Years ago, when we first moved to Quartzsite, the church had a little park model where the office now is. For the first 3 years, Marika and I lived in that house and we constantly had problems with our neighbor. There were a lot of reasons why we had problems. One was that the teens were outside being too loud. Another was that we had a dog named Moose that hated men and would bark at the neighbor when he was outside. Because of these and other reasons, the police made weekly Friday night visits due to noise complaints that the neighbor issued about our teen group. Pastor Jeff at the time tried everything, even offering to pay for the neighbor to go out to eat on those nights. Well, it got to the point where Pastor Jeff and I had to sit down with the owner of the property, and the town manager to work something out.
In that sit down, the property owner listed the complaints that his tenant had with us. Once those were given, he then attacked me as being a pedophile. Telling the town manager that I kept having a little blonde girl over my house alone. Now, I’ve always had a short temper, but I kept it together up until that point. I interrupted the man, with, “Are you talking about my wife?!”
The owner wasn’t expecting that. This was the first time we had met, and he knew nothing but what was told to him by his tenant. He took his tenant’s word, never once thinking that he could have been told lies. After that wake up call, Jeff and I laid out the case for the church, revealing that his other tenant’s had asked names and ages of our children, which we couldn’t divulge, and the abuse that the neighbor had done, throwing garbage cans at our fence in order to get my dog to bark at him.
In the end, we agreed to make some changes, one of which was to eventually moving the youth room over to where it is today. A year or so later, we moved out of the house, and eventually our relationship with the neighbor drastically improved. In fact, it became so good that he would sing the church’s praises on Facebook. The neighbor has since passed away, and we hope to continue to have good relationships with our other neighbors around us.
But it’s this idea of judgment that speaks to one our topics today, and brings us back into our Matthew series where we will continue in chapter 6, starting in verse 25.
As we’ve been making our way through Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we have talked about how the identity of a disciple of Jesus is cradled in Jesus’ identity. Therefore the Gospel of Matthew spends the first four chapters giving us a core understanding of who of Jesus: King like David, Prophet like Moses, Unique Son of God.
After the understanding that the identity of Jesus’ disciples are cradled in his own identity, Jesus reveals to us that his disciples are those who recognize their inability to reach the perfection of God. They are the “poor in spirit,” those that recognize that God’s standard of perfection is unattainable, and therefore they are bankrupt and bring nothing to God. It’s in that position of having nothing for God, that God extends his goodness, his righteousness, to those who recognize their sin and accept his free gift of salvation.
Yet within this place of free salvation, Jesus still has expectations from his disciples. He still expects them to give as God leads, to pray worshipful prayers, to seek God in spiritual activities such as fasting. It’s these and others that we covered last week.
That all being said, bringing all of this together we start seeing the portrait of Jesus’ disciples. They are humble because they know they bring nothing to God and they are active, because God’s goodness flows out from them to the world around them.
Which brings us to Jesus’ next half of his Sermon on the Mount. In the first half we have been primarily focusing on the relationship of Jesus and his disciples, but now we see a switch to how a disciple of Jesus interacts with the world.
Let’s read, starting in chapter 6 verse 25, and we’ll end in chapter 7 verse 12.
25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
“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.
6 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
“7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you 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! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
Here Jesus gives us two examples of how we are to engage the world. And it seems like these words could be spoken today. With all the strife and unrest that we see; the corruption, the uncertainty of the future, as if Jesus’ words were meant for times such as ours.
This is because strife and uncertainty isn’t anything new. Riots in the streets are nothing new. Wars across the world are nothing new. Corrupt politician and leaders are nothing new. And those of us alive during such times and wondering how do I follow God through these circumstances are nothing new.
And so Jesus gives us words to live by in a world of chaos. First Jesus tells us, “do not worry.” This is an easy thing to say, right” It’s easy not to worry when everything is going well, but then there’s a housing bubble that pops. There’s an illness or accident that occurs. There’s mandatory this and coming for your that. It’s easy to says words of don’t worry, but it’s another thing to put them into practice. Jesus knows this. He knows how hard it is for us not to worry. This is why he takes our attention and places it where it should be.
One of the reasons why we worry is because the world is in our view. It is the physicality of the world that draws our attention, because we can feel it, see it, taste, it, smell it. And it becomes a flood that, at times, can seem overwhelming. And so Jesus draws our attention to the world in a different way. And asks in an Old Testament wisdom kind of way, “Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”
In other words, what’s really important when we start stripping everything away? When we take a step back and see why we worry, we realize that worry comes from a place of our inability to control the situation. And because of the need for control, Jesus calls us to see the world of God’s control. “Look at the birds… See how the flowers…” In other words, look at God’s control. Look how he takes care of these things that don’t seem to be very important.
Jesus adds to this, “Are you not much more valuable than they?” If God’s control sustains the birds and the flowers, which are not as valuable to him as his disciples, how much more would his control in our lives sustain us?
So what must we do? Verse 33 reads, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” We must seek the control of God in our lives. Seek that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give up this false idea of control that brings worry, and face the reality that we’re not in control. So instead seek the things of God, do the giving, do the praying, do the fasting that we talked about last week. Do the things that we are responsible for and seek God to control and direct our lives. That’s how we overcome worry. Not by our own control, but by conceding control to God.
It’s here, that Jesus gives us one way to concede control to God, it’s in our judgment of others. Now, Jesus’ words, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged,” have long been used out of context of the whole of his sermon. It has been used against Christians, and I have had it used against me by Christians who don’t understand what Jesus’ means by “Do not judge.”
Usually when someone says, “you’re not suppose to judge,” they say it in the context of, “I want to do what I want, and you can’t tell me otherwise.” But, yes, Christians are to judge, as we will see next week, Jesus’ calls his disciples to judge the actions of people and stay away from certain people. The problem isn’t in the judging, but in how we go about it.
The word judge is the Greek word krinó (kree’-no) which means to distinguish between two things. In the case that Jesus presents, this is a false distinguishing. A person is seeing the sawdust in his brother’s eye, but cannot distinguish that he has a plank in his own. The sin of the brother is less in quantity to that of the one who is making the judgment. And so he makes an inaccurate and false judgment, a false distinguishing.
The attitude of the person that Jesus is presenting is a “I’m in control and I make the rules.” This walks hand-in-hand with the need to control that we’ve already talked about. When we make judgments, trying to be in control of the situation, we are blind to our own inadequacies. Jesus uses the sawdust and plank metaphor to show us how we can make false judgments, on the basis of a false sense of being in control. We want to control what someone is doing, so we nitpick the small things in their lives. I want to control you, so I find any fault in you and hold it over you.
Yet, Jesus is calling us to give up control and making correct judgments, this is done by coming before God and having the plank in our own eye dealt with. The question of, how do I give up control, starts by taking a long look at ourselves. It’s seeing the inadequacies here in our own lives. And once that humble introspection occurs, then we can make a judgment into someone else’s life. Jesus says, “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” It’s not the judgment that Jesus is going after, or else he would not have said something about removing the speck from our brother’s eye. No, Jesus calls us to humble reflection, to godly and correct distinguishing, which overcomes our need to control, and puts us into a place where we can deal lovingly with each other.
This makes Jesus’ words clear in verse 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.” If we make judgments based in our own control, that brushes over our own sin, then that same standard will be used against us in God’s judgment. Yet if we seek God’s grace in making judgments, first with ourselves, then that grace filled judgment will be extended to us as well.
And it’s here that Jesus gives us the ask, seek, knock command. How do we give up this control? We go after God. This ties back into our worshipful prayers. We ask God for our needs, we seek after his work in our lives and we knock on the door of heaven as we move ever closer to our heavenly Father. It’s here that Jesus draws a comparison for us. Jesus compares earthly fathers and how they give to their children. Earthly fathers don’t tend to cause their children harm, but give as best as they can to supply their children’s needs. Jesus compares imperfect human fathers, with the perfect Father in heaven, who intends the best for our lives.
Jesus does this because it’s easy to lose sight of God’s goodness in midsts of the world’s chaos. The worry and need for control that we experience can easily eclipse God’s subtle work. Yet, Jesus gives us this comparison so that we can see that even though we may not see it, our heavenly Father is seeking the best for us. He will take care of us, but we need to give up our desire for control, taking a humble attitude in both our relationship with God and our relationships with each other.
God knows we’re in need. God knows the world is chaotic. God knows that we need help. So God calls us to trust him, to give up control, and to seek in him the chaos.
My challenge for you this week is to take an inventory. Make a list of all the things that are going on in this world. Vaccinations, political corruption, financial downturns. Whatever those things are that could cause you to worry, and this week name them off asking God to help you let go of the control that you want to have. Seek God’s kingdom, his control over your life. And every time you hear a news report, or someone bring up the subject that triggers worry in your life, pray. Seek God to take that worry, so that you can be as free as a sparrow, and as beautiful as a flower; of which you are more precious to God than either.
Let us seek God’s work to break the illusion that we’re in control, and instead be a people who rely on God for all things. From the world around, to the moment-by-moment obstacles in our lives, we need to give up our illusion of control. If we do this we will be drawing closer to the Savior of our souls, and there everything we need will be supplied by our Father who is in heaven. Amen.
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