How Can You Be So Stupid! (John Hiebert)

In 2023, there was a man in Louisville, KY by the name of

Brent and he was carrying his six year old daughter Emma

across the street. As they were crossing the

street, a stranger, a total stranger some 30 feet away,

yelled at him, actually did some cursing and he said, why are you

carrying that girl? That's what's wrong with kids

today. Wednesday morning, when Gabby

and I were on our morning walk, as we were coming toward

building that has a daycare and maybe also a preschool, we could

hear a young child complaining, protesting loudly.

She was between two cars. At first we couldn't see her,

but when we walked by she looked like she might be 4-5 years old,

could even be having sex. Anyhow, she was protesting

loudly and her mother was standing a few feet away, almost

looked like she wasn't sure what to do.

She tried to calmly reason with the child and by that time we

were out of earshot again. But I have to admit, I had a

thought go through my head. I wonder what parenting style is

going on in that family, in that house.

I was making a judgement. I knew nothing about this girl,

about her mother, about the family or anything like that.

And this morning, our text is from Matthew Chapter 7.

Matthew 7 · chapter mention

And maybe the best thing would be, if we first read through it,

do not judge, lest you be judged yourselves.

For in the way you judge, you will be judged, and by your

standard of measure it shall be measured to you.

And why do you look at the speck 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, and behold, the log is in your own eye, you

hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then

you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your

brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to the

dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they

trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, and it shall be given to you.

Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be open to

you, for everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks

finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened.

Or what man is there among you? When his son shall ask him for a

loaf, will he give him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish,

will he not give? He will not give him a snake,

will he? If you then, being evil, know

how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall

your Father who is in heaven, give what is good to those who

ask Him? Therefore, whatever you do,

whatever you want others to do to you, do so for them.

For this is the law, and the prophets enter by the narrow

gate. For the gate is wide, and the

way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those

who enter it. For the gate is small and the

way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find

it. So far, I've taking this last

verse as well. Actually it's the 12th verse, I

think, as a sentence on which to to hang our thoughts this

morning. As followers of Christ, we must

treat others as we want others to treat us.

Now this is part of the Sermon on the Mount, and I'm under the

impression that that's what you've been dealing with for

several Sundays already. I looked at the sermon and I

noticed that in chapter 5, Jesus deals with principles of Kingdom

life. Matthew calls it the Kingdom of

heaven. This Matthew was writing

basically to a Jewish audience, and we know that the Jews

reluctant to call God by name. As a matter of fact, if you read

some Jewish literature even today, when they write the word

God, they leave out to all. God is very holy to them and

that is a measure of respect that they show.

So Matthew, instead of writing the Kingdom of God, which we

find in other gospels, he says Kingdom of heaven and he is

talking to the disciples, but he's referring to them as

citizens of this Kingdom. So in chapter 5, it's about

principles that should govern people who consider themselves

Kingdom citizens. Chapter 6, he talks about about

the disciples, about things like giving and prayer and fasting

and things like like that. Then here in Chapter 7, Jesus

starts talking about relationships.

How should a Kingdom citizen behave in relationships?

Now, at first one one reads our text, our portion here.

It looks like he's talking about several different things.

But actually when I started really concentrating on it, I

saw that this is actually a series of that progresses and

I'll try to expose that to explain that as we go along.

So in verse 4, verse one, pardon me, do not judge lest you be

judged yourselves. It's pretty black and white.

Now the word for judge here Clino, like a lot of words, has

several nuances of meaning. One is certainly judge, like if

we imagine a court with a judge sitting there and making a

decision of over an event or over a happening, that is

certainly a core meaning to this.

But this word was used sometimes for discernment or for choosing

and not only for for judging others.

So that's that's how Jesus starts off here.

So which nuance is Jesus talking about?

Well Jesus starts to explain that in verses 2 and three that

how we judge we will also be judged and uses the example of

seeing a fault in our neighbor and pointing it out.

But the danger is always there that we have a similar but

greater fault than our neighbor actually does.

Just like I was saying about this sort of judge mental

thought that went through my head when we heard this little

girl protesting. Now Jesus in a number of places

tells us to judge. He says, for example, that we

are like wolves among sheep. That means we have to judge

who's a wolf and who's a a sheep.

He warns the disciples about false prophets and he says you

can recognise them by their fruits.

You won't find grapes on bushes or figs on thistles.

So there is a place for judgement.

So what exactly does Jesus mean when he says we're not supposed

to judge so that we won't be judged?

It turns out he is thinking, thinking more of this

instantaneous or hasty judgement and where we don't take time to

evaluate what we're actually seeing or hearing and what we're

judging. If we look into Romans chapter

Romans 14 · chapter mention

14, Paul talks there about to the Romans about judging each

other. Actually, he's what he's

concerned about. There is there are new

Christians, he refers to them as as weak brothers, and there are

the mature Christians whom he refers to as strong brothers.

Now New Christian has come out of a world and he has come to

see the errors in that part of his life, and then he sees an

older, more mature Christian doing something which to him is

abhorrent. The setting there has to do with

with meat bought in the market. Meat in the market in those days

was meat that the person who had slaughtered it, who was selling

it would be an idol worshipper. So this new Christian knew very

well that that meat has been offered to idols before it's put

up for sale. And so he, the last thing he

wanted to do with such meat was nothing.

He wanted nothing to do with it. And the strong Christian, on the

other hand, he would sort of poo poo that and say, well, that's

not important. The idols are nothing.

And so that guy offered it to his idols.

I'm just buying it as meat and eating it.

He also talks about one person takes a certain day as very

important. The other day person takes them

all as of equal value. So Paul cautions both sides, he

says to the new Christian, don't condemn the older one for buying

meat at the market and and consuming it.

And he says to the more mature Christian don't for akht disdain

the the new Christian for being sensitive on on that thing.

So that is the kind of thing that Jesus is pointing at here.

And then he says, you hypocrite, you know, you see this little

thing and another person when you're not even aware of your

own failures and and sins. Now maybe to help us get a hold

of this idea, I can take an example out of the Old

Testament. We all, I assume, know about

David and Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, and how they got into a

situation that was uncomfortable.

And so David calls Uriah home from from the army and it

doesn't turn out the way David had hoped.

So he sends Uriah back to the army with a note, which Uriah

had no idea what was in there, but a note for his commander to

put Uriah in a in a small troop and attack the city, hoping that

Uriah would get killed in that. And as a matter of fact, it

turns out that he does that David's hope is is fulfilled.

And then God sends the prophet Nathan to David.

And the prophet tells David about a rich man and a poor man

in the same city. The rich man had huge flocks,

big herds. The poor man had one little U

lamb. And so then in those days when

travellers came to a town or to a city, then at the gate was

usually where the people from the town were assembled or

hanging around or visiting or whatever they were doing.

And the culture was one where somebody from the town would

then invite the stranger home for for night and give him

supper and so on. That's what this rich man did to

some stranger. And then it's time to prepare

supper for the stranger. And so instead of going to his

own herds, he goes and grabs this poor man's little ewe lamb

and slaughters it. That's how Nathan tells the

story to David. And the King's.

One of the King's jobs in those days was also to judge

situations where there was disagreement.

And as Nathan finishes this story, David is angry.

He's incensed. That rich man needs to be

punished. And as he says that, Nathan

points to him and says you're the man.

David had never connected that with himself, but this was God's

message to David, and as a matter of fact, Nathan actually

tells David how God is going to deal with him as a result of

that. Now what what actually does

happen in in David's life is that his son Absalom organizes a

coup against David. David actually has to flee

Jerusalem and ultimately his soldiers win against the the

coup that is set up against him. But this allegory shows us how

what Jesus is talking about here.

David was not seeing himself as a problem and yet when he

pointed out that problem, Nathan said that's rather when David

judged. That's the rich man in that

story. Nathan said that's you.

So I don't know whether you've noticed, but the title to my to

my sermon was how can you be that stupid?

And this is a case where we can say that to David.

How can you be that stupid? Only let's not say it too loudly

because we may have to turn that finger around and point it at,

at ourselves. We need to ask, what is it that

annoys me about about my neighbor?

Is it that really that serious? Or is it simply that he holds

one day a special and we don't, or we hold one day special and

he doesn't? Things like that of what am I

guilty? Which is more serious, my

neighbour's position or my position?

And verse 5, Jesus clearly says, you hypocrite, first take that

log out of your own eye, then you might be able to see clearly

enough to remove that speck from your neighbour's eye.

As Jesus followers, we are to be holy.

The word holy is this idea of setting apart, setting something

aside and that's what we as children of God are.

We have been set aside. We are supposed to be be holy.

However, if we approach our neighbor hypocritically, then

what happens is that's the next verse here, verse 6.

Then we are actually giving our holiness to vicious dogs and to

pigs. Now both these dogs, apparently

dogs would run the streets during that time.

And Gabby and I have experienced that when we lived up north in a

little northern village close to the Yukon, there were tons of

dogs running those streets. And so that seems to be the kind

of situation in in Jesus time as well.

So dogs and pigs, we know that eating pig meat for a Jew was

actually forbidden. So if we as holy ones, citizens

of the Kingdom are judging and are hypocritical judges, then

what happens is the other person will see the hypocrisy in US.

And what will be his reaction? Well, his reaction will be that

who are you? And, and look how hypocritical

you are in this situation. That's like throwing pearls in

front of swine. Pig couldn't care less about

about pearls. He wants to eat grain and, and

those kinds of things. So we see how this passage is

progressing. Then we get to this ask and it

shall be given to you. Seek and you shall find and so

on. I'd like to jump over verses 7

to 11 and go directly to verse 12 first.

Then we'll back up and look at those previous verses.

Verse 12, Jesus says to the disciples, therefore, whatever

you want others to do to you, do so for them, for this is the Law

and the prophets. Jesus and the Sermon on the

Mount refers back to the Law and the prophets a number of times.

Here the word therefore tells us that there is a connection

between what He has just said in 7 to 11 and this verse, verse

12. So this idea that we find in

verse 12 is very common. We're all familiar with that.

Do unto others as you want others to do unto you.

And of course everybody nods his head.

Even whether you're a believer or not.

That just seems like a good way to live.

Now with what we have just seen in the 1st 6 verses about not

judging, we then go to verses 7 to 11.

Then it all of a sudden starts to make sense in not judging.

We need God's help. So ask, and it shall be given to

you. Seek and you shall find.

Knock, and it shall be open to you, for everyone who asks

receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it

shall be open. Jesus drives that home with just

this little illustration. What man is there among you when

his Son shall ask him for a loath, we'll give him a stone,

or if you ask him for a fish, we'll give him a snake.

I mean, the answer is obvious, right?

Everybody would have the same and the correct answer, Nobody.

So then Jesus says, OK, if you guys who are not guiltless, he

actually uses the word evil. If you guys know how to give

your child good gifts, how much more will your Father in heaven

give you what you ask for? So our danger is that we judge

other people. Christ's advice is ask God for

help. It's not just a matter of asking

there and then sitting there with your arms crossed.

Also seek. So seek is already action,

activity and knock so that God will reveal to you on the one

hand where you need to improve, where you need to fix things in

your life, and on the other hand, not to judge the other

person. So as Jesus followers, we are to

be holy. Set apart.

Now I said that verse 12 is the goal.

That's what we want to get to, treating others the way we want

to be treated. Just maybe a week ago or so,

Gabby and I were driving from Niverville to Steinbeck and

along the 311 there's an intersection where traffic comes

from New Bothwell. We were coming along the 311

almost at the intersection when a car pulls up ahead of us and I

had to break fairly well. It wasn't a near accident, but

it could have been. And so, you know, our comments

to each other were, I mean, that was sort of a nasty thing to do.

And it's situations like that that road rage come out of, I

don't know, you may not have road rage here, but in Manitoba

it sometimes happens. And so how 1 responds in, in

that particular situation, there was traffic coming from the

front, so I couldn't pass and, you know, slam on the brakes or

do anything stupid like that. But that sometimes happens,

doesn't it? We're sometimes tempted to do

that. And is that a proper response?

You know, you consider that person very inelegant.

He, he just couldn't care less about other drivers as long as

he gets onto the road and and gets going.

And so those are things, everyday things that happen in

our lives and they happen so quickly and our judgement is

just as quick. And then comes this statement.

Treat others the way you want to be treated by them.

As followers of Christ, we need to treat others the way we want

to be treated. This truth has not gone gone

lost to our society either. I'll share 3 English proverbs

with you that actually give the same thing as what Jesus is

teaching here. I suspect that almost all of you

will have heard you're the pot calling the kettle black.

So that's simply, hey, you're accusing that person of such and

such and you're just as black as he is.

Or another one is people who live in glass houses shouldn't

throw stones. So the accuser is just as

vulnerable as one the person he accuses.

Or a third proverb, Those who protest the loudest have the

most to hide, simply saying that the accuser is just as imperfect

as the one to whom he points the finger.

There was a pastor in California by the name of Ray Steadman, and

he was a pastor over many, many years.

And and he has written in one of his books the following.

Well, first of all, I'll just mention in that book he talks

about how we are often blind to our own imperfections or even to

our misdeeds and so on. And when we do something that

isn't right and we even know that it's not right, but over

time, that thought sort of fades away.

That memory fades away and we just keep on living like we

always have. And then I'll quote a little bit

what he what he writes in his book.

There he says other people lie and cheat.

We simply stretch the truth a little.

Others betray. We simply are protecting our

rights. Others steal, we borrow, others

have prejudices, we have convictions.

Others murder and kill. We exploit and ruin, sort of

diminishing what? Diminishing our own faults and

holding the light up to other people's faults.

He closes that section there with Jesus, says he that is

without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.

Yes, we are all guilty of the same things we accuse others of

doing. As followers of Christ, we must

treat others as we want others to treat us.

What does God's Word tell us about ourselves?

Back to the book of Romans. In chapter 2, verse one, we read

this verse. You therefore have no excuse,

you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever

point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you

who pass judgement do the same things.

That's what Paul wrote to the Romans in chapter 14, which I

made reference to before. There's another verse and let's

listen to this carefully. He says, who are you to judge

the servant of another to his own master?

He stands or falls and he will stand, for the Lord is able to

make him stand. Now this is in the context of

that weak Christian and that strong Christian, that new

Christian and that mature Christian that I will answer to

God and my neighbor will answer to God.

He does not. Answer to me, there's no right

for me to judge him. God will know what to do with

him. And he says God is able to make

him stand. Paul is talking about believers,

believers who are citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, and God

is able to make him the person that he can welcome into the

into the Kingdom. A.

Few years ago. When we had COVID, our.

Pastor. Always had the habit of going to

church quite early on Sunday morning.

And I think what he did is he reviewed his sermon once more

and so on and so forth. While he was there by himself in

the church, he got a phone call, total stranger.

And so the first question that Stranger asked was, are you

following the government rules? For.

For church at that time, the church was supposed to be empty

enough that families could feet sit 6 feet apart and those kinds

of things. And so his response was, yes, we

do that. Oh, you're a servant of Satan.

And he just tore a strip off of our pastor.

Our pastor was almost a bit shaken that morning.

Then there were those. Who got vaccinated, followed

government rules and. Very often we disdain.

Those who denied vaccines and that kind of thing, judging from

both sides. It's not for us to.

Judge God will. Judge, we need to treat.

Others as we ourselves want to be treated.

So the man I told you about in. The beginning Brent, his

reaction, what he. Wanted to do.

When that man yelled at him was to yell back.

But at that. Moment.

The thought went through his. Head I have a choice to make

here. And so he walked.

Up to the man and in basically one sentence explained the

situation that his six year old daughter was on her way to her

7th chemotherapy session. She had a tumor.

In her brain. She was unable.

To walk without a Walker, that's.

Why he was carrying? His daughter, apparently, the

way this I read the article. At that point, both men started

to cry. We can.

Misread another person's situation so badly.

We don't have any. Clue what that other person is

going through. Jesus says do.

Not judge. So then we.

Have verses 13 and 14 enter the narrow gate, for the gate is

wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many

are those who enter by it for the gate.

Is small. And the way is narrow, that

leads to life, and few are those who find it.

We need to set a direction. In our lives.

Do we want to go through that? Small gate.

Or the wide gate. I'll admit, those 17 years that

I drove to Mexico, I avoided 2 lane highways.

I liked the freeways. Because.

I made more time. You know that a colleague of

mine, he always tried to drive the very shortest distance.

He drove 500 kilometers less than I did.

And I drove. Five hours less than he did.

But in life? Jesus says the gate that we

should be looking for is a small one, and we'll find that at the

end of the narrow Rd. Forget the wide.

One that's leading to the wrong place.

We need to treat. Our neighbor as we want to be

treated ourselves. Let's pray, our Father, we thank

you. That you are a.

Merciful and gracious God, and we need your mercy.

We need your grace. But Lord, we also.

Ask that you would help us to not be a judge mental person.

But rather. To look after our own life.

And to live in. A way that pleases you and that

shows the world how you want us to live.

Give us. The grace to do.

That to your honor and glory, in Jesus name, Amen.