Bible reading as I mentioned before is the beginning of Matthew chapter 7. If
you are using one of the Bibles that are provided on the seats you can find
today's passage by turning to page 788 and looking for the big
number 7 in the heading judging others. These are the words of our Lord Jesus.
Do not judge or you too will be judged for in the same way you judge others
you will be judged and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why
do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention
to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother let me take the
speck out of your eye when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You
hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye and then you will see
clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do not give dogs what is
sacred. Do not throw your peals to pigs. If you do they may trample them under
their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.
Thank you Liam. Good morning church. It's great to be together. God's kindness and
providence has brought us together for another week to hear the words of
eternal life and that's what we are appearing into this morning which is in
incredible grace and mercy on our Father's part but also something that we
don't want to take lightly as we come to his words this morning. So would you
please pray with me to our Lord before we look at his words. Lord Jesus we thank
you that you have not left us as orphans but have sent us your spirit. Lord these
are words of eternal life and we ask by your spirit that you would pierce our
hearts, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, minds to understand what you would have
us to understand and that by the work of your precious Holy Spirit that you
would give us changed lives and a zeal for the worship of you in this world. We
ask for this in your name Jesus. Amen. So our church over the past three and a
half months we've been going through this incredible sermon that Jesus gave
that's come to be known as the Sermon on the Mount and over the months as
we've seen our Lord unpack incredible things we've learnt what it is where the
place of the law is in the believers life, how we are to view things like
divorce and hatred and how we are to love our enemies among other things and
as we've been making our way through this sermon we've seen that his address
is vitally important because it's not just a sermon it's not just a sermon
it's an address from a king to a people who have been gathered into a kingdom
and I say that because before Jesus came on the scene and made this address
Matthew has been very careful to record for us that a kingdom was indeed
expected. We see this theme in the ministry of John the Baptist for example
who was sent by God to the people of Israel to announce to them that the long
awaited kingdom of God that was promised to them by prophets such as Isaiah and
Jeremiah had finally come it was at hand and more than that John was sent to
announce that the one that was to come after him would gather his wheat into
his barn and would baptize them in none other than the Holy Spirit. We also saw
that John preached that this man who was to come after him would be so
deserving of honor that he himself Israel's most famous preacher at the
time wouldn't even be worthy enough to carry this guy's sandals. In other words
John was sent to announce that the one coming after him would be Israel's king
and it would be this king that would usher in the long-awaited kingdom of
heaven. So when Jesus came on the scene and called his disciples to himself here
on this mount much in the same way God did with Israel at Mount Sinai and tells
them that they are the salt and the light of the world he's drawing their
attention to themes that are meant to make them aware of their uniqueness in
this world. In other words Jesus wants them to know that they were not like
those around them who were still trapped in the dominion of darkness but had been
rescued into the kingdom of heaven. And it's interesting that Jesus has said
this to his disciples right because from the start of this sermon Jesus has made
it crystal clear to them that the community that had gathered around him
was something different in this world set apart if you will as they were a
ray of sunshine in this dark cold world. But we might ask here how were they the
light of the world? Well it must be said it wasn't because of anything in and of
themselves. You see Matthew makes it clear in chapter 4 verses 15 through to
16 quoting the prophet Isaiah that before Jesus came on the scene everyone
everyone including these disciples were trapped in darkness saying land of
Zebulun and land of Nephtali the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles the people living in darkness have seen a great light on
those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. So why does
Jesus call his followers the light of the world? Because quite simply out of
all the people that had heard Jesus's preaching they were the ones that had
believed what he had to say. They were the ones who had repented who had left
their own ways and followed him. To say this another way they believed in Jesus
and what he had to say and in the doing as they believed as they repented as
they followed they had become imitators of their Lord meaning that they were in
fact like little mirrors reflecting the light of the world and that church is
what it is to be a disciple of Jesus. It's not to just hear the words of Jesus
no it's to hear the King's call of repentance and it's to put into practice
what you have heard. In other words it's to do the will of the one who has called
us from darkness into light. This is why this address here is so vitally
important for us to understand because like the disciples we read about here
gathered around Jesus we too confess that Jesus is the King of God's heavenly
kingdom. We too confess that he is our Lord that we trust him with our
eternities and as his disciples we want to not only hear about his unpacking and
applying of what it is to be a follower of him but we too want to obey our Lord's
words in all that we do. We want to live out obediently what he has to say to us
in this world. We want to be like mirrors that reflect his light in this dark
world. As it's already been said that's not because we in and of ourselves are
the light. No in and of ourselves we were as Isaiah put it the people dwelling in
darkness who had been dwelling in the region and shadow of death. It might I
say this morning if you have heard the word of the King if you have repented if
you have trusted in what Jesus has to say if you have turned from going your
own way and turned to King Jesus and there has been an awesome supernatural
work of the Holy Spirit in your life. Where whereby you have been transported
from death to life from condemnation to justification from the dominion of
darkness to his kingdom of light. And like the disciples we see gathered here
in our passage this morning we too have been gathered into a community of people
who are seeking to obey our Lord in all that he has to say. And as we do that as
we together obey King Jesus as we seek together to put into practice our Lord's
words well we too will indeed be the salt and light in this world. And that's
the aim of our passage this morning brothers and sisters. We don't just want
to understand our Lord's words but put into practice what he tells us this
morning. And it's as we do this at Grace Christian Church that we will look
drastically different in this world because we are a community that is
seeking to reflect the light of this world. So in saying that let's turn to
our passage this morning if you have your Bibles in front of you that will be
handy because we're going to be in the text quite a bit this morning. So looking
at verses 1 & 2 these are the words of our Lord. Do not judge or you too will be
judged. For in the same way you judge others you will be judged and with the
measure you use it will be measured to you. Alright seems pretty straightforward
right? Don't judge and with that said let's pray and we can all go home. And
all the aspiring lawyers in the room just well their dreams have been crushed.
And though it seems a bit extreme to say that believe it or not people like
Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy have taken these very words and argued that Jesus
was saying that law courts well they shouldn't be a thing. And Tolstoy isn't
alone in this kind of textual misuse as the phrase do not judge or you will be
judged is actually one of the most misused, misunderstood sayings in the
whole Bible. I mean you don't have to be on social media for very long before
somebody saying hashtag judge not usually in connection with some horrendous
public behavior. Indeed this sentence is a favorite of many that like to use it
as a type of get out of jail free card. But we might ask what is Jesus actually
commanding here? Is he saying get rid of the law courts? Is he saying don't have
about any opinions about anyone you meet? Is he saying close your eyes to the
world around you and simply just presume the best of everyone? Well as it's
been said many times from this pulpit before a text without a context is
simply just a con. So let's not fall into that trap church. Let's understand the
context here so that we will get a better understanding of what Jesus is
actually telling his disciples. See this statement hasn't been made in a vacuum
right? It's not been made in a vacuum. Jesus has said it in the middle of a
sermon that he's delivering to his disciples, to his community of followers.
So that's the first thing we need to take note of. This is addressed to his
disciples not to judges and to lawyers. The second thing we have to notice is
that he doesn't say don't judge and that's that let's move on. No he goes on
to explain what he wants from his disciples in the rest of this passage
in regards to this very theme and as we'll see his disciples well we are to
make judgment calls in regards to certain things and we will look at that
in just a moment. But for now I want you to notice something very interesting in
the text, very interesting about judgment in verse 2. He said with the measure you
use it will be measured to you. That's an interesting phrase right? And I say it's
interesting because his warning is we all have a standard by which we measure
the people around us and Jesus is saying be careful not to judge people by your
own standard because it will only ever come back to bite you. We've actually
seen this warning from God before in the Bible. We see it in 1st Samuel 16 7. God
says to his prophet Samuel whom he had sent to anoint David who he'd chosen to
be the new king of Israel as God had rejected Saul and Samuel gets to
Bethlehem and he meets David's oldest strongest tallest brother and he thinks
to himself wow this guy is going to be an awesome leader just look at him. But
God warned Samuel. He says don't look on his appearance or the height of his
stature because I've rejected him for the Lord sees not as a man sees. Man
looks at the outward appearance but the Lord he looks on the heart. Hear that
church. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the
heart. To put it simply God was warning his prophet about the standard he was
using about his measurement that he employed to judge other people and what
was it? Well Samuel was looking for Israel's next king by his outward
appearance looking to such things that people look for in a strong leader like
his height his strength his place in the family. Yet ironically it was this very
standard this very measurement if you will in which Israel chose Saul which
had landed them in a shocking predicament namely with a king whom God
had rejected. See church Jesus came to gather his wheat into his barn and he
calls people from all over the world to be his from all walks of life meaning
he calls people that don't look sound or think the same way that you and I do. He
calls people from all sorts of backgrounds into his kingdom that's the
amazing and wonderful thing about our King and this means that his kingdom is
filled with all sorts of people from all sorts of walks of life. I mean let's
apply this to us here this morning look around you church look around at all the
people the Lord Jesus has brought together from different nations different
races economic contexts different life stories different cultures yet we all
have one King one Lord and Savior one Father in heaven one spirit one baptism
so we are in that sense brothers and sisters a real spiritual family. This is
what Jesus is saying to us here this morning. My disciples if you are quick to
judge one another on say things like what denomination you've come from where
you live what job you have on the outward appearances on race if we measure
each other by each other's standards of what we think it is to be a good
Christian then we'll quickly cease to be a community that is light in this dark
world. Why? Because like any other community will be full of hypercritical
judgmental gossips that glory in being an exclusive club that is unwelcoming to
those who don't fit the outward superficial mold. Jesus is prohibiting
something here. He's prohibiting something that his disciples must not
do and it's to see ourselves as the moral standard and judge of his people
that he brings into his kingdom. No we are simply brothers and sisters who have
been rescued by our great King meaning we don't choose the mold we don't set
the standard and then measure others by it. Yes we may have opinions yes we may
have observations and concerns of others in our Lord's community but these things
must never become the standard that we impose on our Lord's blood-purchased
people. Jesus is the king of his people not us. Jesus is helpful here because he
gives some practical application to his point verses 3 & 4. He says why do you
look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to
the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother let me take the
speck out of your eye when all the time there's a plank in your own eye? Notice
the language here it's hyperbolic I'm so hungry I could eat a horse but it's
big. Jesus is giving a picture of a person who thinks that the moral rule
of the roost who pretty much has a plank for a head and walks around seeing other
people's little issues telling them how they can fix their problems. The picture
is meant to think meant to make us think how humorous how ridiculous but Jesus's
point it's serious it's dead serious because it's a direct warning against
those who have a pharisee to cool attitude towards their brothers and
sisters in the faith. Church I want to make this clear this morning
Jesus isn't telling us to ignore each other or to be ignorant of each other's
behavior to never help with the specks in others eyes that would be incredibly
unloving as we're going to see but think about the context context is important
Jesus is speaking to his disciples who are surrounded by and as we've seen
through the months may have been educated by the Pharisees we've seen
that through the months and they demanded a higher religious life from
those around them all the while breaking God's law themselves because of their
own traditions. In other words they had erected impossible standards for the
people and they had measured others by them while not even living them out
themselves. They literally peered into other people's every move and criticized
their every action looking for so-called specks in their eyes to accuse them by
and their sin totally blinded them to the work of God in their midst as these
as they had these planks through their heads. I mean just read through the book
of Matthew you'll see them be appalled by Jesus eating with the how casts but
he's forgiving their sins not to mention plotting to kill Jesus because he
wonderfully healed someone on the Sabbath. That's the context that's the
world that Jesus is speaking into. We might say well that's not our context
but let's not be so quick to dismiss the point of our Lord here. The warning is
just the same. What traditions of men have we employed and held people to in
our own lives? Do you look at your brother and think to yourself they
can't possibly be a Christian like me because they such and such. Do you look
at your sister and say she couldn't possibly love Jesus as much as me
because she's such and so forth. I think this is the point our Lord is making. This
is what he's making to all his disciples and it's this. His precious people, his
people are all works in progress. We have all sinned, we are all dealing with
specks in our eyes in various degrees and because of the work of the Holy
Spirit we are all, every single one of us, me included, we're all at various
stages of that wonderful progress of leaving our old life behind. So church
don't be the one walking around with tweezers in your hands nitpicking other
other people's sanctification because like the one with a plank for a head
that's to display a pharisee-tical attitude. It must be said, Pharisees know
nothing of the love and grace of God. They have an inability to reflect that
wonderful love and grace to others around them. But in saying all of this
there is a great hope in this passage. Our Lord is amazing at doing this right.
We've seen it all throughout the Sermon on the Mount. He can both rebuke and he
can both encourage us greatly at the very same time and we see it again here
in our Lord's words. Verse 5, Jesus says, you hypocrite first take the plank out
of your own eye and then you will clearly, see clearly to remove the speck
from your brother's eye. Why is this encouraging? Let me explain. First because
our Lord says to his disciples, take the plank out of your own eye. Why is that
encouraging Michael? Well quite simply because spiritually dead people have no
conviction over sin. No ability to notice any plank. No ability or want or power
to do anything with it. Meaning that Jesus is applying this to those whom he
sees as his, those who are spiritually alive. And he's saying to us that when
our sin is shown to us, well we no longer have to live as slaves like we once did.
Now we can actually take the plank out and cast it off. Meaning that those sins
that once held us captive, which once seemed impossible to not indulge
ourselves in, well there's an ability, a work of God in us to put those things to
death. The Apostle Paul explains it like this to the church in Rome in chapter 8
15 of his epistle, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall
back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we
cry, Abba, Father. There's such an intimacy in those words, Abba, Dad, Father. And church
this is the incredible news of the gospel. Our King came to rescue his
people. He came to redeem us, saved us from certain destruction. He is the one
who snatched us from the dominion of darkness and placed us in his kingdom
which is everlasting. We have been given by his grace the Holy Spirit. And church
God has become our Father in the process. What mercy and incredible grace, what
wonderful amazing love and when we see our sin in our lives we no longer have
to believe that we are slaves to it. We've been set free and by the help of
the Holy Spirit working in us we can cry out to our Father in heaven for help to
put that thing to death. And as we do that, as we cultivate a life of prayer and
confession and repentance, we'll witness sin really being put to death in our
life. So-called planks really being pulled out of our eyes. And when we by
the work of the Spirit live like that, then secondly as our Lord says here, then
you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Do you see that
church? Jesus is saying to us here, to his disciples, first deal with the sin in
your own life so that you can help others. That's what the Lord has called
his church to do. He's called us to reflect his mercy, to reflect his grace,
to reflect his love to those around us in community. He's called his disciples
to reflect him, the light of the world. And it's as we know and experience
Jesus through the gospel that we will be disgusted with our own sin and want to
be rid of it. And as we witness his tender care and work in our lives through
the precious Holy Spirit, we will want to reflect that tender mercy and work to
others around us. That's why we can't ignore. That's why we won't ignore or
leave others in sin. We have received such mercy and grace. How can we not
share that with those around us? What's it practically look like? What's it
practically look like? How do we apply what we've heard this morning? Well we
are to evaluate and correct one another in a spirit of humility. How do we do
that? How do we humbly correct one another? Well it's as we've seen here in
our passage this morning. First Jesus tells us that before we correct and
before we turn our attention to others we must first examine ourselves. Meaning
we must look at our own motives and ask why am I so concerned about this
person's life? Why do I want to correct this person? And as we pray for them, and
that's a great place to start, we pray for them. We might ask God for wisdom and
how to go about correcting them in the most encouraging, most loving way
possible. And while doing this ask yourself honestly am I mourning for what
I'm seeing sin do to their life? Do I really want this precious
spiritual sibling built up? Or do I want to feel better about myself? And reflect
am I practicing the very thing that I'm about to go and speak to this person
about? Maybe not perfectly, most likely not perfectly, but are you attempting? Are
you taking that thing to the Lord yourself? Are you able to go in love to
the one that you see struggling and say hey let me come alongside you, let me
help, let me pray with you? So that's first, Jesus says examine yourselves and
take the plank out of your own eye. Then the Lord teaches us to take out the speck
in our brother's eye. And this is all done with a view to build others up, not
to tear them down. We help with the speck, with the view to make others stronger.
Not to make ourselves seem more holy or wise or feel a moral superiority, but
that's what our Lord tells us to do here. Take that plank out so that we might
help others. I'm so thankful for the men in my life. They've taken me out for
coffee and spoken straight with me and they've said things like brother I
love you but I see this and that in your life. And like a kind parent who takes
the eyelash out of their kids eye when they're screaming something's in my eye.
Or like a rear-view mirror which aids us to not change lanes right in front of a
Mack truck. These brothers have lovingly taken specks from my eyes so that I can
see more clearly. So might I say church all this only comes from being in
community. All this comes from being in a community that is living in light of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It only comes from knowing that we were called, that we
were set free not to judge others by our own standards, not to destroy others by
our own measurements, but to see clearly so that we might build one another up in
our most holy faith. By showing mercy like we've been shown, by showing grace
like we've been shown, and showing love like we are loved at this very moment.
This is a wonderful community picture isn't it church? Being loved and
showing love in all that we do towards one another. Yet because we are the
light of this world and because God advances the kingdom through the gospel,
through us, through his church. Jesus also gives us a warning in verse 6, a heads
up if you will. He says don't give to dogs what is sacred, don't throw your
peals to pigs. If you do they may trample them under their feet and turn and tear
you to pieces. Church admittedly the temptation to pass over this bit and
just end with verse 5 was overwhelming. But as we know we are a people that love
the words of our Lord. We want to hear all that he has to say, we want to do all
that he tells us. Verse 6 is by no means out of place in any sense. It's
in no way contradicting what's come before. But it's a warning to us here
this morning. It's a warning to you and me. A warning that we must heed on back
on the back of what Jesus has just said and it's this. Not everyone is going to
be thrilled with the work of God in your life. That is the reality. Not everyone is
going to be over the moon about your conviction of sin. You're putting to death
the transgression and your freedom from slavery that you found. Not everyone is
going to celebrate when you come to them and witness to them about the amazing
love and mercy of God that you've been shown and that you're so excited to
share with them. Not only will they not rejoice with you, but Jesus says here
there will be some that will try to attack you. Some that will cancel you,
defame you. Some that will want you fired and as we've seen in church history and
now in the church around us in this very day and age, some will try to kill you.
All this to say, Jesus has called his people not to be judgmental in the
hypercritical, unmerciful sense where we set our own standards. But he has not
called us to be without discernment in this world and we have to keep the two
intention consistently. On the one hand, don't presume the worst, but on the other
hand, don't presume the best of everyone either. And we have to keep that in
balance church. We have to observe without harshly judging. We have to
understand without quickly condemning because as Jesus says here in our text
this morning, there are real spiritual differences with people. There
are real differences between those who have been set free who are citizens of
the kingdom of heaven and those who are dead in their trespasses. Those that are
still full pledge citizens of the kingdom of darkness and the warning is
this. The whole council of Scripture were warned. There are people that want it
that way. They love darkness. They hate light because they love their evil deeds
and don't want to be rid of them. They're hard-hearted and they hate the
gospel and what you stand for. And Jesus says because of that rejection, because
of that love for their wicked deeds, these people who are not our brothers,
not our sisters, they may turn on you. They may attack you. If that's what they
did to our Lord, what would they do to his servants? But I want to end by saying
this church. I want to end on this. This verse in no way excuses us from taking
the gospel to the nations. In no way does it discourage the Great Commission that
we are all called to. But what it reminds us of is this. There's a spiritual reality
in this world. A real enemy that hates Christ and his people and we are sent as
sheep among wolves. The battle is real but some are saved. Some hear the gospel,
some turn and come into the kingdom and they become our brothers and sisters in
the Lord. And as we live this gospel truth out here in this community in
Armidale, as we reflect the light of the world in all that we do, as we take the
good news of Jesus to our workplace, our families, our city, the nations, well
let's be as innocent as doves but as wise as serpents. Would you pray with me?
Father we thank you that you have sent the Lord Jesus into this world. That you
sent the light of all mankind to rescue, rescue to the uttermost. And indeed Lord
you have rescued that that was unsavable, us and you saved us in your grace, your
mercy, your kindness, your love. And Father these are words that are amazing.
There's no words to describe what you have done for us. Father we ask
that you would please use us. Use us in this room, use the church in Armidale, use
the church in Western Australia to do something. As we heard this morning many
of us might lose treasures on this earth in the doing. But Father we ask that the
zeal that you work in us by your Spirit as we lift our eyes to Christ would
drive us more than our love for things of this world. Might we be a people that
you use and might we have great joy in the doing. We love you because you first
loved us and we thank you for these words this morning. In Jesus name, Amen.