Mercy triumphs over judgement

Morning everyone. Today's reading is going to be from Matthew chapter 7 and we'll be reading verses 1 to 12.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

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?

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your own eye?

And then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

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.

Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?

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?

So whatever you wish that others would do to you, also do to them.

For this is the law of the prophets.

Well, why don't we pray before we get into God's word?

Would you pray to me?

Our father, we've all got lots of things in our minds, whether exciting things, joyful things, or whether trouble in our life.

I just pray that you would help us to focus on your word now.

Help us to sit under your, what you want us to hear.

Lord, especially as it comes to judging, Lord, we want to be people who are full of your mercy and truth.

And so please help us to be more like you.

Please speak to us now and give us energy and a desire to hear.

I pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Well, apparently Matthew 7, verse 1 is the most Googled, the most well-known verse in all of the Bible.

Matthew 7:1

Judge not, lest you be judged.

So the most famous verse, it's not Romans 6, 23 or John 3, 16.

Do not judge is one message from Jesus that our current culture is delighted to hear.

Don't criticize.

Don't call something wrong.

Otherwise, you're a hypocrite judging when Jesus said not to.

When I was a scripture teacher, I visited lots of different churches who supported me as a scripture teacher.

On particular occasion, there was a Q&A session.

The first question I got was, do I believe in hell?

Well, second question, do I believe homosexuality is a sin?

After my attempt at a careful, grace-filled answer, you can guess what the argument back was.

Doesn't Jesus say not to judge?

Don't judge.

It feels like a knockout argument.

It's assumed that Jesus is advocating for the tolerant live and let live ethic of our day.

As if it's unloving to call anything someone does wrong.

There's a deep mistrust and suspicion of anyone who claims to have an ultimate authority, an ultimate standard that a person's life can be evaluated by.

Because if a person doesn't fit within that ultimate overarching standard, then they're on the outside, they're rejected, they're condemned.

To have an ultimate standard, therefore, is oppressive in our culture's thinking.

The solution?

Live and let live.

I'll let you do whatever you think is right, whatever you think is good, and you let me do the same.

This is the ultimate standard that will protect everyone's freedom to live as they think is best.

Anything else is judgmental.

And I think this belief of our times has crept into the church.

Even while we say with our lips that Jesus and his word is the authority on all matters, we have this thinking, live and let live, even within the church.

So for me personally, giving sermons, I struggled for a long time with receiving constructive feedback from my sermons, as if criticism was dismissing me as a person.

Or consider Bible study.

Do you find it a little awkward, that small group, if someone's contribution about what they think the Bible passage means is challenged?

Do we sense that it's unloving to say a person is wrong?

We say the Bible is the authority, and yet all disagreement is put in this category of being unloving.

Or in relationships, when a brother or sister shares what they're going through in life, and you feel that they just need a different perspective.

But do you feel paralyzed to say anything?

Because to say anything would be judging.

All you have to do is affirm and sympathize.

I think part of the motivation is, I won't say you're doing anything wrong, so that you can't tell me that I'm doing anything wrong.

Or this thinking, let me ask you this way.

Do you appreciate the community at church?

Do you appreciate the community equally for the encouragement you receive, as much as the accountability that a community holds you to?

I think this live and let live ultimate ethic is in our minds and in our hearts and in the church, and we call it showing grace.

But do you see the irony?

By making live and let live, don't judge me, only love me.

By making live and let live the ultimate standard to measure people by.

Anyone who doesn't live according to the live and let live ethic, who claims there is a higher authority that we all must answer to, they are rejected and condemned.

The live and let live spirit of our times is just as judgmental and oppressive.

If you don't believe me, just read a few comment threads on social media.

We need a better way.

We need an ultimate standard that tells us what's right and wrong, what is good and what is evil.

But an ultimate standard that isn't used as a back to beat people down with.

And one that promotes humility and loving help.

We need both truth and mercy together.

So let's come to our passage.

What does Jesus say true mercy is?

Well, the first thing Jesus says, true mercy is not judgmental.

Let's hear Jesus' hilarious but piercing parable again, verses 3 to 5.

If you have your Bibles with you, have a look at verse 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?

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?

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.

True love, true mercy.

First of all, it's not judgmental.

Being judgmental is to be fault-finding.

It's to be severely critical of others.

It's an attitude I think we can smell in someone a mile away.

But it's not easy to define.

It can be expressed in a facial expression.

It can be in a piercing joke.

It can be a harsh word.

It can be silence.

It can be a harsh sermon.

It's a spirit.

It's an attitude.

But it's not the seriousness of the criticism that makes something judgmental.

It's when something is said without mercy and love for the person and then it becomes judgmental.

It is the posture of sitting up in the judge's bench with your fellow brother or sister below you in the dock, pronouncing wrongdoing on their path.

I think this grace-less throwing the law at people, sitting in judgment, can come from three places.

First, I think it can come when we think we are excelling when that person is failing.

Like maybe do we ride someone off as not serious about their faith because they haven't attended small group or church in a while?

Maybe we're critical and ride someone off about their spiritual maturity because of their lack of Bible knowledge compared to my own.

Or telling someone who confides in you that they are struggling with lust and just telling them pray and have self-control.

Pluck out your eye if necessary.

All these conclusions lack mercy.

They lack a context of grace.

They lack any actual help.

Thinking that simply laying God's law down will help a person.

You can only lay God's law down and think it helps if you think you're doing okay at keeping that law.

I think a second place that a judgmental spirit comes from is similar to the first, but it's when we're failing as well.

If I'm loaded down with guilt and shame myself, my words can come out even stronger.

This too is a lack of mercy, first towards myself and then towards my brother or sister.

It's like trying to turn up the dial on God's law as if more law will produce change.

But we ourselves can't stand the heat.

So we put that heat on someone else and think we're more righteous by doing that.

I think the third place a judgmental spirit can come from is envy, is jealousy.

Let me use the movie Chocolat to illustrate.

So there's the religious mayor of the town and he is observing the religious fast during Lent.

But others in the town are just indulging in eating chocolate rather than obeying the religious festival.

So he is criticising severely and he starts despairing and he's praying,

what do I do for these people to help them?

And he comes up with an idea.

He breaks into the chocolate shop and starts smashing all the chocolate,

destroying it so that people can't have it until a bit of chocolate lands on his lip.

He tastes it.

And then he just goes to town.

He just shoves it all in his mouth, literally rolling in the chocolate.

And he's lying there miserable that he too has failed.

And yet he's just got exactly what he wants.

If we actually desire sin, and I'm not saying chocolate is a sin, by the way,

but when we desire sin, but we think God's ways are restricting us from that sin that we actually want,

and we just do God's ways begrudgingly, we condemn everyone else who isn't even trying to be self-controlled.

So whether it's feeling like we're excelling or when we feel like we're failing,

so we come down harder on people, or maybe when we're envious,

they're sinning in ways we wish we could.

Jesus criticised the Pharisees in Matthew 23, 4.

You tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders,

but you yourselves are not willing to move them with a finger.

You do nothing to help.

Repeating God's standards, saying you should do better.

God's standards without any true mercy just places a heavier, merciless burden on people.

All the while, we have a two-by-four plank sticking out of our eye,

and we go, hey, please, that I help my brother out.

Sadly, our culture's criticism of Christians being judgmental,

wielding God's standards without mercy is sometimes true.

So if coming down hard with God's law isn't the answer,

we naturally think the opposite is a solution.

Reduce God's law.

Get rid of it.

And so we ignore sin.

And I think we're probably more prone to this these days,

or most of us are anyway.

We commit it.

And we think we are applying Christian grace.

Notice in the passage, Jesus doesn't say that there is no speck in your brother's eye.

There is a problem.

There is a splinter in the eye.

A foreign body is there.

It doesn't belong in your brother's eye.

It is causing damage.

The story ends with Jesus affirming that you should feel responsible

for taking the splinter out of your brother's eye.

Maybe we are aware of the depths of our own sinfulness,

the plank in our eye,

and so we conclude,

well, what right do I have to tell them to live differently?

But that can't be the problem Jesus is addressing here.

Otherwise, none of us would be able to help anyone else.

True mercy can't be about ignoring others' sin.

God doesn't ignore sin.

Jesus isn't telling us to switch off our critical thinking,

to not be discerning.

True love, true mercy requires you to see the worst

in a person.

You can't diagnose and then help a brother

unless you are first willing to see the worst

in a brother or sister.

So true mercy,

it's not being judgmental,

coming down hard with God's law,

but it's not ignoring sin either.

We might think we need to balance these two

as if they're opposites.

Some Christians take God's law too seriously,

others are too relaxed.

But Sinclair Ferguson,

he calls these two attitudes,

I really like this phrase,

they are non-identical twins

that emerge from the same womb.

They are non-identical twins

that emerge from the same womb.

I think that same womb

is what Jesus exposes

when he talks about prayer

in verses 7 to 11.

This bit about prayer,

it can't be an instruction on prayer

because we've already got the Lord's Prayer

in chapter 6.

There's a much deeper point Jesus is making here.

These verses challenge both the person

who wields God's law judgmentally

and the one who does away with God's law

as if it's restrictive.

Both these people conclude

that God and God's ways are not good.

It forces us to ask the question,

how do I see the character of God

only as a judge

who reluctantly gives blessing

if I obey,

who can't be relied upon

to give life?

Or do I see God as a father

full of mercy

who only gives me good?

So let me read it again.

Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find.

Knock and it will be open to you.

But everyone who asks receives

and the one who seeks finds

and to the one who knocks it

will be opened.

Or which one of you,

if his son asks him for bread,

will give him a stone?

Or if he asks for a fish,

will give him a serpent?

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?

For those of you who know me,

I wonder if you realise

just how self-absorbed

I actually am.

I thought I was a patient man

until I had to look after a child.

When Sam was real young,

sometimes I had to put him down

and just walk away

because I was just so frustrated

and angry.

And yet you all expect me

to look after Sam.

And so you should.

Or maybe you don't expect me to

now that I've admitted that.

I've never given him

pebbles for dinner

or mouse bait.

Although this morning

he was trying to eat pebbles

in our driveway.

But we don't give it to him

on purpose.

You expect me

to look after my child

even though

I am not a good man.

And yet

when it comes

to our heavenly father,

what do you expect

to receive from him?

We pray

and sometimes

we don't expect

a response.

We desperately long

for what we think

will give us life

and when we don't get it,

we conclude

God mustn't

want to give me life.

Or maybe you do believe

in the power of prayer

and you're too afraid

of what God might

take away from you

to give you more life

in knowing Jesus better.

You might think

that so many of my prayers

go unanswered.

I'm starting to like that.

I'm starting to dislike

that term unanswered.

I don't think the problem

is silence from heaven.

I think it is answered

and the answer is

no.

No,

I won't give you that.

I love you too much.

I have the best,

the good life

to give you.

Is there something

in you

like there is in me

that is suspicious

of what Jesus calls

good things

promised here?

we know it's not

promising a Ferrari

if we pray for it.

We don't go as far

as to say

that God is lying

in this passage.

I think we just conclude

oh,

he means heavenly gifts,

spiritual things.

What's so good

about that?

our father is so patient

with us,

isn't he?

He has given us

the best.

In fact,

our father has given us

all that is

actually good,

everything

that he's got to give.

He's given us

his only son.

He has filled us

with his Holy Spirit.

While angels

look on

from a distance,

we are brought

into the family

of God

that we might be

his treasured possession.

Knowing the judge

of the earth,

not afraid,

but as a loving father.

Knowing the one

with all power

is using all of it

to give us life.

Knowing his constant

stream of mercy

all of the time,

wherever we are,

whatever's happening.

Do you think

you can stop

being judgmental

on your own?

Do you think

that naturally

you can show mercy

to others?

If we've learnt

anything from

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount,

one thing is really clear,

that none of the kingdom

values come naturally

to us.

We need to be emptied

of ourselves,

coming to God,

trusting him

to give us good,

trusting that he gives us

mercy.

Our God,

who he is,

is true mercy.

He is full of truth

and grace.

We need to receive

the heart of God

if we are to be

truly merciful.

And so,

we're told,

ask.

And this heart of God,

being like God,

knowing you,

growing to be like him,

will be given to you.

Seek and you will find

true treasure.

Knock

and the kingdom of heaven

will be opened to you.

If you seek

what's important to God,

what's actually good,

the Father is excited,

wanting to give you life.

All the storehouses

of heaven,

the armies of heaven

will be opened up to you.

Ask

and you'll receive.

True mercy

is who our Father is.

And that mercy

is meant to run

in the family.

Each of us

have entered the family

by the same blood

of Jesus.

So,

as brothers and sisters,

we are called

to show

this same mercy

that we have received.

We see this

summed up

in verse 12.

So,

whatever you wish

that others

would do to you,

do also to them.

For this

is the law

and the prophets.

Now,

this is a summary

of all Jesus' teaching.

If you want to know

what God's law is about,

it's quite simple,

love.

But I think

in particular,

Jesus is contrasting

this attitude

with being judgmental,

laying down

God's law

without grace.

Because which one

of us

doesn't want

to receive mercy?

And if we want

to receive mercy,

then we should give

our brothers and sisters

mercy.

this question,

what would I want

if I was that person?

It's a really

simple question,

but it's a profound one.

It's quite a loving

teaching

from our Lord

because life

is complex.

We want to bring

all the scripture

to bear,

but sometimes

we just don't know

what to do.

Asking this question,

it can really help us.

How would I want

to receive mercy?

Now,

this isn't placing

myself as the standard

of what to give.

It's not like

when buying someone

a birthday present

and you buy them

what you would want

rather than what

they would actually want.

A true love

is to understand

a person

as much as he can,

to be in their shoes

and ask,

how would I want

God's forgiveness,

God's help,

God's instruction

to be applied to me

in this situation?

If I was stubborn

and hardened

in my sinful thinking,

although it would

anger me at the time,

in hindsight,

I would want my brother

to clearly show me

the destructive

consequences

of the part of me

and I want my brother

to then help me

see my father's

better way.

Or if I was trying

to please the Lord

and I was just failing

in how I was carrying it out,

I would want my intentions

to be affirmed

that then receive

encouragement

and advice

to change course.

How would I want

the grace

and help of God

applied to me?

Show mercy

as you

want to receive mercy.

But then there's those

who are outside

the family of God.

There are some

who absolutely

refuse

mercy

and I think

that's what

verse 6 is about.

Do not give dogs

what is holy.

Do not throw

your pearls

before pigs

lest they trample

them underfoot

and turn

to attack you.

Dogs

and pigs

are in Jewish

thinking

they're unclean

animals.

They don't belong

in the holy

presence of God's

community.

So don't

think of a dog

like a Labrador

as a pet

in your home.

Think of a wild

dog that you

want to stay

in your car

to hide from.

The Jews

of Jesus'

day would

have thought

of Gentiles

as dogs

outside the

kingdom

especially

the Romans,

Samaritan

mongrels

and any Jews

who are unclean

morally,

religiously.

And yet

what do we

find

in chapter

eight?

Who is it

that enters

the kingdom

of heaven?

We're going

to come

to it soon

but we

first see

an unclean

leper,

Jesus touching

him and

cleansing

him,

welcoming

him in

and then

a dirty

Roman soldier

comes into

the kingdom.

Jesus is

redefining

who is

considered

dogs

outside the

kingdom.

Who is

it that

after hearing

this sermon

by Jesus

will be

so offended

by his

grace that

they will

want to

destroy him?

It's

the self

righteous

religious

people,

the Pharisees

and scribes.

Chapter

23,

Jesus says

to them,

woe to

you,

hypocrites.

In other

words,

you are

going to

hell,

woe to

you.

You

outwardly

appear

righteous

to others

but within

you are

full of

hypocrisy

and

lawlessness.

And then

after saying

this,

Jesus is

in tears

weeping

over Jerusalem

how I've

longed to

gather you

as chicks

under my

wings,

but you

were not

willing.

This

judgment

we're told

to give.

Notice

that we're

told not

to give

what is

holy.

don't

give

pearls.

There's

some

who

stubbornly

refuse

to receive

God's

mercy,

mocking

Jesus'

blood

even to

the point

of attacking

you.

If they

refuse

God's

mercy,

you've

got no

other

good to

give

them.

For

some,

I know

we're

meant to

take

risks.

We

might be

hurt in

response,

but we

need

discernment

as well.

There

comes a

point where

we need

to leave

someone in

the state

they're in

if they

won't receive

mercy,

but we

do it

with tears.

So true

mercy,

it's not

judgmental.

True

mercy,

it doesn't

ignore sin,

but God's

true mercy

is always

both full

of truth

and full

of love.

love.

We

often

err

to one

side,

but in

the person

of Jesus

we see

what true

mercy looks

like.

I think

of the

woman who

was caught

in adultery,

who was

brought before

Jesus.

His

self-righteous

adversaries

tried to

corner Jesus

between the

law of God

that clearly

taught that

such a

person

deserved to

be stoned

to death

and between

his teaching

of forgiveness

which seemed

like he was

permitting sin,

doing away

with God's

law.

They thought

they had him

cornered.

He had to

choose between

the two,

God's law,

God's truth,

or forgiveness

and love.

Jesus

calmly

answers,

let him

who is without

sin among you

be the first

to throw a

stone at her

and beginning

with the

oldest first,

they all

put down

their rocks

and walk

away.

When they're

all gone,

with just a

woman left

with Jesus,

she is

standing before

a sinless

man,

God

himself,

the judge.

And what

words does

she hear

from him?

Neither

do I

condemn you.

Go,

and from

now on,

sin no

more.

True

mercy

is full

of truth

of God's

standards

and it's

full of

grace

that come

together

in Jesus

Christ.

That woman

was not

condemned

because Jesus

took that

condemnation

himself.

This

sinless

judge

took it

upon himself

and he

sees my

life

and he

sees your

life

and he

says to

us,

I do

not

condemn

you,

but come

to

pursue

my

righteousness.

As

children of

God by

mercy,

we don't

discard God's

law as if

Jesus died

for nothing,

but we

look to our

father's ways

to give us

life,

while at the

same time

we are

humbled by

his great

and costly

sacrifice for

us.

Only knowing

his truth

and love

are we

ready to

be

mercifully

take the

speck out

of our

brother's

eye.

True

mercy is

not

judgmental,

it doesn't

ignore

sin,

but it's

both full

of truth

and grace.

There is

only one

way you

and I

will become

more like

our older

brother Jesus

and like

our father.

We're not

naturally like

this.

We need

to ask,

seek,

and knock.

Will you

pray with

me?

Let's

pray before

our good

father.

Lord,

you

have given

us only

good.

We

rightly

stand

before you

as judge

of all

the earth.

Lord,

if you

gave us

what we

deserved,

none of

us could

stand,

but instead

you have

poured out

all of

yourself to

us.

You have

brought us

into your

family.

You have

promised

eternal

life.

You've

already

given us

eternal

life in

knowing you,

in knowing

Jesus,

being filled

with your

spirit,

being united

with one

another.

Lord,

please help

us to see

one another

as brothers

and sisters

in the

blood of

Jesus.

Help us

to treat

each other

with the

same mercy

and truth

that we

want to

receive.

Lord,

do this

among us

so that

the world

might see

just the

difference

in your

church,

what true

mercy

looks like.

Lord,

change

us.

Help us

trust that

you are

our

good

father and

help us

to pass

that mercy

on to

others.

I pray in

Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.