Sermon Tone Analysis

Specks and Logs, Pearls and Hogs

Matthew 7:1-6   |   Shaun LePage   |   September 17, 2006

 

I.

Introduction

A.   One of the things I have always loved about the church is her diversity.

People from all walks of life—young and old; rich and poor and middle class; white collar and blue collar; red, yellow, black, white and brown; American and German, Japanese and Hispanic; introverts and extroverts; some who grew up in a close family; some who grew up in a broken family; some who grew up in Christian homes, some who grew up in non-Christian homes, some who grew up in nominally Christian homes; among those who grew up in Christians homes there can be very diverse theological backgrounds (especially in the Bible churches)—with highly experiential, charismatic backgrounds or reverential high-church, liturgical backgrounds; new, relatively immature Christians and older, more mature believers—just a great variety of people.

B.    As wonderful as all this is, our diversity can also be the source of some of our problems.

The young and old often have different tastes in clothing styles; blacks, whites and Hispanics often have very different tastes in musical styles.

Those who grew up in legalistic religious backgrounds will want to emphasize different aspects of the Scriptures than those who grew up in a liberal religious environment.

Those of us who grew up in solid, Christian homes with excellent parental role models will often find it difficult to be patient with those who grew up in broken homes or non-Christian homes where the parental role-models did not teach them how to rear their children according to Scriptural principles.

Those of us who are new to the faith will often do and say things that are irritating at best and appalling at worst to those of us who have been around awhile.

Those of us who have been around a while will often do and say things that are confusing at best and ridiculous at worst to those of us who are new believers.

C.   So, on the one hand, the church can be a beautiful illustration to the world of the greatness of the gospel of Christ which is good news for all nations.

On the other hand, it can become an embarrassment.

Like the church at Corinth.

Their reputation was an embarrassment to Paul.

An embarrassment to the cause of Christ.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:10-11: “*Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s /people, /that there are quarrels among you*.”

Then, at the beginning of chapter 3, “*And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able /to receive it.

/Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly.

For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?*” (1 Corinthians 3:1-3)

D.   As Jesus sat with His disciples on the hills above the Sea of Galilee, He made it very clear that His followers were to be different.

His Sermon on the Mount teaches that we are to have hearts and minds that are so focused on heaven that our presence on earth will be as bright lights in a dark room.

We are to live authentic lives, free of hypocrisy.

We will obey God’s commandments at the inner-heart level, not just on the outward, physical level.

Followers of Jesus will imitate His scandalous love—seeking to love not just those who love us, but even those who hate us.

Our enemies.

Disciples of Jesus Christ will give, pray and fast and do all our acts of service to God—not to be noticed by men—but with right motives.

The motive of knowing, pleasing and glorifying our Father in heaven.

We will not invest our time, talent and treasure in the stuff of earth, but in the treasures of heaven.

In other words, we will choose God as our Master.

We will have right priorities, we will see ourselves as God’s own possession, and we will exercise much faith, by seeking first the kingdom of God and the righteousness of God.

Jesus also taught—in the final chapter of the Sermon on the Mount—that our relationships with people will also reflect Christ.

We will be people of grace and truth.

E.    CPS: In the opening verses of Matthew 7, Jesus taught that there is a wrong type of judgment and a right type of judgment.

He used specks and logs, pearls and hogs to illustrate that we are to Stop judging one another and start helping our brothers.

II.

Body—Matthew 7:1-6

A.   Put off (the negative command)—“Do not judge”

1.     Look at v.1: “*Do not judge so that you will not be judged.”

*

a)    Josh McDowell reports that until recently, polls showed that the most well-known verse in the Bible was John 3:16.

But now, the verse most widely known and quoted by Christians and non-Christians is Matthew 7:1: “*Do not judge*…” Why is this?

Why would “*Do not judge*…” become such a popular verse?

It’s simple, really.

Because our culture—our world, in fact—has decided that it would be great if we had no one to answer to.

We want to “imagine” along with John Lennon that “…there’s no Heaven…No hell below us…Imagine all the people Living for today” and there’s no right or wrong, no one who will hold us accountable for how we live our lives, no such a thing as sin and we can do whatever we want, when we want and no one will ever judge us.

b)    I recently received an email from a lesbian—a woman who described herself as a lesbian.

She was very angry because someone in our church had offended her.

That person gave me permission to tell this story, but I will not use his name today.

But he had offended her.

She is in a homosexual relationship with his sister and when the two women decided to have a ceremony which they called a “wedding,” they invited this member of our church.

When he chose not to attend, he was asked why.

He communicated that he could not attend the ceremony and support the relationship.

So, I—a completely innocent bystander—received an angry email simply because I am this man’s pastor.

The email included this question: “Is it encouraged in your church to judge others?”

c)    Is this what Jesus meant?

That no behavior, no lifestyle can be questioned?

Unless we read this verse in the context in which Jesus said it, we might interpret it—as so many do—to mean that we should never call any behavior, any action, sin.

No one should judge, so no one’s behavior can be judged.

Is that what Jesus meant?

d)    The word “judge” (*krinw*) appears 114 times in the New Testament.

It has different meanings depending on how the word is used in its context.

That’s true in English as well.

If I told you I was “judging” someone, you might not know whether I was being overly critical of someone or doing my job as a judge in a court of law or doing my job as the judge at a dog show.

You would need more information.

When we come across *krinw*, we have to look at the context to know exactly what is meant.

Basically, it can mean two things: Bad judgment—which is self-righteously condemning other people without a good reason—or good judgment—which is using discernment to make a wise choice.

e)    My premise is this: Jesus was commanding us to stay away from the bad judgment—the bad sense of *krinw*.

In Matthew 7:1, He is telling us not to self-righteously condemn other people.

We humans don’t make good judges (I’m not saying that we should not have judges in a court of law—that’s a different issue).

This kind of judging which Jesus is talking about is God’s job.

(i)   We don’t know all the facts—God is the only one who knows everything.

We don’t know why people dress the way they do or why they behave the way they do.

We don’t know how much they’ve changed or grown in the past year.

We don’t know how hard they’re struggling with their sin.

God knows.

(ii) We don’t know someone’s motives just by looking at the outside—only God knows the motives of a man’s heart.

We may see someone who appears to be unfriendly, but they may have just lost a loved one or been fired from a job.

Maybe you got mad at some guy because he didn’t shake your hand.

Well, maybe he didn’t shake your hand because he didn’t want to give you that skin rash he’s been trying to get rid of.

We can’t discern motives usually.

(iii)    We tend to pre-judge people based on how they dress or the color of their skin or how they smell or whatever.

God is completely objective and shows no favoritism.

We just don’t make good judges.

f)     Another time, Jesus taught on this same subject and Luke recorded a somewhat expanded version of this command: Listen to Luke 6:36,37: “*Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

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*.”

This list supports my interpretation of this command in Matthew 7:1, which is that Jesus is telling us not to have an unmerciful, judgmental, condemning attitude toward people.

The question is, does the context support this?

2.     Look at v.2: *“For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.” *

a)    This verse tells us that if we “*judge*” in a wrong manner, it will directly affect the way we are judged.

Possibly, this means God will judge us by our own impossible standards.

If you are short on mercy and long on condemnation, perhaps God will not show you much mercy.

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 6:14-15: “*For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

15 “But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions*.”

Same principle.

b)    But, I think Jesus had something else in mind here.

If you and I are unmerciful and judgmental of others, I believe others will pick up on that and treat us the same way.

We don’t like unmerciful people—as a general rule.

We have trouble extending them mercy.