Good Judgment #2 - The Wisdom of Discretion

Introduction

<<PRAY>>

In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus begins His public ministry with an open proclamation to all who would listen: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Begins to gather disciples, goes throughout all of Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel, healing the sick and casting out demons. He teaches crowds when they gather.

He enters the house of a synagogue ruler and raises the man’s daughter back to life, sends the apostles out to proclaim the Gospel throughout Israel.

When the Pharisees challenge Him in chapter 12, He answers them. But when they conspired against Him, He withdrew.

Patiently, He confronts the Pharisees’ stubborn opposition with the truth, and calls them to repent.

In the face of their unbelief, He approaches Jerusalem and enters the city in fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, but still they do not believe. And when He sends the moneychangers out of the temple in Matthew 21, they demand He justify Himself - “by what authority are you doing this, and who gave you this authority?” they ask.

Jesus responds by asking them a simple question - one that reveals their hearts. “Where did John the Baptist’s baptism come from? From heaven or from man?” But they knew they couldn’t answer. If they said it was from God, then the people would want to know why the Pharisees didn’t believe John when he pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

But if they said John’s baptism wasn’t from God - then the people would turn against them, because they all believed John was a prophet. So they turned back to Jesus and said, “we don’t know.”

And Jesus says, “Neither will I answer your question.”

From that moment until His crucifixion, we see Jesus sometimes answering His accusers, and sometimes refusing to do so.

Why, after so many patient encounters, does Jesus now change His approach?

Matthew 7:6 ESV

6 “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.

Matthew 7:6 is probably the most difficult verse to interpret in the entire Sermon on the Mount, but Jesus’s own behavior towards the Pharisees will help us understand it.

Patience, a desire to see the Lost get found, love for sinners, and a commitment to His Father’s Kingdom purposes drove Jesus’s mission. He preached, He healed, He persisted because He prized the Kingdom of heaven above all things.

It is because of the preciousness and priority of the Kingdom of God over all other things that Jesus refuses to answer the Pharisees in Matthew 21, and refuses to answer Herod when he interrogates him in Luke 23. And it is the priority and preciousness of the Kingdom of God that must help us understand Matthew 7:6.

Q: How can Kingdom People learn the wisdom of discretion from King Jesus?

I. The Holy One tells us how holy things are to be treated (“Do not give what is holy to dogs...”)

7:1-5 - Last week - began the journey towards “good judgment” by recognizing the how hypocritical judgment reveals our judgmental hearts, and how we can begin to exercise helpful judgment - the judgment of loving discernment

7:6 - The second type of good judgment is the judgment of discretion. Discernment is wisdom in seeing things; discretion is wisdom in responding to things.

A quick note on the structure of verse 6 - what’s called a “chiastic structure,” where the first and last statements go together, and the middle statements go together. So in the verse, four lines, the first and last ones go together - the dogs take what is holy and then turn to attack, and the middle ones go together - the pigs trample the pearls underfoot. <<use gestures to differentiate the 4 lines>>

Do not give to dogs what is holy

And do not cast your pearls before pigs

lest they trample them underfoot

And turn to attack you

Dogs & pigs often used in the Bible as metaphors for people who are opposed to the Kingdom of God. Old Testament Law forbade Israel from eating or raising pigs - were to be treated as unclean. In fact, archaeology has shown that pigs were ubiquitous in the ancient world, except when the Israelites came into an area. The separateness of Israel from all the nations was symbolized by the absence of pigs.

The word used here for dogs is not the same one used for family pets. This word refers to scavenging, ravenous, wild dogs. They ate garbage and carrion, so they too were unclean. And they were dangerous.

The old saying, “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” comes from the well-known truth that a wild dog is likely to do exactly that. To take what you give, and then attack.

So Jesus says, “Don’t give to dogs what is holy, lest they turn to attack you.”

“What is holy” is a reference to the holy meat of a sacrificial offering. It was to be eaten only by the priests and Levites and the families who made the offerings. According to Leviticus 7:19-27, if the meat was touched by an unclean thing or torn by a beast, it could not be eaten - instead it was to be burned. To give sacrificial meat to dogs was to treat what was holy as though it were worthless, and to invite the dog to attack.

So what does that have to do with us?

WHAT IS HOLY: In the New Testament, we see the sacrificial system fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Jesus - He’s the Lamb of God who was slain for us - so we don’t have “sacrificial meat.” But the New Testament speaks of “holy things” in some very specific ways, and here are three:

First & most importantly, Jesus Himself is the Holy One of God - In Acts 2 and 13, first Peter and then Paul quote Psalm 16:10 as a messianic promise of the Resurrection, where David said of the Messiah, “You will not abandon my soul to the grave, or let your Holy One see corruption.” Jesus Himself refers to His Holy Father and the Holy Spirit as well.

But one of the most consistent uses of the word “holy things” or “holy ones” is about the Church, the people of God. Consider Romans 12:1 as you think about “what is holy” with reference to sacrifice:

Romans 12:1–2 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

In 1 Cor 3:17, we’re told that we are the holy temple of God, and whoever destroys it will be destroyed. In Colossians 3:12 the church is called “God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved.” In 1 Peter 1:15-16, the believers are told that they were called to be holy because the LORD is holy, and the list goes on.

So we have Christ Himself, the Church, and third: the Scriptures and the message of salvation are referred to as holy:

In John 14:26, Jesus says that it’s the work of the Holy Spirit to bring us to remember and understand His teachings

In Romans 1:2 Paul calls the Scriptures “holy,” and in 2 Timothy 1:9, he refers to the mission to take the Gospel into the world as a “holy calling.”

These things - Christ Himself, His Church, and His Word - these are the “holy things” of verse 6.

THE DOGS: The dogs are the vicious opponents of Jesus, His people, and His message.

When the Pharisees demanded Jesus tell Him where He got the authority to cleanse the temple, they were not interested in the truth. The proof comes in Jesus’s trial, when they twisted His own words as weapons against Him not just once, but over and over again.

When Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin, he was not standing before a neutral court. These were people who had been plotting his death since early in his ministry.

Later, in Philippians 3:2, Paul refers to false teachers as “dogs.” The common element here is opposition to Jesus, His people, and His message.

APPLY: And Jesus does not simply point out the folly of feeding wild dogs. He commands us not to give what is holy to them. The good judgment of discernment means that we must identify “the dogs” and what it means to avoid giving what is holy to them.

First, remember what Jesus says in

Matthew 5:16 ESV

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

We saw in the Fall that the light by which our good works should be seen is the Gospel - the proclamation that Jesus is the Christ, the King sent to redeem this lost world through His death and resurrection. Without that light, our good works are indecipherable. But what happens when you share the Gospel with someone, and they respond with attacks? Abuse? Sabotage? Hatred? If it’s a coworker, a friend, a family member?

We are called to love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us. Trust God’s timing as you pray for those who respond to the Gospel with bared teeth and anger. Pray for softened hearts and new opportunities for for the Gospel, but the good judgment of discretion calls us to respond to their hostility by turning to others with the Gospel

When Jesus sent His apostles out in Matthew 10, He told them

Matthew 10:14 ESV

14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.

And in Acts, we see Paul do the same thing - when he was opposed in the synagogues, he went to the Gentiles. But Paul never stopped longing to see his fellow Jews come to know the Lord. As he said in

Romans 9:2–3 ESV

2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.

Turning away from those who are hostile to the Gospel should never be done quickly or gladly, but only with prayer and hope that God would intervene.

Second, we must protect the people of God - the holy ones - from all those who would devour them and attack us. False teachers sneak into Christian settings and subtly replace Biblical teaching with tempting lies, as Paul says in

2 Timothy 3:1–7 ESV

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

When someone uses the appearance of godliness as a cover for evil, for the sake of the people, we must not indulge them or pretend they’re ok. Because the Kingdom is too important.

This is one of the purposes of elders, according to the New Testament - to protect the flock. To identify false teaching. The good judgment of discretion responds to those who are hostile to Christ, His people, and His message by looking for and removing predators and scavengers, sometimes by means of church discipline.

Third, we must not give the people of God over into the hands of persecutors.

We have brothers and sisters in Christ who face dire persecution on a daily basis throughout the world, especially in places like North Korea, China, Iran. Many of you remember the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church back in September. We heard so many stories about Christians who suffered for their faith. We must pray for them and do what we can for them. To neglect our persecuted brethren is to give what is holy to the dogs, to treat the Holy One’s holy people as though they were unimportant.

TRANSITION

II. The Priceless One tells us how precious things are to be handled (“…Or cast your pearls before pigs...”)

<<READ verse>>

Jesus said in

Matthew 13:45–46 ESV

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Jesus not only prized the Kingdom of heaven above all things, but He told us to do the same earlier in the Sermon on the Mount:

Matthew 6:33 ESV

33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The pearls are another picture of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the message of the Kingdom of God.

ILLUSTRATION: It was not uncommon in the ancient world for pearls to be significantly more valuable than gold or diamonds. In fact, Greek historian Pliny tells of a pair of pearl earrings owned by Cleopatra, two single pearls, valued at approximately $9M in today’s currency.

To cast your pearls before pigs is to toss what is most valuable, as though it were nothing, before those who have no understanding or interest in it. To treat the Kingdom of God and the message of Jesus as though it were empty of value.

In 1 Cor 2:12-16, Paul speaks about those who do not accept or understand the things of God:

1 Corinthians 2:12–16 ESV

12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Until the Holy Spirit begins the work of transforming someone, the things of the Spirit are folly and incomprehensible to them. If a dog attacks with hostility, a pig tramples indiscriminately.

If the Gospel of the Kingdom is a proclamation of a treasure, then we must be good stewards of that proclamation. So let’s return to the example of Jesus in the Gospels and learn the good judgment of discretion by

III. Exiting the filthy pigsty

The Gospel gets trampled - muddied, dirtied, cheapened, and its worth ends up getting hidden when we act as though mechanically tossing it to those who have no interest is all it’s worth.

This requires wisdom, and that means we need the Holy Spirit’s help. How do I know when I must exit a conversation, and why?

Ask: Have I made the Gospel clear? If not, I must. <<ELABORATE>>

Has this person responded to the clear proclamation of Jesus Christ crucified and raised for our salvation with indifference or what appears to be willful opposition?

If the answer is yes, then I am not just asked but commanded to exit the pig-sty, but pray & continue showing love to this person. Not to give up, but to give them up to God. Remind them of the Gospel when opportunities arise (ask the LORD to give opportunities), and reevaluate accordingly

It is our calling - every Christian’s calling - to proclaim the Gospel in word & deed, but it is not our job to open ears or hearts.

At the same time, Jesus tells us that “the fields are white for the harvest,” so we must not be so invested in those who refuse to hear that we miss opportunities among those who are ready to hear the Gospel.

IV. Avoiding the senseless dogfight

The Gospel gets devoured & we get bitten - false teaching, anti-Gospel lies, persecution, abuse - when we fail to exercise the good judgment of discretion.

Called instead to avoid the senseless dog-fight. How do I know? Again, requires wisdom & that means we must pray for the Spirit to help us, and trust Him and His Word.

Ask: Have I made the Gospel clear? If not, I must.

Has this person responded to the clear Gospel with hostility, hatred, abuse, or what appears to be sabotage of the message?

If the answer is yes, then I must prayerfully, and lovingly, refuse to be goaded into a fight.

“I love you, and I pray God will change your heart. If that happens, I’ll be the first to share more with you. But I can’t change your heart."

IMPORTANT: The good judgment of discretion is not a final statement about any individual. We are not to write people off as dogs or pigs permanently, but to protect what is holy and steward what is precious - to seek first the Kingdom of God.

When Jesus refused to answer the Pharisees’ question in Matthew 21, He did not write them off permanently.

The Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, and the people called out “Crucify him!”, and then as they mocked Him on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

And in Acts 2, when Jesus sends the Holy Spirit upon the weak and fearful disciples, Peter and the others preach the Gospel to a crowd filled with many of the same people - the ones who had called for His crucifixion and mocked Him.

Filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter said

Acts 2:22–24 ESV

22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.

These same ones, the ones who attacked Him, who raged like vicious dogs, with the passage of time and the work of the Holy Spirit,

Acts 2:37–41 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

And here, we see the result of prizing the Kingdom above all. Jesus, His people, and His message are too important to give them to the dogs and cast them before the pigs. But Jesus can turn a dog into a disciple, and a pig into a preacher.

<<PRAY>>