The Gospel and the Kingdom - Matthew - Responsibilities - Part 2

 

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 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 last three responsibilities in this passage.

Responsibility number 3: Our Responsibility to THE UNGODLY we come in contact with. Re-read verse 6. Jesus here tells us that we are not to give holy things to depraved men. By Holy, he means things that are separated and sanctified. When He speaks of “dogs,” He is using a metaphor to speak about men of impure and unclean minds. He also calls them “Swine” this is simply pigs. He is not saying that we should not share the Gospel, but we are not to trust the ungodly to share the message. He says that in the end, they will wind up “trampling,” or discarding the truth and rend (or, tear you up) about the truth. 

The 4^th Responsibility He shares is in relation to THE LORD. Look again at verses 7-11. He gives here the Command in verse 7. We are to diligently seek God’s Will. He tells us to A-S-K. Ask (keep on asking), Seek (and keep on seeking), and Knock (and keep on knocking). In turn, we will get the Confidence in verse 8. And to bring this home, He gives us the Comparison, an illustration in verses 9-11. If we, being sinful, can give good gifts to our children, how much more will the sinless Father give to His children! 

We end today with seeing the last of Our Responsibilities – our responsibility to THE WORLD, Read verse 12. We are to treat others as we would want them to treat us. Therefore, because of these previous 4 responsibilities, we sum it up in the last one.

So, we have looked at the topic of the Kingdom and Jesus’ Exhortations. Jesus is in this passage giving us 5 responsibilities that we have and is seeking to persuade and encourage us to live in this fashion. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount continually brings us back to our motives over our actions.

Remember that God looks at the heart, not the outward designs. Who we are is more important than what we do in the Kingdom of God.

Today, let us search ourselves for how we apply these five responsibilities in our daily life.