The Great Divide
(13th Sermon from Sermon on the Mount Series)
Nashville Jail, November 9, 2010
Matthew 7:1-23
Reading Text: Matthew 7:1-5 "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. 2 "For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. 3 "Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 "Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? 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.
Matthew 7:6 "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
Matthew 7:12 "In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7:15-20 "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 "You will know them by their fruits. … 20 "So then, you will know them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, … I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'
The general idea in chapter 5 was to stay away from the edge, it is dangerous there. Don't look for the outer edge of righteousness and try to do a balancing act there, but try to find the center of righteousness and stay away from the edge.
In chapter 6 Jesus drew a contrast between giving God the glory publically and our private devotion to God.
In chapter 7 he talks about our relationships with other people, particularly with regard to sizing them up. I want to talk about that as a general concept right now. Later we'll come back and look at these passages in more detail, just as we did in chapters 5 and 6.
In verse 1 He says do not judge, but in verse 6 it says to notice who is not worthy. In verse 3 He says not to be messing in other people's business, but in verse 5 it says carefully help your brother with his business. In verse 12 He says treat people how you want to be treated, but in verse 15 – 20 He says to beware of certain people, and to judge them by their fruits. Do you want other people to treat you like you are something to be feared like some kind of wild wolf, or avoid giving you anything good because they think you are a dog or a pig? Finally He lets us know that everyone is not going to make it into the kingdom of heaven. Why does He tell us that in this particular context? Does He expect us to form an opinion of who is, and who is not, going to be saved?
Being a Christian is not a simple business. Other religions are simple. They make a list of rules to obey; or put some guy in charge of your life, and you just do as you are told. That is how you can tell some person just made them up. People make telephone poles. God creates trees. People invent power plants and generators. God creates thunder and lightning. People construct buildings for themselves to live in. God creates worlds for everything to live in. People invent simple religions, but God has a relationship with us, and expects us to grow in maturity, so that we might have useful and loving relationships with each other.
Just as in the other chapters we have been looking at, there are a lot of metaphors here that Jesus is using to make some very subtle points. One of them is a play on the word "judge." Just as in English the word has a wide range of sense. It can mean anything from a legal pronouncement of guilt or innocence, to a subtle discernment or distinction between your favorite color and your second favorite color. However, the word translated "the way you judge" does not have a wide range of sense. The KJV does better here translating it "judgment." It is talking about the condemnation, it is talking about handing down a sentence, it is talking about deciding to punish someone.
He is using this variation in the words meanings to emphasize His point. What is His point?
The Catholic Church has a doctrine that there are two levels of sin. There are mortal sins, or very serious sins, and venial or minor sins. I can't keep track of which ones are which but things like killing people is very serious or a mortal sin, and telling a little white lie is not so serious, or venial sin. According to their doctrine, you don't go to Hell for venial sins. To Protestants, like most of us, this seems a strange doctrine. We see that some sins are worse than others but doesn't God hate them all. Are there really only two kinds? But we do the same thing, don't we? We divide them into two categories, too. Not so serious sins are the ones we commit. Serious sins are the ones other people commit.
Other people are evil, we are weak. Other people do terrible things, we have weak moments. They have no excuse, but we have circumstances that drove us to it. That is the kind of distinction Jesus is talking about when He mentions the speck in their eye and the log in ours. We are in this together folks. We need to understand that. The excuses we make to justify what we are doing sound silly and childish to other people. When other people try to justify themselves, they really believe it matters, even though it sounds like they are grasping at straws to us. We need to cut each other some slack.
On the other hand we need to walk carefully. While we are being sympathetic to others because we recognize we are no better than they are, we need to be careful we are not drawn into even worse behavior ourselves. If you are hanging around with other people who are struggling to do better, help them and seek their counsel to do better yourself. If you are hanging around with people who think Christianity is funny, you need some new friends.
Look at what they are doing in their lives, look at their fruit. Are they truly repentant for what they have done? Are they trying to change their ways for the better? Do they take responsibility for what they do, and try to clean-up their own messes? They might be a good influence on you.
Do they laugh off their sins? Are they always making excuses? Is it always somebody else's fault? Are they going through life thinking they are victims of their circumstances? Do they have to be made to take responsibility for what they do? Stay away from them. You don't have to condemn them, just avoid them. You don't owe them an explanation.
Are you one of these people I'm warning you about? Are you the one who always has an excuse? Are you the one thinks you are a victim of circumstances? Are you the one who never cleans up your own mess, but leaves it to others to clean up? Have you left a wake of destruction and misery behind you as you go through life? Then you need to pay attention to this last part of what Jesus says in our scripture tonight.
Matthew 7:21-23 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, … I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' Does He tell us this because He expects us to form an opinion of who is, and who is not, going to be saved? Yes, ourselves.
"But Pastor Thor, I have said the sinner's prayer. I'm saved," you say.
I'm sure I don't know if you are saved or not, but I do know this, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven." If you claim to have changed your beliefs, but you have never changed your behavior, I have to wonder if your beliefs really changed. What do you really believe? Do you think you can mock God? The sinner's prayer is not a magic chant that works if you say the right words. You have to mean it.
"But Pastor Thor, I've accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior," you say.
Really? Lord, Lord is easy to say, but it is difficult to mean it. Do you know what the word "lord" means? Lord means He becomes the ruler of your heart. It means your are putting Him in charge of your life. Does it mean you become perfect? No, of course not, but it does mean you start looking to Him for leadership instead of your own lusts, desires, and anger.
What are you about really? What do you really believe?
I remember what I used to be like before I was saved, and know what I am like now. I did good and bad then. I do good and bad now. Someone else may not even be able to tell the difference. But I know I'm different. My thought processes are different. Do I think of myself? Yes. Do I do and say selfish things? Yes. But I'm not all about myself anymore. There is a new heart in me that wants to love others, although it often fails. My old heart wanted only to love me. Others were just things to be manipulated or tricked into doing what I wanted them to do for me.
My new heart genuinely wants the people around me to enjoy some happiness. I don't always want this enough to do anything about it. I don't always want it enough to sacrifice anything of mine. But I always would like them to be happy, and sometimes I do something about it. Before, if I did something for them, it was so they would owe me, or praise me, or give me something I wanted, even if it was only emotional support.
When I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I became fundamentally different on the inside. I don't always do and say the right thing, but I always have the hope that I will. Do you have that hope? If you are saved, you know it, because you are now a different person. That difference is not something I did to me. I couldn't have. It had to be Him.
Are you a different person? If not hear this, "I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'" Is that really the last thing you want to hear the Lord say to you?
"That's preacher talk," you say. "Preaching a little hell fire, tonight preacher? You think that scares me?" you ask, but not aloud.
Yes. I am preaching hell fire. I don't care if it scares you or not, as long as you realize I am telling you the truth. I don't particularly want to scare anyone, but the danger is real. Whether you decide to avoid hell because you are frightened or simple prudence it makes no difference to me. I just don't want you to go to hell. If you are playing with God, you are playing with fire. God is real. Hell is real. Your danger is real.
"But isn't God a gentle, kind, forgiving, and loving God?" you ask. "Doesn't it say that He is not willing that any should be lost?"
Did you know you are an eternal being, made in the image of God, who will exist forever? What is God to do with someone who is going to live forever, but flatly refuses to behave himself? He made hell for Satan and his demons, not us, but what is God to do with an eternal being who will not take responsibility for his own actions?
If you are pretending to be a Christian, you can fool me. You can fool the people around you. But you can't fool God. In the end, He is the only one that matters.
What does your heart tell you? When you pray, is there someone listening or are you talking to yourself? When you sin are you sorry, or just sorry you got caught? When you make a mess, do you try to help clean it up, or do you try to distance yourself from it, and blame others? Is your soul all alone in there, or does the Spirit of the living God share your heart with you?
I hope you will decide to make your peace with God tonight. Now is a good time.
Sermons by Thor Carden
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