Sermon on the Mount: 10th Blessing

MATTHEW 7:1-12

CHRISTIAN RELATIONSHIPS

An account is given us in Matthew 7 of the network of relationships into which we, as followers of Jesus, are drawn. We see in this passage several defined by the Lord and these are:

To our brother, in whose eye we may see a splinter and whom we have a responsibility to help, not judge. (1-5)

To a group defined as “dogs” and “pigs” whose animal nature is so low as to have us forbidden to continue to share the Gospel with them. (6)

To our heavenly Father to whom we come in prayer, confident that He will give us good things. (7-11)

To all others in general with the Golden Rule guiding our attitude and behavior. (12)

To our fellow pilgrims who walk with us along the narrow way. (13-14)

To false prophets, whom we are to recognize and of whom we are to beware.    (15-20)

To Jesus our Lord whose teaching we are committed and obey. (21-27)

TO OUR BROTHER

Verses 1-5 begins our teaching with Jesus carefully revealing He knows we are not perfect. He assumes our imperfections will give rise to conflict and tension in our relations. In such a situation He forbids two alternatives and then commends to us a third and better way.

The Christian follower is not to be a judge. Not only are we not the judge but we are among those to be judged. How we will be judged will be according to whether we have judged others. If we pose as judge, we cannot plead ignorance of the law we claim to be using. The directive “judge not” is not a requirement to be blind but rather is a plea for us to be generous. We must avoid any presumption that we are able to judge others for this is the area reserved to God, not man.

We also cannot be a hypocrite by noticing a speck in our brother’s eye while ignoring the beam in our own eye. We must deal with our own faults before we being to look around to find fault in others. The fall of man in the garden made us all sinners and it disqualified each of us to sit on a bench of judgment.

A Christian is to be a brother. The standard of Jesus for relationships is high. In all our relations we are to be neither a judge (being harsh and condemning) or a hypocrite (blaming others while excusing ourselves). As a brother we are to care for others, correct ourselves, and then be positive and constructive to others.

ATTITUDE TO “DOGS” AND “PIGS”

 Jesus teaches here that there are certain human beings who act like animals and therefore may be accurately described as “dogs” or “pigs”.

The dogs He had in mind are not pet dogs around many homes but rather wild and mongrel animals who lived around the garbage dumps of the city rubbish. Pigs were unclean animals to Jews and Peter wrote of both these creatures saying a dog returns to his own vomit and the pig who is washed returns to wallow in the mire. The reference here is that unbelievers whose nature has never been changed by new birth possess physical or animal type life but no spiritual or eternal life.

His command is that we are not to give dogs what is holy and we are not to throw our pearls before swine. What are the holy things and the pearls? We must not think that Jesus is forbidding us to witness the Gospel before those who have not been saved. These forbidden ones are not just unsaved. They are those who have had the opportunity to hear the Word and have defiantly rejected it. To continue to offer the Word to these people is to welcome more rejection and blasphemy.

ATTITUDE TO THE HEAVENLY FATHER

Verses 7-11 in His teaching shows Jesus moving on from relationship with our fellow man to our relationship with our heavenly Father. Here Jesus makes certain promises to those who believe that they are to ask, seek, and knock. Next He says that those who do so receive, find, and experience an opened door. Next He allows a small parable to show that earthly fathers give good things to their children when requests are made of them. If earthly fathers do so, how much more will our heavenly Father give?

If we belong to Christ, God is our Father, we are His children, and prayer is our coming to Him with our requests. God’s redemption gifts are different than earthly gifts. God does not bestow salvation on all. The daily forgiveness, deliverance from evil, spiritual peace, greater faith, hope and love, and the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit are given freely to those whom He has drawn to Himself.

ATTITUDE TO ALL MEN

In verse 12 we are given a version of the Golden Rule and we are told that this rule is both the law and the prophets. That is, whoever directs his conduct toward others according to how he would like others to direct their conduct toward him has fulfilled the law and the prophets, at least in the matter of love of neighbor.

 In the first 12 verses of Matthew 7 Jesus has introduced us to these basic relationships. At their center is our heavenly Father to whom we come, on whom we depend, and who never gives His children anything other than goodness. Next there are our fellow believers. If our fellow Christians are truly our brothers and sisters in Christ, it seems impossible that we could be anything other than caring and constructive in our attitude toward them.

As for those outside the family, there is the extreme case of the “dogs” and “pigs”, but they are not typical. They are an exceptional group of stubborn people who are “dogged” and even “pigheaded”. Reluctantly we must drop them out of our lives and witness. 

This Golden Rule means we put ourselves in the place of the other person, who is not “dogged” or “pigheaded”, and wish for him what we would wish for ourselves. We are to be always generous, never harsh,  always understanding, never cruel, and always kind.