Doing Part 5
This Preaching in Shorts sermon series is called “Doing” and looks at what disciples DO.
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We are in a series called “Doing”. It is about doing what Jesus did. About following Him. About what it means to be a disciple. Doing is what should spring forth from a life of being in relationship with Good and others. We will be using the Gospel of Matthew as the foundation for this series.
Over the last few weeks, we talked about developing the heart of a disciple and about developing a private relationship with God, which includes giving, praying, forgiving, and fasting. We have been talking about developing an eternal perspective over a temporary one.
Today we are going to continue on in Matthew 7 and talk about our tendency towards being judgmental and self-righteous and take a look at what a disciples love for people should look like.
Scripture Reading
Matthew 7:1-5 (MSG)
1 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. 2 That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. 3 It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. 4 Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? 5 It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
Matthew 7:1-5 (NIV)
1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
1) Judgmentalism (self righteousness)
Judgmentalism and self-righteousness will cause us to not care about people, which was the hallmark of the Pharisees. And yet the reality of life is that….
a) We are all broken
Until we come to grips with our own brokenness, we will not be able to fully develop as disciples. We are all a mess. We are born broken. From our earliest stages in life our main concerns are pleasure and avoiding pain. We live in a fallen world and sin abounds and all of us have sinned in the pursuit of pleasure and pain free living.
b) The sin scale
The sin scale is the invention of the self-righteous. On this scale we have arbitrarily determined that some sins are very bad and some sins are not so bad. Usually, our own sins are not so bad while other people’s sins make us shake our head and go tsk, tsk, tsk. For example, the self-righteous sin scale tends to see gossip as a tiny little sin and yet it is one of the sins dealt with most often in scripture. Gossip is extremely destructive and ruins lives, families, and churches. However, most people engage in gossip regularly because they don’t think it is a big problem. These same people then self-righteously judge people who they perceive are worse on the sin scale. Sin is sin.
So what do we do? Jesus disciples love people differently than the world does.
2. Loving like disciples
Matthew 7:12 (NIV)
12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
This verse is known as the Golden Rule. It expresses what the love of a disciple looks like. Love in the Kingdom of God is different than love in the world. One of the biggest differences is what I would call the law of reciprocity. A mainstay in our society is the idea that I will treat you the way that you treat me. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch your. If you are nice to me, I will be nice to you. This “law of reciprocity” is an important part of what keeps our society intact. However, as the people of the Kingdom of God, we have a different standard. We are to treat people the way we want to be treated. By that I mean we are to initiate love, not just respond to it. We are to be kind to everyone, not just to the people that are kind to us. It is a completely different concept than the one that most of us are used to. We treat others right, regardless of how they treat us. All of us probably need to take a pretty good look at how well we are doing in this area of our lives. I would guess that we are way more influenced by the “law of reciprocity” than we are the “golden rule”. The love of a disciple…
a) Sees the beauty of people’s potential
When Jesus looked at sinners, he saw past their sin and saw the beauty of their potential. He never condoned sin, but He didn’t let sin be the focus. He didn’t label people by their sin.
b) Is grace-filled
Jesus was able to do this because He exemplified the grace-filled life. Jesus loved people and people knew it. Being around Jesus made people want to change, to deal with their own brokenness and to live lives that would please Him. It doesn’t take sin lightly, but understands that people are only really healed from their brokenness in the context of a loving relationship with God (i.e. the underlying motivation that moves us away from hedonism is a desire to live a life that pleases God in response to His love for us)
To love like disciples are supposed to, we will have to be people who are always challenging our own judgmentalism and self-righteousness while trying to love and see people the way that God does.
Related posts:
- Take Your Stand Part 2
- One More Part 3
- Doing Part 6
- What the World Needs Now Part 4
- What the World Needs Now Part 3
Category: Preaching in Shorts
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