142 - Logs, Dogs and Pearls

You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?

Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.

Welcome to More Than Ink. Adriene- Hey, didn't Jesus say, don't judge so that you won't be judged? Pete Well, I don't think it quite goes like that. Adriene- Really?

How do you know? Pete Well, because it's in the Bible and hey, it's in the Sermon on the Mount, and we're going to read it today. Adriene- Oh, you mean we should check it?

Pete Yeah, we're going to read it in context and find out what it really means today on More Than Ink. Well, good morning. You found us again. I'm Jim.

Adriene- And I'm Dorothy. Pete And you found More Than Ink, where we propose that what you read on the page of the Bible is Adriene- More than just what's written there. Pete More than just what's there. Yeah, because Paul encouraged us that all scripture is inspired by God and it's profitable for teaching, proof, correction, training, righteousness, that we might be fully equipped. So that's why we're here. We have a great belief in reading the word for ourselves and we hope that you are developing a hunger to read it for yourself as well. It's not just for experts.

It's not just for professionals. So that's why we're here. And so what are we studying still? Adriene- Well, we're in the Book of Matthew. We are partway through the Sermon on the Mount, actually the next week or two we're going to finish that up. And you know, while you were talking about More Than Ink, the word, we, the Sermon on the Mount, of course, is the words of Jesus, who is himself identified as the word of God made flesh. So, you know, this picture of the word, the communication of God is much larger than just the words on the page, the ink on the paper. Pete Yeah, and you know, the whole concept of words from an ancient perspective is more than just communication.

I mean, it's like synonymous with command. Adriene- Well, and a statement of truth. Pete And a statement of truth, the way things really are, yeah. And I like to point out that when the universe was created in Genesis 1, it started from a word, from God. Adriene- God said, and it was. Pete Yeah, so this isn't, these words from God are not just a description of the way things truly are.

They actually are the source of the reality of these things. Adriene- The reality, yeah. Pete Yeah, it's really amazing. Well, okay, we're in, we are right in the middle kind of, well, no, we're a little past middle now on Sermon on the Mount. Adriene- Well, yeah, but you know, it's easy to read the Sermon on the Mount thinking that it's a whole bunch of little disconnected chunks. Pete Yeah, right.

Adriene- But there is a connection through all of it, and hopefully that'll become a little clearer as we work our way through this today. Pete Yeah, yeah. So again, if you're joining with us, we're reading out of the ESV version.

It's best if you have that same version. If you don't, just kind of listen. Adriene- Yeah, just for simplicity. Pete You'll be trying to match words as we go.

But we're in the ESV, and we're starting into chapter seven, which is the last of the three chapters of the Sermon on the Mount. So here we go. Adriene- Okay. Pete You want to take it for us?

Adriene- Yep. Judge not that you be not judged, for with the judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, you will be measured back to you. Why do you see the speck that's in your brother's eye but do not notice the log that's in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, when there's a log in your own eye? You hypocrite.

First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Pete Okay, that's pretty good. Adriene- Let's stop there. Pete Yeah.

So this very first verse is probably the, maybe the best known verse of the entire New Testament. Adriene- Yeah, and it's often misapplied. Pete And it's misapplied.

Yeah. I mean, anytime you get to a point in life where you're starting to make a value judgment about either behavior or morals or ethics or something like that, someone will say, Hey, doesn't the Bible say judge not lest you be judged? And they think it's kind of a call for non discernment that you can't, you know, you can't separate. In fact, Adriene- You can't apply any discerning thought.

Pete Yeah. And this word actually does mean to separate or to distinguish between two different things. Well, we're certainly not supposed to be blind to that.

I mean, that's just, just, that's just silly. So, so what is he really saying if it's not prohibitive, it's not prohibitive against judging altogether? Adriene- Well, you know, even in English, we use the word judge a couple of different ways, right? Because we expect people to have sound judgment. But we don't expect them to judge someone as condemned without proper evidence to render a verdict.

That comes from authority. So, you know, we have to be careful that we understand who's Jesus talking to and what's he talking about? He's talking to human beings in their relationships with one another, because God judges us all by the same standard. Pete And that's for sure. Adriene- His own perfect righteousness.

So none of us has a right to judge one another in that regard. But, you know, we're talking to a crowd that was mixed, everyday Jews, and then the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees who regarded themselves as the professionally righteous and made it a habit to judge one another's, the quality of one another's righteousness. So I think that's probably what he's aiming at.

Pete- Yeah. And you know what I do when I read this, like I said, people will quote the first verse and just the first verse of the content. What I normally do so you can get the feel for what he's talking about here is I do a run on sentence between one and two. And this is how I would read it. I'd say, judge not that you be judged with the judgment that you pronounce when you judge and the measure that you use against others. So he's saying basically, it's not prohibiting judging. He's saying, if you judge, you are going to be judged the same way you judge other people. So if you want it to be a fair judgment on you, it better be a fair judgment that you bring to other people. So it's not prohibiting judging. Adriene- I don't believe he's talking about God judging us. He's talking about the way we judge one another as human beings. You walk around pointing the finger at other people and saying, you're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong. That's what you're going to get back.

Mark- Yeah. And so in short form, what he's saying, if you want to be judged fairly, you better judge fairly. And that's really what he's getting at. Because when you go all the way through verse five, it's all about that. It's about you're going to bring judgment on yourself in exactly the same way you're bringing judgment on other people.

Adriene- Well, then he goes into the log and the spec idea. Because we don't see ourselves very clearly. And it's real easy to pick out a teeny weeny little fault in someone else when we have a massive disability in that area ourselves.

And I mean, human experience just proves this out. Those things that we are most sensitive to the unfairness of in other people are very often the places where we ourselves tend to be unfair. Mark- And isn't it interesting that we are probably less aware of our shortcomings Adriene- Sure.

Mark- Than we are of the shortcomings of other people. Adriene- Because we all have blind spots caused by those telephone poles in our life. Mark- Yeah, so if he's saying, if you lean forward and say, let me get that out of your eye for you.

And I mean, you're actually blinded maybe by the same thing. Adriene- Well, you're going to smack somebody with a telephone pole in your eye if you are leaning forward to take the spec out of theirs. Mark- And you know, he's not being literal about this telephone pole in your eyes. Adriene- Imagery. Mark- But it's kind of a semi humorous imagery. Like, you know, if you're going to take out a tiny thing in someone else's life, you got to be aware that you could be totally blind to yourself to the same thing.

And it's much bigger. Adriene- Well, and he says, you hypocrite, right? Because so that assumes that you're aware of the fact that you're covering something up, right? A hypocrite is full of their own, they cover with a mask, right? They can behave well on the outside and are completely, Jesus said, you're full of dead men's bones.

Mark- They're not really being authentic about where they are inside. Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right. You know, so, so in fact, while you're at the hypocrite verse in five, that's what's interesting. He says you hypocrite, which means you know, you've got a problem with it. But he says, he says, take the log out of your own eye.

And then you can see clearly enough to take the spec out of your brother's eye. Now, that's a, that's actually an endorsement, in a way of being discerning in other people's lives. He's just got to make sure that your side of the equation is clear before you do that. Adriene- Well, and you know, this is connects, I think, to something he had said earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, when he said, you know, when you come to bring your offering, and there remember that your brother has something against you go and make it right with your brother before you come. And you know, he's, he's aiming at bringing our internal self and our external behavior into consistency. Right? Be who you are in your heart, right?

What's in your heart is going to come out of your actions. So yeah, yeah, be aware. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, this, you know, this reminds me of the scene with the woman caught in adultery. And in that whole thing, Jesus says, Okay, then, well, you know, whoever has no sin cast the first stone, who is without the sin?

Yeah. So it's, it's like, yeah, see, there's judgment there. They are judging her.

But Jesus is saying, Yeah, well, you might have logs in your own eyes. And, you know, when he says that stone thing, it cuts them to the quick and they understand. I mean, they're honest about themselves. Well, it's interesting, because in her case, they were vicious and anxious that she should be condemned.

Right. And so they were just waiting for blood, in essence. Yeah, they weren't there for justice. No, not at all. They were using they were using her to trap Jesus using using justice as kind of an excuse to trap Jesus, which is just horrible.

I mean, it's just horrible. And so what he's really asking us to do is that is that when we when we when we do interact in each other's lives when it comes to sin or shortcomings and stuff like that, just just make sure you're kind of squared away in that rather than you're using this interaction to elevate yourself. Right.

And put them down. Right. Yeah.

Which I think maybe connects into the next little segment a little bit, but we'll get that back. Yeah, it is. It's highly connected.

It's highly connected. Yeah. That's what I meant when I said we think of this section as a bunch of little chunks, but it's not. No, because you know, Jesus is aiming in a few sentences down the road to whatever you wish others to do to you to also to them. That's the law and the prophets. So he's talking about how we relate to one.

How we relate. It just dawned on me another good example, not just the woman caught in adultery, but but David after the Bathsheba affair, Nathan comes to him, and Nathan tells him this story about the sheep and the lambs and the rich guy taking the poor guy's lamb, all that kind of stuff. And David looks at that story.

It's a made up story, right? But he looks at that story. And he's incensed by the story. He says that's just really unjust.

And yet he's standing there in the injustice of what he's done with Bathsheba and Uriah. So it's like, how can he not see that this is where he's at? That's that blindness in a way. So then when Nathan points his finger at him and says, hey.

It says you're the man. You're the guy. Yeah.

And then he goes, oh, yeah. So that's a really good example of us being blind to our own shortcomings. So you just got to take care when you do that. Well, you know, if you offer advice to people, verse six, to help them out.

Yeah. Use some discernment about who you give it to. So we need to read this because verse six says, do not give dogs what's holy and do not throw your pearls before pigs lest they trample them underfoot and turn and attack you. Okay, so this little verse is taken out and used in a lot of different ways. Boy, no kidding.

So famous. But there's contrasts here. There's dogs and what's holy and there's pigs and what's precious. Dogs and pigs had specific meanings or understandings attached to them in Jesus' day. Dogs were vicious, were hungry.

In the scriptures they're portrayed as howling and prowling and looking for prey and they have no morality. To call someone as a dog is an utter term of contempt. So I would encourage you if you are learning to use your concordance, look up dog and dogs and just read where they show up in the scripture.

It will give you a well-rounded picture of the reputation of a dog. Yeah, that's right. Well, and pigs are really familiar with pigs and pig styes and pig pens. Okay, but God said flat out, don't eat the flesh of the swine because it's unclean for you. Right, right. And here he says if you cast, it's just a stupid picture to take pearls, something that precious and valuable and throw them to a pig and all they're going to do is walk all over them. Because a pig, it's against his nature to be interested in pearls. Right, right. And it's totally unacceptable and has no meaning to a pig.

Yeah, I mean we catch the picture. But what he is saying is you do have some truth that can be useful to people, but you need to be discerning because some people it's just not going to land with them. In fact, it reminds me when Paul was in Ephesus in Acts, middle of Acts, he was in Ephesus and he was having a really good time, a really productive time and talking with people and he used the synagogue there to do it and he was in the synagogue for a long time. But then it turned out that a bunch of guys in the synagogue started opposing him actively and he decided we got to move venues, we can't stay here in the synagogue, we need to go.

This is when he went to the school of Tyrannus, my old dinosaur joke. But he went to the school of Tyrannus and it says there deliberately that he pulled away from those people. So in a real sense what he was doing was he was taking his pearls and the holy things and moving away from the people that didn't, that really didn't get it and they went to a private place and then for several years taught the people who did get it. So he was using discernment there in terms of his listeners is all my point I was trying to say. So verse one says judge not lest you be judged, but it doesn't say stop discerning. You need to discern and here's an act of encouragement to discern because you know, you know the character of dogs and you know the character of pigs and you wouldn't do this. So just be discerning on who you know would be receptive or not receptive to truth.

Yeah. I'm thinking there's even more here but I haven't thought it through clearly enough to stick your neck out through. Well I'm just thinking about what's holy being separated, right, sanctified, set apart for God's purpose so you don't take what's set apart for God's purpose and fling it to those who have no interest in God's purposes. I'm kind of rambling all around here.

Well I'll give you another modern example. I'm a big fan of Jews for Jesus the ministry and what they teach their people to do especially when they go out and do cold calling is to, the first step is to find out people who are just interested in spiritual things and if they're not you just let them go. You don't pound them you know with the real gospel stuff. You wait, you see do you have any interest in spiritual things and you see if they do and you kind of work your way into the holy things, you know into the pearls.

But if their first stuff is nah got no interest in that they just turn away. So that's kind of on the spot discernment about who can be receptive to the gospel and it's not abusive it's just saying you know there will be people who will be productive to hear the gospel you're just not one of them, at least not today. So that's how they do it. I wonder too if there isn't maybe a little hint here of the fact that the the self-proclaimed righteous ones regarded oh what they had to say as holy and precious right they were bestowing pearls essentially on everybody they talked to which were contaminated with their judgment right. Oh yeah sure. Like you know let me let me speak you a little holy word you know and take that speck out of your own eyes. So I wonder if this isn't a little bit he's talking to them.

It could be yeah. That's a different slant on this passage and like I said I have to keep thinking that through but yeah but it would be consistent with Jesus to be to be saying the same thing that could be heard with a different heart intent by different people so that the professionally righteous ones might see themselves here. Yeah could be well let's push on verse seven why don't you take us down to verse seven. Okay ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened or which one of you if his son asks him for bread will give him a stone or if he asks for a fish will give him a serpent if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him. Wow this is great all I have to do is pray and God gives me what I ask for. So it's not always clear in English but ask seek and knock those are continuous actions right that's an attitude of continually pursuing something right right so you know the question is what is it you're pursuing what are you after what is it you want access to right you're not going to adore you want what's inside yeah right yeah yeah and and this also I like the fact that this is uh it narrows down the option to ask me is just in the general universe God I want to be happy seek you kind of say well God I think this would be happy it's like it's like you're pursuing a specific avenue in a way that's the seeking and the knocking is here's the door here's the door let me in so it's sort of a narrowing down so he's not saying that's the process but he is saying that at any level of your need whether it's very specific to very broad and he's covering that whole spectrum you can ask God ask your father ask your father and which is interesting because he had said just a little while before you know your father knows what you need before you ask him right when he was talking about anxiety a little while before or more worry so you're good your father is good and he will give you good things if you ask him yeah and he uses this great contra example like like you know he talks about you know would a father you know when the son asks for bread you know give him a rock does that make any sense no you wouldn't do that and you're you're you know you're sinful people yeah we know better than that ask for a fish give him a server no no no no so if if you who are evil that's the you know right this sinful generation if you know how to good know how to give good gifts well what how much more does God how much more does God so if if you think it's like a waste of time to take your needs and your requests your supplications and bring them to God you're misunderstanding the heart of this father right yeah I mean you're way underselling who he is because even if even a sinful father in our experience would answer in the positive it's just a great encouragement to pray well yeah and to take your every need because God is not going to defraud you God is not going to give you something that looks like it might be good but it's really a fake right right or God is not going to fool you he's not out to give you something that that pretends to be what it's not right he wants to give good things to those who seek him because he's our father yeah and he gives good things to those who ask him so that's that counteracts what I said kind of silly at the beginning whatever asks God he's got to give it to me right well what if I'm asking for things that aren't good for me will he answer that is it he's talking in this continual attitude of keep asking your father he's the only place to go for those resources you need and he will respond by giving it that is his attitude to give and care for you so you know what are you seeking and who are you seeking it from yeah but I was saying what if I asked for things that aren't good because it says he'll give good things to those who ask him well what if I ask in my ignorance things that are not good for me well God will basically say no because he gives good things which is ultimately good for us exactly that's right so so this isn't this isn't a formula for saying if I pray God will give me what I ask for it's not but it does say that he will give us good things when we ask him and that's that's the important thing and this is this verse right here these verses have trained me to kind of generalize my prayers beyond my specifics to go backward almost almost in a vague way saying God I just want to be happy but that's a silly example but I mean instead of saying I think I've found the solution to my happiness God give me this you know I want that new motorcycle I step back and say no I want contentment from you from whatever you can give me I want good things from you and I can't even conceive of what those good things are well you know that goes back to when he was talking about prayer a couple of weeks ago about you know give us today our daily bread give us what we need for today what will sustain life and feed us and care for us today and you are the best judge of that father yeah exactly exactly so let him be the judge of what's good for you well let's round this out a very famous passage I'll read this for us real quick we're at verse 12 so whatever you wish that others would do to you do also to them for this is the law and the prophets let me just stop there that's the complete summation right it is remember when that young man asked Jesus which is the what's the greatest commandment in the law he said well love the Lord your God quoting Deuteronomy with all your heart soul mind and strength and everything love God and love your neighbor as yourself yeah which is from Leviticus 19 18 so you know that applies back to the way we discern people the way we relate to people even the way we relate to God yeah yeah and I might point out that this there's a version of this I had pre-existed Jesus saying this for quite some time and but it was a negative version I mean it was very common you see it in many cultures where it says you know don't do bad things to others that you don't want done to you right it's a negative sense it's kind of a restrictive sense but here when Jesus turns it into the positive he's saying you need to think about all the positive things that you could do for somebody else not just what don't do but think about all the great stuff you could do well that's how you need to treat other people because your heavenly father does that he sends rain and sunshine on everyone right he had already said that in this sermon yeah so go for the positive side okay let's finish this out verse 13 so enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction and those who enter it enter by it are many for the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few wow the narrow and raw there's only two options yep there's this way or that way and you know binary is not a popular word right now but the scripture continually presents this idea there is the good way and there is the way that leads to death and and if you're listening to this where we don't have time to go to the passage but I would encourage you listeners to look at Deuteronomy 30 starting in verse 15 because that's exactly what the Lord says I've said before you two ways a way that leads to life and prosperity and a way that leads to death and adversity so choose the good way yep yeah exactly and and here we have a a similar way of saying it here you know about the mainstream of culture you know and so what he's saying you can go with the mainstream of culture that's the that's the wide way drift with the current you'll drift right along with wherever they're going but there is a way that is not mainstream in a simple culture it's not mainstream and it's a narrow way and that will lead you to a better end so you know he uses the word gate yes twice and a gate is an excess point from one place to another one place to another and if you want to get to what's on the other side of the gate you must go through that pinch point you must pay the toll in essence you have to deal with the gatekeeper yeah yeah and that's what's interesting he says you can be on a path that at the end of that path there's a gate to something else and what he's saying is that path you choose right now right will determine which gate which gate you come to that's a big big deal and uh so you know paul says don't be conformed to this world would be transformed have your mind transformed so that's what he's saying here is you you need to get out of the mainstream you need to get out of the mainstream culture because it's fallen and sinful and it's headed to a gate that you don't want to get to but if you go on the narrow path and he'll define that in the next section in fact you're on the narrow path well you'll find life well that's what i want but it may not be popular and it may not be mainstream that's the problem that's why it's hard not because the good works are hard but you're going against the flow of everyone else and it won't be popular well oh gosh we're at the end of our time again well yeah it just occurs to me while we're talking here about the the narrow gate and the broad gate is that jesus is kind of entering the final phase of this sermon and that's really where he's gonna finish is with the house built on the rock or the house built on the sand so that's the teaser for what's coming next week oh yeah chapter seven and in fact believe it or not when we come back next time he's going to introduce us to people who are actively engaged in putting us on the wrong path yeah the wrong path very sneaky people who know how to do that who are actively engaged in getting us off the narrow path uh it's amazing so come back with us next time we're going to continue in fact we're going to not only continue the sermon on the mount we're going to finish the sermon on the mount next time as we take a look at the last half of chapter seven and again many things that will look very familiar to you but don't turn off your brains this is really great great stuff wonderful wonderful sermon so come back with us next time i'm jim and i'm dorothy and we're glad you're joining with us and we're glad you're joining with jesus as he's teaching us and we're going to do it again next week on more than ink there are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website morethanink.org and while you're there take a moment to drop us a note remember the bible is god's love letter to you pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink oh hesitate i thought i had another answer in there but this has been a production of main street 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