<< Back to April 2001 Sermons

2001
29th April (pm) - A Christian's Eyesight
MATTHEW 7:1-6

The Christian life involves the totality of our humanity. As we have been working our way through the Semon on the Mount, we have been considering the teaching of Jesus to the totality of our humanity. Jesus has spoken about the inner life and about the outer life, what goes on in our lives that only our heavenly Father sees, and what goes on that is observable to the human eye as well as being seen by our heavenly Father. So in the course of the Sermon on the Mount, we have considered a Christian's character, influence, righteousness, religion, prayer and last week a Christian's ambition. This evening we begin to look at a Christian's relationships with others, with his brother or sister in Christ, with 'dogs' and 'pigs', with his Father in heaven, with everybody in general, with fellow pilgrims, with false prophets and with Jesus Christ himself. This evening we confine ourselves to looking at the Christian's relationships with brothers and sisters and with 'dogs' and 'pigs'.

This passage of Scripture is quite well known, with an oft quoted piece of Scripture usually taken out of context, and a rather amusing illustration concerning planks of wood and specks of sawdust. There are two points I wish for us to consider this evening. They are as follows:

On being pass-remarkable
On being irresponsible

ON BEING PASS-REMARKABLE (v1-5) Do not judge, or you too will be judged, says Jesus in verse one of Matthew ch. 7. An often quoted verse of scripture, usually quoted if we feel someone is making unnecessary comment about some aspect of our lives. There seems a very simple understanding and application of this verse of scripture to our lives. I suppose the well known proverb of Benjamin Franklin, 18 Century American envoy to France, Don't throw stones at your neighbors, if your windows are glass, somehow relates to these words of Jesus. In other words if you are going to pass judgement, make sure it cannot be returned, so therefore it is perhaps safer to not pass any judgement at all. Is this what Jesus is getting at in these verses, that we should resist the temptation to make any judgement or pass any remark about anything or anybody.

After all, to do so would make us no different than the world, which loves to pass remarks about anything and anybody, the juicier the better. We would be no different than the world which loves to make judgement about any matter of affairs. It is easy in the type of society in which we live to be pass-remarkable, to be judgemental, to lookdown on another, to value another as inferior to oneself. It is easy to relegate a person's character and contribution to something of negligible value because they may have offended or shown themselves to be foolish. In a world full of pass-remarkable and judgemental attitudes, these words of Jesus, at the beginning of Matthew 7, seem to stand in complete contrast.

So we have to ask ourselves the two usual questions: What is Jesus getting at here? What is Jesus not getting at here? Is Jesus saying to his disciples, and therefore us, his contemporary disciples, that we are not to exercise any judgement on any matter at all? Is he saying that we are to suspend all critical faculties concerning any matter in life? If Jesus was advocating such a line, he would in verse 6, totally contradict himself, where he commands his disciples to make a value judgement about what we share precious jewels with. He would also be contradicting himself concerning a disciple's responsibility to identify false prophets who direct people away from the truth, over in verse 15. Jesus would also contradict the teaching of John in his first letter, where he said: Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, ... Again the emphasis is on false prophets, and Christians are called to make a value judgement about what is true and what is false.

So Jesus is not telling his disciples to suspend all critical faculties. Besides, every day, in our jobs, in our homes, we have to make judgements about all sorts of things. For me it may be the mundane decision as to whether I have put enough chilli on the meat that I am cooking for dinner. So if Jesus is not teaching that we should not make judgements then what is he getting at here in these verses?

The Greek word for judge can mean to discern, to be judgemental, to condemn. We have already said that Jesus means us to be discerning, but earlier in the Sermon, Jesus said that our righteousness must be better than that of the Pharisees, which was judgemental and harsh, so when we think about the overall context, Jesus is saying to his disciples, original and contemporary, that if we are to follow him, we must avoid being judgemental, avoid being comdemnatory of others, avoid being pass-remarkable. This is a difficult area of life to get to grips with for Don Carson in his commentary points out, the problem is that the Christian responsibility to discern, once granted, is readily warped into justification for harping criticism.

One the one hand, some people are so critical that each Sunday they feed themselves with potatoes, vegetables and roast preacher. One the other hand, there can be a self-righteous attitude among preachers which condemn colleagues who they see as not exercising their ministry in the most fruitful way, or out of jealousy are judgemental to those who are more 'successful' than they themselves are.

John Stott says that the judgemental person, is a fault-finder who is negative and destructive towards other people and enjoys actively seeking out their failings. He puts the worst possible construction on their motives, pours cold water on their schemes and is ungenerous towards their mistakes. So therefore the strictness by which we judge others, we too shall be judged by the same strictness. We can read this two ways: A judgemental and critical spirit towards others invites the same judgementalism and criticism on our lives. Also, from an eternal perspective, do we really want the standard of God's justice to be applied to ourselves in the way we are prone to apply it to others?
However we must be careful, for inavoiding the attitude of judgementalism, we must also avoid giving a fools pardon to our fellow believers, for in exercising discernment, we are called to help our fellow believers, at the same time recognising our own weaknesses. Part of our Christian duty is to minister to one another, in humble service, not by being judgemental. And this is the point of the rather humorous illustration involving specks of sawdust and planks of wood. The picture of someone truggling with the delicate operation of removing a speck of sawdust from a friend's eye while the vast plank in his own eye entirely obscures his vision is comical. Yet somehow we do not appreciate the joke when the illustration is applied to our own lives, for we have a fatal tendancy to exaggerate the faults of others and minimize the gravity of our own.

To point out the sin in another person's life without seeing first the sin in our own life is to miss the point, descend into judgementalism and invite judgement back on ouselves. The incident in the life of David perfectly illustrates this point of Jesus. David adopted the moral high ground and failed to see the sin in his own life. We can be guilty of the same. Judgementalism and hypocrisy are prohibited by Jesus, but we still have a responsibility toward one another, for that is what it means to be the body of Jesus Christ, and yes real sins will be present, in our lives and in the lives of our fellow believers.

But we who have known the mercy of God, are not to play the judge, and become harsh and comdemning, nor the hypocrite, blaming others while excusing ourselves, but the brother or sister, caring for others so much that we first blame and correct ourselves and then seek to be constructive in the help we give them.

Such a passage of teaching should surely cause us to engage in some serious self-examination. Do we judge harshly? Do we ignore the sin in our lives, while all the time relish pointing out the sin in other people's lives? When we make judgement about a fellow believer, what is our motive for doing so? And just because the sermon on the mount deals with the Christian life, does not excuse us for being judgemental, harsh and hypocritical toward those who are not Christians. Are we being pass-remarkable? Instead says John Stott, we need to be as critical of ourselves as we often are of others, and as generous to others as we always are to ourselves. In this way we anticipate the Golden Rule of verse 12 and act towards others as would like them to act towards us.

ON BEING IRRESPONSIBLE (V6) Jesus, after instructing us to avoid judgmentalism and hypocrisy, now turns to a situation which requires that we exercise right judgement. 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, says Jesus. The person implied in this picture is in possession of great wealth. But if such great wealth is given to the wrong party, it will be unappreciated, and even worse, they will despise and attack the giver. The dogs in view are not the cuddly domesticated types I see in many homes I visit, where they will come and greet you, and if you give them any attention, the next thing you know is, they are either on your lap, of lying on the floor wanting theie tummies rubbed. The dogs in view are the semi-wild hounds that rummaged the in city dump, foraging for food in savage packs. Pigs in Jesus' day were unclean animals, an abomination to the Jew, probably having been derived from the Eurpoean wild boar. While the proverb reminds us that the dog returns to its own vomit (2611), 2 Peter reminds us that when a sow is washed, she goes back to wallowing in her mud (222). In other words, these everyday animals don't know a good thing when they see it.

So to give pearls to pigs, might result in them mistaking it for food and when they cannot not chew ond digest it, will turn on the giver of the good thing. Neither would you give that which is holy to an animal which is somehow attracted to its own vomit. What is the application of this text? If on the one hand we are not to be judgemental and harsh, neither are we to be undiscriminating, especially in the choice of people to whom we give something of holy, great and lasting value, that is, the wonderful riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is commanding us not to share the richest part of spiritual truth with people who are persistently vicious, irresponsible and unappreciative. These rich truths may only serve to enrage them.
This may seem odd when we are encouraged to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people who are spiritually dead and without hope in the world. This may seem odd, when we in BPC, are actively encouraging a greater emphasis on sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. But the truth of the matter is that while we are charged with the repsonsibility of sharing Christ to those without him, we are exercise discernment about who we share Christ with. For there will be people who are not yet ready to hear the gospel, and there are those who in the words of John Calvin, have manifested a hardened contempt of God.

The good news of Jesus Christ is the pearl of great value. It is more valuable than gold or silver. Therefore we must be careful with it. We would not leave our most treasured possessions in a room full of boisterous toddlers. If people have had opportunity to hear the gospel but did not respond to it, if they have stubbornly turned their backs on Christ, if they have cast themselves in the role of 'dogs' and 'pigs', then to persist with telling them about Christ is to cheapen the gospel. This teaching is for exceptional circumstances, for our normal Christian duty is to patiently persevere with people, as God has patiently persevered with us.

Alternatively, there maybe those who may have not hardened their hearts toward God, may never have neard of Jesus Christ, through growing up in a totally secular or different religious environment. Patient perseverance is required as we work through with them the many issues and bring them to a point where they hear clearly for the first time the good news of Jesus Christ. Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Church, near Chicago, tells the story of how he worked with a man for five years before he was in a position to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ. This man had not rejected the gospel, he had just never heard it in the first place. This is the type of society we are moving toward.

James Montomery Boice states: If there is hope for lost and hardened people it lies, in the sovereignty of God and in the demonstrable reality of true Christian living. To stop sharing the good news of Jesus Christ with someone is a serious matter and requires careful judgement on our part. If we choose to do so, we are not excused from living a Christ-like life in their presence. Just because we give up sharing the gospel with someone, does not mean we give up on them altogether. Likewise if we have to invest longterm in someone that we may eventually be in a position to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them, we are also not excused from living a Christ-like life in their presence. Our words and our life should testify as to whom we belong and whom we serve.

Jesus is teaching us here that we should not throw the gospel around with reckless abandon. In our personal evangelism we are to exercise care, learn discretion and spiritual discernment. Nevertheless the bearing and quality of the Christian's life may conceivably be used by God to prompt the 'dogs' and 'pigs' to reflect.

This passage should cause us all to reflect. We are called to reflect on the nature of the relationships we have with each other - are they characterized by judgementalism, harshness, a desire to find fault? Or are they characterized by humility and concern, recognising that we all sin, but also that we all have a repsonsibility to look out for one another that we may spur one another on in Christ-like living?

We are also called to reflect on the nature of the relationships we have with those who nothing of personal salvation in Jesus Christ. The Christian is charged with the responsibility of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, yet we are called to do so in a way which neither cheapens the gospel, nor turns people against us. Just as we are to develop relationships with one another within the church, so also, we are called to develop relationships with those outside of the church, thereby putting ourselves in positions where we have opportunities to share the gospel, but also by building relationships, we are putting ourselves in the position of exercising care about how and when we should share the good news of Jesus Christ.

The living saints are not to be judgemental, but neither are the living saints to be simpletons either.

AMEN!