Jesus assumes the log is in our eye. He doesn't say in those moments when you have a log in your eye. He just assumes that it's there. Why? Because Christian doctrine, listen, teaches that we are completely and totally saturated with sin.
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Are we really not allowed to deem anything as good or bad? Pastor JD answers that question today as he continues our series on the difficult sayings of Jesus. Today, we're going to look at one of the most recognizable things that Jesus ever said. If you have a Bible, I'd invite you to take it out and open it to the Gospel of Matthew, which is the first gospel. We're going to be in the seventh chapter, Matthew 7, verse 1.
Here's again one of the most recognizable things that Jesus ever said: judge not. that you be not judged. If you ask the average guy on the street, to name you two verses in the Bible. This is more than likely one of the two that he is going to come up with, right? Even if they're not a Christian, this is one that they can come up with.
In fact, when we typed in on a Google search, the Bible says not to, the Bible says not to, first option, eat pork. The Bible says not to judge. That's our second one. The Bible says not to get tattoos. That is not true.
It's not true. It's a misinterpretation of an Old Testament passage. The Bible says not to worry. It does say that. Here's my favorite one: the Bible says not.
To eat? Brother, I do not know what Bible you are reading. That is not the Bible that I read. It does not tell me that in any shape, form, or fashion. This is how we do sermon research, ladies and gentlemen.
I went to school for 12 years to figure out how to do that right there. Judge Not is one of the most popular verses in our culture because it seems to fit in with two of our culture's most prized and most basic assumptions. And that is that A, religion is private, and B, morality is relative. And so what that means is that my religion is kind of a personal preference and my moral choices are a personal preference.
So who are you to tell me or who am I to tell you that what you've chosen is wrong? Right? Because we all have preferences. You know, I mean, Coke or Pepsi, Coke, clearly. Waffle House or IHOP, clearly Waffle House.
In my book, there's a definite right or wrong to those questions. But for you, that may not be exactly the same thing.
Well, the same thing that people believe about religion and morality. It's, I found something that works for me, found something that brings peace to my life.
So who are you and who am I to talk to the other person and say you shouldn't believe like that?
So this verse is wielded like a deflective weapon anytime somebody says something that you know that you think you like is, you say something that they like is wrong. And they're like, oh, you know, whip it out like, oh, judge not. I heard Bill Maher on television the other night. Bill Maher, who's not a Christian by any means, pull this out and say, Well, the Bible says, judge not, so you shouldn't be saying something's right or wrong. But is that really what Jesus meant?
Is that really what Jesus meant?
Well, let's read the whole passage because that's one of the first ways to figure out what he meant. Let's read the rest of the passage: Matthew 7, verse 1: judge not that you be not judged. For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Verse 3, why do you see the speck, the speck of dust that's in your brother's eye, but you don't notice the log that's hanging out of your own?
How could you say to your brother, Let me take the speck out of your eye when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite. First take the two by four out of your eye, then you can at least see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. And then this little jewel of a verse: do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and then turn around to attack you. All right, if judge not lest you be judged is music to modern ears.
That last verse has to be the opposite, right? Did Jesus just actually refer to some people as dogs and pigs? I mean, think about it. In one passage, basically, Jesus says, judge not and be careful because some of your friends are pigs, and maybe some of you are as well.
So, what does all this mean? What does this mean?
Well, let's see if we can make some sense out of it because I think there's a lot of beautiful truth in here. First, let's ask a couple questions. What does Jesus mean by judging? What does he mean by judging?
Well, he can't mean that you never tell somebody what they're doing is wrong because Jesus basically spent his whole ministry doing that. In fact, just a few verses after Jesus makes this statement in Matthew 7, just go down like 12 verses, Jesus says this: The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction. Many are going in that way, but the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few. Then he tells them, strive to enter in the narrow gate.
Now, that doesn't sound like a, hey, you know, whatever you want is fine.
However, you want to get to God is fine. Who am I to judge? Later in Matthew, Jesus would tell a group of people, Matthew 22, you are wrong. You're wrong. Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God.
This is not touchy-feely Jesus. In fact, here's how Jesus would characterize his whole life, John 7:7. The world hates me. Why? Because I tell it that its deeds are evil.
Again, this just doesn't sound like the, oh, who am I to correct? You know, Jesus, like hippie walking around in flip-flops or Birkenstocks. You know, say, oh, it's legal in Colorado. I mean, it just doesn't fit that image of Jesus, does it? Jesus' followers, by the way, would do the exact same thing.
John the Baptist lost his head, literally. For calling out Herod's sexual sin. Herod had an alternative view of marriage. And rather than saying, hey, you know what? This is not a big deal.
Herod said, that's not right. It's sinful. And Herod had John the Baptist's head cut off. Paul would tell us. We are to rebuke the works of darkness.
Now, that doesn't fit with this idea that I'm just not supposed to walk around and tell anybody anything's right or wrong.
So it can't mean that.
So what does it mean? Let me give you a couple big ideas. I'd encourage you. I've actually got a good amount of stuff for you to write down today because I think it'll help you. It's hopefully be pretty practical in your relationships.
I'd encourage you to write these things down, so you know, especially so the person next to you won't judge you and think that you're not spiritual because you're not writing things down. Big idea, number one. They haven't heard the sermon, so they can't apply it yet.
So you should just go ahead and. A big idea: number one: you judge somebody. You judge somebody not when you assess their position, you judge them when you dismiss them as a person. You judge someone not when you assess their position, but when you dismiss them as a person. Here's what the Bible says about Jesus.
Listen. God, John 3:17, did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world or judge the world. He sent his son into the world so that the world might be saved through him. Even though, listen very closely, even though Jesus very clearly told some people their works were evil. And made clear to everyone that unless they entered by the narrow gate, they would not make it into heaven.
Even though he said those things, he still did not condemn the world. Why? Because not, listen, not condemning does not mean not telling the truth. It is about casting a person off. after you tell them the truth.
Here's how I'd write that down. It's what you do after you tell someone the truth. that determines whether or not you are judging them. It is what you do after you tell them the truth that determines whether or not you're judging. What did Jesus do after telling us the truth?
He brought us close. He made us his friends. You see, the verse that precedes John 3:17 is John 3:16, which is the other verse everybody knows. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son.
So God looked at us in our condemnation. He told us about our condemnation, but then he didn't condemn us because he reached out the hand of friendship and called sinners his friends and gave his life so that they could be saved. That's a big idea. Here's big idea number two. Judging reflects extreme ignorance of our own sinfulness.
That's what Jesus is teaching us in this passage. It reflects extreme ignorance of our own sinfulness. When Jesus talks about the speck in our neighbor's eye, And the log and our own. What's he getting at? What's he getting at?
Is he just telling us not to be blatant hypocrites? Sure. He is saying that we should not berate people for the very things that we're guilty of. This is the guy who lectures his small group about not tithing when he's cheating on his taxes, or lectures you about not treating your wife right when he's looking at porn every night.
So, you know, or when I was growing up, there were people I can remember who would flat condemn you for smoking a cigar because your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Well, they're 150 pounds overweight. And I'm like, bro, why don't you get the Swiss cake roll log out of your eye? you know, before you start talking about the small leaf and everybody else's.
So, yes, yes, he is telling you not to be a blatant hypocrite. That should be obvious. But I think Jesus is getting at much, much more here. I think he is confronting us for failing to grapple. with the depth of our own sinfulness.
This is probably the number one thing that we forget and the number one thing that causes most of our problems. Notice in this passage, listen, that Jesus assumes the log is in our eye. He doesn't say in those moments when you have a log in your eye. He just assumes that it's there. Why?
Because Christian doctrine, listen, teaches that we are completely and totally saturated with sin. Later in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus would say that the human heart is like a diseased Saturated, polluted well, so that everything that comes up out of it is dirty. All the water that comes out of a polluted well is unfit to drink. When I lived, I'm up in New York. The first year I went to college was in New York.
The dormitory that I stayed in, the college I was at, was right beside a big lake. When you got water out of the spigot in the dorm, it smelled like some kind of fish. I don't know what kind of fish, but it was nasty. And so, because we couldn't afford a bottle of water, because we're college students, we had to basically figure out a way to drink that water. And so, my roommate and I figured out if you put enough lemonade in it.
Basically, to the point that you gave it the consistency of maple syrup, then you would no longer taste the fish taste.
Now, had we really taken out the fish? No, all we've done is covered it up. Whatever carcinogen was causing that is still in that water, but we had figured out a way to mask it. What Jesus teaches us, listen to this is very important, that many of us... Just by reason of our personalities.
By reason of our experiences, by reason of parents who maybe taught us certain things, we've learned to contain and we've learned to shape certain parts of our heart, but it does not mean that the disease is not still there. Because all we've done is kind of clothe or kind of perfume something that's down deep and it's saturated. John Owen said it like this: the seed of every sin is in every heart. I realize that that disease is fully, and while I might be able to control a few of the symptoms of my disease, that disease fully and completely saturates me. And what that means, listen, what that means is that when I approach somebody and I'm talking to them about sin, I'm not talking to them about anything that is foreign to me because the seed of every sin is in every heart.
I have the same disease they have. The show, if some of you watched it, Breaking Bad. If you haven't watched it and you're like, what? Don't judge me. That's what this whole sermon's about.
Basically, the gist of this show is: you got a guy who's a normal chemistry teacher, and what happens over the six or seven seasons is he becomes this horrifically bad person. And one of the people that, you know, people, comic critics love the show because what they say is what you keep seeing by means of the flashbacks is all these things that he became were always in him even before he became them. They just never had the opportunity to really begin to show themselves. I realize, listen, the seed of every sin that has ever been committed is in my heart.
So, when I'm looking at someone who has made mistakes, they may never have had the opportunities that I've had to keep those things contained. I'm not looking at a fundamentally different person. I'm looking at somebody who is just like me, and that changes how I approach them. Why? Because, with the judgment I pronounce, I'm going to be judged with that same judgment.
What judgment was pronounced on me? Mercy! Mercy! Should that not change how I approach others? Won't that change my tone?
After telling me the truth, Jesus brought me close. How can that not change the tone with which I approach other people? The antidote to judging verse two is to remember the gospel. To be broken by the gospel, to consider the judgment that Jesus pronounced on your sick, depraved heart. And then brought you close, and then do that the same with others.
Again, I told you I want to make this really practical. Let me just give you a little few things to write down: how you can know when you're judging. This is your judgometer. When you go on, one of these goes off at your judging, all right? And here's number one.
You know, you're judging when you're more enraged at somebody else's sin than you are embarrassed by your own. You're more enraged at somebody else's sin than you are embarrassed by your own. Whose sin are you ticked off at right now? And maybe it's other people in the church. You know, Tietrich Bonhoeffer, I think I've shared this with you before.
Tietr Bonhoeffer said. There's three stages of spiritual maturity in a church, generally speaking. You're listening to this. Your first stage of spiritual maturity. Is when you get disgusted at everybody else's sin in the church.
Maybe some of you are there right now. You're like, oh, it's a bunch of hypocrites and this. He says, you come in and you just see how could these people and all this hypocrisy. He says, that's great. He said, but you're still a spiritual infant at that point.
And just to be clear, that's where a lot of us are. That's why you're so self-righteous. Right? He said the second stage. Of spiritual growth is when you become more disgusted at your own sin than you are at everybody else's.
You're more aware of your own hypocrisy than you are anybody else's in the church, and you're more disgusted at that than anybody's. You would begin to say, Paul, I'm the chief of sinners. It's not that the other people's sin goes away, it's just that you see it and your own is so disgusting. He said, Then at that point, you're ready for stage number three, and that is you re-enter the church, this time not as a Pharisee, but as an actual Christian. A Christian who has received great grace and is now ready to give great grace.
Because you have been a recipient of unbelievable grace, you begin to give it toward others. Whose sin are you more enraged at than you are embarrassed by your own? In your marriage. Can you list out your spouse's sins quicker than you can tell me about where you have sinned against God and against them? See, that's a sign that you're judging.
Number two. You fail to forgive. You fail to forgive. You're saying to somebody when you fail to forgive them, I will not let you off for what you did to me. Even though I know, or at least I'm supposed to know, that God has forgiven me.
Jesus said that is an ignorance of staggering proportions. I mean, he would compare it to the man that has been forgiven of $10 billion. and then turns around and holds somebody else accountable for $1.50. And Jesus would say, How on the world could you have received that kind of mercy and then not? Give mercy to people that way.
That's a sign you've never actually received it. I know people who say, well, I can forgive. But I can't forget. I'm not even sure what that means. That's a distinction without a difference.
Because basically, what that means is, I'm going to say I forgive you so I don't feel guilty anymore. But I'm not gonna forget, which means that it's gonna kind of color my disposition towards you. And the next time we're having an argument, I'll probably bring it back up. And it's going to affect the lens through which I see you. All right.
That's not what forgiveness is. Forgiveness is to do what Jesus did, which is: yes, I confront the wrong, but then I absorb the sting. My wife and I call it spent ammunition. Once that sin has been confessed, I cannot put that in the chamber of my gun any longer and fire it. Because that's already, I've already absorbed.
If I've forgiven, I've absorbed that. I can't use that anymore. You say, well, I can't forget. I can't forget. Forgiving does not mean that you physically cannot remember what happened.
It means that to the best of your ability, by the grace of God. And the grace of God is the only thing that can make this happen. You choose. I will not let this come back up, and I will not let it color my disposition because. I am pronouncing it to be under the blood of Jesus, and I'm no longer going to think about it any longer.
Now, you judge when you fail to do that. You judge, number three, when you cut off those who disagree with you. This is really important, so listen closely, especially if you're. A church person, you cut off those who disagree with you. You're judging when you disagree strongly with somebody.
Over something like, let's say faith. Morality, politics. And because you can't agree on that issue. You cut them off. Basically, you're saying we can't really be friends if we disagree on this.
Do you have issues like that? Do you have issues where you say and they're they're important issues Maybe Jesus is one of those issues. Politics, that's another big one. Maybe it's the pro-life issue. Maybe it's the simpleness of homosexuality.
And you're like, hey, if we can't agree on this, we can't be friends. Let me say something I do not want you to misinterpret. But I think it is exactly what Jesus is teaching here. Listen to this: you have to love the person more than you love your position on a particular issue. I do not mean by that that you will ever compromise the position.
or you will ever fail to state the position clearly. Just that even when they disagree with it You don't cut them off. You say to them basically, yes, this issue is important. I cannot compromise, but I love you more. Then I love being right.
So, even if you don't see things my way. I'm going to keep bringing you close and I'm going to remain committed to you. God has given each human being a certain dignity to make their choices, even when they make the wrong one. And I am respecting that demon. You might not marry who I think you should marry.
You might choose to believe in morality about something. And what it's not talking about church discipline, by the way, but it's just meaning in personal relationships. You are saying to people like Jesus did: even when you turn your back on me, I'm not going to cut you off. You know who the best example of this is? That's an easy question.
Jesus, you know, like um All right, so where is Jesus the best example of this? Judas. Do you remember what Jesus said to Judas after Jesus had betrayed him? Remember, Judas comes to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane? You know what Jesus said?
Judas. Wherefore art thou come? Which is the King James, which I memorized that verse in. Wherefore art thou? Who talks like that anymore, right?
Wherefore art thou come? It's like I've told you, all these verses I memorized in KJ, KJ, wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way. What's a wherewithal? Isn't that a white shirt? That's a wherewithal, right?
But no, it means something else in the KJV. Wherefore, why have you come, Judas? Why have you come? Friend? Was she just being sarcastic there?
Was he like, oh, friend? Look what you did, friend.
Now, uh huh. Scholars tell us what he was doing is even in that moment when he knew exactly why Judas had come. He reached out his hand and said, Friend. Even though you turned your back on me here, even though. You and I disagree on the most important thing ever asked: who is Jesus?
I still call you friend. And to the very end, he came, listen not. to judge. Jesus came to save. And in his dying moments.
He called the one who betrayed him friends, and from the cross he prayed for the forgiveness of those who were driving nails in his hands and his feet. It means you do not cut someone off. after you disagree with it. At Summit Life, our mission is simple but profound. To take people deeper into the gospel and to advance it wider across the world.
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Become a gospel partner today. Visit jdgreer.com or call 866-335-5220. Together, let's bring God's healing and truth to the world. Here's another way to show you're judging. Here's a big one.
You gossip. This is probably the worst one and the one that we all get away with. Because what happens when you gossip? You're talking negatively about somebody's faults without giving them any chance whatsoever to actually address those faults. At least if you're talking to them, they have a chance to address them.
When you're talking to your friend about them, you're talking to a friend who cannot really help them. Even by the way, if you disguise it with, oh, it's a prayer request, let's pray for so-and-so, right? You just pray to God about that privately, okay? God doesn't, he hears it, he already knows about it, so you can tell him about it all day long. Right, you know, when you're gossiping, you are bringing judgment down without bringing any kind of healing.
Number five. You refuse to receive criticism. You say, well, why would that mean that I'm judging?
Well, why do you and I hate criticism? Because we don't like to admit we have faults. But if you understand the gospel, your faults. Really shouldn't surprise you, should they?
Somebody points one out to me and I'm like, I ought to say, well, of course. Let me tell you about a few others you don't even know about. That's not nearly as Good as you think it is. It's way worse. When you say that.
When you understand the gospel. Your faults really don't surprise you. You're not really that embarrassed by them. When you point out my depravity, I'm like, yeah. When you don't receive criticism well, you're putting yourself in a position of perfection.
That's where you like to be. And from that position of perfection, you can judge other people, whether it's your husband, your wife, or people on the outside. See? Again, you're more enraged at their sin than you are embarrassed by your own. But basically, what you think is everybody else has faults and I don't, which is why I don't like to receive criticism.
I like to give it. Number six. This one's really ironic. You judge when you refuse to correct somebody else's position. You're actually judging when you refuse to correct somebody else's position, when you won't tell somebody that God's word says they're wrong.
You know why? Why won't you do that? Either A, you don't really believe... that what God's word said is true. Or B, this is usually the bigger one.
It's no use. They're not going to change. And it's not worth the pain. And the awkwardness of confronting them about their wrong because they're not gonna change. You just condemn the person and written them off, wrote them off as being beyond hope.
Which leads to the last one, number seven. you write somebody off as hopeless. That's what you judge. Who do you think in your life is hopeless? Who have you quit talking to?
Should we serve a Savior? Who raised the dead? And here's a great little thing about being dead. You don't get more dead over time. There's no degrees of deadness.
Right. And we serve a Savior. Who looks into graves and says, come forth. Who in your life is beyond hope? Because that's the person you're judging.
In fact, let me ask this. I'm not expecting everybody to raise their hand. In fact, I don't think everybody should. If at some point in your life, You were considered by somebody else to be hopeless. Why don't you raise your hand right now?
Somebody thought that you were hopeless. Look around at your campus. Look around. You see that? Aren't you glad?
that they didn't give up on you. And why don't you continue to believe? And yes, when they betray you, you extend your hand and say, friend. Friend. See, that's what it means to not judge.
Not judging has nothing to do with not assessing the position. It's quite the opposite. You were assessing the position clearly, like Jesus did, without dismissing the person. I know a guy in our church who this week sat down a group of co-workers and explained to them: if I'm really your friend, I've got to tell you what I believe about the gospel. He did it in an appropriate way in his context.
Some people got offended, I am sure, but he is speaking, see, with grace and truth, because only grace and truth together are gospel speech. I've explained this, haven't I? That's how we describe Jesus, John 1:17. He was filled with grace and truth. A lot of people are filled with truth, but no grace.
That's judgmental fundamentalism. A lot of people are filled with grace but no truth. That's liberal sentimentality. Neither of them are Christian. Christian speech is filled with grace and truth, which means you state the position clearly and you continue to bring them close with grace.
Speaking with grace and truth is the gospel way. Is that what you're doing in your relationships? Is your speech to people who are on the outside or disagree with you? Is it characterized by grace and truth? By the way, to those of you who are unbelievers.
And maybe you're not Christians yet. You've probably seen a lot of us do this really badly. Including me, maybe up here from the pulpit, I've done it quite badly. Why? Because it's so easy for us in you.
And us to forget. How much we've been forgiven of. Almost all of our spiritual problems start growing from that. That's when I assume the position of judge. But when you hear a Christian speak with grace and truth, You see, sometimes you think that we're fanatics because we believe the gospel too much.
It's actually the opposite. We don't believe it nearly enough. Because when you believe the gospel fully, it changes the tone with which you speak. You don't speak as a judge who condemns. You speak with clarity, yes, but you speak as one who's been forgiven.
One who understands, one who never sets himself above, and one who washes feet.
So now we come to verse 6. No, verse 6. Don't give dogs what's holy. Not throw your pearls before pigs. Let's say trample them underfoot and turn to what does that mean?
Well, it can't mean that you just like dismiss everybody that disagrees with you, right? And don't let the awesome pearl of your wisdom don't let them criticize that. But that would miss the entire point of what Jesus just said in verses one through five.
Now, what he's doing, listen to this. This is very important. He's giving you instructions about how to engage people on the outside. But that raises the question: well, I mean, didn't he call them dogs and pigs?
Okay, I'm not Jesus' apologist, you got to take it up with him. But let me give you a little bit of the thinking behind it and just open your mind, if you would. There are different forms of life on earth. Um The more complex the life form, The more it is able to perceive value in certain things. For example, plants are the lowest form of life.
Basically. They're not afraid of the law anymore. Oh, it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt. They don't think like that.
They have no capacity. A dog. An animal is a higher life form, and it is able to perceive some of those things.
So if you've had a dog. Tell the dog it was time to eat, the dog would get excited. You know, he knew exactly what was coming. And so you'd put it out there and it'd jump up and down and it would be excited about it. If I put a pearl, however, before my dog, The dog would sniff the pearl.
Look at me like what is this junk? A pearl is of great value. It could buy that dog 10,000 doggie meals. But they can't perceive the value of the pearl, so you throw it out to them, and they're like, I can't eat this junk.
So then Jesus says they come after you. Because at least you're edible. Right? Humans, however, can recognize the value of pearls.
So, if you give a human a pearl, they're going to say that's of great value, and they're going to take it. Here's the meaning. Listen, throughout the Gospels, Jesus compares the message of his kingdom to a pearl. But there are some people who say who don't have the capacity and to recognize its value.
So they never grasp it even when it's right there in front of them. God has to supernaturally give us eyes to see the things that are really valuable. Just like certain animals don't see value in certain things until we've been given spiritual eyes, we won't see the value of the kingdom. Right? Now, I know, again, if you're not a believer, that's a little insulting, but that's just how Jesus.
I mean, he is not the only time he said it. He called people before he'd given them spiritual eyes, he called them blind. You know, he called him lame. He called him dead. You are in such a condition that God has to give you eyes to see the truth and the beauty of the gospel.
So, what does that mean practically? What does that mean practically for those of us who are, you know, that he's counseling here? Again, I'm gonna give you several practical things. You gotta jot these down. You gotta make prayer your main weapon.
You got to make prayer your main weapon. Why? Because only supernatural power gives sight to the blind. That's why we say, Ian Bounce, we should never try to talk to a person about God without also talking to God about that person. Because it's not me persuading the dog, right, to go back to the dog and out.
I don't persuade him, no, no, listen, this pearl is really valuable. Seriously, let me give you like eight reasons why it's really valuable. I could do it all day long and talk to him because he's got to have a change of nature. Jesus is using this by way of analogy and saying you can talk to them all day long, but until God has given them eyes to see, they're not going to perceive the real value of the kingdom. That's supernaturally, it's spiritually given.
Prayer is the means by which God infuses supernatural power into people. The problem is not that your arguments are not persuasive enough. The problem is, it's got to have spiritual eyes and ears accompany with it before it does any good.
So it is foolish for you to talk to people about God until you're red in the face, unless you're talking to God about people and weeping for them and praying God's supernatural power into them.
So the disciples go out and they're frustrated because they can't cast a demon out. And what's Jesus say to them?
Well, the problem is your points didn't rhyme. You didn't have good illustrations. No. He said, these things come out not but by prayer and fasting. It is your time with God.
In the closet that gives you power in a pulpit. Whether it's this pulpit or whether it's the pulpit sitting around the table with your friends. You got to be sensitive to what people can handle. That's another implication. You got to be sensitive to what they can handle.
That's what Jesus is telling them. I mean, many of these people that he's talking to were pig farmers. They had to feed the pigs. Jesus, I look, sometimes they can't appreciate the pearl yet. Don't give them that yet.
Where do we see Jesus do this? One time Jesus was talking to a crowd. And he just says this. I got many other things to tell you, but you cannot handle them yet. Does that mean Jesus was scared?
Does that mean he was compromising? Do you lack courage? Listen, he just knew that. They weren't ready for that yet, so he was going to start with what they were ready for. and deal with them there and then move out to those other things.
Right? C.S. Lewis does this in Mere Christianity. It's a great book. Every college student, if I were czar of the educational world, you'd have to read it before you graduate.
But C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity, in his chapter on sexuality, he basically lays out. A very traditional biblical view of sexuality: one man, one woman, marriage, monogamous for life. Then he says this. At the end of the chapter, he says, if this really bothers you and you can't get over this.
Why not punt it for a while? Why not deal with the real issue, which is the lordship of Jesus, and then come back and think through the chapter on sexual ethics? Because sexual ethics are not the center of the Christian claim. They are an implication of the Christian claim. The center of the Christian claim is the lordship of Jesus.
I tell that to many of you. I would say that to you. If you're like you Christians, what you believe about morality and sexuality, you have lost your mind, fine. Why don't we punt that for a while? And why don't we just deal with whether or not Jesus is Lord?
And then, why don't we, once we get that question answered, then we'll see where that goes.
Okay? And you've got to do that in relationships. You've got to sometimes punt certain issues so that you can give people what they can handle. Which is why you should seek conversion to Christ before persuasion to your point of view. You and I might disagree on global warming, but let's talk about the gospel.
And I'm going to sometimes mute what I have to say about the former so that I can keep the focus on the latter. See conversion to Christ before your point of view. Learn to adapt your message to your hearer. That's an implication. You got to learn to adapt it.
See, Christians love to speak. without ever learning to listen. DeMartin Lloyd-Jones pointed this out. Do you ever notice that Jesus in the hour of his death? Stood before two guys, Pilate and Herod, and answered them in completely different ways.
Pilate, he answered Pilate's questions. Herod, he stood before him silent. Why? Martin Lloyd-Jones says, You've got to become an expert at knowing when to be silent before Herod and when to answer a pilot's questions. And you do that by listening.
Or Jesus in John chapter 11. Here's another one. Jesus in John chapter 11, Lazarus dies. Lazarus has two sisters, Mary and Martha. Both of them come to Jesus and say the exact same thing.
Lord, if you'd been here, my brother would not have died. To Martha, Jesus gives a theological answer. To Mary, he weeps. Why the different reaction? 'Cause different People needed different things.
There is a time when you give a theological answer to somebody that's suffering. There's a time when you put your arm around them, you just weep. And you learn that by listening. Which is another implication. We've got to devote ourselves to listening before speaking.
I told you my mechanic. I love this guy because he always, we'll take 45 minutes to try to get me to tell him what's wrong with my car. Is that make that sound again? He's an old country boy. I'm like, you know, he's like.
Uh What's it doing when you turn on a corner? You know, he's like, He's like, oh, he always gets it right. He always gets it right because he takes time to listen. A big part of this whole thing in applying verse 6 is you learning to listen. Being patient with the pace of God in somebody's life.
Jesus said, I love the person. regardless of whether they agree with the issue. I love them. You know, make people projects. friendship and you're patient with the pace of God in somebody's life, it's okay.
to back out of destructive relationships. That's an implication. I'm thinking here in terms of evangelism. He is saying that if you were going to change others, It's because you were willing to be torn like he was. That is how God often works.
Judging and not judging begins with you understanding the gospel. The gospel is that God brings. God brings forgiveness. God brings life. And you and I, John 3:17, I didn't come into the world to condemn the world.
I came to the world that might be saved. And that might mean that I get torn. And that might mean That I get thrown in prison. I might get hit, my head cut off for telling the truth, but I am telling the truth filled with grace because after I tell the truth, I'm not judging, I am bringing you close. Point people to Jesus.
That's what we need to do. a solid and much needed word today from Pastor J.D. Creer. Remember, you can find additional free resources by visiting janiegre.com. Thanks again for listening.
We'll see you next time. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Yeah.
