WEBVTT 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:08.640 Hello, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning in to New Sung Churches Podcast. 00:00:08.800 --> 00:00:15.359 We're a gospel center church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.320 May God bless you today through his life-giving word. 00:00:20.079 --> 00:00:24.239 This is the holy gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew. 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:26.879 Glory to you, Lord Christ. 00:00:28.079 --> 00:00:33.759 And Jesus said, Do not judge, so that you won't be judged. 00:00:34.079 --> 00:00:43.759 For you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:52.399 Why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, but do not notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 00:00:52.640 --> 00:01:00.240 Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the splinter out of your eye, and look, there's a beam of wood in your own eye. 00:01:00.560 --> 00:01:01.759 Hypocrite. 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:10.719 First, take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your brother's eye. 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:22.560 Don't give what is holy to dogs, or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under your their feet, turn and tear you to pieces. 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.879 Ask, and it will be given to you. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.760 Seek, and you will find. 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:12.719 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them. 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:17.199 For this is the law and the prophets. 00:02:18.800 --> 00:02:20.560 The gospel of the Lord. 00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:23.199 Praise to you, Lord Christ. 00:02:24.080 --> 00:02:29.520 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them. 00:02:29.840 --> 00:02:32.719 For this is the law and the prophets. 00:02:32.960 --> 00:02:34.240 Let's pray. 00:02:40.560 --> 00:02:46.560 Gracious Lord, grant that we would behold by faith your presence in righteousness. 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:53.120 Grant that when we see your likeness, we will be satisfied. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:02:56.639 For you alone can satisfy. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:05.840 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be always pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:06.800 Amen. 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:08.800 And please be seated. 00:03:18.719 --> 00:03:27.199 So over the course of the fall, and it is still fall, despite what it looks like outside right now, we've been journeying through the Sermon on the Mount. 00:03:27.919 --> 00:03:32.319 Jesus, the pinnacle, let's say, of Jesus' teaching here on earth. 00:03:32.479 --> 00:03:46.719 And we've been learning what it is to live life according to Jesus, to see God's kingdom breaking into our lives and in our world and transforming it, reordering it. 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:56.479 And we've noticed throughout Jesus' whole sermon that the presupposition here is that God's kingdom will reorder our life as we understand it. 00:03:56.639 --> 00:03:58.000 It will transform us. 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:08.400 And it will do that not from the outside in, not by changing the structures of society around us, and then it all just filter down to us as individuals. 00:04:08.560 --> 00:04:18.639 It starts by breaking into our own hearts, by renewing us from the inside out, by turning us into disciples who follow Jesus. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:27.279 And then through us, it reorders the world around us more and more into the conformity of God's kingdom. 00:04:27.600 --> 00:04:34.560 God's kingdom is doing a transforming work, but it's beginning in our hearts and working outwards. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:45.920 And as we enter into what's sort of the final section of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, we see this same principle carried forward. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:50.000 We see that God's kingdom is reordering our hearts. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:05:11.439 And when it reorders our hearts, it takes us from a posture of self-righteous superiority, let's say, judge what's judgmental, and it reorders us towards grace, the sort of grace that we receive in Christ. 00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:16.319 Now I know what you're thinking, Christians are never judgmental. 00:05:19.360 --> 00:05:21.439 Okay, maybe I'm wrong about that. 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:32.000 If it's true that what Christians are most often faulted for is for being judgmental, then perhaps we would do well to take these words to heart. 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.279 And not just take it to heart in such a way that we go, I'll do better next time, Lord. 00:05:37.839 --> 00:05:59.680 But perhaps consider that Jesus has a word for us that is a transforming word, a word that can penetrate our hearts and renew us from the inside out, incline us away from self-righteous superiority and towards this wonderful, wild thing called grace, and see the difference that that makes. 00:05:59.920 --> 00:06:09.439 God's kingdom is reordering our hearts from being judgmental to being gracious, and what an amazing thing it is to discover God's grace. 00:06:09.600 --> 00:06:11.519 So here's what I want us to see this morning. 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:19.680 Very simply, God's heart is going to reorder, God's kingdom is gonna reorder a judgmental heart, and God's kingdom is going to deepen a gracious heart. 00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:23.759 That's what Jesus wants us to see this morning in Matthew 7. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:26.639 So open up your Bible, open up your order of service. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.079 Let's have a look at Matthew 7, 1 to 12. 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:37.839 First off, we're gonna see God's kingdom reorders a judgmental heart. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.639 Put very simply, verse 1, do not judge, Jesus says. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:46.240 I could conclude the sermon there, and some of you would say, Amen. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:49.519 Well, there's a few questions we want to ask, right? 00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:50.959 Well, what does it mean to judge? 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:52.560 What do we mean by judge? 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:55.360 Does that mean we never make any moral distinctions? 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:56.720 Don't judge, right? 00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:59.279 It's like, well, I got sin in my life, they've got sin in their life. 00:06:59.439 --> 00:07:02.399 I guess I can't, you know, I'm not gonna make any moral distinctions. 00:07:02.560 --> 00:07:04.480 I don't think that that's what we're talking about here. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:12.399 Elsewhere in John chapter 7 or Luke chapter 12, Jesus commands us to judge, but judge with right judgment. 00:07:12.560 --> 00:07:15.439 So there's at least two senses in which we can use this word judge. 00:07:15.519 --> 00:07:22.800 There's a sense of making moral distinction between what's right and what's wrong, what pleases the Lord and what doesn't please the Lord, right? 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:25.120 What conforms to his kingdom and what doesn't. 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:32.639 And then there's the sort of judging that goes with condemnation or a sense of superiority. 00:07:33.040 --> 00:07:36.399 Maybe that's the sort of judgmentalism that we're talking about. 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:54.560 There is a sort of judgment, a right sort of judgment, that calls a spade a spade, right, that recognizes there is this distinction between the good that pleases God and the evil that does not, and makes these distinctions not with a motive of superiority, right? 00:07:54.639 --> 00:08:01.920 I'm so much better than this, but with a motive of restoring what's good and seeing what's good preserved. 00:08:03.040 --> 00:08:13.120 The church reformer John Calvin says that he who judges according to the word and law of the Lord and forms his judgment by the rule of charity, right? 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:22.399 The rule of love, always begins with subjecting himself to examination and preserves a proper medium and order in his judgments. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:23.680 So what's Calvin saying? 00:08:23.759 --> 00:08:30.160 He says the first thing we do to analyze our motives when we're judging is, am I subject to this same judgment? 00:08:30.319 --> 00:08:42.080 Am I subject to this same standard, or am I just offering condemnation towards others as if I'm the ultimate and righteous judge of all things on heaven and on earth? 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:42.879 Right? 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:48.480 How easy it is to fault others and exonerate ourselves. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:09:03.919 That's exactly what Jesus warns against as he continues don't judge so that you won't be judged, for you will be judged by the same standard with which you judge others, and you will be measured by the same measure you use. 00:09:06.559 --> 00:09:13.759 I'm thinking about all the times I get cut off in traffic, and I never have gracious words for people who cut me off in traffic. 00:09:13.840 --> 00:09:16.080 I'll just freely confess that right now. 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:21.679 But if I stop long enough, I think about all the times I've cut others off in traffic. 00:09:22.080 --> 00:09:23.440 And what is it that I think? 00:09:23.679 --> 00:09:26.159 I think, well, I'm running behind. 00:09:26.240 --> 00:09:28.159 I got places to be, you know? 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:35.120 It's so easy to exonerate myself for the same thing that, you know, is a moral outrage if it's done to me. 00:09:35.519 --> 00:09:36.320 Does that make sense? 00:09:36.480 --> 00:09:39.519 I mean, that's that's a trivial enough example of that. 00:09:39.759 --> 00:09:46.240 But surely in life we know what it is to find fault with others and fail to recognize that same fault in ourselves. 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.440 We fault others and exonerate ourselves all the time. 00:09:49.519 --> 00:09:52.240 And Jesus warns us don't do that. 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:55.360 Because with the same standard you judge, you will be judged. 00:09:55.440 --> 00:09:56.879 And judged by whom? 00:09:57.120 --> 00:10:06.559 Well, judged by God, judged by the righteous judge, judged by the one who knows us better than we know ourselves, knows our motives, knows our actions. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:19.759 If we were judged simply by the measure with which we judged others, surely we ourselves would be condemned even by our own measure, let alone the measure of God's own righteous judgment. 00:10:21.679 --> 00:10:23.840 Be careful, Jesus says. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:27.600 With the measure you use, it'll be measured against you. 00:10:27.759 --> 00:10:31.519 And then Jesus gives us very vivid and, frankly, kind of gross image. 00:10:31.679 --> 00:10:33.679 And maybe it's gross because I'm weird about eye stuff. 00:10:33.759 --> 00:10:36.639 Even like zoom up close-ups and eyes and movies, I'm like, ooh. 00:10:36.799 --> 00:10:39.440 Uh so this is gonna be a lot for me, but here we go. 00:10:39.679 --> 00:10:46.240 Uh why do you look at the splinter in your brother's eye, but don't notice the beam of wood in your own eye? 00:10:46.399 --> 00:10:52.720 Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the splinter out of your eye and look, there's a beam of wood in your own eye. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:54.639 What's Jesus' word for this? 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:56.399 Hypocrite. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:10:57.360 Right? 00:10:57.600 --> 00:11:01.200 That's the Greek word for like actor, right? 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:07.200 You're playing a role, you're pretending you're outwardly you're something else than you are on the inside. 00:11:07.519 --> 00:11:15.679 First, take the beam of wood out of your eye, and then you will see clearly how to take the splinter, right? 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:18.879 The speck out of your brother's eye. 00:11:19.360 --> 00:11:22.480 Hypocrite is Jesus' word for us, and that's harsh. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:29.200 But how easy it is to fault others for the thing that we ourselves are guilty of. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:48.240 I remember very vividly being in 12th grade and being ready to graduate, and maybe you're a little bit checked out in 12th grade, but you know, uh, I remember sitting in music class and and you're kind of packed together because you've got all your instruments, and anyway, and I forget what we were talking about, and I forget what the context was. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:11:50.080 It doesn't really matter. 00:11:50.320 --> 00:11:58.639 But whatever smart alec comment I made, I remember uh a friend of mine turns to me and goes, you know, Green, you're a really judgmental person. 00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:03.200 And and I felt so angry at that. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:05.120 No, I'm not, is what I said. 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:10.320 And and by that point, folks had kind of clued in and ears had kind of turned, and I said, No, I'm not. 00:12:10.559 --> 00:12:15.519 And I remember everyone erupted in laughter, as if I'm completely oblivious. 00:12:15.759 --> 00:12:17.200 And you know what I walked away thinking? 00:12:17.360 --> 00:12:23.840 I went up, walked away thinking, boy, those are some judgmental people faulting me for being judgmental. 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.320 And honestly, it took years for me to think back on that and go, you know, I think I kind of was. 00:12:28.480 --> 00:12:30.240 And I think I kind of am, truthfully. 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:35.519 I think by way of my own temperament and personality, I'm inclined to be a judgmental person. 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.559 Perhaps we, all of us in our own ways are. 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:42.559 But I was completely absent in mind in that moment. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:48.559 Completely absent of my own fault and only willing to acknowledge the faults in others. 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:56.080 Jesus says don't find the speck in someone else's eye without first removing that plank in your own eye. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:59.279 It begins by recognizing there's a plank in my own eye. 00:12:59.440 --> 00:13:10.320 It begins by recognizing that sin blinds me, blinds me to my own shortcomings, my own faults, my own disobediences and transgressions. 00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:18.559 If I only ever notice the faults in others, but I never deal with my own, then I am blind, like Jesus says. 00:13:18.639 --> 00:13:20.080 I'm a hypocrite. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:24.080 Now, does all this mean we never call out another Christian's sin? 00:13:24.159 --> 00:13:28.559 We just sort of go, well, I've got mine, you've got yours, and you know, that's the way it is. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:40.080 Scripture, I think, rightly tells us that there are times where we need to uh call out sin in a brother or sister's life, or call attention to sin in a brother's sister's life. 00:13:40.240 --> 00:13:48.480 The Apostle Paul writes to Galatians in Galatians 6, if someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:56.399 That process of restoration has to begin by recognizing where there is sin, where there is uh where there is transgression. 00:13:56.559 --> 00:13:59.200 So, yes, we do have to call that out. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:11.600 I mean, Jesus himself doesn't say we'll never remove the speck in our brother's eye, but we should notice the motivation with which Paul is saying we go about this process of restoration. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.559 That if someone is caught in sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently, right? 00:14:16.720 --> 00:14:17.919 It's for their good. 00:14:18.480 --> 00:14:25.360 It's not with a superior, self-righteous attitude towards this person with which we find fault with them. 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:28.159 It's it's for their very best. 00:14:28.399 --> 00:14:32.879 And perhaps what's best for our brothers and sisters begins by me examining my own heart. 00:14:33.120 --> 00:14:36.080 Am I at fault for this very same sin? 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:44.159 Is there something I need to repent of, something that I need to acknowledge before the Lord, something that I need to seek to make restitution over? 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:51.039 See, I think a judgmental attitude is a sure symptom of a self-righteous heart. 00:14:51.200 --> 00:15:04.960 If our heart beats with self-righteousness, a sense of superiority, a sense of how good I am, how moral I am, right, how much better I am and everybody else, then judgmentalism just oozes out of us. 00:15:05.120 --> 00:15:06.240 How can't it? 00:15:06.720 --> 00:15:13.039 That's what comes out of a self-righteous heart, and that's the heart that God wants to reorder. 00:15:13.759 --> 00:15:16.240 And this is very convicting for me. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:20.399 Because, like I say, I'm not kidding when I say I'm inclined towards judging others. 00:15:20.480 --> 00:15:30.960 It's like I'm working through this text this week and I'm reading my commentaries and I'm writing my notes and I'm preparing the sermon, and I'm just thinking of all the people in my life where I think they need to hear this sermon. 00:15:31.200 --> 00:15:35.840 And then the last person I think of is maybe Jesus is speaking to me. 00:15:36.320 --> 00:15:43.200 Maybe he's like, Creighton, if you're gonna be my disciple, don't judge. 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:47.039 Maybe there's sin in my own life that I need to deal with. 00:15:47.440 --> 00:15:50.799 Don't judge is Jesus' imperative to us. 00:15:51.039 --> 00:15:58.080 Now, that is a true application of this principle that we're talking about, but if I left it there and just said, you know, so don't judge. 00:15:58.240 --> 00:16:05.759 Try harder not to judge, that would be about as helpful as a few weeks ago when we heard Jesus say, you know, uh, don't be anxious. 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:07.200 You know, it's like, well, thanks. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:10.159 If I could just turn that switch off, I sure would. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:12.639 What's Jesus getting at here? 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.440 I think he's getting at the very condition of our heart, right? 00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:19.120 This isn't a matter of just behavior modification. 00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:21.919 What does my heart beat and break over? 00:16:22.080 --> 00:16:24.799 What do I find greatest satisfaction in? 00:16:24.960 --> 00:16:28.080 What do the affections of my heart incline me towards? 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:39.519 If I like the feeling of being morally superior to everybody else, and that's the way my heart inclines, then of course judgmentalism is going to ooze out of me. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:50.000 But if Christ offers a greater satisfaction than my own self-righteousness, then what else can ooze out of my heart but grace? 00:16:50.879 --> 00:16:51.519 Right? 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.799 And so, therefore, it's not about modifying my behavior, I just need to stop judging others. 00:16:56.879 --> 00:17:21.200 It's about presenting my heart before God, my own powerlessness to stop the judging that I hate so much about myself, and to let him do his transforming work, to replace my affection and self-satisfaction for self-righteousness with satisfaction in Christ, who is my righteousness. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:26.240 I mean, this is portrayed so vividly, isn't it, in Jesus' story of the Pharisee and the tax collector? 00:17:26.400 --> 00:17:27.839 We know that story, right? 00:17:28.240 --> 00:17:29.920 Both are in the temple praying. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:36.799 And the Pharisee, we gotta understand, I know Pharisees we usually assume they're the bad guys, and Jesus usually has harsh words for the Pharisees. 00:17:36.960 --> 00:17:45.759 We gotta understand that these are like the best-selling pastors of the day, like best-selling books and big YouTube ministries and all these sorts of things, right? 00:17:46.000 --> 00:17:55.200 And and and the that Pharisee is praying in God's house, and then in comes a tax collector, and I can't think of like what a modern-day equivalent would be for a tax collector. 00:17:55.359 --> 00:18:01.279 It'd be like the most corrupt government official you could think of, or a government official is really inclined towards corruption. 00:18:01.359 --> 00:18:03.599 It's just, you know, people who are despised, right? 00:18:03.680 --> 00:18:06.400 And and we feel betrayed by them, something like that. 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:07.519 And what does Jesus say? 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.880 The Pharisee gets in and the pastor gets in and he prays, God, I'm so thankful, I'm not like this guy. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:14.079 This guy's trash. 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:16.400 And what does the tax collector pray? 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:19.119 He says, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. 00:18:19.839 --> 00:18:21.119 And what does Jesus say? 00:18:21.279 --> 00:18:26.240 I tell you, this one, the tax collector, walked away justified and not the other. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:27.039 Why? 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:32.000 Because the tax collector recognizes his need for God's grace. 00:18:32.240 --> 00:18:39.119 Whereas the Pharisee finds perfect self-satisfaction in his own self-righteousness, in his moral superiority. 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:50.160 See, every religion in the world tells us to repent of our sin in one way or another, to recognize our wrongdoing, right? 00:18:50.480 --> 00:18:52.480 And to turn away from it. 00:18:52.799 --> 00:19:06.720 But it's been rightly said that only Christians not only repent of our sin, of our transgression, we also repent of our self-righteousness, that self-congratulation, that self-satisfaction we have from feeling superior to other people. 00:19:07.440 --> 00:19:11.359 Because Christ has died for them just as he's died for us. 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:15.279 Because Christ loves them just as he loves me. 00:19:16.240 --> 00:19:29.440 The German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes: If when we judge others, our real motive was to destroy evil, we should look out for where evil is certain to be found, and that is in our own hearts. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:50.720 But if we are on the lookout for evil in others, our real motive is obviously to justify ourselves, for we are seeking to escape punishment for our own sins by passing judgment on others, and are assuming by implication that the word of God applies to ourselves in one way and to others in another. 00:19:52.319 --> 00:19:57.680 Don't judge, Jesus says, but that requires us to look at the condition of our own heart. 00:19:57.920 --> 00:20:14.559 By willing to recognize my own sinful, evil motives at play, the ones that incline me towards self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, am I willing to hand those over and risk discovering a greater satisfaction in Christ's love and grace towards me? 00:20:15.119 --> 00:20:18.480 Because that'll translate in love and grace towards others. 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:23.839 Now, Jesus wants us to consider our approach very carefully as well. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:27.839 This does not preclude discernment, which is what he's getting at in verse six. 00:20:28.000 --> 00:20:36.480 Don't give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them under their feet, turn and tear you to pieces. 00:20:36.640 --> 00:20:45.759 Be discerning, Jesus is saying, and how you make the approach when it's time to call out the sin or transgression in someone else's life. 00:20:46.000 --> 00:20:56.240 One commentator writes, one must try to discern whether presenting to others that which is holy will elicit nothing but abuse or profanity, right? 00:20:56.319 --> 00:21:06.720 It's not a badge of honor to go foolhardy into a conversation where you receive nothing but abuse or or or harsh words or something and feel like you did the Lord a favor. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:08.160 Be discerning. 00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:14.640 We need to be discerning in how we go about the process of restoration, which includes calling attention to sin. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:18.400 But I think there's also application for how we share the gospel there as well. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:36.960 I, you know, one of the things that when I was involved in youth ministry, I'd often have conversations with parents, and it was it was equal parts uh heartbreaking, because I knew how how deeply it it weighed on the hearts of parents, but it was it was equal part frustrating because it just felt like, boy, we're just getting nowhere here. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:41.839 But parents would come into my office and they'd say something like, you know, my kid isn't uh a Christian anymore. 00:21:42.000 --> 00:21:44.960 He says he's an atheist, or she says she's Wiccan now, or something. 00:21:45.039 --> 00:21:49.839 And I just keep I keep quoting Bible verses and and and you know, I just keep evangelizing it. 00:21:49.920 --> 00:21:51.920 It's like they're getting more and more and more angry. 00:21:52.079 --> 00:21:57.119 And, you know, it's it's a weird position to be in as a pastor because I want to say, I think you need to stop preaching. 00:21:57.359 --> 00:21:59.680 You know, like the more you push, is what Jesus. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:05.359 Saying here, and you're getting this aggressive, hostile response, that's doing the Lord no favors. 00:22:05.599 --> 00:22:12.880 So maybe it's time to stop preaching and time to start praying and see what the Lord, what opportunities the Lord opens up. 00:22:13.119 --> 00:22:18.480 We need to be discerning in how we make the approach, both in restoration and in evangelism. 00:22:18.640 --> 00:22:20.319 And boy, that's point number one. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:23.680 So, you know, we'll see how we do here. 00:22:23.839 --> 00:22:27.440 But God's kingdom wants to reorder our judgmental hearts. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:30.720 I think it's so important that we we spend the time we meditate on that. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:34.960 I'll I'll try and make it through this second point here with brevity. 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:37.759 But if we can get that, then the rest follows. 00:22:37.920 --> 00:22:47.519 You know, if we can get this, then the rest is like, well, of course, you know, because if God's kingdom reorders our judgmental hearts, right, then what's it going to incline us towards? 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:50.799 It's gonna deepen our hearts towards grace. 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:52.960 And that's what we see in verse 7. 00:22:53.200 --> 00:22:55.200 Ask and it will be given to you. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:57.359 Seek and you will find. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.160 Knock and the door will be open to you, right? 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:03.759 So three very key verbs ask, seek, and knock. 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:13.759 This is a word picture meant to suggest that we as Christians are meant to always be prayerful and ever dependent upon our Heavenly Father. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:22.799 And the way we go about the whole Christian life, including how we deal with others, how we work towards restoration, how we uh share the gospel with others. 00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:25.039 And why should we ask, seek, and knock? 00:23:25.200 --> 00:23:29.359 Because Jesus promised, he who asks uh will find an answer, right? 00:23:29.920 --> 00:23:31.119 If you seek, you will find. 00:23:31.279 --> 00:23:33.599 If you knock, the door will be opened to you. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:36.319 God actively answers prayers. 00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:40.480 He does not throw us back onto ourselves to try for the best. 00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:46.880 God actively works with us, partners with us, and he does not forsake us. 00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:49.759 And we can rest assured that that's the case. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:50.559 Why? 00:23:51.039 --> 00:23:55.119 Because God's gracious character is trustworthy. 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:58.559 That's what Jesus wants us to see in verses 9 to 11. 00:23:58.720 --> 00:24:02.319 Who among you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone, right? 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:04.160 Or a fish will give him a snake. 00:24:04.319 --> 00:24:13.680 If you then, Jesus says, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him? 00:24:13.839 --> 00:24:15.279 It's a how much more argument. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:20.480 If you know how to do this, surely God knows how to do even better, right? 00:24:20.640 --> 00:24:22.720 And an interesting throwaway line, right? 00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:23.920 You who are evil. 00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:31.920 I mean, I think we need to let that sink in, that apart from God's grace are we really capable of performing any good that we're called to do. 00:24:32.240 --> 00:24:42.160 But Jesus wants us to understand God treats us at least as well as we know how to treat one another, as we know how to treat our loved ones. 00:24:42.400 --> 00:24:56.079 And because it's a how much more argument, the conclusion is God can surely, surely blow our minds with how greatly, affectionately, abundantly He cares for us and provides for us. 00:24:56.240 --> 00:24:58.559 He wants to give us good gifts. 00:24:58.720 --> 00:25:05.119 And what's meant by the good gifts that God the Father has in mind for us, is that everything we fancy, everything that comes to mind? 00:25:05.279 --> 00:25:06.160 I don't think so. 00:25:06.400 --> 00:25:12.079 I think instead God wants to give us those gifts that are in keeping with seeking first the kingdom. 00:25:12.319 --> 00:25:21.119 Everything we need to fulfill that mandate, to seek first the kingdom that we saw in the last chapter, are the good gifts God wants to give us. 00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:24.319 He will not leave us on our own. 00:25:24.640 --> 00:25:34.640 He will equip us, wants to equip us, is eager to equip us with everything we need to live out a kingdom-shaped life. 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:40.000 Graciousness is the sign of a heart centered in this kingdom. 00:25:40.240 --> 00:25:49.440 If God's graciousness, if we receive God's abundant graciousness, how else can we, what else can we do but show that graciousness to others, right? 00:25:50.160 --> 00:25:55.039 If we know it for ourselves, how could we not show it to others? 00:25:57.920 --> 00:26:01.759 The question is, do we take this grace seriously? 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:07.279 I think about another story Jesus tells later on in Matthew 18 about the unmerciful servant, right? 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:11.359 He owes like his life savings to his employer, right? 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:20.480 And he goes to his employer and he makes his entreaty, and his employer forgives him for that, you know, life savings worth of debt of his own. 00:26:20.720 --> 00:26:28.000 But then that later that afternoon, he knows a guy who owes him like 20 bucks, and he goes and chokes this guy out so that you know he gets the money that's coming to him. 00:26:28.160 --> 00:26:29.680 And what does his employer say? 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:32.480 He says, What do you think you're doing? 00:26:33.440 --> 00:26:36.160 Don't you understand the grace that you've received? 00:26:36.240 --> 00:26:39.359 And surely he understands cognitively the grace that he's received. 00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:41.839 That grace is not sunk down into his heart. 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:48.480 Otherwise, it would have transformed how he relates to those who who owe him. 00:26:48.880 --> 00:26:49.519 Right? 00:26:49.920 --> 00:27:03.599 If we understand the grace of God with our heads and yet feel completely unmoved to show grace towards others in our hearts, perhaps it's because, like this unmerciful servant, we feel entitled to God's forgiveness and grace. 00:27:03.839 --> 00:27:06.640 We feel perhaps like it's something that God owes us, right? 00:27:06.720 --> 00:27:10.079 Isn't it Voltaire who said, God will forgive me, that's his job? 00:27:10.400 --> 00:27:13.759 If we operate like that, surely we feel entitled to that grace. 00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:25.839 But if we recognize that there is nothing that entitles us to God's grace, it is simply God's good will and eager affection for us that makes him glad to show us his forgiveness. 00:27:26.079 --> 00:27:31.759 Well, only then can that leverage a heart of grace that will show others grace in kind. 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:33.440 Does that make sense? 00:27:34.880 --> 00:27:41.519 When we recognize we're not entitled to grace, God's grace has the power to transform our hearts. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:46.000 And if we have received grace, we will surely show grace to others. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:48.160 Isn't that the essence of verse 12, right? 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:49.119 The golden rule. 00:27:57.920 --> 00:28:04.240 Now, this is one of those universal moral principles you can see in all sorts of societies and on all sorts of religions and philosophies. 00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:15.839 And I think that that's very cool because it suggests that uh there is a natural law at play here, that God has actually ordered the world in a way that's discoverable in terms of its moral principles. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:18.720 But here, Christ is stating it quite uniquely. 00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:25.039 It's often phrased elsewhere in the negative, like, don't do to others what you don't want them to do for you. 00:28:25.279 --> 00:28:28.400 Which, you know, fair enough, that's the flip side of the coin. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:34.079 But I can fulfill that law by, you know, not murdering you, because I don't want you to murder me. 00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:38.960 And, you know, not murdering you isn't exactly the same thing as showing you love, right? 00:28:39.279 --> 00:28:39.680 Yeah? 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:41.599 I mean, it's not not, but you know what I mean. 00:28:41.839 --> 00:28:47.039 Jesus states it positively do unto others what you want them to do unto you. 00:28:47.200 --> 00:28:49.599 That means we have to take action. 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:55.359 We have to take the actions of love to fulfill God's moral law. 00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:59.359 This is the moral law shaped by the kingdom. 00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:04.559 Actively looking to love our neighbor, actively looking to serve our neighbor. 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:26.400 But we can't do it without God's help, which is why we always need to ask, seek, and knock and be entirely and utterly dependent upon our God and his grace, the grace that he so abundantly supplies to us in Christ, the grace that we see in the cross and in the resurrection, so that we ourselves can show that grace outwards. 00:29:26.559 --> 00:29:30.240 Because God's kingdom and its grace reorders our hearts. 00:29:30.480 --> 00:29:44.480 And when it reorders our hearts, we surrender our right to judge and we turn our hearts towards grace and generosity and kindness towards others, because that's exactly what we've received in Christ. 00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:59.839 And perhaps this is the antidote to the judgmentalism we are so often faulted for: a deeper understanding, a deeper encounter with the Father's heart of grace that we see in Christ. 00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:01.680 Amen. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:07.839 We hope that you've been blessed by God's Word today. 00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:13.279 If you live in the Port Perry area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m. 00:30:13.759 --> 00:30:17.119 If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you. 00:30:17.279 --> 00:30:22.160 Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us. 00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:27.519 Newsong's ministry is entirely funded by the generous giving of those who worship and journey with us. 00:30:27.759 --> 00:30:35.920 If you feel called to support our ministry with a financial gift, please go to newsongportperry.ca slash giving to make a contribution. 00:30:36.079 --> 00:30:38.720 Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.