Judging Others

I'll tune up in a second, but we can do a sound check. Calvary Chapel, how are you guys doing this evening? You guys ready to worship the Lord this evening? All right, why don't you stand with me, and I'll open us up and work.

Heavenly Father, I just thank you for being with us all the time, even when we don't realize it and even when we don't appreciate it. God, I just pray that we would realize your presence this evening, that you are here with us, God, and that we can just talk to you like you're right in front of us, that we can sing to you like you're just right in front of us, because you are here with us. I just pray that, Lord, as we sing these songs to you, about you, God, that you would just speak to us, that we can just have communion with you this evening. Singing in my doubts, in my failures, you won't walk out.

Your great love will ease in my trust. Troubled sea, oh, you are the peace in my troubled sea.

Lents you won't love, questions your truth will hold. Your great love will ease in my troubled sea, oh, you are the peace in my troubled sea. About that song, it just gets me fired up about praising Jesus. Here I am to say, all together, worthy, all together, wonderful too.

Though so highly exalted, yes, in heaven. All together, worthy, all together, and I'll never be my sin. So here I am to worship, here I am to say, together, love. All together, we're all together, love. All together. All together, all together, and stories of what, it's who I am. Always wanting to hear our praise to you. I just pray that as Nick comes up to share from your word, Lord,

that you would just fill him with your spirit, that, Lord, that he would just pull out of scripture exactly what you have for us to hear this evening. I just pray this in your name.

Hey, good evening, everyone. Hope you're doing well. Obviously, I am not Pastor Ryan. He's out on vacation, so pray for him. He's having a great time. I was talking with him a little bit earlier today. So pastors and what they go through on the daily challenge and just what they embrace, it's tough. It wears on them. So when they can take these family vacations, it means a lot,

and it's exciting. So, hey, tonight we're going to be in Matthew chapter 7. So if you want to turn there, Matthew chapter 7, verse 1. And we're not going to cover too many verses, but we have a lot that we're going to unfold here. So it's going to be pretty exciting. I think this is a message that's been on my heart for quite some time. So it's going to be a lot that we'll unpack here,

and we'll go through it. So let's read Matthew chapter 7, verse 1 through 12. It says, Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in a way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother,

let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite. First, take the log out of your own eye, and then you'll see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.

Verse 7. Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you'll find it. Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives, and he who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will be opened. Or what man is there among you, who, you, who, when his son asks for a loaf, will be given a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he?

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him? Verse 8. Verse 9. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10.

Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10. God, thank you for just us being able to come to church, Lord. We can worship you. We can just become closer to you, Lord. I ask that this message tonight, Lord, that it's your words. It's not mine. God, that you will use me tonight as a vessel, Lord,

to get your point. the cross. Lord, I ask that we can just apply these, these scriptures to our life. We make it applicable. And Lord, we just grow closer to you and your son. We love you and give you all the glory in Jesus name. Amen. All right. So to give a little context of what's happening here in Matthew chapter seven, the chapter continues and concludes with Christ's sermon on the mount. All right. So

there's about three chapters that's going through this entire process. And so we're at the very end. So we're concluding Christ's sermon here, which is purely practical, directing us to order a conversation correctly, both toward God and man. And for the design of the Christian religion is to form man into the molding of Christ. Jesus moves from personal temptations into interpersonal

temptations. He warns us against inappropriate judging and commends appropriate evaluation. Hang on to that last piece. I just say, we're going to go through it. And I want to make sure that we really understand the appropriate evaluation. And I want to make sure that we understand the appropriate evaluation. Then he looks at God's guidance as a source of the

believer's stability and the relationship to others. So we have three topics to address in these 12 verses. One, some rules concerning reproach and reproof. We'll go over that in verses one through six. Encouragements given us to pray to God for what we need. And lastly, the golden rule. Really simple, but it can do so much. It can be so impactful. And so often we can

read through scripture because it's so simple. It's so short that we miss the whole point behind it. So let's look specifically at verses one and two. It says, do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged. And by your standard and measure, it will be measured to you. So this is simply just passing judgment upon others. This is what's taking place. So here, Jesus moved to another idea in the

Sermon on the Mount. He primarily dealt with themes connected to the interior spiritual life, attitudes like in giving, fasting, prayer, materialism, and anxiety over materialistic items. And now he touches on the important theme related to the way we think and treat of others. It sounds simple. It's sad that we have to go over this. It's sad that we struggled for so many thousands of years and we still have to go over

and we have to continue to improve ourselves. We remember that Jesus called for a righteousness that was greater than of the scribes, the Pharisees back in Matthew chapter five. And the way that some people think, the way to make oneself more righteous is to be more judgmental of others. Meaning I'm going to judge you for what you're doing wrong so I can feel more righteous about myself. And that's what Jesus is talking about. It's like, what are you doing? Hold

on a second. That's not okay. Jesus here rebuked that kind of thinking. And this is where we're going to really dive into what did Jesus mean by that? Why do we even judge people? What gives us the right? Are we able, are we allowed to judge? What does Christ talk about with that topic? With this command, Jesus warned, you know, I think about situations where I judge someone and it was unfairly, it was not in the

context and the way it should have been dealt with. And I think of my man, if I were to judge someone and they were a judging back, I have no foundation, no leg to stand upon. Like what gave me the right? I'm just as guilty or I'm doing the same thing they are, but I call them out. Among those who seem to know nothing about the Bible, it's interesting how this verse always

comes up with a few others. It becomes most popular. And those who rehearse this verse and talk about it, they quote it so often, they truly don't understand what Jesus is saying here. They seem to think or hope that Jesus commanded a universal, this is extremely important right here because Pastor Ryan talks about it monthly. Jesus commanded a universal acceptance of any

lifestyle or teaching. That's not what Jesus is doing here. He's not saying, listen, don't judge because we want to accept all lifestyles. We want to accept all teachings. That's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus, what he is saying is we're to love everyone, but that doesn't mean I have to accept your lifestyle because if you're living in sin, that goes against what we believe. You know, I think about that with my children

or a friend of mine who they believe different. They live a different lifestyle. If my child were to live like that, I would not be able to live like that. I would not be able to live like that. How would I address that? How do I ask that question to myself? If they believe in something different than I believe, if they live a different lifestyle than I would approve of,

would I still love them? Absolutely. I would love them unconditionally. Do I approve of their lifestyle? No. And that's okay to disagree because I stand on the word of God, not what I choose or want to believe, which is different, if that makes sense. And so what Christ here is saying, he's like, listen, we have to understand that if you're going to pass judgment, you need to realize that judgment

will be passed back to you. But we're going to talk about when you're judging someone, what measure or what type of stick are you measuring against? Right? Jesus, a little later in the same sermon, in verses 15 and 16, he commanded us to know ourselves and others by the fruit of their life. And some sort of assessment is necessary for that. The Christian is called to show unconditional love, but the

Christian is called to show unconditional love. And so what he's saying is, if you're going to is not called to unconditional approval. And right now, our society, our schools, our political system, everything is fighting against that of what Christ is saying. We really can love people who do things that should not be approved of. But we have to choose whether we want to love them or

not when we disagree with them, when we don't approve of their lifestyle. But there's a proper way of going about it. Right now, our society, we're just, we're famous and we're notorious for saying, you believe in something different than me, I'm going to hold up a sign. I'm going to revolt against what you're doing. Or just terrible foul language is being used.

Or we bash them, we call them bigots or whatever it may be. We start throwing harsh names and it's like, stop. It's understandable that you believe in something different. That doesn't mean I hate you or I dislike you. I still love you unconditionally because you know what? Christ loves us. Unconditionally. And once we come to know Jesus, our goal in life is to share the gospel and become

more like Christ in everything we do. But I would tell you this, if you're struggling today where you put your faith and trust in Jesus, but you're having a hard time loving people, I would reevaluate. What do you believe? Where's that anger, that bitterness that's coming from? Because Christ is saying, listen, we need to love everyone. We don't have to approve of what they're doing, but we need to love them. And there's a proper way

of going about it. You know, so while this does not prohibit examining lies of others, it certainly prohibits doing it in the spirit. It is often done. An example of this unjust judgment was the disciples' condemnation of the woman who came to anoint the feet of Jesus with oil. Turn to Matthew chapter 26. Ryan says he loves to hear those pages flip. Matthew chapter 26.

Verses 6 through 13. Matthew chapter 26, 6 through 13. Now, when Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster vial of very costly perfume. That's key right here. And she poured it on his head and he reclined at the table. But the disciples were indignant when they saw this, meaning they were upset. They were confused. They're frustrated. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree.

They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. They don't agree. with what just happened. They were upset when they saw this. Why this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a high price and the money given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them,

why do you bother the woman? For she has done a good deed to me. This is a little bit of a drop the mic moment. A little Jesus juke, we call it. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me. For when she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for the burial. It's interesting because if you go to John chapter 12, verses 2 and 3, it expounds on the story. We

find out that the lady who poured it, it was Mary. And it's interesting because in that context, it talks, it used the words, they were upset. But in John, you know who they are? Judas. Isn't it amazing that the key word in that story was expensive perfume? But then the person who's calling out Mary, pouring that perfume was Judas. Why? Because he saw the value of the perfume, not what was taking place with Jesus. He's like, whoa, Mary, stop. What are

you doing? Why are you pouring that? Why are we using this expensive perfume? We could have sold that. We could have had a lot of money from Facebook marketplace, and then we could have given to the poor, right? Jesus is like, what are you talking about? With people all day long, what are you doing for the gospel? What are you doing to show the glory of God? But yet you're more focused on a expensive perfume.

So in that judgment there, it was rash, it was harsh, it was unjust judgment. So how do we break this command, going back to judge not? How do we break that? We do it when we think the worst of others. We do it when we think the worst of others. We do it when we think the worst of others. When we only speak to others about their faults, when we judge an entire life by only its worst

moments, when we judge the hidden motives of others, when we judge others without considering ourselves in the same circumstances, when we judge others without being mindful that we will be judged. So what does this mean, though? How does this apply in 2024? How does it apply to me? What are you talking about, Nick, when it comes to the judgment? Well, I have this video,

but I'm not sure if the sound's going to work, because when we did a pre-test, it was not working. So I hope it does, but there's some captions you can follow along. An awesome deal, because it's pretty much the same price as buying three donuts anyway, so it doesn't matter. So I'm at the airport, and they've got this deal for five donuts for five dollars, which is an awesome deal, because it's pretty much the same price as buying three donuts anyway, so it doesn't matter. And I set my stuff down, and I pick up the paper,

and I start reading the paper, and this guy sits down across from me. And so I, you know, look over the paper, and he kind of gives me a bit of a smile, and I give him a bit of a nod, and I go back to reading the business section. A little while later, I hear this rustling on the table, and I'm like, I look over, and the guy has got his hand in the bag of donuts. Okay, that's a bit weird, but it doesn't really matter. The guy looks like he's homeless. He probably needs it more than I do.

And I've still got four donuts anyways, and I'm not going to eat all four donuts, so what do I care? So I reach in the bag, and I grab a donut, and I start eating it. And I go back to reading the paper. So I'm just getting into the social pages, and I hear this rustling on the table again. And I look over, and the guy's got his hand in the bag of donuts, again.

He takes a bite, and I'm like, what the crap? And now I'm getting a bit angry, but the precedent has been set, and so I don't feel like I can say anything. But I reach into the bag a bit more aggressively, I take a bite, and I just shake my head like, whatever. So a few minutes have gone by, and there's this call on the loudspeaker for the next departure. And the guy gets up, and he starts gathering up all his stuff, and he gets to the end of the table, and he stops.

And I see him out of the corner of my eye, and he reaches into the bag, and he pulls out the last donut. And I'm like, seriously? And he looks at me, he breaks it in two, and he hands it to me. I reach out, and I take this half, and I'm in total disbelief. And he kind of nods at me, and he walks off. So, while I'm sitting here, pondering the absurdity of what's just happened, I hear the call for my flight.

And so I get up, and I grab my bag, and I grab my jacket, and under my jacket is my bag of donuts. Not only was I eating that guy's donuts the whole time, and he didn't say anything, he took out his last donut, and he broke it in half and gave it to me. I love donuts. I love videos like that, because the first time I saw it, and I don't know if you've seen it before, it had me totally tricked.

I'm like, oh, you stole donuts from a homeless guy. Like, that's the worst thing you could do. Let's talk about the video first. All right, I've got two main issues with it. Two main issues. One, the homeless guy, let's call him homeless, okay, touched both sides of the donut, and he broke it in half. Who breaks a donut in half? Serious question. Like, who broke a donut in half and thought that was a good idea?

Not me. I would never. You'd never catch me cutting a donut in half or breaking it in half and giving it to somebody else. They'd be like, tough luck, bud. They're not big enough for both of us. Just saying that, okay? Second, let's just call the rich guy, right? Waited half the donut. He got the half from the homeless guy. He puts it in his mouth. I mean, this is terrible what he does next.

He lets it drop on the ground, and we don't see if he even picks it up. He wasted a half a donut. What's wrong with that guy? I have a problem with both dudes. First, you break a donut in half, and then second, you don't even finish the other half. We just wasted a full donut. Ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. But on a serious note, let's break down the video, right?

We see the homeless guy. Looks kind of rough, right? You can judge his appearance. You can immediately look at him and be like, oh, yeah, that guy could probably use a donut, right? Looks like a donut. Right? Looks like he definitely needs one. And then you look at the guy that's in the suit. Obviously, he looks like he's an upper-scale kind of guy, a businessman.

He's got the newspaper looking really cool with his suit unbuttoned at the very top right there. I mean, he's pretty slick. And it's amazing when you start putting these two guys together, and we start watching the video, and we look, and we're like, yep, that homeless guy definitely could have used a donut. Man, that was really cool, the guy in the suit. Awesome.

Great job. Appreciate you sharing. And I know that he's a guy that you reach in the bag aggressively, right? But the problem is, as you go on further into that video, he starts casting judgment, like, dude, you're taking my donut I bought. You're a homeless guy. You've got your sweet-looking beard that you haven't shaved in 20 years, and you're grabbing my donut?

Like, you can just see, and maybe some of you even casted your own judgment upon this homeless guy. Like, what in the world? There's no splits on donuts, ever. Never to be done. You get your own box, I get my box. Or you get your own bag, I get my own bag. Well, what is going on, homeless dude, walking up to my table and my chair in a big, giant airport, and you've got to sit next to me and take my donut?

Are you serious? And the problem is, when we're too busy judging others, when are we finding time to share God's love? If we're too busy judging in that moment, when are we finding time to share His grace? You know, one of my old pastors, he would tell me all the time when we were talking about devotions and, you know, spending more time with God. And he said, hey, you guys want to spend more time with God, right?

Yeah, yeah, I do, I do. I want to spend, I want to get up early in the morning, like, 3 a.m., and I want to read the Bible. First off, I don't know who does that. Because if you do, you're probably going to get through one verse and you're falling back asleep. All right? But we were talking about, yeah, I want to get up early, I want to read the Bible, I want to spend more time with God.

And he's like, great. What are you going to do as you put and you implement God's Word into your day? What are you taking out? Huh? He said, well, if you put something in your day, in your normal routine, what are you going to do? What are you going to do? In your normal routine, what are you taking out? Because you can't do both. And I never thought about that.

Because if we relate to the same situation, if we're going to sit there and we're focused so much on judging people because they come through the church doors and are like, whoa, you don't look like Calvary Chapel material. No, you don't. You don't look like church material. If we're too busy wasting our time judging people, we're missing opportunities to share God's love.

We miss the mark. But let's be very clear. Jesus did not prohibit the judgment of others. He didn't say, you shall not judge other people, dot, dot, dot. He only requires our judgment be completely fair. And that we only judge others by a standard we would also like to be judged. So what is that standard to you? If I'm going to judge, right, what is the standard for me?

Because I'm surely going to be judged. And I think what we need to really remember is that, you know what? What we need to really remember is that I shouldn't be so worried about how you're going to judge me. I should be worried how God's going to judge me. Because he's the ultimate authority. He requires our judgment to be completely fair and that we judge by a standard that we would like to be judged by.

When our judgment regarding others is wrong, it is often not because we judge according to a standard, but because we're hypocritical in the application of that standard. We ignore the standard in our own life. It is common to judge others by one standard and ourselves by another standard. Being far more generous to ourselves than others. So what gives us the right?

Why do we do that? Why do we ignore our own sin, our own issues, our judgment, but we're like, oh, you can't do that. That's not right. I need to sit down and have a conversation. We're going to crack open the Bible and we're going to discuss what you just did wrong, sir. But I just did the same thing yesterday. What gives me the right? Why is it okay for me to do it?

But they can't. And so that's what Christ is trying to do here. He's like, listen, you have to understand if you're going to judge someone, there's a few things that we need to take an account for before you do that. The measurement by the standard of your measure. This is the principle upon which Jesus built the command. Judge not that you be not judged. God will measure us according to the same measure we use for others.

This is a powerful motivation for us to be generous with love and forgiveness and goodness to others. If we want more of those things from God. We should give more of them to others. James chapter two. It talks about faith and works. It goes hand in hand. Right? We cannot. We can see the Christian by their work, but because of their faith and because of their faith, you see the work.

It goes hand in hand. But if we're just too busy saying, I believe in Jesus Christ, but we're going around condemning people and judging people. The people who are being judged and condemned are like, whoa, what gives you the right? What foundation do you stand on? What measuring stick are you using to judge me? And so we have to understand that. You know, it was it was really neat.

If you're here this Sunday, last Sunday morning, the mission team, they gave a report on what they did in Guatemala. Really cool. Love hearing stories like that. Just the work that's being done around the world. So they went down to Guatemala and they spent, I think, a week or so. But they they focus on a skit which was referencing Luke chapter 10. So turn there if you can.

If you can go to Luke chapter 10, verse 30. Luke chapter 10, verse 30. If Ryan's watching live, he can hear all these pages flip. He is so excited. Jesus replied and said a man was going down to Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among robbers and they stripped him and beat him and they went away, leaving him half dead. Verse 31. And by chance, a priest was going down on that road.

And when he saw him, he had passed by on the other side. Likewise, a Levite also, when he came down to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan who was on the journey came upon him. And when he saw him, he felt compassion. Well, that's nice. And came to him and bandaged him up in his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. And he put him on his own beast.

That's awesome, by the way. I've actually changed the name of my truck. I call it the beast now. Totally jealous. And brought him to an inn and took care of him. On the next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, take care of him. And whatever more you spend, when I return, I will pay you. Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robber's hands?

Amazing story. Amazing story, not because if you read through it and you're like, yeah, that's cool. They helped a guy. He was beat up. He's pretty much naked laying on the side of the road. And I don't have the skit to tell you. I don't have the skit team up here where you see him beating him up and throwing him down. It was pretty sweet. Looked like some Matrix moves going on.

But it was interesting because you have a priest. If you're not familiar with a priest, a priest is similar to a pastor in their roles. Their excellence, their high level up there. People look up to them. People appreciate them. They respect them. Right? Priest walks by. Levi descends, obviously, the tribe of Levi. The Levi served as a ritual caretaker of the temple.

So once again, you have another predominant person that just walks right by a person that's on the side of the road. Needing help, obviously. You have two people in some religious fashion just walk by. You don't think there's any type of judgment that was assessed when they looked and like, well, that stinks for that guy. Looks like he's got a long walk going home naked.

Like no clothes, nothing given to him. They just walked right by and passed him. But a Samaritan. You know, the importance of the Samaritan is if you look at, they were a lower level class than you'd say of a Jew. They were not the same. They were looked down upon. But the Samaritan person who didn't cast judgment walks up to them and helps them. Not only cleans them up, but then they sit there and pay for them to stay at the inn for as long as they need to.

That right there is showing unconditional love. That right there is showing, hey, I don't know what happened to you. I don't know if you got beat up because you were gambling. That I don't agree with. I don't know if you got beat up because you were involved in something you shouldn't have been. I may not support what took place. But I'm going to choose to love you.

And because of that, I'm going to take care of you and help you. It's interesting because according to the teaching of some of the rabbis back in that time, God had two measures that he used to judge people. One was a measure of justice and the other was a measure of mercy. Whichever measure you use. Whichever measure you want God to use with you, you should use that same measure.

I mean, truly think about that. If you were to evaluate yourself and say, you know what? God's going to judge me based upon justice and based upon mercy. I wonder how often that would change our situations when we're about to judge someone like, man, I've got no right. I can't do it. We should only judge one another's behavior when we are mindful of the fact that we ourselves will be judged.

And we should consider how we want to be judged. I remember when I was a kid, I went to church camp. I did like two or three times every single year went to camp. I loved it. It was my favorite thing to do. And it was funny because Tristan may even be saying this now. I've got to be careful here. But you know how youth leaders are like, all right, kids, we're going to go to church camp.

And we're going to stop for gas 59 miles into the trip. No potty breaks. We're getting McDonald's. The dollar menu, when it was actually around, it was pretty cool. And you have to understand. When you get out of the church van, you're representing your church. And I went to a manual church. And so they'd say, you're representing a manual church. And you know what a manual church represents?

I was like, yeah, Jesus. We all know the answer. That's right, Jesus. And you represent them. So I want you on your best behavior. No dumb stuff. And he goes like this, Mr. Rizzio. I was like, why me? Why do you single me out? Dude, come on. Like, I'm 16. I'm like a grown man. I'm an adult practically, right? Call me out. Side note, I did do dumb stuff every year.

I deserved it hands down. I mean, he had every right to say that. But I got tired of that judgment of always the nod, Mr. Rizzio, and dumb stuff. I got tired of it every single year. And he would always look at me because I was being a knucklehead. You know what's interesting is that people could have judged me in that situation. I know I'm taking a funny situation.

I'm trying to make it serious. But taking a situation like that, I got tired of being looked upon as the kid who's just a goofball. I didn't want to be judged like that. I want to be taken serious. I want to take my relationship with Christ more serious. And I think it's amazing because it's not necessarily how you start. I think it's how you finish. Look at this picture I've got here.

Some of these people that started off different ended pretty well. Never judge someone based upon a season. One season, David was a shepherd. Next season, he was a king. One season, Ruth was working in the field. The next season, she was owning the same field. One season, Mordecai was sitting outside the king's palace. The next season, he was inside the palace.

It's amazing how our lives can change. But if we're so focused on judging and putting people down, it's like, what are you doing to glorify God? It's not for your own self-boasting. Look at verses 3 through 5. Why do you look at the speck that is in your own brother's eye, and why do you not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, let me take the speck out of your eye, and behold, the log is in your own eye?

You hypocrite. First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. The figures of a speck and a plank or a log, it's real figures yet used comically. I actually like it. I think it's hilarious every time I read it. Jesus shows how genuinely far more tolerant we are of our own sins when we are to the sins of others.

I mean, literally think about it. You have a speck in your eye. Your buddy comes up. He's got a log. Let's say like a 2x4, right? 2x4x8. I'm learning a lot of this building stuff recently. All right? So don't judge me. I'm a city slicker. We pay other people to do it for us, and then we look really cool with nice things, but we don't know how to use them, all the fancy tools.

But let's say your brother's got a log or 2x4 in his eye. How does that make sense where your brother's going to come up to you like he's got to be slapping him? Like maybe I'm just the one that sees it kind of funny. I see it comical. How do you expect a guy that has a log in his eye trying to help the guy that has a speck? Shouldn't it be the other way around?

Yes, it's logical. But yet we do it all the time. We're so worried about other people's issues. We don't even worry about our own. It might be a literal speck in one's eye, but obviously it would not be a literal plank or a board in someone's eye. Jesus used this exaggerated humorous picture to make his message easier to understand and more memorable. An example of looking for a speck in the eye while another ignoring the plank in one's own is when the religious leaders in John 8 brought the woman caught committing adultery.

She had certainly sinned. If you understand that story. We can all agree she had sinned, but their sin was much worse. I thought all sin was the same. Sure is. But if you look in Proverbs 6, 18, there's six things that God hates. Seven, that's an abomination. You know one of them that he hates? A heart that devises wicked plans. And you know what Jesus did in that situation where they pulled the lady out that was committing adultery in front of all the religious leaders?

He says to them, He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first. It's amazing. What she did was wrong. We didn't see or hear Jesus say, I fully endorse what you did. No, obviously not. That was wrong. It was a sin what she was doing, but we know what he does. He stands in front. He says, listen, I'm going to show you unconditional love because I love you.

If you're going to throw a stone. Let me know how that sin of yours is doing. And every single one of them just backs off and they walk away. It's an amazing representation of how us as Christians, what we should be doing with other people that we shouldn't be trying to throw all these rocks and break down these glass houses. What we should be doing is one, making sure our lives is right with Christ.

And two, showing the unconditional love to people. We don't have to agree with their lifestyle. We need to show them love. It's imperative that we do that. Because it resembles who Jesus is. We have to understand that when Jesus used the word hypocrite who fusses about small things and others and pays no attention to great matters at home in his own person.

How often are we so worried about what everybody else does? We make the biggest fusses about it. We get on Facebook and we tell everybody about what's going on. But we don't even take care of our own house. Our hypocrisy in these matters is almost always more evident to others than to ourselves. We may find ourselves in the same situation. We may find a way to ignore the plank in our own eye.

But others notice it immediately. You know, a good example of this kind of hypocrisy is David's reaction to Nathan's story about a man who unjustly stole and killed another man's lamb. David quickly condemned the man but was blind to his own sin which was much greater. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 12. 2 Samuel chapter 12. We're going to look at verses 7 through 9.

I love conversations like these because I can just hear the tone. I can hear the attitude. Or maybe it's just me. Maybe I just like that part of it. All right. So Nathan said to David. If you remember what David did. We're going to summarize it real quick. You are the man. Thus says the Lord God of Israel. Is it I who anointed you king over Israel? And is it I who delivered you from the hand of Saul?

This is where it gets that tone. I also gave you your master's house. And your master's wives into your care. And I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too little. I would have added to you many more things like these. Simply saying. Why are you so worried about what this man did to the sheep? Who are you to talk about that and condemn that person?

Why? Why have you despised the word of the Lord by doing evil in the sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with a sword. And then have taken his wife to be your wife. And have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. He's like, dude, what are you talking about? You stole someone's lady. And then you had him killed. But you're going to talk about somebody taking a lamb and killing?

What gives you the right to stand on that judgment? It's interesting how we see judgment throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament. And we still struggle with it constantly. Why is it when someone walks through the doors our immediate thought is negative? Why do we feel like we need to be judged? Why do we need to judge someone? Why does it always have to go that far?

Jesus didn't say it was wrong for us to help a brother with a speck in his eye. It is a good thing to help your brother with a speck. But not before dealing with the plank in your own eye. Look at Matthew. Go back to Matthew 7. Look at verse 6. Do not give what is holy to dogs and do not throw your pearls before swine. Or they will trample them under their feet and tear you into pieces.

We might say here what Jesus said. What he's saying is don't be judgmental. But don't throw out all discernment either. Jesus also spoke in the context of correcting another brother or sister. Godly correction is a pearl. When I can sit there and go up to my brother and say hey man. I want you to understand I'm coming to you in a loving way. I'm coming to you in a humble way.

You're messing up. What you're doing is not okay. This is not what God wants. You're sinning. And I want you to understand that I'm here to help you. The person receiving that, it hurts. It stings. But what we need to understand is not to let those emotions, not to let that anger and that judgment build up. Like who are you to call me out on that? But our response is you're right.

I am messing up. I appreciate you coming to me because it shows that you love me. It shows that you care about me. That you're not just here to cast judgment to make yourself look better or feel better. But you care about me. The gospel is to be preached to every creature. Mark 16 tells us. But when the Jews were hardened and spoke evil that way before the multitude in Acts 19.

The apostles left them. It relates back to that verse 6 that we're talking about. Jesus told us to let our light shine before the world. Earlier in chapter 5 Matthew. Jesus said this. To call us to discernment. To encourage us to look for prepared hearts. That are ready to receive. When we find such open hearts we can trust that God has already been working upon them.

And so what happened with the Jews that they're in Acts 9. That their hearts were so hardened. And the apostles when they're sitting there trying to explain to them like hey man what you're doing. You're really messing up. That's not okay. Jesus does not approve that. Their hearts were so hardened they didn't want anything about it. They didn't want to hear it.

They wanted nothing to do with it. And so what Jesus is saying for those who have hardened hearts like that. There's nothing you can do. So going there and casting judgment on them is not going to solve it. It's going to cause more of a barrier. More of a separation between you and them. Between them and God. So the thing that we can do is just back off. Pray for them.

But it's interesting because when you look at verses 7 and 8. Jesus he flips a script here. He starts talking about prayer. He says ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives. And he who seeks finds. And to him who knocks it will be opened. Ask, seek, knock. Really easy. You go past it really quick.

We see a progressive intensity going from ask, seek, knock. Jesus told us to have intensity, passion, and persistence in prayer. The fact that Jesus came back to the subject of prayer which he already covered in Matthew 5. Obviously this is important. There's a couple people here tonight that are in my small group. And I love my small group dearly. They're like family.

And it was interesting because by last month I was really struggling with something. I wasn't necessarily, I don't feel like judging someone. But I was struggling inside my heart that I could feel it was starting to harden towards an individual. And I was like guys, I need help. I need you guys to pray for me because I'm really struggling with that person and their lifestyle and what they believe.

I don't agree with it. But I want to make sure that I maintain my love for them. Because at the end of the day that's what Christ would do. I think sometimes we lose that thought of saying that's what Christ would do. And we just act on our own apparel. And we're like you vote that way? Nah. Unfriend on Facebook. You believe that? Can't be friends. Not going to your house anymore for potlucks.

That's a real shame by the way. We end friendships. We end conversations. We end opportunities with people because we disagree with them. We stop showing them love. Which if we really boil that down to the core. If we stop showing them love. If we stop having conversation with people. If we stop investing in people. What are we stopping? Sharing the gospel.

Opportunities to talk to them about who Jesus is. Because we have a disagreement. Prayer is like asking in the way that we simply make a request known to God. And everyone who asks will receive. Receiving is the reward of asking. Prayer is like seeking it in that we search after God. His word. His will. And he who seeks finds. Finding is the reward of seeking.

Seeking him is the ultimate goal. Not me praying for a Ferrari. That would be sweet. I think I'm the only one in Arc City who would have one. Really cool. My status would go up. But that's not what I need. And so when we're praying we need to be purposeful. We need to be intentional. We need to be relational. We need to be those characteristics with God when we're praying.

And so when I ask my group, my small group, I say, hey, please pray for me. I was being genuine. I was really struggling towards that individual. And I didn't want to go down that path of having a hardened heart where I have to talk to them. I have to see them weekly. I didn't want to treat them like that. They didn't deserve it. Why? Because they believe different.

I may not agree with it. But I still need to show them that I love them. Because that's what Christ would do. And that prayer I felt truly with the small group that was really helping me. My hardened heart I could feel was starting to loosen up towards that individual. And I feel like, okay, this is how I should have been acting. Praying for what you need, what you want.

You know, it's interesting because Pastor Allen and I, we've been talking for quite a few weeks now about future growth. And technology. And what the church is going to look like. And, you know, where we need to improve. And what do we need to buy. Or what do we need to look at. And we're evaluating quite a few things. And it's funny because I'm like, hey, Pastor Allen, you know, if we do this, what's your thoughts?

You know, if we need to purchase, this is kind of a big purchase. Well, I can't mimic his voice. I'm not even going to try. But he said, well, I think we just need to pray about it. That was kind of it right there. He's like, I think we need to pray about it. I think we need to pray about it. I think we need to give that to God. I was like, doggone, he's right.

Why didn't I think of that? And it's like every response is like, you know what, Nick? Let's just see what God does. He's in control. It's like, Allen, you're right. You are so right. Sometimes we get so fixated on what we want that we lose sight of God knows what we need. He knows what we need tomorrow. So stop worrying about tomorrow. Just focus on today.

Prayer is like seeking in that which we search after God. His word, his will. He who seeks finds. Finding is the reward of seeking. The idea of knocking also implies there's some type of resistance, right? Why would Jesus talk about this where you're going to be knocking? Referencing a door. Well, there's got to be some type of resistance, right? There's something there.

After all, if the door was already open, would there be no need to knock? Understanding if I don't need to take my prayer or my needs or my desires or my worries and my struggles to God, then why do I need God? We need that door so we can submit ourselves, we can humble ourselves before the throne of God and say, listen, I can't do this, God. I need your help.

I need your guidance. What do I do? Where do I go? Help me, God. And by us praying, we understand the power of prayer. We understand God's power and his sovereignty. If the door is already open, there'd be no need to knock. Yet Jesus encouraged us, even though when we sense that the door is closed and you must knock, you do so and you continue to do so and you'll be answered.

Look at verses 9 through 11. We'll go through pretty quick. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask him?

Simply speaking. Jesus made it clear that God does not have to be persuaded or appeased in prayer. He doesn't need a brown nose. He just wants to give us not just bread, but what we need. He wants to give us more than what we need. So what does that mean, more? Can I put a value on that? Can I say 10 times more? No. How much more, says our Lord? And he does not say how much more, but he leaves that to our reflections.

Meaning, how much faith and trust are you willing to put in that prayer that God will take care of you? And that's what will be given back to you. Verse 12, the golden rule. And everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you. For this is the law and the prophets. Simple rule. But yet we struggle with it all the time. I teach my 11-year-old.

I teach the rest of my kids the same rule. And it's still a constant struggle. It's a constant struggle for me. Why? Jesus shows us that the simple principle, the golden rule, summarizes how we should treat others. If we would simply treat others the way we would want to be treated, we would naturally obey all the laws. What does that say about our relationship with others?

If I were to treat you the way you'd want to treat me, what do you think this world would look like? What do you think Ark City would look like? What do you think Calvary Chapel would look like? Easy law to understand, right? But it doesn't make it any easier to obey. Why? It's so easy. It's one line. How do we make it easier to obey? Treat people the same way you'd want them to treat you.

This doesn't mean to make your life easier, happier, or even to boast about yourself. It's to simply show others. The last slide. To show others who Christ is through our words, our actions, and intentions. We have to understand it was never about us. It will never be about us. It's about Christ and giving him the glory. But when we take, I, and we insert into the sentence,

and we take God out, now it's about us. And it was never about us. It's about showing those the glory of God. It's amazing how we can do that when we reserve ourselves from judgment and we say, you know what? I need to correct myself first before I go have that conversation with someone who's really struggling with that sin. Take the log out of my eye first,

and then I can deal with my friend's speck. And no matter what, I still want to show them the unconditional love that Jesus shows us every day. That's the encouragement I want to give to you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this passage, Lord. I ask that we can just show others the unconditional love, Lord, that you show us every single day,

every single moment when, Lord, to be honest, as much as we turn our backs or we struggle, we fight against you, Lord, you continue to just be there constantly for us. Lord, I ask that we can just reciprocate that towards others and show people that we love you, that we may not agree with what you do or what you say or what you believe, but God will be there for them. We'll show them the love because if an opportunity arises where we could share the gospel, we could tell them who you are, that we're prepared mentally and spiritually. God, just be with Calvary Chapel as we continue to be a light and a beacon for Arc City, that we can continue to make a difference here because of your power.

We love you. Give you the praise and glory in Jesus' name. Amen. Have a good night. God bless you.