 – These
verses appear to present separate, self-contained thoughts and teachings.
Yet there is a
common thread – network of relationships.
Discernment in each.
Stott: quite logical that, having described a
Christian’s character, influence, righteousness, piety and ambition, Jesus
should concentrate finally on his relationships. For the Christian
counter-culture is not an individualistic but a community affair, and relations
both within the community and between the community and others are of paramount
importance. So now the network of relationships into which, as the followers of
Jesus, we are drawn.
Your Brother – 7:1-5
Mt 7:1 “Do not judge so
that you will not be judged. 2 “For in the way you judge, you will be
judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3
“Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice
the log that is in your own eye? 4 “Or how can you say to your brother,
‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your own
eye? 5 “You 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.”
So much easier to
condemn the faults of others than to admit our own.
To magnify their
splinter while ignoring, denying, or minimizing our own log.
To put others under
a microscope and put ourselves on a pedestal.
To drive down the
road of life, running down others because of our own blind spot.
To be critical. To
gossip. To throw dirt. To build ourselves up by putting others down.
Jesus had a name for such a person: hypocrite.
And He gave a warning: you will be judged, and by the
same measure.
SCOOP.
Admit your critical,
fault-finding habits, motives.
Choose your scoop:
judgment, mercy. Jas 2:13
Start with the man
in the mirror. Jas 1:22-25
Be careful lest you
condemn yourself! Rom 2:1-2.
Repent! Remove that
log! See everything afresh!
Then help your
brother tenderly, kindly, carefully.
Wiersbe: One of the easiest ways to cover our sins is to judge others. It
is not wrong to exercise discernment (v. 6), but we must start with ourselves.
Often we are guilty of the sins we think we see in others (Rom. 2:1–3). We need
prayer and love if we are to perform successful “eye surgery” on our brothers
and sisters. We must treat them the way we want them to treat us.
A preview of the Golden Rule coming in 7:12.
Jumping to conclusions.
Deciding what others’ motives are.
Nitpicking. Exaggerating. Gossiping.
Finding delight in the failures of others.
Decide how you want
to be judged, and act accordingly.
Here’s what I want
others to do for me. If you are sure that I have sinned, come and help me. Lift
me up. Show me the way.
Love covers a
multitude of sins.
If you are generous,
lenient,
If you give the
benefit of the doubt,
If you assume the
best motives rather than the least,
If you assign guilt
only as a last resort, when all the evidence is in and you have no other choice
…
If you weep as you
realize that someone you love, and God loves, has sinned -
So you will be
treated. By others. By God.
Parallel in Luke:
Lk 6:37 “Do not judge, and
you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned;
pardon, and you will be pardoned. 38 “Give, and it will be given to you.
They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and
running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in
return.”
Tenderness in
removing that speck. Walt Cooper had steel in his eye. Ouch!
Jas 1:22 But prove
yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. 23
For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who
looks at his natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at
himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.
25 But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty,
and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer,
this man will be blessed in what he does.
Does Jesus forbid
all judgment?
Affirming God’s Judgment
Jn 7:24 “Not by
appearances; right judgment.”
We do not know
motives, but we see behavior.
When we call sinful
behavior, “sin” …
When we uphold
marriage, sexuality, and life …
When we speak God’s
truth in love about …
We are not
“judging.” We are quoting the Judge!
Popular extreme today:
“You can’t say that anything is wrong, because Jesus
said, ‘Judge not!’”
Especially if it has
to do with the private, moral behavior of others.
Or the religious beliefs
of others, as long as they are sincere.
In our postmodern age, many no longer believe
in absolute truth or a single standard of morality based on the Bible. That’s
why the Ten Commandments have become so dangerous! They are judgmental! If you
quote them, you are judgmental, too! And someone may quote Matthew 7:1 to you!
Jesus accepted,
endorsed, and practiced certain kinds of judgment. He called sin “sin.” He even
called hypocrites “hypocrites.”
Earlier in the
Sermon: angry, Raca, fool, fire of hell; settle matters quickly with your
adversary … court, judge, prison …
Later in the Sermon:
dogs, pigs, false prophets.
To see a tree with
bad fruit, and to say, “That’s a tree with bad fruit!” is not to judge the
tree, at least in an evil way, but to state the obvious.
Clearly we have to
use our powers of discernment to assess and evaluate.
If we recognize a false teacher, and refuse to follow
him, we have not disobeyed Jesus’ teaching about judging.
Even in this
paragraph; in 7:5, he calls people “hypocrites!”
John 7:24 “Do not
judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment.”
When we preach God’s word, we are not judging.
We are not acting as judges. We are quoting the Judge!
“Dogs” and “Pigs” – 7:6
6 “Do not give what
is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will
trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”
Surprise! After
telling His disciples not to judge, Jesus insists that we not waste what is
precious on “dogs” and “pigs!”
Shocking and
startling after His call for constructive treatment of brothers.
But Jesus called
things as they were – fox, hypocrites, brood of vipers.
In fact He’s just used
the term “hypocrite” above.
The context provides
a healthy balance. If we are not to ‘judge’ others, finding fault with them in
a censorious, condemning or hypocritical way, we are not to ignore their faults
either and pretend that everybody is the same.
“Dogs” and “Pigs” –
7:6
Vicious, violent,
dangerous, unclean animals.
Known by their
obvious, outward behavior.
Do not waste holy or
precious things on them.
They will not
recognize or respect such things.
They will resent you
and possibly attack you.
Ps 1:1; Prov 9:8; Mt
10:11-16; Ac 13:46; Phil 3:2
These words sound
like the Proverbs. So let’s look at Proverbs for others.
Proverbs 26:11
11 As a dog returns
to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.
Proverbs 26:17
17 Like one who
seizes a dog by the ears is a passer-by who meddles in a quarrel not his own.
Pr 11:22 As a ring of gold
in a swine’s snout So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
Dogs and pigs –
unclean in OT.
Dogs cannot
appreciate anything that’s holy. So give it to someone who can.
Pigs cannot see the
value of pearls. They may just run right over them. More than that, they may
attack you and tear you to pieces.
Don’t fight with a pig! You can’t win. You’ll get
filthy. And the pig will enjoy it!
Pr 9:8 Do not reprove a
scoffer, or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you.
Vicious, violent animals
with dirty habits as well.
Dogs and pigs –
unclean in OT.
Not the well-behaved
lapdogs of an elegant home but the wild pariah dogs, vagabonds and mongrels,
which scavenged in the city’s rubbish dumps.
Php 3:2 Beware of the dogs,
beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision …
And pigs were
unclean animals to the Jew, not to mention their love for mud. The apostle
Peter was later to refer to them by bringing together two proverbs: ‘The dog
turns back to his own vomit,’ and ‘The sow is washed only to wallow in the
mire.’ The reference is at least to the fact that there are antagonistic,
animal-like unbelievers, whose nature
has never been renewed. They possess physical or animal life, but not spiritual
or eternal life.
A Jew would never
hand ‘holy’ food (perhaps food previously offered in sacrifice) to unclean
dogs. Nor would he ever dream of throwing pearls to pigs. Not only were they
also unclean, but they would probably mistake the pearls for nuts or peas, try
to eat them and then—finding them inedible—trample on them and even assault the
giver.
Your Father – 7:7-11
7 “Ask, and it will
be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8
“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks
it will be opened. 9 “Or what man is there among you who, when his son
asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? 10 “Or if he asks for a fish, he
will not give him a snake, will he? 11 “If you then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is
in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
Ask – receive. Seek
– find, Knock – opened.
Incentive to prayer:
guaranteed results!
Timid? Hesitant?
Cautious? Bold! Confident! Sure!
Analogy: human
fathers, though “evil” (sinful) … Would not substitute a stone or a snake. “How
much more” the perfect Father!
“He who did not
spare His own Son ...” Rom 8:32
All People – 7:12
12 “In everything,
therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is
the Law and the Prophets.”
“Therefore …” as
your Father treats you.
Parallel to “Love
your neighbor as yourself.”
Matt 5:17 “To
fulfill the Law and the Prophets.”
This IS the Law and
the Prophets. One covers all.
“In everything.” Not
based on circumstances or one’s mood, but based on the Lord’s command.
I naturally want
_________, so I will __________.
If you could lump
together everything the Bible teaches about human relationships, and cover it
all with just one statement, what would it be? About marriage. Neighbors.
Fellow Christians. Coworkers. Even enemies.
Not, “Do it to
others before they do it to you!”
Not, “Do to others
as they did it to you!”
Not, “Do to others
as you think they deserve!”
Not, “Don’t
do to others what you would not want them to do to you.”
Lit., “this is
the law and the prophets.”
Context. Why begin
with “so” or “therefore?”
Do not judge.
Help your brother
remove his speck.
You know how to give
good gifts to your children.
Your Father gives
good gifts to those who ask Him.
Therefore …
If someone asks you,
will his request be granted?
If someone seeks
help from you, will he find it?
If someone knocks on
your
door, will you open it?
Transition. Moves
from what you would want for yourself to what you do for others.
Natural desire to care for,
feed, nurture, protect yourself. Bible assumes that.
Unnatural (supernatural) to
do that for others.
I know how I would
like to be treated. That’s simple.
I want to be
encouraged, respected, appreciated, included, forgiven …
I want to be treated
with courtesy, kindness, patience, understanding …
I am very tolerant
toward myself! I have decided to live with myself, and make the best of it, in
spite of myself!
But to treat you “as
if I were you” is quite different.
The parent has been
a child. The teacher has been a student. The employer has been an employee. The
married person has been a single. The elder, deacon, or minister was a member
first. The saint has been a sinner.
If we can remember
what we once were (a child, immature, single, etc.), we will always know how to
treat those who are in that state now.
How do we treat
people who are foolish, disobedient, deceived, etc.? The way we needed to be
treated when we were in the same boat! The way God treated us!
Possible
hymns:
Create in Me a Clean
Heart
Humble Yourself in
the Sight of the Lord
Just a Closer Walk
with Thee
Each Step I Take
My Jesus, as Thou
Wilt
Let the Beauty of
Jesus Be Seen in Me
