20/20 Vision - Matthew 7:1-12 - November 18, 2007

Sunday School Lesson – 20/20 Vision – November 18, 2007

This is lesson three (3) in our series of study. We continue our study in Matthew 7:1-12. JESUS continues to teach HIS disciples about relationships to GOD, believers and non-believers.

Our relationship to GOD, as a believer, shapes our relationship and attitude toward others. JESUS began the Sermon on the Mount with the foundational qualities that GOD wants every believer to have in their lives. Believers must know themselves by knowing their hearts or knowing their true nature. As believers interact with people they like and those that are not so likable, how do they respond? This gives believers insight into their growth and maturity.

We as humans cannot change our physical features just by thinking. Our human destiny is determined by genetics, nutrition, exercise, environment and other factors. Our physical development is determined by certain physical parameters.

Our spiritual growth and maturity is determined by our relationship with our FATHER through JESUS and the degree we allow the HOLY SPIRIT to direct our lives. The HOLY SPIRIT is the internal power that shapes our spiritual growth and guides us to the spiritual parameters we need. Our flesh wars against our spiritual development. That is why believers must yield and seek first the relationship. As believers grow and mature, GOD gives them assignments to develop his or her obedience. Obedience is faith in action, which in turn builds trust, confidence and a deeper relationship with GOD. Through obedience believers get to know GOD in an intimate and personal way. The key word is to “know.”

Let’s read Matthew 7:1-6:
Do Not Judge
1 “Do not judge, so that you won’t be judged. 2 For with the judgment you use,[1] Lit you judge you will be judged, and with the measure you use,[2] Lit you measure it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye but don’t notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ and look, there’s a log in your eye? 5 Hypocrite! First take the log out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. 6 Don’t give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before pigs, or they will trample them with their feet, turn, and tear you to pieces.

JESUS uses the term “Judge.” Judge can mean to gather the facts and render a decision or it can mean to be critical of others based upon our opinions. It is the latter that JESUS tells us as believers not to do.

We are all growing and maturing as believers. As we grow and mature as believers, we see ourselves as GOD sees us, sinners saved by grace. As we yield to the working of the HOLY SPIRIT in our lives, we are being made into the image of HIS SON JESUS. This is sanctification.

JESUS is saying for believers not to judge others based upon their beliefs involving matters which GOD has not spoken. But on matters where GOD has spoken in HIS WORD, we can judge.

When we judge others just know that we will also be judged by the same measuring stick. So it is a clear wake up call to be very careful when we judge others. When GOD has spoken on an issue, HE has already judged the matter. Believers must be very careful not to get caught in the same trap that a fellow believer has. Galatians 6:1-5 captures this caution. Judging others can come from genuine concern or from a believer being spiritually arrogant. Those who are spiritually arrogant are spiritually immature.

Galatians 6:1-5:

1 Brothers, if someone is caught in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual should restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves so you won’t be tempted also. 2 Carry one another’s burdens; in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone considers himself to be something when he is nothing, he is deceiving himself. 4 But each person should examine his own work, and then he will have a reason for boasting in himself alone, and not in respect to someone else. 5 For each person will have to carry his own load.

JESUS gives a vivid illustration regarding judging others by comparing a log in the eye of the judging believer to the speck in the eye of a fellow believer. This is the very heart of the Sermon on the Mount. All believers must know themselves and first seek the right relationship with GOD. It is during the process of knowing ourselves and our relationship with GOD, through CHRIST, that we discover the logs in our own eyes. Then when we deal with the logs in our own eyes, we know how to assist fellow believers with the specks in their eyes. We can assist them with a helpful attitude and not a condemning attitude.

All that JESUS has said through verse 5 has been directed toward believers. Verse 6 switches to non-believers. The dogs referred to were not like our pets of today but they were wild dogs that ran in packs. They destroyed and ravaged the things with which they came into contact. Pigs were considered unclean to the Jew. The reference to the dogs and pigs seem to be those who were enemies of the gospel. The pearl is the gospel of CHRIST.

We must keep in mind that after HIS crucifixion and resurrection, JESUS gave the Great Commission to take the gospel to all nations, just before HE ascended into heaven. HE is not saying not to take the gospel to all people but HE is saying that once believers have obediently presented the gospel and it has been rejected, then they should leave.

Many of us as believers have loved ones and friends that we want to accept CHRIST as their SAVIOR. Once we are led to present the gospel and it is rejected, we need to back off lest we are attacked as a pack of wild dogs or wild boars. Bottom line, further talk becomes counterproductive. But we should continue to pray for them and follow up when led by the HOLY SPIRIT to do so. This is where we must have discernment to know when to back off.

Let’s read Matthew 7:7-11:
Keep Asking, Searching, Knocking
7 “Keep asking,[3] Or Ask and it will be given to you. Keep searching,[4] Or Search and you will find. Keep knocking,[5] Or Knock and the door[6] Lit and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who searches finds, and to the one who knocks, the door[7] Lit knocks, it will be opened. 9 What man among you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!

JESUS follows HIS caution regarding presenting the gospel with the need for persistent prayer. In life, believers will encounter difficult people, circumstances, situations and matters. We are to pray and keep on praying. Pray for those who reject the gospel. Pray for ourselves as we deal with the logs in our eyes. Pray for others as we help them remove the specks from their eyes. Pray as we go through everyday life as we encounter others. Pray when we watch or hear the news. Pray, pray, pray!

Asking, searching and knocking all deal with prayer. Bottom line, do not give up. When we are this persistent in prayer we stay focused on GOD WHO is the ONE WHO has the power to bring about our request. HE is he ONE that can bring understanding and comfort as we wait on the answer or understanding. We are not to loose hope no matter how long it takes for the answer to come.

JESUS follows being persistent in prayer with encouragement. We know that earthly fathers, being evil when compared to GOD, give good things to their children. We must keep in mind when GOD, WHO is our heavenly FATHER, answers our prayers with no or in a different manner than we ask; we know HE has our best interest in mind. HE is not in the business of tricking us or harming us by giving us things that will harm us. GOD is sovereign and HIS ways are not our ways, HIS thoughts are higher than our thoughts and HIS vantage point is perfect. This boils down to trust. Trust comes with having confidence in our LORD to give us what is best in all situations, circumstances and matters.

Let’s read Matthew 7:12:

12 Therefore, whatever you want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the Prophets.[8] When capitalized, the Law and the Prophets = the OT

This verse is considered the “Golden Rule” of the Bible. It is do unto others as you want them to do unto you. This concept is reflected in the Law and the Prophets regarding human relations.

JESUS was asked about the greatest commandments. HIS answer is given in Matthew 22:34-40 and focuses on our relationship with GOD and our fellow human beings:

34 When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they came together in the same place. 35 And one of them, an expert in the law, asked a question to test Him: 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”[12] Lit is great 37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.[13] Dt 6:5 38 This is the greatest and most important[14] Lit and first commandment. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.[15] Lv 19:18 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend[16] Or hang on these two commandments.”

When we have the proper relationship with GOD and seek HIM first, then we can, with the empowering of the HOLY SPIRIT, love others as we love ourselves. Only through the empowering of the HOLY SPIRIT can we love the unlovely. It is then that we can do unto others as we would want them to do unto us. This goes back to the foundational qualities that JESUS addressed in the Beatitudes. (Matthew 6)

It is all about knowing ourselves, seeking to know GOD and being obedient to HIM. GOD wants all believers to see others and situations as clearly as HE sees them. This can only happen as we grow and mature in HIM by yielding our will to HIM and saying as the Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20:

20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.