HG054.6-54.8 Luke 6:31, 37–49; Matthew 7:1-8:1

37 “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” 39 And He spoke a parable to them: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into the ditch? 40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the plank in your own eye? 42 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye. 43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. 46 “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say? 47 Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. 49 But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently; and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”

Last week we spoke about the care of the Lord for each of us which gives us great comfort that God is for us and not against us; that He is with us no matter what; that He only has our best at heart and that all things will work out for the good of those who love Him. We we took these things to heart then we can handle anything that comes our way. However, Scripture places some requirements upon us..

There is the practical outworking of knowing these things. We are to show the same kind of love that we have been shown. The verses today starting in verse 31:

Luke 6:31 NKJV

And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.

This means that just as we like to be treated to treat others the same.

In modern parlance this is called the ‘Golden rule’ though most people do not realise that it is from the bible is where we get this though Greek philosophy has the first mention of it by Diogenes Laertius (1:36) quoting Lobon of Argos in the negative sense of not doing to others what we would not want them doing to us:

Lives of Eminent Philosophers (English) Chapter 1. THALES (floruit circa 585 B.C., the date of the eclipse)

“How shall we lead the best and most righteous life?” “By refraining from doing what we blame in others.”

and then the closes we get otherwise is in Homer’s Odessy (5.188–91):

But I am thinking and planning for you just as I would do it for my own self.

I think, though, Jesus put it best:

“just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”

Contained in all of these is the leaving is taking the initiative, as His disciples, to seek the best for others just as we would love it be so done to and for us.

Jesus goes one further step, though, in that He wants us to do good to others regardless of their response and how they behave towards us. And that is what we are about to explore:

.37-38

Then from verse 37 we are given a list of commands: Do not judge, do not condemn, forgive and give.

These commands are all to do with the heart.

Do not judge: we should not be judging someone’s heart which we cannot see.

Do not condemn, which is an alternative word to judge but it has the extra sense of passing judgement on another. Even when we see all the resulting action that someone does we still do not see the whole picture as to why someone did what they did.

Forgive, ah now we are starting to understand; all these commands are personal when someone does something against you, after all you cannot forgive someone things they have done to someone else.

We are to give which evidences our forgiveness. Who can give to those whom we have not forgiven? And in the same way that we measure out these things to others it will be measured out back to us in an abundance so that there is no more room to give back.

Clement, a disciple through Peter who worked with him wrote in his letter:

The Sermon on the Mount: A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, including the Sermon on the Plain a. Conduct toward the Outside World (6:27–38)

1 Clem. 13.2:

For he [i.e., Jesus] spoke the following:

“Be merciful, that you may find mercy;

Forgive, that you may be forgiven.

As you do, so shall it be done to you;

As you give, so shall it be given to you;

As you judge, so shall you be judged;

As you show kindness, so kindness shall be shown to you.

With what measure you measure, with that same measure it will be measured to you.”

Let me rephrase what it means to not judge, to not condemn, to forgive and to give with the earlier words of Jesus: Love your enemy.

Let me speak further about judging which seems to contradict what we have just said. All of Scripture needs to be taken together and in context in regards to judging. And so we also read in:

1 Corinthians 2:15 NKJV

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.

There are always those who, when we criticise actions or false doctrine, will come out of the woodwork and say: ‘judge not lest ye be judged’. It is as if this is the worst of crimes. Wrong action should always be opposed as, indeed, wrong doctrine. When I speak of false teachers I will often do it by name for what they teach is in the public domain and when it is appropriate I will expose and correct what they say. We need to evaluate if someone is a false teacher, for instance. We are to make judgements. How can you judge whether what I say or do is right for you are to judge what I say and do according to Scripture. The things I say in a sermon are also in the public domain and where there is error it is to be refuted as long as it is clearly something Scripture speaks about.

Jesus, after saying we should not judge, then speaks about discerning those who produce bad or good fruit - if we are not to judge then how are to to determine what is bad and what is good? But in judging we have to be humble for we ourselves are subject to failure before God everyday and we have to be biblical and loving and gentle and first deal with another in private if it is a moral failing of some kind. Let us also be aware of:

1 Corinthians 10:12 NKJV

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.

Paul speaks of judging in

1 Corinthians 6:2 NKJV

Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

We are called to make righteous judgements but what we are not to be is to have a judgemental, condemning disposition. A good example of this happening is when King David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then to cover up the fact that she was pregnant by him killed the husband by proxy and Nathan the prophet came and told him the story of a stolen sheep and David declares: that man who did this does not deserve to live. And Nathan replied: You are the man! Thankfully David realised his error.

The problem with condemning others is that, just like David, we are guilty of the very thing we condemn and often we are guilty of a greater sin but we just do not see it. And the problem with judgementalism is that there is no mercy. But a merciful father has merciful children.

How often the things we do are misconstrued. Often you have had the best intention but it has fallen far short. We would not want people judging our hearts in this. So, the golden rule again is that we do not condemn others for we do not want to be condemned. At the end only God judges righteously.

A true Christian is someone who emulates His Father in Heaven who accepts us though He knows full well, forgive us though our sin is an affront to Him and He gives to us sumptuously eternal life and a place at His table. We also need to be accepting, forgiving and giving.

.39-42

Then there is a parable: This is about pretending or being self-deceived into thinking that one has the ability to lead and shine light on the way but instead are actually unable to see leading others into the same pit they are headed. And then Jesus uses this superb illustration of an optician checking the eyes of their patient to get at that annoying speck that irritates both the patient and the one who sees it but the examiner has this massive plank of wood in his own eye. How can the optician see clearly then to deal with that speck. What an hilarious sketch! What with an oh so poignant meaning. These ‘opticians’ can see the minutiae of other people’s sins but their own lives are full of huge moral failures. It’s not until they deal with them that they can help anyone else.

And the issue is highlighted further here in that those who are disciples reflect their teacher. This is where elders, deacons and pastors have a heightened responsibility for people will try to emulate us and those things that are slight failings in us are magnified in the followers. I say follow me as I follow Jesus. But where I am not following Jesus do not go. But this is true of all of us: as disciples we are called to make disciples and it is unavoidable that we will be considered examples to follow - so careful how you follow Jesus. For watch out - we have to give an account to God for the souls God has given us care about.

.43-45

If our religion is one of outward show only with no substance then it will soon become evident especially to those who are spiritual. We cannot prolong pretence when the evidence of our lives are on show. The outward, though, is not changed by something we do but by something God does in us through Jesus. It is our heart that is being changed. When we submit to God and say: Your will and your way instead of mine that He will change our heart from being bad to being good, from producing bad fruit to good fruit. In fact you are given a brand spanking new heart.

.46-49

And that theme Jesus keep right on into verses 46 to 49 about the foundations laid for the house on rock or on earth and sand for if Jesus is not the foundation and in the doing of His words; in putting our trust in Him we are sowing the seeds for a giant collapse for we are building on sand. When the things of life assault us as they do, it seems to me, in increasing frequency then onto what will we hold?

I don’t get how the world copes at all with tragedy for they really are without hope as they are without God. Of course, we get shaken for things are not always rosy but in a storm that is what happens; things shake. The only things that last such shaking are those things fastened down. And we all have stories of our faith being tested as indeed some of you have spoken to me about these last couple of weeks.

Most, if not all of us here, have a genuine, sincere faith in the Living God, His Son Jesus and the Holy Spirit working His purposes out in our lives no matter how it seems at the time and each experience produces refined faith that is of a greater depth and of far greater worth than anything else in our lives.

Through our circumstances we are accumulating treasure in Heaven and becoming more and more like His son everyday.

Let me sum up what has been said:

Because we have been given so much by God we, too, can be magnanimous towards friends and foe that even when they fail us; we can show mercy as we have been shown mercy; we can show acceptance as we have been shown acceptance, we can forgive as we have been forgiven and we can give for we have received.

We are, if we are going to have strong foundations then we need to hear and do. We can truly say to Jesus: ‘Lord, lord’ when we love God and love our neighbour as ourselves as this story now illustrates:

Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 1—That You May Know the Truth Doing

A young Korean man traveled a great distance to the home of the missionary who had led him to Christ, then announced his reason for the visit: “I have been memorizing some verses of the Bible, and I want to quote them to you.”

The missionary listened as the young man recited without error the entire Sermon on the Mount. He commended the young man for the remarkable feat of memory. Then, being a good missionary, he cautioned the young man to not only “say” the Scriptures but to practice them. The man responded, “Oh, that is the way I learned them. I tried to memorize them, but they wouldn’t stick, so I made a plan. First, I would learn a verse. Then I would do it to a neighbor. After that, I found that I could remember it.”4

May this be true of us. Amen.

Bibliography

Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Betz, H. D. (1995). The Sermon on the mount: a commentary on the Sermon on the mount, including the Sermon on the plain (Matthew 5:3-7:27 and Luke 6:20-49). (A. Y. Collins, Ed.). Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press.

The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Heer, K. (2007). Luke: A Commentary for Bible Students. Indianapolis, IN: Wesleyan Publishing House.

Hughes, R. K. (1998). Luke: that you may know the truth. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.

Laertius, D. (November 1, 2005). Lives of Eminent Philosophers. (R. D. Hicks, Ed.). Kansas City Missouri: Harvard University Press.