1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,000 Amen. 2 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:32,000 Amen. 3 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,000 Amen. 4 00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:15,000 Good morning. We are so glad that you are here with us this morning. We are glad to be able to worship together. As we begin, just a couple bits of housekeeping. 5 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:30,000 First of all, we are having lunch today after service, and so we would like to invite you to stay and eat with us and spend some time together in fellowship. 6 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:43,000 It's usually a pretty good time. Also, if you are here with us this morning and you didn't get a chance to get a bulletin, they look like this, and they're on the little table back there. 7 00:02:43,000 --> 00:02:53,000 You're welcome to grab one. There is a sermon outline in the bulletins, as well as communion elements if you'd like to partake in the Lord's Supper with us. 8 00:02:53,000 --> 00:03:02,000 Also, there's some coffee and snacks and some water there in the back. If you would like some of that, you're welcome to grab that at any time. 9 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:10,000 As we gather to worship, we're going to go ahead and go to God in prayer. 10 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:19,000 Father in heaven, I'm so thankful for all the blessings that you have poured out upon us. 11 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:28,000 I'm so thankful for your grace and your mercy. I'm so thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ who are gathered here with us this morning. 12 00:03:28,000 --> 00:03:36,000 We just thank you for all the good that you have done for us. As we come into our time of worship this morning, 13 00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:47,000 may you encourage us. May you help us to see your goodness and your glory. We ask that if our hearts are weary and tired, 14 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:54,000 you would energize us. If they are straying, you would correct us. If we're proud, you would humble us. 15 00:03:54,000 --> 00:04:02,000 If we're struggling and we're hurting, we ask for comfort. So be with us this morning as we worship together. 16 00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:07,000 We thank you, most of all, for the grace that you have poured out through your Son, 17 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:14,000 and for the gift of your Spirit who walks with us to help us. It's in your Son's name we pray. Amen. 18 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:21,000 We're going to begin on just a moment by reading from the 75th Psalm. 19 00:04:21,000 --> 00:04:27,000 And in this Psalm, as we focus this morning in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7, 20 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:35,000 we're going to be talking about God's goodness, His glory, our humility, how we look to others. 21 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:42,000 And one of the best ways to influence how you and I look to those who are around us is by fixing our eyes on the goodness of God. 22 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:50,000 So let's stand, and let's read from the 75th Psalm together. And so if you would, read with me. 23 00:04:50,000 --> 00:05:06,000 We give thanks to you, O God. We give thanks. For your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds. At the set time that I appoint, I will judge with equity. 24 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:16,000 When the earth totters and all its inhabitants, it is I who will keep steady its pillars. This is the word of the Lord. 25 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:27,000 And the very next verse is a verse that encourages humility. It says, "I will not lift up my horn, and I will not have a stiff neck." 26 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:40,000 The picture here being, as we come to this text, as we see God's goodness and His justice, and the fact that when everything feels like it totters and is about to fall, He is the one who keeps us steady. 27 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:44,000 So we're going to begin this morning by singing, "This is our God." 28 00:05:46,000 --> 00:06:14,000 Remember those walls that we called sin and shame? They were like prisons that we couldn't escape. But He came, and He died, and He rose. Those walls are rubble now. 29 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:39,000 Remember those giants we called death and grave? They were like mountains that stood in our way. But He came, and He died, and He rose. Those giants are dead now. 30 00:06:39,000 --> 00:07:04,000 This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. He bore the cross, beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God, King Jesus. 31 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:21,000 Remember that fear that took our breath away? Faith so weak that we could barely pray. But He heard every word, every whisper. 32 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:40,000 Now those altars in the wilderness, tell the story of His faithfulness. Never once did He fail, and He never will. 33 00:07:40,000 --> 00:08:03,000 This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. He bore the cross. He created. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God. King Jesus. 34 00:08:03,000 --> 00:08:26,000 This is our God. This is who He is. He loves us. This is our God. This is what He does. He saves us. He bore the cross. Beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God. King Jesus. 35 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:38,000 He bore the cross. Beat the grave. Let heaven and earth proclaim. This is our God. King Jesus. 36 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:55,000 It's so good. 37 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:25,000 I almost can't believe it. Far beyond what hearts could ever dream. The God who set the galaxies in motion would descend to give His life for me. For what could make perfection bleed for sinners? 38 00:09:25,000 --> 00:09:54,000 What leads a king to pay so great a cost? All my life, my heart will sing the answer. Only the love of God. Singing, "Oh, how great is the love of God." 39 00:09:54,000 --> 00:10:23,000 For all our days we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. It's so kind, it leads us to repentance. It's so bright, the love of God. 40 00:10:23,000 --> 00:10:52,000 The darkness has to flee. Hallelujah! It cleared my guilty sentence. For I was bound, but now I stand redeemed. For what could break the chains of any prison? What force could rob the power from the grave? 41 00:10:52,000 --> 00:11:21,000 What would trade my racks for heaven's riches? Only the love of God. Singing, "Oh, how great is the love of God!" He paid our debt on that bucket of cards. For all of us are the same. 42 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:32,000 For all our days we will sing the Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. 43 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:50,000 Though I try, my mind can't comprehend it. It's so high, too marvelous for words. I could sing 44 00:11:50,000 --> 00:12:19,000 a million songs about it, and barely scratch the surface of your word. This all my life, the banner I'll be waving. My anthem cry, no matter what may come. And when I rise, to walk the streets of heaven. 45 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:48,000 I'll still be singing this song. For everything that you've done. How great the love of God. Sing it all, how great is the love of God. 46 00:12:48,000 --> 00:13:17,000 He paid our debt on that rugged cross. For all our days we will sing our Savior's praise. How great is the love of God. How great is the 47 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:22,000 love of God. 48 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,000 Amen. 49 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,000 Amen. 50 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:49,000 Amen. 51 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:46,980 God bless you. 52 00:15:47,000 --> 00:16:16,980 God bless you. 53 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:46,980 I set my hope on Jesus. When the questions come and doubts remain, I set my hope on Jesus. For the deepest wounds the time won't heal. There's a joy that runs still deeper. There's a truth that's more than all I feel. 54 00:16:47,000 --> 00:17:12,000 I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My rock, my only trust. Who set his heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. 55 00:17:17,000 --> 00:17:40,000 Though I falter in this war with sin, I set my hope on Jesus. When I feel the fight and sink within, I set my hope on Jesus. 56 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:55,000 Though the shame would drown me in its sea, and I drain the wave of justice, I will cast my life on Calvary. 57 00:17:55,000 --> 00:18:09,000 I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. My God, my only trust. 58 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:21,000 You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. 59 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Though the world call me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. Though it offer all its vain rewards, I set my hope on Jesus. 60 00:18:56,000 --> 00:19:06,000 Though this heart of mine is prone to strain, give me grace enough to finish. 61 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:35,000 Till I worship on that final day, I set my hope on Jesus. My hope on Jesus. My love, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. 62 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:58,000 I set my hope on Jesus. My love, my only trust. You set His heart upon me first. I set my hope on Jesus. I set my hope on Jesus. 63 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:24,000 There's a well-known account in the Gospels where the disciples are alone in a boat, and they are in the midst of a storm. Jesus has stayed behind on the shore to pray. 64 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:33,000 And in the middle of the storm, Jesus comes out to the guys in the boat, and He's walking upon the water, which I think in and of itself is probably a little startling. 65 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:44,000 The disciples' initial response is that maybe this is a ghost coming out across the Sea of Galilee in the midst of the wind and the waves, and Jesus tells them not to be afraid. 66 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:54,000 And Peter, in his exuberance and in his excitement and in his faith in the power of Jesus, says, "Lord, if it's really you, let me come out upon the water." 67 00:20:54,000 --> 00:21:01,000 And Jesus says, "Go ahead." And so Peter jumps out of the boat and begins to walk on the water toward Jesus. 68 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:16,000 Probably most of us have heard what happens next is that Peter begins to look around, and he begins to see the waves and feel the weight of the wind, and he begins to realize as a lifelong fisherman that people just don't walk upon water. 69 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:29,000 And in that moment, all of the struggles and the trials begin to overtake his vision, and he begins to sink into the water, and Jesus reaches down his hand and lifts Peter up, and they return to the boat together. 70 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:46,000 And it's easy in this story to sort of look at the wind and the waves and the excitement and the drama, and how Peter makes a mistake, oftentimes neglecting the fact that he was the one out of the twelve who was willing to step out of the boat and go to Jesus. 71 00:21:46,000 --> 00:21:56,000 But I think one of the big reasons why this story often captures our hearts is because I think a lot of us are a whole lot like Peter. 72 00:21:56,000 --> 00:22:10,000 That we hope and we trust in Jesus. But then as we move through life, we see the storms and the wind and the wave in our eyes begin to shift, and we begin to look in different directions. 73 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:21,000 In fact, it's reflected in the song that we just sang. When the trials of life test my faith, I set my hope on Jesus. 74 00:22:21,000 --> 00:22:34,000 Though I falter in this war with sin, I set my hope on Jesus. Though the world calls me to leave my Lord, I set my hope on Jesus. 75 00:22:34,000 --> 00:22:43,000 The struggles outlined of trials, of our ongoing fight with sin, of those who would surround us and call us to leave our Lord. 76 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:54,000 The prescription that we just sang is simply that that's found in Hebrews chapter 12, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. 77 00:22:54,000 --> 00:23:02,000 Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, when speaking about the Lord's Supper, that we proclaim our Lord's death until he comes. 78 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:10,000 He's calling us in this moment to look in two directions, one back to the cross, where the price of our sin was paid in full, 79 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:18,000 but also looking forward in hope to the day when Jesus returns and makes all things new. 80 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:25,000 And in between these two wonderful truths and realities that we are forgiven and that there is a future hope, 81 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:37,000 we walk through storms, maybe of health or difficulty or conflict in our relationships, fears, uncertainties. 82 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:49,000 And one of the glorious gifts of grace is this meal that intentionally directs our eyes and our hearts and our minds and our actions toward Jesus. 83 00:23:49,000 --> 00:24:00,000 Let's pray. Father in heaven, I thank you that you are still with us in the midst of the storms. 84 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:07,000 And that even when it seems like they will overwhelm us, you are there and you comfort and you lift us up. 85 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:13,000 So help us fix our eyes on that which is true and right and solid. 86 00:24:13,000 --> 00:24:22,000 May our hearts be comforted. May they be strengthened and may they be energized in the power of the gospel for what you would have us to do. 87 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:30,000 I ask that you bless this bread and this cup, and may we proclaim the good news of the gospel until your son comes again. 88 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:33,000 It's in his name we pray. Amen. 89 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:40,000 If you would, let's take the bread and partake together, remembering the body of Jesus, which is given for us. 90 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:51,000 And if you would, let's take the cup, the new covenant poured out in his blood for the forgiveness of sins. 91 00:24:52,000 --> 00:25:04,000 Just a moment of introduction. In past weeks, we've kind of taken a moment here of meditation and some song. 92 00:25:04,000 --> 00:25:09,000 We're going to do the same this morning, but we're going to invite you to sing along if you want. 93 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:19,000 It's a new song based on some old words written originally by Annie Crosby, a lady who was blind, physically blind, 94 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:27,000 but her deepest desire in her faith was to see Jesus clearly. So we're going to sing just for a few moments. 95 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:36,000 It's just a couple of verses of a song called "Give Me Jesus." You're welcome to sing or just listen and learn as we go through it. 96 00:25:49,000 --> 00:26:11,000 Take the world, but give me Jesus. All its joys are but her name. But His blood abides forever. Through eternal years the same. 97 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:42,000 Take the world, but give me Jesus. Sweetest comfort of my soul. With my Savior watching on me, I can see the bill's roll. 98 00:26:42,000 --> 00:27:05,000 Oh, the high and depth of mercy. Oh, the length and breadth of love. Oh, the furnace of redemption. Let your endless life above. Take the strong, my God. 99 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:11,000 Take the one, but give me Jesus. In his cross, my trust shall be. Still with me in the brighter danger. Face to face, my Lord, I see. 100 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:23,000 Take the one, but give me Jesus. In his cross, my trust shall be. Still with me in the brighter danger. Face to face, my Lord, I see. 101 00:27:23,000 --> 00:27:34,000 Take the one, but give me Jesus. In his cross, my trust shall be. Still with me in the brighter danger. Face to face, my Lord, I see. 102 00:27:34,000 --> 00:28:03,000 To the high and death of mercy. Over the length and breath of love. Over the fullness of redemption. Pleasure, endless life of love. Take this world, my God's love. 103 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:10,000 To the high and death of mercy and death of mercy, we have to have a great opportunity to see what God is doing in this passage. 104 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:18,000 To the high and death of mercy, we have to have a great opportunity to see what God is doing in this passage. 105 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:25,000 To the high and death of mercy, we have to have a great opportunity to see what God is doing in this passage. 106 00:28:25,000 --> 00:28:32,000 To the high and death of mercy, we have to have a great opportunity to see what God is doing in this passage. 107 00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:23,000 Let me reset this mic real quick. We are moving into Matthew chapter 7 this morning in our time through the Sermon on the Mount. 108 00:41:23,000 --> 00:41:31,000 As we do so, one of the reminders that I like to keep in the back of our mind or front of our mind, as we do so, 109 00:41:31,000 --> 00:41:45,000 is that the Sermon on the Mount is not simply just a bunch of collected wise sayings or good stories or some ways to be a better person, 110 00:41:45,000 --> 00:41:58,000 but rather the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus explaining the values of the kingdom and specifically how he changes and transforms us to be different, 111 00:41:58,000 --> 00:42:07,000 to be transformed, to change how our hearts work, to change how we pray, how we give, how we worship, to change how we deal with sin, 112 00:42:07,000 --> 00:42:15,000 to change how we deal with anxiety, that through the good news of the kingdom, it changes how we see everything. 113 00:42:15,000 --> 00:42:25,000 And so normally when I'm brainstorming, the hardest part for me is always sermon titles. I don't like sermon titles because I never feel like that is a skill 114 00:42:25,000 --> 00:42:34,000 that is a skill that I possess. And so normally I brainstorm on the back of my whiteboard in my office, but I won't point any fingers. 115 00:42:34,000 --> 00:42:44,000 And so I did this on the back of an old electrical bill, as we were thinking, and I was talking about how Jesus changes 116 00:42:44,000 --> 00:42:52,000 what we see and thinking about how he sees and how grace changes that. And I realized this early this morning, 117 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:57,000 as I was in my office reading through my notes, that this hits pretty close to home for our family, 118 00:42:57,000 --> 00:43:04,000 the idea of how we see. Our family seems to have had a lot of struggle with vision, 119 00:43:04,000 --> 00:43:13,000 from Luke and Philippe to my dad, and to see how God's grace in terms of physical vision is present 120 00:43:13,000 --> 00:43:19,000 and changes and transforms what we begin to see this morning. In Luke chapter 7, 121 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:25,000 a passage that initially we talk about judging, but the heart of what you're seeing is that Jesus is saying, 122 00:43:25,000 --> 00:43:32,000 "I'm going to change how, through grace, you see and interact with those people who surround you." 123 00:43:32,000 --> 00:43:37,000 So I'm excited to dive into this this morning. Let's go ahead and have a word of prayer first. 124 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:48,000 Father in heaven, help us to see clearly that you would wipe away the mess that is left behind us. 125 00:43:48,000 --> 00:43:59,000 The mess that is left behind by our brokenness, and our sin, and our conflicts, and our struggles and our difficulties with each other. 126 00:43:59,000 --> 00:44:08,000 And our broken relationships, and our struggles with sin, and others as they struggle with sin, and that you would help us. 127 00:44:08,000 --> 00:44:17,000 As we live in community, to look at others with grace, to move forward in closeness, to strengthen and help one another. 128 00:44:17,000 --> 00:44:31,000 That you would help us to use wisdom in how we do so, and that you would never let us forget the goodness of your mercy and grace that has been poured out upon us. 129 00:44:31,000 --> 00:44:35,000 It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 130 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:46,000 So our text this morning begins with a very, very well-known and very, very familiar statement by Jesus. 131 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:56,000 It's not necessarily well-used, but it is frequently used, and it's just simply this: "Judge not that you be not judged." 132 00:44:56,000 --> 00:45:02,000 And I think there's probably three very common approaches to these initial words of Jesus. 133 00:45:02,000 --> 00:45:09,000 Before we even get to considering context of the immediate verses, as we consider the context of the Sermon on the Mount, 134 00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:15,000 these are verses and words that we have heard before: "Judge not that you be not judged." 135 00:45:15,000 --> 00:45:22,000 And sometimes, right, these words are used almost as a bat to bludgeon someone else, right? 136 00:45:22,000 --> 00:45:28,000 They're confronting about sinful behavior, and the response that we might use immediately is, 137 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:34,000 "Well, you don't get to judge me because Jesus said, 'Judge not that you be not judged.'" 138 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:42,000 And so sometimes this is bludgeoning, sometimes it's a shield we hide behind to avoid taking accountability for the actions that we have given. 139 00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:47,000 And we just simply say, "Hey, you're not allowed to judge me." 140 00:45:47,000 --> 00:45:54,000 But then there's others who, when they approach these words, it almost becomes a source of word games. 141 00:45:54,000 --> 00:45:59,000 And explaining this text is often filled with a whole bunch of verbal gymnastics. 142 00:45:59,000 --> 00:46:03,000 Well, when Jesus says judge, what he really means is being judgmental. 143 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:09,000 It's okay to judge, but it's not okay to be judgmental. 144 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:19,000 And often, but not always, often this approach is used to allow us to keep doing what we want to do without truly interacting with Jesus. 145 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:27,000 And then there's sometimes, right, between the bludgeoning and the shielding and the trying to read our own meaning into the text, 146 00:46:27,000 --> 00:46:32,000 we just sort of say, "You know what? There's a lot going on here. I don't want to deal with it." 147 00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:41,000 Simply float across the top with no care to what is underneath. Simply saying, "Ignorance is bliss." 148 00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:51,000 Now these three responses to these words of Jesus, whether it's to bludgeon or to twist or to just maybe ignore and float across the top, 149 00:46:51,000 --> 00:46:58,000 they all have a common heart issue in that it's we struggle to truly listen to Jesus. 150 00:46:58,000 --> 00:47:06,000 Right? The real issue that all of us have is that our hearts are struggling. We want to be justified and we want to be right in our actions. 151 00:47:06,000 --> 00:47:16,000 And oftentimes the way we seek that justification is making the Word of God fit our lives rather than our lives fit the Word of God. 152 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:21,000 And I think in doing that, we miss something wonderful. 153 00:47:21,000 --> 00:47:30,000 So if we can this morning set aside our instinct, I think, to weaponize or to define to death or ignore and sort of simply float over the surface, 154 00:47:30,000 --> 00:47:40,000 what we find Jesus saying is something deep, it is powerful, it is wonderful, and ultimately it is deeply practical. 155 00:47:40,000 --> 00:47:45,000 Now before we dive into these verses, I want to deal with a couple of struggles that we might have. 156 00:47:45,000 --> 00:47:52,000 We've seen three approaches, and I want to deal with three struggles before we dive into the three sections of the text. 157 00:47:52,000 --> 00:47:58,000 And the first struggle is this: what are we talking about? 158 00:47:58,000 --> 00:48:08,000 You see, one of the big struggles that we bring to this text is that we're often using the same words to talk about different things. 159 00:48:08,000 --> 00:48:14,000 So there are some who will draw a circle around everyone who disagrees with them and simply say, 160 00:48:14,000 --> 00:48:24,000 "You're judging me." And then there's others who will have a very specific definition and idea of judging there in their minds. 161 00:48:24,000 --> 00:48:30,000 And they'll say, "It means this very specific word." This person will say, "It means everything that everybody disagrees with me is judging." 162 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:35,000 And we struggle sometimes with how we're defining the words. 163 00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:39,000 And so we want to be clear this morning as we dive into this in a few minutes what we're talking about. 164 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:43,000 The other thing that we need to deal with is who are we talking about? 165 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:48,000 Is this a general command that encompasses all of humanity? 166 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:53,000 Is Jesus saying in general, "Don't judge, ever judge, or you're going to be judged." 167 00:48:53,000 --> 00:48:58,000 Or is this something for a more specific situation? 168 00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:06,000 Remember Jesus' audience here. It's composed of his disciples, the crowds, and the religious leaders of the day. 169 00:49:06,000 --> 00:49:11,000 Every single one of them were ethnically and religiously Jewish. 170 00:49:11,000 --> 00:49:19,000 They knew the Bible, trusted the Bible, all children of Abraham, part of the family of God. 171 00:49:19,000 --> 00:49:26,000 And one of the ways this text, I think, moves deeply in our hearts is when we stop thinking of it in general terms 172 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:32,000 and begin to think about how it interacts within the body of Christ. 173 00:49:32,000 --> 00:49:39,000 Because it becomes, in just a moment, in the middle section about logs and specks, it becomes very, very practical 174 00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:44,000 for how we help and how we walk with one another in Christ. 175 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:51,000 And while the teaching of Jesus is, yes, broadly applicable, the grace and the proximity and wisdom here, 176 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:56,000 Jesus is speaking specifically to people of faith. 177 00:49:56,000 --> 00:50:02,000 Now the third struggle behind defining and talking about who we're speaking to 178 00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:05,000 is this, what are we supposed to do with this text? 179 00:50:05,000 --> 00:50:12,000 Is Jesus here just simply trying to inform my knowledge so that I can have a better intellectual understanding, 180 00:50:12,000 --> 00:50:17,000 or is he trying, and I think succeeding, if we're honest with ourselves, 181 00:50:17,000 --> 00:50:25,000 how do I deal with both my sin and the sin of others? 182 00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:29,000 So many times we make things passive versus practical, 183 00:50:29,000 --> 00:50:32,000 and what I mean by that is it's very easy to simply say, 184 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:39,000 "This is knowledge I absorb rather than truth that is meant to be lived out in my life." 185 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:48,000 And I would just notice, too, that this is not a verse that prohibits speaking prophetically or confronting sin. 186 00:50:48,000 --> 00:50:54,000 And oftentimes when we come to this verse, what I find is that we come to this verse with a whole lot of don'ts. 187 00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:57,000 Right? Don't do this. Don't do this. Don't do this. 188 00:50:57,000 --> 00:51:05,000 And it is true. Jesus is prohibiting behavior. But in prohibiting, he's calling us to do something as well. 189 00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:10,000 He's not simply saying, "Here's a list of things you don't do passively." 190 00:51:10,000 --> 00:51:19,000 But he's also giving us, and this is where I want to focus our attention this morning, is on a list of things that we are to be doing actively, specifically. 191 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:25,000 That we are to be acting with grace. That we are to desire proximity with one another. 192 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:31,000 And third, we are to move forward with wisdom. 193 00:51:31,000 --> 00:51:36,000 We need to make sure this morning that it's God's standard and not ours. 194 00:51:36,000 --> 00:51:42,000 You see, we're really good at framing our opinions and preferences and traditions as sort of firm rule of God. 195 00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:47,000 The Pharisees, Jesus is speaking to, do the exact same thing. 196 00:51:47,000 --> 00:52:02,000 And at the heart of this text, what you're going to find is that Jesus is teaching us how to deal gently with brokenness that surrounds us, both in our heart and in the hearts of others. 197 00:52:02,000 --> 00:52:16,000 So we're going to begin like this, is that in this text, there is a call for God's people to act with grace, reminding us of the grace that has been extended to us and the grace we are to extend to others. 198 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:26,000 Listen to what Jesus says, "Judge not, that you be not judged, for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged, and the measure you use, it will be measured to you." 199 00:52:26,000 --> 00:52:34,000 And we might hear these words, "Judge not," and immediately say, "Well, how does that have anything to do with grace?" 200 00:52:34,000 --> 00:52:42,000 Right, so judging can carry a lot of nuances with it. Right, sometimes we use it in a way where we simply are trying to be funny, right? 201 00:52:42,000 --> 00:52:47,000 We're eating ice cream in front of our very healthy friend, and we look at him and go, "Oh, don't judge me," right? 202 00:52:47,000 --> 00:52:57,000 In kind of a humorous way. Sometimes it's a responsibility, right? We're called to critically evaluate which is best or worst, and we do this all the time. 203 00:52:57,000 --> 00:53:05,000 "What's the best pizza in town?" And you're like, "Well, what are the criteria? Is it how fast they can get to my house to make sure my hungry children are complaining?" 204 00:53:05,000 --> 00:53:17,000 Or is it the best testing or the best in-person dog experiences? You see, we use judging in terms of determining value all the time. 205 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:24,000 And so sometimes judging is funny. Sometimes it's a responsibility. We critically evaluate what's better or worse. 206 00:53:24,000 --> 00:53:32,000 Sometimes we judge between drawing a line between what's good or bad. Pulled the bananas out that we had delivered Friday. 207 00:53:32,000 --> 00:53:39,000 Pick up, and Debbie's like, "Do these look like they're very good?" I was like, "Absolutely not." Right? We're judging whether they're good or bad. 208 00:53:39,000 --> 00:53:47,000 Threw them away. Never seen bananas that came from the grocery store. Two days look just that bad. 209 00:53:47,000 --> 00:53:54,000 There's a legal way to judge. You stand before a judge in a court, and he says guilty or not guilty. 210 00:53:54,000 --> 00:54:06,000 And there's a final way to judge. Where we finally just close the door and say, "It's over. I've dismissed. I'm done with. 211 00:54:06,000 --> 00:54:12,000 There's no more value to be found in this person anymore." And we walk away. 212 00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:20,000 When Jesus speaks of judging, he's not telling us to ignore the difference between good and bad, or right or wrong. 213 00:54:20,000 --> 00:54:30,000 In fact, in a few verses, he's going to say this, and we'll talk about it in a moment. "Don't give dogs what is holy, or throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample underfoot and turn and attack you." 214 00:54:30,000 --> 00:54:36,000 And Jesus is saying, "Look, there are some criteria by which you need to judge." 215 00:54:36,000 --> 00:54:47,000 He'll also say, even a few verses further, "Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. 216 00:54:47,000 --> 00:54:53,000 Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes or figs from thistles?" 217 00:54:53,000 --> 00:55:00,000 Right? It's a command to evaluate people who claim to speak from God based on their fruit and judge whether they are right or wrong. 218 00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:10,000 So, in the context of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus has spoken very clearly about hearts in regards to sin and religious practices. 219 00:55:10,000 --> 00:55:14,000 And in terms of light and treasure and allegiance and anxiety. 220 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:19,000 And here's the reality. Our hearts can get pretty judgy pretty quickly. 221 00:55:19,000 --> 00:55:23,000 And sometimes our hearts judge with assumptions, right? 222 00:55:23,000 --> 00:55:26,000 We say, "I know their motives. I know what's going on." 223 00:55:26,000 --> 00:55:32,000 And part of what we're seeing here is that we are not to ascribe to people that which we cannot see. 224 00:55:32,000 --> 00:55:43,000 In the same way that Samuel, as Jesse's sons come before him and he begins to prescribe to them the authority of a king as he's meant to anoint a king, 225 00:55:43,000 --> 00:55:50,000 and God says to him, "Don't look on the outward appearance because God looks upon the heart." 226 00:55:50,000 --> 00:55:55,000 So our hearts sometimes can judge with assumptions. Our hearts can also judge with pride. 227 00:55:55,000 --> 00:56:00,000 Right? You see, our hearts have a vested interest in making us look better than we truly are. 228 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:06,000 And so frequently we do that. We judge in order to push others down so that we can be lifted up. 229 00:56:06,000 --> 00:56:11,000 We are not unbiased in regards to our hearts. 230 00:56:11,000 --> 00:56:15,000 Our hearts often judge the values of others. 231 00:56:15,000 --> 00:56:16,000 What can they do for me? 232 00:56:16,000 --> 00:56:22,000 And we dismiss people because we see them maybe as not having value. 233 00:56:22,000 --> 00:56:28,000 Our hearts sometimes act as a judge, delivering what we see as a just verdict. 234 00:56:28,000 --> 00:56:32,000 Specifically, sometimes in terms of closing the book on a person. 235 00:56:32,000 --> 00:56:34,000 "Well, I've had enough and they've done enough." 236 00:56:34,000 --> 00:56:36,000 And we simply say, "All right, it's done." 237 00:56:36,000 --> 00:56:46,000 And we are enacting a judgment upon them where we are done, the book is closed, and the relationship is over. 238 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:50,000 And essentially what we're saying is there is no hope for this person. 239 00:56:50,000 --> 00:56:54,000 Notice what Jesus says. He doesn't just simply say, "Don't judge." Look what he says. 240 00:56:54,000 --> 00:57:00,000 "Judge not that you be not judged, for the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged. 241 00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:04,000 With the measure you use, it will be measured to you." 242 00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:13,000 His words are very similar to words that come just a few verses earlier in Matthew 6, in the Lord's Prayer, where he talks about forgiveness. 243 00:57:13,000 --> 00:57:20,000 And specifically, if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 244 00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:26,000 If you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. 245 00:57:26,000 --> 00:57:32,000 And what Jesus has said in terms of forgiveness is that true forgiveness flows out of the reality 246 00:57:32,000 --> 00:57:37,000 that God has forgiven you, and because of that, you are able to forgive others. 247 00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:45,000 Your ability to forgive others is in direct correlation with the knowing the forgiveness you have received. 248 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:51,000 Matthew 7:1-2 is a very similar formula. 249 00:57:51,000 --> 00:57:57,000 When Jesus speaks of judging others, there is in view a picture of how God has treated us. 250 00:57:57,000 --> 00:58:02,000 God knows our motives, and our motives often are not good. 251 00:58:02,000 --> 00:58:10,000 God is truly holy. He doesn't have to twist our behavior to expose our brokenness. 252 00:58:10,000 --> 00:58:18,000 God is the only one who has the true legal authority to say that it's over and it's done, and He does not do that. 253 00:58:18,000 --> 00:58:22,000 You see, instead of the judgment that we deserve, we find grace. 254 00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:27,000 He's a heavenly Father, as we've seen in this sermon, who knows us, who corrects us. 255 00:58:27,000 --> 00:58:31,000 He provides for us, and He's patient in how He does so. 256 00:58:31,000 --> 00:58:35,000 And Jesus here is saying that if we are immediately jumping into, 257 00:58:35,000 --> 00:58:42,000 "Man, those guys are terrible," we may have missed what God has done for us. 258 00:58:42,000 --> 00:58:52,000 Let me try to show you this grace differently in this text, and I want to do so by taking our text this morning in reverse. 259 00:58:52,000 --> 00:59:00,000 So instead of beginning with "judge not at the beginning," I want to look at the last phrase. 260 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:03,000 "With the measure you use, it will be measured to you." 261 00:59:03,000 --> 00:59:08,000 How has the judgment, how has judgment been measured to us? 262 00:59:08,000 --> 00:59:13,000 If you look through the Sermon on the Mount, it's the poor in spirit. 263 00:59:13,000 --> 00:59:18,000 Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. 264 00:59:18,000 --> 00:59:30,000 And that God transforms the broken and the poor in spirit, and the hungry and the thirsty to bring us in His grace into the kingdom. 265 00:59:30,000 --> 00:59:39,000 That the measure that's already been used in our lives is one that is filled with grace for broken people. 266 00:59:39,000 --> 00:59:55,000 So the question is, next, how will you be judged? We just had that answer. The hungry, the poor, the sinful transformed and welcomed into the kingdom. 267 00:59:55,000 --> 01:00:05,000 And now go all the way back to verse one. What is the judgment in light of what God has done for us that I should judge other people? 268 01:00:05,000 --> 01:00:17,000 Knowing that God has taken the broken and the hungry and has transformed them to be light and salt in a broken world, how should I approach those who are near me? 269 01:00:17,000 --> 01:00:25,000 Jesus isn't saying don't recognize sin or don't call out brokenness, but he's saying grace was already poured into your life. 270 01:00:25,000 --> 01:00:34,000 And as you see that in others, pour that grace out into them. He's not telling us to ignore sin or not to confront us. 271 01:00:34,000 --> 01:00:46,000 He's instructing us to proceed with grace. And if we operate from a foundation of grace, it changes and transforms everything. 272 01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:51,000 Next, we see these words, don't stand at a distance. Let's read what Jesus says. 273 01:00:51,000 --> 01:00:55,000 "Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye and do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 274 01:00:55,000 --> 01:01:01,000 How can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye when there is a log in your own eye, you hypocrite? 275 01:01:01,000 --> 01:01:07,000 First, take the log out of your own eye, and you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye." 276 01:01:07,000 --> 01:01:14,000 Jesus here is making sort of a funny verbal picture of something that has happened, this log or beam. 277 01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:25,000 In the first century, the houses are walls and they're topped with flat roofs, and from wall to wall would run a big beam. 278 01:01:25,000 --> 01:01:35,000 In fact, multiple big beams that would support a layer of sticks and a layer of stucco, and you would ultimately have a surface that would hold the weight of the family if they were on their roof. 279 01:01:35,000 --> 01:01:41,000 But every house is supported across the entirety of the house by these large beams. 280 01:01:41,000 --> 01:01:54,000 A splinter is just a small piece of wood or straw, and so you have a structural support beam that goes from wall to wall, and then you have a splinter, right? 281 01:01:54,000 --> 01:01:59,000 Those big beams, we're talking about things that are strong, solid, that bear weight. 282 01:01:59,000 --> 01:02:08,000 One of the most scary and terrifying things I think that a husband might hear is when your wife is walking around the house with the sawzall going, 283 01:02:08,000 --> 01:02:13,000 "Is this a load-bearing wall?" Right? That's where there's cause for concern. 284 01:02:13,000 --> 01:02:23,000 And Jesus is saying here that some of you in your spiritual brokenness are walking around with a load-bearing beam or wall just sticking out of your eye. 285 01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:28,000 It's a humorous picture. A house 20 feet across. You got a 20-foot beam sticking out of your eye. 286 01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:39,000 And there's a guy over here with a tiny little speck of wood in his eye. A tiny splinter. And the guy with the beam is like, "Hey, let me help you get that." 287 01:02:39,000 --> 01:02:46,000 And not only is it a separation in the fact that the guy who really needs some medical attention because there's a stick in his eye 288 01:02:46,000 --> 01:02:53,000 is trying to flush out this guy's eye with a tiny little speck of dust, but also it's impossible. 289 01:02:53,000 --> 01:03:00,000 So if you've got a big beam sticking out of your eye, how are you going to get close enough to see someone else's eye? 290 01:03:00,000 --> 01:03:05,000 And Jesus is kind of painting a humorous picture here, but he's doing so to open the door to our hearts. 291 01:03:05,000 --> 01:03:12,000 In the same way that Nathan tells David a story about a man who steals a sheep, and David becomes enraged, 292 01:03:12,000 --> 01:03:16,000 and then Nathan looks at him and goes, "You are that man." 293 01:03:16,000 --> 01:03:24,000 Jesus paints this picture of the big beam and the tiny speck of dust, and then he turns to all of us and goes, "That's you." 294 01:03:24,000 --> 01:03:39,000 Your human tendency is to ignore the giant problems extending from your life to judge and nitpick the tiny problems extending from the lives of others. 295 01:03:39,000 --> 01:03:48,000 And so before we can have proximity with our brothers and sisters in Christ, we've got to have proximity with our sin and our Savior. 296 01:03:48,000 --> 01:03:53,000 Because until our hearts are healed, we can't properly help our brother, right? 297 01:03:53,000 --> 01:03:59,000 That's the whole point of this is Jesus says, "Then you will be able to see clearly and take out the speck of your brother's eye." 298 01:03:59,000 --> 01:04:07,000 The picture here is that ultimately the goal is to help the one who is walking near you and with you. 299 01:04:07,000 --> 01:04:13,000 You can't do it until your heart has been transformed. 300 01:04:13,000 --> 01:04:16,000 I think of an airplane safety brief, right? 301 01:04:16,000 --> 01:04:22,000 And I always thought as a kid, this was pretty terrifying when I said, "If the oxygen masks deploy, they deploy from overhead. 302 01:04:22,000 --> 01:04:27,000 If you're an adult traveling with a small child, fix your mask first and then help the child." 303 01:04:27,000 --> 01:04:34,000 And as a child, I'm sitting there going, "Maybe we do that the other way around. Help the child and then you get to put your mask on." 304 01:04:34,000 --> 01:04:45,000 But the reality of this is that as a parent, you're going to be able to more clearly, quickly, and efficiently help your child if you are able to breathe first. 305 01:04:45,000 --> 01:04:52,000 And what Jesus is saying is that it's easy to see the brokenness of others. It's easy to ignore it in your own life. 306 01:04:52,000 --> 01:04:59,000 And your heart needs to be transformed before you can begin to reach out and touch others. 307 01:04:59,000 --> 01:05:10,000 So when we go near others, right, we may not have the same problem, but it says in Galatians, "Brothers, if anyone caught in a transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. 308 01:05:10,000 --> 01:05:17,000 Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ." 309 01:05:17,000 --> 01:05:23,000 So how do we respond when we see that brokenness in the eye of our brother or sister in Christ? 310 01:05:23,000 --> 01:05:33,000 Is it with dismissal? It's like you're done. Or is it with grace? The picture here of restoration is a bone that is broken and needing to be set. 311 01:05:33,000 --> 01:05:42,000 When Paul says, "Restore," it's a picture of taking a broken bone and aligning it. It's not an easy process. It's not a painless process. 312 01:05:42,000 --> 01:05:52,000 And making sure that it heals properly. Or taking a net, a fishing net that is torn, and very gently and with precision, sewing it back together. 313 01:05:52,000 --> 01:05:59,000 He says that is our goal, once that log is removed from our own eye, to go to our brother and to help them as well, 314 01:05:59,000 --> 01:06:05,000 at the same time being continually aware of our heart and our soul. And so we act with grace. 315 01:06:05,000 --> 01:06:13,000 We don't stand at a distance. We remove barriers and come to help. And then Jesus says something that is really strange. 316 01:06:13,000 --> 01:06:18,000 At the heart, what he's getting at is proceed with wisdom, but here's how he says it. 317 01:06:18,000 --> 01:06:25,000 "Do not give to the dogs what is holy. Do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn and attack you." 318 01:06:25,000 --> 01:06:35,000 Notice how this text is constructed. We begin with don't dismiss people because we understand how Jesus has poured out grace in our life. 319 01:06:35,000 --> 01:06:43,000 We don't slam the book on people's lives. The grace and restoration that have been given to us are given to others. 320 01:06:43,000 --> 01:06:52,000 In our repentance, we're able to help others, but there is wisdom in knowing when and how to do this. 321 01:06:52,000 --> 01:07:00,000 So Jesus will tell his disciples at one point, "If they don't receive you, shake off the dust of your robe and your shoes and go somewhere else." 322 01:07:00,000 --> 01:07:10,000 In Acts 18:6, Paul will say to a group of Jewish people who are opposing him, he says, "From now on I will go to the Gentiles." 323 01:07:10,000 --> 01:07:19,000 But in the very next chapter in Ephesus, he enters the synagogue and for three months speaks boldly about God. 324 01:07:19,000 --> 01:07:25,000 What I want you to see is that there is a time and place. The idea of pearls is something precious. 325 01:07:25,000 --> 01:07:31,000 Once again, it's a little humorous, right? Because we're not going to get out there with our jewelry and throw it into the pig pen. 326 01:07:31,000 --> 01:07:40,000 And Jesus is saying there is a time and a place when it comes to dealing with the speck in your brother's eye. 327 01:07:40,000 --> 01:07:46,000 You've seen grace poured out in your life. You haven't given up, haven't slammed the book, haven't judged them as being too far gone. 328 01:07:46,000 --> 01:07:54,000 You have dealt with your sin, and now when it comes to others, there is a time and a place to do this. 329 01:07:54,000 --> 01:07:59,000 And there are times where we just simply said this is not the time or the situation in which to do this. 330 01:07:59,000 --> 01:08:05,000 I'll give you an example. Maybe some of you have friends like this. I have a couple friends like this. 331 01:08:05,000 --> 01:08:14,000 When I eat food, I do so for joy. I know that's not obvious, and it's very hard to imagine that, but I enjoy some good food. 332 01:08:14,000 --> 01:08:24,000 Now I have friends who eat solely for fuel. And so if they come over for dinner, this specific friend comes over for dinner, 333 01:08:24,000 --> 01:08:30,000 what I'm going to do is I'm going to make him a one-pot meal, right? That's like a new kitchen hack that I see a lot on Facebook recipes. 334 01:08:30,000 --> 01:08:34,000 I'm going to throw a bunch of eggs and some chicken into some boiling water, right? 335 01:08:34,000 --> 01:08:41,000 And you have hard-boiled eggs and hard-boiled chicken because all he cares about is protein and fuel. 336 01:08:41,000 --> 01:08:53,000 I'm not going to withhold a meal from him, but I'm going to use wisdom in how I feed Dave because he cares about his protein intake and his macros. 337 01:08:53,000 --> 01:08:59,000 So I'm not going to, in this situation, now there will be times where we have a big celebratory dinner 338 01:08:59,000 --> 01:09:07,000 and we go above and beyond and we make a bunch of great dishes, but sometimes throwing our pearls before swine is understanding 339 01:09:07,000 --> 01:09:13,000 that the person we're dealing with and talking with and pleading with and extending grace to and trying to be near, right, 340 01:09:13,000 --> 01:09:22,000 what we're offering is not what they need in that moment. Another way of thinking about this, 341 01:09:22,000 --> 01:09:31,000 is sometimes when people are in the midst of deep grief, and sometimes they'll ask the question, 342 01:09:31,000 --> 01:09:39,000 "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Now, the theological answer for that is very clear cut. 343 01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:51,000 The theological answer is that that only happened once and it was to Jesus. And it's true, but wisdom in dealing with acute grief 344 01:09:51,000 --> 01:10:00,000 needs to bring people to the Savior who stepped next to them, picked up their brokenness, 345 01:10:00,000 --> 01:10:08,000 carried it upon His shoulders, and suffered with them and near them before they need a theology lesson. 346 01:10:08,000 --> 01:10:16,000 They might need to vent. If you read the Psalms over and over again, the psalmist begins with pouring out his complaints to God, 347 01:10:16,000 --> 01:10:20,000 and by the end he's praising. Or if you think about Job's friends, 348 01:10:20,000 --> 01:10:25,000 they show up on the worst day of Job's life, and for about a week they do great. You know why? 349 01:10:25,000 --> 01:10:31,000 Because they don't say anything. They simply sit with Job, and they cry, and they weep, 350 01:10:31,000 --> 01:10:40,000 because that's what he needs in that situation. It's only when they begin to open their mouths that there is a problem. 351 01:10:40,000 --> 01:10:49,000 And one of the things that wisdom does is it looks at the situation and responds accordingly. And sometimes, that's like the 352 01:10:49,000 --> 01:10:56,000 Apostle Paul saying, "Right? I'm done with this situation, and I'm walking away." 353 01:10:56,000 --> 01:11:06,000 Sometimes, it's in changing our approach. Sometimes, it's in a little bit of a time. 354 01:11:06,000 --> 01:11:14,000 You see, just because this moment may need to be avoided, doesn't mean there's not hope. 355 01:11:14,000 --> 01:11:24,000 If you think about what's coming up on the calendar, with Palm Sunday, Jesus comes triumphantly into Jerusalem. 356 01:11:24,000 --> 01:11:33,000 And on the evening of Thursday and the morning of Good Friday, as the crowds shout for Him to be crucified. 357 01:11:33,000 --> 01:11:39,000 And on Friday, He is crucified and He is mocked. 358 01:11:39,000 --> 01:11:46,000 And in the midst of this, He dies with the rejection of so many people. 359 01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:58,000 And 50 days later, in the middle of the temple, on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 people come to know Christ. 360 01:11:58,000 --> 01:12:07,000 And it's not a stretch of the imagination to believe that some of those people were the same people who rejected Jesus' message 361 01:12:07,000 --> 01:12:15,000 during His life. Some of them may have been shouting with those crowds. 362 01:12:15,000 --> 01:12:19,000 And now we will see them in heaven, right? 363 01:12:19,000 --> 01:12:25,000 And so what I want you to see is that when we don't throw our pearls before swine, it doesn't mean that we're closing the door on hope. 364 01:12:25,000 --> 01:12:32,000 It means that we're using wisdom to see when is the right time and how is the right time. 365 01:12:32,000 --> 01:12:42,000 The call in this text is to act with grace. Don't stand at a distance. Don't just run headlong, but proceed with wisdom. 366 01:12:42,000 --> 01:12:50,000 Before we can do this, our hearts have to be in the right place. Are we seeing clearly? 367 01:12:50,000 --> 01:12:55,000 Jesus has just got done saying, "Where your treasure is, your heart will be also." 368 01:12:55,000 --> 01:13:01,000 The eye of the lamp is the lamp of the body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full. 369 01:13:01,000 --> 01:13:09,000 If it is bad, it will be full of darkness. No one can serve two masters who either will love one or hate the other, 370 01:13:09,000 --> 01:13:14,000 or you will be devoted to one and despise the other. Seek first the kingdom. 371 01:13:14,000 --> 01:13:17,000 The words right before, "Don't you know that your Father needs all of these things?" 372 01:13:17,000 --> 01:13:22,000 Your Father who provides for the birds and for the lilies. 373 01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:28,000 And if you want an example of what it looks to, sometimes come beside somebody and help when they need it. 374 01:13:28,000 --> 01:13:32,000 I'll give you an example. It's silly, and it's dumb, and it's from today. But every time we have a meal, 375 01:13:32,000 --> 01:13:36,000 Rachel can tell you this, Debbie can tell you this, I always worry that we're going to have enough food for everybody. 376 01:13:36,000 --> 01:13:40,000 In fact, most of the time we have like ten times too much food. 377 01:13:40,000 --> 01:13:43,000 And so I was talking to Debbie this morning, I said, "Well, I hope we have enough food." 378 01:13:43,000 --> 01:13:47,000 And she goes, and keep in mind Debbie was sick last Sunday, was not here. 379 01:13:47,000 --> 01:13:51,000 She goes, "Well, you know God said that He provides for the birds and for the flowers." 380 01:13:51,000 --> 01:13:54,000 And I was like, "Man, if only somebody had preached that last week." 381 01:13:54,000 --> 01:13:58,000 Only somebody had internalized that, right? And what is she doing though? 382 01:13:58,000 --> 01:14:07,000 She's coming alongside with that truth. And just very simply, what probably to her was a throwaway conversation, 383 01:14:07,000 --> 01:14:13,000 but to me it was something that my heart, who likes to micromanage, really needs to trust God. 384 01:14:13,000 --> 01:14:21,000 Right? That's what Jesus is working us through. To seek the kingdom, to depend on Him, 385 01:14:21,000 --> 01:14:27,000 to depend on Him, to know that He is in control, that He provides. 386 01:14:27,000 --> 01:14:31,000 So maybe this morning your vision is struggling. 387 01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:36,000 It's clouded by your sin, or by your brokenness, or by your fear, by your uncertainty, your desire, 388 01:14:36,000 --> 01:14:42,000 to make sure everything stays in the right place, and to try to control it. 389 01:14:42,000 --> 01:14:48,000 I want you to know that there is grace. There is closeness. 390 01:14:48,000 --> 01:14:53,000 And we as a church will try not to be like Job's friends. 391 01:14:53,000 --> 01:14:59,000 So maybe this morning you need to talk to somebody, or somebody to pray with you, or just listen to you. 392 01:14:59,000 --> 01:15:03,000 It can be now, it can be later, it can be Tuesday. 393 01:15:03,000 --> 01:15:08,000 I want us as a church to know that there is grace, and we approach others in that way. 394 01:15:08,000 --> 01:15:14,000 Seeking closeness and with wisdom, and if you are in need, I want you to know the same thing, that there is grace. 395 01:15:14,000 --> 01:15:18,000 There are people who want to be close to you. 396 01:15:18,000 --> 01:15:24,000 And we'll seek to try to be wise by the power of the Holy Spirit and how we help you. 397 01:15:24,000 --> 01:15:31,000 Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for Jesus and for grace, for hope. 398 01:15:31,000 --> 01:15:42,000 Help us as we consider how we are looking at others and at our situations, and help us to fix our eyes on you. 399 01:15:42,000 --> 01:15:47,000 Thank you that there is hope. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 400 01:15:47,000 --> 01:15:51,000 We're going to stand, and we are going to sing. 401 01:15:51,000 --> 01:15:54,000 Turn your eyes. I think it's a good reminder for us. 402 01:15:54,000 --> 01:16:03,000 But it's also an invitation to turn your eyes to Jesus to see his goodness and his grace that has been poured out to us. 403 01:16:03,000 --> 01:16:05,000 Let's go ahead and stand. 404 01:16:12,000 --> 01:16:41,980 Turn your eyes 405 01:16:42,000 --> 01:17:09,000 Your eyes upon Jesus look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. 406 01:17:12,000 --> 01:17:40,000 Turn your eyes to that hillside where justice and mercy embrace. There the Son of God gave His life for us, and our measureless death was erased. 407 01:17:40,000 --> 01:18:08,000 Jesus, to You we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our Christ. We adore You, behold You, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to You. 408 01:18:08,000 --> 01:18:36,000 Turn your eyes to the morning and see Christ the lion awake. What a glorious dawn. 409 01:18:36,000 --> 01:19:04,000 Fear of death is gone, for we carry his life in our veins. Jesus, to you we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glorious eyes. 410 01:19:04,000 --> 01:19:32,000 We adore you. Behold you. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Turn your eyes to the heavens. Our King will return 411 01:19:32,000 --> 01:20:00,000 for his own. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will shout. All glory to Jesus, Lord. Jesus, we lift our eyes. Jesus, 412 01:20:00,000 --> 01:20:29,420 our glory and our prize. We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Jesus, to you we lift our eyes. Jesus, our glory and our prize. 413 01:20:30,000 --> 01:20:48,520 And our prize. We adore you, behold you, our Savior ever true. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. Oh, Jesus, we turn our eyes to you. 414 01:20:48,520 --> 01:21:17,040 So, we are very thankful that you are here with us. We'd like to invite you to lunch. I think there is a whole bunch of chicken, because somebody always orders way too much. I don't know who that is, but we can talk to him later. 415 01:21:17,040 --> 01:21:28,280 So, we are going to go ahead in a moment when we pray at the end of our service. We will also pray for lunch, so as soon as everything is ready, we can go ahead and just go ahead and start eating. I think they are setting up downstairs. 416 01:21:28,280 --> 01:21:39,760 A couple of announcements. Wednesday night Bible study is this Wednesday at 6 p.m. We are kind of talking through the Sermon on the Mount, but in a little bit more of a discussion. 417 01:21:39,760 --> 01:21:50,680 So, we are kind of dealing with the text we dealt with this morning, but trying to take it and kind of bring it and discuss it and study it in a little bit more depth. 418 01:21:50,680 --> 01:22:01,720 Also coming up in a few weeks. So, next Sunday we are going to take a look at this beautiful picture of the Father who gives to us, and then we will move into Palm Sunday. 419 01:22:01,720 --> 01:22:09,900 Following that is Easter Sunday. So, we are excited and ask you to be in prayer for those things that are coming up. 420 01:22:09,900 --> 01:22:20,140 And as well, we will send out an email probably this week. So, if you are not on the email list, if you didn't get an email that we sent out yesterday, just give me your email address. 421 01:22:20,140 --> 01:22:28,940 I will add you to the email list. We are looking for some volunteers, maybe for some physical things like some cleanup as we get ready for these things. 422 01:22:28,940 --> 01:22:41,320 But also, if you are a part of our church here and there is an area that you would like to serve, you think you are gifted in, even if we haven't mentioned it and you would like to be involved in that, we would like to talk to you more about those kind of things. 423 01:22:41,320 --> 01:22:54,000 So, that is kind of where we are going. So, I am going to go ahead and pray. We are also going to thank God for our food, and then we will read some Scripture, and then we will sing the doxology. 424 01:22:54,000 --> 01:23:02,680 Father in heaven, we thank you for your gracious provision to us, how you have provided so deeply and so wonderfully for us. 425 01:23:02,680 --> 01:23:10,880 We thank you for this meal that we are about to enjoy. May our fellowship be nourishing to our souls as the food nourishes our physical bodies. 426 01:23:10,880 --> 01:23:17,960 So, thank you for all your good gifts. Thank you so much for your church. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 427 01:23:17,960 --> 01:23:23,960 Titus chapter 2, Paul writes this: "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people, 428 01:23:23,960 --> 01:23:31,960 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, 429 01:23:31,960 --> 01:23:38,960 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 430 01:23:38,960 --> 01:23:45,960 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness to purify for himself a people for his own possession, 431 01:23:45,960 --> 01:23:51,960 who are zealous for good works." And so as you go, may the grace of God that has appeared in Jesus 432 01:23:51,960 --> 01:23:57,960 Christ fill your hearts with confidence and hope. And as you go from this place, may that same grace be 433 01:23:57,960 --> 01:24:05,960 at work to train you to live uprightly and live godly lives. May you wait with joy for the appearing of our 434 01:24:05,960 --> 01:24:11,960 great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And so we go in the grace of our Lord. Amen. 435 01:24:15,960 --> 01:24:42,960 Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him, above ye heavenly hosts. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 436 01:24:42,960 --> 01:24:45,960 Amen.