Incompatible with the Kingdom

Introduction

Announcements- Easter Egg Hunt, Good Friday, YOUTH CLASS STARTING NEXT WEEK! THIS IS FOR ANYONE 6th-12th grade, and listen, you do not want to miss this. Come to it, bring your friend- and I mean that. I heard there might be some extra snacks for our fave students sooooooooooo, you do not want to miss it!

Main Point: Pride is Incompatible with Kingdom Living

Body

As we get started here in Matthew 7, I want to just be honest. Matthew 7:1 is one of the most misapplied verses in the Bible. It’s important that today we approach it with fresh eyes to see it IN CONTEXT so that we can BETTER UNDERSTAND WHAT JESUS IS SAYING!

Matthew 7:1 CSB

1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged.

Jesus starts with a simple statement- don’t judge so that you aren’t judged.

It’s often pulled out of context, but we absolutely can’t pull it out of context. This isn’t just a verse to drop when someone says, “HEY, GO AND SIN NO MORE!”

So let’s look at verse 2 to see some of that context.

Matthew 7:2 CSB

2 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use.

When we judge, we will be judged by the same standard and the same measure that we use to judge others.

Let’s be clear- remember, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus periodically rebukes specifically the religious leaders of Israel and that is what He is doing here.

This is a rebuke of the Pharisees, Sadduccees, scribes, and priests.

Here’s the truth of verses 1-2. At some point we have to judge. Every day we have to make judgments. Everyday we have to make judgments about what is right and wrong.

But those judgments are not necessarily bad.

Instead, what we need to understand is that the criteria we use for judgments will be used towards us also.

And so, there’s only one place that we can get ACCURATE CRITERIA FOR THESE JUDGMENTS THAT WE HAVE TO MAKE!

THE BIBLE!

Anywhere else that we go to try and figure out how to judge something or someone is a fool’s errand.

Our self-made judgments are never going to measure up.

Because, our self-made judgments are not coming from a place of righteousness; instead, they are coming from a place of pride.

Let me give you an example of this. Each fall during football season there is some kicker who misses a field goal that costs their team the game.

And each year when this happens, the media turns on this student. In fact, at Arizona State this last season it got so bad that the coach got in trouble with the university for saying that they’d be having open kicking tryouts ASAP.

Well, in the last few years College Gameday, a pregame show every saturday, did something about this so called “kicker hate.”

One of the hosts is a retired NFL punter so he started a kicking competition where he challenged students to make a 33 yard field goal in exchange for $250,000 if they make the kick. As part of this, the student selected is asked if they’ve ever said anything bad about kickers- to which they always have.

This has produced some hilarious moments where someone gets overconfident and then shanks a 33 yarder, or where they barely get the ball off the ground.

See, it’s easy to measure a kicker by whether or not they made that 55 yarder with the game on the line and 100,000 fans booing you in a visiting stadium; but it’s hard to do it!

And that’s the same thing as we often run into with our judgments. It’s easy for us to hold SOMEONE ELSE to the bar of perfection, while we get to avoid that.

That’s a lighthearted example, but it’s important for us to understand what this would look like.

Now, let me speak directly and clearly about this- the real problem was that the judgments were coming from people who had differing scales. They expected everyone else to live one way while they lived differently.

And beyond that, the things they were caught up judging others over were pointless and were really all about inflating their pride.

We can be guilty of the same thing.

And if we are not careful, we start to group people into categories and we inevitably start to put others down.

That other person? They aren’t good enough to be with me. They aren’t this or that.

And all of a sudden, we are caught in a web of judgments that we have started to form that have absolutely 0 basis in scripture, or in wha tGod tells us.

Let me be clear- we are called- as we’ll see in a minute- to rebuke sin in fellow believers. But, the line is simple- we rebuke sin, not a personal preference.

We rebuke sin to help someone grow from a place of humility; we don’t just decide that someone is totally wrong and just dive into judgment over nothing!

That is really what Jesus is getting at as He speaks in verses 3-5.

Matthew 7:3 CSB

3 Why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the beam of wood in your own eye?

Matthew 7:4 CSB

4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the splinter out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a beam of wood in your own eye?

Matthew 7:5 CSB

5 Hypocrite! First take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.

Here we are going to see MORE context.

Jesus has given us the INSTRUCTION and now He gives us the important context.

In verse 3, Jesus gives a pointed rebuke.

Jesus rebukes the Pharisees and religious leaders here moreso than the entire crowd.

Jesus rebukes them first for calling out a SMALL SPLINTER IN SOMEONE ELSE’S EYE WHEN THEY HAVE THEIR OWN MASSIVE PIECE OF WOOD IN THEIR EYE!

It’s a ridiculous sounding thing.

Like if you have a beam of wood in your eye, don’t worrya bout their splinter! WORRY ABOUT YOUR OWN EYE!

Yet, so often, this is what the pharisees and what we can do. We don’t address the sin in our lives; instead choosing to point out the sin in someone else’s life.

As an illustration of this, when Hope and I were in college, there was a medical comedy show that we woudl watch sometimes called Sirens.

Sirens was about a team of EMS first responders and in an episode they are called to go to a construction site.

When they arrive, a man has a 6 foot piece of rebar that is straight THROUGH HIM!

It is sticking a few feet out of his chest and it is coming out his back.

His coworker fainted. Well, the man with the rebar starts getting on the paramedics about not helping the guy who’s fainted! He’s ANGRY that they don’t see what he sees!

See, in a way, he had a massive beam of wood so to speak (or a piece of rebar in reality) sticking in his eye. He had his own MASSIVE SITUATION, his own MASSIVE PROBLEM on his hands, but instead of handling it, he was caught up by this little “splinter” or problem that his coworker had.

Here’s my point- so often we see a PROBLEM in someone else’s life and we immediately become fixated on it. Immediately we want to help them figure it out.

For instance, maybe someone deals with anger. It’s hard for them. And immediately we call it out. But we don’t just call it out to them. We go to our community group, our friends, others around us and we start to share it with them- “Hey, pray for so and so. They just really are an angry person and they need to control that, or else I think bad things will happen to them.”

And then do you know what we’ve just done? We’ve just become gossips!

We don’t look in the mirror to make sure that we can see clearly. Instead, we miss that we are both gossiping and that maybe they are angry because we have hurt them, or because we are judging them unfairly.

Friends, here’s my point- it is really significant that before we rebuke sin we do three things. We could consider these to be three FINAL CHECKS before we rebuke sin in someone else.

First, we need to look introspectively. We need to inspect our heart- is there sin we need to address?

And with that, what is our motivation for doing this? Is it really a selfish motivation?

In other words- am I rebuking sin in order to GAIN SOMETHING? That is really a PRIDEFUL MOTIVATION, not a HUMBLE MOTIVATION!

Second, we need to approach them in humility.

When we go to rebuke someone for sin, we need to come in humility. We do not rebuke to put someone down. We don’t correct someone for our sake. We don’t EVER REBUKE SOMEONE OUT OF JEALOUSY!

Understand, when we correct a fellow believer we do so from a place of humility and wanting to see them WALK CLOSER with Jesus!

We don’t come from a place of pride where we assume that we are right and they are wrong.

Remember, pride IS INCOMPATIBLE WITH KINGDOM LIVING!

Thirdly, we need to approach this individual in love.

We rebuke with a heart of love. We rebuke because we LONG FOR OUR FRIEND TO FOLLOW JESUS MORE CLOSELY!

We speak to that husband who is following his selfish sexual desires because we LOVE HIM AND HIS WIFE!

We speak to the wife who UNDERCUTS HER HUSBAND’S LEADERSHIP ON A DAILY BASIS because we LOVE HER AND HER HUSBAND!

We speak to our friend who gossips because we love them and we want them to walk in FREEDOM IN CHRIST; not because we are angry!

Friends, when you are discipling someone, or when you are being discipled, at some point you will have to be corrected, or you will have to correct someone. And when that happens, we need to make sure that it comes from a place of pure motivation, or humility and of love for that person; not from a place of rash judgment where we have a BEAM OF WOOD IN OUR OWN EYE!

Let me be clear- Jesus is not saying, “Don’t provide correction unless you’re perfect.” He’s saying, “Understand and admit that you aren’t perfect!”

But there’s a reason Jesus has to give us this warning- because so often we don’t want to admit that we have a problem.

And so instead of praising us for helping someone; instead of praising the pharisees for calling the Israelites to righteousness, Jesus calls them HYPOCRITES!

That is the best word to describe this action though.

If we are so transfixed on calling out someone else’s sin wihtout ever addressing our own sin, then we are hypocrites.

Understand- you will never be perfect and like I just said, Jesus IS NOT SAYING, “If you sin, you can never correct someone.”

Instead, Jesus is really driving home a point in verses 3-5: we have to be HUMBLE ENOUGH TO ADMIT THAT WE AREN’T PERFECT!!

Matthew 7:1-6 is such a pride confronting passage!

We can so often think of ourselves as perfect and as having life together, but that isn’t the case.

Instead, we could think of discipleship like being on an airplane.

All of a sudden, the airplane you are on loses cabin pressure. And you remember- you need to put on your own oxygen mask before helping someone else!

There’s two mistakes we can make. First, we could choose to help someone before ourselves. Now we are putting everyone at risk and we are doing the equivalent of this passage.

Or, we could put our mask on, close our eyes and ignore as people around us struggle. We wait for the flight attendants to do all the work while we try to relax and just focus on ourselves.

Can I tell you what that is like? That’s what happens when INDIVIDUAL CHRISTIAN’S DON’T TAKE THE GREAT COMMISSION SERIOUSLY! THAT IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN INSTEAD OF GOING AND MAKING DISCIPLES, WE SIT BACK AND THINK, “WOW, WE REALLY NEED SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THAT!”

Friends, making Biblical disciples; bringing the GOSPEL to people is a HUMBLE ACTION! IT ISN’T PRIDEFUL, it’s an act of humility, because it involves us saying, “I don’t have it all together and I have flaws too, but LET ME SHOW YOU WHAT GOD HAS DONE IN MY LIFE!

Now friends, Jesus gives us one last statement of significant importance. It’s not as much a summary statement as it is a QUALIFYING STATEMENT.

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.

Jesus tells us not give what is holy to dogs or to toss pearls to pigs.

Here’s why- THEY DON’T MEAN ANYTHING!

Jesus is essentially saying this- You can rebuke a non-believer about their sin as many times as you want, but it doesn’t make them want to follow God or obey God.

For instance, I have many non-believing friends who cohabitate with their significant other. I could tell them, “Don’t you know! God doesn’t want you to do this!”

But, they aren’t going to gain wisdom from this. They aren’t going to be like, “Oh wow! I get it! That’s why Jesus died for my sins!”

They are going to ignore it; just as pigs ignore pearls in search of food.

Friends, here’s what I’m going to challenge us with honestly- first, as a pre-requisite for this, I hope you have non-believing friends. I hope you know people who aren’t saved.

But then, how often can we find ourselves getting frustrated with them!

We think, “WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS?”

And we may even begin to think, “Let me call this out!”

But in reality, instead of rebuking them, what we need to do is call them to REPENTENCE!

We need to love them and BRING THEM JESUS RATHER THAN A CALL TO SANCTIFICATION!

We need to call them to be JUSTIFIED, not to grow!

Like church, here’s the deal- this year, I need you to make sure that you have plenty of your nitrogen in your sweet corn.

PAUSEEEEEEEEEE- let it set in. Remind them again- you need lots of nitrogen for your sweet corn.

Oh wait. You don’t have a sweet corn field? THEN THAT IS MEANINGLESS ADVICE!

And in the same way, if our friends don’t have Jesus, then it is MEANINGLESS TO CALL THEM TO LIVE AS JESUS HAS CALLED THEM TO!

FIRST, WE NEED TO BRING THEM JESUS! We need to FIRST be bold to bring JESUS TO THEM AND TO BRING THEM HOPE IN THE FORM OF THE GOSPEL, NOT CONDEMNATION IN THE FORM OF REBUKE!

So, rather than correcting actions, let’s BE QUICK TO LOVE PEOPLE BY GIVING THEM JESUS!

AND THEN, AFTER THEY KNOW JESUS, AS WE DISCIPLE THEM, THEN WE CAN GIVE CORRECTION WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE, WITH HUMILITY AND WITH LOVE!

Application

Pride isolates us from our Creator

3 Circles

EMPHASIZE THESE THREE THINGS:

The first sin is really pride- I KNOW BETTER THAN GOD! I DON’T NEED GOD, I CAN DO THIS ON MY OWN! (That’s pride)

In brokenness, we then try to make things better for ourselves- we rely on our own strength to fill that void- that’s pride. (We think that we can solve all of the issues and we believe (falsely, I’d add) that we have the solution.)

In PRIDE we reject Jesus!

But then Jesus.

Jesus came in HUMILITY! He came and LIVED FOR US! HE DIED FOR US! HE PAID THE PRICE FOR US!

Rather then seeking HIS GLORY AND POSITION, JESUS CAME FOR YOU AND ME!

RATHER THEN LIVING IN PRIDE, JESUS LIVED IN HUMILITY!

So let me call on you today- don’t let pride separate you from your creator any longer! INSTEAD, CALL TO JESUS!

And listen, you will have a NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD; a RESTORED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

THAT IS THE ONLY THING THAT CAN FILL THAT VOID!

AFTER YOU KNOW JESUS- we help others walk into a personal relationship with their creator!

Pride isolates us leading to anxiety and shame

In context, we just saw Jesus teach about anxiety, shame, etc.

Pride isolates- and in isolation anxiety grows and so often shame really is coming from pride- let me explain- we can’t actually live up to the INSANE standard that we have set for ourselves!

See, when we are filled with pride, we begin to realize something- we start to realize that we aren’t as good as we think we are!

Like we realize, we can’t make a 60 yard field goal either, like in the kicker example I used earlier. BUT AT SOME POINT, we are going to be tested. At some point we are going to be asked to back up what we are saying.

In other words, our ability to judge is going to be tested. Someone will say, “You’re right, I can’t do this either. I can’t bench 415, but can you?”

And in that moment, you have to back it up.

The fear of that moment leads to anxiety.

ANXIETY!

But there’s something else that this moment causes. See, when we can’t bench 415, we feel shame. We start to feel embarassed and we want to disappear. Listen, PRIDE AND JUDGMENT IS EMPTY!

IT IS GOING TO LEAD US TO ANXIETY AND SHAME!

So let me challenge us to approach relationships differently.

Rather than comparison, what if we CELEBRATED the strengths someone else has?

What if instead of jealously judging someone, what if we LIVED HUMBLY IN RELATIONSHIPS!

Let me give you an example.

I cannot dunk a basketball. I have NEVER dunked a basketball. But I certainly celebrated when my teammates and later my players could dunk!

But what if I didn’t limit it to this- what would happen if I celebrated my coworkers promotion, what if I celebrated my friend’s achievement?

See, pride isolates us. But when we live in this humility, we live in TRUE COMMUNITY!

And this applies to how we approach church…

(A face leads to anxiety, shame and burnout. AUTHENTIC, GENUINE LIVING LEADS TO JOY AND FREEDOM! IT LEADS US TO BETTER, DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS THAT GIVE LIFE! SO LET’S BE AUTHENTIC! Practically….)

Pride Isolates us from People

As we set up these insane standards that are impossible for anyone to live up to, we have to understand that this does’t just impact us.

This impacts the people who are ALL AROUND US!

See, as we start to judge people, we will want to avoid them.

Think about it like this- as you judge someone, you start to look down on them. And you aren’t going to want to be with them. After all, they aren’t GOOD ENOUGH!

And before we even know it, we are going to find ourselves in a situation where EVERYONE around us isn’t good enough for us. Listen, this is serious stuff. Pride starts to isolate us.

It starts slow. It starts with the lie that the other person isn’t good enough. Then, it continues with this lie- we are BETTER THEN THEY ARE!

And then pride says this- “Because I’m better than this person, I should be given X, or treated like X.”

As this process goes on, we start to self-isolate because we only want to be around people who are “as good” as us, or people who “deserve our time.”

But listen, this isn’t a Biblical worldview on how to view other people at all. Rather than looking down at others, we are to look at them as God’s CREATION!

We are to in fact, look at others as more important than ourselves- Philippians 2:3

Philippians 2:3 CSB

3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves.

Notice the wording there- HUMILITY! IN HUMILITY CONSIDER OTHERS TO BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OURSELVES!

Consider who? CONSIDER OTHERS!

WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT? IS IT OURSELVES? NO! IT’S OTHERS!

And that is why we talk so much about the importance of reaching others!

Hacksaw Ridge- Desmond Doss example- we can never give up, we can never quit, we always need to be praying, “GOD GIVE ME ONE MORE! GOD, HELP ME TO REACH ONE MORE! GOD, HELP ME TO REACH ONE MORE!” WE NEED TO LIVE OUR LIVES AS SOUL WINNERS- and that requires HUMILITY TO BE WITH THE PEOPLE WHO ARE AROUND US AND NEED US!