There's a both majestic and yet quaint Americana style cross stitch on the wall of my friend Adam's living room that simply reads, Kitties will puke on everything you love. And in my experience, this has been absolutely true. Only it's not always puke, it's just somebody fluid that every cat I've ever cared about has deposited on things I love. You want to know what my gray Patagonia vest, my fancy fly fishing waders, and my cool Burton backpack all have in common? That's right. My cat peed on them. All of them. And they smelled like that until I put like vinegar and chemicals and stuff all over them. And frankly, the fly fishing waiters still smell a little bit like cat pee. I mean, what the heck? I get along with the cat. It's like my cat and all cats, for that matter, have this deeply hidden encoded command buried somewhere in their genetic imprint that, when prompted the right way, makes them go crazy and do something really destructive. It's like order 67. And when order 67 gets issued, they find something I love and then wreck it with body fluids. And my dog is not that much better. My dog watched me make that beautiful fish pond in my backyard at my last house. She sat there and saw that I put my heart and my soul into that yard. And then she would just go and dig things up and wreck things. Why? Why would you do that? How does that help you? What is the upside for you? You're just being an instructive idiot now for no reason. I care about you. I provide for you. We cuddle together. What is the matter with you, dog? Again, Order 67. There's just something broken in their brain. Almost all of it works, but this thing is wrong. You know what else is kind of like that. People, people are kind of like that. We've got this weird, destructive streak. And in all of us, it exists to some extent. And you know the kind of thing I'm talking about. You got your thing where you're like, this is really, really bad, and I shouldn't do it. And I'm doing it again, aren't I? I'm doing the thing. I'm doing the thing that I always do socially. Yeah, I had this happen to me the other day. I got this weird little thing that I do that's just kind of destructive sometimes in conversation. And I know it. And I feel like I keep getting way better at this one very subtle little thing that most people might not even catch. But the other day I'm talking with somebody and the monster just comes out. And I'm like, oh my goodness, I'm doing the thing. And they didn't even catch it. But you know what? I'm gonna tell them because I gotta fight the monster. But at other times, I haven't really wanted to fight the monster and I've let that thing get out of control. And I have seen in some people's lives where that destructive streak takes over and it's like they transform into a new thing that is obsessed with doing damage. And it's like life doesn't have meaning and it's not fun if they're not metaphorically peeing on my gray Patagonia vest. You know people like this too. You've maybe been someone like this at a point or two in your life. I have done destructive things in my life. This is a reality of human existence that as we get to the final quarter post and come into the home stretch of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus hasn't really addressed this yet. It sounds a little bit utopian, like everything is beautiful and don't judge people and just do these things and believe in your heart. And understandably, there'd be some people who are like, yeah, but what about the people who just want to see the world burn? What do we do with them? Now, think about where we're at. Jesus just carried out a massive paradigm shift in terms of how we evaluate other people, how we evaluate ourselves and motives. At the beginning of chapter seven, he cancels judging. Like, all right, we're just not gonna play that game. It's not the point of religion, it's not the point of the kingdom, it's not in keeping with the values. We're not gonna do that. Grace is going to be the currency. If you want the currency of grace for you, you gotta go with the currency of grace for everybody else. And so what he says is don't judge, or you too will be judged. Now, in our last conversation, we were talking about how that can't possibly mean, based on the rest of the teachings of Jesus, that you don't think anymore, that you no longer make evaluative statements, or that you no longer make evaluative judgments as you look at things and compare and contrast them and consider what would be a good choice or a bad choice, or that you no longer look at the things that other people do and think that seemed good or that seemed destructive. What is built in to Jesus' not judging command is the idea that if you ever find yourself in a place where you really, really, really need to speak into somebody else's life, there's this fuse that is built in. And that fuse is a pretty significant one. If you want to speak into someone else's life, you first have to endure what can be a very painful, very agonizing look in the mirror at your own soul. And if you are willing to do that, and if you are willing to address the weirdnesses and corruption and yuck there, and if you are willing to lean into the grace of God for those things, so that then you are freshly reacquainted with your own need for mercy and forgiveness, then and only then, paraphrases mine, would you be equipped to worry about the teeny tiny little microscopic thing, or at least that's how it appears when it's way over there in somebody else's life. So you got this thing that's built in to help you navigate or get right or resist falling in love with the exercise of judging everybody else. But which then leaves us with the next obvious question for all of those people on the hill listening to Jesus give this talk, and that would be okay, so we're not supposed to judge people, and grace is supposed to be the currency, and this is how we're gonna go through life. But what about the people who are just turds? Just awful, awful turds who never change, and their entire life energy is fueled by the suffering and pain and drama and difficulty they can subtly inflict on others. What about the very draining, very destructive people who bring with them the hurricane of drama, the vortex that sucks everyone else in and destroys everything that's good and effectively pukes on everything we love? What do we do about that if we're not allowed to judge? Because it seems like the kingdom thing is one that's a call to effectiveness. We're supposed to be a city on a hill, assault, a preservative, and the light of the world. So we're supposed to do something here, but how can we do that if we don't have the ability to judge and condemn this screwed up stuff? So I think what we're really getting here when Jesus says, don't give to dogs what's sacred, don't throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. I think what he's driving at is there are two ways to screw this thing up. Way number one to screw up and completely shipwreck your effectiveness as a participant in the kingdom, is to go around being a self-righteous judge who doesn't trade in the currency of grace and who instead condemns everyone else because you're so sure you are so much better. And you have decided that it is your job to take it upon yourself to note everyone's shortcomings and to talk to the manager promptly when you see those things going on to get that dealt with. The kingdom doesn't need anybody like that, nobody at all. So one way to wreck it is to be that kind of person who goes around judging everyone. So in verses one through five of chapter seven, Jesus says, don't knock it off. God doesn't need people like that in the kingdom. God doesn't view people through those lenses, so you can't do it either. But the other way to shipwreck your effectiveness and your role in the kingdom is to get sucked into the vortex of destructiveness and ruin that is caused by, well, people who want to puke on everything you love. So what we're seeing here, and what we need to break down in great detail tomorrow, is not a proposal or a suggestion from the king about what to do with the vortex of insanity, with the people who want to puke on everything you love. What we're getting instead is a command not to give to them what is sacred. Because apparently that can be just as destructive to the kingdom citizen as going around being a self-righteous judgy type can be. But the devil, or in this case, I guess the Jesus is in the details. So we got to break this thing down very carefully. Consider what each of these terms mean, how the original audience would have heard it, and all I got through today was this puking on everything you love analogy. I think I just wanted to talk about the cross stitch and all the things that my pets have ruined. I I hope you had fun with it. But tomorrow we'll break down the text a little bit more, and then we're gonna talk just a little bit about the existential side of this. Like practically speaking, this isn't really what we do on this podcast, but we're gonna think a little bit at least about if you wanted to do the kingdom thing, and if this is all compelling to you, what would it look like to do whatever it is Jesus is saying to do here? So as we hit pause there, you might have noticed that in a few of these more spiritually dramatic passages and moments, as we've gone through this, I've kind of skipped the outro music and just left you with one gripping, powerful, closing thought that I hope echoes in your mind throughout the day as you reflect on the transcendent things of God. And that's what I want to do again here. So I leave you with this. My friends, beware, because kitties will puke on everything you love. The Lord bless you and keep you.