The Gospel and the Kingdom - Matthew - Responsibilities - Part 1

 

TEXT:  MATTHEW 7: 1 – 12 ““Judge not, that you be not judged. ² For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ³ And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First, remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. ⁶ “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. ⁷ “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ⁹ Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ 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 good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

We are returning from our holiday break and we are continuing our study in the Book of Matthew. We are in Matthew chapter 7 and now we are looking at the topic of the Kingdom and Jesus’ Exhortations. An exhortation is – an utterance, discourse, or address conveying urgent advice or recommendation. It is a speech or written passage intended to persuade, inspire, or encourage.

Jesus is in this passage is giving us five responsibilities that we have and He is seeking to persuade and encourage us to live in this fashion. Remember, Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount continually brings us back to our motives over our actions. Recall that God looks at the heart, not the outward designs.

So, today we will look at the first two responsibilities in this passage and tomorrow we will see the last three.

Our first responsibility to the SAVED around us. Go back and read verses 1 – 2. Jesus instructs us that we are not to harshly judge other believers. We can be fruit inspectors, but not heart inspectors – that is His job and He can do it much better than we can. He lets us be reminded that how we judge others will be how others judge us.

The second responsibility can be found in verses 3-5. It is our Responsibility to OURSELVES. In contrast, He tells us that we are to harshly judge ourselves. He uses a metaphor to make this understandable to us (with a little hyperbole thrown in). When he speaks of a speck – it is a picture of some dust that is in the eye. Can be irritating, but is still minor. He says that we have a beam, that large piece of wood that holds up the other pieces. He says that we cannot truly help a brother in Christ until we remove the sin in our own life.

Tomorrow we will view the last three responsibilities He covers – the Ungodly, the Lord, and the World.

Today, let us search ourselves for the “beams” in our lives that can be hindering us from truly helping our fellow believers.