Matthew 7:1-12 | "His Kingdom and Righteousness" - Part 2
[Sermon on the Mount] Living the New Life! • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 34:27
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· 42 viewsSunday, February 28, 2021. Matthew 7:1-12 | “His Kingdom and Righteousness" - Part 2. Righteousness is a relational word and a priority that followers of Jesus actively seek. Jesus warns against an improper form of judgment. Charitable judgement represents righteousness informed by love. Condemning judgment represents righteousness ruined by hypocrisy. Our source of Kingdom righteousness is with the Father, of whom we ask, seek and knock for it.
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I. Reading of Scripture
I. Reading of Scripture
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
This is God’s Word, Amen.
Pray
II. Introduction
II. Introduction
We must keep before us, pictured in our minds, the setting of this Sermon of Jesus. Who were the people gathered around him, and what was his posture in delivering The Sermon on the Mount?
He was not standing behind a pulpit, preaching to the masses, bidding all who are lost to “come.”
Instead, He was seated on a mountain, speaking to his disciples, who had already come to him.
1 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him.
2 And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:
The subject matter of Jesus’ teaching, is not for those who are far away from Him, but for those who are near, not only in proximity, but also in identity.
His teachings belong to Kingdom people, ambassadors of Christ on Earth, to citizens of Heaven who are near to Him, who live and are empowered to obey His Word by His Spirit!
We cannot understand The Sermon on the Mount without the Preacher of The Sermon — Jesus, His Word.
We cannot obey The Sermon on the Mount without the Power of The Sermon — Jesus, His Spirit.
These are teachings from on high, literally given on a mountain. They are teachings from the most-high, from Heaven. Forcing us to look up with humility and dependence upon Our Father in Heaven.
And so a relationship must first be established, in which we may call God “Our Father.” And we call God “Our Father” when we receive Christ as King — when we submit to His rule and His reign, as Lord of all.
God is our Creator — YES!
But if we have not been given a new heart and a new life, born-again as a follower of Jesus, confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in the power of God that raised Him from the dead, then we cannot call God our Father. We cannot enter into God’s kingdom. This message on the mountain does not apply, because there is nothing heavenly in us upon which to apply these things. God must first do a work of change so that those who belong to Jesus “come and hear.”
This is especially true as it relates to the theme of righteousness.
A. Introduction to Theme
A. Introduction to Theme
Righteousness is the theme that Jesus takes up in Matthew 7.
It is one of two priorities that followers of Jesus actively seek after. And righteousness is a relational word. It applies within the bounds of a Kingdom-relationship (in which God is king, not us)!
33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
So “seek first” God’s rule and reign, submitted to His authority.
“I am not the king of my life. God is!”
“I do not rule my life. God does!”
How do I know if this is true?
Ask —
Where am I storing up my treasures?
I look at where I store my treasures.
Am I treasuring up on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal (6:19)?
Or am I treasuring up in heaven, where neither moth and rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (6:20)?
“For where [my] treasure is, there [my] heart will be also” (6:21).
Is my heart rotting away, is it being destroyed? Is it easily stolen? Or is my heart safe, and hid with Christ in God?
What about what I worry about?
Am I anxious about my life, what I will eat, or drink, or about my body what clothes I will put on? (6:25)
If I live under the sovereign reign of God, I don’t not worry about any of these! Because
God cares for what God reigns over.
My heavenly Father feeds the birds, and I am more valuable to Him than the birds, so I know that He will feed me. Of all these things, He knows “I need them all.”
But what is most needful, and what He desires we seek after — the things our energies and efforts and resources are never wasted upon — is seeking after first His Kingdom and Righteousness.
We are empowered to seek after His Kingdom on the basis that “Our Father knows” (6:32).
We are empowered to seek after His Righteousness on the basis that "Our Father gives” (7:11).
The act of giving by Our Heavenly Father demonstrates His righteousness, in that it is His nature to answer like for like.
He is not unfair. He is not unjust.
The merciful receive mercy (5:7).
Righteousness is the opposite of hypocrisy. It’s the real-deal.
We can take God at His Word, and know that what God says, God will do! We know this because God is righteous.
B. Introduction to Text
B. Introduction to Text
To illustrate what it means for God to be righteous, and for us to seek after righteousness, we can find help from Sir Isaac Newton, the English physicist and mathematician who died in 1727.
Newton discovered three “Laws of motion,” the basic principles of modern physics (Wikipedia).
As someone said of science, “Man does not write or create laws. He only discovers God’s laws.”
In Newton’s Third Law of Motion, he touches upon the essence of righteousness.
Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion —
“for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, if object A exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts an equal and opposite force on object A.”
(https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/newton3.html)
As Jesus teaches on Kingdom Righteousness, this back and forth, action and reaction is at work. And while the details of what Jesus teaches are important, it is the fulfillment, the intended end, that is most important — the we see the Father as Jesus reveals Him to us — the Righteous One who works a true righteousness that defines His Kingdom in Heaven, and on Earth, and in us.
III. Exposition
III. Exposition
A. Matthew 7:1-5
A. Matthew 7:1-5
1. Matthew 7:1-2
1. Matthew 7:1-2
i. Prohibition | 7:1
i. Prohibition | 7:1
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
This is a prohibition. “Do not judge.”
In context, this is not speaking about legal judgment, or even discerning judgment. Here, Jesus prohibits condemning judgment.
It is a critical attitude (GCM) that seeks to render a full and final verdict against another, that is not ours to render.
To my embarrassment, I’ll use myself as an illustration.
I must confess to you that even this week, in my flesh, I failed in this regard. There are some painful memories I’ve tried to bury and have tried to forgive, of the way someone hurt me and hurt people I love, and these memories rushed to the surface again. And I became angry in my spirit and angry with myself, that even after time has passed those feelings are still there.
Now that is natural to anyone that has been wronged, and if you’ve been wronged you know that feeling too.
But I crossed a line in my thoughts. I passed judgment upon the offender. I thought — “I’m done with this person. May I never think of their name again.” And being critical, I condemned in my mind.
I had to confess and repent of that condemnation, of that judging. Because in that short moment in my flesh, I became just like the one who had offended me.
This is what happens when we judge.
“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
If we judge, we become one who is likewise, judged.
The way the Greek language is constructed in this prohibition, it begins with the word “Not” and then the present command “to judge” — “Do not judge” — communicates the idea of “ceasing what you are now doing” (Mounce 61).
In other words, Jesus empowers His followers, with His Word and Spirit, to cease doing what is harmful to them.
You are judging and condemning — STOP IT! Lest you be judged in the same way.
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
Notice in this short verse, that Jesus does not tell his disciples WHO they are not to judge, and he does not tell his disciples BY WHOM they will be judged in return if they do.
Will God judge them? Will the people they judge judge them in return? Will onlookers judge them? Jesus doesn’t say.
So that what is clearly and squarely in view is not the participants involved, but the ACTION itself — judgment.
Judgment, condemnation, is an action that does not belong to those who are submitted to the Kingship of God.
We do not make ourselves king, because God is king.
Likewise, we do not make ourselves judges who condemn, because God is judge, and God will condemn. God will separate the wheat from the weeds in the day of harvest.
41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
So Jesus gives this Kingdom Principle:
ii. Principle | 7:2
ii. Principle | 7:2
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
This is very helpful and practical! It applies to all of our relationships.
For example — In the context of marriage, what is a sign of a souring relationship and withdrawal? When one spouse starts judging another in this condemning way.
Some of the best marriage advice I have received is to “always assume the best.”
That’s a charitable form of judgment, not a condemning form of it.
Don’t assume your spouse is out to get you. If you don’t understand why your spouse did what they did, don’t assume it’s because they want to harm you. Assume the best. Assume they love you and are acting in a way that they would like to be treated themselves.
This is righteous judgement grounded in love.
Love is charitable and kind. It does not insist on its own way or rejoice in wrongdoing (1 Cor 13). It does not condemn.
Assume the best. This is the kind of judgement we are to practice.
Charitable judgement represents a righteousness informed by love.
Condemning judgment represents a righteousness that has been ruined by hypocrisy.
Jesus illustrates this with a question:
2. Matthew 7:3-5
2. Matthew 7:3-5
i. Question | 7:3
i. Question | 7:3
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
ii. Question | 7:4
ii. Question | 7:4
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?
iii. Admonition & Observation | 7:5
iii. Admonition & Observation | 7:5
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.
In this passage there are two questions, on rebuke and observation. And in each the word “brother” is repeated.
Why?
Because this is relational righteousness, not as it pertains to Christians and the world. We expect to find fault in the world that does not know Christ, or live according to His ways. What surprise is that?
But there is a relationship that that practices hypocritical judgement in the worst of ways — and it is not Christian against the world, but it is Christian against Christian.
This is one of the number one reasons that people watch Christians and say “I don’t want any of that.” Because of the hypocrisy that runs rampant within, brother to brother.
And this is what Jesus is calling out and rebuking.
Christians, who have been set free from condemnation are the worst about condemning our own. This is hypocrisy!
Notice this — what parties are involved in this example?
First, there is the one with the log in his own eye “seeing the speck” in his brother’s eye. The one who has a “false righteousness” always looking for the speck. Always looking for a speck. Always critical. Always finding fault.
Second, there is the one who has the “speck” in his eye. And it is a speck! A tiny piece of wood, even a splinter (LN)!
But notice that there is a third person involved in this exchange?
He is not mentioned and not even named, but He is there!
The third person in this exchange is the One who sees the interaction taking place. The One who sees both the log and the speck and the people with them in their eyes. The one who rightly discerns what is happening, and see things for what they are — God.
Jesus speaks this illustration so that we know that God sees all of what transpires! And God judges rightly. And if God sees us judging our brothers in this way, surely God will find like reason for us to be judged in the same way.
We are hypocrites, if we think the speck in a brother’s eye is less important than the log in our own eye. We’ve perverted righteousness. Seek after a better righteousness! One that does not judge!
B. Matthew 7:6 | Admonition
B. Matthew 7:6 | Admonition
1. Imperative re dogs | 7:6a
1. Imperative re dogs | 7:6a
Matthew 7:6(a) ESV
“Do not give dogs what is holy”
2. Imperative re pigs | 7:6b
2. Imperative re pigs | 7:6b
Matthew 7:6(b) ESV
“and do not throw your pearls before pigs”
3. Explanation re dogs | 7:6c
3. Explanation re dogs | 7:6c
Matthew 7:6(c) ESV
“lest they trample them underfoot”
4. Explanation re pigs | 7:6d
4. Explanation re pigs | 7:6d
Matthew 7:6(d) ESV
“and turn to attack you.”
Instead of condemning faults in our brothers, we ought to be more concerned about discernment.
Because as we ask for and seek after God’s Kingdom and Righteousness, we receive and find it!
And we must steward it well. We must not be careless with the Kingdom. “We must safeguard it at all costs” (GCM).
And we must divert our efforts away from “playing God” and to managing well what God has entrusted to us.
Because —
What we do with what we’ve been given matters.
Remember Hezekiah, king of Judah. 2 Kings 20.
Hezekiah receives envoys and presents from the son of Baladan, king of Babylon.
13 And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
Hezekiah did not discern that he was showing the holy treasures to his enemy!
And the prophet Isaiah confronted Hezekiah in response and said:
16 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord:
17 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord.
18 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
He gave what is holy to dogs. He cast his pearl before pigs. And the end was judgment.
In the church, we take care to be very guarded in our membership. We do not and should not just let “anybody” claim membership in the church. For not all who are among us are with us. Some are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Some are here not to receive and worship, but to wait for the right moment to exploit and destroy from without and within.
Pastors, overseers, elders guard the flock from such attacks. And in doing so, we guard what is holy. We guard communion. We guard baptism. We take these seriously.
One of the ways I am leading us to be guarded is through a four step, prioritize process — Large Groups, Small Groups, Ministry, Mission.
I have no desire to equip someone to Minister and serve if that person is not gathering with the Church.
I will not send someone out into the world on Mission to represent this church and the Gospel if they are not first giving of themselves, their time and resources and prayer in love to support the church and Gospel advancement.
This is why your participating in worship matters, not just your consumption of it. Guardrails are in place to steward well what is holy, and treasure.
22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
Dogs will eventually return to being dogs. Pigs will eventually return to being pigs.
After this warning, Jesus gives a Gospel invitation.
Where can we find help to live righteously?
With Our Father.
How can we get this help from God?
Through prayer.
C. Matthew 7:7-11
C. Matthew 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 the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
We are to seek after His Kingdom and Righteousness.
And if we ASK, SEEK and KNOCK for these, Jesus teaches that we have them! And this is another revelation about Our Father in Heaven - He is a giver, a righteous giver!
He gives good to those who are good. He gives righteousness to those who are righteous.
And the Gospel Proclamation of Chapter 7 is that all who are in Christ are good with His goodness. We are made righteous with His righteousness!
We are evil, morally corrupt, wicked in the flesh, condemned by sin.
And Jesus put sin to death — even our sin — by becoming sin for us, and dying on the cross. Jesus buried our sinful, old selves in the grave as He was buried in the tomb.
And Jesus was raised in power! So that, that same power that raised Christ from the dead will dwell in us by the Holy Spirit, through faith in Jesus.
So that we may not only be empowered to seek after good things, His Kingdom and Righteousness, but we can also RECEIVE them through salvation!
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
His Kingdom and Righteousness.
And this leads to a concluding statement, that brings Jesus’ teaching full-circle. A statement we know as the “Golden Rule.” Perhaps it should better be called the “Gracious Rule.”
IV. Conclusion
IV. Conclusion
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
This is what it means to seek after His Kingdom and Righteousness.
The ESV leaves a very important word untranslated — the word “Therefore.”
I want to show you a more word-for-word translation on of this verse:
12 Therefore in all things, whatever you want that people should do to you, thus also you do to them. For this is the law and the prophets.
That first word “Therefore” is essential.
This “Golden/Gracious” Rule has a context.
If we want people to act righteously toward us, we must first act righteously toward them.
If we want to act righteously toward them, we must be near the Father who is Righteous — we must come to Him in prayer.
We cannot be righteous without God!
It is BECAUSE we can ASK, SEEK and KNOCK — RECEIVE, FIND, and have DOORS OPENED that we are able to live as Kingdom People.
Righteousness has at its core, a relational dependence upon God!
Every Sermon ends with God!
The Law and Prophets end with God!
Our lives end with God!
Some will meet Him as Judge.
But we who believe, will have the door opened to us and behold the Righteous One — Christ, who is our Righteousness. And we will see him face to face!
B. Exhortation
B. Exhortation
There are forms of this Golden Rule before Jesus. But they are all negative and passive. Something like “Don’t do what others do to you.”
But Jesus does something radically different. He makes it positive and active, even proactive.
DO unto others as you would have them do under you.
Go on offense! Let your light shine!
This is what the Gospel frees us to do, and what the Spirit empowers us to do — to not live as a reactive people, but to live as witnesses for Jesus — to tell of the love of God with which He love us FIRST!
We do this in every relationship in our lives. Among brothers and sisters, in our marriages, in our families —
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.