Potential Side Effects of Kingdom Living

Intro

Potential side effects are meant to be a warning for us. We have all seen the commercials where this great fantastic new medication is given, and then a long list of potential side effects that might occur. And sometimes, the list of potential side effects or reasons to see a doctor if these things occur, that it seems longer than the positive advertisement portion of the commercial! Now that i have listened to this long warning, I forgot what the product was actually for. And sometimes, I get hung up on the side effects and that's all I can think about! What does it feel like to have blue-tinted vision? To have hot soup feel super cold? Orange tears? Sleep-eating?

But don’t just think about medication, think about other areas of life that have potential side effects for us.

Consider training for a marathon. If you were going to start training, you would want to be aware of the potential side effects. You would want to be made aware of them so that you could watch out for them, and know what to do when they came. You might need to know that you could have potential blisters. You would want to know that you need to socks or shoes if this happens. If you start to feel dizzy, you might need some food. If you start to have a headache, you might need water. If you start having stomach pain, you need to watch what you eat before you run. If you notice muscle soreness from microtears, you probably need some rest between workouts.

All of these are potential side effects of running, but not reasons to give up on your dreams of running a Marathon, rather, they are things you want to watch out for with vigilance, and then take action to correct them when and if they happen.

Jesus has been instructing on the Kingdom living in his Sermon on the Mount. And today, he is going to give us some potential side effects of Kingdom living. Just like watching out for side effects of training for a marathon, we want to watch out for these potential side effects in our lives as we live out the lifestyle he has called us to. As we live as kingdom disciples.

Main Point: Jesus desires his disciples to love others wisely and unselfishly.

I. Perfection That Breeds Judgement 1-5

For the first side effect today, we see perfection that breeds judgement. We see this in verses 1 through 5.

Verse 1 is one of the most misquoted verses in the whole Bible. We may have grown up telling our siblings “the bible says not to judge.”

And as we talk to other people with differing opinions today, people might become a little defensive and say... “doesn’t the bible say not to judge me?”

No.

What we see throughout Jesus’s teaching and the rest of the new testament is a command to judge others. Think about even verse 6 that we will look at in a few minutes. Jesus is telling us to judge others, and in this harsh way of seeing them as a dog or a pig.

Next week in the last half of Matthew 7, we will see how Jesus tells us to judge other people by their fruits. We will know his disciples by the fruit they produce. Are they fruits of love joy peace, or are they fruits of impurity, immorality, and depravity?

A theme in 1 Corinthians 5 is protecting the church by removing people that are living in a sinful lifestyle and do not want to have Jesus be their King. This requires judging.

Philippians 3 command believers to be aware of evil workers, you will need to judge them.

1 John 4:1 commands believers to test, or judge, people to see if they are false prophets.

Think about John 7:24 “24 Do not judge according to external appearance, but judge with proper judgment.””

And this is just a few.

Proper judgement here is what is critical. So if Jesus in John 7:24 tells us to judge properly, how is Jesus in Matthew 7 telling us to judge?

Jesus is truly referring to the type of judging, or the attitude of judging here. Jesus’s concern, just like the rest of the entire Sermon on the Mount, is on the heart. Jesus cares about our hearts.

While Jesus is calling us to pursue his Kingdom and being perfect as his father is perfect, he knows that a side effect can be us being judgmental, or judging badly.

Many of us in this room grew up in fundamentalism. The original fundamentalism was good, encouraging the Bible to be the authority in our lives, later fundamentalism became legalism, enforcing uniformity rather than unity. Enforcing particular convictions rather than promoting the scriptures. A staple of a fundamentalist church is being judgy.

And while some of us in this room have moved out of fundamentalism, or some of us were never in it, we can still be tempted to judge others negatively in our pursuit to be holy.

So how do we ensure we are living for Christ’s perfection, but not being badly judgmental? Two things. Don’t have a critical spirit, and don’t lack self criticism.

A. Don’t Have a Critical Spirit 1-2

First, lets look at don’t have a critical spirit. This is primarily what is behind Jesus saying “don't judge, because you will receive the same judgement you have dealt out.”

Jesus is saying judging others is not something to be done lightly, but a serious task that carries a lot of weight. We will be judged in the same way and held to the same standard.

Matthew loves to use the divine passive and we see it here. You will be judged by the same standard, meaning God will judge you.

This is not a reason not to judge, but a reason to take seriously our judgements. We are not in some made up world that we get to escape the judgement and everyone else is under our judgement. We don’t get to play God.

Sometimes, we might want to judge others for the purpose of feeling better about ourselves. In our pursuit of trying to act and be holy, we can feel better about ourselves if we compare ourselves to others.

We might judge someone else and say “look how angry they get over silly situations, at least I don’t get angry over those problems.”

“Look at how they parent their children, at least i don’t do that.”

“Look at how unwise they are with their money, at least i’m more responsible than that.” And we judge others and criticize them in order to feel better about ourselves.

Jesus doesn’t want us to do this. The reason to judge is not to feel better about ourselves, but to build others up in Christian love.

Later on in Matthew, when we get to chapter 18, we are going to see that we should go to our brother or sister when we have something against them. And early, in Matthew 5, we saw that we should go to them even if they have something against us. Even if i believe that my brother or sister has a problem with me, I care so much about their harmony before God, and their harmony with me, that I will be the one to initiate peace.

We might say, I care so much about my fellow brother or sisters discipleship, that i will judge them. Through the awkward and the uncomfortable, I will push them to pursue Christ better and more deeply because I love them.

Think about how God now judges us. Though we have sinned horribly against him, he no longer looks at us in our sinful state, but sees the righteousness of Christ that is merited to us. But he also realizes that the sin that is still present in our lives, is not good for us or for his glory, so he continues to call us out of it. He does not treat us with judgement, but as a loving father corrects his Child like Hebrews says.

In a similar way, how do we judge others? Are we judging them harshly? Or do we judge them like we have been judged by God? In love with grace, but wanting them not to stay in their sin?

Is the reason for our judgement towards a person in love to help them or is it in because we want to feel better about our selves? Is it for building them up or for tearing them down?

It’s here we get to the nitty gritty heart issues. Jesus wants us to carefully assess for ourselves the motives and intents of our heart when judging others.

Jesus has been teaching that an important part of kingdom discipleship is being introspective of your heart, not simple rule following of outward action. He doesn’t want us to be retributive, but instead, to constructively help build up each other in the Word of Christ.

If you are judging others without the grace and love of God, then you should question your own standing before God. This is what the text is calling us toward. If you are not showing the character of God, the character of God that is shown to his disciples, you need to question if you belong to him.

B. Don’t Lack Self-criticism 3-5

The second way for us to not be badly judgmental as we pursue perfection is that we don’t lack self-criticism.

And this is where we get to the wonderful illustration Jesus gives us.

Rather than being concerned with the log in my own eye, I see a speck of dust in the other persons eye.

Log would have beam a supporting beam for a building structure, and speck would be a small piece of hay or dust.

This image that Jesus has for us is meant to be humorous and meant for us to imagine a silly situation of someone walking around with a log in their eye and pointing out one speck of dust in another persons eye.

The irony in Jesus’s illustration is the eye issue. You are blind because you are so worried trying to see the problems of others.

The Hypocrite as Jesus calls this person, is not applying the same standard to himself.

This is not a command for us to be blind, but rather a commandment to open your eyes and be generous with others in your love and grace that you show them.

An Old testament example of this is when Nathan the prophet goes to king David after he has committed adultery and murder. He tells King David of a man who has one small female lamb. He loved this lamb and cared for it dearly, it was more than a pet to him and more like a child. And then a rich guy who has a whole heard of lambs, comes to that poor shepherd with only one small lamb and takes the poor guys one lamb. Nathan asks what should be done about the rich shepherd.

David is angry, cuts Nathan off and says “As surely as the YHWH lives, the man will die!” And nathan turns to David and says “You are that man.” you are the rich man. David was too blind to self reflect and see that he was the problem.

I believe that the previous issue of having a critical spirit is actively wrong. Maybe it is intentionally failing to care.

But I believe this one, a lacking self-awareness is passively wrong. This seems to be an unintentional blindness to one’s reality.

If we aren’t careful, we can do this as well. So caught up in our own lives and our own pursuits that we lack self-criticism. We stop looking introspectively at our hearts and talk about and judge everyone else.

Think about the common topics of conversation. We might talk about town council, government, the latest moral failing of that organization, the latest famous person did this deplorable thing, failing of society. We have so many of these conversations, and so little conversations about ourselves and reflecting on Jesus’s kingdom reaching our hearts.

We look at the world around us and get all riled up about this issue going on and get frustrated that the kingdom of God is not reaching this area, when we should be concerned with the kingdom of God not getting to our own personal lives.

Rather than being focused on all that is around me, how am I daily becoming more like Christ, and less like the world around me?

So what is the application for us from these first few verses? When we see people sinning and struggling, two things need to be on our mind. To be clear, I am still responsible to go to them in love and help them. To leave them in their state of sin or unconformity to Christ’s kingdom, is the unloving thing to do. So how should I go to them?

First, before judging, I need to assess myself for what I am judging them for. I want to ensure that the standard of scripture I am applying to them is currently lived out in my life.

Second, I don’t judge them to lift myself up, but in the love and grace that God has shown me through Jesus.

II. Love that Lacks Discernment 6

Now, lets look at another potential side effect of Kingdom living. Love that lacks discernment.

Lets read this verse as it is tricky and has odd illustrations. Matthew 7:6 “6 Do not give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls before pigs; otherwise they will trample them under their feet and turn around and tear you to pieces.”

There are a few questions for us here before we can make application. What are the pigs and dogs? In what ways would they trample pearls and tear us to pieces. And what are the pearls and what is holy?

Let’s first determine what is the pearls and holy things? An early church document from the second century used this verse to say that the Lord’s supper should only be given to baptized believers. We would say this is one application maybe, but also too narrow, and not contextually what Jesus is saying.

What is Jesus concerned about with his disciples? The gospel. The gospel and kingdom living. This is what Jesus has been talking about. This is what we are giving to others. Remember earlier that Jesus tells his disciples they would be fishers of men. This is what they are bringing people to. The gospel of Jesus and living out what he has called us to, holy after God.

Who are the Dogs and Pigs?

These are animals that are popular or we have good feelings about.

When I think of Pig, they are cute animals, some have them as pets. They instill positive thoughts of bacon and ribs in my mind.

And we love dogs! Any dog people in the room? Any cat people in the room? it doesn’t matter.

Dogs are wonderful pets today, you know I love my dog.

But dogs and pigs were not domesticated animals that brought good thoughts and vibes to people like they do today. Dogs and Pigs in Jesus’s day were feared and gross, feral.

Matthew is writing to a mixed society much like we live in today where there are believers and unbelievers. Some might say gentiles are the dogs and the pigs, but I think the two animals, and what they do is not gentiles. Also, the message of Matthew’s gospel is meant for the nations and gentiles, not just Israel.

Pigs want to continue wallowing in mud and gross things. It would be silly to give something nice to a pig because they will just destroy it and trample it in the mud, making lost or useless something precious. They would rather continue in mud wallowing.

So consider what Jesus is saying. To the person who loves their sin, and would rather live in their sin than have Jesus be Lord of their life, maybe your gospel efforts would be better spend somewhere else. Not that you do not share the gospel with someone, but if they are going to claim Christ and continue to live in sin, trampling the gospel of God and the Grace of our Lord in the mud, do not continue to cast pearls before swine.

The gospel of Jesus is too important and too urgent for us to continue wasting it on people who don’t care and wont accept it. Sometimes it is time for you to move on because this is how Jesus’s kingdom grows.

That doesn’t mean you stop praying for their salvation, but when we consider how to best redeem the time, we might need to consider our time better spend sharing the gospel with others.

Think about the dog. Dogs at this time were not house pets, they were viscous scavengers who would attack people.

Regarding this illustration, though we realize that we will face persecuting for the sake of the gospel, Jesus does not say we need to continually face abuse and ridicule with an individual. You don’t need to continue to be attacked by dogs for sharing the gospel. Don’t put yourself under continual abuse.

Let’s be clear here. Abuse is not simple rejection. Abuse is not you invited someone to church and they tell you that they need to stay home to clean the house. Abuse is when they mock you for your faith in Jesus.

Jesus will later say to leave the house where the gospel is not recieved, and shake the dust off your feet.

So what is our response here? Not to stop sharing the gospel. But by continuing to share it with people who will listen.

I would venture out on a limb here and say that most of us are not currently struggling to understand discernment with people we are sharing the gospel with, but struggling with sharing the gospel in itself.

We at Hope Church believe that the kingdom of God here in our area grows not through more programs and not through community events, but through us loving the gospel and sharing it with the world around us. Do the people in your life know the gospel that you claim to love? Are you actively sharing the gospel with others?

And if you are, maybe you have situations that you need to practice discernment with your gospel witness.

Jesus is telling you to be discriminatory so that the gospel is not made open abuse. There might be times when a responsible assessment requires our continual evangelism be limited with an individual.

I would cation us that we don’t prejudge who will accept the truth, we spread the gospel far and wide like seed in the field, not knowing where it will take root. But if i have found that every time I put seeds in this part of the garden, nothing grows, time to put seed in another part of the garden.

I don’t force it on those who show no inclination to accept it.

Proverbs 9:8 “8 Do not reprove a mocker or he will hate you; reprove a wise person and he will love you.”

I would encourage us that while Jesus wants us to use discernment, when in doubt, we error on the side of love and grace.

In verses 1-6 we are seeing Jesus wanting his disciples to have balance. Not judging badly, but also having discernment.

Practically, what does this look like?

Here’s three stories. Think of Paul in Acts 18, he is sharing the gospel in the synagogue, and they reject him, and he tells them “Your blood be on your own heads, I am guiltless.” Then he goes right next door, shares the gospel with Crispus, and he and his household are receptive to the Gospel message. Some people are hungry for the Gospel and the Holy Spirit has already been working on them. So spread the gospel wide and continue on.

A few years ago, I was spending a significant amount of time with a guy who wanted to know what it meant to follow Jesus. We did some hiking together, we played disk golf together, he’d come over and we would chat. He asked how to stop sleeping with his girlfriend, and if it was unchristian to use cocaine if it made him a better person. The second question was easy. The first question we worked through. And he was unwilling to sleep in a different bed. We hung out multiple times and continued to discuss these issues. But it was clear he was not going to change his mind or live differently on either of these issues. And I came to a point where with the limited time I had, I chose to spend it with others who were more receptive to the Gospel and Jesus’s teachings and stopped hanging out with this guy.

Story three. Erring on the side of grace. Doing youth ministry, there are some teens who just come for the fun activities. We would have weekly bible studies, and then one big activity once a month. We had this one girl who seemed uninterested in the gospel and what we were doing, but with her living condition, she was looking for a way to get out of the house and do free fun activities with other people her age. That was my assessment. But after multiply times of her coming to events and never being interested in the Bible study, she finally came to the Bible study. She stayed after all the other kids had left. She had two questions. What does the Bible say about abortion, and then she asked “How can I be saved?”

Sometimes we are confronted with biblical issues or life practice issues that might on the surface seem like they contradict. But maybe we are meant to hold them both in tension. How do we do that?

Lean on your brain, not your heart. Know what the text says and what God wants, not what I want.

Be open to both truths, not favoring the one you like the most.

Hold them together. If they are biblical, God will reveal eventually how they are complimentary.

Apply both to your life.

Think of some biblical concepts that we hold in tensions. Let your light so shine before men that they see your good deeds, then later “don’t do your acts of righteousness for men to see.”

Rest in Christ, but press on being made holy. restful dissatisfaction.

I am called to be truthful and loving. But sometimes, if i tell the truth, it seems unloving.

Same with this tension here. Don’t judge, but also judge with discernment.

And you might be thinking, “how do I do that? How can I have discernment? When will I know when to judge and not judge?

Well, that will take us nicely into our next point.

III. Independence that Dismisses God 7-11

Another potential side effect of kingdom living is that we would be independent in a way that dismisses God.

I know none of us in the room struggle with independence right?

In the pursuit of God’s holiness and Jesus's way of living, we can become independent sometimes. This is what Jesus is warning against.

We don’t have to be anxious about living as a disciple of Jesus. Yes the kingdom standards that Jesus gives are high, but we don’t live this way on our own.

And to combat this, he says three things “ask, seek, knock.”

These might be translated more effectively as greek present tense imperative verbs “keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking.”

You see, the gospel is not simply something that just saves you once and then is done. God does not bestow his grace on your life only at salvation and then leave the rest up to you.

No, we are continually dependent on his grace in our lives. So we continually run to him for help.

And right here, in context, what are we asking for help with? Our spiritual lives and judging and discerning.

Notice Jesus doesn’t say “keep on seeking, asking, and knocking for a loaded bank account, and that door will be opened to you so you can afford a bigger house! We are seeking to be better disciples in the kingdom.

He wants to give you good gifts for your needs, not your greed.

And sometimes, God’s will for our lives, for his glory and for our good, might not align with our will for our lives. Like a child wanting to play in the rain when they are sick, and the parent saying no.

We see in verse 8 the promise that the ones who seek, ask, knock, receive, find, and have the door opened to them.

These blessings from God are not part of his common grace to all people, but for his disciples.

And then Jesus illustrates this point with another absurd picture. If a child asks his father for bread, the father does not give his son stones. If a child asks for fish, the father does not give him a snake.

Bread and fish would have been the staple diet for the Galileans he was speaking to.

And for any parent to respond in this fashion is silly to us. Even for a bad parent. Even for the parent that doesn’t parent well, they wouldn’t give their child a stone, or a snake.

You may have had a bad father who distorts your image of God as our father. The point here is not to assume all earthly fathers will be good, because we know they aren’t.

Rather, everything inside us, the way we have been programed, internally wired, informs us of what we expect from fathers. This internal knowledge is meant to point us toward our heavenly father, and asking him for our needs.

Our internal expectation can find fulfillment in our heavenly Father.

See in verse 11 when Jesus says “How much more will your father in heaven give good things to those who ask?

“How much more” is a reminder that while God is portrayed like a human father, he is far more divine than humans, and will act perfectly toward his children.

God’s good gifts to us sometimes are wisdom and guidance in our lives. Luke 11:13 tells us that the good gift we receive from the father is the Holy Spirit. To help us and lead us on our Christian journey.

Do you sometimes feel like an ineffective disciple maker? Maybe like you are ineffective in spiritual growth? Lacking wisdom in how to help others grow in Christ?

You might think you need a better personality, better mentorship, a new book, a new plan, a new method, new gospel tracts. But what does Jesus say we need?

To ask, seek, and knock on the door of our heavenly father. To continually live in a state of being reliant on him.

IV. Moral Intent that is Selfish. 12

Lastly today, for the last potential side effect of kingdom living, we see moral intent that is selfish.

The Goal of kingdom living is not that we would be consumed in our own pursuit of righteousness and living after God’s way, but that others would see the light of Christ in us and then glorify our father.

You aren’t meant to keep your Christianity to yourself, but you are meant to share it!

Lets look at verse 12.

Matthew 7:12 “12 In everything, treat others as you would want them to treat you, for this fulfills the law and the prophets.”

This sums up all of the old testament, and Jesus’s teachings here. Do unto others as you would want done to you.

Sometimes we refer to this as the Golden rule. It is traced back to Roman Emperor Alexander Severus in the 3rd century. He wasn’t a Christian, but loved this teaching of Jesus so much and how comprehensive it was in a simple sentence. So he had it inscribed in gold on the wall of his chamber.

It’s both powerful and flexible. You can apply this to many decisions in your life with the guide of the scriptures.

If you look back at Matthew 5:17, this bookends with 7:12 around Jesus’s teachings. Look at how the first book end is different.

Matthew 5:17 “17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.”

By fulfilling, we are meaning to live it out in a greater way.

Jesus comes to be the fulfillment of the law, and now, at the end, we are told that we are meant to be fulfilling the Old Testament. Jesus has come to fulfill the Old Testament and live out God’s purposes in the world, and then he is calling us to join him in this. This is what it means to be a part of the kingdom. This is what he is inviting us into.

Think of how this connects to the rest of the message about judging others specifically in our context. The example of my heavenly father and the goodness and kindness he has given to me, namely, my relationship secured by Jesus Christ, I want that goodness for others now. So I don’t judge them, but want them to live out their full potential as God’s Children in the Kingdom.

This isn’t a self serving command of selfishness. Doing kindness to others so I can expect the same to be given back. This kind of reciprocal benefit is not mentioned in the Golden Rule.

We follow Jesus in selflessly living for the sake of others in our life as we pursue what God has called us to.

Beyond the Walls (Grace and Growth)

As we wrap up here, if you have not yet accepted Jesus’s invitation to join his kingdom, today can be the day when you leave your sin behind and turn to Jesus. He promises to cleanse you from all of your sin. He has already paid the penelty and the punishment for your sin on the cross. And rose again to show the promise of new life with him. Will you accept him today?

If you are here and a believer, are you aware of the pitfalls that might entrap you as you pursue Christ? Are their areas of your life that you need to repent of today?

Maybe we have been judgmental of others, or critical of others. Maybe we need to be critical of ourselves. The good news is that we are promised his forgiveness and grace to continually be cleaning us from all unrighteousness. He is faithful and just to forgive us.

What about our witness? People will know us not by what we know, but by what we love. Do people know that you love Jesus? Are you sharing him with others?

And if we are sharing Christ with others, how can we be most effective with the precious gift that we have been given? Are we relying on the Holy Spirit for wisdom in our spiritual life and development?

Let’s take a moment to respond to the word together today.

Father, help me to live holy true after you in every way.

Jesus, help me to deny myself and love the lost like you do.

Holy Spirit, Give me wisdom and boldness with proclaiming Christ in all I do and say