Kingdom As Commonplace: Sermon on the Mount - Interactions

All right, good morning.

How's everybody doing?

Give it, good, give it.

Uh, we are uh closing it out the end of our summer twenty twenty-six.

That's a sad thing, I think, but uh welcome.

Just uh I'm glad that we're we're here together.

Uh closing it out uh as a church community, and uh my name is Kirk and the Pastor here.

And I just want to um just start out with a fair warning that uh as I'm preaching this morning, um bringing the word, it's it's from a space of I would say additional emotion.

Uh let me just share what I mean.

This uh past uh Friday, we uh we brought my son up to college, and uh so uh a little bit of an emotional time.

Also in that moment, um we also our car got rear-ended, and and uh you know, so that was a whole fun thing too on the way up there.

Thankfully everybody's alright.

But uh it's uh definitely uh a lot of emotions this morning, trying to just be um just to be with you guys, just sharing God's word.

And so uh if I um have an emotional breakdown or something like that, just bear with me, right?

Maybe come give me a hug, uh, or or do this interact amongst yourselves, okay?

Like um, like good old Linda Richman used to say, right?

Just talk amongst yourselves.

I might get a little for clemped up here.

If if you have no idea what I'm talking about, that's okay.

You're probably like, I don't know, in the age bracket of like 30 and below, 40 and below.

But uh what what I was referring to is there was uh a Saturday live skit.

Uh this this gal, Mike Myers played this gal, Linda Richman, and she would have coffee talk and she'd get all uh verklemmed.

I don't I don't even know what that word means.

I guess it's like, I don't know.

But um, and then she would instruct people to say, hey, talk amongst yourselves, right?

Just I can't do this right now.

Now, I'm not gonna, you know, do that for you today, but my point is, well, today what Jesus is is is sharing is this idea of how we interact, right?

This idea of interacting with one another, with with talking amongst one another, right?

And and so the hope that we see this morning as we look at this passage is really Jesus giving us direction in something like interactions, like interactions within the kingdom, interactions at times even outside of the kingdom with those people, with those who are in our lives who may not be uh calling themselves in, you know, be a part of God's kingdom.

And so here's what we want to see.

Jesus is gonna instruct this idea of interpersonal relationships, right?

Fun topic.

We all we love talking about this, right?

Uh and and but specifically he's gonna talk about within the kingdom and and some moments with outside outside of that as well.

But here's the cure the key takeaway I want to just give us this morning.

It's uh it's it's the kingdom, yes, is is revealed not merely by what uh we believe is God's people, but also this.

Also how we relate to one another as God's people.

All right?

Here's what Jesus is teaching us.

He's our beliefs, they then inform our behaviors.

He's sharing that our theology, right?

It should impact our interactions with one another.

And our interactions, they should display our identity, right?

As a child of God.

It's it's really it it um it connects to what Jesus talks about uh with his disciples at the Last Supper in John 13.

It says this a new commandment I give to you that you love one another.

Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.

By all this, people will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.

Right?

Those are the words of Jesus to his disciples.

And so here's what we get to recognize here for the disciple of Jesus, right?

At the core of our interactions within in this commandment sits this reality of love.

Love God, right?

And then we love one another.

And so we're gonna look at three key themes for the kingdom, for interactions within it.

First one is judgment, second one's discernment, and then the last one's uh other mindedness.

Really the first, what role does judging one another play within the interactions of the kingdom?

The second is the place that discernment sits within our interactions, and then lastly, how being other-mindedness, or be other minded, sorry, is foundational for our interactions.

So let's look at the first interaction that Jesus says here.

Judge not that you not be judged, for the judgment, with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged.

With the measure you use it, it will be measured to you.

Why do you see the speck?

It's in your brother's eye, but you do not notice the log in your own eye.

Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there's a log in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take out the log in your eye, then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

So here's where Jesus begins.

He talks about this construct of construct of judgment.

Now, I want us to dive into, I think what's important is not just the construct, but the context of judgment that Jesus is speaking about here.

Because here's the challenge with this verse.

It at times can get a little bit like confusing as to um something like this.

When we're met with like a concern or constructive critique from someone else, right, within the church, and we just say, Don't judge me, right?

Judge not, yet we be judged.

And and now listen, I understand uh why we would might respond that way if we read this verse just in isolation, outside of like the full context of the Sermon on the Mount.

And as we study the Bible together, here's what's important it's helpful to remember, once again, Jesus' primary audience in this moment.

And throughout the Sermon on the Mount, if you guys remember, uh, one of the major themes that Jesus is taking on is he's calling out the religious, he's calling out the Pharisees, he's confronting the culture that has basically been shaped by the Pharisees.

And we've seen it in their things like their giving, we've seen it in things like their prayer, the the way that they're fasting, right?

This group wants to be seen as as pious, as holy.

They want to establish their own righteousness, and and yet doing so, often at the expense of putting down others.

And so Jesus is gonna correct the posture here once again.

What the Pharisees find themselves engaging is is this it's this judgment for personal gain.

Here's what I'm referring to.

For the Pharisees, judging, judging others became another way of measuring their own righteous standing.

It wasn't about lovingly restoring a brother or sister who had wandered from God's good design, right?

Judgment became this opportunity to really elevate oneself, right?

To highlight who they are, but doing so by diminishing another.

And that would be improper use of judgment.

That's what we see there.

Now, here's the reality judgment does have proper use.

Let me unpack that.

Judgment in the right hands can become at times an act of protection, an act of direction, and even leveling correction.

However, judgment in the hands of the self-righteous becomes really an act of like positioning.

And so I think it's important for us to know that Jesus, he is speaking, right, not into the existence of judgment, but rather the heart posture from which the judgment has been offered.

And so as we hear, judge not, yet you be judged, it's so vital that we understand the posture Jesus is is confronting here.

Because Jesus, he isn't dismissing the reality of judgment altogether.

In fact, if you look at the scriptures, scriptures make it pretty clear that there's gonna be something like final judgment, right?

One day when Christ will return, he will execute his perfect and just judgment over sin, right?

And that's that's the role that Jesus, that he alone holds.

But we also exist within our culture that that has forms of judgment, right?

Where forms of judgment are present.

You think of things like uh earthly roles of judges, right?

Uh those who render judgment, and those roles help to do this.

They help to hopefully maintain order.

There's a desire to limit chaos, right?

Ultimately, the hope is to protect those within a society.

Now, of course, it's imperfect, I'll I'll recognize that, right?

But there's there's even forms of judgment that can exist within the family of God, right?

Within our our king, within the kingdom of God.

That use the form of judgment to to lovingly and humbly confront, well, sin of another that might be doing this, it might be leading that person away from Christ, right?

Leading them away from life.

In fact, that's leading them towards something that's devastating, right?

Sin and bondage and just the sorrow and the pain that comes from it.

That would be an offering of judgment that's for loving protection and this loving, loving restoration.

Think about it this way: if I began like drifting from the things of God and I'm living in what was what's called unrepentant sin, okay?

And a friend who loves me, they see it and they come to me out of genuine concern and love, right?

Concern for my soul.

And my I hope my response isn't gonna be, right, who are you to judge me, right?

Who made you judge Judy, right?

My hope is that I would recognize that there's a difference between correction and condemnation.

Because while none of us, none of us occupies the seat of righteous judge, right?

That that seat, that role is God and His alone, right?

We have been called at times to lovingly help one another walk faithfully with Christ.

That's part of our role.

And here's what's important for us to understand it's when judgment is offered in humility rather than like superiority, right?

It does, it can take on a role of being restorative.

It can be restorative rather than what often judgment becomes as punitive.

Right?

That's that's that's usually the desire.

Okay.

And so we just need to be reminded maybe when it comes to judgment here in this context, Jesus is not correcting the existence of judgment.

Here's what he's doing.

He's correcting the abuse of it.

He's he's rebuking the weaponizing that comes from this idea of judgment.

So let's ask the obvious question.

Um, is it ever appropriate for another Christian to speak judgment into my life?

Right?

Doesn't that contradict what Jesus is is saying here?

I I think the answer to that question is actually just just another question.

Well, what's the heart behind that judgment, right?

What is the the motive?

What is the desired role from role result from that that offering?

Because if the motive is condemning one another, is condemnation?

If it's about like elevating oneself by pointing out someone else's failure, right?

Uh this attempt to make ourselves more righteous, that doesn't sound like um judgment that Jesus is calling us to interact with.

It doesn't sound like that at all.

That sounds like the judgment Jesus is confronting.

It's similar to how Jesus confronts the Pharisees in this uh passage in John chapter 8, where this woman caught in adultery.

John 8 · chapter mention

Right, Jesus says this, he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground, and as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.

Once they had he bent down and wrote on the ground, but when they heard it, they went one away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

Right?

So Jesus isn't um confronting a rendered judgment that was to restore this woman by the Pharisees.

He's confronting this type of judgment that was looking to exalt those who cast it, to lift them up.

And that posture is what?

Well, I would say that's that's the posture of pride.

That's the posture of pride, that's the posture of self-righteousness.

And once again, that doesn't mean though, all offering of judgments are wrong or that they serve no purpose.

Right again, if a brother or sister sees something that I can't see, and and and there's something that's leading me towards destruction, and and they lovingly call me back towards Christ, right?

That's not to shame me, but the hope is that's to restore me.

Right?

And what here's what I think that is that that's a gift.

That's not condemnation, that's called discipleship.

There's a difference there.

And so Jesus in this moment, he's correcting this unhealthy posture of the Pharisees, but he's not eliminating the responsibility that believers have to lovingly restore one another.

And so, which I think kind of raises just an additional question.

Now, does that mean Christians are also called to be the moral judges of the culture around us?

Because I hear a lot, well, those from those outside of the church, that Christians are the most judgmental people in this world.

So let's ask, what is the role of a Christian with judging those outside of the faith?

Now, to find that answer, I think uh we can turn to just a great passage that Paul gives us in 1 Corinthians.

It's it's this clarity that he writes in this to uh the question to the church at Corinth at Corinth at that time.

Look at what it says.

I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not all mean in the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy or swindlers or idolaters, since they would you would need to go out of this world.

But now I'm writing you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he's guilty of sexual immorality, greed, idolater, rival, or drunk, or swindler, not even to eat with such one.

What I what have I don't miss this, what I have to do with judging outsiders?

Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?

God judges those outside, purge each evil person among you.

So Paul is addressing this church, and here's what's going on in the church.

They become comfortable with ongoing unrepentant sexual immorality within its own fellowship.

And now instead of dealing with the sin inside the church, here's what they do: they begin playing the game of whataboutism.

Right?

Well, hey, but Paul, what about, you know, I know we got some issues, but but what about the pagans?

What about the pagans outside the church?

Right?

Why aren't you judging them?

And Paul responds brilliantly, right?

He gives this remarkably just simple principle.

So, why would I hold people outside the family of God?

Why would I hold them accountable to standards they've never claimed to live by?

And Paul's essentially he's talking about this.

He's talking about house rules.

House rules.

Think about it this way it would be like me um coming to your house at dinner and demanding that everyone there eats at 5 p.m., right?

Because that's what that's how German people operate, I guess.

I don't know.

Uh, but but then when you don't abide by my rules, right, I start to judge you.

And I begin to judge your family for not following my house rules.

Right?

That doesn't make any sense.

You guys are like, not like this guy again, right?

Yet throughout history, there have been seasons when Christians have tried to like impose house rules on kingdoms of people who don't claim to be part of the kingdom, right?

That that's often where we see this idea of like culture wars or where there's like boycotting, right?

Uh condemning and judging people because they don't live according to the Christian convictions.

But they never profess to live before Christ, right?

Paul's question is simple.

What business do we have exercising judgment over those who are outside of the household of faith?

Now, now listen, hear this though.

That doesn't mean we live in like a bubble and we ignore the ways of the world around us, that we stop proclaiming the way of Christ altogether, right, to the to those who God has surrounded us with.

It doesn't mean we stop inviting people into the kingdom, inviting them to church, inviting them to experience a relationship with Jesus.

That's not the case.

We we absolutely should continue to do those things.

We should lovingly point people towards Jesus because he's good and he loves them and he wants to rescue.

And we should desire that people live under the joy of his rule and reign, right?

That's the mission of the church.

But here's the difference.

There's a difference between living on mission and living in judgment.

Two different things.

Mission invites, judgment, judgment condemns.

Mission calls people to Jesus, judgment simply tells people why they don't measure up and can easily keep people from him.

And according to Paul, right, we're not called to function as judges over those outside of the kingdom.

However, within the family of God, we do have at times responsibility of lovingly restore one another, and we start to maybe wander away.

And that's exactly what Jesus, where he goes next, because he isn't just simply to tell us to judge differently, he he shows us how to do it.

Jesus gives us this strategy, and I love it, for offering healthy judgment within the kingdom.

He says this before you examine someone else's life, do yourself a favor.

Examine your own.

Right?

That's the picture Jesus paints.

He says, there's a man who he's trying to remove a tiny speck from another person's eye, right?

The one though who he's got a giant log like sticking out of his own eye.

So Jesus is basically saying, hey, like before you concern yourself with someone else's like vision, make sure you can actually see yourself.

Or to borrow the um words from the great theologians back in the 90s, hip-hop is you better check yourself before you wreck yourself, okay?

Now, right?

Now Jesus isn't saying, it's so silly, Jesus isn't saying we can never examine another person's life, okay?

I just want to let us know.

He's saying that examinations must begin with our own.

Pointing out like it's awkward, right?

It's awkward for everybody when we're walking around handing out judgment, right?

While our own lives are just a disaster.

And and Jesus, he uses humor here.

It's intentional, right?

Maybe it's a disarming approach, maybe things have got a little testy, so he's like, all right, let me calm it down here through some humor.

But but the scenario, it would have been absurd to his audience.

Truly would have, right?

Imagine someone trying to perform eye surgery on another person with a telephone pole sticking out of their face, right?

The one performing.

It's just it's kind of funny, right?

But but behind the humor is this convicting truth.

That's what Jesus wants us to see.

And so here's his caution for our interactions be careful when you judge.

Because judgment can so easily be built on being blinded, blinding to something because the own uh inability to see from our own our own eyes, because this own plank, right?

And then that's what we get to look at here is just what happens typically from those moments.

We also see this.

When we can't typically see, we don't have a full vision, we start doing this, start making assumptions, right?

We start making assumptions, and they're based upon our lens and what we are only able to see.

Well we can see behind that big old like old eye plank or whatever you want to say, right?

Assumptions.

Anyone um anyone enjoy this approach?

Let's be honest.

How many relationships inside the church and even outside have been fractured?

Because we've done this, right?

We've assumed instead of understood.

Mary folks are probably gonna give me an amen on that one, right?

Or we trusted like perceptions of appearances instead of like pursuing people.

Maybe we've reacted to to optics rather than discovering what was actually true.

And so I think the question worth asking ourselves when it comes to interactions, even within the church, and of course those outside of it, like, where do we naturally begin?

Do we make assumptions before we've taken the time to understand someone?

I remember um growing up in the church during like the the 80s and the 90s, and there was uh what people what was called the uh the purity culture movement was in full swing.

And so in many places, there was just a tremendous emphasis on on appearance, right?

Looking like someone who was to belong in a church.

And I'm sure the heart behind it was good, but at times I think it put a little challenging.

So, but I remember one Sunday, this guy walked in wearing a bandana, fresh off his motorcycle.

I'm sure he was just listening to like ACDC or something before he got there, right?

And immediately I started making assumptions.

Like, this guy doesn't belong here, right?

Doesn't he know how church people are supposed to look?

In my mind, I had already like written his story before I ever learned his name.

And then here's what happened he introduced himself, he shared how Jesus had rescued him from a devastating life.

He started teaching me things from scripture.

We became friends.

We ended up playing music together.

At one point, he even joined my band.

I don't know how that happened.

He was old, but it's cool.

But looking back, like at first glance, I didn't see him clearly at all.

I was doing exactly what the Pharisees did.

I saw, I thought I saw like a speck in his life.

Well, I completely ignored the log in my own eye.

It was a log made up of self-righteousness, pride, hypocrisy.

And I have to wonder, do we find ourselves even doing that even today, right?

Even in the church.

Like, imagine if John the Baptist walked into the modern church, okay?

Like camel hair clothing, he's smelling like the wilderness, he's eating locusts, right?

Just looking completely out of place.

Well, would we recognize a prophet or would we assume he wandered into the wrong building?

Would we see a messenger of God?

Or would we just see some outward appearance?

Because if we're not careful, we can become so focused on appearances that we completely miss what God is doing in someone's life.

That's a challenge.

We have to take that seriously.

And so here's a few takeaways for us as kingdom people.

First, kingdom people, they become slower to assume and faster to ask, okay?

Like we don't live, we don't want to live off just assumptions.

We want to live with something like curiosity, we want to ask questions, we want to seek understanding.

We want to give one another dignity of being known before we form conclusions.

Second, we examine ourselves before confronting someone else.

Right?

Imagine if every difficult conversation began with this prayer, Lord, what am I missing?

Right, Lord, before you show me what might be wrong in my brother or sister, right, would you first reveal what's still wrong in me?

Right?

Is there pride that needs to be rooted out?

Is there hypocrisy I need to confess?

Is there something in my own heart that you want, you want to deal with it before I speak into theirs?

That's the posture Jesus is inviting us into.

And third, if correction is necessary, offering that truth from a space of humility.

Yes, correction still matters.

Jesus isn't removing that, he's just reshaping it.

He's moving that, right?

He's humility changes everything.

I think I shared this before, but um I really believe that methodology can make or break whether someone receives a message, okay?

Because you can speak truth, but if you deliver it as some sort of like pompous jerk, your method becomes a stumbling block to your message.

Truth without humility, it rarely produces restoration.

However, truth wrapped in humility, it often does.

And so Jesus has spent these verses correcting our posture and judgment, but he's gonna shift to something even as equally important in this conversation.

So if judgment requires humility, as whether as to who and how often we interact with others, there's an additional requirement.

And Jesus has given us that's it's discernment.

And through discernment, or discernment in who we interact with.

And discernment requires this, requires wisdom.

Look at verse 6.

It says, Do not give pigs what is holy, do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they throw temple, uh they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

Okay, now here's the reality of this verse, okay?

Um, this is a difficult passage in this section of the Sermon on the Mount, especially for those of us who uh don't naturally think like uh Eastern uh first century Jewish uh like a lens would be, okay?

And what makes it difficult is Jesus' language.

He says, Do not give what is dogs what is holy, do not throw your pearls before pigs.

Now, to our years, okay, uh that's odd, right?

It's bizarre, right?

Coming from Jesus.

But from to the initial audience, here's the thing that would have sounded incredibly harsh.

Because when we hear dog, right, we think of like golden retriever, uh, you know, head on the couch, right?

But that's not what Jesus' audience pictured.

Dogs were like, they were scavengers roaming the streets.

Pigs were ceremonially, ceremoniously unclean animals.

Right now, now here's what's important for us to understand, because we could get lost here, okay?

Um don't miss the words of Jesus here.

He's not dehumanizing people, or he's not saying certain people are of less value.

Here's what he's doing.

He's right, he's using familiar cultural imagery to make a point about discernment, okay?

Like the focus shouldn't be identifying who the dogs and the pigs are.

He's not even calling us to walk around like categorizing dogs and pigs in our own life.

Well, there's Bill, he's a pig, right?

Jesus said this, not me, right?

Or Susie, she's a dog.

Look, Jesus said this.

That's not what Jesus is saying.

That's not his instruction.

In fact, Jesus actually never tells us in this setting who he's referring to as dog or pig, right?

And that's probably because identifying people isn't his concern.

Forming discerning hearts, that's his concern.

And as I think that as we believe, the point Jesus is offering here is not figure out who the bad people are.

The point is learn.

Learn when wisdom should shape your investment in others.

And I think discernment does this.

It lives in the tension of I would at times two extremes, okay?

The first one, we don't want to become too judgmental and make assumptions about people.

Jesus has corrected this, but on the other hand, we also don't want to become naive, assuming that every conversation, every interaction, every opportunity will bear some fruit.

See, discernment, it recognizes that not every heart is equally receptive in every season.

Now, again, this isn't a statement about someone's value.

Please hear that.

It's a statement about the value of this, the value of stewardship.

Because Jesus isn't saying some people aren't worth loving, right?

He's saying that we must be wise about where and how we invest what is holy.

And so, what is holy?

Well, what is holy are things like God, God gives us our time, our talents, our treasures, the things that we use to further the gospel, right?

To carry out the mission.

And I think we actually see something similar in Acts 15.

Paul and Barnabas, they sharply disagree over John Mark, and rather allowing that disagreement to consume all their energy, they discern that the gospel would actually advance better by separating for a season.

Now, was Paul declaring John Mark worthless?

Not at all.

In fact, years later, Paul writes to Timothy, bring Mark with you, right, because he's useful for me to this ministry.

So the relationship at that time was restored.

But sometimes discernment means recognizing that a particular interaction, a conversation, or partnership isn't the most fruitful investment at that time, in that moment.

Listen, while love remains constant, that's true, wisdom determines investment.

Because as followers of Jesus, we're commanded to love everyone.

That's a non-negotiable, right?

That's not optional.

But discernment helps us to understand how, when, and where we invest our time, our energy, even the treasures of the kingdom so that we can bear the greatest fruit.

And so here's what's important to understand discernment isn't neglecting interactions within the kingdom, it's just discerning healthy access with our interactions.

Jesus modeled this really well.

He loved every one of his disciples.

It's so true.

And there wasn't a hierarchy of love, but here's the thing: he had different levels of access.

There were crowds, there were the 72, all loved, right?

There were the 12, all loved.

And then there were Peter, James, and John.

And those guys were invited into moments that others weren't, right?

Think of uh raising of Jairus' daughter, Mount of Transfiguration, right?

Now, was that favoritism?

I don't believe so.

Was that elitism?

I don't think so, right?

Uh it was discernment.

He loved everyone equally, but he entrusted different levels of access for different purposes.

And maybe this illustration helps us um in discerning a little bit, uh really helping us and imperfectly, right?

As we but we try to discern access and investment within our own interactions and in our life, in the church, outside the church.

So summer typically be it typically tends to be um concert season, okay?

And if you've ever uh been to a concert, you know that there are different access levels to the same event.

All right, there's general admission.

You're in the same venue, enjoying the same experience, but from a different from a from a distance.

Then there's like you know, reserve seats that move you a little bit closer.

You got then there's like front row, right?

Still the same, same experience.

And then there's those who somehow can get the VIP meet and greet, right?

They actually get face-to-face access with the artist, right?

It's the same event, just different levels of access.

Now, listen, this analogy falls short.

The kingdom is not a concert, right?

And none of us are celebrities that people are, you know, buying tickets to attend with, right?

But intentionally, here's the thing relationship within the kingdom can work this way at times, right?

Yes, we all belong to the same family.

We all receive the same love, but but not everyone at times receives the same level of access in our lives.

Now that's not about creating a cool kids' club, right?

It's not about spending time with people who share our hobbies, our personality, right?

It's not about exclusivity, it's stewardship.

Because discernment asks, where has God called me to invest deeply?

Where are relationships producing fruit?

Where am I uniquely called to pour my time, my energy, my attention?

Reminded, love is universal, but access can be discerned.

And those aren't contradictory.

They actually protect one another.

Because here's what's equally important: it's we're not the ultimate authority of where the discernment comes from.

Because left to ourselves, left to me, left to you, we confuse discernment with preference.

Right?

We mistake bias for like wisdom.

We'll baptize our assumptions as God's leading, right?

We let personality determine access instead of what God tells us to, which is the Spirit.

And so Jesus doesn't leave discernment in these moments up to our own instincts.

He actually tells us where discernment is found.

He says, Ask and it will be given to you.

Seek and you will find, it will be open.

For everyone who asks and the one who seeks finds.

The one who knocks will be open.

Right?

So where do we find discernment?

Well, it's from our Heavenly Father.

Right?

That's where we find it.

And this is a really powerful passage because oftentimes we take that as just a primary text right there, but that's pointing us towards discernment and where we find wisdom and where we go to make this idea of the access levels in our lives.

And we do this because God's a good God, He's a good father.

And He wants to instruct us, He wants to point us to where we can bear the most fruit and what those access levels look like.

So maybe one application is simply just to prayerfully maybe take inventory of our relationships just within the kingdom and maybe outside too.

But notice this is a prayerful exercise.

This isn't a fleshly exercise, right?

This isn't like social media culture where we start deleting people because they didn't like our vacation photo or they forgot our birthday, right?

This isn't like cancel culture.

This is this is kingdom discernment.

And but don't be surprised as you pray, God brings someone into your life who's completely different from you, right?

And you're offering them high levels of access.

That's often how the kingdom works.

If you think about Jesus' 12 guys, not much in common, right?

And and so for us, maybe that's that's what we see as well, right?

Maybe, maybe uh, maybe if we're Jets fans, God brings a giants fan that we invest our time in, vice versa, right?

Uh, but but here's what we realize um that this what God has entrusted us with, as his kingdom people, right?

That there there's a lot of value in this because it's eternal investments that we're making, right?

It's gospel advancement.

And and I think sometimes it's also you know important to recognize God brings some of these uh relationships just for a season, right?

And maybe not necessarily for a lifetime.

Now that doesn't diminish the value of a relationship, right?

It doesn't mean anyone's failed or is critical about uh an ending, right?

Sometimes God simply puts what he intends for that season, he puts it aside.

Think about Paul and Barnabas, right?

Their ministry eventually took different paths.

Yet God used both of those guys to continue advancing his kingdom.

So maybe that's something we need to seek, right?

Let recognize if there's one relationship maybe that we have that's continually consuming all of our time, all of our energy, all of our attention, right, and and leaving us unable to invest elsewhere, maybe it's it's time to prayfully ask for for wisdom.

Like, how should we be responding in those moments?

Right?

And and and not not from frustration, not from bitterness, but from discernment.

And and Jesus, he closes this um this account with just this beautiful thing of uh other-mindedness.

It says, So whatever you wish that others do, do for them as well.

This is the law and the prophets.

So this is how kingdom people interact, right?

We don't um simply react to people, right?

We pursue their good, we seek their flourishing.

We're other-minded.

And and that's exactly what our heavenly father has done for us.

That's why, right?

Imagine what the world would look like if we actually live this way, right?

If every person genuinely sought the good of everyone else, well, everyone in turn would be cared for, right?

And of course, that's not our world, right?

With the curse of sin, right?

Sin turns us all inward.

Our instinct is self-preservation before self-sacrifice, right?

We actually we we often say, How does this affect me?

Before we say, How does this bless my neighbor?

Right?

But that's why the golden rule is so beautiful.

It's not a calling for us to ignore ourselves, it's a calling for us to intentionally pursue the good of others, trusting that this is the way that God's kingdom actually flourishes.

And so, if we're honest, though, the challenge is every one of us falls shorts, we fall short of it.

Every one of us at times have judged wrongly.

Every one of us has assumed instead of understood.

Every one of us has protected ourselves before pursuing someone else's good, right?

Which is why this message doesn't ultimately point back to ourselves, it points to Jesus.

Because Jesus didn't simply teach us the golden rule, he surpassed it.

He didn't merely treat us the way we wanted to be treated, he gave himself for people who weren't even treating him the way he deserved.

Paul describes it beautifully in Philippians 2.

It says, Christ emptied himself, he took the form of a servant, he humbled himself, becoming obedient, even death to the cross.

So Jesus lived the kingdom life perfectly because we never could.

And that's the gospel.

We are invited into the kingdom because of what Christ has done, not what we can do.

It's the gospel isn't try harder so you can obey these rules, so God will accept you.

The gospel is this in Christ, He has done.

We never could, and we've been accepted.

His righteousness becomes our righteousness, his perfection becomes our standing before God.

We don't obey to earn the king our way to the kingdom.

We obey because we've already been welcomed.

Welcomed through Christ.

That same grace that saves us is the grace that also now transforms us.

So we leave this morning.

My prayer isn't simply we become better relationships.

My prayer is we be captivated by Christ, by the way he has loved us, and that we're transformed by his love.

Through that, that's where we see these interactions in our life change.

That's where we see the kingdom, the kingdom explode, the kingdom look different, and that's what the calling we have.

That's that's what it means that we get to be called part of God's kingdom because that's how our King loves us.

Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you that um you loved us enough to uh to teach us, Lord, to not just have us wander and just rely upon our own um knowledge, experiences, upbringings, whatever it might be.

But Jesus, that because you are God, because you were God over all things, that you have provided us with truth and with the way, Lord, to to truly interact in a way that that honors you, reflects you, God.

We thank you for what Jesus has done on our behalf.

Lord, we know that in our hearts we we love to walk all these things out perfectly, but we know we fall short.

But that's where we thank you for your grace, God.

Thank you for grace and mercy that picks us up in those moments where we fall short.

We thank you for what Christ has done, his righteousness, Lord, that has given us this new life.

And I just pray this morning, God, just um for the invitation, Lord.

Uh for anyone who's who's just been exploring who you are, Lord Jesus, wondering who you are, God.

I just pray this morning, Lord, that that that your goodness would be shown.

And God, just uh step towards just what it looks like to walk in relationship with you would be would be made known as well, God.

And just encourage taking that step this morning, Lord.

Uh that's your invitation always, Lord.

That's invitation towards you.

And uh we extend that this morning as well.

And pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.