2024-09-08 Dealing with Dogs, Pigs & Pearls

Well, we are actually wrapping up our series, / / Playing God, this week. It’s been just a short series. And really, as we’ll see over the next few weeks and I guess the rest of this year, chapter 7 of the book of Matthew, which is the third and final chapter in the Sermon on the Mount that we have been looking at, is a lot of really short, quick, single thought points that Jesus makes.

As we’ve gone through the Sermon on the Mount, you see that / / chapter 5 is really dealing with matters of the Law vs Kingdom, or living under the law and living under grace. That’s where we saw all of the, / / “You have heard it said…” statements where Jesus would take something from the law that the people of Israel believed and readjust their thinking.

And sometimes we get that a bit confused. Well, to be honest, it can be a bit confusing. But sometimes we hear Jesus say that he didn’t come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it, and that can lead people to misinterpret what Jesus is saying. He wasn’t saying he came to do away with the law. In fact, quite the opposite. He says specifically, in Matthew 5:18, / / “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”

Begs the question, what’s the purpose of the law?

Well, we’ve looked at that quite a bit, I think, but the short version is this. / / The law tells us how we should live.

Anyone hear the acronym for Bible, / / B-I-B-L-E …….. / / Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

Whether it is the law, the prophets, the psalms, the book of proverbs, the words of Jesus, the words of Paul, of Peter, of James & John, And specifically what we’ve been looking at this year, the Sermon on the Mount, Scripture contains within it’s pages the prescribed way of living a life before God that is both honoring to Him AND good for you.

All that to say, Matthew 5 was a pretty good jump into the law and the kingdom.

And then in Chapter 6 we saw just a couple topics, didn’t we? A big portion on prayer, which of course we included fasting in, and then the rest was really about giving, and money, and possessions.

But, as I mentioned, when you get to chapter 7, it’s all of these short little, yet really powerful statements that Jesus makes.

Today we’re going to look at one of the more confusing statements Jesus makes. Especially after telling us not to judge. So let’s read our whole portion of scripture we’ve been going through for this series, Matthew 7:1-6 and then we’ll focus on vs 6 specifically for this morning.

Reading it first from the NLT:

/ / “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.”

So it’s that last verse here that we’ll be looking at, but let’s read it also from the ESV:

/ / “Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.”

So, today’s message is called, / / “Dealing with Dogs, Pigs & Pearls”

And we will take these in that order…

/ / 1. To Dogs & Pigs

We should probably just take a moment to deal with the elephant in the room? It seems here that Jesus just told us not to judge people, and then calls people dogs & pigs. Not so nice, Jesus, not so nice. Obviously this warrants a deeper look, right? Because we know that Jesus is not going to tell us one thing and then immediately do the opposite of the thing he just told us to do, or not to do. And he’s not talking about animals, it’s not actual dogs and pigs.

First things first, regardless of what he’s calling them, it does seem that Jesus is making a comparison between people. He is making some sort of distinction between the people he’s talking to, and another group of people, of which he is calling “dogs and pigs”.

Now, surprising or not, this is NOT the only time Jesus calls someone a dog.

For this we want to jump over to Matthew 15:21-28 and read a story from the life of Jesus:

/ / Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Gentile woman who lived there came to him, pleasing, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! For my daughter is possessed by a demon that torments her severely.”

But Jesus gave her no reply, not even a word. Then his disciples urged him to send her away. “Tell her to go away,” they said. “She is bothering us with all her begging.”

Then Jesus said to the woman, “I was sent only to help God’s lost sheep - the people of Israel.”

But she came and worshiped him, pleading again, “Lord, help me!”

Jesus responded, “It isn’t right to take food from the children and throw it to the dogs.”

She replied, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.”

“Dear woman,” Jesus said to her, “your faith is great. Your request is granted.” And her daughter was instantly healed.

Now, again, this is a bit of a difficult passage of scripture. It appears that Jesus is deciding to treat someone very differently, to NOT help them, simply because of where they come from, their family background. Today people get “cancelled” for less, right?

Now, twice in scripture these places are mentioned as people coming to hear Jesus speak and minister, “from as far as Tyre and Sidon.” But this seems like it might be the first time Jesus is there in person. Not sure on that.

But it appears that Jesus is there to get away. It’s a short passage of Scripture. And Mark writes about it and in Mark 7:24-25 it says, / / Then Jesus left Galilee and went north to the region of Tyre. He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret. Right away a woman who had heard about him came and fell at his feet.

Now, Tyre & Sidon are coastal towns, so they could’ve been on a little ministry retreat, or a little vacation. But we’ll see in a bit why it’s so important that Jesus didn’t want anyone to know why he was there.

And so Mark goes through there conversation, and right after in vs 31 it says, / / Jesus left Tyre and went up to Sidon before going back to the Sea of Galilee and the region of the Ten Towns.

So we know that Jesus is there long enough for this conversation, but we don’t know if he sticks around or for how long.

Now, this takes a bit of deep thought because it can be taken very much out of context. And we have two things at play here, first we have Matthew 7, / / don’t give dogs what is holy, and we have Matthew 15, / / don’t give the bread to the dogs… And we’re going to contrast the two here because I think, especially for the day we live in, it is important to see how this plays into what we are talking about in this series - Playing God. Making Judgments.

It is true. In Jesus day, sometimes Jews would refer to Gentiles, or those who were not Jewish, as “dogs”, the greek word is / / kyon, which yes, means dog, but also, means, / / a man of impure mind, and a man who does not show another person respect.

So, an impure mind, or someone that is unclean. Now, in that area of the world, you would have known this about the Jews - they considered the world around them as unclean, which in the law, you have to be careful to not spend time with or interact with certain people which would make you yourself unclean. If you watch the Chosen tv series there’s an episode where Peter is hanging out with Gias, the roman soldier, and they go to hug and Peter pulls back. The implication, you’re unclean, don’t make me unclean. And Gias says something like, “oh right, you Jews have that thing.”

Now, there are two things happening in the ministry of Jesus.

First, he hasn’t hid this, or at least it’s becoming more and more clear who He is and why He’s here. He’s here for Israel. He is the Christ, and the / / Christ is the Messiah, or the redeemer of Israel! The fact that the rest of the world gets to also receive salvation is outside of this point. Yes, Jesus is going to give his life for all mankind, BUT, the promise to Abraham was that he would be made into a great nation, he would be God’s people, and THROUGH HIM, meaning, through the Messiah of Israel, the whole world would be blessed. There is a progression.

Paul says this in his preaching - Romans 1:16, / / For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes - the Jew first and also the Gentile.

Think of it this way, / / for salvation to come FROM the Jews, it must first come TO the Jews.

When Jesus sends the disciples out with the Great Commission, he says in Acts 1:8, / / “…you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere - in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

He’s saying, we start at home!

Every town Paul went to in his Missionary journey’s he starts at the synagogue preaching to the Jews, and then it would spill out to the Gentiles, or, if the Jews didn’t receive the word, then he would go to the Gentiles. But listen, it makes sense. The whole of the Old Testament, the story of the Jewish people is about the coming redemption, the coming Messiah. So preach to the ones who are looking for it first!

So, I said it was important that Jesus didn’t want people to know why he was in Tyre & Sidon, right?

Well, this comes out in the point that Jesus is making to this woman. Yes, he uses what seems to be a really rude way of saying it, and maybe there are better ways he could have, but he’s making the point, I am here for the Jewish nation of people first. If I change course, and the Gentiles see me as their Messiah as well, then when the Jewish people try to rise up and kill me, which MUST happen, how will this army of new believers who aren’t Jews take the Jewish leaders trying to kill their Savior?

Think about it. / / Jesus HAS to remain the Jewish Messiah, so that he becomes the Jewish Problem, so that he becomes the Jewish Sacrifice, which is how we are all saved!

Let’s go a bit further, when Jesus sends out the twelve apostles to minister, while he was still alive, he tells them this, / / “Don’t go to the Gentiles or the Samaritans, but only to the people of Israel - God’s lost sheep.” Why? Because it’s not time yet. And you can not have this force awaken too early. Besides, it really doesn’t take long before Jesus is resurrected from the dead, and ascends into heaven that he’s sending his apostles to the Gentiles… There’s a purpose to Jesus’ withholding the “children’s bread” for a season. Now, it helps if we understand the timeline of the New Testament. The book of Acts covers years and years, BUT, it’s only 7 years from the time of Jesus ascending into heaven before Peter is sent to the Gentiles. So their mission in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria takes a few years, and then it’s time to include us.

But, back to the story of Jesus. There is obviously that aspect - Jesus had come for the Jew first, NOT the Gentile, not yet at least.

But, see what happens. This woman who has come to Jesus answers the call of faith. And Jesus answers back, / / “Great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” But then what does he immediately do? Which kind of proves my point. He gets out of town! He leaves. He doesn’t want anyone to know he’s there. And doing amazing miracles is a surefire way to get noticed.

In Mark, where it says he left and went to the Ten Towns, that region is NOT Jewish. So again, he is in an area that serves no ministry purpose, really. But what happens? Well, there’s a deaf man there and the people bring him to Jesus and ask him to heal this man. Jesus just can not seem t, hide. Mark 7:33, 36 says, / / Jesus led him away from the crowd so they could be alone… [after healing him] Jesus told the crowd not to tell anyone…

This is my first point. / / Jesus’ action reveals Jesus’ heart, which means we have to understand the words. If they don’t seem to match, maybe they don’t match. Jesus isn’t mocking this woman by calling her a dog. He’s explaining he’s not there to start a global ministry. He’s here for a specific reason and he is the Jewish Messiah.

The second point I want to make on Jesus’ use of the word ‘dog’ brings us back to Matthew 7. It actually seems even MORE crude, doesn’t it? / / Do not give dogs what is holy…

Now, if you read that as referring to Gentiles as a derogatory term, then, whoa… What’s Jesus thinking?

BUT, as we just saw, maybe there’s more happening here, isn’t there?

And actually, now at this point we can include the rest of vs 7 and bring it all together. Reading from the ESV, / / Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.

So, looks like Jesus is calling someone a dog AND a pig, but then he’s also saying that you have something valuable at stake here… pearls.

/ / 2. What pearls do you have?

Ok, obviously this is metaphor, it’s analogy, Jesus is not actually talking about pearls. You have to remember how Jesus preaches. So often it is in story, in picture, in these parables, either long or short. But something that makes it hit home a lot more than just flat out saying, “Do this, don’t do that.” He’s talking in terms of specks and logs in eyes, and dogs, pigs and pearls.

Jesus is a brilliant communicator. And good communicators use different methods of teaching. And Jesus is no different. When he talks about specks and logs in our eyes, that’s ridiculous. Sure, we understand a speck of dust in our eyes. That’s irritating and annoying and can be painful. But a log? That’s ridiculous. EXACTLY… That’s the point. Your issue is glaringly obviously and everyone but you can see it!

So, don’t throw your pearls… The word is / / margaritēs…no, not margaritas…. although, if you have one, don’t give it to your dog or pig, they probably won’t appreciate it, and it might not be good for them. BUT, that word, margaritēs of course means a pearl you would find in an oyster, which is something that has great value, but it also means / / “a proverb, ie. a word of great value.”

So, let’s just piece that together for a second.

Dogs and pigs are what? People who are not ready yet to hear what Jesus has to say. It’s not their time.

What about pearls… wisdom, understanding, a word of great value… How did Jesus often speak? Parables… / / Don’t throw your story, your parables, your wisdom, to those who are not ready to hear it.

I was thinking about it this past week. Sometimes… Often times actually, people who do not KNOW Jesus, do not understand the way of His people. You will have people in your life that simply do not understand your dedication to Jesus. You might be considered a religious fanatic, or a religious nut. Some might say to you that, “you put to much stock in that Jesus stuff”, or “you take it too seriously.”

/ / People who have not seen Him do not understand Him.

But when we come into an understanding of the goodness of God, and we see His character through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we experience the love and power of God through the presence of the Holy Spirit, we are willing to live our lives to His glory. Why?

Listen, even without the “experience”. Even without the “Feeling”, anyone’s life is just going to be better if they follow the WAY of Jesus. It’s just that simple. God, through scripture, gives a way of living that is far better than anything we could come up with ourselves.

But, if you remember last week, one of the things we talked about was the reality that one of the major issues in society today is that the definition for what is “good” has become increasingly based on what “feels good” in the moment. And so people are actually living for their own ‘pleasures’ not their own good. Because most of the time we don’t understand what is actually good for us, all we know is what ‘feels good’ in the moment, and a lot of the times we’re willing to do whatever it takes to get there.

Especially when we are dealing with pain and trauma. I had an interesting conversation with Kaylee this past week on the ride to school, on how many people turn to various things to help them through the pain they are suffering in their lives, whether that is physical pain due to physical trauma, or emotional, spiritual, mental pain due to trauma in those areas. As humans, / / we do not like pain, so we seek out pleasure, when what we should really be seeking is peace.

/ / Peace with God brings peace within…

And when you begin to have a deep reverence for God and a love for Him and His ways, things begin to change. You begin to do things out of that attitude, that posture, with purpose, not just to have a better life, but to honor Him.

Giving our life to the Prince of Peace, putting our lives under His authority, brings peace we can’t always explain. Philippians 4:6-7, / / Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

I mean, come on… Peace of Heart and Peace of Mind?!? Can I get an amen?!? Seriously, tell me that’s not what people are truly looking for in this life?!? Out there in this world? With all of our problems, and all of our issues…

Yet what do we do instead? We drink, we smoke, we eat, we find comfort in the arms of other people, or some visual representation of what the world defines as intimacy… and we cry, we yell, we fight, we reject and push away… anything to curb the pain.

And I’m not necessarily saying that everyone in this world is living out of a deep seeded pain, although, I would suggest that everyone in this world is living out of a deep seeded pain…even if that is simply the unrealized pain of sin that separates us from God.

But until you see the face of Jesus with love in his eyes. Until you feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Remember, John 16:8, / / …when [the Holy Spirit] comes, he will convict the world of its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.

And if YOU have experienced that…there’s no greater feeling than recognizing you need God, and that God is actually GOOD!

I had this moment this past week. Kaylee and I were driving to her school and it was just one of those mornings where things are not going your way. We were in this bit of a heated conversation, I was getting increasingly frustrated, and we came to a point where I said something to her that just reminded me of something I had heard when I was a child and what I felt in the moment was what I felt when I was a child, and it was fear, and misunderstanding and pain. And instead of feeling judgment from God I felt his compassion and conviction. I started to tear up… I felt His presence, His love, His mercy for me in my own brokenness. And I turned to Kaylee and was able to say, “I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have reacted in that way. Would you forgive me. I never want you to feel like I don’t care.” Now, she didn’t say anything in the moment, she kind of just sat there in silence, and I dropped her off and I told her I loved her. And later that night, when she had gone to bed I got a text message, “I love you and I forgive you for this morning. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner…” UGH….be still my beating heart!

In that car, in my pain and hurt, and my irrational actions toward my daughter, I had an experience in that moment with God that made me want to do better. Made me want to see transformation and healing come out of my life RATHER than seek some sort of external comfort to curb the feeling, or justification for my actions, or just ignoring it and moving on. The conviction of the Holy Spirit is not scary because the wrong has already been paid for on the cross because of the love of God.

And that is on offer to everyone, but many are not sensitive enough to feel it. In fact, they are so consumed with the world, with their own lives, with what they have been using to cope or find a sense of ‘life’ that they are akin to the group that Jesus talks to in John 8. Jesus gets into a bit of an argument about father Abraham, and Father God, and he says to the people in John 8:43-45, / / “Why can’t you understand what I am saying? It’s because you can’t even hear me! For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!”

What’s Jesus saying? He’s saying, when you are deceived by the devil and the world and the desires of your own flesh, you have a very hard time hearing Him. Ever try to get someone’s attention when they have headphones on? One of Kelley and I’s most frustrating things…calling out to Kaylee and having to do it multiple times only to have to yell because she can’t hear us because she’s too consumed in her own world.

And it might seem simple, but it’s exactly how we are as humans. When we are consumed with our own world, we don’t hear God. Jesus didn’t say, “Don’t worry, you can keep doing all the stuff you’re doing, don’t have to give up anything, just SAY that you’ll follow me…” No, he said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross, AND FOLLOW ME” meaning, what is it you have to sacrifice, to die to? Paul says it this way, we must put to DEATH the flesh… “THEN you are ready to follow Jesus.” Can’t do both.

You want to know why you can’t seem to break through with some of the people in your life that you just know need Jesus… It’s because their headphones are on. They’re consumed with their own life. And for a lot of people, that’s not evil, it’s not bad things, it’s not a blatant disregard for God, it’s trauma, it’s hurt, it’s pain, it’s simple ignorance. But it’s real none the less.

All of that to say, don’t be surprised if people don’t understand why you want to go to church, why you read your bible, why you pray and fast, and especially why you decline living a certain way. Why do you NOT do the things that other people do?

Remember what I read last week. I find this such a fascinating statement from the history of the church. And this is talking about the very early church, within the first couple hundred years…

/ / 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

Viewed with suspicion because you are different for simply living according to the teachings of Jesus…

This is another reason why this little series we are in is so important. Because condemnation and judgment from Christianity rarely turns people’s hearts to Jesus. It is the conviction of the Holy Spirit in the grace of Jesus’ sacrifice, dripping and running over with the love of the Heavenly Father that is power to influence and inspire repentance.

Let me remind you of 2 Peter 3:9, / / The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

In John 12:32 Jesus says this, / / “…when I am lifted up from the earth [indicating how he was going to die], I will draw everyone to myself.”

What’s the goal? None should perish. Everyone should have eternal life.

Is that the reality? Well, we know there’s a pretty big caveat, isn’t there? Acceptance. Willing to recognize we are not enough, that we are sinful.

I read an incredible statement this week that really framed this for me. It said, / / We are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. Now we’re getting into a bit of Christian doctrine here, ok. But this is good. You need to understand what we believe and why we believe it.

Because of Adam & Eve, and their choice in the garden, all of humanity is now born into sin. It’s genetic, let’s say. You were born into sin because your parents were sinners, and they were sinners because they were born into sin, because of their parents, and so on and so forth, all the way back to Adam & Eve. The bible is very clear on that. We read it last week as well, Romans 5:19, / / Because one person disobeyed God [Adam], many became sinners.

It’s genetic. We would say, it’s passed on through the blood line. And the only way that bloodline gets corrected is with different blood. This is why I read from the Big book of AA last week. When we recognize that everyone on this planet is simply just sick with the same disease - we were all born sinners, and that is why we sin. Turn to your neighbor and say, “Give yourself a break.” “It’s not your fault.” And when we realize that we begin to hopefully have some grace and understanding for the journey we are all on. I need grace, you need grace, we all need grace.

And thanks to Jesus that is exactly the case here:

Romans 5:19 ends with, / / But because one other person obeyed God [Jesus], many will be made righteous.

What was Jesus obedient to? Philippians 2:8 (ESV), / / And being found in human form, he [Jesus] humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

A couple verses from the book of Hebrews on this blood that redeems the bloodline of humanity. Hebrews 12:24, / / You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel. Be careful that you do not refuse to listen to the One who is speaking.

The ESV says, / / …the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word…

What or who are you listening to? The father of lies, the world around us, the desires of the flesh, or the blood of Jesus that has set you free? Are you listening to the voice of your Savior?

And this is the overarching point here, some people aren’t ready for pearls… some people aren’t ready for the truth, or able to even hear it, let alone receive it.

And this is what Jesus is saying in Matthew 7:6, yes, we’re still talking about the dogs and the pigs, except, the distinction is not they are worse than you, the distinction is that your ears have heard the sound of redemption, and theirs have not, and because they have not, they may not be receptive to your voice.

I grew up in a Christianity that put evangelism at such a high value, that if you weren’t witnessing to all of your friends and family and co-workers and classmates, you should probably be questioning your Christianity. Am I saying don’t evangelize? Am I saying don’t tell people about Jesus? Of course not. If you are sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, I can almost guarantee that you’ll find yourself with opportunity to talk to someone who the Holy Spirit has already been ministering to.

But here’s what I am saying, and I think this is what Jesus was saying.

First, you create trouble for yourself when you try to convince someone of something they will not understand. And you might be a wonderful communicator, but if their hearts aren’t open, they will walk away and not want to talk to you again. “But, isn’t any evangelism good evangelism? I mean, I heard that it just takes enough times for someone to hear the gospel before they respond to it.”

Do not throw pearls, words of great value, to people who will just take it, chew you out and spit the words back in your face.

When you are talking to someone that does not understand the language you are speaking, your words fall on deaf ears. Worse yet, when your life doesn’t represent the words that you’re saying, or maybe you do, but the concept behind what you’re saying doesn’t match what you’re saying, people will write it off.

Let me explain that a bit.

The church doesn’t have the best of reputations in being like Jesus. Not saying all churches and not saying all christians, but generally speaking, the church needs this message of not playing God. We need to examine the log in our own eyes before we try to deal with the specks in others. And as long as that log is beaming out of us, our calls to justice and holiness fall on deaf ears.

Listen to me carefully. Jesus isn’t saying treat people differently. Treat them like dogs or pigs. He’s not saying they’re sinners and so don’t bother. Or that they don’t deserve it. What He’s saying, is that when someone is not going to understand, you’re causing more of an issue for them AND yourself, if you push the issue.

Don’t throw your pearls…cast them down… place them in front of someone to see how beautiful they are. They won’t understand. They don’t care about your pearls. They’re pigs.

So do we do nothing? No. Absolutely not.

/ / What is the best way to get someone to want what you have?

/ / Show it to them. Don’t try and convince them, but just live your life with what you have in front of them. And I don’t mean this in a flaunting way. I mean it in this way:

/ / If you truly love someone, and you truly want the speck to fall out of their eye, make your life serious about the log in your own.

Let me read you something from Ian Shaw on the history of the early church:

/ / For many, the Christian lifestyle of devotion and self-denial was irrational and inexplicable…

Ok, that’s the dogs and pigs that won’t understand, so why argue? But he continues:

/ / To others it was deeply impressive.

What is that? That is those who ARE ready to hear…who ARE ready for the pearls…

/ / Principles such as love for enemies, forgiveness for wrongdoers, refusal to kill; rejection of practices such as the abortion or abandonment of unwanted children and the prevailing sexual immorality; opposition to human or animal blood sports - all marked Christians out from pagan society. to most, the care of Christians for orphans, widows, the poor, the unemployed, asylum seekers, and prisoners was highly unusual. Early Christianity was a revolutionary, countercultural force, transforming the lives of individuals and with the potential to transform societies. - Ian Shaw in Christianity: The Biography

Again, Jesus isn’t saying treat people differently. And he isn’t saying it here in this verse, but the entirety of this message, the Sermon on the Mount, and we have to remember, this one sentence is part of a greater conversation, and in that conversation what Jesus is saying is, / / Let YOUR life be the witness, and when appropriate, use words!

Because the more you follow Jesus and practice His ways, the more you become like Him. And the more you become like Jesus, the more you will have people want what you have. Sometimes. Right? There are those that never wanted what Jesus had. There are those today that no matter how good you could describe God’s grace, no matter how amazing your life is in Christ, no matter how transformed you have been by the Holy Spirit, they just want nothing to do with it. That will happen, and that is sad, for them… And to you Jesus says, trying to convince them when they are unconvinceable is like throwing pearls to the pigs. It just makes no sense. It muddies the pearls and they will turn on you and attack you.

In one sense Jesus is warning, Don’t fast track persecution, there will be enough of that to go around. Focus on dealing with the log in your own eye. Give up your right to judge other people, and don’t try to convince them of something they aren’t ready to hear. Live YOUR life. Follow Me. be Holy as I am Holy, and let the Holy Spirit do the work in them to bring them to a place of conviction that will reveal an open door for you to be the ambassador of Christ Paul encourages us to be, saying, “Come back to God!”. How incredible would it be if someone looked at your life and said, “You know what, your example in the office helped me to walk into a church one Sunday and I’m so grateful I did. I found Jesus. Thank you for showing me there’s a better way through your life.”

I’ll never forget. There was a season where I was following the 12 steps of recovery really closely and in that season of learning someone came to me, who had been in recovery years prior but had fallen away from the system, and said, “Thank you, you really helped me get back on track.”

And I saw amazing transformation in their life. It was awesome. I don’t wear that as pride, but I am thankful that my life, in some small way, was a part of someone else’s healing. And we all have that potential. But that potential gets ruined when we try to Play God.. When we judge. When we focus on someone else’s issues more than we focus on our own and when we try to fix people, or preach to them when they are simply not ready to hear the words we have to say.

Jesus was crucified because they didn’t like the words he was saying. Words matter. And a lot of Christians suffer what they would call persecution, simply by saying more than they should, defending what they don’t need to, trying to make a point or fix someone else when they should keep focused on following Jesus and live a life worthy of being followed themselves.

So I’m going to finish this morning and this series with an encouragement from Paul in the book of Acts. Acts 17:27, / / “His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him - though he is not far from any one of us.”

Paul argues in Romans 1, and Justin Martyr, one of the early church fathers also really advocated for the truth that all of humanity can see God. That in some way we have all seen the reality of the God of the universe within the universe he created, and we choose whether to accept or reject his invitation for our lives.

I wouldn’t say that means that everyone has seen and rejected. I would say that speaks to the potential that all CAN see given the right environment and the right circumstances. And sometimes the things people go through in life are the very things that position them to seek after God and feel their way toward him… like trying to find a flashlight in the pitch darkness of their lives…

Remember Hebrews… the blood of Jesus speaks a better word, leading, guiding, calling out… And in that moment when someone is willing to listen, is seeking and reaching out, I believe, if we are paying attention to the leading the Holy Spirit we recognize it for the moment they are ready for the pearls, the words of great value, that lead to life.

We know, there is only one way to salvation.

We know Jesus is the only way to peace.

He is the only way to redemption with God.

He is the only way for our soul to truly feel satisfied.

And the hunger of that is ALREADY in humanity, since the beginning of time. And part of me, really should be all of me, but part of me is hurting and broken for those who do not yet know. Like we say in recovery, if we could just truly realize that we all are simply sick and have the same problem.

We all have the same issue, that we need a savior, but the reality is that we just don’t realize it yet!

Even Christians. We walk around claiming salvation yet still carry our issues, hurts, pains and problems in our lives that we still think WE need to solve and fix when Jesus paid a price we could never pay!

And when we don’t realize these things, no matter when you are a Christian or not, OF COURSE we continue on hurting people. Of course we go on continuing to hurt ourselves. We continue seeking out peace, comfort by any means possible because there’s a hunger in our soul for something we don’t even understand.

Remember how you were, and think about where they are.

Let that be the compassion that rises up in you for the humanity that is out there and has not yet experienced God, that is maybe not quite at groping and feeling for the light in the darkness, but is not so far off from God because he’s not so far from them.

Don’t be angry with sinners for being sinners.

Don’t be frustrated with people who cannot see and cannot hear because they are overwhelmed with life and with the tactics of the enemy and with the deception of this world and of the flesh that they cannot see and cannot hear when God is literally screaming to them from the Cross, “I CAME TO SAVE YOU!”

We allow ourselves to become so frustrated and so bent out of shape because the world treats us differently… because the world attacks us when we have thrown our pearls of wisdom in front of them expecting them to understand it all. They don’t! Of course they don’t!

We get so hurt when we share with them the good news of the Gospel but they don’t see because they simply cannot.

How can they see when they are so consumed with life that they can’t see anything but their own world?

How can they hear, when the world around them is screaming for the attention, full of confusion and deception, lies and conflict?

Don’t be upset when someone in your life doesn’t understand.

Instead of judging the world around us for not knowing what to look for or who to listen to, let your life become a shining beacon of hope in a world that has very little of that. Pray that their eyes are opened and ears are opened to see the saving grace of Jesus, to hear the blood that speaks a better word, one of forgiveness and not judgment. And pray that in those moments, when the moment is right, when the environment is right, that you hear the leading of the Holy Spirit, “They’re ready…Now’s the time for the pearls…”