9/29/24 - When to Judge Properly - Matthew 7:6

Introduction

There a law in physic called the law of the pendulum

The law of the pendulum is: A pendulum can never return to a point higher than the point from which it was released. Because of friction and gravity, when the pendulum returns, it will fall short of its original release point.

Each time it swings it makes less and less of an arc, until finally it is at rest. This point of rest is called the state of equilibrium, where all forces acting on the pendulum are equal.

A college student was asked to prepare a lesson in a speech class

The assignment was to teach a lesson and drive it home in a memorable way

He chose to teach the law of the pendulum

HE attached a three foot string to a child’s toy and secured it to the top of the whiteboard with a thumb tack

He pulled the toy to one side and made a mark each time he let it go

Each time is swung back he made another mark

it took less than a minute for the toy to complete it’s swinging and come to rest

when he finished the demonstration, the markings on the board proved the law of the pendulum

He then asked the class how many believed in the law of the pendulum

every student raised their hands and so did the teacher

The teacher began to walk to the front of the room thinking the lesson was over

IT was not

hanging from a steel beam in the middle of the room was a large, crude but functional

pendulum made of 250 pounds of metal weights tied to steel cable

The student invited the instructor to climb onto the table

and sit on the chair with the back of his head against the cement wall

The student then brought the 250 pounds of metal up to the teachers nose

Holding the pendulum just a fraction of an inch from the teacher’s face

the student once again explained the law of the pendulum everyone had applauded only moments before

He said, “If the law of the pendulum is true, this will swing across the room

and when it returns your nose will not be in any danger.”

Sir, do you believe this law is true?

There was along pause and beads of sweat now began to form on the teacher’s forehead

He weakly said yes

The student released the pendulum

and it made an incredible swish as it arced across the room

it paused for a moment on the other end of the room and them started back

as it did, the teacher bolted for the floor

The student then asked, “does he believe in the law of the pendulum?”

The class responded unanimously, “no”

So that has nothing to do with anything we are talking about this morning

actually it does in a way

Today we are going to look at the other side of the pendulum of judging

Today we are going to look at things that are holy things and dogs

and we’ll look at pearls and pigs

before we get there, let’s look at a little context to this verse

Context

Remember the context of the verse

The crowds were gathered to hear from Jesus

Jesus then shares the expectations of being His followers

The blessings from the beatitudes

Being salt and light to the world

The law of God versus the fulfillment of that law in Jesus

How to handle Anger, Lust, Divorce, oaths, vengeance, and loving our enemies.

How to practice righteous acts like giving, fasting, and praying.

How to handle stress by focusing on heaven instead of gathering things here on earth and focusing on ourselves.

Key Verses

There are key verses within all of these that we should remember in order to answer the questions we have today

Matthew 5:20 (ESV)

20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

The question behind this is are you perfect?

Because if you aren’t, according to this verse, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven

Another key verse is in Matthew 6:1

Matthew 6:1 (ESV)

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

How many of us have ever practiced our righteousness before other people?

I gave several examples and came to conclusion that we all have at one point practiced righteousness improperly

and If you’ve done these things, and I believe we all have

scripture is clear we won’t get our reward in heaven

Another key verse is Matthew 6:21

Matthew 6:21 (ESV)

21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Wonder why you’re so stressed out?

Maybe it’s because your heart is focused on material stuff rather than God

Here’s what Jesus says about this

Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

The question with this verse is who are you serving?

Are you serving the God of what you can afford?

or the God of everyone that comes as they are?

So here we are beginning Chapter 7.

We’re not perfect, have no rewards, and our hearts are focused on the wrong things

Relationships

In this new section all about relationships

Jesus is continuing to share practical ways to be a follower of Jesus

We are going to try to answer the questions in this section on how to have better relationships like

last week: Judging people too harshly?

This week we are going to swing the pendulum to the other side

and look at: Being lax when we judge

next week: How do we relate to our Father in Heaven?

Verse 6 Context

Coming on the heals of last week

We spoke about the standard by which we examine each other

It’s really not about judging or not

it’s about the standard and the attitude with which we examine each other

If we can examine and evaluate each other

with the standard of God’s Word

with the goal of reconciliation and repentance

We will accomplish a lot

If we attack each other with God’s Word

and approach each other with an accusatory and judgmental attitude

We are no longer representing Christ

This week Jesus is trying to bring us to a place of equilibrium

This is not so much about evaluating each other

it’s more about when to know when to quit

Matthew 7:6 (CSB)

6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

Let me provide some definitions be fore we get into the meat of this

Giving and Tossing

Jesus says not to give and not to toss

let’s examine each one of these

giving - this is a willing action

You don’t give a gift expecting anything in return

or expect payment back for it

When you give money to God I would hope that you don’t expect Him to write your name on it

It’s a gift and gifts are given freely

tossing is a bit different

Tossing is also freely given

but there’s a difference between tossing someone a gift and handing it to them

Handing may be a bit more personal

but I’m sure that for a birthday

is you tossed the keys to a brand new car, your kids wouldn’t think any less of you

The idea is freely offering something so don;t get tied up in the specifics of the actions

Holy Things and Pearls

Holy things

When we look at holy things or “what is holy”

the definitions of holy is being set apart for the use of God

there are multiple things that are holy in scripture

all the articles in the temple were holy and were to handled by specific people

all the Word of God is Holy

and to be read with reverence and awe

The priests of the temple thought the name of God was so holy

they wouldn’t say it when they saw it in the reading of the Torah

The YHWH that was written in the scriptures

we know as Yahweh

To say that name in the temple was considered blasphemous

So instead they would substitute the word Adonai

which means Lord because it was irreverent to say the proper name of God out loud

What about pearls?

Pearls were one of the most precious and valuable things of the Bible

They were rare as they are today

These pearls weren’t cultured and grown like they are today

these were found and sought after

to find a pearl was a dangerous task or an accidental one

It involved diving to find the right shelled animal

all this before scuba gear

In the book of Revelation we see the value of pearls

as well as the value of and incredible lavishness of what heaven will be like

Revelation 21:21 (CSB)

21 The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

Imagine a pearl so big that it could be formed into a single gate

and then having twelve of them as the entrances to the new Holy City of Jerusalem

with the twelve tribes inscribed on the pearls

This was the value of the pearl

So we move from things of incredible value and worthy of worship and reverence to:

Dogs & Pigs

Dogs

These were not the furry little pets we have in our homes today

There were somewhat domesticated animals back in Israel

remember when Jesus tells the gentile woman

Matthew 15:26 (CSB)

26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

This shows there actually dogs in people’s homes

They probably were different than today

I used to have a Dachshund name Melody

She was the runt of the litter

and I think she weighed all of 8 pounds soaking wet

She also ruled the house, until we got our second dog

even then, she was going to make sure that this bigger dog knew his place

When Melody went to bed, she slept in between Shannon and I

When she was younger, this 8 pound little dog

would have the unique ability to somehow push me off to the side of the bed.

That would never happen in ancient Israel

Even the domesticated animals were used for sheep herding or hunting

not one you would want in the bed with you

There was a different word for the domesticated dog than the one that Jesus uses

These dogs were the wild, dirty, greedy, snarling, scavenging,

and often vicious and diseased animals

roaming around the streets

pigs

I don’t know anyone that wants to sleep with a pig

Pigs were and are incredibly unclean animals

The pigs were like the wild dogs in biblical times

Both dogs and pigs were unclean animals to Jews

So it would be unthinkable to have a pig as a pet

Most of the times these wild animals would forage food on the edge of town

by the garbage dumps

These pigs had tusks and sharp hooves

The average domestic pig is three to five feet long

and can weigh from 100 to 800 pounds

So imagine an average pig of 4 feet long and weighing at 500 pounds

snarling and charging at you

Jews thought pigs were the picture and epitome of uncleaness

In 168 BC, the historical books between the Old and New Testament called the Maccabees

share a story about a man as big a villain as Nero, Ahab, Saul, Nebuchadnezzar, and the like

we don’t hear much about him but this guy was a bad dude

His name was Antiochus Epiphanes

His legacy among Jewish people still exists today

At a time between the return of the Jewish Exiles and the Roman Emperors

There arose two split kingdoms in Rome

One of the kings was Antiochus Epiphanes

He sought to take over the area by making the people worship Zeus

He even called himself Epiphanes or “God Manifest”

He would take holy relics, including those from the temple

with him on conquests

After coming back to Jerusalem from a humiliating defeat

He saw that the people of Judah were revolting

Antiochus took control of the situation by slaying many innocents

and brutally enforcing his cultural and religious policies on the population

Having already laid siege to the Temple Mount and destroying many of its fortifications,

Antiochus built a new fortress known as the Acra (literally, “the Citadel”)

to consolidate his power over Jerusalem and strengthen his political agents.

As a culmination, he proceeded to profane the Temple of Yahweh

by erecting idols within it

and even going so far as to sacrifice pigs upon the altar, presumably to Zeus.

and forced the priests to eat the pork

This was such an abomination it set off what is known as the Maccabean revolt against Greece

and where the Jewish Holy day of Hanukkah comes from

when after Antiochus’ forces were driven from the Temple

the rabbi’s only found enough sacred oil that had not been profaned for one night

It would take longer to make holy oil necessary to keep the menorah lit in the temple

The Jews celebrate Hanukkah because that oil lasted for eight nights

By these actions, Antiochus Epiphanes effectively stepped into the role of the “Little Horn” of Daniel’s visions

and became the Apocalyptic Supervillain Archtype that remains within the psyche of the Christian belief system to this day

All that brings us to what a pig recollects in the minds of the Jews back then

which brings us to

Trampling, Turning, and Tearing

anyone ever try to feed a wild feral pig?

I know a couple of guys that used to hunt them

These dogs with their sharp teeth,

and pigs with their sharp hooves and and tusks

would likely turn and tear a person to pieces

if you came between them and their food

So let’s put this all together

Put It All Together

When Jesus begins to compare holy things and valuable objects

to unclean and savage animals

It’s not hard to see the picture

If you tried to hand over holy things like

sacred temple sacrifices that were meant only for God

that’s not just a waste, it’s blasphemous

or put a bunch of pearls in a trough for a feral pig

once that pig bit down on those pearls and realized it wasn’t good for food

and hurt it’s teeth in the process

that pig is coming after you

So what’t the takeaway with all of this pigs and pearls talk?

Here’s a couple of things

When we share the things of God with some people we should expect some to resist

It’s a known fact that there are people that will be hostile to the Words of God

there may even be people that get violent against them

We’ve seen that around the world

as brothers and sisters in Christ are persecuted for standing up for Jesus

Another things we can take away is that

When people not only reject the truth, but instead insist on mocking and reviling it

we shouldn’t waste God’s Word and the pearls of His truth

in a futile attempt to win them

Do we stop praying for them? absolutely not!

We should never stop praying for them

but there comes a time when even Jesus said,

Matthew 10:14 (CSB)

14 If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town.

or when Paul told a group of Jews, his own people

Acts 18:6 (CSB)

6 When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, “Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”

How do we know how many times we should engage with these people?

Titus 3:10–11 (CSB)

10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning.

11 For you know that such a person has gone astray and is sinning; he is self-condemned.

Or from Matthew 18:15-20

Matthew 18:15–20 (CSB)

15 “If your brother sins against you, go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.

16 But if he won’t listen, take one or two others with you, so that by the testimony of two or three witnesses every fact may be established.

17 If he doesn’t pay attention to them, tell the church. If he doesn’t pay attention even to the church, let him be like a Gentile and a tax collector to you.

18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.

19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.

20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there among them.”

This is a hard saying

Is Jesus really saying that we just give up on them?

Yes, I believe He is

That’s the flip side of free choice

a person has the choice to accept AND to reject the things of God

The last thing to get out of this is

It’s not that we shouldn’t engage everyone with the gospel

It’s that the reaction we get will determine whether or not we continue

and when we choose not to

we still also need to represent Christ

This is not an opportunity to talk poorly about someone else

because they acted defiantly

this is an opportunity to pray that God has mercy

and continues to wait until that person can be convicted about their actions and heart

We don’t have a right to treat anyone differently than how God treats us

even if they are against what we believe

Matthew 13:24–30 (CSB)

24 He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came, sowed weeds among the wheat, and left.

26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also appeared.

27 The landowner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Master, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Then where did the weeds come from?’

28 “ ‘An enemy did this,’ he told them. “ ‘So, do you want us to go and pull them up?’ the servants asked him.

29 “ ‘No,’ he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I’ll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.’ ”

It is only up to God to sort out those that will reject in the end

This is the other side of the pendulum

This is the swing of not being judgmental to someone

because of the standard that holds us both as sinners

and then the same standard that shouldn’t be wasted on someone

that isn’t going to receive it

or worse, will begin to get violent about it.

I want to conclude this week with a parable from a different part of Matthew

also talking about pearls

the reason being it would be easy to swing that pendulum right back to being judgmental

and I believe Jesus wants us to be discerning

and living in a state of equilibrium with Him

Matthew 13:45–46 (CSB)

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

46 When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.

I’ve read this all my life and to be quite honest

It never really made sense to me

are we to sell everything we have to be part of the kingdom of God?

Is the pearl Jesus and we are to give up everything

in order to gain Jesus?

that kind of makes sense, but it never really did

We don’t have to do anything to gain salvation

Jesus did all the work for us

Are we to look for pearls all throughout God’s Word?

I’ve heard that before as well

and God’s Word is a living breathing book

that speaks to the believer in ways

that are necessary for the believer at the moment

so trying to find pearls of wisdom is the work of the Spirit in each person

again, it didn’t really make sense

Then I heard an interpretation saying that

the merchant is actually God

and the pearls are us

that God sold everything in order to have a relationship back with us

Jesus left Heaven, He gave up His power, position, all of it

confined Himself to a human body

He gave up the riches thing He had

all to purchase and redeem us

so the riches are the gospel of Christ

and the pearls are us

that’s how valuable we are to Jesus

That made more sense

If Jesus treats us all like pearls

Why shouldn’t we treat each other the same?