2024-09-01 God Help Me…

IHOP

Well, we are continuing our series, / / Playing God, where we are focusing on the first six verses in Matthew 7, with Jesus talking about making judgements against other people. Last week we looked at just the overall idea that / / Judgment is reserved for God alone. You are not the judge. I am not the judge. Jesus himself said, while he was on the earth, anyway, / / “God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”

That’s John 3:17, which comes right after arguably the most important and well known verse in the bible, John 3:16, / / “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

You want to know why Jesus says that, and in that order?

He first says that He came to give life, THEN he says he came NOT to judge…

This is my thought on that. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but it’s really hard to give people an ultimatum like that and it not feel like complete coercion. Thank about it. “I want to offer you eternal life…. but if you don’t accept, you get eternal damnation…” Tough sell, isn’t it?

Now, we aren’t talking about heaven and hell or eternity in this series. We aren’t talking about eternal judgement, or the judgement that is to come. And remember, we did see last week that there IS a judgment to come. Jesus says clearly in Matthew 12:36, / / “…you must give an account on judgment day for every idle word you speak.” and the writer of Hebrews says, / / “And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgement…” (Hebrews 9:27)

But we also read that Peter writes in 2 Peter 3:9 that God is being, / / “patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.”

And of course we already read John 3:17, Jesus didn’t come to judge, but to save. That was the purpose of the incarnation, of Christ coming to the earth and dying on the cross.

But again, why does he say it in that order? I came to save, not to judge…

Well, he explains in the following verses. John 3:18, / / “There is no judgement against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.”

No judgement for those who believe. But by the simple fact that we have NOT believe, Jesus is saying humanity is already judged! Why? Because it’s not punishment for wrong doing, it’s the cause of death by sin that Jesus is saving us from. It’s the invitation to be saved from sin, which Paul says in Romans 6:23, / / “…the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Look at the contrast. What’s the problem? / / Sin. What’s the end result? Death. What’s the solution? / / Salvation. What’s the end result? Eternal life! This is why Jesus talks first of salvation and second of judgement, because the invitation is the salvation from the thing that is killing us!

I’ve said this before, but the most surefire way to fail at any endeavor in your life is to only focus on NOT doing what you don’t want to do. If you don’t make a plan for what you DO want to do, and only focus on trying to NOT do what you know you shouldn’t be doing, that thing, the thing you don’t want to do, is going to nag at you so much that you’ll be consumed by it, and the reality is, what we are consumed by, rules our life and we fall prey to it. Or say it another way, we walk where we are looking…

What’s the path to success then? / / Focus on what you SHOULD be doing instead.

Alcoholics prove nothing by sitting in a bar being “strong”.

Food addicts prove nothing by going to Golden Coral and just having a salad.

People who have a hard time with lust don’t prove anything by going to sit in the parking lot of the local “gentlemen’s club”.

You don’t win points for being strong in your own strength.

And you can’t save yourself by fighting off the desire of the flesh.

But when you yield to the leading of the Holy Spirit as he directs you onto the path of following Jesus, and you come into the reality of the love of your heavenly Father who loves you whether you get it all right or mess up, you are then empowered to follow the way of life in God’s grace rather than the burden of the law…

Because, as Paul says in Romans 7:6, / / But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Let me ask you a simple, yet, I think, pretty profound question. Do you think, that if you are living in the “way of the Spirit” that you will be upholding the “letter of the law”?

Do you think the leading of the Holy Spirit will lead you to life, or death?

Will following the Holy Spirit of God lead you to sin, to missing the mark, or to obedience?

So, the goal is not to live simply trying NOT to sin.

The goal is not to try and be strong in your own strength.

/ / The goal is to fall in love with this Jesus who has saved you, commit to His way, become his disciple, receive the Holy Spirit and walk according to His leading.

Remember what I said last week.

You always have the written word of God, which means you always have the truth and instruction to follow. But you also have been given the Holy Spirit when you believed in Jesus and so you have the spoken word or the immediate word of God as well. Often times that comes as intuition, a prompting, a feeling, a gentle nudge, or what Scripture calls the “still small voice.”. It’s not going to be a booming voice, or at least not for most people. But, the more we read the word of God in the pages of Scripture, and the more we invite the Holy Spirit to speak to us and lead us, the more you become aware of that leading.

And remember - the Holy Spirit will not lead you contrary to the Scripture. Jesus says of the Holy Spirit, in John 16:13, / / “…he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard…”

So, why does Jesus talk invitation before judgment? Because invitation is the SOLUTION to what God will judge. Listen to what Paul says in Romans 6:19-23, / / Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

/ / Being set free from our sin, we choose something else. To follow the way of Christ.

And when we are following the way, that is written, and the Spirit, that is alive inside of us, we are much less inclined toward the old way of sin. Doesn’t mean we’re perfect. And there’s still grace and forgiveness for our faults and our messing up. But let me tell you, focusing on God and His way is far better than feeling like we need to not sin by our own strength to impress God.

And yes, this includes judging. Yes, this includes how we treat other people!

Which is why this short little series we are in is so important. / / Are you playing God, or are you allowing God to be God, and leaving your judgments at the foot of the cross?

We’re only going through six verses this series, so let’s reread them all together and then we’re going to look at the middle 3 this morning. Reading Matthew 7:1-6, / / “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. For you will be treated as you treat others. The standard you use in judging is the standard by which you will be judged.

“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.

“Don’t waste what is holy on people who are unholy. Don’t throw your pearls to pigs! They will trample the pearls, then turn and attack you.”

Today we are going to focus on the three verses in the middle where Jesus says why are you worried about the speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own. And so we’ll focus on a few different things here:

/ / You have a problem and need help.

You can’t help others, unless you get help.

Once You receive help, you CAN help others.

Alright, so let’s look at this:

/ / You Have a Problem!

Is it ok to say that? Don’t worry, I’m not leaving myself out here, I too have a problem.

I think this can be one of the most frustrating things for people. And I don’t mean that they deal with it, but that they deal with other people NOT dealing with it.

We all have a problem! And Jesus is saying that your problem is HUGE in comparison to the problem in someone else that you desperately want to point out.

Listen to how he says it, / / “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?”

Wow.

So what is this log? What’s he talking about? Is it something specific? Is he calling someone out?

I think Paul perfectly sums it up in Romans 3:23 when he says, / / For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. He quotes Psalm 14 a little bit earlier in that chapter, but let’s read directly from how David says it.

Psalm 14:1-3 / / Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! The Lord looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!

Remember last week we read that laundry list of sins in Romans 1, and then Paul starts Romans 2 with, “you might think you can judge everyone else, but you’re just as bad!”

David is saying the same thing. He starts with, “The fool” who says there is no God, how corrupt those fools are, how evil their actions are, not a single one of them can do any good. But, David was pretty good at recognizing his own sin, most of the time, not all the time, but most of the time, and when he’s called out, he usually owns up to it. So, then he says that the Lord looks down at the ENTIRE human race, looking for anyone he could say is wise, anyone who he could say is truly seeking him, and he says, Nope, not a single one. So, he’s including himself here, isn’t he? Then he puts the nail in the coffin, so to speak. Read it again up here: ALL have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!

When Paul quotes it in Romans 3:10 he says, / / No one is righteous, not even one.

So what’s the log in our eye? Well, the log is our own inability to do right, and our consistent nature, as the human race, in doing wrong. Paul calls it “the flesh”, or our sinful nature, our desire to do what pleases us.

Does that sound familiar? That is the chant of today’s generation, isn’t it? Seek pleasure, seek what feels good, THAT is what is right for you.

That’s actually disgusting.

Not that we can’t have a happy life. Not that we can’t feel good, and enjoy life. That’s not it. But when we seek to gratify the desires of our flesh we almost always 100% completely deny the invitation of Christ to follow Him. Why? Because the flesh seeks only for it’s own gain, it’s own pleasure, it’s own desire, at anyone else’s expense.

Romans 8:8, / / That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature [flesh - ESV] can never please God.

This is an interesting connection. Paul says in Romans 8:13, / / For if you live by its dictates [that is according to the flesh] you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature [flesh], you will live.

Let’s be honest:

The flesh rarely picks sacrificing itself.

The flesh rarely chooses to prefer others over itself.

The flesh rarely decides the way of the cross is the preferred way.

We’re going to get there in a couple weeks, but Jesus says later in Matthew 7:13-14, / / The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

So, we’ve talked before about sin being one of those things that puts us all on a level playing field, but let’s look at a story that really illustrates this point further.

John 8:1-11, And we won’t read the whole thing, but it’s the story of the woman who is caught in sin.

As the story goes, if you don’t know it. Jesus is at the Temple teaching a crowd of people, and while he’s there, a group of teachers of religious law and Pharisees barge in and throw a woman down at the feet of Jesus in front of the whole crowd.

She’s terrified, half dressed, disheveled and looking like she was just dragged out of bed….because she was. Or at least that’s what we can assume by what they say to Jesus… / / “This woman was caught in the act of adultery…”

Now, we don’t need to fill in the blanks here, I think we all understand what that means.

Here’s the problem. Well, there’s multiple problems here, so many problems. BUT, this group of religious men ask Jesus one thing, / / “The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

What are these guys up to? Well, they’re trying to trick Jesus into saying something that could get him in trouble. See, Jesus has been preaching grace and forgiveness of sins and coming into his kingdom. They don’t love that because they like to feel better than everyone else for keeping the law better. Better law keeper, better Jew. And certainly Jesus he has not been talking about stoning anyone. So, if he agrees with them, he’s undoing the work he’s already done in way of teaching grace and forgiveness.

On the other hand, what if he doesn’t stone her? What if he doesn’t condemn her? Because the law already has. The law says she should be stoned. So this means that Jesus would be teaching AGAINST the law. And the religious leaders see that as a checkmate.

But Jesus doesn’t respond in words. Not at first anyway. John says that Jesus stoops down and starts writing in the dirt with his finger. Now, what did he write? We don’t know. But some people think maybe he was writing the ten commandments. Or maybe he just wrote Deuteronomy 27:26, / / Cursed is anyone who does not affirm and obey the terms of these instructions… which is the scripture that James references in James 2:10 when he says, / / For the person who keeps all of the laws except one is as guilty as a person who has broken all of God’s laws.

Maybe he started writing their names. Who knows. Maybe he was just doodling. I mean, really, we have no clue, but it’s kind of interesting to speculate. And whatever the case may be, whatever he is doing, is certainly having an impact. So then he begins to speak. / / “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust.

Gosh, I wish we knew what he was writing! But again, whatever it is, has some serious impact…

/ / When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?”

“No, Lord,” she said.

And Jesus said, “Neither do I. Go and sin no more.”

Now, some have tried to take this as a pass on sin, that there was no consequence for her sin, but that’s not the case. Jesus does not validate, affirm, or dismiss her sin. He simply forgives it, which, when we talk about forgiveness I would suggest we tend to be flawed in our approach.

This is why when Peter asks how many times he needs to forgive, it’s not a simple answer. Because if you are anything like me, sometimes I say, “I forgive you.” But I’ve still got that, “but you better never do that again….or else…” ringing around in my head. Or maybe it’s a, “But I’ll remember it for next time.” or maybe a, “But I’m going to hold this over your head til the cows come home. You wronged me and karma’s a ________…. un-nice person…”

But I know none of you are like that, so you probably don’t need to hear this.

But when Jesus forgives, he forgets. Psalm 103:10-12, / / He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.

How far is the east from the west? They don’t every actually meet, do they? It’s a way of saying, “God has removed your sin completely…it’s gone”

1 John 1:9 says, / / But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

That’s a three part process. First part on us. We confess where we have missed the mark.

Then, the sin is forgiven. But how many know, sin leaves us dirty? It even leaves us feeling dirty. So Jesus doesn’t only forgive us for sinning, but he cleanses us from all wickedness. Most translations say that he cleanses us from all “unrighteousness”, meaning, we are now made righteous.

Romans 5:19 says, / / Because one person disobeyed God [Adam], many became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God [Jesus], many will be made righteous.

So, Scripture is telling us. We have a problem. A sin problem. And Jesus is saying, when you deal with any sort of issue, sin, problem, difficulty being perfect, it doesn’t work if you just go around telling everyone else about their sin and how much they have to fix in their lives.

I would suggest to you this morning that telling everyone they are wrong and sinful is one of the worst strategies of evangelism there is. We saw last week. We are not God, it’s not our job to judge. But don’t worry, if you learn some restraint in that wanting to point people’s issues out, it’s not like it’s going to go unnoticed or unaddressed.

Jesus says in John 16:7-11, / / “…it is best for you that I go away, because if I don’t, the Advocate won’t come. If I do go away, then I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment. The world’s sin is that it refuses to believe in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more. Judgment will come because the ruler of this world has already been judged.”

So, instead of pointing out people’s flaws, people’s sins, how they miss the mark, how you can see something in their life that is obviously wrong, pray instead that the Holy Spirit, in God’s grace, convicts them of that sin so that they actually WANT to change, and then you can fulfill YOUR mandate of being an ambassador of the kingdom of heaven, saying, as Paul encourages us, “Come back to God!”

I wonder, and this is just a thought, but I wonder if the church on mass began to pray for the loving, gentle, grace filled conviction of the Holy Spirit to operate in this earth, in our work, in our schools, as much as we internally or externally judge people for their actions….how much change we might see. I don’t know. But I think maybe it’s worth a try. Because let’s face it, whether it’s inside or outside the church, people who are Christian or not. We all have the same problem.

/ / 2. You Can’t Help Others Unless You Get Help

***Video clip…***

Now, as funny as that is, and as much trouble as he is now in, what does every airline safety message say.

/ / Put your mask on first!

Why? We are no good to anyone else if we are taken out by what is trying to take us out. And that can be personal difficulties, or the judgments we make.

In life, in health, whether that is physical, emotional, mental or spiritual health. If we are stuck, if we are broken, if we are wounded and unable to heal, OR if we are sitting on our high horse judging those around us, it’s very difficult to properly help anyone else.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we aren’t going to see issues in people’s lives. In fact, I think our brokenness is sometimes what highlights people’s issues because the enemy would love nothing more than you feeling like if you judge someone else you will feel better about yourself.

Listen to this. And this is not good. I saw this a few months ago and as I was going through this message was reminded of it. An article came out last year called, “Why Gossip Feels So Good.” and this article was basically advocating for gossiping as a tool for social integration.

Here’s some of the things It said:

/ / Some psychologists have suggested that gossip is one of the most important mechanisms for bonding social groups.

/ / Recent research indicates that there may be a chemical basis for the bonding benefits of gossip.

/ / Gossiping seems to trigger a spike of oxytocin, a hormone associated with pair bonding and good feelings and positive human experiences such as empathy, mother-infant bonding, and cooperation with others.

Wait wait wait….tearing someone down might is the same as cooperating with others??? The way that is written is horrible. All that says is it spikes the same chemical in good or bad use. That’s it. Mother-Infant bonding should NOT be compared to two people gossiping as some sort of healthy social exercise.

/ / Gossip has always been essential in human groups.

And this one is what really got me:

/ / An individual not part of the office gossip network is an outsider who is neither trusted nor accepted by the group. Hence, adopting the role of the self-righteous soul who refuses to participate in gossip will ultimately be self-defeating and will end up being nothing more than a ticket to social isolation.

Now, I’m going to quickly solve this issue. Do you know what this is called?

The Flesh!

This is the very definition of the flesh, of our human desires that advocates for personal gain at the expense of anyone or anything else. This is the very thing scripture warns us about.

Let me say it again: / / The flesh seeks pleasure and comfort at all costs and at anyone else’s expense.

Do you want to know what marked the early church? Why it grew so fast, and so wide spread?

Listen to this little excerpt from “Church History in Plain Language”:

/ / “People always view with suspicion those who are different. Conformity, not distinctiveness, is usually the way to a trouble-free life. SO the more early Christians took their faith seriously, the more they were in danger of opposition.

Thus, simply by living according to the teachings of Jesus, Christians were a constant unspoken condemnation of the pagan way of life. It was not that Christians went about criticizing and condemning and disapproving, nor were they consciously self-righteous and superior. It was simply that the Christian ethic in itself was a criticism of the pagan life.” - Bruce Shelley in Church History in Plain Language

Quite the contrast to what we just read, isn’t it? Your life of FOLLOWING JESUS, will be condemnation enough to those around you who live a different way. You don’t need to say anything. And saying something would NOT be the way of Jesus… Gossip at the office water cooler is NOT the way of Jesus. Saying, “I’m good” and carrying on your day IS. You don’t have to be pretentious or self-righteous, you simply have to follow the prescribed way of Jesus Christ in scripture and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit for your OWN life. For your OWN healing.

My point is this. Anyone can see the dirt in someone else’s life. Why does Jesus have to say this in the first place? Because it is second nature to us to see what we don’t like about other people. It is second nature to want to point out people’s flaws, downfalls, differences and sins. And the flesh will want to do that so it can feel better about it’s sinful nature.

So, what do we do? How do we begin to change our perspective here? And how do we maintain a healthy, godly approach to relationship and connection when the world seems to want to promote the very opposite?

Well, this is where we recognize the first point I made, we all have a problem, with this second point that Jesus wants us to be made whole.

When Jesus says in John 10:10, / / “…my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”

That word life is the greek word zoe - it means this, of the absolute fulness of life, both essential and ethical…life, real and genuine, a life active and vigorous, devoted to God, blessed, in the portion even in this world of those who put their trust in Christ.

God wants us to be free, whole, of sound mind and body, not with relational burdens holding us down, but living without the corruption of sin, the pain of our past and the hurts we experience.

So we have to realize both that we have a problem, that we need healing, and that the people around us are just the same as us, they have a problem, and they need healing. We couldn’t be more the same.

In addiction recovery, we are invited to look at this as everyone dealing with being sick. Let me read you an excerpt from the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous as an explanation:

“Though we did not like their symptoms and the way they disturbed us, they, like ourselves, were sick too. We asked God to help us show them the same tolerance, pity, and patience that we would cheerfully grant a sick friend. When a person offended we said to ourselves, ‘This is a sick man. How can I be helpful to him? God save me from being angry. Thy will be done.’

/ / We avoid retaliation or argument. We wouldn’t treat sick people that way. If we do, we destroy our chance of being helpful.

We cannot be helpful to all people, but at least God will show us how to take a kindly and tolerant view of each and every one.

/ / …Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened?

Though a situation had not been entirely our fault, we tried to disregard the other person involved entirely. Where were we to blame? The inventory was ours, not the other man’s. When we saw our faults we listed them. We placed them before us in black and white. We admitted our wrongs honestly and were willing to set these matters straight.”

Notice the heart and the desire to actually help other people, yet, the restraint in understanding that to help someone else, we must learn to be helped out of our own issues ourselves.

Put your own mask on first!

/ / 3. Once You Receive Help, You CAN Help Others!

I had someone ask me the other day in class, “So, what made you want to go to school now?”

I recognize that if I want to truly help people, to the best of my ability, I have to take seriously what God has called me to. And if teaching and preaching the word of God is a part of my life, then I ought to do whatever I can to best prepare myself for that mission.

Why do I go see a therapist?

Because in my life I know there are hurts and all sorts of things I’ve been through that impact me and affect how I deal with and interact with the people in my life. And for my own sake, and for the sake of everyone around me, I want to be as healed as possible.

And here’s the reality. You might just need Jesus AND a therapist. Jesus wants to heal us, but sometimes that healing comes through the journey we walk. Sometimes it comes through following the way he prescribes for us to live. It’s not always an instantaneous miracle, sometimes it’s a miracle through time, a miracle through process, a miracle through work. And that doesn’t make it any less a miracle. The fact that we CAN heal, that we CAN be free from those hurts and pains, is a miracle in of itself. And whatever road we need to take to get there is WORTH the journey.

There’s a saying, / / “Hurt people, hurt people.” - No, I’m not stuttering. It’s saying that if you don’t deal with your hurts, you’ll end up hurting someone else because of the pain YOU are in.

But the other side is also true, / / “Healed people, heal people.”

This is the last thing Jesus says, after telling us not to be a hypocrite, / / “First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

Now, this has to come with a clarification.

First, none of us will ever be perfect. And if sin, or simple ability to miss the mark of God’s perfection, is the log in our own eye, and is something we will forever deal with on this earth because we are still imperfect humans, then the reality is, we will always, to a certain degree, have specks and logs in our own eyes. That’s the analogy and that is true.

We will overcome. We will find healing. We will advance, move forward, break through and break free, but I can not say with any certainty that we will ever be perfect on this side of the grave.

So, in talking about being an instrument of healing for others, we MUST talk about the humility involved in that role. I am an imperfect human, doing the best I can, with what I’ve been given in life, helping others to the best degree that I can within the limitations of my own ability and personal struggles.

Let me say that again,

I am an imperfect human being, relying on God to do the best that I can, with all that I’ve been through in life,

I am helping others to the best degree that I can within the limitations of my own humanity, ability and personal struggles

And I continue to follow Christ and experience healing and transformation through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I am reliant on God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.

I recognize my imperfection and humanity.

I help in ways that I can, understanding I can not help in all ways or situations.

And the best help any of us can be, as we read from the early church’s experience, is to by example pursue the healing grace of Jesus Christ for our own lives to be free from the clutches of sin. I think that’s one of the most powerful statements I’ve read in a long time, / / “…simply by living according to the teachings of Jesus Christ…” - the early church saw growth and expansion because people were convicted of their way of life through the working of the Holy Spirit.

And when the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin, as we saw in scripture that is his job to do so, it creates a humility of question and seeking for change.

Without conviction of sin, pride will always be an issue:

We think we are good enough.

We think we are strong enough.

We think we are smart enough.

We think we don’t need help.

We think people will look down on us if we ask for help, and we don’t want to appear weak.

We think people will treat us differently if we need their help.

We don’t like being viewed as needy.

We don’t like asking for help.

We don’t like looking smaller, weaker, poorer, sadder, or anything negative, really.

But when the Holy Spirit moves on our hearts, with the grace and compassion of Jesus Christ, and convicts of us our shortcomings, there is an invitation to become humble to the point of desiring change.

1 Peter 5:3, 5-7, / / …lead by your own good example… dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” So humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares for you.

/ / The recognition of weakness is an invitation for humility that will bring you to a place of freedom.

After all, it is his kindness that leads to repentance.

It is his compassion and mercy that leads to healing and wholeness. And it is that compassion and mercy that we experience that becomes the compassion and mercy that we operate out of in our service to others.

So Paul says in Colossians 3:12-13, / / Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.

We are invited to live a life that we receive healing so we can bring healing.

Last week we read from Luke 6, which has a portion that is a parallel passage to Matthew 7:1-6, but Jesus goes a bit further and gives an illustration BEFORE he starts talking about the speck and log in our eyes. He says, (vs 39-40), / / “Can one blind person lead another? Won’t they both fall into a ditch. Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.”

This is powerful.

We will never be Jesus. We are never someone’s savior.

BUT, Jesus is saying here, when you dedicate your life to following the teacher, the rabbi, Jesus Christ, you become trained to act and operate like the teacher. We won’t ever be greater than the teacher. But we can be his ambassadors. That’s what Paul says, right? Jesus Christ reconciled all mankind to himself, SO we become ministers of that reconciliation, ambassadors of his kingdom.

But his kingdom operates in compassion and love, grace and mercy, not judgment and critical attitudes. So we must recognize our own need for healing, seek it out, first so we can honor God with our lives, and then so we can be a blessing to others.

I want to pray with you this morning. Do you struggle with this? Listen, I think all of us do. To certain degrees. Sure, some are maybe less judgmental than others. But I wouldn’t say any are perfect.

I want to invite you to really offer yourself to Jesus this morning, to be healed, forgiven, led by Him. To be taught by him. To dedicate your life to the ways of the teacher, of our rabbi, Jesus Christ.

He is the answer the world needs, and I’m not sure why he does it this way, but he chooses to work in and through us to bring people that answer. We are surrounded by people who need Jesus. His healing, his forgiveness, his salvation, his compassion and mercy. Do you see yourself as an agent of those things?

Because the healing the world needs won’t come through our judgment and condemnation. So, rather than judging the world around us, do you see yourself as an agent of healing and restoration? And maybe you just feel like you need healing. That’s ok. Some days I look at my life and think, “Wow, how am I going to help anyone?” And I am often reminded, “One step at a time.”

Our lives are a witness to God’s grace, not our own strength.

Again, to the best of your ability, in heart, soul and body, lay your life on the alter before God, for his healing and his mercy. Hebrews says to boldly approach God’s thrown of grace in our time of need to receive mercy. So, Jesus, here we are. We come to you in our weakness, brokenness and humanity, asking for healing, for mercy, for grace…