Sermon for MHBC (11 September 2022). You can watch on our website or on Facebook or YouTube.
Our culture feeds on judgment. We love a scandal. We love a public failure. The news programs spend their time scandalizing the other side. Politicians do this. Someone says we have a tendency of arrogance toward others and ignorance toward ourselves. We are quick to see the faults of others, but we are usually slower to see our own.
As a culture, we have becoming increasingly short-tempered. Our wick of grace doesn’t burn long. One misstep, one offense, can sour someone’s perception forever, and they may never speak to you again. Navigating the world is difficult. Relationships are difficult.
Jesus shows us in this passage how to live a life of grace—how to be a gracious person. Grace, of course, begins in the gospel. As 1 John puts it: “Not that we loved God, but that he loved us.” Or, perhaps even better, is Paul in Ephesians 2, “We were dead in our trespasses and sins … but God being rich in mercy.” The life of grace is rooted in God’s graciousness in the gospel.
John Calvin summarized the Christian life in three words: humility, humility, humility. That’s not a bad summary of this passage. A gracious life is developed through the constant application of humility. We should view others humbly. We should view ourselves humbly. We should approach God humbly.
1. View others humbly (vv. 1–2)
Part of viewing others humbly ischarity in our view of them. Look at *vv. 1–2*.
The word humility originally referred to smallness. Sitting over someone in judgment is the opposite of humility. And that’s precisely the issue in this verse. Jesus isn’t telling us to quit being discerning or to be passive or not to offer challenge. In fact, later in the chapter, he tells us to be critically discerning and watch out for false prophets.
But he is telling us not to be arrogant in our assessment of others. Notice the reason he gives for his statement in v. 2: for with the judgment you judge, you will be judged. The problem with judgment is that we often forget that the same standard applies to us.
There’s a story about one of the early desert monks. A brother was caught in some sin, so this older monk, who had a great reputation, was asked to come and make a judgment on what should be done. At first he refused to come. Then the priest sent someone. So this desert monk left his solitary home. But he carried with him a leaking jug full of water. When he arrived, the water was leaking out, and the judging council said to him, “What is this?” The monk replied: “My sins run out behind me, and I do not see them, and today I am coming to judge the error of another.”
It’s a similar story to the one we find in John 8. A woman is caught in adultery. Under the law she is subject to the death penalty. They bring her before Jesus who says, “Let the one without sin cast the first sin.” Jesus is reminding them that finding ourselves in a position to judge doesn’t exempt us from judgment. So we must never make judgments lightly.
Implications
a. A tell-tell sign of sitting in judgment is the following phrase: “I just think people shouldn’t blank” or “I just don’t think people should blank.” We’ve all heard it and most of us have said it. Talk like that puts us in a position over others.
b. We should give others, especially our Christian brothers and sisters the benefit of the doubt. Growing in grace is a sign of Christian maturity. Growing in rigid judgmentalism isn’t.
c. This means we should be slow to form our opinions. This is difficult. Psychologists talk about our tendency to draw conclusions quickly on first impression. And it is often difficult to let go of our first impressions.
Since that is the case, it’s important that we are slow to make judgments, to draw final analysis on people. Drawing quick conclusions about people is a symptom of arrogance for two reasons. First, we believe we are in a position to make this call. We believe we are shrewd enough, insightful enough, and clearheaded enough to see the whole picture. Second, we discount the grace of God. God may decide to radically change a person. God may be in the process of changing that person. And we can’t forget that we, too, are dependent on the grace of God.
You’re likely familiar with the quote: “But for the grace of God, there go I.” It is credited to various people, but it seems to have gone back to a man named John Bradford from the 1500s. He witnessed some criminals being led to execution and made the statement: “but for the grace of God, there go I.”
One of the sad things we see in our rapid information world is high profile public failures. Religious leaders engaging in embezzlement or affairs. Public figures treating people terribly. The failure of others shouldn’t make us arrogant. It should make us humble.
And this leads to the second point.
2. View yourself humbly (vv. 3–6)
Jesus teaches that we should prepare our own hearts. Look at *vv. 3–5*. This is really a humorous image. The speck is something small like a twig. The plank is something large like the main beam in building a house. Having a beam in your eye obviously blinds you, so any attempt to remove a small speck from someone else’s eye is like trying to do it blindfolded. It’s destined to fail in a horrible way. Look what Jesus says in v. 5. Only when we deal with the beam corrupting our own vision can we see clearly enough to be of any use. And it may be that we don’t need to provide as much help as we thought. More on that in v. 6 in just a minute.
Pilots are notorious for precision. They do this with checklists. The pre-flight checklist alone can have more than 30 items. Why? Because they have a weighty task. They are responsible for controlling a massive machine, often holding dozens of people, and flying thousands of miles 10s of thousands of feet in the air.
Before the people of Israel came to Mt. Sinai, they spent time preparing themselves. The priests had to ensure they were clean. The garments had to be clean. Everything was precise because they were engaging in a serious and holy task.
Nothing on this earth is more sacred than other people—fellow image-bearers. Our interactions with others are sacred work. We would do well to remember the seriousness of this and make daily preparation for our interactions.
Such preparation is critical so that we might exercise wisdom. Look at *v. 6*. This is a puzzling verse with lots of interpretations. But the basic point seems to be the connection in v. 5 to seeing clearly and knowing what to do in v. 6. If we don’t see clearly, we might give holy things to dogs, which in the biblical world are not cute pets but village pests. We might toss pearls to pigs, who don’t understand the value. They will likely think you are throwing a rock at them and attack you. If we don’t have clear vision, we are setting ourselves up for failure.
If daily examination and repentance isn’t part of our practice, we should not be in the habit of correcting others. We must prepare our heart. And we do that through the gospel.
Now I want to be really clear that Christianity isn’t about cleaning ourselves up. We can’t lose sight of the gospel. In fact, our attempts to clean ourselves up apart from the gospel will do us more harm than good. Those attempts will make us self-righteous. But if we keep in mind our helplessness and the grace of God, then our righteousness will be a humble righteousness because it isn’t our righteousness to begin with. It’s Jesus’s. Consider just this one passage in 2 Cor 5:21: He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. I have nothing to offer anyone except Christ in me.
God is holy. I am not. Apart from the grace of God, I would have destroyed my life and everyone that I interacted with long ago. But God, being rich in mercy, raised me up with Christ.
See preparation and wisdom comes through the gospel. Taking stock of ourselves in light of who God is and what he is done in Christ is necessary. This is our third point.
3. Approach God humbly (vv. 7–12)
Verse 7 may seem out of place after vv. 1–6. But actually these next verses are the heart of the matter because they are all about God’s character. Jesus shows us how God’s grace both supplies the resources for us to be gracious and also the example for us to be gracious.
Jesus’s first piece of advice is to bathe yourself in prayer. Look at *vv. 7–8*.
Why is prayer so critical? Because it positions us to rely less on ourselves. A life of grace is impossible if we rely on ourselves. Grace flows from God, so our nearness and reliance on him is a necessity. God doesn’t need us to ask. But asking requires humility. It requires recognizing our smallness, our inability.
James puts it this way: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him (1:6).
I have found the best solutions when I have taken time to pray. But I confess I often fail to do this. I rely on my wisdom, my ability to reason. I rely on the advice of others. And sometimes, frankly, I never even take time to pray. I never slow down enough to listen. What could be more arrogant? It’s that combination of arrogance and ignorance. When I fail to seek God, I am overestimating my own ability and underestimating my own inability.
But God invites us to seek him. And he promises us good things.
Jesus’s second piece of advice is to bask in the kindness of God. Look at *vv. 9–11*. Here the character of God is on display. He is a good Father who knows how to give good things. So we have God inviting us to draw near to him.
Nearness to God prepares us to see our own shortcomings and to give good things to others. Look at *v. 12*.
This is, of course, a famous verse known as the Golden Rule. And versions of it appear in nearly every religion. But the unique feature here is its connection to the character of God. Verse 11 just told us about our Heavenly Father who knows how to give good gifts. Now look at v. 12, Jesus says, “Therefore.” “In light of God’s character, here is how we should proceed.” Give others good things like your Heavenly Father. This, according to Jesus, summarizes the ethical teaching of Scripture. Consider others.
God has displayed this in the most remarkable way imaginable. Philippians 2 explains this. Jesus, being fully God, humbles himself by becoming human, and not only that, he obediently dies a humiliating death on a cross. And the instruction for us in Philippians 2 is to consider others more important than ourselves because that’s precisely the example we have in Christ. This is what giving good gifts looks like. God gave himself to us.
Practically, this means approaching others humbly and viewing ourselves humbly. It is all rooted in God’s character and his action in Christ. The gospel is what drives us to treat others humbly. And the gospel is what humbles us. But the gospel is also what enables us to be humble. It is the Spirit of Christ now at work in us. That is the same Spirit that moves Jesus to die on the cross. That Spirit is at work in us to live a life of grace. It’s only out of God’s own resources given to us that we can live this life of grace.
Conclusion
There are three points that you’ll find in many 12 step rooms like AA. Really these three points could have served as the outline for the message this morning.
1. Trust God
2. Clean house
3. Help others
We applaud this sort of life. In fact, we are mesmerized by it. We tell stories about it and make movies and write articles about it. But at the same time, it runs counter to human nature and to our culture.
A gracious life is developed through the constant application of humility. When we trust God, we are exercising humility. When we take an honest assessment of our own heart, we are exercising humility. When we help others, we are exercising humility.