YOUNG OLD What do you see here? How many see a young woman? How many see an old woman? How about this
one? Young woman? Old woman? Things like that are weird. But our eyes can allow us to see what we want to see –
look at the last picture. Look for the old woman – raise your hand when you see her. Now – same picture, look for the
young woman and raise your hand when you see her. We kind of have to tell our eyes what to see in order to see it.
Sometimes what we hear is a lot the same, but not necessarily within one person. One person may hear one thing and
another person may hear something else. And if those 2 people get together and talk about it, they may come to the point
where they can both see both points of view.
Last Sunday some have shared with me that the message caused them to really consider their actions and reactions to
people they have thought of as enemies. We were in Luke 6 where Jesus says to “love your enemies, do good to those
who hate you, bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you.” God uses His Word, the Bible, to
convict us, to convince us and to guide us to Him and His ways. He uses His Word to encourage us to take hard steps of
faith.
Some may have left last Sunday feeling more weighed down than you did when you came in – “Oh no, ANOTHER thing I’
m a failure at!” I want to help ALL of us today as we get started. Now I don’t want to dismiss the conviction of the Spirit
of God where we need it. Take God’s work in your heart seriously. But if you felt condemned and overwhelmed with
failure – I can guarantee that you were NOT hearing from the Spirit of God. So lay your burden down!
We ALL struggle – we all fail – we all mess up – we all fall short (Romans 3:23). God knew that when He invited you to
be His child. He came into His interaction with human beings with His eyes wide open – He knows our weakness and our
frailty. But He LOVES us. He does not condemn us. Romans 8:1. READ. He does not give up on us. His Spirit seeks
to draw us close to Him. If you felt condemnation, that was not from the Father, but from the enemy, the devil. James 4:7
says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. Don’t give the devil the satisfaction of keeping you condemned – there is
NO condemnation to those who are IN Christ Jesus.
Lean into the love of God – He says I will never leave you nor forsake you – I am the same yesterday, today and forever.
While we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). That’s how God demonstrated His love for us. God’s perfect
love will never retreat from you – He even loves those who never turn to Him in faith. God does not hate people, He loves
them. God certainly does not hate His children – He LOVES them. He loves you. Yes, we fail. Yes, we blow it. God
does not condemn us. Yield yourself to Him.
I also heard from someone (and I know it’s true) that I use that phrase “yield yourself to Him” a lot. What does that
mean? The Bible doesn’t actually say that we are to “yield” ourselves. But it does say that we are to “rank ourselves
under” the Lord Jesus. We are to “believe” in Him. We are to “receive” Him. We are to “trust Him and do what He
says.” We’ll see that one again today. We are to “repent and follow” Him. All of these ideas are connected to giving up
the control of our lives to Him – to Him who made us and knows us and desires to live His life in us and through us.
This is the kind of life the Lord Jesus lived on earth – a yielded life. He was fully yielded to the Father. This is the
character God desires all of us to have – totally His. And even if we blow it – and we will – He is still on our side.
Romans 8 – If God is for us who can be against us? And God IS for us! To yield our lives to Him is to, as much as we
know how, put everything under His control and authority and influence. As much as we know how, people yielded to
Jesus Christ should consider what He wants and what He is seeking before doing anything.
That’s one reason we are looking at the human life of the Lord Jesus in the book of Luke – a REAL human life. Jesus did
it – He lived the way we are supposed to live. We need to see how He did it and emulate Him. As we continue this
morning, let’s ask for our Teacher’s help. PRAY
We are in the middle of a fairly long discourse by Jesus which we started 3 weeks ago. Last Sunday we heard that we are
to love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those who curse us and pray for those who use us. Jesus says in
Luke 6:35 that if we live that way, we will be sons of the Most High – we will be like God Himself. Jesus continues with
that thought in Luke 6:37-42. READ.
When we are dealing with people who don’t like us because of our relationship with Jesus, it is very easy to become their
judges and condemners. We need to be very cautious stepping into that arena – judgment and condemnation. For one
thing, that is a battle we may not be equipped to wage. And for another thing, one of those issues belongs to God, not us.
The other of those two belongs to someone else, which we’ll mention in a few minutes.
At the end of verse 38 – “for with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you” – the judgment we throw
out is the kind of judgment people will try to use against us. We have all experienced that, haven’t we? Remember a time
when you said something judgmental or critical of someone and immediately they came back at you – “Well, what about
YOU?!” If you’re going to attempt to speak for God (the TRUE Judge), you better examine your own failings first and
deal with those.
The truth is valuable – if someone really is off base and we see it, we don’t want God’s correct and righteous assessment of
their actions to be disregarded as they turn the tables on us for our “off-baseness.” That’s what Jesus means in the account
of this passage in Matthew 7 when He says, “Don’t throw your pearls before swine.” The assessment of God is true and
right and valid. We don’t want our failings to be the blinder that blocks the person’s understanding of what God is saying.
Now to the specks and the planks in verses 41 and 42. It is better (and would better serve our case and God’s case) if we
have (and we DO have) sin issues we deal with – it is better to forgive people we think we need to judge or condemn.
That’s what God has done for us. The result of that from other people is that we will likely be forgiven and not condemned
ourselves.
Have you ever had something in your eye? It was most likely a tiny something – no bigger than a speck. But when it is in
YOUR eye, it might was well be a plank or a log. Our judgments should be on ourselves – whatever is in my eye is what I
need to deal with – not what’s in your eye. We are called to LOVE people – even our enemies as we saw last Sunday –
we are not called to judge them or condemn them. Jesus says “Give and it will be given back to you in ways you can’t
imagine – good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over.
Remember what Jesus said in Luke 6:31 – the Golden Rule – Treat people the way you want to be treated. If I judge
people, I can expect judgment in return. If I treat people with condemnation, I will be condemned. This is a rule not only
in the church building, but for all of life. At our regular weekly get-togethers on Sunday, we want to exhibit the forgiveness
and welcome we have received from our holy God to anyone and everyone who comes through the door. If you are a
visitor today and you know your life does not measure up to God’s standards, welcome. You’re among friends who are
just like you.
But our treatment of others has to apply outside of the walls of this building, too. There are hurting and confused people
out there. There are people who think they have it all figured out and they don’t. There are people who live for nothing
and will die for nothing – nothing in life here and nothing in the next life except separation from the God who took all the
steps necessary to rescue them. How are they going to hear it or see it if not from you and me? We CANNOT be their
judges – that’s not our purpose for being here.
Yeah, Mike, but there are some weird and gross and disgusting people out there – I don’t want to get into all their weird
and gross and disgusting issues. I don’t have time or energy or expertise or desire to look at them, much less love them. I
grant you, there are weird people. They are sometimes gross and disgusting – difficult circumstances.
Think about it this way – out of all His children – who did God put in contact with that person? YOU. This is not meant to
guilt you into reaching out – this is meant to urge you to call out to God who put YOU there for a reason. WHAT DO
YOU WANT ME TO DO, LORD? I CAN’T DO THIS – I DON’T EVEN REALLY WANT TO, BUT I WANT TO
TRUST YOU AND DO WHAT YOU SAY.
Our purpose as a church and as individuals is to proclaim Christ Jesus so that we may present every person we meet
complete in Him according to the power supplied by God. No judgment by us mentioned in our purpose statement. Who
am I to judge you? We are both just as lost and messed up and failed as each other without Jesus. And who am I to judge
you if I’m a follower of Jesus and you’re not? It wasn’t MY power that moved me from slavery to the devil to the family of
God – it was GOD’S power.
We are not to have any part in judging or condemning. I have to tell you, this is a significant shift in my thinking. I used to
read these verses and those in Matthew 7 as permission to judge – don’t judge unless your life is in order. I think we can,
in LOVE, point out a brother or sister’s sin – and do it without judging, but in a spirit of helping. But who of us fully has a
life in order? If we could entrust ourselves all the time, in every circumstance to Jesus and never take back the control –
the full yieldedness of our lives, maybe – but in this life, I think it is fairly certain that we will continue to fall short there.
Jesus showed us that it is possible. And there is great hope in my mind that if could happen that way. That makes me want
to yield my life to Him more fully all the time. But the point of pursuing that kind of life is NOT so that we can go around
judging people. In fact, truthfully, God IS the judge (that’s the area that is His), but the judgment He dispenses will be
based on peoples’ own self-condemnation (condemnation comes from a person’s own belief or lack of belief and from the
devil) (John 3:16-21 - - study those verses on your).
Look at the next section. Luke 6:43-45. READ. I have always read these verses thinking that the “bad” fruit being talked
about was like rotten or worm infested. And that caused me to have difficulty understanding what Jesus was saying – that
can happen on any tree. But Jesus defines “bad” fruit and “good” fruit for us. A good tree produces fruit that is good and
useful – like figs and grapes. A bad tree produces fruit that is bad and dangerous – like thorns and brambles. A tree is
known by its fruit.
In the same way a good man is known by the good actions his good heart produces. This does not mean that he won’t
have problems or will never sin – it means that, in general, he is a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ and that character
basis will show in his life. An evil man produces evil out of where his character is based. We can tell what peoples’ basis
is by what their lives produce. But that’s not Jesus’ point here – not to discern whether one person is good and another is
evil.
Jesus says this for US to look at ourselves. What do I see coming out of my life? Is it good – for God – or is it evil – for
Satan? Do people draw closer to Jesus because of what they see in me or are they turned away? Am I focusing on the
speck in someone else’s eye when I have a plank sticking out of my eye? Is that good or evil? A good tree – a good
person – is known by the good fruit, the good actions that come out of his or her life. What actions do I see in MY life?
Jesus says that out of the abundance of the heart person speaks. Does judgment and condemnation come out of my
mouth? Or is it forgiveness and love? What I hear from my mouth is what lives in my heart. What do you hear from your
mouth? If it is not Jesus – forgiveness and love – what needs to change? I need to see things differently. I need to stop
trusting what I have been trusting in and trust God and do what He says. I need to deny myself and take up my cross daily
and follow Jesus. DENY myself – say NO to ME.
In the final paragraph of chapter 6, Jesus brings it full circle. Luke 6:46-49. READ. This gets to the issue of what and
who we trust. If we call Jesus “Lord,” but we don’t do what He says – He’s not our Lord, our Master. It’s as simple as
that. Everything Jesus says is the truth. Everything He says to do is effective for eternity. If we claim that He is our
Master, but we don’t do what He says, we are off base – we have no foundation. He is NOT our Master.
He says, “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them is like…” a man who is building a house. The
person who comes to Jesus is like a person building a house. Coming to Jesus – believing in Him – is like building a house.
That’s the total project – but the work starts before the house is built. “Whoever hears My sayings…” is like the person
who dug deep to the rock. The Word of God is the base of strength. “Whoever does My sayings…” is like the person
who laid the foundation ON the rock. The foundation of life for followers of Jesus is to DO WHAT HE SAYS.
We have the firmest foundation in Jesus Christ. If we want to build a life that is solid, we start on the foundation of Jesus
Christ, the Living Word of God. What Jesus lived is what God’s Word the Bible says. He is the foundation. When we
hear His Word, we are digging deep to the foundation. How important is Bible study? How solid of a life do you want?
Here at Plattsmouth Bible Church, we promote, push, SHOVE Bible study. To dig deep into God’s Word is the only way
we get to know our foundation. And as we come to Him, our life is solidly built on Him through His Word.
If our foundation isn’t firm, our lives will be shaky. Our responses to people will be based on things that aren’t solid. If
Jesus is truly my Master, I will forgive people and love them, not judge them and condemn them. I will look at MY life to
see where I am off base and not try to fix their lives. The Spirit of God is the only one able to fix lives – mine included.
We have the firmest foundation in the Lord Jesus Christ and in His Word the Bible. Pursue Him and His ways and live the
kind of life He lived as much as you are able. Yield yourself to Him as much as you know how – believe Him, receive Him,
repent from what is not of Him, rank yourself under Him, trust Him and do what He says, deny yourself, take up your cross
daily and follow Him. John 10:10 – Jesus says, “I have come that they may have life and have it to the fullest.” Have that
kind of life.