Changing for the Better……….Matthew 7:1-12

This morning, we come to the last chapter of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We have spent seven weeks looking at chapters 5 and 6—or 15 we= eks if you include the eight weeks we took traveling through the Beatitudes sev= eral months back.

Our theme is “God’s Lesson Plans for Your Life.” We’ve= tried to discover the essential questions, the purpose of Jesus’ teachings,= in order to communicate what He wants to “get at” inside of us in order to bring about the changes in our lives that He desires.

Only three weeks remain in our study now: today, Palm Sunday, and Easter. Our passage today is Matthew 7:1-12, and it contains several of the best-known = and most-quoted verses that we find in Jesus’ sermon. Please listen and follow along as I read, and see which of these verses you know best.

Matthew 7:1-12 Judgi= ng Others 1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. <= sup>2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure = you use, it will be measured to you. ³"Why do you look at= the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?= ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

⁶&qu= ot;Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, = they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask, Seek, Knock 7"Ask and it will be gi= ven to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. <= sup>8For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the = door will be opened.

⁹&qu= ot;Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or i= f he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though y= ou are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will = your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums = up the Law and the Prophets.

So, which verse is best-known and most-quoted? H= ow many of you have a little 12-inch measuring stick at home that you call = 220;a ruler?” Perhaps you als= o have a three-foot long measuring device called a “yard stick.” That, of course, is because itR= 17;s one yard long.

So why isn’t th= is called a “foot stick” or a “footer,” instead of a ruler? I’m not sure, bu= t I do know that the one I had as a boy had the words of Jesus that we know as the “Golden Rule” printed on it: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” So could this well-known verse be the one that gets quoted most?

Or could it be this o= ne on prayer: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”= Faithful followers of Christ love this verse and often remember its message as they pray. Is it the best-known verse in this passage, though?

I have a hunch there&= #8217;s another verse that gets used far more often than either of these two, even = as important and well-known as they are. It’s verse number one (phrase): “Do not judge,” of= ten shortened to “Judge not.”

I hear Christians usi= ng it, but this is one verse that you hear a lot of non-believers using too. It may be the only “Jesus qu= ote” they know, in fact, but they love this verse and use it a lot: “Do not judge.”

I chose to call today’s message, “Changing for the Better.” All th= at Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount is intended to help us understand what true righteousness is so that, with His help and guidance, we can both experience abundant living personally and become salt and light—witne= sses for Christ—to others.

But if we take what Jesus says here and reduce it dow= n to a mere “judge not”—and, granted, it is so tempting to do = this—but if we do, I don’t think we will have much of an impact on the lives of others—and such a narrow view may even get in the way of what the Lord wants to do in us! So nobody = gets changed for the better!

As I wrestled with the meaning of this passage last w= eek, I began to see it in light of the “golden rule”: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” It’s not about doing nothing= --“Judging not,” in other words—but, instead, it’s about doing somet= hing…in the right way, in a way that can actually be received—because…i= t’s being done with a sensitivity that you yourself would appreciate if the tab= les were turned (i.e., even when confronting sin, we are to do unto others as we would want them to do unto us).

There’s a story about an Asian girl named Li-Li= who could not seem to get along with her Mother-in-Law. This would never happen here, of course—but evidently in-law problems do arise in some distant places.= In her culture, Li-Li was supposed= to honor and bow before and be obedient to her mother-in-law; but the two of t= hem were always quarreling.

Li-Li decided she couldn’t stand it any longer.= She went to a friend, Mr. Won, who= sold herbs. She told him her predi= cament. She asked him for some poisonous h= erbs to slip into her mother-in-law’s food. Reluctantly, he agreed to give the= se to her, but he cautioned her to be patient--they would work very slowly.=

He also told her that in order to remove all suspicio= n; she should treat this woman she despised with kindness, refusing to argue w= ith her, while being very respectful and obedient. The plan sounded good to Li-Li, an= d she followed his instructions carefully.

Li-Li prepared meals for her mother-in-law daily, eac= h time adding in the poison herbs. A= ll the while, she controlled her temper and treated her as if she were her own mot= her. She was consistently kind and considerate…as she waited for her to die!

But Li-Li began to notice that her mother-in-law was = also acting differently toward her. She was rarely upset now and often quite pleasant and affirming. They were growing close to each ot= her.

Soon, Li-Li returned to her friend and in tears plead= ed for something that would reverse the effects of the poison—she now lo= ved this woman and could not believe she had ever wanted to harm her.

“Don’t worry, Li-Li,” Mr. Won said. “I never gave you= any poison, just some herbs and vitamins to improve your Mother-in-law’s = health. The only poison was in you, and no= w that’s gone.”

It’s interesting how this works: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” But here’s what I struggled = with this week: how do we apply the golden rule when we see something poisonous = in the life of another person—something we know to be wrong, sinful, and= deadly (for the wages of sin is death)?

We know the “judge not” part very well—but that’s not all that Jesus says here. To stop there is just an “ea= sy out” for us—whether we happen to be the guilty party insisting = that others not judge us; or, on the other hand, we are concerned about someone = else who is caught up in a harmful lifestyle, and they are insisting that we not pass judgment on them.

What do we do? Let me suggest three insights that I believe are true to what Jesus = tells us here:

1. Don’t Be Judgmental. In the first church I pastored, th= ere was a man who joined the church who had an interesting license plate on his truck. It had six letters in = this order: IBIUBU. This man took = his faith very seriously, and I think his intention was to say that we should n= ot judge each other.

Part of me resonated with that sentiment, but there w= as also something about it that didn’t feel quite right. He meant it in the right way, but = it could also be interpreted to mean: “I’ll take care of me, you t= ake care of you. Or even, “I’m only concerned about me—the heck with you.” That’s not what Jesus taught= .

It sounds okay if you lift “Do not judge”= out of context and don’t consider the rest of what Jesus has to say here, including that part about “Do unto others…” Jesus never suggested a kind of individualism that turns a blind eye to the lives of others, not even to the evil in the lives of others. = He simply insists that we not fall into the self-righteous trap of seeing the = evil in others while failing to see it in ourselves. Big difference!

Jesus seems to find a little humor in the way we so e= asily see sin in the life of our brother, but miss it in ourselves. Drawing upon his work as a carpent= er, he says: ‘we see a speck of sawdust in our brother’s eye while mis= sing the 2x4 in our own.’

But he quickly gets serious again, saying, “You hypocrite, first take the plank out of = your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brothe= r's eye.” Notice, there is = a time to deal with our brother’s sin, to help him get the speck out of his eye—but only with the full awareness that we have specks in our eyes = too; and the same speck in our own eye should appear much bigger to us than when it’s in our brother’s eye.&nbs= p; The speck in his eye becomes a plank in mine—looking at it fro= m my perspective.

Exercise good judgment without being judgmental. We should help one another remove those irritating specks from our eyes, but never by being condescendingly critical. God= is well-qualified for the job of Judge, we aren’t.&nbs= p; And Jesus warns us that if we try to take over God’s job, then= He will adopt the same standards we use in judging others to judge us. Friends, I don’t want to go = there, do you? So, again, what do we= do?

2. Practice Discernment. Don’= ;t be judgmental, but do be discerning when it comes to the lives of others.=

The Lone Ranger and Tonto were riding across the plai= ns when night fell. They set up = their tent, settled in, and quickly fell fast asleep. Hours later, Tonto wakes up= and says, “Kemo Sabe, open eyes. Look up, what you see?”

“I see millions of stars, Tonto. Isn’t it beautiful? It speaks to me about the vastness= of the universe and causes me to wonder about what lies beyond those stars. It speaks of a God who is an all-powerful Creator. And, the clarity of the sky tells me that we should have nice weather to resume our travels when the sun comes up. So, Tonto, what does all this say to you?”

“Huh,” Tonto grunts, “Tells me Kemo Sabe dumber than rock. He not notice somebody stole tent.”

Would you call that discernment? The “dumber than rock”= part sounds judgmental, but here’s the point. What are we to make of the fact th= at Jesus follows His words about not being judgmental by telling us in verse 6= : "Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them un= der their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.” (Wild dogs/pigs)

I think Jesus is simply telling us to not miss the obvious. Don’t be judgm= ental, but don’t put your mind in neutral either. Be discerning. Use good judgment.

Here’s an example. A young man shows up at your house= to see your daughter. His appear= ance is suspect. You learn he̵= 7;s had several run-ins with the law. He’s living with a cousin now because his parents have given u= p on him.

Meanwhile, your sweet daughter who’s been raised right and knows just enough Scripture to be dangerous decides to tell you o= ff Biblically: “Don’t judge, lest you be judged.”=

Well, if you know Jesus’ teachings here, you ha= ve some ammunition to defend your refusal to let her go out with him. If I may paraphrase: “That pi= g’s not going to get this pearl without a fight!” To not take that stand as a Christ= ian parent would be “dumb as a rock”—speaking in a non-judgme= ntal way, of course!

Granted, finding the balance between judging and disc= erning is not easy, and it is bound to be imperfect because you and I are the ones= who must decide where the balance is. So there is one other thing we need to do:

3. Be Prayerful. Jesus follows these instructions w= ith some very timely teaching about prayer: “Ask…seek…knock…= ” and trust your Heavenly Father to respond to your need, help you find the guidance you’re looking for, and open the doors which lead to the rig= ht answers. With God’s hel= p, you can trust your judgment. This= is what I think Jesus is saying to us here:

&qu= ot;Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give= him a snake? (Matthew 7:9-10) You’ll do the right thing, J= esus assures us.

Again, don’t be judgmental. A critical, condemning spirit is destructive toward others and usually it’s just a cover-up for one’s own sins. It has = no place in the lives of those who follow Christ. Jesus often accepted people whom o= thers condemned. It was not a blind acceptance, though; His loving embrace set them on the road to transformation—new life—a big change for the better!=

Jesus encourages a wise, discerning spirit that is st= eeped in prayer. Many of us love th= e Serenity Prayer which speaks to this balance that Jesus wants us to experience in our lives: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot chang= e; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.̶= 1;

It&= #8217;s not our place to judge anyone. It IS, however, our calling to be part of what God wants to do in His world—= transforming lives for His Kingdom. If we = ask, God will give us the wisdom to know the difference, to be wise and discerni= ng, that we may be effective as His agents of change—changing lives…for = the better!