Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / The Sermon On The Mount

Raising The Bar Without Worry 4/13/08

Message: ‘Raising the Bar with careful examination’

Text: Matthew 7:1-6  

Introduction: 5yr old  Andrew, while visiting a neighbor, pulled out the picture of his Kindergarten class and immediately began to describe each classmate.

·       This is Joey: he hits everyone.

·       This is Stephen: He never listens to the teacher.

·       This is Mark: He chases us and is very noisy.

Pointing to himself, he said:

·          And this is me. I’m just sitting here minding my own business.      (Matthew Parker)

Isn’t it interesting that everyone in the picture is mentioned as doing something wrong…except little Andrew? Isn’t that just like us? We’re always the one just sitting there minding our own business…doing what’s right when everyone else is doing what’s wrong….at least that’s how we see it.

And many times have we looked at someone and made a snap judgment about them?

ILL: Dodie Gadient, a schoolteacher, decided to travel across America and see the sights she had taught about. Traveling alone in a truck with camper in tow, she launched out. One afternoon rounding a curve on I-5 near Sacramento in rush-hour traffic, a water pump blew on her truck. She was tired, exasperated, scared, and alone. In spite of the traffic jam she caused, no one seemed interested in helping.

She prayed,  ‘Please God, send me an angel . . . preferably one with mechanical experience.’ Within four minutes, a huge Harley drove up, ridden by an enormous man sporting long, black hair, a beard and tattooed arms. With an incredible air of confidence, he jumped off and, without even glancing at Dodie, went to work on the truck. Within another few minutes, he flagged down a larger truck, attached a tow chain to the frame, and whisked the whole rig off the freeway onto a side street, where he calmly continued to work on the water pump.

The intimidated schoolteacher was too dumbfounded to talk. Especially when she read the paralyzing words on the back of his leather jacket:  ‘Hell’s Angels -- California’.

As he finished the task, she finally got up the courage to say, ‘Thanks so much,’ and carry on a brief conversation. Noticing her surprise at the whole ordeal, he looked her straight in the eye and mumbled, ‘Don’t judge a book by its cover. You may not know who you’re talking to.’ With that, he smiled, closed the hood of the truck, and straddled his Harley. With a wave, he was gone as fast as he had appeared. (Jeremy  Houck)

How many times have we looked at someone and made a snap judgment about them?

We expect the world to pre-judge people…not Christians. But, we too, often make hasty judgments about people and Jesus has something to say about that.

Transition: Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 7:1 (pg. 741 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there that we’ll find we raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in our lives with careful evaluation.

I. Matthew 7:1,6         Examine the Command

Read: Matthew 7:1,6

Verses one and six are connected so we will look at them together.

‘Judge not lest you be judged.’ Just might be the most quoted verse in all the Bible. Quoted by both Christian and non-Christian alike….But most of the people who quote this verse, misinterpret what Jesus said.

‘Judge not lest you be judged.’    

·       Hey, be tolerant, don’t make your choices my choices, your lifestyle, my lifestyle…is how it’s interpreted.

Those who want to justify their sinful behavior will throw this verse loudly in your face.

ILL: A few years ago a church in Oklahoma excommunicated a member of the congregation for immorality because she refused to repent and turn away from her sin. It had affected the life of the church and the leadership needed to enact the discipline found in Matthew 18. Well, she filed a lawsuit against the church. She later appeared on the Phil Donahue show where the attitude the audience and Phil Donahue displayed was ‘Judge not lest you be judged.’ (Alan Smith)

Too many people seem to think Jesus is commanding a universal acceptance of any lifestyle, any behavior or any teaching…he’s not!

Jesus isn’t telling us, not to judge others. In verses 15-16 he’ll tell us to know people by their fruit. To do that we need to make some sort of assessment…judgment about them. We see this also in verse 6. Jesus is telling us to make an assessment, to judge.

Read: Matthew 7:3 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.’

ILL: You can take a pig and put him in a bathtub. You wash him, floss his teeth, put moose on his tail. But when you put him back outside you know where he’ll go? Right back in the mud.

Jesus is saying there are people like that. These are hard words, I know. And I struggled with even including them in this message. You see, there are people who want nothing to do with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is saying we should judge where, when and to whom we share his message of salvation.

Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying we should ever right someone off as never getting saved. I am saying we should judge, discern when people are spiritually prepared and not continually spend time sharing Christ with those who aren’t.

Read: Matthew 10:14 ‘If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town.’

Look, go back from time to time and tell them about Christ…but move on.

Jesus isn’t saying we shouldn’t judge others. I believe he is commanding us is not to develop a critical or judgmental spirit.

·       He’s talking about our attitude towards others.

·       He’s talking about our tendency to condemn others and to be judgmental and self-righteous…like little Andrew, remember?

When Jesus was at Simon the Pharisee’ home and a woman anointed his feet with oil, listen to what Simon said:

Read: Luke 7:39 ‘When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.’

Pharisees in their self-righteous arrogance had created a special class of people called ‘sinners’ and acted as if they themselves were not part of that group.

Matthew 7:1 in The Message, Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the Bible, reads this way.

‘Don’t pick on people; jump on their failures, or criticize their faults’

I like that…it uses words and concepts we understand. It doesn’t make Jesus’ command not to be judgmental any easier to obey, but it does make it easer to know when we’re being disobedient.

Transition: When we talk about judging others we need to carefully examine Jesus’ command. We also need to carefully examine the standard we use for judging others.

II. Matthew 7:2 Examine the Standard

Read: Matthew 7:2

Jesus doesn’t prohibit judging others. He only requires that our judgment be fair and that the standard we use to judge others is the same standard we use to judge ourselves.

Jesus says this because we often have a ‘double standard’ when we judge others. And the standard is much higher for others than it is for us. That’s hypocrisy and it’s sin.

According to the Pharisees in Jesus’ day, God had two standards that he used to judge people.

·       One was the standard of justice

·       The other was the standard of mercy.

Can you guess which one the Pharisees believe God used to judge them?

ILL: If you are familiar with the Peanuts cartoon strip then you know Lucy. She’s a constant faultfinder and always quick to criticize her friends. One day Linus asks Lucy. Why are you always so anxious to criticize me? Lucy replies; I just think I have a knack for seeing other people’s faults. Linus says; "What about your own faults? And Lucy replies; I have a knack for overlooking them. (Jerry Watts)

Let me make it practical:

·       I am firm: But you are obstinate.

·       I have reconsidered: But you are pig headed.

·       I have changed my mind: But you have gone back on your word.

See the double standard?

The practical questions are

·       Which standard do you want others to measure you with?

·       Which standard do you want God to measure you with?

Jesus is saying we must use that same standard to judge others.

Something should sound familiar about his verse? Lets look back to the Lord’s Prayer for a moment.

Read: Matthew 6:12, 14-15

·       Do you want to know the blessing of God’s forgiveness? Then be generous in your forgiveness of others.

·       Do you want to know the blessing of God’s mercy when he examines your life? Then be generous in how you show mercy as you examine the lives of others.

Jesus is the premier preacher…see how his teachings all fit nicely together?

What standard are you holding up to others? Can you live by that same standard?

Sidebar: We need to be especially careful when we judge others who are less spiritually mature.

Read: Paul, in Romans 14:1-2 said ‘Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.’

Yes, you actually might be using the same standard to judge others as you use to judge your own life…but because you’re further along on your journey of faith, your standard just might be too high for them.

And I shouldn’t need to mention this but I will. The correct standard to judge others and ourselves…is what? God’s Word. Not our feelings, beliefs, experiences or practices.

Transition: We must carefully examine Jesus’ command, we must carefully examine our standard, finally we must carefully examine ourselves.

III. Matthew 7:3-5      Examine Your Life

Read: Matthew 7:3-5

Let me give you a practical illustration of what Jesus is saying.

(Have someone come up and ask me to get the splinter out of their eye. Then get 2x4 and try to help them)

Who ever said that Jesus didn’t have a great sense of humor?

·       By this illustration, Jesus is showing us how we’re generally more tolerant of our own sin than we are of the sin of others.

·       By this illustration Jesus is showing us that our hypocrisy is generally more evident to others than it is to ourselves.

·       By this illustration, Jesus is showing us that we have the sin of self-righteousness when we appoint ourselves as the official speck inspector of the church.

Look…Jesus doesn’t say it’s wrong to help a brother who needs to have his sin revealed so his can deal with it. He’s saying that we must do so understanding that we too are guilty of sin.

He’s saying that

·       We should carefully examine our own life… first.

·       We should carefully examine our own faults… first.

·       We should carefully examine our own hearts… first.

Before, we attempt to help a brother or sister to deal with their life, faults and hearts.

Read: Like the Psalmist our constant prayer should be ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.’ (Psalm 139:23-24)

If we do that, perhaps we’ll use the standard of mercy instead of judgment in our relationships with others. Then we can get on with the business of loving each other, which is by the way, the central theme and mark of the Christian life.

Conclusion

ILL: There was a story in the Daily Bread about a minister who went on a cruise across the Atlantic Ocean. On the first day, he met his roommate. About a half hour later, he went to see the cruise director. He said, “Normally I don’t do this, but I was wondering if I could leave my gold watch in the ship’s safe. I met my roommate, and judging from his appearance, he doesn’t seem like a trustworthy person. He looks like the kind of guy who would steal.” The cruise director said, “No problem. In fact, your roommate left his wallet with us about ten minutes ago for the same reason!” (Marc Axelrod)

 

·       Do you want others to give you the benefit of the doubt? Then give it to them.

·       Do you want others to think well of you even if they don’t always understand you? Then do the same for them.

·       Do you want others to extend mercy to you rather than judgment? Then be merciful.

Jesus calls us to love one another, to seek the highest good for one another, to build up one another.

Judgmental attitudes tear down. Critical spirits discourage. And there’s no place in the life of the church…or in the life of the Christian for either.

If you find either attitude in your life…ask God to enable you to pull out the plank in your eye.

We raise the bar of spiritual expectations and actions in our lives with careful evaluation.