Matthew 7
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.
6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.
7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
12 Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
13 Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
I will never forget picking up my aunt at OntarioAirport after she had flown down from Northern California to visit my mother who was days away from dying. As we were walking to the car she said, “So Raymond, I hear you got religion.”
I remembered thinking, “I had religion growing up, and what I have now is not religion.”
There is a difference between being religious and having a relationship with God. Let me say:
We need to avoid being religious at all cost!
Jesus taught us that a relationship with God begins and is maintained on the heart level.
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were not people who had a heart relationship with God. Listen to these events recorded in
Mark 7
1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to Him, having come from Jerusalem.
2 Now when they saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, "Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?"
6 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.
7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'
That is such a picture of religion! Our religious traditions say that we wash our hands in a certain way…or else you are not spiritual.
In Matthew 7 Jesus addressed a few areas in which a heart relationship with God and religion just don’t mix! Let’s go back to verse 1:
Matthew 7
1 “Judge not, that you be not judged.
2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.”
Don’t be religious because…
1. Religious people are always condemning other people
In the parable of the sower Jesus talked about the fact that the seed, the word of God, is sown everywhere. There are some places where the word falls, but people are not changed at all, or endure for a little while. Then He said that some seed fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
People grow at different rates, so if someone doesn't grow as fast as you do, don't become judgmental of them.
Those feelings of superiority are a form of pride. Nothing good ever comes from pride!
Proverbs 11:2 When pride comes, then comes shame…
Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
If you ever start feeling superior, remember Paul's words in Philippians 3:
Philippians 3
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
Jesus gave us 2 Reasons we need to avoid being judgmental:
· with what judgment you judge, you will be judged
What goes around comes around! There is this undeniable law of sowing and reaping!
The same way you are condemning everyone else is the same way you will be condemned by other people!
· you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye
You can be so critical and picky that you will end up being a person who notices every little imperfection in others while you are overlooking massive shortcomings in your own life. That is a telltale sign of a religious person!
Matthew 7
6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.”
Don’t be religious because…
2. Religious people really don’t care about the things of God
Those of us who were raised Catholic understand reverence in church. More than once I received a dope slap for not sitting up straight or for not kneeling when I was suppose to kneel!
There is a balance that we need to have between joy and reverence. That’s what happened on the day that Jesus rode into Jerusalem through the eastern gate:
John 12
12 The next day a great multitude that had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,
13 took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!' The King of Israel!"
14 Then Jesus, when He had found a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written:
15 "Fear not, daughter of Zion; Behold, your King is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt."
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.
17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.
18 For this reason the people also met Him, because they heard that He had done this sign.
What a great time of joy, but also a time of reverence and worship.
That same balance is found in heaven:
Revelation 4:8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!”
(That is the reverence that is there…but there is also joy there)
Luke 15:10 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
(Listen to it again)
Revelation 7:11-12 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
(Here is the balance again)
Psalms 16:11 In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
There is an account from 1 Samuel that expresses the importance of having reverence for the things of God.
1 Samuel 7:1 Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.
The time came when David wanted to move the ark from Kirjath Jearim to Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 6:3-7 So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. Then David and all the house of Israel played music before the LORD on all kinds of instruments of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sistrums, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.
The ark had been in a room of Abinadab's house for 50 years. Uzzah had grown up with this in his house. He had become so familiar with this holy thing of God, that he had reduced the holy ark to simply a piece of furniture.
The Jewish scribes had such a reverence for God that they would not even fully write out God's name, that is why the only reference we have to God’s name are the consonants YHWH. Even in Jewish writing today you will see God spelled G-d.
Jesus told us to be careful not to give holy things to dogs (those who have no appreciation for the things of God) and to not cast spiritual pearls before swine (those who will mock them, trample on them, and attack you).
Matthew 7
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?
11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Don’t be religious because…
3. Religious people don’t allow God to be involved in their lives
Whenever you pray you are involving God in what you are praying about!
Mark 6
45 Immediately He made His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while He sent the multitude away.
46 And when He had sent them away, He departed to the mountain to pray.
47 Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea; and He was alone on the land.
48 Then He saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them. Now about the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking on the sea, and would have passed them by.
49 And when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost, and cried out;
50 for they all saw Him and were troubled. But immediately He talked with them and said to them, "Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid."
He would not have entered the boat if the disciples had not “cried out.”
Blind Bartimaeus would not have been healed if he had not “cried out.”
Mark 10
46 Now they came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging.
47 And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David , have mercy on me!"
48 Then many warned him to be quiet; but he cried out all the more, "Son of David , have mercy on me!"
49 So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you."
50 And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus.
51 So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight."
52 Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way; your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.
God wants to be involved in every area of your life, but He is not forcing His way into anything.
You may say, “I am not sure He will answer me…”
Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Matthew 7
12 “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”
Don’t be religious because…
4. Religious people don’t walk in obedience to the word
Verse 12 contains the “Golden Rule.” If you are like me, you have heard it rephrased countless times:
"Do unto others before they do unto you"
Stab them in the back before they stab you in the back! Don’t trust anyone! Everyone is out to get you!
That is so against the word of God. As believers we are called to walk in obedience to the word of God!
Romans 2:13 for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified
Those words were written by Paul who used to be a religious zealot! He knew the word of God, he heard the word of God, but he didn’t obey it…instead, he obeyed the commandments and mandates that were manmade.
John answered the question, “How do I know that I know God?”
1 John 2:3-4 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, "I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
· You are blessed by God as you walk in obedience
John 13:17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
· You are deceived if you are not walking in the truth
James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
Listen to one more thing James had to say on this subject:
James 4:17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
Matthew 7
13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Don’t be religious because…
5. Religious people are lost
The reason they are lost is for the same reason all of us were lost:
Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
In order to be saved we have to come to the realization that we are lost.
John 9:39-41 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.”
When we realize that we have sinned, we can come and repent. That is why the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin:
John 16:8 “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment”
When the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to our sin, then we see our need for repentance.
Listen to what Paul wrote about the Jewish people:
Romans 10:2-3 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
Do you remember Frank Sinatra’s song “My Way”? That was what the Jewish people’s theme song. They were serving God “their way” not “His way.”
None of us can be saved by doing things our way.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God
We want to avoid being religious at all costs!
Don’t be religious because…
1. Religious people are always condemning other people
2. Religious people really don’t care about the things of God
3. Religious people don’t allow God to be involved in their lives
4. Religious people don’t walk in obedience to the word
5. Religious people are lost