Matthew 7:12-14 — Series on the Mount #29

Let’s Pray….
All right, we have a lot to cover tonight so let’s dig in. Turn your Bibles to Matthew 7:12-14.

Tonight we are going to look over what will be the summary passage for what we will cover for at least a couple of weeks.

Really it’s a summary of a summary, you see, from verse 13-27, Jesus is closing the Sermon down.
And he’s going to sum up all that He had to say and He does it in three distinct ways. And we’re going to look at each selectively, because the first is a general warning and then the other two are specific to particular groups and there’s a lot that we can learn from each of those.

Tonight we’re just going to hit the passage found in Matthew 7: 13-14. But before we get there let’s cover verse 12.

12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

This passage is very well known and this verse, what many people call the Golden Rule, is not unique to the Christian faith. A bible scholar named Dr. Richard J. Krejcir, from Into Thy Word Ministries made a list of some of the world religions that have similar teachings, here are a few:

1. The Hindus teach; This is the sum of duty: do naught to others, which if done to thee would cause thee pain. (The Mahabharata).
2. The Buddhists teach; Hurt not others with that which pains yourself. (Udana-Varga).
3. The Muslim Koran teaches; No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself. (Hadith).
4. The Baha’i teaches; He should not wish for others that which he doth not wish for himself, nor promise that which he doth not fulfill. (Certitude).
5. The Greek philosophers taught; Do not that to thy neighbor that thou wouldst not suffer from him (Pittacus of Lesbos, 650-570 BC) and Do not do unto others what angers you if done to you by others. (Isocrates, 436-338 BC).
6. Confucius taught; What you do not want others to do to you, do not do to others. (551-479 BC).
AND
7. Hebrew literature says; What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. (The Talmud).

So this is practical. This is a text that is simply common sense. Even if you are not a Christian, you can probably get on board with the golden rule, let’s read it from the Bible one more time because there’s a key difference that we need to see and we’ll cover it because it takes us into the main teaching tonight.

12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

In other words, Jesus teaches, if you or I are doing things to other people that we don’t want done to our self, then we are obviously not following the Law as God laid it out for us.

One New Testament Writer, taught us that, “if anyone says, "I love God," but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20)

Here’s the key. If we read this the way we read all the other versions of the Golden Rule, then we may be tempted into a form of sin.

You might ask, “How would it be sin? Jesus tells us — commands us — to do to others what we would have them do to us.”

Am I saying that following the Golden Rule is a sin?

NO WAY.

Listen, I might second-guess any other teacher or preacher, but I’m no dummy. I agree completely with my Lord.

Here’s how we might drift into sin. If we read this out of context, if we read it out of the context of the Sermon on the Mount and really if we read it out of the context of the Scriptures as a whole, then we run the risk of turning this into another avenue of self-righteousness and self-justification.

We can look to the command to do onto others, as we would have them do to us and say, “Awesome! I’m doing that!”

We can say, look how I treat my wife, look how I treat my boss or my employees, look how I buy lunch for the homeless neighbor, look how I, look how I, look how I…

When, instead the Gospel at it’s root is the news of, “Look how Jesus treated me. Look how HE loved me.” That’s what saves us folks.

It brings us back to the old hymn, Rock of Ages that says:
Nothing in my hands I bring. Only to the cross I cling.

And then later:
Not the labor of my hands,
Can fulfill Thy law's demands;
…
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save and Thou alone.


Anytime we try to take the glory back to ourselves, any time we try to get the credit, anytime we don’t recognize God as the one who saves us; and anytime we drift into thinking that it is what WE DO that saves us. Then we have placed our eyes on our works instead of our Lord’s work.

And friends, that leads us down a bad path. Should we do onto others as we would have them do to us? YES. Again, Jesus COMMANDS it. But it has to come from the right heart. That’s what He’s been telling us throughout the Sermon on the Mount. Do what I’ve told you out of love for God and gratitude for what He has already done for you.

Remember, if the law and the prophets could have saved us, if we could have made it to Heaven by being good enough, Jesus never would have needed to die on that cross.

In Romans, Paul teaches us that the Law was not given to us in order to save us, it was given to show us our need for a savior. The Law gives us a glimpse of God’s design for our lives and anyone who reads it honestly, knows right away that they fall short of His design. That’s sin.

Even looking at the Golden Rule can be sobering if you are honest. Jesus teaches us to do on to others what we would have them do to us. Again, how far do you have to think back before you see where you’ve violated that command? A month? A week? Maybe for you it hasn’t even been two hours.

But the golden rule sums up the Law and the Prophets. So if you have broken the golden rule EVEN ONCE, that means you have sinned. And you’re not alone. I have too — we all have.

Let’s take a trip down the Roman Road. It’s an old time evangalism tool, that shows us who we are, what we deserve and what we are given instead of what we deserve by God through Jesus. Turn with me in your Bible to Romans 3:23 {unpack}, Now turn with me to Romans 6:23 (pg. 840) {unpack}, Now back to Romans 5:8 (pg. 839) {unpack}, And finally we get to the question, how do I take hold of that gift?

Let me tell you. First off, the gift takes hold of you before you can ever take hold of it.

We believe that salvation comes through faith alone in Christ alone. And we believe that the only way that our spirit could have faith in Jesus is by the grace filled gift of God to allow us to believe (Ephesians 2).

With that said, turn to Romans 10:9-13 (pg. 843) {unpack}.

Jesus said it with a lot less words than Paul in the Beatitudes, in the very beginning of the Sermon on the Mount.

He teaches that we must understand our Spiritual poverty, we must mourn our sins and KNOW, Believe, trust in the FACT that we will be comforted. Then we simply focus our hunger and thirst (our worship) on righteousness — The righteousness of our Savior and we will be filled!

You see friends; Jesus and the New Testament writers keep pointing us back to God. Over and over, Scriptures reminded us (Old and New Testaments) that we fall short and NEED His mercy and grace.

Further, even if you’ve never read the Bible this rings true to your heart. Doesn’t it? Is there anyone here who thinks they’ve kept the law perfectly? Has anyone been perfect — PERFECT — with the Golden Rule?

No. So don’t look to your own abilities to save you. Don’t try to EARN your way into Heaven. Don’t think that you’d be doing God a favor by joining His team.

Now listen, let’s get back to the golden rule. With a clear understanding that God loved YOU so much that He sent His Son to die in YOUR place, what do you do? What do we do with that? We can’t pay Him back. What do we do?

A pastor spelled it out like this. Imagine you’ve got a checking account with overdraft protection. And things were tight and you overdrew your account. Anyone ever do that? What happens, that bank adds a fee to the account. And then, if you’ve messed up as bad as I have before, you don’t find out that you overdrew the account until three or four other checks go through. And the bank just keeps adding fees and your account just gets more and more deep into the negative balance.

So imagine a person comes along and pays all the fees and gets you back to zero. That would be great, right? Except, you still don’t have any money and the next time you need to write a check, you’ll be in the hole again.

Now imagine the same person not only paid the fees and got you back to 0, imagine he also added so much money that you could never deplete the account ever again.

That’s an imperfect illustration, but imagine God’s grace and forgiveness like that. He did enough to cover all the sins you have ever committed. He did it. When Jesus does it, it stays done.

And there will be times when you lose sight of the Gospel and drift back into sin. Some of you may be there tonight. We know from God’s word that you can’t escape God’s forgiveness and Grace if you are His (Philippians 1:6; John 10:27-29; Romans 8:31-39).

So we look at the Golden rule, we look at the Ten Commandments, we look to Jesus’ commands to Love God and Love others as we do ourselves and we see them as ways in which to show our love and appreciation to Him for what He has done, Not as a way to earn His favor, Amen?

But remember, if there is no remorse, no mourning and no repentance when you do sin; if you have no desire to love God or love others, if you have no desire to follow God’s plan, if you have no desire to obey as an out flowing of love and gratitude, then I would ask if you are really saved.

Let’s move on:
Matthew 7: 13-14

13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Before I really studied the Sermon on the Mount, I always used to look at this as a warning against living in all out rebellion — a warning against being a heathen or a pagan. I am in no way discounting that, but with all that we’ve seen in up to this point in the Sermon on the Mount, this has to be at least as concerned with the unbelievers who think they are going to Heaven because of what THEY do.

Let’s break it down:
First Jesus commands: 13 enter through the narrow gate…

Again this is a command. It is a command for us, not a suggestion. But what is the narrow gate.
He is the narrow gate. The narrow gate isn’t a what, it is a who. And the WHO is JESUS.

The gateway to Heaven is marked by the Cross of Christ. It’s not a gate in which, everyone will be saved as long as they are sincere about believing something, it has to be Christ in whom we put our trust.

In Acts 4:12, we read, “…there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

In John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one gets to the Father except through me ... "

In John 10:9, He said that He is the door and that anyone who enters by Him “Will be Saved.”

First Timothy 2:5 tells us, "... there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus."

Now I know that the world wants to call us intolerant, or too exclusive with our faith, but we are only able to teach what we find in the Scriptures. Jesus is clear. He is the gate.

And so, what is the wide gate? The wide gate is anything else but Christ. Here’s the thing, we’re ALL going to go through one gate or the other. We are all going to destruction, or to life with God.

If you refuse the gospel outright and say, “Yes I know you think these things are sin, but I don’t believe what you believe and so your rules don’t apply to me.”

If that is where you are, then you are on the broad path and that leads to Hell. And I don’t say that to be unkind, or hurtful. I don’t say it out of intolerance. I say it out of a deep love for you. Because, it would be the most unloving thing that we could do to not warn you.

If a bus is coming at you when we are crossing the street together and you aren’t moving out of the way, then I am going to force you to see the danger and push you to safety.

I honestly wouldn’t care if you were mad at me, at least you would have been saved from the bus.

Listen, we absolutely believe in eternal punishment for unforgiven sinners. And it is way worse than getting hit by a bus.

And you might ask, do you really believe in a literal Hell with fire and brimstone? And Honestly, I’d have to lift an answer from another pastor I heard who said no, I think it’s probably a lot worse than just fire and brimstone.

And that’s why we don’t teach anything but Christ as the avenue for our redemption and yours.

We believe that you absolutely need to go through Jesus to get to Heaven. It is His command to us. He does not wish for any of us to perish.

But, remember, how He ends this passage:

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Which gate are you going through? Tonight can be your chance to go to Christ; to believe that He has done the work and then to put all of your trust, all of your hope all of your dependence on Him.

Which gate will you enter through?

We’re going to move through more of this next week.

Come back and bring a friend who has not found the right gate yet.

Let’s pray…

Matthew 7:7-11 - Series on the Mount #28

Let’s Pray….

Tonight we will talk about prayer as Jesus discussed it in the Sermon on the Mount.

This is the second time that Jesus talks about prayer and this is truly one of the greatest encouragements in the three chapters that document this sermon.

Before we get into that passage in Matthew 7, lets first dig into another piece of Scripture that I was shown this week, which I think informs the way we read Matthew 7.

Turn in your bibles to Ephesians 3:14b-21 (NIV)
This is a prayer written by Paul to the church in Ephesus and it is just such a boost to the spirit. It’s a reminder of who we are and who our God is and how He feels about us.
Let’s look at it and don’t read this as a prayer from some old dead guy to some ancient church. No! No, hear this and read this with YOU as the one who benefits from the prayer. Let this be an encouragement to YOU just as it was intended to be for the Ephesians…

14b…I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

Let this be a prayer for all you who are weary tonight. Weary from striving to do things on your own; weary from trying to fix the world; weary from trying to fix yourself and weary from falling short. Again,

16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

Remember it is in Christ that all things are possible. From our salvation to the upcoming restoration of all things, it is all in Christ. May we all be strengthened by knowledge of His life in our hearts. What an amazing gift!

17b And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

In other words, Paul prays for the Ephesians, and family, I pray for you to see that there is no way around His love for you. He is covering you. Look all around you. His love FOR YOU stretches past the horizon on all sides, but it’s not far off like the horizon, it’s right up on you. It is a warm embrace of the Spirit. Yield to the embrace of Christ.

His love FOR YOU is in front of you and behind you. His love FOR YOU is being poured into you by His Spirit. And if you can grasp it you will sometimes feel like you are about to burst because it is so real and so overwhelming.

I pray that YOU would be overwhelmed by the Love that your Father in Heaven has FOR YOU right now.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Verse 20 is key for where we are going tonight; let’s read it again, read it with me:

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us…

Did you catch that? The Father who has this great love FOR YOU wants you to tell Him about what you want! Give Him your hopes and dreams. ASK!

So many times I’ve read this passage and seen a word that isn’t even there.

I’ve read it: …to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we CAN ask or imagine …

But it doesn’t say CAN. I never realized that until a pastor named Eric Mason broke it down for me on a vodcast.

It doesn’t say more than we can ask, or more than we intend to ask. The promise is that He can do immeasurably more than all we ask. All we DO ask!

And then it tells us that we can know He will do it for us because He is our loving Father, but the reason He does it ultimately is to bring Glory to Himself. When He blesses you or me or us or the church universal, it’s so that those outside of the church and inside the family of God might look at the blessings and say, “WHAT A GREAT GOD!” AMEN?!

With all that in mind – With an understanding that we have been given strength and boldness from a Father that loves us! Loves us more than we can fathom. Knowing that His desire is that we ask Him for gifts, lets now read Matthew 7:7-11.

Matthew 7:7-11

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Oh, praise God. This is a wonderful text. Let’s unpack it.

Matthew Henry summarizes verses 7 and 8 this way:
"Pray; pray often; pray with sincerity and seriousness; pray, and pray again; make conscience of prayer, and be constant in it; make a business of prayer, and be earnest in it. Ask, as a beggar asks alms.’ ’

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Notice that this is a command. Jesus wasn’t one to give a lot of suggestions. He got right into and said ASK, Seek and Knock. So take this as a command. Don’t put on some false humility and say, “Well, I’m not troubling God for anything else, I’m just happy to get in the side door to Heaven.”

No, ASK.
Now the first question that you might ask is what should I ask for? Can I ask for a new car? Can I ask for a boat? How about flatter stomach diet and exercise?

I’m not going to tell you not to ask for those things. I would point you back to scriptures though.

That’s my job as a pastor.
I would point you back to the context of this command, it comes right on the heels of two full chapters of hard teachings and commands that on our best days, many of us still fall short of.

With that in mind, with the will of the Father in Heaven in mind and with the facts of our inability to live by God’s design on our own, Jesus tells us – commands us to ASK!

I carry around this little book nearly everywhere that I go. It’s called the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It was put together by a group of really smart church leaders. It isn’t the Bible, there are a couple of things that I don’t agree with in here, but that’s another sermon.

Anyway, this little book points me back to Scriptures and I use it as an on-the-fly devotional. If I get a free moment, I can flip through this and simply be reminded of some basic truths and teachings in the Scriptures. It’s my landing gear when I see myself coming close to flying off the handle. It’s the pier I can tie my spirit to when I begin to drift back toward my old sin nature.

Anyway, there’s a section where the Westminster fellas break down the Lord’s prayer and in Question 103 they ask: What do we pray for in the third petition (or the third part of the Lord’s prayer)?

Then they answer it like this: In the third petition, (which is, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven,) we pray that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.

And then we are given this footnote to Psalms 119:34-36, where we find yet another comforting and Gospel reminding passage for our walk with the Lord.

Psalm 119:34-36
34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law
and obey it with all my heart.
35 Direct me in the path of your commands,
for there I find delight.
36 Turn my heart toward your statutes
and not toward selfish gain.

You see this is so beautiful because it reminds me that it is ultimately God who gives me the understanding, direction and heart motivation to follow His commands.

I find my rest in Him, not in my abilities, thank God.

My abilities always fall short. So what do we ask for with a guarantee of receiving it from God? We ask for something in particular. We ask that He would give us the ability to follow His design for our lives.

And then Matthew 7:7 continues, “seek and you will find…”

What’s the difference between asking and seeking? Action.

Seeking involves movement. The difference between me asking my wife where the remote is and getting up and seeking it is obvious. In the same way, once we realize that we need our Lord to enable us to follow His design, we then begin walking in the truth that what we asked for was given to us.

How will we ever know if He has given us the ability to walk in obedience if we don’t go out and obey? How would the paralyzed man know that he could take up his mat and walk if he never then got up and moved?

Sometimes the extent of our faith can be seen in the way we operate after we pray. Don’t keep walking around like your still defeated, believe God when He tells you that you will be given what you have asked for in context of the Scriptures; in the context of His will for your life.

Let’s take this back to last week’s message. We talked about Matthew 7:6 where we are warned against constantly trying to get the Gospel into the hearts of people who won’t accept it.

And we said that we should absolutely mourn over their unbelief because we know where the road leads without Christ.
But we ended last week with the instruction not to stop at mourning over your friends and family. No, get on your knees and pray earnestly for them. Ask that they might receive Jesus before the end and then walk boldly to the next person God wants you to share your faith with.

And when He gives another opportunity take it, ask then seek, then get to work.

This principle holds true in whatever sin you are struggling with as well, whether your sin is self-righteousness, or greed, or lust or idolatry.

Go back to the Beatitudes where we are taught to recognize our sin, mourn over it and ask God to remove that obstacle from our life, then move out in faith that He is doing a good work in you that He will not stop until you are done, until you are perfected.

And here’s the thing, seeking victory that you have asked God for includes not only searching the scriptures and not only turning to the community of other believers for Christ-righteousness, it also includes fleeing from the people, places and things that used to drag you back into sin.

That’s a way that you can work WITH the Spirit of God.

When we move to knocking, we see a level of persistence. It’s still action, but it is persistent action.

We knock like the man knocking on the door for bread (Luke 11:7-10), his persistence wins over the protests of the owner of the home.

In the same way we are persistent with our prayer, we don’t give up, we strive for what God is calling us to. We pray earnestly that His Kingdom would come in all of its fullness. We knock and knock until He answers.

But remember, we are talking about prayers in His will not our own. By this point in the Sermon on the Mount, we should know what a heart conformed to God looks like.

If you’ve missed any of the last 30 sermons, you can go online and study up. And truthfully, you may get more out of just reading through Matthew 5, Matthew 6 and Matthew 7 again.

Then, conform your will, conform yourself to the things of God when you come to ask, seek and knock.

If you are honestly praying that His will be done in a situation let Him know be persistent. He never tires of hearing from you. Remember His love unstoppable, unquenchable, unshakable and unconditional love. Don’t be ashamed, don’t be afraid and don’t hold back.

Now let me point out that Jesus is so serious about this that He practically repeats Himself in verse 8. Repetition is used in the Bible to add weight to what it being said.

Also though, look at the key word that Jesus adds into verse 8 that surely would have rankled a few feathers in the crowd.

7 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For EVERYONE who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

He adds the word EVERYONE. To the religious leaders and to many of the workaday Jews in the crowd this was completely different. See the religious leaders taught that it was the Jews and the Jews alone that were to be ushered into the Kingdom when the Messiah came. But Jesus said, no, the Nation of Israel was designed to be the light on the hill that drew EVERYONE in.

And through the cross, now there is no more division because of race or nationality, or gender, or past. The only distinction that exists now is that of forgiven and un-forgiven sinners.

And look again at the verse in that context.

It doesn’t matter who you are, what you’ve done, how bad you’ve been or how good you think you are compared to everyone else.

The common denominator for all of us is that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We all deserve death and Hell for the sins, whether it was murder, or a little white lie, God doesn’t play with sin or sinners.
BUT, that’s not where it ends, He sent His son, who was holy and blameless to come down to earth and live the sinless life that we could not live and then die on the cross to take the wrath of God onto Himself FOR US.

Remember what we started with tonight. Love for you was demonstrated on the cross. God so longed for YOU to be with him in Heaven and He so longed to bring Glory to Himself that He saved EVEN YOU by sending His son to die for you.

So, when You believe that God loved you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you and when you believe that it was His death on the cross and nothing that You did to save yourself, than you can simply ask him to cover you with His righteousness — His perfection through the cross and you will receive forgiveness. You will be justified.

That is true for ANYONE – EVERYONE who asks receives. That can be true for you tonight if you’ve never taken that step.

And this is no bait and switch. God the Father loves to give you the good gifts of the Kingdom. First salvation, then sanctification through the Spirit.
Let’s read 9-11 again:

9 "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Now one more point and then we’ll get out of here. Our passage ends: how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

Don’t buy into the prosperity Gospel, what is sometimes disparagingly called the Name it and claim it preaching, which says you just need to trust God for anything your heart desires and — Poof! There it will be.

God is not a genie. God isn’t there to give everything and anything you demand, but He does promise good gifts for you.

And remember, what is a good gift for you, might not be right for someone else.

Just like a parent will not say yes to everything that his or her child asks, neither will God say yes to things you ask for that not good for you or things that are outside of His will for your life.

My wife and I were talking about this yesterday. She said, you know if one child asks for a cookie and some Cool-aid, we might say yes. If another child is diabetic, it might be un-loving to give them that much sugar.

So don’t compare what you have to what someone else has as a gauge of God’s love.
Remember that God knows better than you what you need and what is good for you.

Brothers and sisters, instead of more stuff, instead new or different relationships, instead of a great new job, instead of a healthier body, I would urge each of you and I would remind myself: Ask that the Love of God might transform you. Ask that you would be transformed into a clearer reflection of Him to the world.

Seek to know more about our wonderful Lord by reading the Scriptures and living in community with other Christ followers. Seek Him by fleeing from sin.

And knock persistently at the gates of His Kingdom, asking that His Kingdom would come in all of its perfection and Glory sooner than later. And never stop praying that prayer until you see Him face to face in heaven.
Let’s pray…

Matthew 7:6 — Series on the Mount #27

Last week we went over Matthew 7:1-5, and discussed it as it relates to correcting or being corrected by our brothers and sisters in Christ by the Scriptures.

Even though I laid out a number of reasons that we should humbly seek correction and reasons we should provide correction and rebukes in a kind and compassionate manner, many of us still bristle at the idea.

Well at the end of the message last week I said that there are times when we will go to a brother or sister and find out that we did not have a clear picture and there wasn’t sin. Praise God.

There will be times when we will go to a brother or sister in love and they will thank us and repent to God and be brought back into fellowship. Praise God.

But, I said, there will also be times when they will absolutely rise up and reject the correction. Sometimes that means they will walk away from the fellowship, sometimes that means they will attempt to sabotage you, sometimes that will mean character attacks, possibly even a lawsuit.

But God’s call on our lives is not dependent on the results that we get. We don’t tell God “Okay, I’ll do it, as long as I come out on top; or, as long as it doesn’t make for awkward conversations; or, as long as they don’t think I’m a bible thumper.”

No reaction — good or horrible — NO REACTION changes the call on your life and the call on my life to deal with our sin and then help others with theirs. It is what we do if we love one another. It is historically, one of the key reasons for the church.

Now this week we will address what happens when we face rejection and when our words fall on deaf ears and the like.

And we are not only going to talk about rejection when it comes to church discipline, but we will also talk about rejection when we evangelize to our friends and neighbors, and co-workers and family.

But before we get into verse six, let’s review the first five verses, because we need to keep the foundation strong for where we are going tonight.

Matthew 7:1-5
1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 "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? 4 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? 5 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.

Before we talk about dealing with rejection, let me reemphasize, if you are being rejected in church correction or in evangelism — if you are being rejected because you are harsh, or self-righteous, or degrading, or smug or if you are pompous and look down on the person you are going to, then you need to get right. Those things are planks!

Above all, our mission is to get the Gospel out. And if you are lacking in humility or compassion, or gentleness or grace, it’s an indicator that you still don’t get the Gospel yourself.

And listen, from a guy who used to be on the receiving end of wrong headed — or wrong hearted — evangelism. If you are trying to get the Gospel out before you have the Gospel in your own heart, than what you actually do is hinder the Gospel.

We’ve been talking primarily about church discipline, but again this next verse can be applied to those outside of the church that we are trying to share the salvation message with, or to those who join us in fellowship every week, when we see them succumbing to sin.

The key element is, this is how we deal with those who disregard or flatly ignore the message. Those who reject the Word of God in their words or actions; those who reject the word as it is delivered in kindness, compassion and gentleness; but this is not to those who have been given the Word of God with a billy club, Amen?

That’s why Jesus goes through the first five verses BEFORE verse 6.

Now to Matthew 7:6
6 "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.

Now, the crowd that Jesus was talking to did not watch the Westminster dog show, they didn’t care one lick about the animal shelter’s “Dogs of the Week” in the newspaper and they weren’t the type to cry at the end of Old Yeller.

Except for the well-trained shepherding dogs (Job 30), the dogs in that time were filthy, scavengers who ate dead bodies and lapped up blood from the ground (2 Kings 9 and 1 Kings 22). They were like vultures.

And throughout the Old Testament, dogs were used as an illustration of those who were far from God in their rebellion (Proverbs 26:11), or far from God because of their ignorance of Him. In Psalm 22, a Psalm pointing toward Jesus’ death on the cross, the men who drove spikes through our Lord’s hands and feet are called dogs (Psalm 22:16).

So dogs were not looked well upon. And the same was true with pigs.

This was before Charlotte's Web. Pigs were looked at as unclean animals. And as anyone who’s ever been to a 4-H fair can tell you, you can spend all day cleaning the animal up, making it look good and as soon as it can, that little pig is going right back to the muck as soon as it gets a chance.

Jesus says, don’t give what is sacred to the dogs or the swine. They don’t appreciate it and they may even turn on you.

And that’s all good until you start calling people dogs and swine. Here’s a tip, even though that’s how Jesus describes those who will not listen, or those who reject the Word, those who persecute you; That is not a directive that we should them call them dogs or swine.

That usually ends badly. You tracking?

Now let’s read it again, because Jesus gives us an important warning here.

Now to Matthew 7:6
6 "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.

Again, we have some distance from this culturally in two different ways.

First, except for an occasional pit bull or Doberman that has been mistreated or trained to be vicious, we don’t come into contact with very many dogs that are going to turn on us and tear us to pieces.

And the pigs we see are almost always behind gates and their fed into a state of slumber most of the time.

But at the time that Jesus was teaching, these animals were dangerous and would be avoided at all costs.

And when you came into contact with them, what would their primary focus be? Eating.

So if you throw something like pearls to a pig, the pig might at first look and think it is food. Once the pig finds out it isn’t that little swine’s going to be mad and may come after you.

So this teaching is saying don’t give pigs and dogs something as beautiful and as precious as the news of the Kingdom of Heaven (Matthew 13: 45-46), because not only will it not be appreciated, it may make the people mad because it’s not what they want.

And the other cultural distance that we have is that we do not usually face the kind of attack here in Middle America that other witnesses of the Gospel face in other parts of the world. And we certainly don’t face the martyrdom that the early Christ followers faced.

Remember, for the early Christians, and the people of God before Jesus came, being torn to pieces was a real danger. The book of Hebrews 11 addresses some of the things that happened to the prophets and the men and women of God who trusted in Him completely. It starts with some of the big names like Abel, Abraham and Moses and it shows some of the benefits of faith, but also some of the hardships.

Hebrews 11:35-37 says
35 Women received back their dead, raised to life again…
(Awesome, right?)

…Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. 37 They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated…

Most of us will not see this kind of abuse. But again, some people WILL mock you. Some will make up all kinds of lies about you; some may bring lawsuits against you. Some of you may lose jobs.

Jesus tells us to expect that, and to a degree we should see it as a blessing, because it is the same way they came against the prophets of the Old Testament, it how Herod came against John the Baptist, and it’s ultimately how the people came against Jesus. We are in good company and we will be on the same side as Jesus when this all shakes out.

But in Matthew 7:6, he says, don’t make persecution your goal. If you see an unfruitful prospect for the Gospel, move on, don’t get worn down by arguments or debates or fending off unnecessary attacks. No,

Move on.

The time you spend just spinning your wheels is time that you and I are not getting the message out to the next person.

Now, here’s the danger.

Dogs. Literal dogs, tail, ears, barking, sniffing dogs are obviously what they are.
Pigs. Literal pigs, corkscrew tail, oinking, stinky old pigs are obviously what they are.

But a person who is a spiritual dog or pig is not obvious.

The danger that we face is predetermining in our own minds who is going to accept the Gospel and who is going to reject it; by the way they look or the way they dress, or where they live, or what they do for a living or the way they’ve talked in the past.

We simply will not know if they are dogs or pigs until we give them what is sacred. Until we give them the pearl.

What the New Testament tells us is that we have a mission to carry the Good News out to the world and if they respond well than praise God. But if they will not, move on.

When Jesus sent out his 12 disciples. Matter of fact let’s all turn there.

Matthew 10
1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness.

2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.

Let’s stop there for a minute. You realize that we here are among that group that Jesus said not to go to. We were dogs and swine. But, after the Jews rejected Jesus, we were given the gift that was first given to the physical descendants of Abraham. We were then, through our faith in Christ by the grace of God, made to be SPIRITUAL descendants of Abraham.

We must always remember that we were once enemies of God who were reconciled or made right with God by Christ. That way none of us will boast of our own works or our own good deeds or look down on those who are still far from God.

Okay, Remember where we started. We were all dogs and swine before we were given faith.
Moving on…

7 As you go, preach this message: 'The kingdom of heaven is near.' 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give. 9 Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10 take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.

11 "Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. 14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.

Okay, back to the point. We move into an area. It may be our workplace, our home, our extended family. It may even be our Sunday church or our small group. We move in and we bring the Good News. To the “secular” places, it may mean bringing the news for the first time. For the churches and small groups it goes back to correcting sin and being open to correction for our own sin.

But here’s the key. If the person or people don’t come to the Gospel, we need to shift focus to the next person or people.

That doesn’t mean quitting our jobs or shunning our family if our co-workers and loved ones won’t come to Christ, it means, we stop sharing in words and simply live lives that reflect the truth of our salvation and the beauty of a life that is dependent on Christ.

But we move on.

And this is where it gets to be a hard teaching, because we know the truth of the Gospel. We know that it is the “Good News” because there is an ancillary, very true bad news. It is what Jesus told His 12. He said:

15 …“I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.”

And instead of town we can read, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that co-worker, that mom, that aunt and uncle, that brother, that sister, that neighbor.

We don’t look down our noses smugly. We don’t say flippantly, “we’ll I’m picking non-smoking for my eternity.” We don’t laugh it off. We don’t say good riddance to bad rubbish. We don’t call them idiots. We don’t become elitists.

We mourn. We mourn. We mourn.

Because there is a judgment. And it is eternal.

Revelation 14:11 tells us:
11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name."

And in Matthew 25:46 Jesus gives us a warning about those who do not truly follow Him saying "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

And we don’t want it to be eternal. We have friends who claim Christ as their savior but who cling to the concept of annihilation for unregenerate sinners. Simply put, annihilation is a belief that those apart from God will simply cease to exist, that, that will be their punishment.

Believe me, when I look to some of my loved ones who see the Gospel as foolishness, I want to look to annihilation.

But, I simply don't see it holding up Scripturally.

The reason that we don’t teach that; the reason that we mourn over those who refuse God’s gift of His son, is because eternal in Matthew 25:46 is eternal, it is everlasting. It’s the Greek word aionios (i-o-nee-os). It means without end, never to cease, everlasting

The words forever and ever in revelation 14:11 are the Greek aion (i-o-nee) it’s the root of the word eternal in Matthew and it means forever, an unbroken age, perpetuity of time, eternity

We rejoice that we have eternal life with God, but we mourn the eternal punishment of those we love who are far from Christ.

We’re about to end it but let me add some good to the bad news. Those who will not accept now may later, so we are told to pray earnestly for our loved ones, that they may come to the cross and find salvation.

And brothers and sisters, I can tell you from experience that it works. I was a dog. I was a spiritual pig. I rejected God, I rejected His word. I mocked His children. I had a deep hatred in my heart for His bride, the church.

But people continued to pray for me, many stopped trying to share Him with me with their words, but they prayed and prayed and prayed.

And God let me wallow with the pigs until I was so low that I saw how wretched I had become. He softened my heart, which was the soil for the seeds that so many people had tried to sew in me.

If we asked around this small gathering I believe we’d find some similar stories.

And we find them in the Bible. Look at Paul. Before Jesus got his heart he was known as Saul and he was a vicious terrorist bent on the destruction of the early church. But god turned him into one of the most powerful change agents in the history of our spiritual lineage.

So don’t give up on the dogs and swine in your life. Pray for them each day, pray for them with earnest prayer.

But, as Jesus teaches us, we must not let them take us off of our mission. Get moving with the Gospel into places where God will use you to work out His Kingdom mission.

Let’s pray…

Matthew 7:1-5 — Series on the Mount #26

Everyone all right? Anyone struggling this week?

Okay, let’s get out our Bibles and turn to Matthew 7:1-5. Matter fact, let’s stand while we read God’s word tonight.

Matthew 7:1-5
1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

3 "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? 4 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? 5 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.

Let’s pray… All right, have a seat.

This is the 26th week that we’ve been covering the Sermon on the Mount.
It all started in Chapter 5.
- In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “This is what it looks like to be a Christ follower.” He said, “You want to find the kind of blessings, the kind of happiness that does not fade, does not rot; then conform to this template.”
- Then He said, and it’s not all for us. All those blessings are for more than our happiness. We aren’t born again, you and I are not adopted in the family of God so that we can have our best life now.
o No, we are saved, we are made right with God in order to bring glory to God and draw others into His loving arms – to be the salt and light in a dark and rotting world.
o From that, from fulfilling that mission we find true happiness.
o But the happiness is not the end, it is a byproduct of being on mission.
- Then Jesus makes it clear to anyone who might have had doubts, that He was not in town to get rid of the Law that He (God) had handed down to His people centuries ago.
o He wasn’t shaking the etch-a-sketch and starting a whole new picture.
o He said no, I’m here to fulfill it. But the religious leaders of the day had so twisted the Scriptures that He had to straighten us out.
- Then He started going on the attack of false or wrong-headed teachings on anger and murder, on lust and adultery, on divorces and oaths. And revenge.
o And over and over and over, he said, it’s the heart. He said look at your heart, stop trying to tiptoe to the very edge of the rules as you understand them. Instead get you heart right, submit to the will of the Father.
- Then Jesus hits us square in the eye with the COMMAND at the end of chapter five, Be Perfect, as Your Father in Heaven is Perfect!
o And the point we made there, the point we make every week, the POINT OF THE GOSPEL is that this is an impossible command without a faith in Christ.
* It’s not about morality. Because doing all the right things apart from Christ makes all of those right things like filthy rags in God’s sight.
* We all fall short of the perfection – and that’s why Jesus had to come down to Earth; that’s why He had to live a sinless life — even though He was tempted in all the ways that we have been; that’s why He had to allow Himself to be killed on the cross.
* All of that because we can’t pay the debt for our sins on our own.
- Moving on to Matthew 6, Jesus goes back to heart motives, He says yes as His people, we should be the first to give to the needy, we should fast and we should pray — absolutely, that’s all basic Spiritual existence.
- BUT
- Don’t do it like the hypocrites. If we do any of those things for the recognition of others — if any of that is done for reasons except to glorify and commune with God, and represent Him to a world trapped in their sin, than it is all for not.
o And remember brothers and sisters, that goes for anything related to serving God, If you are singing, showing compassion, helping the sick, tending to the orphans and widows, or what ever, if your doing it for applause than that’s all you are gonna get, because that reveals a wrong heart. Amen?

It’s the heart, the heart the heart.

- And Jesus closes out Chapter six in the heart, saying where your treasure is there your heart is also.
- If it is on the things of this world, know that they are gonna fade, they are gonna rot.
- If they ever give you satisfaction it will be short lived. So again, put your heart — set your attention — pledge your allegiance to our God in Heaven.
- He will never leave you or forsake you. He will complete the work that He has started in you.

When we know that, when we know we are on God’s side, then we can face each new day, each new hurdle, each new battle, each new trail, each new relationship with a Christ centered framework that helps us to remember not to worry, but to walk boldly into the mission.

That’s a long introduction but we’re getting close to the end of this series so I wanted to catch us all up and keep us all together as we move forward in the next couple of weeks.

Now, back to tonight’s passage.
There are few other passages that are as often quoted by believers and non-believers than this first line. And I would guess that there are fewer verses that are as badly misused than this one. Let’s read it.

1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

So when we look at the word judge in this verse, we see judge as any correction any rebuke and thing that calls out my faults or failures.

And in and outside the church, the way I used this verse as a Non-believer and the way I’ve heard it in the church — especially when church discipline has been brought up is:
Don’t you tell me I’m wrong. Don’t you tell me I need to change. Don’t you call this thing I’m doing sin. Don’t you judge me.

Now, there is a key element to interpreting Scriptures that we must point out before we move on. It’s this: interpret Scripture with other Scriptures.
Now, if we look at this verse in it’s context we find out very quickly that this is a reproof against harsh, self-righteous, indignant, criticism and brow beating. And we’ll get to that in a moment.

But, to interpret this as, “No one can ever tell me I’m wrong, No one should ever call me out on my sin” flies in the face God’s word.

We would have to throw out a chunk of the New Testament in order to make that understanding or interpretation make sense.

Turn with me to Matthew 18:15-17.
15 "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. 16 But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

So if we are never to come to a brother or sister in Christ and LOVINGLY correct. And if we are never to accept anyone else trying to lead us back into a sanctifying walk with the Lord, how does this make sense?

We’re going to talk about that passage some more next week. Let’s keep moving…

Galatians 2: 11-13
11 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 12 Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

Now listen, most of us don’t like sermons on church discipline. I don’t like them. But I am accountable to God for what I preach. James says that not many of us should want to teach because we will be judged by a higher standard.

I want to make it clear that church discipline is both right and necessary at times. And it is hardly ever fun. Dealing with sin in our own lives or having the awkward conversation to bring it up to a friend is hard to do.

But, when done appropriately, it is a path that leads to closer intimacy within the body.

And a church, as demonstrated in the New Testament was used to help one another in this way.
But I think you and I both have a knee jerk reaction to say NO to church discipline because we’ve seen first hand or heard stories of how this can go very badly and can destroy relationships and sometimes, entire churches when it’s done wrong.

But as we read on in Matthew 7, we will see Jesus’ safeguard against that problem.

Remember the context of the Sermon on the Mount. Remember who the targets of most of Jesus’ rebukes are.
It is the Pharisees and other religious leaders who had perverted the word of God ands twisted it into this mangled form that kept them on top and the rest of God’s people in a groveling position and kept non-Jews completely out of the picture.

They are the ones who put themselves up as perfect and righteous in their own eyes and scorned and shamed the other Jewish people for not toeing the pharisaical line.

So this context goes right along with the warnings about praying fasting and giving to the needy. Jesus doesn’t say throw church discipline out the window any more than He would say stop fasting, praying or giving.

No, He says when you go about correcting a brother or sister, don’t be like those Pharisees.

Are we tracking? You may not agree and I am okay with that. Are you at least to a point where you understand my view and by proxy, the stance of the church in the grass?

With all that said, let’s get back to Matthew 7.

1 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

In other words, when we see something wrong we must be very careful how we address it. Because Jesus promises that the same will come to us WHEN we fall or fail.

In the History of the time of Judges in the Old Testament you can read of a king named Adoni-Bezek, (Judges 1) who would cut off the thumbs and big toes from the kings of lands his nation conquered.

So when He was conquered by the Israelites, what happened? His thumbs and toes were lopped off. The way he judged was the way he was judged.

Are there any of you who have done that? Lopped off toes and thumbs? If so, we’ll pray for you and maybe call the cops, I don’t know.

No, we aren’t severe. But remember, the way we deal with the sins of others is the way we will be dealt with for our sins against God and others.

I could go into it, don’t gossip, don’t slander, don’t post angry facebook updates, don’t discredit and vilify them. Don’t beat them up, I could go on and on, but instead I’ll take you back to Matthew 5:7 and remind you that God has promised to show you mercy — so that is how we approach others in sin — with Mercy.

I say it often, we don’t want what we deserve for our sin. We want God to love us in spite of our sin.
Remember that when you say, “Yeah, but they deserve to get what they gave! Any eye for an eye! I want justice!”

Do you really? Lets go to verse 3.

3 "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? 4 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?

Here we go. Let’s get to the heart of it. You are broken. You are a sinner. You need correction. If you don’t yet know Christ, You NEED Him, whether you realize that or not.

And those of you (AND ME) who are already in a relationship with Christ still have areas where we are FAR from perfect.

What Jesus says to each of us through His word is, Self-righteousness KILLS relationships.

Self-righteousness and pride in our hearts completely takes us out of the game. We are put on the bench, we are sent back to the dugout because we are not able to get the job done. We are hurting the team.

I’m going out on a limb here with sports metaphors, but I think I’m doing this right. You’ve seen the pitcher who just can’t get right. He knows the motions, He knows his stance, his technique, he knows how to hold the ball and where to place his fingers on the seams, but for whatever reason, he just can’t get right and he can single handedly destroy his team’s chances.

We see this all the time in the church. We know the commands of God and we understand, hopefully by now, that we have systems and procedures in place to deal with problems in the body of the church.

In all likelihood, we should be able to follow Jesus’ instructions so that the team wins (winning in this metaphor is reconciliation within the body of believers).

But, even though we have been given clear cut instructions, even though we may know all the right moves and even though we may have provided correction correctly in the past — Jesus warns that self-righteousness will throw us off and we will have to be taken off the mound, before we hurt the team any further.

Brothers and sisters, the planks have to be recognized and dealt with in our own eyes otherwise we can never come alongside our family and help them with their twigs or specks.

Many times I am more keenly aware of other people’s sins when I am losing a battle with sin in my own life. Do you know what I’m talking about?

Are you tracking with that? I don’t want to look at my problems, because that means there is a chink in my armor; that means that I am still painfully far from perfection; that means that there are still areas of my heart that the Holy Spirit is trying to cut away and that is sometimes a painful process that I don’t want to go through.

And quite frankly, there is a sin of caring what other people think about me when they see sin in my life so:
- I am going to divert their gaze.
- I’m going to send up a smoke screen.
- I’m going to cause a distraction by instead pointing out their sin.

That, is a plank. And that takes me out of the game. And if that is where you find yourself today, then you’ve got to go to the lumber mill and have them get that out of your eye, Amen?

5 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.

Once we recognize our plank and we deal with the corroding sin in our lives, we once again become useful to God. The passage says we will then see “clearly” to remove the speck in our brother’s eye.

By clearly, we can read humbly, lovingly, and compassionately. Because once we’ve dealt with our own brokenness, we are brought down to a place where we are not looking down on our brother or sister.

We no longer ask stupid questions like “how could they do such a thing?” We no longer say, “Thank you God that I’m not like THAT GUY.”

No, we come along side and say, “I think I see something here that needs dealt with. I’ve been there too. Can I help you.”

We are shown God’s mercy and so we show mercy in order to reflect God.

We are gentle. We are loving. We are kind.

But don’t miss the fact that we must then help them with the speck. Call it discipline if you want, call it correction or just call it love. But, whatever you call it. Do it. Do it Do it.

Because if a brother or sister sees me walking in sin, if that speck has blinded me to the reality of my identity as an image bearer of God, then it is an act of neglect, it is an act of un-lovingness, it is an act of heartlessness to let me continue walking in that.

Don’t say, we should not correct because so many churches have done it wrong. Co-labor with the Holy Spirit, walk in humility, remember we are no better and we are no worse than the next person, remember that we are here for each other and offer correction in love.

There are times when we will go to a brother or sister and find out that we did not have a clear picture and there wasn’t sin. Praise God.

There will be times when we will go to a brother or sister in love and they will thank us and repent to God and be brought back into fellowship. Praise God.

But there will be times when they will absolutely rise up and reject the correction. Sometimes that means they will walk away from the fellowship, sometimes that means they will attempt to sabotage you, sometimes that will mean character attacks.

But none of that changes the call on your life and the call on my life to deal with our sin and then help others with theirs. It is what we do if we love one another. It is historically, one of the key reasons for the church.

Next week, we will address what happens when we face rejection when our words fall on deaf ears and the like.

If you have any questions from this week’s message, call, or email me or just talk with me after today’s service.

In the meantime; maybe this message, maybe this scripture has brought to mind a time when you have been on the giving or receiving end of un-biblical church discipline.

Maybe you were the one who was hurt by an unloving, self-righteous yo-yo, or bunch of yo-yos. Or maybe you were the yo-yo.

I would just ask that you go to prayer with God before you leave here tonight and ask how that issue might be resolved. God desires reconciliation especially among the church. If you need to talk or if you need prayer in that area, that’s one of the reasons I am here.

Let’s pray and then you’ll be dismissed…