In A Good Place

Introduction:

When my Father and I are in a good place… (Matthew 7:7–12)

1. I ASK, knowing my Father’s GENEROSITY. (Matt 7:7–8)

   James 4:2c – […] You do not have, because you do not ask.

   James 4:2c–3 – […] You do not have, because you do not ask. [3] You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

2. I TRUST, knowing my Father’s CARE. (Matt 7:9–11)

3. I LOVE, knowing my Father’s LOVE. (Matt 7:12)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 7:7-12

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What are you personally afraid to ask the Father right now?
   

3. Share a time when you were disappointed in the moment, but now look back and praise God for not giving you what you wanted.
   

4. What is your biggest challenge in treating others as you want to be treated?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Good morning.

  My name is Justin Cady. If we haven't met yet, I serve as one of the elders here at Harvest and

  as we prepare to get into God's word, I'm going to ask that you would pray for me to

  clearly and accurately communicate and I will pray for you to have hearts to receive. So let's pray.

  In Jesus' name, amen.

  If you have your Bibles, you can open them to Matthew chapter 7 and

  we're continuing our journey this year through the Sermon on the Mount, but before we get there, I want to ask you.

  Can you remember a situation ever where you needed to call your dad for help?

  I'm blessed that by God's grace, I've always been able to go to my dad when I'm in a jam and in God's providence,

  He blessed my dad with a son who often got into jams.

  So I thought back, way back, to the first jam that I can remember. I was around five years old.

  I was playing Nintendo and I made it to the end of a Super Mario Brothers castle, but I couldn't defeat the boss.

  So I thought, I'll just ask my dad.

  But he was at work, so I paused the game and

  I closed the cabinet over the TV. In the 90s, we all put our TVs behind doors, right?

  And I thought what I was just going to leave it on all day and then when he got home, he could help me.

  But my mom found it. She didn't agree with my leave the TV on all day plan.

  So, but I know given the chance, I have complete confidence he would have delivered.

  Another jam later in life when I was a teenager with a driver's license.

  One year, we were just getting back from family vacation that very evening.

  And some of my friends were getting together for a back-to-school pool party.

  And my parents try to tell me, look, it's getting late, you're only going to be there for a little bit.

  Are you sure it's a good idea to go out there?

  But of course, I had to go.

  Now, not only am I old enough that I was playing the original Nintendo,

  I'm also old enough to have been operating a motor vehicle before the age of Google Maps.

  So as I was heading out to this party, I got lost.

  And while doing a three-point turn on some random street out in Murraysville, I slid my car over the curb.

  So I had to call my dad, who that day had packed us all up and drove us all home from the beach

  and explained that my car is now hanging halfway over the curb, stuck into somebody's downslope driveway.

  Dad, what do I do?

  Has anyone ever had to make a call like that?

  Or dads, have you ever received a call like that?

  At another decade or so, and I had to call my dad about a different car problem.

  Michelle and I were buying our first cars, a married couple, and I, knowing absolutely nothing about cars,

  I was totally panicked that we were going to buy a lemon or we're going to way overpay,

  or who knows what I'm going to get fleeced into.

  So in my panic, I called my dad.

  And I said, "Dad, could you come with me to negotiate on the car?"

  And he could have rightfully said, "You're on your own, son."

  But he came to help.

  And don't worry, that was a very long time ago, and since then I've purchased my vehicles all by myself.

  But I share those few examples to point out the reason that I always saw my dad's help

  and the reason that he always gave it to me.

  Our relationship.

  The reason is our relationship.

  He is my father and I am his son.

  And my dad and I have always been in a good place.

  And I realize how blessed I am to be able to say that.

  And because of that relationship, I could always and did always ask my dad for whatever help I needed.

  I called to ask him for help yesterday.

  But for the moment, I want us to shift our view from earthly fathers to our relationship with our heavenly father.

  The Bible tells us that believers can address God as father because through Jesus we become children of God, amen?

  But if we didn't talk to our heavenly father for years, would our relationship be the same?

  And I'm not talking about a salvation issue.

  Once you are his child, that's that.

  I'm just saying, if you never spend time together or you never ask him for help, or you never trust anything he said,

  or you never listened to anything he tells you to do, what would that say about your relationship?

  You wouldn't say it's great, right?

  In that regard, how is your relationship with your heavenly father?

  Would you say that you're in a good place?

  Now, careful listeners this month might be wondering, our series the past few weeks has been about our heart towards the world.

  So in the last couple weeks we've talked about money, worry, judging others.

  What does my relationship with my father or asking of my father, what does that have to do with my heart towards the world?

  Well, it might seem like Jesus is taking a sudden turn at the start of this passage,

  but we're going to see how your relationship with your heavenly father, it absolutely affects

  your relationship and how you also ask him and approach him when you're in a jam.

  It absolutely affects your relationships with other people.

  So on your outline today, when my father and I are in a good place,

  number one, I ask, knowing my father's generosity.

  So in Pastor Jeff Sermon last week, if you were here, you know we saw a lot.

  We saw twigs and logs. We saw hogs and dogs.

  But primarily we saw Jesus telling us, do not do these things.

  This week we're going to see him telling us, do these things.

  And the week before last we studied Jesus speaking of the father's provision.

  If you remember him talking, Jesus talking about feeding the birds and clothing the flowers.

  We'll see some parallels to that today, but well, that section of Jesus teaching focused on worry.

  This passage starts out with a different focus. It's an invitation.

  So Matthew seven starting in verse seven, Jesus says, ask and it will be given to you.

  Seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

  Let's stop there.

  We see in verse seven, Jesus is inviting his followers to ask and we'll see in the following verses.

  He's talking about asking the father. So ask, seek, knock. All of these are referring to asking the father in prayer, asking continually according to the original language.

  And the repetition here emphasizes, we're not talking about half hearted by the way prayers.

  We're talking about passionate, all of me prayer.

  But you might be thinking, why does Jesus even tell us to ask?

  Because doesn't God already know what we need even before we ask him?

  And yes, he absolutely knows Matthew six, eight tells us that.

  But our heavenly father desires relationship.

  And here Jesus invites us into the same relationship he has with the father.

  Throughout Jesus ministry, we see him asking of the father, don't we?

  And again, through Jesus, we become children of God.

  And while inviting his followers to ask their father, Jesus gives encouragement that those who ask what receive verse eight for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks.

  Finds the one who knocks, it will be opened.

  But what does Jesus mean by that exactly?

  Because that might sound like Jesus is handing us a blank check, right?

  Ask for anything and it shows up like a supernatural prime day.

  And listen, sometimes it is like that. Amen.

  Sometimes God shows up and immediately answers prayer, just how we asked.

  And we stand there with our jaws on the floor like, what just happened?

  I've seen that as a church. We have seen that.

  But have you ever asked God for something and not received it?

  Or at least not yet.

  Yeah, that happens too.

  But if Jesus said everyone who asks receives, why does that happen?

  Now, we could spend a lot of time digging into that.

  Honestly, it's something we cannot fully understand this side of heaven.

  But scripture does give us some reasons that we do know.

  So why don't I get what I asked for?

  Number one, I don't ask.

  I don't ask.

  James four.

  Starting in verse two, the end of verse two tells us you do not have because you do not ask.

  Now it could be because you get so busy with other stuff.

  You don't spend time in prayer seeking the Lord wholeheartedly bringing your request before him.

  Or this is a big one.

  Sometimes we don't ask because of pride.

  I got this God. I'll let you know if I need you.

  Now, we probably don't say those words, but our actions do.

  We try to do whatever it is on our own without prayer.

  We try to fix it ourselves, whatever it is without seeking him.

  I mean, why does Jesus even have to tell us to ask?

  Pride because in our pride, we forget our need for God.

  And not just physical or material needs.

  We forget our spiritual needs.

  A struggle with a particular sin or an area where we need to grow like in patience or in wisdom, in joy.

  What about asking the Lord to equip us for all of Jesus instructions in this sermon?

  I don't mean today's sermon. I mean the whole sermon on the Mount.

  Do we ask our Father to help us be better disciples?

  Now, to clarify, physical and material needs are important.

  100% ask for them.

  Don't mishear me on that. It's a both and.

  But for all of the above, we don't ask.

  Another reason that we don't ask, we're afraid of the answer.

  We don't ask because we're afraid of being disappointed.

  So what are you afraid to ask God for right now?

  A health issue you've been dealing with for a long time?

  A lost family member that keeps making destructive decisions no matter how many times you try to help.

  A goal or a desire or something in your life that always seems like it's just out of reach.

  Think about it for a second.

  What are you afraid to ask God for right now?

  Now, we're going to get more into disappointment in a moment, but how would Jesus respond to you not asking out of fear?

  Based on this passage, he would say, ask whatever it is, bring it to your father.

  Why don't I get what I asked for?

  Number one, I don't ask. Number two, I ask wrongly.

  James continues, you do not have because you do not ask.

  You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

  Okay, so first you don't ask, but when you do ask, do you ask wrongly?

  Now, in this context, wrongly means selfishly or sinfully.

  Like, Father, I'm asking for a Ferrari.

  I am seeking a Ferrari.

  I am knocking on the door of the Ferrari dealership.

  Now, God is certainly capable of that, but why?

  Is there any purpose beyond my passions?

  I hope you see what I mean.

  There's nothing wrong with owning that whip.

  It's about the heart.

  Is my request just for my glory?

  Instead of asking things so we can impress people or keep up with people,

  we should pray for God to get the glory in all things.

  God, will you bring healing to this person so that your name may be glorified

  because you're doing the healing?

  God, will you provide a new church building so that your name may be glorified

  because you're doing the providing?

  God, will you free my brother and sister, brother or sister from addiction

  so that your name may be glorified because only in you can they experience true freedom?

  Now, I'm not trying to prescribe exact words.

  I'm just saying our hearts should desire his glory instead of our own.

  Why don't I get what I asked for?

  Those are just two reasons.

  The point is we interpret Jesus' words here knowing he's not a Christian.

  Knowing he's not fully explaining all the details of God's provision in this passage.

  We understand from the rest of the New Testament that God is not a vending machine.

  If this was the only teaching in the whole Bible on prayer, then we might think he was,

  but Jesus is talking about one aspect of prayer.

  He's telling us we should have hearts that go to our Father and ask.

  He is inviting us to ask, knowing that there's no limit to our Father's generosity.

  Our Father wants to give to his children,

  but the answer we receive is not always the one that we expected.

  Why don't I get what I asked for?

  The hard truth is sometimes what we ask for is not what he wants for us.

  Our call is to maintain total confidence in our Father regardless of the answer,

  because point number two on your outline today,

  when my Father and I are in a good place, I trust knowing my Father's care.

  Let's continue looking at Jesus' words.

  We're going to pick it up in verse nine.

  It says,

  So Jesus paints a picture to help us understand more deeply.

  And there are some details we don't want to miss.

  Like in verse nine,

  if his son asks him for bread, we'll give him a stone.

  If you're hungry, what good is a stone?

  It's worthless.

  It does nothing.

  Or if you're verse 10,

  if he asks for a fish, we'll give him a serpent.

  If you're hungry, what good is a serpent?

  It's worse than worthless.

  It's harmful, right?

  Jesus is saying, and I'm paraphrasing,

  even you evil humans know these responses would be insane.

  So how will your Father in heaven, who is truly good in a way we never can be,

  how will he respond when we ask him?

  And that's the point.

  We can trust our Father because of who he is.

  He is a Father who cares for his children.

  Back in college, my friend Jesse and I would play pick-up hockey at the school ice rink.

  And hockey being a sport with a ton of equipment,

  they had lockers at the rink that you could rent

  so you didn't have to lug all of your stuff back and forth.

  So one day I was sitting in class and I got a text message from Jesse

  with these exact words,

  "Give me your hockey locker combination.

  Don't question me."

  Now, in that moment, I had a choice

  because college age males sometimes build friendship through destructive pranks.

  But I chose to trust, and I sent back the combo.

  And he did not prank me that time.

  As I later found out, as a birthday present, he grabbed my skates,

  took them to get sharpened, retaped my stick, stuff like that.

  It was very nice.

  But the point is, I responded to that text

  without knowing why he needed to get in the locker

  or what he was going to do.

  I didn't know what to expect.

  But because of our friendship, I trusted him.

  Do we trust God like that?

  Do we trust our Father not because he tells us exactly what's going to happen,

  but because of who he is?

  Because our relationship is in a good place.

  Or let me ask in a different way.

  What do you expect from God?

  At times, especially around hard times,

  I think we expect stones and serpents.

  Again, we might not say it like that.

  We say things like, "Of course it would happen this way!

  That's how it always works out for me!"

  And that's because our expectations can be influenced by relationships with people.

  We don't trust God to give good gifts because we've been hurt by human relationships.

  Human fathers are not perfect fathers.

  Human friends are not perfect friends.

  Trust gets broken.

  You might say, "Justin, you don't get my situation.

  My life has been full of disappointment.

  Things have not turned out how I expected at all."

  And you're right.

  I have not walked in your shoes.

  I don't know your situation.

  And I cannot speak to your disappointment.

  But I know my Father.

  And He tells us to ask and to expect good things from Him.

  Because He cares for us as a Father cares for His children.

  So will hard times come?

  Oh yeah.

  Jesus tells us that elsewhere.

  And you won't always understand why.

  But here He tells you to trust your Heavenly Father.

  Trust Him regardless of what you expect and regardless of what you ask for.

  Because sometimes we ask for the wrong things and that's okay.

  What do I mean?

  We ask God for that house or that job or that anything.

  And we can and should freely ask for all of that because praise God,

  He does not always give us what we ask for.

  If my kids ask me to have dessert for all three meals,

  I'm not going to give them what they asked for.

  And I do that because I care for them, right?

  In the same way we can't see sometimes what that house or that job

  or that whatever it is will ultimately do to us, but He can.

  So we trust Him to give good gifts.

  And we don't have to worry even about getting our request exactly right.

  So continually ask and totally trust.

  I know just continually ask and totally trust.

  It is incredibly difficult for us to do that.

  But do you trust Him?

  Is your relationship with Him in a good place?

  Because now we're going to see how that relationship affects our relationships on Earth too.

  When my father and I are in a good place,

  point number three, I love knowing my father's love.

  So we've been talking again about our heart towards the Father,

  but what about our heart towards the world?

  Let's read our last verse for today, Matthew chapter seven verse 12.

  It says, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them,

  for this is the law and the prophets."

  Now we know this as what rule?

  That's right.

  This is commonly labeled the golden rule, just like Grandma taught in Sunday school.

  This is how Jesus wants us to love, humbling ourselves

  and doing what we would wish to others.

  Now verse 12 opens with a "so"

  and I believe this is another instance of Jesus' logical progression

  that we've seen in the Sermon on the Mount.

  He is connecting this verse to the verses that we just read.

  But how does Ask Seek Knock connect to Do unto Others?

  Again, our relationship with our Father influences our relationships with people.

  Jot down 1 John 419, it says, "We love because he first loved us."

  Understanding the Father's love for us is what motivates us to love.

  Now Jesus is also here pointing back to the entire Sermon on the Mount as in,

  so based on all of that, love others this way.

  I mean think back throughout the year, back in the Beatitudes,

  remember when we had all the congratulations balloons up here,

  to anger, adultery, retaliation,

  and on and on, so much of our study this year was about our relationships with others.

  And that all lands here.

  Verse 12 again, "So whatever you wish that others would do to you,

  do also to them for this is the law and the prophets."

  This verse summarizes Jesus' teaching on discipleship from the Sermon on the Mount,

  but as if that wasn't enough, Jesus says this statement is the law and the prophets.

  Now many might notice that the greatest commandment,

  "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,"

  is not here because again Jesus is speaking of human to human interaction.

  But even limiting it to the scope of human relationships,

  think about how much is in the Old Testament law,

  how much is in the books of the prophets that were sent to Israel.

  Jesus is saying all of that is right here.

  How?

  Jesus is talking about the heart of the law rather than the letter of the law.

  The golden rule is the law and the prophets for one because Jesus says it is.

  That's enough, right?

  But if we want to totally lawyer it out,

  Jesus is saying this is the heart behind everything else in the law.

  It's the foundation.

  This is the ethics of Christianity compressed to a single statement.

  So the question to us is then, how do we do that?

  And I know what we're all thinking, "I already do that.

  I always treat others the way that I want to be treated."

  Let's think about that for a minute.

  When you're at work, do you always treat everyone with the attitude that you would like directed back at you?

  What about marriage?

  When there's a disagreement, do you handle yourself the way that you would want when you are wrong and you will be wrong?

  What about with family or our friend who just pushes your buttons every time you're together?

  Would your response be what you wanted if the roles were flipped?

  In church, I saved this one for last.

  When you are driving a car,

  do you consistently treat others with the same patience, understanding,

  and a benefit of the doubt that you want to receive as a driver?

  You're like, "What is this guy's deal with cars?"

  With just a little self-examination, we can see how far off we often are.

  And the standard is actually even higher than we might realize,

  because especially with the people that frustrate us, we set the bar at not hurting them.

  But look at what Jesus said, "Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them."

  That is a higher bar than just not hurting.

  Jesus says, "Do. Take action. Actively put their needs ahead of yours."

  That is hard.

  It's also hard to come up with examples for something that affects basically everything we do,

  but we want to merge into traffic when we're behind schedule, right?

  So let others in when you see them trying to merge.

  I promise that's the last driving example.

  Or what would you want when you're in a stressful season?

  A card in the mail, meeting for coffee, bringing a meal or a tub of ice cream?

  When you know that someone is going through a stressful season of their own,

  take whatever it is to them.

  Or we want others to listen to us when we have something to say or just get off our chest, don't we?

  So listen to others instead of just waiting for your chance to say something.

  It's so difficult to live out things like that.

  So how can we love like Jesus commands?

  A few years ago, we had some people over for dinner, just low-key hanging out,

  and we were cleaning up afterwards and I was doing the dishes.

  And one guest asked me, "Why do you do the dishes?"

  I said, "I don't know, I just do the dishes to help out."

  And he asked, "Did your dad do the dishes?"

  And I thought back and answered, "Yeah, my dad did the dishes quite a bit growing up. He still does."

  And this guest said, "You do the dishes because your dad did the dishes."

  And that whole conversation was 20 seconds, but it's stuck with me ever since, because he's right.

  There are so many things in my life that I do as a father, as a husband, as a man, because that's what my dad did.

  So how can we love like Jesus commands?

  Because that's what our dad did.

  He loves us, and he proved that by sending his son.

  Jesus paid the penalty for our sin and gave us the right to become children of God.

  Through his death and resurrection, we can have a relationship with our father.

  God's love for us is not in question, yet so often our love for others is.

  But when we truly know the love of our father, how can we do anything else?

  Or in the language of this verse, in our hearts, we wish nothing more than to be loved, so we must do that unto others.

  So as we prepare to close for today, how is your relationship with God the Father?

  Maybe you're thinking, what if he and I are not in a good place?

  What if I don't have a relationship with God at all?

  If that's you, remember, God desires relationship, and Jesus made that possible.

  The Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart, that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

  So repent, turn from your sin, and start a relationship with him today.

  And if you already have a relationship, but it's not in a good place, open the lines of communication to get it there.

  Now of course we cannot do any of this on our own, so we ask, seek, knock for help.

  Actually, let's go in reverse.

  We know we have to love, and we can't do it by ourselves, so do you trust in the care of your heavenly Father?

  Then he invites you to ask him.

  Let's pray together.

  Our heavenly Father, we come before you and follow Jesus' command to ask.

  We ask you for help, Lord God.

  We know that all of the things that we talked about today that we read from your Word, we can't do on our own power.

  We need you, God.

  We need you for the very breath we breathe.

  So I pray, God, that you would give us a renewed focus on deepening our relationship with you, Lord God.

  And I pray that as we are filled with your love, we would pour that out to others.

  God, in all the things that we ask, in all the things that we do in our lives as individuals and that we do as a church, Lord God, may you be glorified.

  We thank you and praise you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Don't Be a Hypocrite

Introduction:

Dealing with People: Don't Be That Guy (Matthew 7:1–6)

1. DO NOT Be a CRITIC. (Matt 7:1–2)

   Romans 14:4 – Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

   Romans 2:1 – Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.

2. DO NOT Be a HYPOCRITE. (Matt 7:3–5)

   2 Corinthians 13:5 – Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

   Galatians 6:1 – Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.

3. DO NOT Be a DOG FEEDER. (Matt 7:6)

   2 Peter 2:22 – What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 7:1-6

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. How is Matt 7:1 misused? Why do people misuse it in that way? How do you respond to someone who says “Don’t judge me!”?
   

3. State Matt 7:2-3 in your own words. What is the judgment believers will face? How does this teaching tie into that?
   

4. Why is it that we are so good at seeing others’ specks but not our own logs (Matt 7:3)?
   

5. How do you know when you are dealing with dogs and hogs (v6)? How do you respond to them?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 7.

  So let's just bow our heads for a second,

  and I'm going to ask that you would pray for me

  as we get to God's word,

  that I would preach it as I should,

  and I will pray for you to have a heart open

  to receive what it is the Lord wants to teach us today.

  Father in heaven,

  give us wisdom to apply your word.

  It does us no good if we just hear some facts,

  and it never transforms our lives.

  So Father, I pray that you, by the power of your Spirit,

  would let the wisdom of your word

  just permeate our hearts and minds.

  You'd grant repentance,

  and we would leave here different people

  than we were when we came in God.

  We ask in Jesus' name.

  All of God's people said,

  "Amen."

  Matthew chapter 7,

  I got to tell you,

  I have really been personally blessed

  through studying the Sermon on the Mount,

  but I can't think of any of these sermons

  I've been more excited for than this one,

  because today,

  we are going to be talking about

  the most quoted verse in the Bible.

  Look at Matthew chapter 7, verse 1.

  Here it is.

  "Judge not that you be not judged.

  The most quoted verse in the Bible.

  If you've been a Christian for more than five minutes,

  somebody has said that to you.

  Don't judge me.

  You know the Bible says you're not supposed to judge.

  Right?

  Maybe, maybe you've said that to someone.

  Someone makes a comment to you.

  "Ah, no, no, no, you're judging me.

  You're not supposed to judge me."

  When do people say that?

  People say that when you tell them

  something they are doing is wrong.

  True or false?

  True.

  It's like,

  "Hey, you should not have spoken to her that way.

  You were very rude in the way that you spoke to her.

  You're judging me!

  You know the Bible says not to judge,

  and you're judging me.

  You're not going to judge that church anymore

  because they judge me."

  Is that what Jesus is talking about?

  Or my favorite,

  I've had this conversation, Pastor Taylor,

  we've had this conversation a billion times with people

  where people are living together as husband and wife,

  but they are not husband and wife.

  We say, you know, the Bible says that,

  you know, this is an acceptable way to live.

  That you should get married.

  You know God's thing, God's way.

  And you know what the response usually is?

  "Oh, you're judging me!

  You're judging me!

  That church is so judgmental!"

  You can't judge.

  The Bible says that you shouldn't judge,

  so you're violating the Bible

  when you tell me that I shouldn't be doing that.

  What they're saying,

  when somebody says that,

  what they're saying is,

  you should never call me out on sin.

  Because when you point out

  that I am sinning,

  you are judging me.

  That's what people are saying.

  Don't ever tell me that I'm doing something on biblical

  or you are judging me,

  and then you're doing something on biblical

  and I'm judging you for judging me.

  Is that what Jesus is talking about here?

  Is it?

  I can tell you that's what most people think He means.

  But that's not it at all.

  Listen, we are commanded biblically to confront sin.

  Did you know that?

  Look at 1 Corinthians 5.

  You have the guy that was committing sexual immorality.

  Paul says, "Throw him out

  by the seat of his pants

  and by the scruff of his neck.

  Throw him through a stained glass window."

  You can't have a guy like that

  who calls himself a Christian

  living in unrepentant sin in a church.

  You can't have it.

  "Show him the door."

  How do you do that

  without exercising some form of judging?

  Or Titus 3 says,

  "Warm the divisive person."

  Romans 16 says to avoid the divisive person.

  How do we do those things

  unless we are making some kind of a judgment?

  The Bible says, "Test of Spirit."

  The Bible says, "Beware of false prophets,"

  et cetera, et cetera.

  How do we do these things

  that the Bible tells us to do

  if there's not some kind of judging?

  Right?

  Right?

  Then you get to chapter 7 and verse 1,

  and Jesus says, "Judge not

  that you be not judged."

  You're like, "So what are we not judging?"

  Well, biblically,

  we are commanded to judge action.

  Commanded to judge action.

  What are we not judging?

  Rate this down.

  What you're not judging,

  first of all, somebody's heart.

  That's what Jesus is condemning.

  You're going to see it very clearly.

  You're forbidden to judge somebody's heart.

  That's not talking about their action,

  talking about the person.

  You're a bad person.

  You know what your problem is?

  You're jealous.

  Now I'm judging your heart.

  I'm making an assessment of things

  that I couldn't possibly see.

  I can't see what is actually in your heart.

  That's judging.

  Not calling out action.

  Okay?

  So we're forbidden to judge someone's heart.

  Also in the same vein,

  write this down,

  we're forbidden to judge someone's motive.

  We're forbidden to judge somebody's motive.

  Say, "Look, I know why you did that."

  That was rotten what you did,

  but listen, I know why you did that.

  No, you don't.

  That's judging.

  You know, when you're like,

  "Look, you know what your problem is?

  All you care about is money.

  That's all you care about is money."

  We're judging their heart.

  See, the judging that Jesus forbids

  is not about conduct,

  it's about the inner person.

  What Jesus is condemning here

  is self-righteous,

  hypocritical condemnation

  on others.

  Maybe to help us understand

  to illustrate it,

  Jesus was really going after the Pharisees

  and a lot of this content

  and the Sermon on the Mount.

  When you study the Pharisees,

  they were so proud of their religion.

  And the Pharisees were notorious

  for condemning everyone else.

  Luke chapter 18, Jesus tells the parable

  of the Pharisee and the tax collector.

  And in that parable,

  "How does the Pharisee pray?"

  "Oh God, I thank You.

  I'm not like that guy."

  Constantly looking down.

  "I'm better.

  I'm more righteous.

  I'm not scum like that guy."

  That's the Pharisees condemning everyone else

  because they were so religious.

  And if the Sermon on the Mount

  has taught us anything,

  there's some Pharisee in all of us.

  So are you a judgmental, condemning person?

  I know.

  We would all like to say,

  "No, no, no, no.

  I'm not judgmental.

  I'm not judgmental."

  But let me ask you a few questions.

  Are you judgmental in the sense

  that Jesus is condemning here?

  Here's a couple questions

  that you can only answer this for yourself, right?

  Let me ask you these questions.

  First of all, do you enjoy fault finding?

  Oh, we wouldn't say that in Bible study,

  your small group.

  But some of us secretly, deep down,

  love to point out and discuss

  what you think is wrong with people.

  You're not likely to sit down and say,

  "Here's what's great about this guy.

  Here's what I love about this guy."

  You're more likely to say,

  "You know what his problem is?

  Do you know what her problem is?

  Do you like doing that?"

  If you do, you're judging

  in the way that Jesus forbids.

  Oh, here's another one.

  Am I a judgmental person?

  Do you have a strong opinion

  about something that isn't your business?

  That's another clue.

  Do you have a strong opinion

  about something that is not your business?

  That you're like,

  "Can you believe?

  Can you believe she put her kids

  in public school?"

  Can you believe she put her kids

  in public school?

  Can you believe that?

  Just send them right to the devil.

  Hey, that's not your business.

  Your kids are your business, okay?

  If you have strong convictions,

  yes, do that with your kids.

  But you can't go around judging

  the convictions that other people

  have about their kids, okay?

  Not your business.

  But if you kind of think it is,

  then you're kind of judging.

  Just saying.

  Right?

  Also, am I a judgmental person?

  You're like, "Can this sermon be over?

  Next, am I a judgmental person?

  How about this one?

  Do you like to express your opinion

  without having all the facts?"

  If you do, then you're a judgmental person.

  For example, you know somebody in the church.

  They've been having some money troubles,

  and you see them pulling up the church,

  and they're driving Alexis.

  And you're like,

  "I thought he was having money trouble."

  And he's driving Alexis?

  He's lying.

  He's not having money trouble.

  Hang on, hang on.

  You don't have all the facts there.

  How do you know that that car

  wasn't given to him by somebody?

  That happens, you know.

  How do you know that somebody

  didn't sell him that Lexus for a nickel?

  You have no idea.

  But already, your mind is going to,

  "How irresponsibly he spent it?"

  You have no idea.

  You're judging.

  My judgmental person, how about this one?

  Do you tend to never give the benefit of the doubt?

  In other words, do you tend to always

  assume the worst about people?

  If so, then you are a judgmental person.

  Here's what I mean.

  Let's pretend you're leaving church today,

  and I'm standing back in guest reception,

  and there's a couple from our church

  that's talking to me.

  And as you're walking past,

  you hear the couple say,

  "I knew they were having marriage problems.

  I knew they were having marriage problems.

  I knew they were having marriage problems.

  I knew they were having marriage problems.

  I knew they were having marriage problems.

  I knew they were having marriage problems.

  I knew he was back on the sauce.

  I knew it.

  I knew it."

  No, you don't.

  Do you realize people come to me

  for counseling for all kinds of things?

  Sometimes people come to me for counseling to say,

  "I want to reach my neighbor with the gospel.

  Can you help me figure that out?"

  Some people are like, "Hey,

  I'm having a hard time with my kid.

  Can you help me figure out

  some parenting disciple things?"

  People come to me for all kinds of things.

  You have no idea.

  But you're not going to assume

  it's for something good.

  You're going to assume it's for something bad.

  You're a judgmental person.

  Well, as we've been going through the sermon

  and we've been talking about the amount,

  especially the beatitudes

  that our Lord has told us

  what kind of person to be

  here

  in this section

  we're looking at Jesus

  is telling us what kind of person not to be.

  All right?

  So on your outline, dealing with people,

  don't be that guy.

  Don't be that guy.

  And if you're like,

  "Well, Pastor Jeff,

  that's not very politically correct."

  What about, "Don't be that gal?"

  Okay.

  Then I would say, "Don't be that guy either, all right?"

  Whatever.

  Don't be that human.

  Is that okay?

  I'm sorry.

  I'm sorry.

  This cracker barrel logo catastrophe,

  [laughter]

  I haven't slept.

  I toss and turn.

  [laughter]

  Sweating.

  Sweating.

  What happened to the man

  in the barrel?

  [laughter]

  Don't be that guy.

  Okay.

  All right? What guy?

  Number one.

  Do not be a critic.

  Verse one.

  Let's see what our Lord was actually saying.

  Judge not that you be not judged.

  Okay, judge.

  Here's a better word

  that we use, because that word "judge,"

  we use it in so many different ways.

  Here's a word that we use that really is

  how Jesus was using the word "judge" in this context.

  It's the word "criticize."

  Criticize. You're critic.

  You're just criticizing everything.

  You're the expert on everything.

  We're going to criticize everything.

  Criticize other people's lives.

  He's obviously not a believer

  because he doesn't match

  my convictions.

  We criticize ministries.

  You know that church?

  That church doesn't share the gospel.

  All that church cares about is drawing a crowd.

  That's all that church cares about is filling seats.

  Now we're...

  Now we're judging.

  We're criticizing.

  What's our Lord say about that?

  Judge not that you be not judged.

  Do you think you're God?

  Because you're acting like you think you're God.

  Romans 14.4 says,

  "Who are you to pass judgment

  on the servant of another?"

  This is before his own master

  that he stands or falls.

  Judge not.

  Why? Jesus says that you be not judged.

  You know, by the way,

  by the way, you will be judged.

  You're like, "Wait, wait, wait. Hang on a second."

  Hang on a second.

  I thought if you were a Christian

  then you wouldn't face God's judgment.

  Well, listen.

  If you have received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,

  all your sin has been taken away,

  your guilt has been taken away,

  you are...

  they're no longer condemned.

  That's true.

  But you realize the Bible talks about

  different kinds of judgment.

  Right?

  And that's the judgment for the people of God.

  That can be a whole other sermon,

  but let me just say this.

  You will be judged.

  You won't lose your salvation,

  but you're going to lose something.

  If you're a critical judgmental person,

  Jesus goes on to explain verse 2,

  "For with the judgment

  that you pronounce, you will be judged.

  And with the measure you use,

  it will be measured to you."

  Jesus here is just simply saying,

  "Look, if you're this critic,

  you're going around, you're the expert,

  you're criticizing everybody, you're judging everybody."

  Jesus says,

  "You're going to get what you give."

  You're setting the standard

  for your own judgment.

  Some people say,

  "This is about human relationships."

  That's what Jesus is talking about.

  What Jesus is saying is,

  "People judge you

  by the way that you judge them."

  And listen, while

  there is truth in that statement

  that people typically judge you how you judge them,

  that's not what Jesus is focusing on here.

  That's not his point.

  Because what people think about me

  is not my primary concern.

  Should it matter? Yes, it should matter.

  But my primary concern is what God thinks.

  And God evaluates you

  based on your knowledge

  and on what you do with that knowledge.

  The Apostle Paul was talking about this whole concept.

  I like how under inspiration of the Holy Spirit,

  he words this in Romans 2,

  where he says,

  "Therefore you have no excuse,

  O man,

  every one of you who judges

  for impassing judgment on another,

  you condemn yourself

  because you, the judge,

  practice the very same things."

  See, that's what Jesus is saying.

  That's what Paul is echoing.

  It's this, listen,

  if you know enough to judge somebody on something,

  then you prove that you know enough

  to be judged on it yourself.

  You've set your own standard.

  Do you criticize and judge people

  harshly?

  You're going to be judged harshly.

  Right?

  So you better pump the brakes

  when you're tempted to criticize someone

  because

  it's coming back to you.

  So, look,

  don't be a critic.

  Don't be a critic.

  Number two, write this down.

  Don't be a hypocrite.

  Don't be a hypocrite.

  Jesus says,

  "Why do you see the speck

  that is in your brother's eye?"

  But do not notice

  the log that is in your own eye.

  Or how can you say to your brother,

  "Let me take the speck out of your eye

  when there is a log in your own eye?"

  This is really a funny picture

  because when Jesus here says,

  "Speck,

  speck,"

  literally the word could be translated

  "twig."

  It's kind of a funny illustration

  that Jesus is using.

  It's like, here you have this guy walking around

  and he's got a twig

  sticking out his eye.

  And you walk up to him

  and sticking out of your eye

  is this.

  And you're like,

  "Look, don't want to be rude,

  but you've got something in your eye."

  I'm sorry, what?

  You shouldn't be walking around

  with wood in your eye.

  What?

  Well,

  some people say

  some people say

  that the speck

  will go with that word.

  That's the word in our Bibles here.

  Some people say,

  "Well, speck."

  "Speck."

  Some people say,

  "Speck refers to a minor sin

  and like the plank

  or the log refers to a major sin."

  I'm not really convinced of that.

  You know why?

  You know why I'm not convinced of that?

  That the speck is a minor sin.

  Have you ever had something in your eye?

  Has it ever happened to you?

  Yeah, it happens to everybody. Yeah.

  There's nothing worse than having something

  in your eye that you cannot get out.

  So I would suggest to you

  that it's not a minor thing

  if you have a twig in your eye.

  If you're still not convinced,

  just come on up here.

  We'll jam this in there right now

  and you tell me how minor of a thing it is.

  Maybe your

  brother or sister does

  have a legit problem.

  They do have a speck in their eye.

  Maybe they really do.

  The speck could be

  they know they need to be serving the Lord

  in His church and they're just not doing it.

  Maybe it's gossip.

  Maybe their home is out of order.

  Whatever. Maybe they do have a problem.

  And your problem

  is that you have a log in your eye.

  You have

  sin of your own

  that you haven't dealt with.

  And when you have sin of your own

  you haven't dealt with,

  you're of no help getting

  blessed you. You are of no help

  getting this taken care of.

  Sin

  is really deceptive that way, isn't it?

  Sin

  is really deceptive that way.

  That we walk around

  and we look at people

  and we're like

  everybody has a problem but me.

  Everybody's life

  is so messed up but mine

  are self-deceived.

  It's a problem.

  We're so

  focused on other people's

  sin that we are

  completely

  ignoring our own.

  It's a problem.

  Recently a famous pastor

  was condemned,

  was judged by other pastors.

  I'm looking to mention names.

  I'm sure some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

  But this

  famous pastor was asked

  by this

  older lady.

  She said, "My grandson

  is gay and is having a wedding

  and should I go to the wedding?"

  And this pastor answered the question

  from the perspective of a

  grandfather who loves his grandkids.

  And he was blasted for his response.

  A bunch of other famous pastors

  real quick to

  publicly refute, publicly judge.

  Shame on him.

  Shame on him in his liberal stance.

  Shame on him

  for not holding the stand

  or shame on him.

  And then it was revealed

  not long after that one of

  this man's harshest critics,

  another pastor, was having

  a long time affair.

  This is exactly what Jesus is talking about.

  You got a problem with your twig?

  I got a log in my eye.

  But I'm oblivious to this

  because I'm so fixated

  and you're fixing your thing.

  You discredited yourself.

  Powell, that's what you've done.

  You think

  you're the expert on morality.

  And you're having an affair.

  How are you in a position

  to help anyone?

  And look, before you, amen that.

  Listen, we,

  yes, we, can be

  just as self-deceived

  and just as hypocritical.

  We do it all the time, right?

  Parents in your home.

  Your kid says a

  non-cermony word,

  right? Of the four letter variety.

  Hey, hey, we don't talk like that.

  And then they hear you

  talking like that five minutes later.

  Or you say, hey,

  speak respectfully to your mother,

  but they don't hear you speaking

  respectfully to their mother.

  You say, look, you need to

  have your quiet time with the Lord.

  Are you?

  Do you see how self-deceived

  and hypocritical we are?

  Look, I've been in ministry a long time

  and I see it in the church

  all the time. People are so quick

  to criticize

  church leaders for not

  doing something that they

  themselves are unwilling to do.

  So you're like, okay, Jeff, so what do I do?

  I just, when I see somebody

  with a twig in their eye, you're saying

  I should just ignore it, right?

  I should ignore the specs, right?

  If I see somebody

  who's genuinely struggling with something,

  I should never get engaged in a sin struggle.

  That's not what our Lord is saying at all.

  Look at verse 5.

  Look at verse 5. Very carefully here.

  Jesus says, you hypocrite,

  first,

  take the log out of your own eye.

  And then

  you will see clearly

  to take the spec out of your brother's eye.

  So yeah, you do have to help

  people that have specs in their eye.

  But there's two things that you have to do

  in order to do that.

  So write this down.

  First of all, you need to

  evaluate yourself first.

  Do you see that? Evaluate yourself first.

  Look.

  If you're walking around

  with a log in your eye,

  believe it or not,

  the log in your eye

  isn't your biggest problem.

  Do you know what your biggest problem is?

  Not noticing

  that you have a log in your eye.

  That's the problem.

  Your eye is the biggest problem.

  You're not noticing

  that's the problem.

  You're oblivious

  to your massive problem.

  You're blind to it

  because obviously,

  obviously if you recognized

  that this was going on,

  you'd be doing something about that.

  Second Corinthians 13.5

  says examine yourselves

  to see whether you're in the faith.

  And church,

  we are so

  interested in how other people

  are doing in their faith.

  And yes, there's a time and a place for that.

  And our Lord's making that clear

  that who is the first person

  that we should be examining. Point to that person.

  Who should you examine?

  This guy.

  This is the guy that I need to examine

  before I look at anybody else.

  And you would say, "Well, I hear what you're saying.

  I hear what you're saying, Pastor Jeff,

  but they're in sin.

  And that sin dishonors God.

  And someone has to set them straight."

  So that our Lord is saying,

  "Look,

  if righteousness is truly

  what you're interested in,

  then the first person

  that you're going to go after

  is the person in the mirror.

  If righteousness is

  really

  what's driving what you're doing,

  then you're going to prioritize

  going after righteousness in your own life

  before you're concerned about going after

  righteousness in somebody else's life.

  So until you get your own thing

  figured out,

  bearing fruit in keeping

  with repentance,

  you're not going to be able to help anybody.

  You're not going to be able to help anybody.

  So evaluate yourself first.

  All right?

  Also in verse 5,

  write this down.

  "Remove specs gently."

  "Remove specs

  gently."

  "Gently."

  Now I realize I'm kind of old fashioned this way.

  I'm old fashioned this way.

  And you might not share this opinion,

  but here we go.

  If you're going to take

  something out of my eye,

  I have two requirements for you.

  You have to be able to see,

  and you have to be gentle.

  Right?

  Galatians 6-1

  says, "Brothers,

  if anyone is caught

  in any transgression,

  you who are spiritual

  should restore him

  in a spirit of

  gentleness."

  Right?

  In a spirit of gentleness.

  Keep watching yourself,

  let's you two be tempted.

  Yes, we should be helping each other out,

  but it must be done

  in a spirit of gentleness.

  And you'll be gentle

  when you approach with sympathy,

  not criticism,

  and you will approach with sympathy

  when you're keenly aware

  of the struggles that you have had.

  When you're keenly aware of the fact

  that you are not perfect,

  you're keenly aware of the fact

  that you and I

  and every single other person

  that we have ever met,

  we are all a work in progress.

  You know, you can

  you can criticize

  someone foolishly caught up

  in sin, but when it happens

  to you and it will, you're going to

  learn sympathy real quick.

  Gentle, sympathetic help.

  It's like, "Look, let me help you.

  Look, man, I've been there.

  I've been there. It's not a great place to be.

  Let me help you."

  I'll talk about

  talking about ministering the word

  at this point, you might say,

  "Okay, makes sense, right?

  Deal with my own thing.

  Be gentle."

  But is there ever a time

  that I shouldn't

  minister the word?

  Is there ever a time that I sort of refrain

  from trying to do the work

  of the ministry

  to someone?

  Yeah.

  Shockingly, there is.

  Number three,

  write this down.

  Do not be a dog feeder.

  Do not be a dog feeder.

  Look at verse 6.

  Jesus says,

  "Do not give dogs what is holy.

  And do not throw your pearls

  before pigs

  lest they trample them underfoot

  and turn

  to attack you."

  You know,

  when Jesus talks about

  dogs, I'm a dog person.

  And where my mind immediately goes,

  you know, you get your dog, your dog

  wears a little pink bow and rides around

  in your purse and stuff,

  and take your dog, get a groomer,

  and

  my dog only eats keto.

  Only eats keto.

  That's not the kind of dog

  that they would have had in mind.

  And I've shared with you before

  one time on a mission trip

  in Thailand,

  a wild dog came after me

  like running at me, snarling,

  drooling, and I'm like, this is it.

  Tell my family I love them.

  And some little Thai kid, Zing De Rock,

  hit the dog, he ran off,

  and that kid got a lifetime supply candy.

  That is a true story.

  That's the kind of dog that Jesus

  and his

  culture here

  would have been more accustomed to.

  We're talking about

  savage garbage eaters.

  And Jesus says here

  with these savage garbage eaters,

  He goes, "Do not give dogs what is holy."

  Do you see that picture? It would be like

  they're eating at the temple

  and they offer the sacrifice unto the Lord

  and you just walk up

  and you take meat from the altar

  and give it

  to one of these savage garbage eaters.

  Would you do that?

  Would you do that?

  No.

  Like, no.

  No.

  I feel like bringing your dog up

  to receive communion here.

  Like, no.

  How wrong that is?

  Jesus says, "Don't give dogs what is holy."

  Then He says,

  "Do you not throw your pearls

  before pigs?" What a picture

  our Lord paints here.

  Because again, pigs also

  savage.

  But you see the picture, it's like somebody's coming up

  pretending to feed the pigs,

  but instead of giving them food,

  they throw down

  billions of dollars worth

  of pearls.

  And the pig sees these

  pellets looking thing going down

  and the pig's like, "Well, time to eat."

  And the pig's like,

  "That ain't food."

  Now they're hungry and mad

  and they turn and attack you.

  What a picture.

  So when Jesus talks

  about giving

  what is holy,

  what do you think it is

  that we have

  that we can give

  that we would be considered

  priceless and holy?

  What do you think that is?

  It can only be

  one thing.

  Right?

  The Word of God.

  And here our Lord is showing us that just as pigs

  don't appreciate pearls,

  some people are not going

  to appreciate

  the things of God.

  Some people are not going to appreciate

  the Word of God.

  Jesus tells us

  don't be hypocritical,

  but Jesus never says

  don't be discerning.

  Some people

  with respect to the truth

  are dogs and hogs

  and they should not

  be given what is holy.

  And you're like, "Wow."

  So you're saying that there is a time

  that I shouldn't minister the Word to someone.

  That's what Jesus is saying.

  Right?

  And you're like, "Well, how do I know

  how do I know when to

  share the gospel with someone,

  share the Word of God with someone

  and when to

  obey what our Lord is saying to do here?

  How do I know when I should shut up?

  How do I know

  dogs and hogs?

  And the answer is

  discernment.

  It's discernment.

  But here's a couple of clues

  that we get from the Word of God.

  How can you spot

  dogs and hogs

  number one

  or are they mocking the Word of God?

  Are they

  mocking the Word of God?

  If you're trying to minister the Word to somebody

  and they are mocking

  it and mocking you,

  they're proving to be a dog and a hog.

  Listen, I did prison ministry

  for many, many years

  and I love

  there would be men that would come

  and the Bible's ready

  and so eager to learn.

  I love that.

  But you know, we had guys that came

  just because there was nothing else going on

  and they were bored and they came

  just to mock.

  I would say horrible things

  about me, which who cares, I'm nothing,

  but horrible things about the Word of God.

  That's a problem.

  Hogs and dogs.

  As a much younger pastor

  I thought, well,

  I'll just, I'll persuade them.

  I'm just going to keep laying out the Word.

  I'll keep giving them the Word. I'll keep giving them the Word.

  And they would just keep mocking

  and mocking and mocking and mocking.

  It's pearls and pigs.

  Some people are not going to see

  the value of the Word of God,

  the value of the gospel.

  No matter how genuinely

  you try to give it, they're going to end up

  attacking you.

  And Jesus here is saying, do not give the truth

  to people who would have

  such a disdain

  for the Word of God.

  And a disdain for you.

  Because you're trying to give it.

  Jesus says don't

  don't be a dog feeder.

  There's a clue.

  Here's another clue.

  Number two,

  are they more committed to sin

  than to seeking the Lord?

  Because sometimes it's hard to tell.

  Sometimes

  dogs and hogs are hard to spot

  because sometimes it's hard to tell

  somebody's really getting it.

  But there's another clue

  biblically.

  And that's when you, if you share

  the gospel, share the Word of God with someone

  and they keep going

  right back

  into their mess.

  Persistently committed

  to sin.

  Peter talks about this.

  Peter talks about

  committed sin. Our second Peter chapter 2 is all about this.

  When you get to the end of the chapter, look at this verse.

  Peter says what the true proverb

  says has happened to them.

  The dog returns to its own vomit

  and the sow after washing herself

  returns to wallow in the mire.

  Do you see that?

  What's Peter talking about?

  Dogs and hogs.

  And what are dogs and hogs like according to Peter?

  They just keep going back

  to the mess.

  They just keep going back to the mess.

  They just keep going back to the mess.

  They just keep going back to it.

  Now I don't have hogs at home

  but I have dogs.

  And my wife Erin and I

  have this conversation

  way too often.

  But Erin will say

  the dogs don't like the new food

  that I got them.

  I'm like they're garbage eaters.

  Erin is like, "Yeah,

  the dogs won't eat this new food

  that we got them."

  And I'm like

  they eat each other's vomit

  and they drink out of the toilet.

  But lamb and rice, ooh!

  That's gross.

  What?

  But that's what Peter's telling us.

  That's a sign of dogs and hogs.

  He's ministering to someone,

  sharing the word, sharing the gospel.

  And they're like, "I see

  what God is calling me to turn from

  and I see how gracious God is

  and I'm acknowledging

  before you that God's ways are right."

  But I'm just going back

  to my filth.

  I'd rather have that.

  I'd rather eat out of the dumpster

  than at the table of the Lord.

  Dogs and hogs.

  Jesus Christ is the master,

  obviously,

  of everything,

  but this specifically.

  Look, just look at,

  write this down. Look at Luke 23.

  Just write that down.

  And note the difference

  between Jesus' interaction

  with Pilate,

  who was listening to Jesus,

  and Jesus' interaction with Herod,

  who the Bible says was mocking Jesus,

  and Jesus did not say a word

  to Herod.

  And you would think, Jesus has

  audience with the king?

  Opportunity! Give it to Him!

  Jesus said nothing to Him.

  Why?

  Dogs and hogs.

  Did not answer

  Him a word.

  So there's a difference

  in how you handle

  someone who will listen to you

  versus how you're going to handle somebody

  who will mock the Word of God,

  who is more committed

  to sin

  than seeking repentance.

  If our worship team would make their way back up,

  yes, the Bible says,

  "Judge not

  that you be not judged."

  That is absolutely true.

  Judging people

  is God's job.

  So let's stay in our lane.

  Our lane

  is discernment

  that has to start

  by looking at ourselves

  before we look at anyone else

  and watching out for three things.

  Logs, dogs, and hogs.

  Let's pray.

  Father in heaven,

  this passage in your Word

  has been so hijacked

  and misquoted and misused

  and misapplied.

  I just pray, Father,

  that your Spirit would

  just illuminate our hearts

  to what you're actually saying here.

  I think, Father,

  sometimes we

  in the church can be so

  against the wrong interpretation

  that we've neglected the right one,

  even applying what Jesus actually did say.

  Father, I pray

  that we would be a people who are discerning,

  not afraid to call out action,

  but always avoiding

  judging people's hearts.

  Father, give us much wisdom.

  Give us the ability to recognize

  someone who would trample down

  what is holy and attack us.

  Father, thank you for the example

  that you've given us in your Word,

  demonstrated so clearly by your Son.

  Father, search our hearts.

  Search our motives, Father,

  and let us serve you.

  Let us love you,

  and let us serve others

  with pure motives.

  We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

  We pray in Jesus' name, amen.

Focus On Today

Introduction:

I Am Worried About: ___________________.

"I Refuse to Worry..." (Matthew 6:25–34):

1. Because of WHO MY FATHER is. (Matt 6:26-30)

   Romans 8:32 – He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

2. Because of my FAITH. (Matt 6:31-33)

3. Because It DOES NO GOOD. (Matt 6:34)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:25-34

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. What is it that you are most tempted to worry about? Why have you struggled to let go of this? How should you view this in light of Jesus’ teaching here?
   

3. What is Jesus illustrating with the birds and the lilies?
   

4. What are some practical steps you can take to actively “refuse to worry”?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up those Bibles to Matthew chapter 6, and we're going to be picking up in verse 25.

  We're in the greatest sermon ever preached, the Sermon on the Mound.

  And in this section that we're in here, Jesus is talking about how His followers should relate

  to the world.

  And as Pastor Taylor prayed a moment ago, the subject that our Lord covers is worry.

  Do not be anxious.

  I've shared this story with you in past time, but I couldn't help but thinking about it

  all week this week.

  Many years ago I was at the doctor, and the PA comes in and slaps on the blood pressure

  cuff, you know, and was taking my blood pressure.

  And I remember the PA, she just looked at me and her eyes were huge.

  She goes, "You feeling okay?"

  And I'm like, "Yeah, I feel good."

  She says, "We need to talk to the doctor."

  I said, "What's going on?"

  She said, "Your blood pressure is critically high."

  And then she left the room.

  So I sat there for what felt like an eternity, looking back at my life, regrets.

  And then thinking about the future, you know, am I about to drop over dead?

  What's going to happen to my family?

  What's going to happen to the ministry?

  What's going to...

  Well, the doctor eventually came in, first words out of his mouth.

  He says, "Buddy, we got to talk about this blood pressure."

  I said, "Yeah, I know your physician's assistant said it wasn't good."

  He goes, "Oh, it is not good."

  Then he looked over at the counter behind him.

  He said, "Is that the cuff that she used to take your blood pressure?"

  And I said, "Yeah."

  He says, "Oh, that's for little kids.

  He has no one to your blood pressure so high."

  So he got a big boy blood pressure cuff and took it.

  And I lived to fight another day.

  But I got to tell you, and that time when the physician's assistant left the room and

  the doctor came in, I don't know if in my life I've ever felt such worry.

  But some people, sadly, live in that zone.

  Or it's just worry, anxious.

  That's what we're going to look at today.

  What is worry?

  What is anxiety?

  Well, it's defined as an uneasiness about the future.

  That's an understatement.

  It's that, what might happen?

  What might not happen?

  Worry has a way of consuming your thoughts.

  Worry has a way of keeping you from sleeping.

  Worry for some of you has you stop eating.

  And for some of you, you can't stop eating.

  So on the top of your outline, you'll see a line, "I am worried about..."

  I just want you to take a minute.

  Write down the thing in your life that makes you anxious.

  Or write down what it is in your life where you are most tempted to worry.

  And if you're like, "Well, Pastor Jeff, I never worry about anything."

  Well come and see me after service because I've never met such a person.

  And I would love to.

  But what is the thing that you are most tempted to worry about?

  Write that down.

  Maybe for some of you, you are worried right now.

  Write that down.

  Alright, we're in church right now, so I'm going to ask a question.

  You give me the Sunday school answer.

  Are we supposed to worry?

  We're not.

  It's really easy to say in here right now, isn't it?

  After worship, after prayer.

  But we're going to leave here and many of you are going to worry and you are going to justify

  your worry.

  It's funny how that's a sin that we're all so eager to justify.

  And we say things like, "We just sort of..."

  Try to make it sound like it's not a thing, right?

  We're like, "Oh, I'm just a worrier."

  Right?

  "Oh, you know, I've just stopped the bothers me because I'm a worry wart."

  But you know, if you really grab what Jesus has to say in this passage about worry, if

  you've ever referred to yourself as a worry wart, you're going to be pretty embarrassed

  that you've ever called yourself that.

  You might say, "Well, yeah, yeah, Pastor Jeff, I'm not worried about stupid things,

  right?

  I'm not worried about trivial things.

  My worries are over legit needs."

  Okay?

  Well, let's see what our Lord has to say.

  Look at verse 25 in Matthew chapter 6.

  Jesus says, "Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will

  eat or what you will drink nor about your body, what you will put on.

  Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?"

  Notice Jesus is talking about legit needs.

  You see that?

  Food and water and clothes, legit needs.

  And keep in mind the people that Jesus was talking to, in this day they didn't have the

  Walmarts.

  Think of food, right?

  How did they get their food?

  They had to grow it or they had to go to the market and hope that there was still something

  there to buy.

  Right?

  Think about water.

  They didn't go to the kitchen sink and just flick their wrists and have water appear out

  of the tap.

  And they lived in a climate that made having clean drinking water absolutely crucial.

  And their clothes, again, they didn't have closets and storage.

  And they usually had to make their clothes.

  So when you consider their culture, you would note obviously it was much easier for them

  to be tempted to worry.

  I was thinking about that this week.

  You know, if we had a time machine and we could bring somebody from Jesus' day to our

  day.

  I think they would be absolutely baffled at the things that we worry about.

  And someone's going to say, "Well, Pastor Jeff, how can I not worry?

  I mean, look at the environment that kids are growing up in today.

  Look at the economy.

  How can I not be worried about money?

  What about my health?

  You know what's going on health-wise.

  How can I not be worried about that?"

  You know, they're eliminating positions where I work.

  I might be next and I might not have an income.

  How can I not worry about that?

  You just can't help it, right?

  And you would say, "Well, you know, Pastor Jeff, I remember, you said in the past time,

  you've said feelings are feelings.

  Right?

  You can't help how you feel."

  That's true.

  But we talk about worry.

  This isn't about feelings.

  This is about a choice.

  Because your feelings are going to change if your focus changes.

  And what you focus on is your choice.

  What you focus on affects everything.

  Three times in this passage, Jesus gives the command, "Therefore, do not be worried

  and anxious."

  He says it in verse 25.

  He says it in verse 31.

  He says it in verse 34.

  And each time Jesus says it, He gives a reason why we in turn must say, "I refuse to worry."

  You ready to say that?

  All right?

  We're going to take a run at it.

  I want you to say that.

  I refuse to worry.

  Not much conviction from some of you.

  I'm hoping that maybe in a few minutes we can change your mind about that.

  I refuse to worry.

  Why?

  Number one, right?

  Just done.

  I refuse to worry because of who my Father is.

  Let's pick up here, verses 26 through 30.

  Jesus says, "Look at the birds of the air.

  They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them."

  Are you not of more value than they?

  And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to a span of life?

  And why are you anxious about clothing?

  Because they are the lilies of the field, how they grow.

  They neither toil nor spin.

  Yet I tell you, even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.

  But if God so closed the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown

  into the oven, will He not much more clothe you?

  Oh, you of little faith?

  This is where Jesus starts.

  I refuse to worry because of who my Father is.

  And He gives a couple obvious illustrations, right?

  He says, "Look at the birds.

  God feeds them."

  Oh, by the way, God doesn't drop the food into their nest, right?

  For those of you who might think, "Oh, okay, well I can just go home and sit down and do

  nothing, and God will just door-dash me every day for the rest of my life."

  No, that's not how it works.

  Work is the God-ordained way that He feeds us, right?

  That's another serving for another time.

  But the birds are fed.

  And Jesus says, "Notice the flowers are dressed despite their very short life."

  So He talks about the birds.

  He talks about the lilies.

  And it's really the same point.

  God values His people more than anything on this earth.

  This is Jesus' point.

  God values you.

  Listen, God values you.

  More than anything on this earth, He values you.

  Not convinced of that.

  Well, let me ask you, when you look at all of the stuff created on the earth, what is

  made in the image of God?

  There's only one thing on this planet that is said to have been made in the image of

  God with God's fingerprint, His likeness stamped on.

  And that is you.

  Not the dogs, not the goldfish, not the trees.

  You are made in His image.

  What is it on this planet right now that God sent His Son to die on the cross for?

  Jesus didn't die for the cats.

  Jesus didn't die for the parakeets.

  God bought you with His Son.

  Oh, and speaking of sons, what is it on this planet that is said to be adopted by God?

  God doesn't run down to the humane society and adopt a dog through the death and resurrection

  of Jesus Christ to those who believe God adopted you.

  Are you starting to see your value here?

  Oh, oh, and what is it on the earth that God says is going to spend eternity in glory with

  Him?

  There's only one thing.

  You.

  You.

  You do understand now you have incredible value to God.

  And by the way, Jesus is obviously addressing believers here.

  Those who have turned from their sin, those who have received and believed in Jesus Christ,

  He's talking to believers because He says, "You're heavenly Father.

  Jesus says believers, if your heavenly dad gave you life, he's going to take care of

  it."

  I refuse to worry because of who my father is.

  You know, a couple of weeks ago, my son, Cade, works at Chick-fil-A across the street.

  A couple of weeks ago, I pulled in to pick him up and it was hot.

  I had the windows down.

  I was sitting there waiting and there was a guy walking around the front sidewalk by

  the entrance door and he was on the phone.

  Now listen, I wasn't eavesdropping.

  This guy was talking so loud I could have heard him from Zileanopoul.

  All right?

  This guy was walking around and using some choice words that we don't use while we preach.

  He was complaining obviously about something that happened in his interaction in the restaurant,

  in the Chick-fil-A.

  So he's walking around and he's like, "This is... this is..."

  Explodedly deleted.

  He goes, "I'm going in there to cuss somebody out."

  And he heads towards the door.

  So I'm like, "Here we go."

  Shut off the Jeep and I followed him in so close that he held the door open for me.

  He walked into the lobby.

  There were no customers there.

  Rare timing, Chick-fil-A.

  He walks into the lobby and stands there for a second and he turns around and sees me looking

  at him and then he just leaves.

  Well Cade's standing there and Cade's like...

  Then I leave and Cade's like, "What was that all about?"

  Right?

  So Cade comes out into the car and he's like, "Why did you just come into Chick-fil-A?"

  And I said, "Well, did you see that guy that came in ahead of me?"

  He said he was coming in to cuss somebody out.

  Now look, I know my son and I know the last thing he would ever do is intentionally offend

  a stranger.

  I said, "That guy said he was going to come in to cuss somebody out."

  So I was going to make sure that that wasn't you.

  Cade's like, "What were you going to do?"

  Like throw him out the window.

  He could just roll right onto the hospital.

  I said, "But I was not going to let him cuss you out."

  And Cade said, "You would do that for me?"

  Like, "Would I do that for you?"

  "Yes, yes I would do it."

  I'm like, "How could you even ask that question?"

  I would do anything for you, including take a beating in Chick-fil-A.

  I would do anything for you.

  And listen, if I thought dude was going in there after somebody else, I never would have

  got out of the car.

  Not my business.

  But my son, oh no.

  That is not going to happen.

  I would do anything to provide for my son.

  I would do anything to protect my son.

  And when Cade's like, "You'd do that for me?"

  All I could think of was, "Do you have any idea how much your father loves you?"

  And that's exactly what Jesus is saying here.

  "Worryer?"

  That's what Jesus is saying.

  You're worried?

  Do you have any idea how much your father loves you?

  And you're worried that you're not going to be taken care of?

  You don't know how much you mean to him.

  Like, well how much?

  How much?

  I think there's one verse more than any in the Bible that tells us how much it's Romans

  8.32.

  Can we get that on the screen?

  It says, "God, He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all."

  How will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?

  I wouldn't give up my son for any of you.

  I wouldn't give up my son for all of you.

  But God gave up His Son to death so that you can be saved.

  And that's what Paul was saying in Romans, and this is the truth that Jesus is saying

  here.

  "If God gave you His Son, it's proof He's going to give you everything else that you

  need."

  I refuse to worry because of who my father is.

  And let's see in verse 30, Jesus says, "O you of little faith."

  See, that's the issue.

  Look, some of you have little faith.

  Some of you do have faith enough to be saved, but you need to grow up.

  And you know why you're worried?

  The reason you're so worried all the time is you haven't really reckoned with the implications

  of what your salvation means.

  Your father loves you, and your father has a concern for you.

  Your father has a personal interest in what happens in your life.

  And the way a parent does for their kid, but not someone who's not their kid.

  You know what I mean by that?

  Because parents here today, whose kid do you make sure eats?

  Yours, right?

  How many times have you wondered in the past week if my kids have eaten?

  You're like, "Not at all."

  Right?

  Whose kids do you make sure have clothes?

  Yours.

  Right?

  Whose kid do you make sure brushes their teeth?

  So parents, what would you say to your kids?

  What would you say to your kids, parents, if you're home someday and you could hear your

  kid in the next room pacing and worrying saying, "What if mom isn't going to feed me tomorrow?"

  What would you say?

  What would you say if you heard your kid in the next room going, "I'm really growing.

  What if I grow out of these clothes and dad doesn't buy me new clothes?"

  What would you say?

  That's Jesus' point.

  When you worry, you're acting like you forget who your father is.

  You're demonstrating, in the words of our Lord, little faith.

  Oh, speaking of faith, I refuse to worry, number two, because of my faith.

  I refuse to worry because of my faith.

  Look at verse 31.

  Says it again.

  Here we go.

  "Do not be anxious saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What

  shall we wear?'

  For the Gentiles seek after all these things.

  And your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

  But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be

  added to you."

  The Gentiles seek after all these things, obviously in this context.

  Jesus is using the word "Gentile" as it was commonly used in that day to refer to a

  heathen, in other words, somebody who doesn't know God.

  Right?

  So Jesus is saying that when I worry, I act like I don't have faith.

  See people who don't have faith, they just go after all the stuff.

  Right?

  It's all about me.

  People that don't have faith, honestly they live no different than an animal.

  An animal only thinks about getting needs met, right?

  Hungry, thirsty, tired.

  Like I live with animals, right?

  That's all they do.

  What they're thinking about is getting their next physical need met.

  When you don't have faith, that's how you are.

  Verse 25, Jesus said, as we already read, "Isn't life more than the physical child of God?

  Isn't your life about more than physically surviving, isn't it?"

  And when Jesus was tempted by the devil, remember what he said, "Man shall not live

  by bread alone."

  Isn't that a statement of faith?

  Again, we talked about this last week, but this is exactly why people store treasure

  on earth.

  This life is all there is.

  I've got to make the most out of it.

  I've got to get what I can here now.

  Child of God, aren't you supposed to be different than them?

  Aren't you supposed to be salt and light?

  Do people see that in the way that you live, in the way that you talk, in the way that

  you refuse to worry?

  Look at verse 32 again.

  Jesus says your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

  Your unsafe friends, your unsafe family, do they know that you know that your Father knows

  and you know that He knows?

  Yeah.

  Do you say, "Well, I'm in need of something, but it's okay.

  My Father knows what I need, and He's going to provide it when He knows that I need it."

  That's faith.

  That's what faith looks like.

  And if you're right now, right now at this point in your life, if you're in a place of

  need, if you're in a place where God has to show up and provide, you're in a place of

  want, guess what?

  As a child of God, that means you have a front row seat to see God at work.

  Because according to Jesus, He already knows.

  So we've sort of taken the sin of worry, and in our minds, that's like a minor league sin,

  right?

  Oh, there's the big sins like murder and adultery and things like that.

  But worry, that's kind of a minor league sin, right?

  No.

  It's not.

  Worry strikes at the character and the promises of God.

  Worry makes some assumptions.

  Worry assumes that God doesn't know.

  Worry assumes that God doesn't care.

  Worry assumes that God is completely unable to provide the thing that I need.

  Worry is just...

  It's just...

  Worry is just bad theology.

  It shows a complete lack of faith, and Jesus says it makes you no different than an atheist.

  Are you on your own?

  You have to fend for yourself?

  You have to take care of yourself?

  Or are you a child of God that is richly provided for by your heavenly Father?

  Which one are you?

  Like I'm a child of God, right?

  So why do we worry then?

  Why do we worry?

  I'm wrestling with this question.

  You know, the sort of armchair, you know, psychologist, sociologist that I am.

  Why do we worry?

  So I went to that very authoritative source psychology today.

  I looked it up online.

  I wanted to see from a secular perspective how worry is defined.

  And I was blown away.

  You want to hear?

  Listen to this.

  I looked up, why do we worry?

  According to psychology today, their website says we worry because we have a hard time

  living with uncertainty.

  I want you to think about that for a second.

  You have a hard time living with uncertainty.

  If you're a Christian, what are you uncertain about?

  Go ahead and shout it out.

  If you're a Christian, shout out the things that we are uncertain about.

  Pastor, is there anything?

  I rack my brain all week.

  Like surely there has to be something that we are uncertain about.

  The only thing I can come up with is the time of the return of our Lord.

  If you're a Christian, you have no uncertainties.

  If you're a Christian and you're worrying, what you have is a lack of faith.

  You're like, oh yeah, I know Jeff, but I just, I got this need.

  I get this really bad need.

  I've been praying about it and look, I just don't know how God's going to provide.

  You don't need to know.

  That's His problem.

  You know what your problem is?

  Verse 33, "Let's seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things

  will be added to you."

  But you need to worry about us seeking God.

  You seek the spiritual, He'll provide the physical.

  Do you see that?

  Focus on your walk with Christ.

  Instead of focusing on the stuff and your needs and what's worrying you, Jesus said

  you need to focus on being the person that God wants you to be.

  He'll draw near to God and He'll draw near to you.

  And when your heart is so near to the heart of God, you're going to have a worry-free

  faith.

  So do you have that?

  Do you have a worry-free faith?

  I'll tell you how you can evaluate it.

  A worry-free faith shows up in how you pray.

  How do you pray?

  You're like, "Well, I really don't.

  I really don't pray."

  Okay, then you have no faith.

  All right, so we'll knock that one off.

  But if you pray like this, if you pray, "God, I'm desperate and God, I don't know what

  I'm going to do, God, and I'm so afraid of what's going to happen tomorrow."

  That's little faith.

  But if your prayer sounds like this, "God, I'm seeking you for this and you already know

  what I need, and I'm trusting that you're going to provide it when I need it."

  That is a prayer of faith.

  I'm asking, I'm trusting, I'm believing, but I refuse to worry.

  Why?

  Because of my faith.

  And finally, number three, I refuse to worry because of who my Father is because of my

  faith and number three.

  I refuse to worry because it does no good.

  It does no good.

  Look at verse 34.

  "Jesus says, 'Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious

  for itself.

  Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.'"

  And you're like, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, right there, right there.

  Tomorrow.

  Tomorrow.

  That's what I'm worried about.

  That's the day that I'm worried about."

  And Jesus says, "Don't."

  Why not?

  Jesus says, "You've got enough trouble today.

  Can I get an amen?"

  You mean to tell me you've got nothing going on today that requires your attention?

  Nothing.

  And my schedule is clear.

  There is not a single thing that requires my attention, effort, energy, nothing.

  You're telling me that tomorrow needs all your attention?

  Obviously not.

  Obviously you would say, "Oh, you know what, Jeff, I've really got plenty going on today."

  And our Lord would say, "Good, go after that.

  Just go after that."

  Jesus said, "Tomorrow will be anxious for itself."

  Some translate that phrase, "Tomorrow," quote, "brings its own anxieties."

  In other words, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it because I can't cross it now,

  right?

  No, not cross that bridge when we come to it.

  How about cross that bridge if we come to it?

  When we worry about the future, what we do is we start imagining all these little scenarios

  that are surely going to devastate us.

  What if I get sick?

  What if I have car trouble?

  What if I do lose my job?

  What if ... how much time, my friends, have we wasted worrying about something that never

  happens?

  That's what our Lord reminds us here in this verse, worry isn't just sinful, it's pointless.

  There's no upside, it benefits you nothing, it does no good.

  In fact, Jesus talked about this in verse 27.

  You can't add to your life by worry, can you?

  Because nothing good's ever added to the worrier.

  Nobody in the history of mankind has ever said, "You know what?

  I am so glad that I worried about that because I worried so hard that it fixed everything."

  It's pointless.

  It's pointless to worry about tomorrow because the reality is not everybody gets it tomorrow.

  You might not have it tomorrow.

  But if you do, if you do have it tomorrow, tomorrow has literally one guarantee that

  you can take to the bank.

  And that is this, tomorrow God will be just as much God then as He is today.

  And if God's word is true and I believe it is, the future is something to be excited

  about, not worry about.

  Because the Bible says our best days are ahead.

  All worry does in addition to dishonor the Lord is steal your joy today.

  It steals your peace today and it ruins your testimony today.

  Does no good.

  Far worship team will make their way back up front.

  Each of us might be feeling really confident right now.

  But when you leave here, when you walk out those doors, you are going to be tempted to

  worry about something.

  Probably not so much here now but home later, yes.

  I want you to take this outline and I want you to tuck this away in your Bible for later.

  That little thing you wrote at the top, I'm worried about.

  No, no, no.

  Instead what we're going to say is I refuse to worry about this.

  Why am I not worried about this?

  Because of who my Father is.

  That's why.

  I'm not worried about this because of my faith in that Father.

  I'm not worried about this because according to Him honestly, it's not going to do any

  good anyways.

  I refuse.

  I refuse to worry.

  Let's pray.

  Father of Heaven, we confess before You that we demonstrate a complete lack of faith when

  we worry.

  We can come into this room and we can sing about Your power and Your love and Your goodness.

  But we deny all of those things with our lives when we choose to worry.

  So Father, I pray that today is a new day.

  From our brothers and sisters here, the thing that weighs on us, the thing that has kept

  us up at night, Father, I pray that we would look back at Your faithfulness throughout history.

  We would look back at Your faithfulness in our own lives.

  And that thing that burdens us, Father, I just pray that we would do, as Your Word says,

  that we would cast it at Your feet and we would refuse to worry about it.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  Amen.

Where to Put Your Treasure

Introduction:

3 Self-Serving Reasons to Give to God (Matthew 6:19–24):

1. So I Have TREASURE FOREVER . (Matt 6:19–21)

2. So I Am ABLE to SEE . (Matt 6:22–23)

3. So I Serve the RIGHT MASTER . (Matt 6:24)

   1 Timothy 6:10 – For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 6:19-24

1. What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
   

2. Re-read Matt 6:22-23. Explain this in your own words. What does this have to do with money, and how does generosity affect spiritual perception?
   

3. Is it wrong to be motivated by self-serving reasons to give to God? Why or why not?

Breakout
Pray for one another.

• AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

  Open up your Bibles with me please to Matthew chapter 6.

  Some time ago, I was at the funeral home for a visitation.

  And as I was leaving, there was a woman standing kind of in the lobby by the exit door.

  And she asked what my connection was to the deceased.

  And I said, "Well, I'm a pastor and I've known the family for quite a while."

  And she says, "Oh, you're a pastor."

  She said, "What do you think about what Joel Osteen makes?"

  You know, that's not really the time or the place to engage in a heated debate.

  I said, "What Joel Osteen makes is really none of my business."

  She goes, "Well, of course it is."

  I said, "Why?"

  I said, "What he makes and what he does with his money, it's not my business."

  And she goes, "Well, it absolutely is."

  And I said, "Well, man, with all due respect, if you don't appreciate his ministry, then don't give him money."

  But I walked out of there just sort of confused again as to why we are so concerned with what other people do with their money.

  When biblically, who should I be concerned about?

  Point to the person that you should be concerned about, right here.

  Right?

  And we're going through the Sermon on the Mount.

  In the last section we looked at Jesus, talked about giving and praying and fasting.

  And those are all the elements of our private spiritual life.

  But you know, you've got to deal with the world sometime, right?

  You've got to get out there.

  And this next section of the Sermon on the Mount is about that.

  How do we deal with the world?

  What is the heart towards the world?

  And today we're going to talk about money.

  And oh, I think we knew it had to come up in the Sermon on the Mount eventually.

  Like, well, if it's such a big deal, why didn't it come up sooner?

  Because Jesus has been going after our hearts, and when your heart is right, and only when

  your heart is right, will your view and use of money also be right.

  Look at, I just want to start, look at verse 20, just the first part here.

  This is absolutely astounding.

  Jesus says, "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."

  Just stop there for a second.

  That is absolutely astounding what He said.

  Right there, two things.

  Two things just blow me away about even that little part of the verse.

  It just blows me away.

  The first thing that blows me away is the fact that I can even put treasure in heaven.

  It's astounding that I have the ability to put stuff in heaven.

  But I got to tell you this past week, there's another little phrase in there that really

  jumped out at me.

  And it was the phrase, "For yourselves."

  So this treasure in heaven, who's it for?

  It's for me.

  This is going to benefit me.

  And you might be shocked to find out this morning that when you look in this section

  about what Jesus says about money, there is a self-serving motive.

  Actually there are three self-serving motives at play.

  You know, we talked about money last fall.

  We had a whole series.

  What was that, Pastor in October?

  It was called "Right on the Money."

  Within that series, we talked about how to lay up treasure in heaven.

  Quick review, we said you got to give to God intentionally, willingly, and cheerfully.

  That's what the Bible says.

  That's how you lay up treasure in heaven.

  But here in this passage we're looking at today, Jesus doesn't talk about how.

  Okay, clearly here you're going to see that Jesus talks about why we should lay up treasure

  in heaven.

  And the why is for us.

  You know, after that sermon series last fall, oh, I preached my little heart out.

  What does God say about giving?

  Do you know what happened after that series?

  Giving went down in the church.

  I don't get it.

  I don't understand how we can see clear teaching from God's Word about money and we just thumb

  our nose at God and say, "Pshh, I'll show you, I'll give less."

  I don't understand that.

  You know, my wife, Erin, has a friend out of state that works in finance in her church.

  And she was sharing with Erin that every time my pastor preaches about tithing, giving goes

  down.

  I don't get it.

  I just don't understand it.

  I just don't understand.

  You know, God says, "Everything is mine.

  I'm going to give some to you because I love you and as an act of love and worship, I want

  you to give back to me.

  And if you do, I will give you even more."

  And we listen to that and we go, "Nah."

  That's not for me.

  Well, I want to encourage you and the Lord to really change your mind about that because

  here in this passage, Jesus gives us why.

  And if you believe, you will be the beneficiary of giving.

  All right?

  So on your outline, I want you to write some things down.

  Here's three self-serving reasons to give to God.

  Very clear in the passage, self-serving reasons to give to God.

  Number one, write this down, "So I have treasure forever."

  So I have treasure forever.

  Look at the first part of 19, again, first part of 20.

  And Jesus says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth."

  But, verse 20, "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."

  Do you see there's a two-fold command there, right?

  Not hard.

  It's negative and it's positive.

  And then Jesus goes on to give the reason behind each of these commands.

  So let's take a look at them first.

  We have a negative.

  All right?

  Look at verse 19, the negative.

  "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where

  thieves break in and steal."

  Like what's treasure on earth?

  You know what treasure on earth is, right?

  Money, houses, cars, stuff, all of the above.

  Jesus is just simply saying, "Do not live your life accumulating for here."

  Like, why not?

  Jesus says, "How about common sense?"

  Because you know it all goes away eventually.

  It all goes away.

  Notice Jesus talks about moth and rust and thieves.

  Those weren't three arbitrary things our Lord just pulled out of the air.

  The reason He said those three things is because in those days you measured wealth by three

  things.

  You measured wealth, first of all, by how many clothes you had.

  I know that sounds strange to us, but go to some other parts of the world.

  They measured wealth by how many clothes they had.

  They also measured wealth by how much food they had stored.

  Again, that's kind of lost on us in our culture, but in that culture, especially in that day,

  you were extremely wealthy if you had food in storage.

  And obviously, wealth was measured by gold, right?

  So now we understand maybe a little more why Jesus selects those three images, right?

  Moths.

  Moths speaks to clothes.

  You know something interesting about moths?

  Them dusty little butterflies.

  They only eat what's stored.

  Did you notice that?

  Moths typically don't eat what you're wearing.

  They eat what's stored.

  Oh, and it's kind of the same thing with food, right?

  When Jesus says rust, that's not a great translation of the word.

  The word literally in the Greek means eating.

  What happens to stored food over time?

  The varmints find it, don't they?

  The mice, the bugs, they find their way to it when you store it.

  And then obviously thieves, gold breaking into houses.

  In those days, people often bury their treasure in the ground.

  It was nothing for a thief to watch to see where somebody buried something and then go

  back later and dig it up, right?

  So despite mothballs, mousetraps, motion lights, Jesus here is saying very simply the stuff

  that you stockpile can and will be gone in a second, right?

  It's like a flower.

  If I pick you a beautiful flower, it's beautiful when I pick it.

  But you realize over time, a very short amount of time, that flower is going to wither away

  and turn to dust.

  And here Jesus is saying, oh, that's everything on earth that you try to hold onto.

  Now look, it's not sinful to have stuff.

  If we've learned anything from the Sermon on the Mount, what we've learned is it's

  all about the motive of your heart.

  And if your motive is to accumulate for yourself, you're greedy and you're foolish.

  That is what your story will lose eventually.

  Unless you store it in heaven, because look at verse 20, Jesus says, "But lay up for yourselves

  treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break

  in and steal."

  Like well what is treasure in heaven?

  We talked about this in our series last fall.

  I'm going to give you a quick review.

  Here's what we said, still true.

  What is treasure in heaven?

  I don't think God's Word is very specific on what that is, because I think it's something

  that we wouldn't understand fully.

  But there's a lot that we know about it.

  We do know that it's eternal, and it's better than stuff on earth.

  We know that.

  We do know that believers will have treasure based on what we've done with our resources

  here on the earth.

  Now to be clear, Pastor Taylor talked about this.

  Salvation is entirely based on the work of Jesus Christ.

  Let's be clear about that.

  Jesus Christ through His death and His resurrection provided salvation to those who will turn

  from their sin and receive Him.

  It's all based on His work.

  But treasure or rewards are based on our works, and in heaven there will be different levels

  of rewards.

  Another thing we do know is there's no second chance for believers to earn rewards after

  we die.

  Basically this life on the earth right now is your chance to earn rewards.

  I'm talking so much about the heart through this series on the Sermon and the Mount.

  So when we get to this section, the question is, where is your heart?

  While Jesus tells us objectively, in case you're still wondering where your heart really

  is, do you want to know where your heart really is?

  You might think you know where it is.

  Jesus tells us exactly where it actually is.

  Look at verse 21, Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

  Your heart is wherever you put your treasure.

  In other words, look at how you spend your money, and that will tell you where your heart

  is.

  So if you come to me and you say, "Oh, you know what, Pastor Jeff, my heart's with the

  church.

  Oh, I just have a heart for this church.

  I just love this church so much.

  My heart is with the church."

  How much money do you give to the church?

  And you're like, "Well, I don't really give that much to the church."

  Well, then your heart's not with the church, according to Jesus.

  According to Jesus, you've deceived yourself into thinking your heart's with the church,

  but if your money isn't invested in the church, then your heart's not in the church.

  All right?

  Or if you're like, "Oh, Pastor Jeff, you know where my heart is, my heart of hearts.

  You know where my heart is?

  My heart's for missions.

  Oh, I see these pictures of Barnabas and I hear about these people going on these mission

  trips.

  I just have, Pastor Jeff, I have such a heart for missions."

  Do you give to missions?

  Well, no, I don't really give to missions.

  Well, then your heart's not in missions, according to Jesus, that is.

  Like, well, maybe I'm not sure where my heart is.

  If you're struggling with that, I'll be glad to help you.

  What I need you to do is print out your bank statement, make an appointment, and we'll

  sit down and go through it.

  And I will show you very clearly where your heart is, because according to Jesus, where

  you put your treasure is where your heart ends up.

  Your heart follows your investments.

  You're either investing in the kingdom of God, or you're investing in stuff that you're

  eventually going to lose.

  And if you're sitting here like, "Man, you know what?

  I really want my heart to be on the things of God."

  Or then invest in the things of God.

  Give to the things of God, and you will find that your heart will follow your investments.

  Your heart will be in heaven.

  And according to Jesus, you're going to have treasure that you'll enjoy for eternity.

  It's a pretty good self-serving motive for giving to God.

  Second one, right?

  This self-serving reason to give to God.

  So I'm able to see.

  So I'm able to see.

  Like, wait, wait, wait.

  That's what He says.

  Look at verses 22 and 23.

  Jesus says, "The eye is the lamp of the body."

  So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

  If then the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness?

  You're like, "Well, that's an unrelated tangent.

  We're talking about money."

  And all of a sudden, we're talking about eyesight.

  It's not an unrelated tangent at all.

  Jesus here is giving us another self-centered reason to give to God.

  And this is what I'm going to tell you what it is, and I'm going to explain it.

  Listen, only people who truly understand and obey what God says about money are able to

  see things as they really are.

  Like, well, what do you mean?

  Jesus here is giving an illustration.

  The eye here illustrates the heart.

  And Jesus says the eye is like a lamp.

  And everything that we see, what we perceive and fill ourselves with is light.

  Okay?

  So look at verse 22 again.

  Jesus says the eye is the lamp of the body.

  So if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.

  Now that word healthy in the Greek literally is the word generous.

  Literally that's what the word means.

  If your eye is generous.

  So Jesus is saying that if your heart is generous, your whole life is going to be filled with

  light.

  In other words, your whole life is going to be filled with spiritual understanding.

  In other words, Jesus is saying that only generous people see things as they really are.

  It's only generous people who say everything is God's.

  I'm just a steward of God's stuff.

  In my office on the conference table, there's a big glass bowl and it's full of lollipops.

  This happens all the time.

  It literally just happened this morning where a little kid will come in and Pastor Jeff,

  can I have a lollipop?

  Absolutely you can.

  And they'll take a lollipop and they'll leave.

  This happens all the time.

  And about 10 or 15 seconds later, they come back in and they say, I need to get one for

  Joey.

  I need to get one for Mikey.

  I need to get one for Stacy.

  And they start and then they walk out with these handfuls of lollipops.

  Doesn't bother me at all because they're illustrating a very important biblical point.

  And that's this.

  I say it all the time.

  I'm like, you're awfully generous with something that's not yours.

  That's biblical.

  You want to learn how to be generous?

  It's not yours.

  Everything on this earth is a bowl of lollipops.

  It's all God's.

  So it's a lot easier to be generous with it when I realize it's not mine.

  I don't need to hold on to it.

  So I'm getting one for Mikey.

  Generous people see things as they really are.

  Generous people say things like, giving is worship.

  So I'm joyfully giving God first and best.

  Right?

  I'm not going to see how much money I have left after I buy all my toys and I'll give

  God a tenth of that and pat myself on the back for tithing.

  That isn't tithing and that's certainly not worship.

  Tithing worshipfully is when you receive, you say, okay, God gets first and God gets

  best.

  That's worship.

  Some of you are like, yeah, I'm on board with that.

  Why doesn't everyone get that?

  Because of verse 23.

  "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.

  And if then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?"

  Some people don't get it because they're in the dark.

  Some people are just clueless because they can't see it because they can't see anything.

  Listen, when your heart is focused on the treasures of the earth accumulating for yourself,

  the blinds come down on spiritual perception.

  You are unable to see things spiritually.

  You know, some people go to church for years.

  Some people have been coming to this church for years and they do not change.

  They're still struggling with the same sin that they were struggling with two years ago,

  five years ago.

  Why?

  Because they can't see how great is the darkness.

  Some people have been coming to church for years and they don't grow.

  They're spiritually dull.

  At this point, they should be back teaching the kids.

  They should be leading a small group at this point.

  They should be in the preaching class, but they can't.

  They're spiritually dull.

  Why?

  They can't see.

  How great is the darkness?

  Some people never witness, never share Christ with anybody.

  Even talk about witnessing like, "Well, that's not for me."

  Why?

  They can't see.

  How great is the darkness?

  They come to church and they're like, "Well, worship is boring.

  The sermon wasn't for me.

  The prayer was too long."

  How great is the darkness?

  When your heart is purely focused on earth's treasures, when you live your life only thinking

  and focused and spending on here and now, you will have no spiritual perception.

  Until you get your view of money right, you're never going to be able to deal with other

  spiritual matters.

  So here's a self-serving reason to give.

  Maybe this church stuff will start to make some sense because the lights will come on.

  All right?

  Three self-serving reasons to give, number one, so I have treasure forever.

  Number two, so I'm able to see.

  Number three, so I serve the right master.

  So I serve the right master.

  Look at verse 24, Jesus says, "No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate

  the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other."

  You cannot serve God and money.

  Jesus here very clearly tells us that God and money are both masters.

  You are a servant to one of them.

  There's no third option.

  And in this context, you see, you look at stuff, and you say, "Okay, all this stuff

  that I have, it's either God's for God's purposes, or it's mine for what I want."

  Those are your choices.

  Jesus said, you know, you shouldn't try to...

  You shouldn't try to...

  No.

  He didn't say you shouldn't try to serve two masters.

  What did He say?

  The last sentence, He says, "You cannot."

  You cannot.

  It's impossible to serve two masters.

  Why is that?

  The same reason a man can't have two wives.

  Because we have two masters here, and both of them demand total allegiance.

  Both of these masters, there's no compromise.

  There's no 50/50 here.

  You're going to be totally sold out to one of them.

  And right now, I'm sure somebody is saying, "Well, I'm not a slave to worldly things.

  I'm not a slave to accumulating."

  Some of you are way more than you realize.

  Because when you prioritize stuff over God, then money becomes your master.

  And Martin Lloyd-Jones told this story.

  I can't stop thinking about it.

  He told this story about this farmer that had two cows gave birth at the same time.

  So now we have two baby cows.

  What is it called?

  Just seeing who's still listening.

  And okay, so he had two baby cows.

  So the farmer excitedly goes to his wife and he says, "Okay, here's what we're going to

  do.

  I'm going to raise both of these cows.

  And I'm going to sell one and all the money is going to God.

  And then I'm going to sell the other and all the money we're going to use for our family."

  And his wife says, "Well, which cow is which?

  The white one or the brown one?

  Which one's God's and which one's ours?"

  And the man says, "Ah, you know what?

  We'll worry about that later.

  We'll take care of that down the road somewhere."

  Well, a couple days later the wife walks into the house and the farmer was weeping.

  And the wife says, "Honey, what's the matter?"

  And the farmer goes, "God's cow died."

  That's funny, isn't it?

  It's really not because it's always God's cow that dies.

  It's always God's cow that dies.

  You know, you've got a sports tournament and church at the same time.

  You've got to go with the sports.

  It's always God's cow that dies.

  I'm not saying you're anathema if you miss church.

  I'm saying it's a huge red flag as to the way you're discipling your children when you

  teach them that anything else takes priority over church.

  When does worship ever have the priority?

  Are you discipling your kids to that?

  It's always God's cow that dies.

  It's like, well, we have youth group tonight, but we also have a dance recital.

  We can skip youth group because it's always God's cow that dies.

  You know, I really wanted to join a small group, Pastor Taylor, but you know what?

  I got this hobby that takes up most of my nights.

  So it's always God's cow that dies.

  And oh, yeah, we're talking about money.

  When money becomes tight, giving to God is the first thing to go because it's always

  God's cow that dies.

  Who's your master?

  I'll give you a real easy test.

  I'll give you a real easy test that will tell you where your heart is.

  Has this sermon really bothered you?

  If this sermon is really grating on you, so long as I have accurately represented what

  our Lord has said, if this sermon is really grating on you, according to Him, it's going

  to be grating on you.

  That means you love money and you hate God.

  If you're sitting here, and if you're going to be totally honest, and you resent the truth

  that God has a total claim on your life, then that means, in the words of our Lord, you're

  devoted to money and you despise God.

  But you know, if you're generous, it sort of works the other way.

  If you're generous towards God, you hate that the world is constantly trying to take more

  of your money.

  You hate when gas prices go up, you hate when grocery prices go up, you hate when your taxes

  go up, because you sincerely respond to that by saying, "Oh, I wanted to give more, and

  that's keeping me from that."

  And you hate that because you love God so much.

  You've got a master.

  The stuff I have, the money I make, is it to serve God or is it to serve me?

  Because if it's to serve you, ultimately, you're serving it.

  Look, at the end of the day, money is just a tool.

  Money's not evil.

  Money's not inherently good.

  Money is just a tool.

  But money is the most dangerous tool that you possess, because Jesus said that is the tool

  that you will use to replace God.

  You know, there's so many self-serving, personal benefits to giving to God.

  Oh yes, the opposite is true too.

  Nothing to God blesses you, but when money is your master, you hurt yourself.

  Literally hurt yourself.

  Look at 1 Timothy 6:10.

  God says through the apostle Paul, "For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.

  It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith."

  Look at this, "And pierced themselves with many pangs.

  The person who worships money by the way they live end up repeatedly stabbing themselves."

  So if you're sitting here at this point in the sermon and under your breath, in your

  head, in your heart, you're sitting here digging your heels in saying, "No one tells

  me how to spend my money."

  Look, I earned this.

  It belongs to me.

  Okay.

  But I have an obligation to tell you that you're just stabbing yourself.

  So if God isn't your master, who are you hurting?

  On the other hand, giving it to God so I can keep it forever, letting the light shine in

  that only comes to a generous heart, and serving a master who loves me and only wants good

  for me.

  I got plenty of self-serving reasons to give to God.

  Let's pray.

  Our Father in heaven, I'm sure this was a very uncomfortable several minutes for some

  people.

  That's okay.

  God, we didn't come here today for comfort.

  We came here to hear from You.

  And yes, sometimes God, You do comfort us with the truth.

  And Father, there are generous people sitting in this room that are comforted by all of

  the benefits that You have promised those who are generous.

  Father, I pray for those who are still holding on so tightly to stuff.

  I pray, Father, that this would be a time of some serious self-examination, and that

  they would not take the words of Jesus Christ lightly.

  But Father, I pray You would give them no rest until they seek to get this money issue

  right before You.

  It's worship, Father.

  It's worship.

  Let us worship You with the stuff that You've given us.

  We pray in Jesus' name.

  Amen.