Welcome to our daily podcast! We hope you are well this Tuesday. My name is James. We are continuing to look at the most famous sermon in history, Jesus’ sermon on the mount. Today our passage is Matthew 7:1-14. There is SO MUCH stuff we could look at here. Some of it is strange to our ears. Some of it is ludicrous and unbelievable. The first half is about relationships (the kind of relationships Jesus wants us to have in Christian communities – in fact, all communities) and the second half is about prayer. We won’t look at that in detail in this podcast but the helpful illustration is that if we want to have relationships that look like verses 1-6, we can practice praying like verses 7-11. The full reading of the verses is in the podcast description or in your, real life, actual Bible. Today we will be focussing on the first 6 verses.
REFLECTION:
Now before we get into it. I recently watched a docudrama on Netflix called the Social Dilemma. A short film that tracks the influence of big tech companies like Facebook and others. It’s one of those documentaries that has divided opinion, which is ironic in itself and we will get to why. Of course, people more informed than I have been speaking about this for years but this production was tracking the rise in social media against the divisiveness we find in our opinions, especially our economics, our politics and ethics. Statistically, we are more polarised now than 30 years ago but we have less examples of how to disagree well.
And so we have our Bible verses.
Judging Others
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
“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? 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? 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.
What is Jesus forbidding here? Is Jesus saying we are not to form any sort of opinion about others (v5)? Well no. He can’t mean that. Because he regularly disagrees with the ideas and practices of the status quo around him. Think for a moment of Jesus turning over the tables in the temple in Matthew 21. He can’t mean that. There are deeper heart-attitudes that Jesus is condemning. One that comes to mind for for us to think through today is that of superiority.
In other words, what the motive behind our disagreement? Do we judge others in the sense of condemning and punishing? Or when we criticise are we trying to strengthen the relationship? Let me illustrate this. There are many things I have learned from our interim leaders Tom and Clarissa Finnemore. I won’t start a list here. But, if you haven’t noticed, Tom has a way with phrases. His mind is like a sponge for TV quotes, Bible verses and idioms that just makes me cringe. One of my favourites is when he says, “my lovely wife will give me feedback for that”. I’ve began to adopt it into our family language. To mixed reviews right now… but here is why I love it. We sometimes have to disagree with one another. That’s the brutal reality of life. And in the messy and beautiful process of maturing any healthy relationship and/or community, there are going to be times when we do not see eye to eye and we are going to have to give each other feedback. The spirit the feedback is given in is of the upmost importance. Criticism tears down. Feedback listens first, evaluates and responds. And the world needs more of that right now.
To finish, we have the famous metaphor used by Jesus about the speck in the eyes of others and the plank in our own. When we have anything like this in our eyes we simply can’t see. Even just the smallest of things can cause your eye to water or worse. If there are behaviours or faults, things that the Bible says causes sin, that we are carrying around, it destroys our ability to really see. We need each other to put it right and to help each other out. Our Bible passage today, reminds us that we are not to tear each other down but to maintain healthy relationships. In other words, there is a balance to be struck. We shouldn’t always avoid difficult conversations. But when we do, we are to speak the truth in love. There must be humility. There must be respect. There must be a desire to strengthen relationships and not to beat people up with our words.
For me, that Netflix documentary highlighted this competitive spirit in the world to win at all costs. Technology can be incredibly helpful at connecting us. It has be shown to be one of the tools most effectively dividing us too. It was a useful spotlight. These Bible passages remind us that no one is without sin. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus has made it possible for us to be forgiven of all sins. If for a moment we take on the perspective and slightly bizarre metaphor that we may have had a plank removed by Jesus, we can in humility go out into the world, not with a moral superiority, but instead with humility help others.
If you have time today, read the rest of the passage on prayer and the Father heart of God. It is equally challenging and inspiring.
PRAYER:
God, thank you for saving us. Though our eyes were chock-full of metaphorical planks and splinters, through Jesus you have removed all the rubbish. We are so grateful. Fill us with your Holy Spirit, that we may, in love, participate in healthy relationships and demonstrate healthy community. Especially today, in a divided world, we pray that our church and the churches of our city be known as people who speak the truth in love.
In Jesus name. Amen.
BIBLE READING: Matthew 7:1-14
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
“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? 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? 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.
“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.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 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! So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”