The Jesus Way
Notes
Transcript
NOTE:
This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.
Engagement
In our culture today, one of the worst things you could say about another person is that they are narrow-minded. In fact, we tend to cut other people down with sayings like these:
He was so narrow minded that if he fell on a pin it would blind him in both eyes.
He was so narrow minded he could see through a keyhole with both eyes.
She was so narrow minded that her earrings knocked together when she walked.
But as we’ve seen consistently as we’ve studied the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ kingdom is an “upside down kingdom” in which we are called to live in a way that is absolutely narrow minded and which is completely contrary to the way most in our culture live. It’s what I like to call living the Jesus Way.
Worship leader Phil Wickham has written a song with that title that does a great job of articulating some of the things we’ve already learned over the last several weeks. See if these lyrics don’t ring a bell:
If you curse me, then I will bless you
If you hurt me, I will forgive
And if you hate me, then I will love you
I choose the Jesus way
If you're helpless, I will defend you
And if you're burdened, I'll share the weight
And if you're hopeless, then let me show you
There's hope in the Jesus way
If you strike me, I will embrace you
And if you chain me, I'll sing His praise
And if you kill me, my home is heaven
For I choose the Jesus way
Tension
Sounds a lot like what we’ve been learning as we study the Sermon on the Mount doesn’t it? That’s because this sermon of Jesus is undoubtedly both the most comprehensive and the most succinct description in the entire Bible of what it looks like when we live according to the Jesus way. And if you’re a disciple of Jesus, hopefully your greatest desire is to live like that. But it’s really hard to do that, isn’t it? But, as we’ll see this morning, fortunately we don’t have to do that on our own.
Truth
Before we read this morning’s passage, let me just say that if it were up to me, I’d preach at least 4 different sermons on these verses, because there are certainly at least that many distinct ideas that Jesus is teaching about here. And to be honest, I found it really hard to come up with one main idea that adequately ties together all these concepts. But I’ll do my best to cover the entire passage appropriately in a reasonable amount of time.
For reasons that will hopefully make sense by the time we finish this morning, I’m going to work through this passage in reverse order. I’ll begin with verses 13-14:
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.
14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Jesus wraps up the section of His sermon that we’re going to study this morning with the main idea we’re going to develop today:
The Jesus way is not always the easiest, but it is always the very best
The Jesus way is not always the easiest, but it is always the very best
Jesus ends this section by telling us that His way is narrow and hard. In other words, it’s not the easiest. That is why not very many people are going to choose that way. But it is the only way that leads to life and that makes it by far the best way to live.
On the other hand, the way of this world is wide and easy. So most people choose that path. But that way leads to destruction. It’s the easiest way, but it’s so far from the best.
In order to illustrate that idea, Jesus uses a teaching method that was common both within Judaism and in Greco-Roman philosophy. He uses a series of contrasting “twos” to show that there are two ways to live life - the world’s way and the Jesus way. In today’s passage we see that there are:
Two ways of judging
Two ways of asking
Two ways of treating people
Two gates
Two ways
Two destinies
With these contrasts, Jesus is calling His disciples to a decision. He’s not leaving any middle ground. So in the mind of most people in our modern culture, He is committing the worst sin of all - asking us to be narrow minded. But as we’ll see this morning, the Jesus way is, by definition, quite narrow.
With that in mind, let’s focus on verse 12 for a moment:
12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
This verse is pretty self explanatory and it’s probably a great summary of Jesus’ entire sermon. We love others when we treat them the way we want to be treated.
Application
Now that we have that broad overview, we’re ready to get into what I would call the “meat” of this passage - the practical guidance on how to live the Jesus way in two areas of our life. Because we have limited time I’m going to look rather briefly at verses 6-11 and then spend more time on the first five verses because they address an issue that I think most of us struggle with.
Follow along as I read verses 7-11:
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
At first glance this seems to be instruction about being persistent in prayer. All the verbs are present tense verbs so we could accurately translate it “Keep on asking...keep on seeking...keep on knocking”. And we certainly ought to do that. But I think Jesus is actually focusing on something deeper here:
As a disciple of Jesus I need to ask God to help me live the Jesus way
If we take this prayer out of its context, and unfortunately a lot of people have done that, it would be easy to conclude that God is obligated to give us whatever we ask for. After all Jesus says “everyone receives...” But given it’s context within Jesus’ sermon, I’m convinced that the “it” that will be given to us is the ability to live in the way that Jesus has been describing throughout this sermon. That is the “good” that God gives to His children.
That seems to be confirmed in the parallel passage in Luke 11 that ends with these words:
13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Here, Jesus makes it clear that the “good gift” that God wants to give to His children is the Holy Spirit. But since we know that the Holy Spirit already dwells permanently in every disciple of Jesus, the idea here seems to be that when we ask God, the Holy Spirit empowers us to live our lives according to the Jesus way.
I’d love to spend some more time here because this is a principle that is so important, but let’s go ahead and move on to verse 6:
6 “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.
This is a very strange verse that more than likely is related to the first five verses that we’ll get to in a moment. While there are a number of possible principles we could probably draw from this verse, here is the one that I think is most relevant for us:
As a disciple of Jesus, I should not expect non-Christians to act like Christians
Like many of you, I’ve learned the hard way that trying to convince non-Christians that the Jesus way is the right way to live is a losing battle.
I’m not saying that when we have the opportunity we shouldn’t stand up for biblical truth or point people to Jesus. What I am saying is that we shouldn’t be surprised when people reject that truth and that at some point, we just need to move on.
I’m not saying that we should ever “give up” on anyone when it comes to sharing our faith. No one is beyond God’s ability to save. However, at some point, exercising the kind of judgment we’re going to talk about in a moment with someone who is not yet a disciple of Jesus becomes counterproductive. Undoubtedly, deciding when we’ve reached that point can be really hard, especially with family members or others we love. So we need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to help us discern when we need to do that.
Let’s close out time by looking at verses 1-5. We’ll spend a little more time here.
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye?
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.
Verse 1 may very well be the most well-known verse in the entire Bible. Even most non-Christians know that verse and are adept at using it to try and fight back against any attempt to call them out on behavior that violates the truth of Scripture. So it may very well be the most misused verse in the Bible, too.
If this passage means that we are never to make judgments about others, then Jesus has already violated that command here in the Sermon on the Mount. He has consistently made judgments against those whose religion primarily consists of “putting on a show” with their outward actions while at the same time really not having a heart for God. And we see Jesus continuing to make moral judgments throughout His earthly ministry. So He can’t possibly be teaching His disciples that we are never to make any kind of moral judgments.
So what is Jesus saying here? I’d summarize it like this:
As a disciple of Jesus, I need to exercise godly judgment without being judgmental
In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul confirms the idea that within the church we not only have the right to exercise godly judgment, we actually have a responsibility to do so:
11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one.
12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?
13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
So the real issue here is not whether we are to judge, but rather how we can exercise the kind of Godly judgment that Jesus carried out and that Paul wrote about. So let’s spend the rest of out time seeing what we can learn about how to do that.
HOW TO EXERCISE GODLY JUDGMENT
HOW TO EXERCISE GODLY JUDGMENT
Consider my motives
Once again, as He has done often in this sermon, Jesus seems to have the Jewish religious leaders in mind when he refers to “hypocrites”. There is no doubt that those religious leaders were being judgmental because they judged people with the wrong motives. Their desire was not to help others actually become more righteous, but rather to make themselves look better by putting others down.
Unfortunately we live in a culture today that consistently engages in behavior which is intended to exalt oneself by putting others down and trying to make them look bad. Our entire political system is based on that model. While we should expect to see that kind of behavior in the culture at large, we certainly shouldn’t practice it as disciples of Jesus.
So we need to look to the example of Jesus to understand what our motives are to be when we judge others. Two examples that come quickly to mind are the woman at the well in John 4 and the woman caught in adultery in John 8. In both cases, Jesus very clearly dealt with the sin that was present in the women’s lives. But, in both cases, we clearly see that His motive was restoration and reconciliation, not condemnation.
When Paul teaches on the subject of judging others in the body in several of his letters, he also makes it clear that the purpose is restoration and reconciliation. For time’s sake we’ll look at just one example this morning:
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.
2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
4 But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.
5 For each will have to bear his own load.
Notice here that the purpose of confronting a brother or sister who is caught in sin is to restore that person. Therefore the process requires that it be done in a spirit of gentleness. And it also requires the second thing we’re going to learn from Jesus’ words here in Matthew 7. If I want to judge rightly I must...
Look in before I look out
Restoration and reconciliation almost always involves loving confrontation. And loving confrontation must always be preceded by honest self-evaluation.
When we read the Sermon on the Mount it’s clear that Jesus had a great sense of humor. I have to believe that the audience would have laughed, or at least had a big grin on their faces when Jesus spoke of the person who had a log in his eye. Most of us are still chuckling about that a couple thousand years later. But the idea it illustrates is no laughing matter.
It’s important to note that a speck in someone else’s eye is a serious matter. If you’ve ever gotten anything in your eye, you realize that even something very small like an eyelash or some dust can be a serious irritation. The word that Jesus uses here that is translated “speck” actually refers to a small twig, and obviously something of that size in anyone’s eye is a serious matter that required immediate attention. If it is not taken care of immediately, it will continue to cause irritation and eventually much more serious harm.
That is exactly what unconfessed, unrepentant sin does in the life of a disciple of Jesus. If it’s not taken care of it will continue to cause increasingly serious problems in our lives. So it must be addressed. That means if I really love my brothers and sisters I will want to help them get the twig out of their eye by helping them deal with their sin. It’s important to note that Jesus does tell his disciples that they are to take the speck out of their brother’s eye. But not until they first examine their own lives and get the log out of their eye first.
Undoubtedly Jesus was thinking about the religious leaders who were so blinded by their own sin that they had absolutely no business at all pointing out the sins of others. It’s very interesting that throughout His earthly ministry, the only people Jesus condemned directly for their sin were the religious leaders that attempted to hold others to a standard that they themselves were unwilling to uphold.
Whenever I’m tempted to judge someone else, I need to take time to get the log out of my eye first. And what I have often observed is that the sin which I tend to find offensive in others is often the very same sin that is pervasive in my own life. It may take another form, but the root sin, whether it be pride or lust or anger or bitterness or something else, is usually present somewhere in my own life. We would do well to keep in mind what Paul wrote to the churches in Rome:
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.
Before I address the sin in someone else’s life I must always first make an honest evaluation of my own life and deal with my own sin first.
Finally, I must...
Use the right standard
Let’s look at verse 2 again:
2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
I want to call your attention to the pronoun “you” that is used four times in this verse. The problem wasn’t that people were judging others. The problem is that they were using their own standards to do the judging – “the judgment you pronounce” and “the measure you use.”
Again Jesus seems to be addressing those same hypocritical religious leaders who He had condemned repeatedly earlier in His sermon. And the problem is that these religious leaders were evaluating the spirituality of others based on a set of man-made rules that focused on externals rather than on the heart.
Unfortunately that practice was not limited to Palestine in the first century. Often within the church today, we far too often focus on trying to produce righteousness in others by requiring them to conform to some set of humanly produced regulations and rituals. But true righteousness can never be imposed from without – it must be developed from within by a radical transformation of the heart through faith in Jesus.
That is why Jesus Himself warned against making judgments of others based only on outward appearances.
24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”
How do we do what Jesus commanded and judge with right judgment? Jesus has already provided us with the answer to that question earlier in the Sermon on the Mount. Near the beginning of the sermon, Jesus dealt with issues like murder, adultery, divorce, oaths and how we are to deal with our enemies. And in every case He took people back to the objective standard of God’s Word.
Some of you have probably seen Steve Ponzo wear one of my favorite shirts that says “By What Standard”. I love that reminder of the principle that Jesus makes so clear here. If we’re going to judge others according to the Jesus way, we better make sure we are doing that based on the Bible and not our own human standards.
Action
We have seen this morning that...
The Jesus way is not always the easiest, but it is always the very best
The Jesus way is not always the easiest, but it is always the very best
As I said at the beginning of the message, the Jesus way does, by definition, require us to be very narrow minded as we travel the narrow way - the only way that leads to real life.
Maybe this morning, you’ve never embarked on that road because you feel like you’re unworthy or unable to live like that. If you feel like that this morning, you’re right. None of us - not me, not Ryan, not our elders - are worthy or able. That’s why all of us had to begin that journey by putting our faith in Jesus alone and not relying upon what we could do. If you’ve never done that, we invite you to make that decision this morning.
It’s also true that once we start that journey through faith in Jesus, none of us are capable of living the Jesus way in our own strength. Each day we must all ask the Holy Spirit to help us live that way moment by moment. And we also need to ask Him to reveal when we’ve strayed from that way so we can confess our sin and repent and move on.
In a moment, the worship team will come back up and lead us as we sing “Abide”, a song that expresses our total dependence on God. As they come up I’m going to ask everyone to spend a few minutes reflecting on the passage we’ve looked at this morning and praying. Ask God to show you what He would have you do in response to this message.
Do you need to put your faith in Jesus for the first time?
Is there any sin you need to confess?
Is there any specific, concrete action you need to take in your life as a result of what you’ve heard today?
Finally, I think it’s fair to say that all of us need to spend some time praying for God to help us live the Jesus way.
Let’s pray.
